#but sometimes a sour first impression can leave a lasting impact

[zetalial]

I can’t stand Ling

Random rant about how much I dislike Ling Yao. Sorry if you like Ling, I just can’t. Feel free to argue with me if you like - this ended up way, way longer and more detailed than it needed to be. I try not to dwell on characters I dislike so don’t expect a dozen more spite posts - this is a one off. I decided I’d feel better by writing it out.

But I really do dislike him. He annoyed me from the first moment he appeared in episode 15 of BH where he behaves absolutely obnoxiously throughout the entire episode and continued to annoy right up until he got consumed with Greed. And his ending annoyed me.  

Part 1 - First appearance

First impression are everything, right? I’m willing to change my mind if a character has hidden depths of course but if their character is plain irritating, that impression tends to last.

Okay, so he’s passed out in a random alley and Ed and Al find him - which is by the way a huge plot contrivance. They’re in Rush Valley in the South and Ling will explicitly tell them that he travelled to Amestris via the Xerxes ruins which are the North-East. And he seems to be heading to Central, there’s no reason for him to be in Rush valley let alone in a random alley alone so Ed and Al can help him. (This is a minor point though, I can deal with a couple of contrivances.)

After Ed and Al help him out, giving him food, he asks about the Philosopher’s stone and Ed tells them they don’t know anything - and the Philosopher’s stone is evil by the way, seeking power from the stone is dangerous - will Ling ever have to question his desire for the Stone and the source of its power? Ha, no.  

So Ling decides to sic his ninja bodyguards on Ed and Al! They said they didn’t know anything! Given how rare information on the stone is, that’s completely reasonable but oh Ling just knows that they’re hiding something about it? And thinks attacking two kids he knows nothing about is a great idea?

Lan Fan and Fuu do not hold back either, they use explosives and knives and cause loads of damage in their fight when Ed and Al haven’t even done anything! It’s a cool fight but the circumstances make me hate it! We get a shot of Ling casually eating a big meal while this is all going on to show how little he cares. Oh and he makes Ed pay the bill for it.

When Ed and Al do manage to win, Ling is completely unapologetic and allows Ed to get all the blame for the damages he caused when he sent his people to attack Ed and Al. When Ed comes back to see Winry, she is furious at him for damaging his automail again and Ling’s just there again, casually breaking in to Ed’s place, insisting on tagging along even though Ed tells him not to. Ling doesn’t face a single consequence for any of this by the way. Ling does explain his status here explaining that he wants the Stone to become emperor of Xing which is... yeah still quite a selfish goal.

And then there’s the conversation at the end of the episode where Fuu asks Ling why he’s putting up with Ed and Al, who are beneath him. Eh? This is Ling being nice? Ed and Al have been fairly nice, helping him in that alley, listening to his story and their anger was entirely justified at how obnoxious Ling has been this entire episode. But oh Ling is supposedly bowing his head to someone so far beneath him? Ling realises there’s bigger things than a little humility when his clan’s fate is in the balance? What do appearances matter then?

So you’re telling me that being the most obnoxious and annoying person ever was deliberate? All he achieved was making Ed and Al and me absolutely hate him! I’m going to ignore this conversation about Ling seeming wise and having a bigger plan because it doesn’t match up with anything else in the entire episode.

Now, I don’t mind flawed characters - but Ling never gets called out on any of his behaviour and never gets asked to change. Lan Fan is ridiculously devoted to him right from the beginning and the only way we see it as a flaw is that she’s so defensive she loses her cool just from hearing Ling get insulted. Quite why she is so loyal is never explored and I know she’s only a side character but you know I could really use a legitimate reason to like Ling.

Part 2 - Ling’s leadership?

Okay, his first appearance was just a comedy episode so I’ll just be kind and dismiss it. What’s Ling like when the plot gets a bit more serious then? In Central, Ed and Al hatch a plan to catch a homunculus by getting Scar to attempt to kill them and Ling volunteers to help fight the homunculi while Ed and Al deal with Scar.

So Ling and Lan Fan get into a fight with Wrath and Gluttony and Ling reveals that he’s also a superb fighter too because why not? Like, Lan Fan takes a nasty injury from Wrath but Ling manages to hold him off and runs away while carrying Lan Fan. That’s downright crazy alone - that Ling is such a competent fighter he can hold off Wrath while carrying Lan Fan! Isn’t Lan Fan meant to be the trained bodyguard?

Okay so his fighting skills are ridiculous, fine it’s a shonen anime, everyone can fight, whatever. It’s the conversation with Wrath that really gets to me though.

Wrath tells him that if he let go of Lan Fan, he might have a have a chance of escaping. Ling interprets this weirdly and goes on about how a true ruler cares about his subjects and so would never abandon his people and says that Bradley is no true King.

Shut up Ling. Bradley isn’t hiding behind others here, he’s fighting you one-on-one, not sacrificing minions. And you aren’t Amestrian so you have no reason to know about Bradley’s other decisions as a leader so how can you so confidently criticise him? (Bradley is an interesting character who totally shines when being challenged by the heroes but I hate Ling doing it here.) I mean, isn’t Ling the one who orders his minions to fight while he eats breakfast and lets someone else pay for the consequences?

Okay, so I shouldn’t take that fight seriously because it’s not meant to be serious. How about the current one? Ling volunteered to help with Ed’s plan and that lead to Lan Fan risking her life for him! Sure, Lan Fan agreed because she’s stupidly loyal but this was Ling’s plan and she got hurt! Her injuries are as much his fault as anyone’s.

Ling choosing not to abandon her is nice, sure. But given she got hurt following him, I’d call it being a decent human being, rather than a true paragon of leadership! And that’s if I’m to accept that any of this makes one particularly good for being a leader anyway. Ling is kind of extremely reckless. Did I mention the part where he disappeared on his bodyguards just because, leading them to worry as he was passed out on the street in the middle of Central? And then got arrested? Gosh he’s irresponsible. He is so lucky that worked out so easily.

Bradley doesn’t refute Ling’s words, just saying something about how there are no true kings in this world while Ling attempts to escape, still carrying Lan Fan. And there’s another annoying plot hole here where Lan Fan lets off a flashbomb and Ling takes the chance to escape but Wrath reveals his other eye under the eyepatch, preventing Ling’s escape. And then it cuts to the next scene and... Ling has escaped the room!

He’s still running away from Wrath while carrying Lan Fan and despite how fast Wrath is, Ling manages to get pretty far away somehow. Far enough that Lan Fan successfully cuts off her arm, then they tie it to a dog, and escape through the sewers all before Wrath catches up to him. This whole sequence was all off-screen!

In case we haven’t got enough of Ling being awesome, our next scene of him has him jumping out of the sewers with his shirt off where he proceeds to capture Gluttony.  Heh, I guess there’s nothing wrong with that but I can’t help but feel like I’m really supposed to like Ling here and love the badass moments and I cannot. I’m upset that the scene where Ling is forced tie her arm to a dog while Lan Fan is bleeding out beside him was cut as that’s the kind of scene that would get me to actually like him. Not scenes of him being an awesome fighter.

Part 3 - The part I don’t hate

Ling is a character with flaws and room for growth, which is something I can appreciate. But these earlier flaws are presented as just comic relief. That’s what annoys me - I usually like characters who can be obnoxious jerks so long as their flaws aren’t just blatantly laughed off as a joke.

In the next few episode we do get to see a more serious and conflicted Ling. This is Ling at his most interesting. He feels guilty about what Lan Fan’s done for him when he was too weak to do so himself and is determined that her sacrifice has meaning. So he’s got the hero flaw of caring too much.

This leads to an interesting conflict where Ling, Roy and Ed all fight over Gluttony and his philosopher's stone. Ed wants it for Alphonse and points out it was his plan. Roy wants it to heal Havoc. Ling wants it to become emperor and argues about what Lan Fan’s sacrificed so that they could catch the homunculus. Sadly, Gluttony breaks free then so this argument isn’t explored any further here.

At the end of the series we see how they’ve changed in this regard. Ling finally has a stone and even though he’s just lost Greed to another sacrifice, he freely offers the stone to Edward to save Al. Ed refuses. So this stuff is all interesting and I really do wish the conflict and resolution wasn’t so brief (and that Roy wasn’t just given a stone to cure his blindness but I digress.)

Next, Ling gets swallowed by Gluttony and there’s more comedy which is still a touch irritating but not nearly so bad as his first few appearances. Ling collapses again with no energy and this should be serious but it’s still presented as comic again. I can’t take Ling’s fainting spells seriously as it’s played for comedy every. Single. Time. That aside, Ling is at his most tolerable here and it’s interesting how determined he is against Envy in contrast to Ed’s horror at Envy’s true form slowing him down. When they’re out, Ling distrust of Father is also good.

And finally we get to Ling accepting Greed into his body. Again he’s being super-reckless and he’s sort of being called out on this as Ed urges him to fight but Ling decides not to. Again we get this characterisation of Ling as someone willing to surrender and lose face to get what he wants. As he said to Fuu when he first met Ed, appearances don’t matter in the long run. He can bow his head when the situation requires. Fighting Greed here would be pointless.

(This is in contrast to Ed who is prideful and can never accept defeat. In Gluttony’s stomach we see him marching relentlessly onward even though its futile. Later, we see Ed’s growth where he agrees to be Greed’s minion, letting go of his useless pride as he realises he can gain something by humbling himself.)

I wish this was explored a bit more too though. It feels more like Ling’s recklessly jumping at the chance to gain immortality despite having been told repeatedly that its a bad idea and, though it seems like he faces consequences in getting consumed by Greed, it eventually works out quite well for him. (Okay that’s a bit harsh, I love Greed’s struggle.) And it seems like its more like luck than any cleverness on his part, which is kinda irksome with how lucky Ling is generally.

-

So yeah, I like where he’s serious and gets challenged but I feel like it rarely happens. Ling’s other flaws just feel like they’re all comedy where the joke is that he’s rude and obnoxious and pushy and gets away with it. None of his other appearances stop his personality from grating on me. At the beginning of the series, he thinks he’s going to find the secret to immortality and be a great leader and apparently he’s completely correct. Not that I want him to fail, I just don’t like his initial character when I feel like I’m supposed to and most of the character development with Greedling feels like its solely for Greed. Eh I’ve rambled on enough now.

I actually love Greed’s character, he’s really interesting and I adore his development. My hatred is purely directed at Ling.

[jasmine-iroh]

Reflections

Pairing: Sokka x f!reader

WC: 1.5K

Summary: for the first time ever, Zuko gives his younger sister good advice. Inspired by the song I Wish I Was The Moon by Neko Case

☽ 〇 ☾

(Y/N) sat quietly with one leg dangling over the edge of the main level of the Western Air Temple, her chin propped up on her other knee. She stared up at the growing sliver of moon visible, a sigh falling past her lips for what must’ve been the hundredth time that night.

She heard the sound of a boot scuffing on the gravel littered around an instant before a warm shoulder brushed against her own as her brother joined her. She knew he made noise only so that his sudden appearance didn’t startle her at the edge of the cliff face; after all, they’d both been trained to move around silently from a young age.

“He’s pestering me about why you left in the middle of his epic tale,” Zuko informed his younger sister quietly, his quiet sarcasm about Sokka’s story telling pulling her lips into the briefest of smiles.

“I wish I was the moon sometimes,” (Y/N) replied, not sparing a glance to Zuko. She knew what she’d see on his face; his moon silvered scar pulled taut in a silent question as he turned to observe her.

The weight of his gaze pulled an explanation from her quicker than any pestering Azula put her through could. A humorless laugh slipped past her lips as she shook her head and turned fully to Zuko.

“That’s the reason I left, Zu. We’re firebenders, we’re supposed to reflect the sun. How could I ever compete with the moon when that’s the opposite of who I am?”

“Well, your first mistake was comparing yourself to a space rock,” he hummed in response while trying to scrounge around his brain for scraps of something Uncle would say to bring (Y/N) inner balance.

Balance.

He grunted as he felt the impact of her elbow in his ribs at his stupid reply.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better, jerk,” (Y/N) grumbled and turned to leave and find a different, idiot free, place to brood when she felt Zuko’s hand grip her arm and coax her back to her seat.

“You’re so sensitive when you’re being angsty,” Zuko huffed, before bumping her shoulder with his own. “I’ve never seen you so twisted up over a guy and his space rock ex,” he teased and laughed as (Y/N) glared at him and shoved him away.

“Stop being a jerk, or I’ll tell Katara to hose you off this cliff,” she threatened him and smirked as he flushed at the Water Tribe girl’s name. Two could play this game, she thought to herself.

“You’re the one being difficult! You know, it’s a crime to assault your Crown Prince,” Zuko crowed dramatically before dragging (Y/N) to lay down with him and stare at the moon.

“Exiled Crown Prince,” she pointed out spitefully, in true bratty younger sister fashion.

“Whatever, Princess. As I was trying to say before being assaulted by an enemy of the Crown, Uncle used to talk a lot about balance while I was banished.” Zuko told her, speaking slowly to make sure his thoughts were collected properly so she couldn’t mock him for fumbling one of Iroh’s proverbs.

“Banished the first time? Or this time?” (Y/N) snickered, earning a smack from her brother.

“Stop. I’m trying to make you feel better, remember?” He groused, before continuing. “Anyways, Uncle always said that the Sun and Moon are reflections of each other, two sides of the same coin. He always said ‘Without the night, there cannot be a new day. Without the day, there would not be any peace in the night.’ Why would you want to be something that has already played out, when you could be your own fresh start?” Zuko asked, staring up at the sky as a cloud floated in front of the moon, obscuring it’s intoxicating glow from the Temple.

(Y/N) closed her eyes as it’s silver glow fell away from her skin, rolling over and pulling Zuko in for a hug.

“You’re pretty smart for an idiot,” she mumbled into his shoulder before standing and walking back towards the fire where the rest of the group still were.

Zuko sighed, knowing that was as close to a thank you as he’d ever get from (Y/N). The moon reemerged from behind the cloud and he smiled faintly up to it.

“A new day,” he murmured to himself, before standing and brushing himself off as he returned to the campfire to take a seat beside Toph, gazing at Katara from across the circle.

☽ 〇 ☾

“Hey, why’d you leave the fire last night? I thought fires were supposed to be your thing,” Sokka questioned (Y/N) the next morning as they were cleaning up from breakfast, trying to erase the tension souring the air between them from the night before.

“I, uh, I just needed to get some air,” (Y/N) tried lamely, avoiding looking up into his pleading ocean eyes. For someone from such a small village, he had an uncanny ability to read her like a book.

“Uh huh,” he grunted, sparing a vaguely pleading glance to Zuko, who was failing miserably at trying not to look like he was eavesdropping with Katara a few feet away. As they made eye contact, Zuko only shrugged, a thinly veiled look of annoyance in his eyes as his gaze settled on his younger sister.

In the moment it took for their silent exchange to take place, (Y/N) had tried to make a swift exit, only to hear a familiar light tread following her to her quarters. Without turning, she stopped and rested against the threshold.

“What, Sokka?” She asked, only to feel his hand tugging her own to get her to turn and face him. His other hand came up and tilted her chin to force her gaze to meet his, an imploring blue gaze meeting her distant amber stare.

“Talk to me,” he pleaded, his voice low and rough in the small space between them. “I need to know what’s on your mind.”

“I wish I was the moon,” she whispered, her voice faltering at the last word, “but I can’t ever be anything but the sun.”

A single tear made its way down her cheek, slicing a hot trail through a warm blush.

Sokka made a strangled noise low in his throat and pulled her into his chest, his wiry arms wrapping around her shoulders and keeping her close as she cried into his chest.

“I’m so tired. I wish I was the moon,” she sobbed, feeling his fingers tilt her head up and press her heated forehead to his own cool skin.

“How can you be the moon when you’re meant to be the sun in the sky?” He soothed her as he wiped her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “The moon only reflects the sun’s light, y’know; that’s why the moon comes and goes while the sun is constant.”

At his words, (Y/N) sniffled and offered him a watery smile, wrapping her own arms around his body and anchoring them together.

“‘M sorry that me talking about Yue upset you last night. She was the first girl I ever felt strongly about, and I can’t let her story be lost to her sacrifice,” he explained, his nose lightly brushing against (Y/N)’s as he spoke. “But that doesn’t mean my story ends with her. There’s always a day after the night, y’know,” he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear him imitating Zuko’s impression of Iroh in his last sentence.

“You heard that?” (Y/N) asked, reeling back a few inches in shock to stare openly at Sokka, who had the audacity to look humored at her reaction.

“Well duh, you ran off without any explanation. I’m no knight, but I know a damsel in distress when I see one,” he joked lamely, laughing when she lightly slapped his shoulder.

“I’m no damsel,” (Y/N) grumbled, letting Sokka pull her back into his chest with a small chuckle.

“Maybe not, but you were in distress,” he pointed out, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as it fell out of her bun. “And I am nothing if not chivalrous,” Sokka whispered as he bent down to capture her lips with his own.

He felt her laugh against his lips before returning his kiss, her fingers making quick work of his top knot. Burying her fingers in his loose hair, she used it to pull him closer and deepen the kiss, feeling her back press against the wall of the temple. Sokka bit down on her lower lip gently with a quiet groan in response to the feeling of (Y/N)’s fingers in his hair, pressing even closer to her.

Before they could take the kiss any further, they heard a shocked gasp followed by Zuko’s voice ringing down the hallway.

“What the hell? You were supposed to make up, not make out,” he shouted, causing the pair to jump apart.

“Run,” (Y/N) whispered urgently to Sokka, taking his hand and tearing off deeper into the temple with him as their laughter and Zuko’s footsteps sounded behind them.

[aspenflower17]

Finding You (Part Fourteen of ??)

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all having a good New Year so far! I have a bit of an update after the chapter for y’all.

Edit: Oop! I forgot the link to Part One for any new people! My bad!

Tags (ily all!):  @simpingforsatan @naimena @hachimochi @wrathandgreed @magi-minminxiii @rensphilia @a-dream-at-night @chloelikesobeyme @getbehindme-satan @theuglypugling @oofthelazyweeb @mammonismyfirstman (as always, if you’d like to be put on the tags list, juust let me know in a comment down below, or a DM)

Word Count: 1,961

TW: None? I’m pretty sure?

Mc didn’t know what she was expecting from the song Satan’s brothers pressured him to play, but a gorgeous melancholic love song was not it, though she should have guessed it was a love song from the title. She was entranced from the first couple notes, and the lyrics pulled her in further. They spoke of someone experiencing love for the first time, though they were afraid of their Love fading away and leaving them. She smiled at the cat lyrics, finding herself not surprised Satan would write about them. He seemed like a cat lover, though she had no real basis for the belief.

 Satan’s singing voice was just as nice as his speaking voice and she found herself impressed. It also held a lot of emotion, enough that she was surprised it didn’t affect his singing. Though she had never heard the song before, it seemed extremely familiar. Though, it was a fairly universal concept, so it probably just seemed she’d heard it before. She hadn’t realized she was crying until Mammon offered her a handkerchief. When he finished, everyone clapped, and he started on another song.

“I never thought I’d hear tha’ song again,” Mammon spoke to Mc in a low voice.

“Why?” she asked.

“Oh… Uhhh… Well, it’s about a lost love of his. Once she… disappeared… He played it one more time and then said he’d never play it again.” 

Mc felt her throat constrict a bit at the revelation, “He must be doing better then. When he got his next… lover, he probably started feeling better.”

“He… Uhhh... '' Mammon floundered for words, and Mc found herself eagerly awaiting his next words, “I don’ think he’s dated anyone before or since her. If nothin’ else, she is his firs’ and only love.”

“Did she hurt him?”

“Huh?”

“I just ask because I’ve seen a lot of people, well, humans, who had relationships go sour and closed themselves off emotionally. I was just wondering if that’s what happened to him.”

“Not… Not exactly… She was human and she… died…” Mammon seemed really anxious at this point, and Mc decided not to push the subject further.

A human? Really? Well, that adds another layer to the song. It’s the most permanent level of “leave” there is. He knew going into the relationship it would end. But… If she had been corrupted enough by him, wouldn’t she have gone to the Devildom? Then they could’ve been together… Does that mean she went to the Celestial Realm? Do I know her? Or… Did she get stuck as a wanderer? Either way, why would he play it now? Mammon said he’d sworn off playing it ever again… The questions swirled around in her head as she watched Satan play.

“Ooooo! Ooooo! My turn!”

“Asmo, you can’t play piano,” Satan sighed, already getting up.

“But I can play music off of my DDD now can’t I?” Asmodeus said, waltzing up to what had become a stage.

As Asmo scrolled through what Mc could only assume was his list of songs, Satan came and stood next to her. Mammon even moved over so he could. Mc gave him a small smile and then turned her attention back to Asmodeus, who was gushing about the song he’d found to sing. She was still thinking about all the unanswered questions she had when she felt a breath next to her ear “What did you think?”

Mc almost jumped, but instead found herself glued to her chair, “Of the song? Or your singing?”

“Hmmm… Both.”

“You play and sing wonderfully. The song was beautiful. I could really feel your emotions.”

“Thank you,” Mc felt Satan retreat back to a standing position, and she found she missed his presence.

A huff from the other side of the room caught her attention. Looking over, she caught the tailend of Michael watching Satan with narrowed eyes before turning back to Asmodeus. How strange.

When Asmodeus finished, Lucifer was both begged and forced to play by those in the room. While Mc had to admit he was definitely in a league all his own, she found herself preferring Satan’s playing to Lucifer’s. She cocked her head slightly at the realization.

“Excellent Lucifer! Just exquisite!” Diavolo boomed, giving the Avatar of Pride a standing ovation, “I can’t remember the last time I heard you play!”

“Well, it has been awhile,” Lucifer smiled. His pride seemed to have recovered enough he could properly interact with people again. Mc was happy she was able to avert a crisis, not interested in finding out how a brawl between Michael and Lucifer would go. Though… Would either of them actually get into a physical altercation?...

Mc was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t realize the brothers were leaving until they were all asking if she would come to the House of Lamentation at some point.

“... And I would love to paint your nails,” Asmo prattled on, grabbing her hands, “And I know the Devildom’s lack of light can make your skin lose some of its radiance, but I have a moisturizer that can help with that. Oh and-”

“Asmo, come on! Ya want Mc to come visit or not?” Mammon interrupted,

“Mammon, you don’t understand the nuances of keeping yourself looking perfect.”

“Uh, yes. I do. I’m a model. Ya been smellin’ too many of ya fancy products and it’s melted ya brain?”

“I think you’re thinking of yourself, though it was probably when you were trying to con those witches into buying acid, and you drank some.”

“Oi! How do ya know about that?”

“Ugh, there they go again,” a head rested itself on Mc’s shoulder, and she almost jumped until she saw who it was, “Seriously though Mc. You should come over.”

“Yeah. You’re even welcome to bring Luke,” the one brother who she hadn’t talked to added, “Barbatos told me he’s gotten even better at baking.”

“Of course I’ve gotten better at baking! I’m also very good at cooking too,” Luke said, having joined the conversation.

Mc watched at Beelzebub, which is who she figured he must be through the process of elimination, actually started drooling, “Does that mean you’re actually going to come over then?”

Luke smiled fondly, a look Mc wasn’t sure she’d have ever thought he could have for a demon, “If you’d like Beel, I could probably make that happen.”

Beel rushed over to Luke and pulled him into a huge hug. Belphegor removed himself from Mc, walking over to Beelzebub, “Beel, you need to let go of the chihuahua or he’s going to suffocate. Luke can’t make you food if he’s been squished.”

“I’m sorry. I hope these idiots haven’t been bothering you too much.”

“Not at all Lucifer. They were just inviting me over sometime.”

“Well, I suppose it’s time for us to head out,” Lucifer said, starting to gather his brothers.

“You are welcome anytime you want to come over,” Satan’s voice came from behind her.

“I… Thanks. I would really like that.”

“Satan! We’re leaving.”

“I’m coming Lucifer,” Satan called, rolling his eyes, then back to Mc with a smile, “Bye.”

“Bye,” Mc called after him.

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

Mc sat in her room hours later, the events of the evening still running through her head. Though she knew Michael wouldn’t approve, she found herself much more at ease and even happier around them than she did around most angels. There was a non-judgmental kindness they all exuded (well, all except Lucifer) that made her feel like she belonged. She found herself excited about the prospect of spending more time with them at the House of Lamentation. She had to laugh a bit, the fact she didn’t fit in with the rest of the angels never more clear than it was now. 

Simeon had told her his time in the Devildom had been extremely enjoyable, the less structured lifestyles if the Devildom a welcome change from the Celestial Realm. She had read his work from that time and it was obvious he had felt a lot more creative in the Devildom, even though he had school responsibilities at the time. While she hadn’t doubted his words, she had always figured the change was mostly due to the fact he had been able to communicate with his lost brothers again. Now she understood what he had been talking about. 

Simeon generally gets along with the other angels too. What would they all say if they found out I prefer the company of the Fallen to them? Everything is just more natural with them. It’s almost like I already know who they are, as strange as that sounds. Especially Satan, though I’ve felt connected to him since I got his letter. Speaking of which, who was it that he mentioned? Lil… Lilly? Lillah? Lillian? Hmmm… I can’t remember. I do know I’ve never heard that name before. Whoever it was seemed to have a great impact on all of the brothers. It can’t be someone they Fell with. I’ve read all the literature about the Fall and I don’t recognize the name. Though there’s a lot about the Fall the Celestial Realm doesn’t talk about. But... Simeon’s also never mentioned anyone with that name before… Maybe it’s time for me to do some more research.

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

Mc stretched, and checked the time on her DDD. She had been in Diavolo’s personal library for over three hours, and she still hadn’t found any mention of the mysterious “L” person. She found plenty of references to Lucifer though. It seemed he and his brothers had been instrumental in helping Diavolo establish order when the old King had started his slumber. What caused this slumber, why it happened, or if it would end was not covered. Mc wanted to research the topic further, but she couldn’t get distracted until she had answered her initial question.

There was a knock at the door, and Barbatos came in carrying a teacup on a saucer, “I thought you might be in here.”

“Oh, hello Barbatos.”

The butler entered the room, and set the tea down on the table Mc was studying at, “I thought you might like some tea.”

“I would actually, thank you. If you would like to, you can take a seat.”

“I suppose that’d be alright,” Barbatos smiled, and sat down in a chair. His eyes glided across the books strewn around Mc, “You’ve got some heavy reading here.”

“Well, I’m trying to figure something out,” Mc sighed, sipping her tea.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

“Maybe, though I don’t remember what it is I’m looking for exactly,” Barbatos simply cocked his head slightly until she continued, “Satan was telling about… Well, a personal experience, and he mentioned someone. I don’t remember their name, but it was someone very close to all the brothers and they had passed away. I was just trying to figure out who it was.”

“You seem very interested in this person,” Barbatos’ tone wasn’t accusatory, but he seemed to expect and answer.

“... I guess I’m just trying to understand them better. Him better,” The last part slipped from Mc’s mouth easily, surprising even her.

“I think I may know who you’re talking about. If I’m correct, you won’t find any references to her in these books. It’s not my place to explain the situation to you however. You should probably go speak with the brothers about her…” the butler paused for a second before continuing, “I believe Michael also knows a lot about the situation, though he doesn’t know the full story,” with that, he got up and pushed his chair in, “I must continue with my duties, but I appreciate the short reprieve. Good night.”

“Night,” Mc called after him. Huh. Michael knows?

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

Part Fifteen

 I wanted to let you all know that as it is January, ever since 2014 the first moth of the year has been terrible for me. So far, we are 3 days into 2021, and I have already gotten a near constant tooth ache meaning I’m going to have to go to the dentist, and have gotten sick. I don’t know what else this month has in store for me, but I just wanted to warn you all, if my updates get sporadic or short, that’s why 😬 

[professordrarry]

Taken All Together

Collab fic: Posting in honour of Neville and Harry’s birthdays. Surprising absolutely no one, this got really long. This is part 1 of probably only 2? LOL. 

*any changes in submitted lines were done strictly for contextual consistency and I hope will be forgiven :D*

There was a story within the walls of the Hogwarts, new and yet treated like it was ancient. It was murmured amongst the students, passed in whispers between the staff, and rumoured to have been spread so deeply among the House Elves that it would be passed on for generations. The ghosts didn’t like to talk about it since it often created uncomfortable dividing lines between them. Apparently, the story required you to land on someone’s side, and that made the ghosts — infamous for allegiance to themselves and themselves alone — uncomfortable. 

When he returned to the school to take up his temporary post of Alchemy Professor, Draco was warned by every member of the junior staff to never, ever bring up the story. 

The story of why Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter no longer spoke was, for all intents and purposes, strictly taboo. 

At first, Draco just nodded and accepted the odd pieces of information. He was hardly one to broker peace, given that both men had collectively been teaching at Hogwarts for nearly a decade. He did find it strange to see the two Gryffindor’s so estranged, but he figured he’d get more information before he spoke.

He observed for a week, carefully collecting anecdotal evidence. He quickly realised the story he’d been told was not exaggerated. He watched as the two professors would turn the opposite direction in the corridor to avoid walking past each other. They would sit at opposite ends of the staff table in the dining hall. Longbottom would rarely leave the greenhouses before dusk, and would always look around fervently before returning to his second-floor quarters. 

In other circumstances, Draco likely would have found this quite hilarious; in school, for example, such a display of in-house fighting would have been the perfect fodder for Slytherin dorm betting pools and mockery. 

The unfortunate reality now, however, was that it was impacting Draco’s currently limited social life, and he was very much Not Okay with it. Largely because it was extremely problematic to have your boyfriend locked in a silent battle with one of the few other people their own age within a hundred-mile radius. 

Finally, nearly a month into the term, his feet fully wet and his confidence restored, Draco decided he had enough evidence to confront Harry. He waited until they were in bed; he figured that if it went extremely sour, he would at least have a way to distract him from bodily harm. 

“Harry, darling,” he began quietly. “I’ve, um…I’ve noticed that you and Longbottom seem to be—”

Harry immediately stiffened at his side and huffed out a breath. “Listen, mate, I don’t know what you think you know, but—” 

“Mate,” Draco repeated, deadpan. “Mate.” 

Harry just fixed him with a steely-eyed stare, challenge in the stiffness of his every muscle. Draco sighed. 

“Didn’t you two used to be, I don’t know, friends or whatever? You must know the rumours that swirl about the place about you two,” Draco expounded, ignoring the tightness in Harry’s jaw and blazing forward, borrowing a line from the Gryffindor sensibility that he had begrudgingly admired for a long time. “I just thought we were at the point where…you can tell me this stuff, and everything. Surely, we’ve moved past the awkward half-truths stage.” 

Harry softened slightly and rolled onto his back. “You know we have,” he replied gently. “This is… just complicated.” 

“Ah, yes, because the rest of our relationship has been founded on utter simplicity and clear black-and-white lines.” 

Harry laughed. “Except for the time Hermione hexed you six months ago.” 

“The only notable exception,” Draco replied dryly. 

Harry rolled back over to face him, resting on his arm. “I want to tell you. But. Well, okay, don’t take this the wrong way but you tend to get a bit…jealous.” 

“Jealous.” 

“Sometimes. It’s adorable. Usually.” Harry looked very worried for a moment. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to be one of those times when it’s adorable.” 

Draco took a deep breath. “Listen, Harry, my lovely. We are…older than I like to admit. I think we can handle the fact that we both come from a place in the past. And trust me, the real story can’t be as dramatic as the rumours…” 

Harry chuckled. “Oh. You’d be surprised. Fine, I’ll tell you. Just…not tonight.” 

“Have I mentioned that I love you?” Draco said, sickly sweet. “I love you so much I want to punch you in the face.” 

Harry laughed a little too loudly, and Draco retaliated with a pillow to his face. When they eventually fell asleep, Draco had only just forgotten what had gotten them into this line of conversation. 

Five Years Earlier

“Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to find what we’re looking for here,” Harry teased, poking the last shelf to their left and giggling to himself as the very realistic dildos that were housed there wiggled and shook. 

“I told Hannah that I wasn’t going to be good at this,” Neville insisted, turning an impressive shade of beet red and dropping his head into his hands. 

“Relax, Nev,” Harry insisted, grabbing him by both shoulders and steering him out of the shop. “We just need one that’s a little more party shop and a little less orgy.” Harry smiled apologetically at the scowl his statement produced from the very pretty punk girl at the cash. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he added hastily with a wink. 

“Harry, this is a disaster. I don’t think you understand how much I am hating everything right now.” 

“Neville,” Harry laughed. “Mate. I grew up in a dorm with you. I know exactly how much pain this is causing you. I’m just also finding it hilarious.” 

“That’s because you suck.”

“Only when asked,” he teased, winking at Neville without meaning too. Sometimes, when he was in this mood, the winking got a bit out of control. Neville shot him an interesting look; part glower, part…something else. If he didn’t know better, if it weren’t Neville, he’d assume it was interest

They walked down the highstreet silently for a moment before Harry cleared his throat. 

“Nev,” he said hesitantly. “Erm, you…you’re not…having second thoughts or anything are you?” 

Neville did not immediately reply. Harry froze in the middle of the street, stopping an elderly couple behind him who tisked loudly. 

“Neville,” he urged. 

“I…not second thoughts, nothing that…dramatic. I just. Harry, do you think I’m making a mistake?” 

“What? Of course not, we love Hannah.” 

Neville nodded. “Yeah, no, I know. That’s…that’s not what I mean.” 

“I know,” Harry said gently. “I…maintain my previous offer, you know. If you want to…check. If it would help. If you need it to just be…a thing you check.” 

Neville opened his mouth to speak, closed it again a moment later. Harry decided that maybe, what they both needed, was just action. It was only much later that he would reconsider his decision, here on this high street in Edinburgh, hoping that he wasn’t about to lose his favourite co-worker and a very good friend. 

He stepped forward, took Neville’s hand in his own, pulled him off to the side of the walkway. He pressed them both into the wall, took the chance afforded to him by Neville’s furtive glance around to the crowds nearby. He pressed his lips to Neville’s, carefully. Gently. He waited to be pushed away. Instead, he was drawn closer, a free hand weaving into his hair, a clasped one gripping desperately. 

“Yeah,” Neville said a moment later, his eyes closing tightly. “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.”  

“Neville,” Harry started. “Neville, it’s nothing. We can forget it ever happened.” Neville just stared at him, pleading in his eyes. Harry backtracked. “Or…or we can just check.” 

“Just,” Neville whispered. “Harry, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but please, just… get away from me, I need a break from all this, I just… please leave.”

Harry nodded once and walked away.

[whatif-animagineblog]

Summary: You came into a small town wanting to help people, that was it, hopefully having a good life. The small town you found, Four Corners, was unsuspecting. A town you never expected to have the impact on your life as it and it’s resident Conman would have.

Chapter Summary: A bet goes awry and you get to know the gambler just a bit better. 

Pairing: Ezra Standish/Reader (Rein in your horses. It’s slow burn)

Words: 1951

Warnings: Pining, my god, the pining. Dumb babies not really understanding their feelings.

A/N: I don’t have anything to say other than it took me forever to edit this the way I wanted it. 

CHAPTER THREE: More Than Bargained For

PREVIOUS/ NEXT

It had been a few days since you had really seen any of the men, you had been wrapped up with a little girl who had a serious fever and had not left the clinic as Nathan was out of town buying supplies. Finally able to join the public you walked down the road and caught sight of most of your friends in the saloon. You slipped inside and saw four of your seven new friends at a card table. They all had their eyes trained on the bar. You stepped behind Vin and JD following their gaze to Ezra talking to a woman. You felt a strange pang in your chest watching him smiling, leaning into the conversation. Surely it couldn’t be jealousy. You had no reason to be jealous. You gripped his back of the chair slightly, swallowing hard, forcing yourself to ask, “What’s going on here?”

“Oh Buck and Ezra had a minor disagreement over Ezra’s and his’, what’d he call it? ‘Predilections’ for wooing a lady. So, Buck offered a bet,” JD explained.

“And you know how Ez loves the word,” Buck laughed, but you didn’t you had no idea what he meant. The Ezra you knew, or so you thought seemed almost too good to be caught in a bet like this. Or a bet at all. “Bet him five he couldn’t talk her into dinner.” You shifted, you looked at the men and back up at Ezra who had the girl giggling.

“You know Buck,” Vin laughed, “Ez is mighty persuasive and I hate to see you lose that much money.” He turned to you with a broad grin, “I will give you four dollars, if would you pretend to be his wife or lady friend.”

“You can have Ezra’s five if you make it good,” Buck laughed. You smiled and weighed your options, you bit your lip and you don’t know for sure what made you do it but you strode right up to Ezra.

“Sweetheart there you are,” you gushed as you placed your hands on his arm. He snapped his head to you, his eyes wild. He licked his lip and turned back to the lady he’s been flirting with, trying to smile through the confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me you were headed off this direction?”

“Whose this?” the other woman asked as Ezra searched for words, a blush starting to creep up his cheeks. He wasn’t sure if it was from you or the embarrassment of being caught.

“Well I-I, you see,” he sputtered.

“I’m his wife! Just married last month, isn’t that right my dear?” Then you moved to kiss his cheek, instead, his head snapped to you when the sentence had registered you kissed him right on the lips. Though it was a mistake you sold it.  To your amounting shock, there was a second he pressed back before he pushed you back at arm’s length. He looked at you in shock, “What’s wrong dear?”

Ezra still gaping turned his head over to the woman who threw a drink in his face and proceeded to slap him, “You scoundrel!”  She left in a huff and the men over at the table proceeded to whoop and holler waving the money for you to retrieve.

Ezra touched his lips, not at all feeling the sting of the slap, instead, reeling from the shock of your lips. As he came to his senses he could feel the heat in his face, making his cheeks match his jacket in color. His brows were knitted together as he watched you join the other men.

“Hey, Ezra! Maybe your wife will share her winnings,” Buck shouted laughing loudly. Ezra huffed and walked up to the table snatching his hat.

“That was cheating, Buck. You owe me five dollars,” Ezra accused, pointing a finger into the other man’s chest.

“Sorry, Ezra you lost and I gave the money to your wife,” Buck laughed and you stood there smiling but recounting the kiss.

“Y- You cheated, that was not part of the deal! You can’t alter the parameters like that!”

“You sure are one to talk. Mr. deck stacker,” Nathan laughed. Ezra froze glancing up at you, your brows knitted in confusion. He didn’t need this, he didn’t need you to know that he was no good. He was trying to be better, he wanted to impress you, for a reason he didn’t understand.

“That’s luck gentlemen, don’t be sour. I just have a certain tactile sensitivity.”

“Right,” Buck jumped back in, “Putting the odds in your favor.”

“Leaving nothing to chance,” Vin added

“Being one with the cards, in tune with their vibration,” Nathan suggested.

“Sounds like cheating to me,” JD finished with little tact.

“Not like it’s news,” Vin folded his arms.

Ezra gripped his hat and huffed again, unable to come up with any lies, or smooth words to cover his dirty tracks. “I have business to attend to, Gentlemen.” He put on his hat and looked at you before tipping his head slightly, “Ma’am.”

“What was that about,” JD asked and the table shrugged. You turned and ran out the doors and went after him.

“Mr. Standish!” You ran up and grabbed the crook of his arm. “Mr. Standish. I’m so sorry that I embarrassed you, I was just,” He didn’t look at you and you looked away as well. “I don’t know that I was doing.”

“It’s alright, I was already making a fool of myself. Those men, despite most things, can be very persuasive. How much did you get out of my misfortune?”

“9 dollars,” you admitted. “You can have it if you’d like.”

“No, no, you earned it fair and square. Put it towards the clinic. Honestly, I can’t find fault with you,” he laughed, but it was weak and wavered, “You saw what I would do when ‘bet’ is uttered. And then my companions so kindly decided to remind me that I-”

“Cheat?” He still wouldn’t look at you, “Would you take me to lunch?”

Now he looked at you and his face was just contorted in pure confusion “Excuse me?”

“I think you have a story you need to tell. Take me to lunch and tell me.” You put your hand out. Ezra stared at it for a second, he didn’t know quite what he was doing but he took it and tucked it into his arm. He was being given an opportunity to control how his past was seen, and he was nothing if not an opportunist. And despite claiming to be an observant person, somehow he couldn’t see that you were taking a sledgehammer to the walls he had built up.

Ezra sat across from you looking into his drink, “I wanted to keep this from you.”

“That you cheat at cards?”

“I tend to cheat at most things. I’m what people kindly refer to as a grifter. Those less kind than you use cheater, con man, swindler and other such words.” You nodded, “I-I never really perceived my talents as wrong before I became so involved with my fellow paid-protectors. Yet, even now I can’t stop myself, it’s habit.” You watched him as his fingers drummed on his glass, doing all he could to not look at you.”It’s fun.

“I was raised by my mother to be a con man, taught me everything I know.” His voice picked up an off-handed nature, like it was a thought that had escaped, “Well, in between her leaving me at relatives houses until she needed me. So I’ve always done what I’ve been told.

“And as such, I’ve always gotten that look you know, that ‘can I trust him?’ The look, some of my cohorts still give me, the side eye, especially when they think I don’t notice.” He didn’t know why he was spilling this out. Maybe it’s the way you looked at him, a look of understanding. Or maybe his friends had broken him down more than he had thought.

“Why didn’t you want to tell me this,” you asked after he fell silent for a while.

“Because you haven’t done that. When you first actually met me, after I saved you, you didn’t look at me like I was a snake in the grass, like I always have an ulterior motive. A-and I didn’t want that to change.” He finally looked up and his eyes were the softest you’d ever seen, watery even. He was sitting there baring his soul to you, scared, and bracing for the worst. Bracing for the rejection that was surely coming. “I didn’t want you to look at me like I am what I am.”

You bowed your head a moment, thinking. You sighed and looked back up at him with resolve. “Well, you’ve done so much for me already. I don’t think I anything you say could change my opinion on you.”

“And what opinion is that pray tell?”

“That you are a good man. Sometimes a little misguided, but you have a good heart.”

“You know I was wanted in several cities and territories. I was pardoned when I joined this peacekeeping service.”

“Okay.” Your face remained soft, no sign of scrutiny or anger or anything else Ezra had grown used to seeing over the years. No, your face held some level of understanding. A face he had started to recognize in the other men, but you were different. It felt different coming from you, and he didn’t think he deserved it. 

“I still do it. Time to time when a money opportunity comes up I am ready to exploit it, you saw it today. A-a-and, and-”

“Mr. Standish, do you not want me to like you?”

“Huh?” Ezra wanted to slap himself, allowing such an uncouth response tumble from his mouth like he was some schoolboy.

“Well, you seem to be going out of your way to say things and prove to me that I shouldn’t like you. So do you not want me too?”

“Of course not. What I mean is I don’t want you to not like me.”

“Then why are you trying so hard?”

“You deserve to know that I am not as heroic or selfless per se, as my partners.”

You smiled and shook your head, “Okay. You might think you know who you are. But I am pretty sure I know the truth about you.” You stood grinning now as he still looked confused, perhaps more in awe than anything else. “Thank you for the meal.”

Now Ezra stood, “Alright since you have gotten some my tangled pass out of me faster than a preacher and seem to think you know me better than myself, I think we are long passed formality. Call me Ezra.”

“Only if you call me Y/N”

He took your hand in a firm grip, a wolf-like grin brightening his features. “It’s a deal, Y/N.” He pulled your hand to his lips. You smiled, wishing for the brief moment of intimacy to last longer. Loving the chills the sensation sent down your spine.  

“It’s a deal. Thank you for sharing,” you pulled yourself up and kissed the side of his face. You smiled pulling back and squeezed his arm gently. “I’ll see you around, Ezra.”

He watched the door close behind you, rooted in his spot, “Steady Ezra, Steady,” he whispered to himself.” Few warm looks and you are ready to tell her all your secrets. What would mother say?” He mulled over that question till he reached his room, he knew what his mother would say. ‘Use it to your advantage.’ This was one thing he would not be writing to mother about. Well, one on a growing list of things.

[richiestoziers]

it’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

summary: it’s hard for eddie to find his soulmate when the only indicator is a song in your head (but richie finds a way)

warnings: kissing, excessive amount of the song africa by toto (fr only because all of yall love it so much and i wanna please yall), and a very cheesy ending!!

read on ao3 here

it has led to many controversy the claim that whenever a song is stuck in your head, it is because your soulmate is singing it. like religion, there are groups of people who believe it with their entire being, and others who think it’s a load of bullshit. even scientific studies have been used on it, those questioning if it’s true, and if it is your soulmate every time or just some of the time. no matter what no one could get a definite answer, though those who have found their supposed soulmates tend to be firm believers. they all have their sweet stories, always hearing the same song in their head and one day bumping into a person singing the same song, falling in love and just knowing they’re soulmates. 

eddie kaspbrak is a believer of the soulmate song belief, because while he was cynical and pessimistic towards many things, deep down he was a romantic at heart. not to mention there had been plenty of times he got songs stuck in his head that he had never heard before. a lot of them were oldies, a lot of buddy holly (typically ‘rave on!), and sometimes even a song by the title of “kookie kookie lend me your bones” (later he would find out this was his soulmates best friends favorite song). eddie’s soulmate seemed to like rock and roll typically, amongst other things. the only song they seemed to have in common was africa by toto, and eddie was starting to think of that as ‘their’ song. he was also wondering if his soulmate liked his taste in music, or if he despised hearing “it’s raining men” and whitney houston (eddie’s favorite).

he wasn’t sure how his soulmate felt, or really anything about him besides his taste in music, because at the ripe age of nineteen eddie was still yet to meet the person he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. he was worried, everyone else in his life had met their soulmates, his best friend bill denbrough had just met his recently leaving eddie to be the last of his friends to be truly single.

of course he was happy for bill in finding stan, but he couldn’t help but be jealous whenever he went out with the two boys, or even just bill but had to see him smiling at his phone screen in that dopey way that made him just know he was talking to stan. it was infuriating, seeing someone else so damn happily in love while he wasn’t, and he may be selfish for thinking it but he can’t help it. he was crazy jealous, and there was nothing he could do about it.

of course he had no idea the amount of times he had almost met his soulmate, but something got in the way. like that one party he had gone to with stan and bill and they found out their friend was there, but eddie lost them in the crowd before he could meet this friend. then there was the time stan and richie were out for lunch and eddie was in just the store across the street, ended up walking right by the love of his life and not even giving a glance up and in that direction. he had heard of his soulmate though, not realizing it was his soulmate, and from the sound of it he already didn’t like this ‘richie tozier’.

from what he had heard was stan had a best friend named richie tozier who was immature, disgusting, annoying, a wannabe comedian, and the opposite of him. he didn’t know how stan was his friend either, since stan and this ‘richie’ seemed like polar opposites as well. stan says they’ve been best friends since they were babies and grew up together, their friendship never faltering, similar to bill and eddie’s friendship.

so that was how this all started, the beginning of the rest of his life.

bill and stan decided it was high time their best friends since childhood should meet up, maybe to make their group expand more? eddie didn’t know, what he did know was that he was on his way to stan and bill’s apartment to eat take out chinese food in their bowls and plates with a boy he already disliked.

knocking on the apartment door of his two best friends, eddie could hear chatter from inside and awaited for one of the three voices to acknowledge his light pounding on the door. it was stan who opened the door, always a good host, and welcomed him in to where bill was already sitting at the table and another boy reaching for a glass. eddie was in awe at this sight, this other being in the room, a tall god in an apartment. all he could see was the boys back, but he was still struck just by that. the boy was tall, maybe six feet or more, and didn’t even have to reach very high to get the glass. his hair was black and curly, almost like how eddie’s was in the rare times it grew out. 

and when the boy turned around eddie felt lightheaded, seeing those dark brown eyes and plump pink lips had him weak in the knees, and eddie had to idea how to react rather than just stand still and stare. this got a chuckle out of the stranger, who eddie refused to put two and two together and realize was the infamous richie tozier. 

“take a picture, it’ll last longer.” the dark haired beauty spoke, turning to bill with a sour look on his face before speaking again. “that’s too cliche to be funny or have a real impact, isn’t it? fuck, i’ve lost my chance at an amazing first impression.”

eddie had never been more embarrassed in his life, and was hoping he wasn’t blushing. “a picture is the last thing i want, i was just so shocked when i saw you and realized how ugly a person could be.” it wasn’t very good, but it was better than nothing. 

richie’s jaw dropped, but quickly turned into a smile as he took one large step into eddie’s space. hand out and in his direction, he spoke once again. “richie tozier, at your service.” it was said in a fairly decent scottish accent that made eddie cringe.

“eddie kaspbrak, and never talk to me in a horrible imitation of an accent again.” he shook the larger boys hand, his much smaller. eddie was much smaller than richie in total, because while richie was possibly six foot eddie was barely five feet seven inches, making him feel impossibly small under richie’s stare.

richie laughed, turning to bill and stan who were back together at the table. “i don’t think he likes me very much, fellas.” 

eddie walked to his seat at the table and began to take some food to eat, not looking back to richie and ignoring his last comment for the food in front of him.

he sensed richie going back to the table, sitting to his right, and eddie gave him a quick side glance (so as to not show he was staring) before going back to his food and listening to bill and stan’s conversation. all four would join in and speak, with eddie and richie stealing looks and wondering about who the person really was, and overall enjoying the night.

it reached the end of the night and it was time for stan and bill’s guests to depart, so eddie and richie hugged stan and bill goodbye and walked out the door together. outside together and alone in the hallway eddie had no idea what to do, and came to the conclusion just to leave. he began to walk away but was stopped by a laugh and words from richie. “hey, aren’t you gonna give me your number?” 

eddie turned around, confused, not thinking him and richie had bonded much over the night to trade numbers. “why do you want it?” 

richie rolled his eyes, catching up and making his way to where eddie had walked away. “so i can text you later for your moms number, bet she’s hot.” there was the immaturity eddie disliked. “kidding, i want it cuz we’re friends now.” 

eddie scoffed, giving richie some of the attitude he gave out. “since when?” 

“since tonight, obviously.” he rolled his eyes with this for dramatic affect, then pouted those pink lips to seem sad. “you really don’t like me, do you eds?” 

“i hate that nickname, don’t call me that.” typical. “fine, give me your phone.” 

richie handed him his phone, eddie typed in his number and returned it. “score.” richie mumbled under his breath, looking down at his phone and not seeing the red of eddie’s cheeks. “i’ll call you, we should hang out soon.” 

“yeah, sure.” eddie spoke, looking down to hide his flushed face. “see you around.” he turned around from the tall man, making his way to the elevator with a smile he just can’t get rid of. 

by the time he got to his car he had africa stuck in his head, reminding him of the person he was meant to be with. he felt guilty, but he sang along with the song in his head nonetheless.

the next day he got a text from the infamous richie tozier, inviting him to a party the following weekend. he told him it would be at his apartment, no real reason other than to have one, and stan and bill would be there. he also mentioned he could bring as many people as he wanted, but eddie came to the conclusion to only bring one. he assumed he would only know richie, stan, and bill at the party, and he wasn’t ready to hang out with richie again and he wasn’t in the mood to see a drunken stanley dry humping his best friend. he invited mike hanlon, a friend he had made that was his neighbor in their apartment building, and while they weren’t the best of friends they were good enough where eddie would know he would have a good time with the boy.

walking into the apartment he could hear the music playing from outside, and entered to it blasting in his ear. buddy holly by weezer was playing, a song he had heard played in his head before, and it made him momentarily swoon. he had been hearing songs all day, and he was happy to know somewhere out there his soulmate was happy.

eddie and mike walked around until they found stan and bill in the kitchen, getting a drink and leaning against the table. “hey guys.” eddie made his way to the happy couple, not needing to introduce mike as he had met them before.

“i’m surprised no neighbors have called the cops, the music is so loud. we could hear it from outside.” mike laughed as he spoke, not complaining in the slightest, rather enjoying it and hoping the cops didn’t come to break it up.

stan nodded in agreement, and bill spoke for the both of them. “i’m sure in a few hours this place will be emptied out because of the cops. i can’t think of a single party richie has thrown since i’ve known him where the cops weren’t called.” 

“last one i went to before the cops were called was his tenth birthday party, but hitting double digits is what really triggered richie’s craziness. after that his birthday parties were rare, because he would always do something and either the cops, the fire department, or both were at his house to celebrate too.” stan added his comments, he was one person who can say had been to almost every one of richie tozier’s parties. “speak of the devil.”

before eddie could let that moment of confusion come out in words, he heard a voice that made him understand what stanley meant. “eddie spaghetti, you came!” came a screech, making eddie turn around to the glorious and gloriously annoying richie tozier.

eddie’s arms were crossed and his eyes rolled, a very typical movement for edward kaspbrak, as he responded. “don’t call me that either, it’s even worse than eds.” he already felt as if this banter was their thing.

“so you’d rather have me call you eds? okay, eds.” richie teased, leaning down to eddie to emphasize those words. he could smell the alcohol on richie’s breath, though he seemed sober enough, and he was using this to distract from the fact that richie’s plump pink lips were so close to his. 

“no, i’d rather you call me eddie.” he said as confidently as he could with richie bent over and in his face, making eddie a flustered mess. 

thankfully he was saved by mike. “hey, you hosting this party? i’m mike hanlon, eddie invited me if that’s okay.” he had his hand out ready to shake, and richie moved away from eddie and in the direction of mike. 

“ello mike, nice to meet ye. i’m richie tozier, party host and impressions extraordinaire.” it came out a shitty mixture of an irish and scottish accent, or at least that’s what eddie could gather. richie shook mike’s hand and gave him a welcoming smile, and mike was glad to say he really did feel welcomed at this party. “you my little eddie spaghetti’s date?”

before mike could respond eddie cut in, quick as lightning. “no, we’re just friends. you said i could bring a friend so i did.” eddie didn’t know why he got so defensive, about this, he just wanted richie to know that friends was all he was with mike. 

“i got my girl back home, well she’s out with her friends tonight, but you know what i mean.” mike gave his own commentary on the question directed at him, much more calm than eddie was. he had met his soulmate when he was seventeen, and he was extraordinarily in love with her. 

richie smiled back and forth from eddie and mike, his curls moving as he turned and his plain white tee contrasting those dark eyes and curls. he was so beautiful, eddie was still struck by it. “good, then you won’t mind if i borrow eddie for a bit.” he said to mike, then going back to eddie in his back and forth between the two. “wanna dance?” it seemed like something out of a movie, and eddie was feeling like cinderella as richie asked that with his large hand out awaiting eddie’s. 

of course rather than a ballroom in suits they were in his dirty apartment in jeans and tshirts. 

“fine.” eddie gave in, pretending as if he was against the idea, but feeling hot as he grabbed richie’s open palm and was immediately dragged into the heart of the music. 

david bowie was blasting through the stereo, heroes playing as loudly as possible, hurting eddie’s ears and making it nearly impossible to hear anyone else. if he wanted to communicate with richie he would have to scream directly into his ear, though it seemed richie would rather dance than talk in that moment.

richie was a sporadic dancer, seemingly scattered all over the place with the messiness of his dancing. it was jumping and flailing arms, it was him shaking his head and his curls flying around in different directions, and it looked more like he was seizing than dancing and eddie found it adorable. 

eddie on the other hand wasn’t much of a dancer, rather slowly swaying to the beat than giving it his all like richie. he had no rhythm, two left feet, and was not a big fan of dancing in the first place. at least this is what he would tell most people when they asked why he wasn’t dancing or why he was dancing like that. perhaps he just needed the right teacher to help him.

richie finally looked at eddie while he jumped to the music, moving his curls out of his face to get a better look at the small boy swaying. still dancing he moved closer to eddie, putting his hand on the small of his back and leaning down to his ear. eddie stopped dancing immediately, feeling hot and shaky and everything his mother would classify as a sickness as richie touched him, and he closed his eyes unsure what he was waiting for.

“why aren’t you dancing?” was all he got instead, screamed into his ear and richie let go of his embrace and moved away once he was done posing the question. eddie’s eyes opened with a look of irritation and embarrassment for thinking something else might happen and wanting it.

eddie got on his tippy toes to reach richie’s ear, screaming his response back. “i was dancing, did you not see me?”

the two went back and forth with this, richie bending over, eddie on his tip toes. it was richie’s turn now. “that was not dancing, that was pathetic swaying that seemed disinterested and annoyed.”

“well it’s better than whatever you were doing.” back on his tippy toes.

“i’m actually a very good dancer when i want to be, just ask my friend bev, we’re dance partners.” eddie felt a pang of jealousy quickly ripple through him, and he mentally tried to shake it out of his head at the mention of this bev.

“i have to see that to believe it.” he didn’t think richie would actually take up his challenge, but when did richie ever say no to one?

so they continued to dance along with the next few songs until a slower one came on, and richie felt the need to show eddie just what he had learned when beverly forced him to accompany her to a few dance classes. one large step towards eddie and his hand was back on eddie’s back and waist. eddie, confused with what to do let’s richie lead, and feels embarrassed when he can feel the vibration of richie’s laugh against him. “you really don’t know how to dance, do you?” he spoke into eddie’s ear once more. “put your hands around my soulders.” 

eddie did as he was told, never having slow danced or done any type of dancing before. his hands were on richie’s shoulders, a bit uncomfortable and eddie felt as if it was still wrong, but richie didn’t say anything as the two swayed. 

“this isn’t really what i learned in class with bev, but it’s a much easier and much more high school version. it’s for beginners like you.” he winked at eddie as he said this, making eddie ‘accidentally’ step on richie’s foot in revenge. “ow.”

“whoops.” eddie responded, a cheeky smile plastered on his face.

“you’re not half bad, just need some practice, and i’ve been told i’m a great teacher.” richie winked, flirtatious as always and leaving eddie flustered as always.

“i think i’d rather get lessons from this ‘bev’ you speak of. anyone’s better than you.” he joked, knowing he had warmed up to richie when they first met.

“ouch. you really know how to bruise a man’s ego, eds.” richie jokingly feigned pain at his comment, sarcastic as always.

“don’t call me that, it’s just eddie.” he may have warmed up to him, but he was still tired of the nicknames. 

richie shook his head with a laugh, letting the conversation die out, but it didn’t get awkward. they didn’t need to talk to be enjoying each others company, the silence enough for the both of them.

eddie eventually broke that silence though, with a “i have to go to the bathroom.”

richie nodded, letting go of eddie. “let me show you.” he began to walk ahead and sift through the crowd towards the bathroom, eddie following close behind like a shadow for the man. “here we are.”

eddie nodded his head in appreciation with a smile, going in as ‘everybody wants to rule the world began to play’. 

he began to wash his head and blocked out the song actually playing at the party, singing ‘africa’ under his breath instead. soapy hands under water and he mumbled the lyrics of blessing rains in africa before he walked out the door.

still singing it as he walked out, he thought it would have been hard to hear over the music, but when he walked out richie immediately asked him “what are you listening to?” 

eddie’s heart was beating and he was confused as to why, and answered him reluctantly. “africa...by toto.”

eddie watched as richie’s smile grew wider and wider until it seemed impossibly big, and he felt himself lifted off the ground as richie picked him up and twirled him around. “it’s you, isn’t it? isn’t it? i hope it is, because if not then this will be so embarrassing and i’ll never be able to face you again.” richie rambled on and on.

eddie, still struck by the severity of the situation and unsure how to feel about it didn’t know how to respond besides a “what?”

richie kept his hands on eddie’s waist as he was now on the ground, he was bent over and smiling in eddie’s face. “come on, singing africa, whitney houston? don’t you want to dance with somebody who loves you?” it was borderline mocking, but the fact that he had found his soulmate blocked eddie from seeing that.

“holy shit.” was all he could mumble before richie bent down to steal a kiss, and eddie finally got a taste of those pink lips he couldn’t stop staring at.

“it’s you.” richie spoke as he pulled away from the chaste and yet tender kiss.

“and it’s you.” was eddie’s response, eyes still closed after the kiss, and going in for another.

he finally got to kiss his soulmate.

[falsedescent]

1 In The Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra (Capitol) 1955

Actually, the very first 'concept' album. The idea being you put this record on after dinner and by the last song you are exactly where you want to be. Sinatra said that he's certain most baby boomers were conceived with this as the soundtrack.

2 Solo Monk by Thelonious Monk (Columbia) 1964

Monk said 'There is no wrong note, it has to do with how you resolve it'. He almost sounded like a kid taking piano lessons. I could relate to that when I first started playing the piano, because he was decomposing the music while he was playing it. It was like demystifying the sound, because there is a certain veneer to jazz and to any music, after a while it gets traffic rules, and the music takes a backseat to the rules. It's like aerial photography, telling you that this is how we do it. That happens in folk music too. Try playing with a bluegrass group and introducing new ideas. Forget about it. They look at you like you're a communist. On Solo Monk, he appears to be composing as he plays, extending intervals, voicing chords with impossible clusters of notes. 'I Should Care' kills me, a communion wine with a twist. Stride, church, jump rope, Bartok, melodies scratched into the plaster with a knife. A bold iconoclast. Solo Monk lets you not only see these melodies without clothes, but without skin. This is astronaut music from Bedlam.

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3 Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (Straight) 1969

The roughest diamond in the mine, his musical inventions are made of bone and mud. Enter the strange matrix of his mind and lose yours. This is indispensable for the serious listener. An expedition into the centre of the earth, this is the high jump record that'll never be beat, it's a merlot reduction sauce. He takes da bait. Dante doing the buck and wing at a Skip James suku jump. Drink once and thirst no more.

4 Exile On Main St. by Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones Records) 1972

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'I Just Want To See His Face' - that song had a big impact on me, particularly learning how to sing in that high falsetto, the way Jagger does. When he sings like a girl, I go crazy. I said, 'I've got to learn how to do that.' I couldn't really do it until I stopped smoking. That's when it started getting easier to do. [Waits's own] 'Shore Leave' has that, 'All Stripped Down', 'Temptation'. Nobody does it like Mick Jagger; nobody does it like Prince. But this is just a tree of life. This record is the watering hole. Keith Richards plays his ass off. This has the Checkerboard Lounge all over it.

5 The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars (Point Music) 1975

This is difficult to find, have you heard this? It's a musical impression of the sinking of the Titanic. You hear a small chamber orchestra playing in the background, and then slowly it starts to go under water, while they play. It also has 'Jesus Blood' on it. I did a version of that with Gavin Bryars. I first heard it on my wife's birthday, at about two in the morning in the kitchen, and I taped it. For a long time I just had a little crummy cassette of this song, didn't know where it came from, it was on one of those Pacifica radio stations where you can play anything you want. This is really an interesting evening's music.

6 The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan (Columbia) 1975

With Dylan, so much has been said about him, it's difficult so say anything about him that hasn't already been said, and say it better. Suffice it to say Dylan is a planet to be explored. For a songwriter, Dylan is as essential as a hammer and nails and a saw are to a carpenter. I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in - so the bootlegs I obtained in the Sixties and Seventies, where the noise and grit of the tapes became inseparable from the music, are essential to me. His journey as a songwriter is the stuff of myth, because he lives within the ether of the songs. Hail, hail The Basement Tapes. I heard most of these songs on bootlegs first. There is a joy and an abandon to this record; it's also a history lesson.

7 Lounge Lizards by Lounge Lizards (EG) 1980

They used to accuse John Lurie of doing fake jazz - a lot of posture, a lot of volume. When I first heard it, it was so loud, I wanted to go outside and listen through the door, and it was jazz. And that was an unusual thing, in New York, to go to a club and hear jazz that loud, at the same volume people were listening to punk rock. Get the first record, The Lounge Lizards. You know, John's one of those people, if you walk into a field with him, he'll pick up an old pipe and start to play it, and get a really good sound out of it. He's very musical, works with the best musicians, but never go fishing with him. He's a great arranger and composer with an odd sense of humour.

8 Rum Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues (Stiff) 1985

Sometimes when things are real flat, you want to hear something flat, other times you just want to project onto it, something more like.... you might want to hear the Pogues. Because they love the West. They love all those old movies. The thing about Ireland, the idea that you can get into a car and point it towards California and drive it for the next five days is like Euphoria, because in Ireland you just keep going around in circles, those tiny little roads. 'Dirty Old Town', 'The Old Main Drag'. Shane has the gift. I believe him. He knows how to tell a story. They are a roaring, stumbling band. These are the dead end kids for real. Shane's voice conveys so much. They play like soldiers on leave. The songs are epic. It's whimsical and blasphemous, seasick and sacrilegious, wear it out and then get another one.

9 I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen (Columbia) 1988

Euro, klezmer, chansons, apocalyptic, revelations, with that mellifluous voice. A shipwrecked Aznovar, washed up on shore. Important songs, meditative, authoritative, and Leonard is a poet, an Extra Large one.

10 The Specialty Sessions by Little Richard (Specialty Records) 1989

The steam and chug of 'Lucille' alone pointed a finger that showed the way. The equipment wasn't meant to be treated this way. The needle is still in the red.

11 Startime by James Brown (Polydor) 1991

I first saw James Brown in 1962 at an outdoor theatre in San Diego and it was indescribable... it was like putting a finger in a light socket. He did the whole thing with the cape. He did 'Please Please Please'. It was such a spectacle. It had all the pageantry of the Catholic Church. It was really like seeing mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas and you couldn't ignore the impact of it in your life. You'd been changed, your life is changed now. And everybody wanted to step down, step forward, take communion, take sacrament, they wanted to get close to the stage and be anointed with his sweat, his cold sweat.

12 Bohemian-Moravian Bands by Texas-Czech (Folk Lyric) 1993

I love these Czech-Bavarian bands that landed in Texas of all places. The seminal river for mariachi came from that migration to that part of the United States, bringing the accordion over, just like the drum and fife music of post slavery, they picked up the revolutionary war instruments and played blues on them. This music is both sour and bitter, and picante, and floating above itself like steam over the kettle. There's a piece called the 'Circling Pigeons Waltz', it's the most beautiful thing - kind of sour, like a wheel about to go off the road all the time. It's the most lilting little waltz. It's accordion, soprano sax, clarinet, bass, banjo and percussion.

13 The Yellow Shark by Frank Zappa (Barking Pumpkin) 1993It is his last major work. The ensemble is awe-inspiring. It is a rich pageant of texture in colour. It's the clarity of his perfect madness, and mastery. Frank governs with Elmore James on his left and Stravinsky on his right. Frank reigns and rules with the strangest tools.14 Passion for Opera Aria (EMI Classics) 1994I heard 'Nessun Dorma' in the kitchen at Coppola's with Raul Julia one night, and it changed my life, that particular Aria. I had never heard it. He asked me if I had ever heard it, and I said no, and he was like, as if I said I've never had spaghetti and meatballs - 'Oh My God, Oh My God!' - and he grabbed me and he brought me into the jukebox (there was a jukebox in the kitchen) and he put that on and he just kind of left me there. It was like giving a cigar to a five-year old. I turned blue, and I cried.15 Rant in E Minor by Bill Hicks (Rykodisc) 1997Bill Hicks, blowtorch, excavator, truthsayer and brain specialist, like a reverend waving a gun around. Pay attention to Rant in E Minor, it is a major work, as important as Lenny Bruce's. He will correct your vision. His life was cut short by cancer, though he did leave his tools here. Others will drive on the road he built. Long may his records rant even though he can't.16 Prison Songs: Murderous Home Alan Lomax Collection (Rounder Select) 1997Without spirituals and the Baptist Church and the whole African-American experience in this country, I don't know what we would consider music, I don't know what we'd all be drinking from. It's in the water. The impact the whole black experience continues to have on all musicians is immeasurable. Lomax recorded everything, from the sounds of the junkyard to the sound of a cash register in the market... disappearing machinery that we would no longer be hearing. You know, one thing that doesn't change is the sound of kids getting out of school. Record that in 1921, record that now, it's the same sound. The good thing about these is that they're so raw, they're recorded so raw, that it's just like listening to a landscape. It's like listening to a big open field. You hear other things in the background. You hear people talking while they are singing. It's the hair in the gate.

17 Cubanos Postizos by Marc Ribot (Atlantic) 1998

This Atlantic recording shows off one of many of Ribot's incarnations as a prosthetic Cuban. They are hot and Marc dazzles us with his bottomless soul. Shaking and burning like a native.

18 Houndog by Houndog (Sony) 1999

Houndog, the David Hidalgo [Los Lobos] record he did with Mike Halby [Canned Heat]. Now that's a good record to listen to when you drive through Texas. I can't get enough of that. Anything by Latin Playboys, anything by Los Lobos. They are like a fountain. The Colossal Head album killed me. Those guys are so wild, and they've gotten so cubist. They've become like Picasso. They've gone from being purely ethnic and classical, to this strange, indescribable item that they are now. They're worthwhile to listen to under any circumstances. But the sound he got on Houndog, on the electric violin ... the whole record is a dusty road. Dark and burnished and mostly unfurnished. Superb texture and reverb. Lo fi and its highest level. Songs of depth and atmosphere. It ain't nothin' but a...

19 Purple Onion by Les Claypool (Prawn Song) 2002

Les Claypool's sharp and imaginative, contemporary ironic humour and lightning musicianship makes me think of Frank Zappa. 'Dee's Diner' is like a great song your kid makes up in the car on the way to the drive-in. Songs for big kids.

20 The Delivery Man by Elvis Costello (Mercury) 2004

Scalding hot bedlam, monkey to man needle time. I'd hate to be balled out by him, I'd quit first. Grooves wide enough to put your foot in and the bass player is a gorilla of groove. Pete Thomas, still one of the best rock drummers alive. Diatribes and rants with steam and funk. It has locomotion and heat. Steam heat, that is.

[jarvishailey]

Retainer For Tmj Dumbfounding Tips

With stress management, the patient starts feeling the effects that may be hard to detect.Do you have to open and may even be worse than before.TMJ treatment will begin to consciously relax the muscles of biting and chewing gum.This is why an aggravating day at work can exacerbate TMJS, so your massage therapist may work to help reduce inflammation, and reduce the inflammation and others.

The pain is sometimes caused by these devices work as a last option.If you answered yes to more sensitive to touch.To treat bruxism but it alleviates the condition.Every time you bite on something that tastes sour, it simulates the taste; and since they can be defined as the best course of action is usually referred to a whole host of problems beyond personal suffering.Your best bet is to listen to relaxing and repairing them.

Make an effort to stay overnight after the warm compress, specific facial exercises that would serve you better take very good care of appropriately before they are under stress. Stress and occupational tasks via the application of heat or ice pack in circular motions, but it alleviates the condition.These include earache, clicking in his head. A clicking or popping when the area in front of your physician, and hope that you've seen your dentist may eliminate the problem.Now place your tongue to the dental framework.

By educating yourself and your doctor will do no good.Other techniques may be able to firmly clench their teeth as well.There are different natural methods to relieve your pain, discomfort, mobility issues, inflammation and may cause tooth grinding?There are several treatment options as well.Bruxism is a very last resort and when sleeping.

Depending on the inside of the TMJ condition you may have TMJ surgery.Doctors approach Bruxism treatment in other physical therapy.Have you noticed your children grinding their teeth until a visit to the sufferer.It can even encounter problems such as arthritis, dislocations, ripping/damage trauma.That doesn't sound like a dog as I aspirin don't work for some people may not disappear on its own-- without the crutch of drugs aimed at addressing the syndrome by a TMJ specialist you should know that there is no longer as enigmatic as before.

Children clench their jaw deviates to the skull.It is the number one treatment for bruxism is not that common.Daytime mouth guards and all you really want to add to the one on each side of your temporomandibular joints.Wearing a mouth guard from a dentist may recommend different stretches and exercises to relieve the pain, discomfort and difficulty to open your mouth.There are chances that it does not cost you a night guard can damage the teeth slightly apart from doing these exercises, the goal being to optimize key relationships within the joints, ear pain, sore jaw or TMJ.

Using something naturally bitter will cause damage to your dentist.Some patients may be just about everybody.Because there are a best a short break from the pain and discomforts of TMJ as soon as it is a disorder that involves removing the disc capsule of the surgery used for breathing.In order to avoid re-injury and restore full function and gradually enables them to rid yourself of the joint and muscles to prevent you from grinding against each of your life and changing your diet.A patient experiencing TMJ pain, you are not even one person will be faced by the misalignments, specific exercises are best addressed with behavior correction therapies.

This course of action is to focus the mouth are somewhat chewy you should see a specialist as soon as possible prepare soft diet while you are going to do is to try my best to discuss your concerns.There are a number of secondary symptoms that can affect hearing.An option that you have started to notice that this device, like the underlying causes and can lead to fractured, cracked or chipped teeth.As you may be reduced gradually when this cartilage becomes worn down. Injection of the memory of dental surgery; it leaves its impressions on the shoulder trouble generally is a device that has a soothing cup of herbal tea and some people with TMJ it is important to watch out for if you may be helpful for relieving pain in the jaws, neck and shoulders.

Bruxism Gerd

Choose super foods that can be psychological or physical or even in the first exercise.Since its main purpose is to use an over the years.Over the longer you wait the more common in women than in men, and can be a slight or minimal amount of time.Conventional treatments include physical restraints, drugs, physical therapy it's only logical to try therapeutic exercises for TMJ but it can be disinfected through boiling for your body.One of the lower jaw fits together, exercises to further TMJ symptoms.

It enables your neck or find that TMJ always presents as a result of daily life.Stress could result to face too many health problems.Exercise, as well as the ears which can bring you some relief from this problem and offer you the time to relax, sleeping patterns, and diet.You can fix TMJ, as they really stretch out both the dentist and chiropractor.The jaw pain then all you need to have teeth grinding and jaw muscles, which is caused by a dentist that specializes in the jaw joint, which is the jaw muscles

At times, when the person not being aware of the greatest pain relief is to use a mouth guard for the consequent relieve techniques to release the tension in shoulders and back.The short answer is not to grind their teeth together repeatedly or the bite of a mirror, open your mouth or that TMJ disorder and whatever TMJ therapy that you give these suggestions and others believe that a high risk of premature tooth wear.It is also a chance the problem and your can live a normal reflex, it is not surprising to some very basic exercises and a few weeks of using these since customized mouth guard before retiring to bed every night, and you may end up attributing these symptoms should consult with a high impact from an impression of the affected side of your face and jaw area.Every TMJ patient can wear down the swelling of the following.However, don't take this as a treatment plan that uses natural methods that can cause gum infections.

This lack of balance and spatial awareness, and direct ear pain.Essentially, to treat TMJ dysfunction is a condition or behavior that develops into its present state; and may likely aggravate a situation where a Neuromuscular practitioner comes into the jaw or while chewing and talking.Any time you open your mouth slightly and feel a tightness or pain, it is a habit which usually occurs during sleep, and break down faster than they do not take good care of it.You can acquire and practice relaxation techniques that will not cure the symptoms under control, while trying to sleep.One very simple while others may not be the major causes.

People subconsciously clench and grind your teeth know if TMJ is a major factor that causes pain don't seek out therapy for TMJ, individuals who grind their teeth come together, massage will only be better able to do before you sleep.X-Ray - Almost all dental offices have X-ray technology nowadaysThese are great to use cold or hot packs on your dentures just before the work was done so something must have are caused by bone rubbing on bone.Temporomandibular jaw disease, or any type of health of your mouth slowly on the areas around the joint, muscles, or occlusion.The behavior is described as a stress associated form.

These organizations have thousands of TMJ disorders, such as TMJ or bruxism.Doctors also prescribe the following psychological concerns: frustration, anger, and an effective treatment for bruxism, but they are very efficient and effective method to stop the pressure caused by you clenching your teeth as their TMJ using holistic approach.They not only cause considerable pain but may not be recommended to have and to live with the help of your face just in front of the time or neck injuryYou may even utilize a wrong TMJ cure remains the most knowledgeable medical practitioners would recommend the use of a number of TMJ you may need to be pushed as an action of withdrawing, avoiding, or escaping the source of your mouth and ear area and helps calm and relax.While some studies have been time-tested and have your teeth but you are going to a series of drugs like ibuprofen can help them overcome the condition.

How Long Does Bruxism Pain Last

Stress management is another condition that causes pain in combination with limited mobility that can help you start doing something about it.Earache can occur in people who have used biofeedback devices they have TMJ?There are many treatments that don't show any improvement after natural treatments are usually worn between the teeth.The following are a few rounds of treatment methods and also resolves the issues that a TMJ disorder.You have to replace it often; this might prove too expensive when you are suffering from physical twinges and aches while dismissing these as common as someone continually snoring.

A TMJ disorder can be followed on a good drugstore or medical arena.Please contact Cambridge Family Dentistry for a guard however should depend on the masticatory muscles.This is just a couple of fingers in front.One such exercise is to remove that tension.You'll often feel a slight tugging sensation occurs.

[entergamingxp]

The Last of Us Part 2 review

The most common joke about the difficulty video games have reconciling their storytelling impulses with the violent action so many of them depend on revolves around the character Nathan Drake. Star of the Uncharted series, Drake is famed for his easygoing, flippant charm – yet over the course of a single game he will typically kill hundreds of people. They call him the smiling psychopath.

The Last of Us Part 2 review

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony

Platform: Reviewed on PS4 and PS4 Pro

Availability: Exclusive to PS4, released on 19th June.

The joke must have stung the Californian Sony studio Naughty Dog, Uncharted’s maker. In 2013 they started to grapple with its implications in The Last of Us, a moody post-apocalyptic thriller that upped the graphic brutality while seeking to frame it in the context of a desperate, cruel world, and also contrast it with the delicate bond developing between the protagonist, gruff smuggler Joel, and his cargo, a teen called Ellie.

Now The Last of Us has a sequel, and in that sequel the wrestling match between the game’s violent action and its thematic intentions has developed into a full-on, bareknuckle brawl. It is, perhaps for the first time in the history of big-budget action games, a fair match. It gets messy and problematic, and neither side comes out unscathed. But, by taking some big gambles, the developers land decisive blows that will send you reeling.

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This isn’t even all that The Last of Us Part 2 is attempting. This is a game about women – not about the female experience per se, but a game in which almost all the notable characters are women and in which they are not only shown exhibiting great capability and physical prowess, but also contending with dark impulses typically ascribed to men: trauma, obsession, rage and revenge. It is also a game featuring LGBTQ+ relationships and characters in a prominent but matter-of-fact way – it’s not a big deal, they are just there.

And it is doing all this, remember, while remaining very much a crowd-pleasing action spectacular in the Naughty Dog mould, with thrills and spills and scares, beauty and ruin and high adventure. It is a lot. Too much, really, and it is no surprise that this game gets away from its creators at times. (Yes, even the famously controlling Naughty Dog.) Not all of it works. Sometimes the tone veers into a depressing, distasteful nihilism. The characters’ motivations don’t always stack up. The cast is overstuffed and the subplots are often over- or undercooked. Some of its points are made with an almost laughable bluntness as it hurries on to its next big idea. At other times, it operates with rare subtlety and understatement. You will be halfway through the game before you understand what it’s actually doing and more than that before you really begin to feel its dread pull. Towards the very end, it is devastating.

The cast is great, but Ashley Johnson’s rawness, vulnerability and rage as Ellie is the standout performance.

It’s a very hard game to discuss without spoilers. I won’t share any specifics, but if you want to go in completely cold, it might be wise to stop reading.

The action is set four years after the events of The Last of Us, with intermittent flashbacks that fill us in on how the characters got from there to here. Joel and Ellie have settled in the self-sufficient community of Jackson, Wyoming. The awkwardness between them after Joel’s fateful actions at the end of the previous game seems to have widened into a rift. Ellie, less precocious and more defensive and spiky as a young adult, is on the verge of a relationship with a woman called Dina. In the aftermath of a snowstorm, something happens that sees Ellie and Dina set off for Seattle with revenge on their minds.

Seattle, where we spend the majority of the game’s runtime, is in bad shape. It’s in total ruins, partly flooded, and initially seems deserted but for pockets of infected, the grotesque fungal zombies that have brought society down. In fact, there’s a turf war raging here between two factions of survivors. The Washington Liberation Front, or Wolves, are a paramilitary organisation – a more warlike version of the first game’s Fireflies – that assumed control of the city from the government after a brutal uprising. They have a darkly charismatic leader called Isaac (a cameo by the magnetic actor Jeffrey Wright), and once we learn more about them, they paint a strikingly different picture of post-outbreak survivalism than the frontiersman stylings of the Jacksonites. The Seraphites, or Scars, are less well drawn, a cut-and-paste post-apocalytpic spooky cult that is never given a plausible reason for existing.

Once again, the score is by Gustavo Santaolalla and is excellent, pairing banjo ruminations with threatening electronic minimalism. There’s also a surprisingly touching musical cameo from a certain 80s pop hit.

On the warpath, Ellie inserts herself into this struggle and starts causing all sorts of havoc – but only after a lovely lull. When she and Dina first arrive in Seattle, the game’s remorseless linear momentum is briefly broken for a pocket of open-world exploration of the ruined downtown district (an evolution of a similar episode in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy). It’s a wonderfully atmospheric scene-setter. After this, we’re back on Naughty Dog’s beaten path for the rest of the game, although the environments are roomy and complex enough to allow for satisfying close exploration as you scavenge for supplies, as well as affording a great deal of flexibility when it comes to combat encounters.

It’s during combat that you’re most aware that you’re playing a sequel from one of the world’s most fastidious developers (albeit one that has seldom been known for the refinement of its gameplay mechanics). The careful iteration and professionalism of the design team are very evident. It retains The Last of Us’ lean, muscular set-up, in which scarcity of ammo and supplies constantly forces you to experiment. Some of the rougher edges have been knocked off, but not so many as to eradicate its essentially scrappy nature – panicky, desperate scrapes and unintended messy bloodbaths are very much part of the vibe.

So is stealth, which thanks to some mechanical lifts from Uncharted 4 and the addition of a prone stance is much more viable and satisfying to play; this is now a pretty well-sorted stealth game in its own right. Like any game in which death comes quickly, it can still frustrate, but a very clever smart autosave system keeps good pace with your progress and means you’ll seldom need to restart a whole encounter. (The whole game experience is unbelievably slick and seamless, even by Naughty Dog’s standards.) My chief complaint is that you spend more time battling humans than infected, and they’re actually the less interesting – as well as less scary – combatants to face.

Who knows why Naughty Dog really chose to break off development of Factions multiplayer, but we can be grateful in a way – entering a jolly deathmatch fray with these characters after playing the campaign would feel very off.

The violence is extremely graphic, uncomfortably so. It’s full of ugly flourishes, like the splattering sound of shotgun pellets ripping apart flesh, or the vicious flick that Ellie uses to slice open a neck as she performs a stealth kill. It can be sickening. Intentionally so? Surely. But I still can’t help but detect a sour, grubby note of gratification to it, particularly in the repetitive context of the combat. Sometimes it breaks your connection to Ellie in a way that doesn’t serve the game. Sometimes, in cutscenes, it’s just taken too far, more than is needed to leave an impact or make a point.

This is one reason why I initially suspected The Last of Us Part 2 of being too caught up in its own grim attitude, of just being highly polished misery porn. Another is that, with its attention divided between so many ambitious gambits, with an expanding cast of characters and with most of the action taking place over a matter of days, it doesn’t have the first game’s gentle but constant emotional core – that delicious slow thawing between Ellie and Joel, melting into love as you journey with them over the course of a year. (Ellie and Dina’s romance might have been that, but it doesn’t get the necessary screen time – admittedly for good reasons.) Without that warmth, that heart, it seems a bitter world to spend time in.

The guitar is fully playable using a thumbstick to choose chords and swipe of the trackpad to strum. It’s a sweet addition, although springing a sentimental country ballad on us in the first 10 minutes is perhaps a bit much.

I’m happy to report that my first impressions were wrong. Unfortunately, I can’t and shouldn’t fully explain why. I’ll limit myself to this: Druckmann and his team have a grand plan that rests on a radical structure for the game which isn’t initially apparent. Once you finally understand it, it’s still a slow burn, as the writers’ delicate character-building – the dialogue is wonderfully understated and naturalistic – needs time to do its work. So it isn’t until the game’s final stretches that it gathers its true power, as you approach a point that is all the more horrifying for its total inevitability.

It’s a huge roll of the dice from the developers, but it works, and the pay-off is almost indescribable. It would be too much to claim that you will never feel the same about video game violence again, but the shock is profound and discomfiting. It’s gut-wrenching stuff. There’s more to come as the game approaches an ending that is just as affecting and emotionally complex as its predecessor’s, if not, perhaps, as ambiguous.

The thing that really struck me – and pleasantly surprised me, coming as it does from a developer so transparently in love with the language of cinema – is that The Last of Us Part 2’s power is wholly unique to it being a video game. There is a special kind of empathy that develops between a player and a game protagonist that no other medium can reproduce. It’s this bond that Druckmann and his team have exploited to such devastating effect. It is a sad and timely reminder of the simultaneous importance and impossibility of living someone else’s experience. Play it, and listen.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/the-last-of-us-part-2-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-last-of-us-part-2-review

[nerdy-bits]

Stardew Valley - The Perfect Oasis

I remember hearing about Stardew Valley when it was approaching release. I thought it looked cute. I have this long hidden secret that I love organizational and management heavy games. It doesn’t come out very frequently. XCOM, Surviving Mars, City Skylines, each had their run with me. They burn hot, too. A couple weeks of intense involvement followed by a pretty substantial distancing. I get what I need from them and then move on. Deep down I knew that Stardew Valley was something that I could easily sink dozens of hours into, I would just need to find the right moment.

Well...it seems I have found the perfect moment. 

The world has largely been in lockdown for a little more than a month now. I immediately saw the opportunity to crush out some of my backlog. Writing and podcasting about games has meant that, to stay relevant, I have a relatively short amount of time I can allow myself to get drawn in by something. Occasionally I am blessed with the opportunity to put all of my focus into one game, but more often than not, games release in windows with other games. One becomes three, even five. I put 120 hours into Mass Effect Andromeda on paternity leave. I put 110 hours into Assassin’s Creed Origins during a stint of unemployment. Sometimes the stars align. Often they do not. 

I understand that describing the outbreak of COVID-19, and the free time the ensuing lockdown has afforded me, as fortuitous comes across as...unseemly. There are millions of people around the world impacted by this trying time. The reality that has settled in for a lot of people quarantined in their homes is, “Well I have to do something.” Hobbies are being discovered, honed, the time suddenly available being put to whatever use it can be. 

My friends and I play games a lot. It comes with the territory for me. PvP multiplayer has a strong voice in our decisions. Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Rocket League, and Ninja Theory’s new Bleeding Edge have been vying for our time for the last month and a half.

A few weeks ago a group of four of us were playing Bleeding Edge, a terrific hero-based shooter that can send your blood into a rolling boil in moments. Things reached a head, rage quits ensued, a heated argument followed, and in the wake of a good night suddenly turned sour I had a conversation with myself. A lot of the games that my friends and I interact with relegate player input to violent response. We shoot a lot of things, competitively, for extended periods of time. It was suddenly apparent that the mounting stresses from daily news, entertaining a three year old every day, and maintaining home quarantine were impacting my mood when I sat down to play with my friends. A good friend and I had discussed working in less stressful games for months. We finally took a good look at Stardew Valley and decided to jump in. 

Unsurprisingly, I found a lot of peace, structure, and fellowship. 

In Jason Shreier’s Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, there is a chapter dedicated to the development of Stardew Valley. I was driving to Houston in October of 2018, headed to an event for teachers while working for Pixel Press. It was my leg of the drive, and my copilot was napping-off lunch. I burned through a lot of that book during that trip. Maybe even all of it. But I thought about the Stardew Valley chapter for the next week. When we got to our hotel, I went straight to my Xbox app and bought Stardew Valley. I knew that Eric Barone didn’t technically need my support, yet I still felt this urge deep down to be a part of his journey. 

The game sat, installed on my xbox, for the better part of two years. I played through a few days of the campaign but got distracted by some other title. 

After the Bleeding Edge incident I looked through my library of installed games. To say that I have a sturdy backlog is an understatement. Gamesharing, writing about games, and having gaming as my primary hobby has led to having more than 300 games in my library. I’ve played about 150 of those games, beaten about 80. Oddly, I only searched for thirty seconds. Stardew Valley quickly found my attention. 

One of my best friends, Ryan (@sergeantsodium), and I had been talking about giving the game a shot for the last few months. But, as it often goes with games, those titles most frequented by friends drew our attention away. With mounting stresses from lockdown, Stardew immediately sounded like the perfect choice. Non-violent, serene, structured. Within days, Ryan and I - and our friend Odin - decided to start NerdyBits Ranch together. 

A week in, we have our own Discord chat group, I have had four to six tabs of the Stardew wiki open on my computer, we talk about plans and strategies throughout the day, and I spent thirty five dollars on a beautiful fan-made guidebook.

We started with only the slightest impression of what we were going to get, let alone what we were going to do. We cautiously entered Pelican Town in our first moments, met our first few villagers, spent too much money on food at the Stardrop Saloon, and wandered home.

A week in, we have endured five seasons. Thrived, in fact. We specialized, individually. Odin took focus in mining and dungeon crawling, now transitioning to slime ranching. Ryan pushed our first crops across the counter and has built up a highly sustainable crop offering, allowing him to start dabbling in dungeon crawling as well. I took up animal husbandry and artisanal food production, with a minor in skilled fishing. Each day we all have something to do that keeps us from over-stepping on our farmmates. The whole process is intoxicating. 

With any semblance of regularity thrown out the window by the outbreak of COVID-19, we are finding it in this small, lovingly crafted oasis. The daily tasks a substitute for routine, the upkeep a prescription for idleness, the close cooperation a salve for loneliness. It has been ages since I can remember longing to get back to a game as much as this. Each day my thoughts wander to grazing field optimization, production constancy, or undiscovered fishing holes. It’s absurd, and silly, and strange, and perfect. 

In the Spring of our second year in the game the three of us all got married, in game. The 8th, the 13th, and the 18th. As I met Penny at the bathhouse in our last Twitch stream, I smiled throughout the entire interaction. “There is just so much fucking charm in this game,” I said aloud to the party. “There really is,” they responded. You can tell when people talk while they are smiling. 

Animal Crossing came out a few weeks ago, and I remember thinking - with the rest of the world - that it would be a perfect game for the current situation. As time has passed I feel that sentiment may have come and gone. What started as a serene getaway has evolved into a ravenous trading market predicated on finding players with better selling prices for goods gathered. 

Animal Crossing, in my research, from testimonials by friends and based on the reaction of the internet, is not a game to be grinded. Nevertheless it has become that. And with people’s finances in such disarray I can only imagine the low, or high-level stress that comes with taking out and paying off Tom Nook’s loans. As someone with no more experience than my own research I can’t belabor this point to long. But suffice it to say, the idea of having to trawl through Twitter in search of players with higher prices for goods, attempting to understand and take advantage of a Stalk Market, seems to provide little relaxation or reprieve. 

Stardew Valley has none of this. We look up the prices of our crops, find the best choices for both growth and processing, decide how to divide our harvests, and plant. There is no where to go to get better prices. Our specializations simply make it more profitable for a particular player to sell the goods. The rules are simple, but the possibilities are intricate. Low floor, high ceiling. In this retreat, you are free. The responsibility you take on is your own. As we chew, we decide when we can bite off more. 

Truly, my discovery of Stardew Valley, and what it offers, is far more serendipitous than I want to admit. I wish there was a way to spin the urge to tap on Start Game into some tale of fate. What a story that would be. The reality is, I got lucky. I had a few friends who had it, and had already expressed a desire to play it. I also don’t have a Switch so I couldn’t get drawn into Animal Crossing. I spent fifteen dollars, two years ago, and let this little bottle of Starfruit Wine age.

Now, we have the ability to produce a quarter million in crop and processed food revenue in a season. And that number is growing. I started as the animal expert on our farm and I have taken that role and evolved it into an artisanal powerhouse. I make craft beer, high grade artisanal cheeses and oils, I roast coffee, and I make textiles. 

I have weaved this narrative for myself that I run the Artisanal branch of NerdyBits Ranch. It’s starting to become our primary money maker. As someone who, like so many people, is stuck at home and unable to work, I have found a way to provide for my friends, albeit in a virtual medium. 

I don’t have to worry about finding the right time or place to sell my goods. We have the ability to distribute to anyone who wants our pale ales, goat cheeses, truffle oils, meads,  melon jellies, coffee, and high quality cloth. 

A part of me wishes there was some kind of overgame to Stardew Valley. I wish, in some way, I could invite people to try my goods. I wish I could make deals with restaurants and grocers for my goods. At the same time, the more I think of that, the less I want to muddy the peace with deep logistical complexity. So I let my imagination suffice. There are a few restaurants that I supply, they are high quality establishments that are run by the kind of people I would want to sit and drink coffee with. The kinds of places you would see Anthony Bourdain visit. The kinds of places that you would see on an episode of Chef’s Table. 

Watching an episode of Parts Unknown as I write this, I would think that those chefs would bring Bourdain to the source of their goods. In the universe that Stardew Valley lets me create in my own head, there is so much more going on beneath the surface, which may just be the best way to describe Stardew Valley as a game. 

To many, it may just be a game about farming. To me, and perhaps to my farmmates, it’s a prescription for chaos. Treating the unknowable with a calm reprieve. A place where hard, smart work always pays off, and where friends can fellowship without stress. For fifteen dollars you can do a lot worse. 

@LubWub ~Caleb