#evidently the only thing i was really doing that was kind of productive was playing animal crossing

[1smolbean]

ive started playing animal crossing new horizons again and i went through the museum on my island just to see what me and my family had donated. almost all of the donations were made between mid june and late september 2020. i remember literally nothing from that time period. i’ve tried but my mind is completely blank. all i know is that i played a shit ton of animal crossing and caught a lot of bugs in the game

[howtofightwrite]

Most traditional boxing instructors will tell you that if the opponent is taller than you, has longer arms than you, or is heavier than you, you're fucked and you need to stay extremely aware and work really hard to compensate for all the advantage he has over you.

In a recent forensic survey, it was determined that most traditional boxing instructors who get into real world altercations die when they're shot in the head.

This is the problem with a lot of these kinds of arguments. No one practices traditional boxing. At least, no one does so publicly. How do I know this? Because traditionally boxers fought in the nude. Yeah, we're not seeing that, are we? Now, maybe they meant bare knuckle boxing, but really no one does that either, these days. Boxing without safety equipment is not a particularly good idea, for fairly obvious reasons.

The only reason the word, “traditional,” is in the ask is to lend their statement unearned credibility. It's an attempt to make their statement sound more authoritative, without offering any evidence to support the statement.

Who said that?

“Traditional people did.”

Okay, but, 'traditionally,' people cleaned shit off their ass with a stick. So, maybe appealing to Hellenic sports isn't the best gauge of how a fight will play out.

Also, I know I just said it, but, who are these authoritative sports guys? Because they're not named. We're simply told, “most,” of them agree. Which starts to sound a lot like “four out of five dentists agree.” Who are these instructors? What do they teach? Why are the currently in prison for indecent exposure? And how much did you pay them to get their uninformed opinion? Salient questions which may need to be answered, if the original question wasn't invalid on its face.

Why do I say it's invalid?

Because boxing isn't fighting.

Boxing is a sport.

Boxing has rules.

Kick your opponent in the groin, or shin, and you're punished.

Step on their foot, push them, and watch them tumble to the ground before you start stomping on them, and you'll be punished.

Throwing your opponent will be punished.

And of course, as mentioned at the top, pulling out a gun and expanding your opponent's mental horizons is extremely frowned upon.

These are all things that can happen in a real fight.

These are all things that do not benefit from increased height or reach.

There is one genuinely accurate statement. In a fight, you do need to be very aware of what's going on around you. Everything else is the product of someone who's been punched in the head repeatedly until the CTEs got them thinking that boxing is analogous to a real fight in any way. (And, statistically, will probably end their career sitting in a jail cell over an aggravated assault charge, because their emotional self-control was completely destroyed by those same head injuries.)

The rules that boxers need to follow are designed to (somewhat) protect the participants. It reduces the dangers of a boxer being killed in the ring. In an observation that I would hope to be self-evident, those rules don't exist in actual combat.

It's also amusing, because the original Asker had to go so far as to single out an ill-defined, “traditional” boxing, because no other martial art they checked gave them the soundbite they wanted.

And, of course, women box. Historically, you could say, “traditionally,” there were even boxing matches between men and women. It wasn't until the 1880s that women were excluded from competitive boxing in the UK. (I'm not sure of the exact date when women were banned from boxing in the US, though that prohibition lasted for less than a century, before the modern return of women to the sport.)

So, either these “traditional instructors” don't know the history of their own sport... which doesn't sound particularly “traditional” to me, or they're full of shit.

My advice to everyone would be, maybe, don't take the advice of a sports coach about how he's secretly an absolute badass in all the delusional fantasies he's cooked up about how he'd like to inflict violence on others because they wouldn't date him.

-Starke

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[its-time-to-write]

OOOO what about reader falling asleep on jamie’s shoulder after a late away game (maybe they come along to games on the bus) and realizing how much he loves them

Thanks for requesting! This one is a lot shorter, but I hope it’s what you’re looking for <3

silent sleepers

Rebecca lets you come to games on the team bus. Well, you say she lets you, it’s really the team’s choice. She’s just the one who signs off on it. You go for Jamie, who gives you the window seat and holds your hand the whole way there and back, joking with the lads. You don’t talk a whole lot, but you don’t really mind. Sometimes Colin or Isaac will turn around from the seat in front of you and you’ll spend an hour chatting and laughing about whatever, but for the most part you just look out the window and think.

Life is busy, so you don’t often get time to sit without having to talk. It’s nice to be here on this smelly bus, holding Jamie’s hand because you’re both relaxed. 

A voice breaks through your reverie. “Good morning, Mrs. Tartt.”

You look away from the window to see a grinning Dani turned around in his seat in front of you.

You smile. “I’m not his wife, Dani.”

“Not yet anyway, eh?” Still grinning, he pokes Jamie who gives him a cut it out motion where you can’t see. 

You don’t notice and laugh, blushing a little. You’ve only kind of talked about the future with Jamie, and you don’t really think he’s the type to settle down like that. It’s ok, you’ll take him however you can get him. You settle into your seat, ready for an hour of comparing hair products with Dani.

—

The game went well, and you’re all piled into the bus. Everyone is excited, but so, so tired. The chatter has turned to a dull murmur as you hug Jamie’s arm, watching the lights go by out the window. He’s warm and you can feel him breathe, and pretty soon you’re passed out, asleep on his shoulder.

Jamie, on the other hand, is sitting very, very still. He doesn’t want to wake you, especially because you don’t usually sleep very well. He presses a light kiss on the top of your head and you twitch, so he pulls away. He looks at you, with your eyes closed and mouth parted, muscles relaxed after being constantly tensed. Hair slightly tousled. He could sit here like this forever. 

He thinks about Dani’s teasing words earlier. Mrs. Tartt. He turns the words over in his head. Mr. and Mrs. Tartt. The Tartts. He likes how that sounds. 

God, he sounds like a fucking middle school boy, writing your name over and over in the notebook in his mind, hearts in the margins.

In all honesty, you were one of the best things that happened to him. He’s not sure how he pulled you in the same way you’re not sure how you pulled him, but he supposes it’s good that you think you’re mutually out of each other’s league. It’s a little bit sweet. 

You had some initial awkwardness about him being a famous footballer, but you worked through it. Hell, you two worked through everything. You refused to back down from a disagreement, with the mantra it’s not you against me, it’s you and me against the problem. 

You were also funny. He swore you two were the funniest people on earth once you got going. He felt like you two could do everything together. He wanted to do everything together. A thought flashes through his brain. Our kids will be fuckin’ adorable. He doesn’t dwell on the fact that his brain said will instead of could.

You let out a little sigh, bringing him back to reality.

Dani peeps over and winks at Jamie. 

“Ey, muchacho, good game today, no?”

“Yeah, yeah, good, yeah,” Jamie whispers. “Hey, Dani.”

Dani cocks his head to say what?

“Mate. You gotta play it cool, man.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Dani asks innocently. “I always play my coolest. I think it was pretty evident in the goal I scored today.”

Jamie rolls his eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about on way over here when you made that fucking Mrs. Tartt joke.”

Dani places a hand over his heart. “You mean to tell me you do not want her to be Mrs. Tartt and I have made things uncomfortable for you? Oh no, I feel awful.”

Jamie would sock him in the arm if you didn’t have a death grip on him in your sleep. He levels Dani with a stare. “You know exactly what I’m talking about muchacho. You know how hard she is to surprise and if you ruin it, I’m sending Isaac after your hair.”

Dani gasps. “You wouldn’t.”

“Fuckin’ try me,” Jamie grins. 

Dani grins back and turns back around in his seat. Jamie looks down at you one last time and uses his other hand to reach into his left pocket. The little black box he carries everywhere is safe inside. He breathes out a sigh and rests his head on top of yours. 

Mrs. Tartt. Yeah, it’s going to happen.

[omegalomania]

the full apple music interview with zane lowe is out! we got snippets of it when love from the other side dropped, but they finally rolled out the full thing. here are some highlights that stood out to me :)

patrick describes pete's lyrics as what gets him out of bed in the morning. if pete doesn't send him lyrics, he doesn't write a song.

andy and pete used to draw fake snake tattoos on each other using magic markers as kids omg?

so evidently patrick was the one who got covid during hella mega tour. and he hated it and he was miserable and that's when he called neal avron about the new record lmao

patrick says that joe was hesitant at first and he was the one who said that for this record he wanted to make something that they could all savor and spend time on and patrick was immediately on board with that

pete says patrick's job is to interpret him because pete calls his mentality a "little bit off" but patrick is capable of understanding him and translating it

patrick describes his and pete's creative relationship as "twin speak." it's not linear and it's like living in his brain a little bit. he calls it the "weirdest thing i've ever seen" when pete can just Tell that some words that patrick adjusted weren't ones he wrote despite not remembering writing them. patrick says he's gotten better at connective tissue and knowing how pete would say things

pete: back in the day patrick was like, "what's the difference between cry and weep i will KILL YOU. THEY'RE THE SAME THING. I'M GONNA KILL YOU RIGHT NOW."

zane says patrick's vocals are next level for this album. pete agrees that he kills it on this album and said he never would've expected that voice coming from him when they first met. zane says patrick could sing a recipe and it would be good. he then passes patrick a recipe and patrick. sings it???

patrick: i'm not gonna belt it. (starts belting) NINE INCH PIE PLATE ROLLING PIN

patrick says that pete doesn't mean to have rhythm to his words but there's a rhythm to them all the same and patrick can find this syncopation in his words and thinks it's amazing

more talking about patrick and pete's Magical Mystical Transcendent Soul Bond. patrick says "if we were one guy, we'd be an INCREDIBLE DUDE"

patrick and pete say that interviews with all four of them are hard because it's chaos and everyone's talking at once but it all makes perfect sense to them and no one else. zane says that sounds like fun flkjdfd [i agree please do this more it's a joy]

pete says joe really stepped up and wrote a lot for this record!

patrick: "joe is kind of a conundrum because he's this really talented...he's a brilliant writer, a brilliant player, but pete and i became the "team" and it wasn't really a plan, but that's just kind of how it happened. [brief tangent about the hiatus] we come back from the thing and joe is this fully-formed writer with a very distinct - he has one of the most distinctive writing voices. when i hear his parts, when i hear his ideas, i could pick them out of a crowd. like i know the way joe writes, and it's VERY joe." part of the process with post-hiatus was integrating him into the writing process more.

discussing the hiatus and fame and pete says his life kind of "blew up" and took it pretty hard. apparently during production for folie paparazzi actually broke down the gate to neal avron's house

patrick goes on a big tangent about how bad things got during the height of pete's fame. "part of my role is to tell his story. i'm a composer. that's what i like to do. i work on movies, i work on shows, and i work on pete. pete has a story that needs music, and if he's removed from himself, if he's not even able to access himself because he's behind all of this stuff, i don't have a story! so not only did i not have my buddy, which was heartbreaking in its own way, but then i also don't have a purpose as an artist."

patrick says that andy is always ready to play but when you get him happy to play, it's another level

"and trohman, there were these moments where he...he got so excited."

patrick describes writing what a time to be alive as wanting to write the saddest, most desperate song you could hear at a wedding. pete bursts into laughter and calls it "so twisted"

talking about other endeavors outside the band - patrick talks about composing and said joe's been super busy with his book and writing for tv and because there are so many deadlines for stuff like that, it's what hammered home to him that fall out boy needs to not be that. "there's something special about this that can't be...this has to be passionate and art."

discussing how scared patrick was of his own voice while the band took off. patrick was really scared of the song saturday at first because there are some really exposed vocal moments. he describes saturday as a song where everyone in the band lets each other go for it.

zane calls fall out boy the "emo blueprint" and says they were unapologetic in being emotional. patrick immediately says, "that was pete. i don't think we could've done that without him." he and joe were basically kids and patrick was too anxious to talk on stage.

zane says, "i remember interviewing you in the early days and i felt like every time i asked you a question i was bullying you." pete IMMEDIATELY loses his shit.

"in another life where i didn't have a pete...cause saturday, i did write most of that by myself...so there's a world where that song exists without the band. there's no world where i sing it in front of people without pete."

pete says every night before they put out a new song he calls patrick up and gets really scared and wants to back out and patrick talks him down every time

they talk about how scary it was when arm's race released and performing it at the amas. patrick starts laughing rly hard as they get into how there were giant crickets on stage and the crowd was just stone-faced and utterly nonresponsive and their stage manager was utterly panicked

towards the end patrick really loosens up and starts swearing more dlkfjdfd

[galacticlamps]

ok I have A Lot of thoughts about the staircase confession (well really about Edwin's whole character arc, but all roads lead to rome) but for now I just wanna say that, yes, I was bracing myself for something to go terribly wrong when I first watched it, and yes, part of me was initially worried its placement might be an uncharacteristically foolish choice made in the name of Drama or Pacing or Making a Compelling Episode of Television but at the expense of narrative sense--

But I wanna say that having taken all that into account, and watched it play out, and sat with it - and honestly become rather transfixed by it - I really think it's a beautifully crafted moment and truly the only way that arc could've arrived at such a satisfying conclusion.

And if I had to pinpoint why I not only buy it but also have come to really treasure it, I'd have to put it down to the fact that it genuinely is a confession, and nothing else.

That moment is an announcement of what Edwin has come to understand about himself, but because it takes the form of a character admitting romantic feelings for such a close friend, I think it can be very easy, when writing that kind of thing, to imbue it with other elements like a plea or a request or even the start of a new relationship that, intentionally or not, would change the shape of the moment and can quickly overshadow what a huge deal the telling is all on its own. But that's not the case here. Since it is only a confession, unaccompanied by anything else, and since we see afterward how it was enough, evidently, to fix the strangeness that had grown between him & Charles, we're forced to understand that it was never Edwin's feelings that were actually making things difficult for him - it was not being able to tell Charles about them. 'Terrified' as he's been of this, Edwin learns that his feelings don't need to either disappear completely or be totally reciprocated in order for him to be able to return to the peace, stability, and security of the relationship with which he defines his existence - and the scale of that relief a) tells us a hell of a lot about Edwin as a character and b) totally justifies the way his declaration just bursts out of him at what would otherwise be such a poorly chosen moment, in my opinion.

Whether or not they are or ever could be reciprocated, Edwin's feelings are definitively proven not to be the problem here - only his potential choice to bottle it up - his repression - is. And where that repression had once been mainly involuntary, a product of what he'd been through, now that he's got this new awareness of himself, if he still fails to admit what he's found either to himself or to the one person he's so unambiguously close with, then that repression will be by his own choice and actions.

And he won't do that. Among other things, he's coming into this scene having just (unknowingly) absolved the soul of his own school bully and accidental killer by pointing out a fact that is every bit as central to his self-discovery as anything about his sexuality or his attraction to Charles is: the idea that "If you punish yourself, everywhere becomes Hell"

So narratively speaking, of course it makes sense that Edwin literally cannot get out of Hell until he stops punishing himself - and right now, the thing that's torturing him is something he has control over. It's not who he is or what he feels, but what he chooses to do with those feelings that's hurting him, and he's even already made the conscious choice to tell Charles about them, he was just interrupted. But now that they're back together and he's literally in the middle of an attempt to escape Hell, there is absolutely no way he can so much as stop for breath without telling Charles the truth. Even the stopping for breath is so loaded - because they're ghosts, they don't need to breathe, but also they're in Hell, so the one thing they can feel is pain, however nonsensical. And Edwin certainly is in pain. But whether he knows what he's about to do or not when he says he 'just needs a tick,' a breather is absolutely not what's gonna give him enough relief to keep climbing - it's fixing that other hurt, though, that will.

Like everything else in that scene, there's a lot of layers to him promising Charles "You don't have to feel the same way, I just needed you to know" - but I don't think that means it isn't also true on a surface level. It's the act of telling Charles that matters so much more than whatever follows it, and while that might have gone unnoticed if anything else major had happened in the same conversation, now we're forced to acknowledge its staggering and singular importance for what it is. The moment is well-earned and properly built up to, but until we see it happen in all its wonderful simplicity, and we see the aftermath (or lack thereof, even), we couldn't properly anticipate how much of a weight off Edwin's shoulders merely getting to share the truth with Charles was going to be, why he couldn't wait for a better, safer opportunity before giving in to that desire, or how badly he needed to say it and nothing else - and I really, really love the weight that act of just being honest, seen, and known is given in their story/relationship.

[soleilars]

hii! could u do a leo valdez x nyx!reader ? could be headcannons or short story whichever u prefer :) take ur time and thank you!!

IT’S BEEN SO LONG, IT’S BEEN SO LONG, MAYBE WE’RE FIREPROOF

summary: leo valdez frightens everything he likes. and he’s so so so scared of you.

pairing: leo valdez x nyx!reader

a/n: i hope you like this!<3 i wrote it so quick idk what happened tbh

it wasn’t like leo disliked you. he didn’t know you this well to have this kind of judgement about you in the first place. he just… didn’t wanted to cross paths with you. like, ever. again, he didn’t dislike you. he’s just so leo about that. the one time he decided to play capture the flag after weeks of not playing, he got taken down in the first 10 minutes into the game by no one else than you. he got angry at first, thinking that someone had hit him by mistake because he wasn’t hurt or dizzy, he just fell to the ground with his face hitting the earth. you made sure not to inflict pain in anyone during the game, so to say the least it was an ego boost for you to strike again with such efficient. when for leo it was certainly a motive for never play again after his pity dignified performance. and to be honest you scared him. he was just so amazed with your beauty, which seemed to get amplified by the night time, that he felt physically incapable of talking to you.

this probably justifies his reaction when the one day he decided to go out of bunker 9 after several days in with the minimum amount of human contact, he saw you coming in his way. broken sword in hands and a pleading face.

no, no, no, no, no, hell no.

would it be ridiculous of him to run? to simply turn away and run? pretend he didn’t saw you because he was sure you didn’t saw him? gods, he hopped not because that’s what he did. he went straight to the way he came from and started looking at the shelves, pretending to be busy with something. you came in anyway, after all the need of a repair was evident and you were getting impatient. ‘this kind of gold is roman stuff. most of us aren’t specialised at this and we wouldn’t risk breaking or causing any extra damage to your weapon. i recommend you find, leo. he’s more used to this kind of stuff than us, really.’ jake manson, the cabin’s counsellor had told you.

“hey, is someone in here?” your voice send shivers through leo’s spine. he cursed himself as he came out of his, not so, hidden spot.

“uhm, yeah? who are you?”

as you introduced yourself and explained your problem leo could feel himself getting more and more warm. the mixed feelings started to get to him in the form of an alarm sounding in his head that sounded like ‘dangerous!!!!!hot, but dangerous!!!!!! would look stunning… while killing you!!!’

“sorry, but are you okay? you seem… pale.”

leo was surprised to find himself more nervous than usual. and believe, he’s very used to being nervous around pretty girls, and he’s also very used with being scared. now, the combination of both of those? nah, he’s an absolute mess. it takes him a few seconds, or maybe minutes? to go back to his ‘normal’.

“whatcha saying? sorry, i didn’t understand”

“i was saying that i need to fix my gold sword. you can do that for me?” you cried “please, your half siblings said you’re the only one that works with it”

“yeah yeah, sure. hand me the thing and i’ll see what i can do”

after a week your sword was almost new again. lighter and sharper. in the meantime, you asked leo to let you watch him work, mostly so you could try to understand how to fix it new time or tips on the most efficient way to keep them glossy and not dull. by chance, leo started to get more comfortable around you and vice-versa. lazy mornings, calm afternoons and busy nights. if bunker 9 wasn’t so far from camp for sure the two of you would get in trouble from noise making past midnight. leo joked that by the night time you should help him, because your mom being who she is you’re supposed to be the most productive in the room. you laughed at his suggestion, but ended up helping him with his projects the minute the sun sets.

his work was so good that you ended up taking your dagger, your helmet, your other sword, and another dagger for his treats. you may have made the blade of your daggers go blind and getting the pegasus to kick your helmet, but that doesn’t really matter does it?

[pascallatte]

Absolutely not

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x actress!reader

Summary: The Netflix interview that became "evidence". Sort of like “Proof that Y/N L/N and Pedro Pascal have been dating for years,” part 3?? I think.

Date: January 2016

Warning/s: talking about drugs, slight cursing, unspecified age gap

A/N: this is a long one, cause I really liked this Netflix interview of his. And his expression, his smiles, his laugh, everything honestly. it just feels like him.

“Tudummm…did I do it right?” you asked giggling as the video started. Leaning his forehead on your shoulder Pedro stifles a laugh and sits up, “Yeah, you did fine.”

 “Ok, I’m gonna introduce myself to you. I’ll take over since you guys are clearly confused”, Chelsea Handler, your host for today began looking at Pedro. “well I am,” Pedro said as he turned to look at her.

“‘kay, I’m Chelsea Handler..”

“hi Chelsea,” Pedro said as he moved his chair closer to yours. “and you are Pedr-“ the host was interrupted.

“Pedro Pascal... and Y/n L/n” 

” OK yeah you say it, say it again louder,” she encouraged.

With a smirk, “P E D R O  P A S C A L,” he said slowly yet clearly. “and with me is…” Looking at you, you smiled and waved,” hello, I’m y/n l/n.”

Chelsea nodded, looking down at her cue cards,” ok, now you are a cocaine cowboy on the hunt for Pablo Escobar and you on the other hand this sultry agent that had captured all these guys’ attention—“.

“yeahhhhh~ sultry,” he said teasingly with an eyebrow raised, in which you reciprocated.

“in your series right? You’re hunting him down?” The host continued as she looked up. 

“yeah…yeah,” you said followed by a deep, “correct” from Pedro.

“You filmed in Colombia, right?” She asked seemingly interested. Nodding,”we shot the whole thing in Colombia, w-“. 

Chelsea added when he confirmed the former question,” and how’s that going on? What’s going on down there?”

“It’s pretty amazing, we— the base production is in Bogota, and then we moved around to different locations, throughout the country. I-it’s not totally easy to be away from home and shooting these locations but it’s probably, like the most important thing for the show to capture and you’re, the only way to actually do it is to actually be there and visually that’s the experience you know.” Pedro finished and looked at you as if telling you to share your thoughts.

Smiling to yourself, you answered,” Yeah and when we like saw a little bit of the series and it looks like it’s Colombia in the 80s—“ only to be cut off before you’ve even finished speaking.

Moving in her seat,” so you guys play what? Like a police officer? In the series?” she directly asked.

Responding at the same time, Pedro looked at you and nudged you to speak. “Go on,” he said while playing with the loose ends of the button-up shirt you were wearing.

You turned to look at Chelsea to continue,” so uhm we’re both DEA agents who are-“. An audible hum from her was heard,” and you’re after— cause that was— he was a hard guy to find right?”

“uhh.. yeah, yup yup yeah” you shifted in your seat, “which is kind of a hard thing to imagine right? Cause he was so….. huge and-“

“Like really fat,” Pedro added as he laughed. With a nod and a soft laugh, “I’m sorry” you said towards the camera as you tried to hold in your laugh.

Laughing along, “Well also like the intre— yeah, it’s not like he can run fast. And so are you— so this is a series though, it’s not a movie?” Chelsea prodded as she looked at Pedro, again. “it’s a series, it’s a 10-episode series.” he responded.

Nodding, “10-episode series and the whole time you’re looking for this guy?". “Yeah,” you both said at the same time. “and so a- are your characters based on true people?”

“yes, it is a real guy”

“he’s not fictionalized?”

Shaking his head he takes a hold of your forearm. “No, no, he’s a real DEA agent I met him, just retired in like January 2014. But-but her character though is fictionalized.”

Now directing her attention to you, she looked at you shocked, “really? so like— why did they create this character of yours and what’s in it for her, in this world of men, guns, and drugs?”

Clasping your hands together you cleared your throat, ”so she’s just like Boyd’s character actually, brought in from another place when the DEA needed help and uhm some-some to say to add more heat to the fire.”

Smirking, “heat huh, I like it. So going back to this real character. I’m surprised he didn’t get killed by Pablo Escobar.”

Breathing in, “…..I know, it’s two guys, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, real living guys and that headed the investigation for the DEA down there.”

“How’d you like working for Netflix?” Chelsea abruptly asked as soon as Pedro finished talking. Chuckling he leans back with a huff, “It’s terrible— that’s what she kept telling me as soon as filming started”, and reached behind you to wrap an arm around your shoulders.

She looked at you two before continuing,”It’s embarrassing isn’t it?”. 

“it’s so embarrassing!! It is—it’s so humiliating.”

“it’s like when people say how’s working and I’ll be like oh gosh” she laughed as she stared at him. Looking down as he thinks, “yeah, like excuse me. Netflix!! NETFLIX!!” Releasing a breath, he looks up then at you, who was already looking at him. “Yeah it’s embarrassing. Because I- we actually watch so much of it.”

“ohhh, what’re you watching?” Chelsea asked as she looked at you from the side. Pedro raised his hand to list down what he had in his thought.“We fucking watched all of it. I saw Bloodline, Kimmy Schmidt. I was watching your stand up, Uganda be kidding me..I’ve seen uhh what was the other one?” He looked towards you and asked.

Tilting your head, you thought for a bit before responding with, “oh!! House of cards”. 

“ Yeah that one, we’ve seen the house of cards, caught up on orange is the new black— all of it. A complete Netflix slave,” he finished

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

Sitting up,” Can I introduce you? Do I have to say hello?”, looking around for confirmation. “yeah yeah yeah but better give it to him he’s much louder,” Chelsea said, pointing to Pedro. “Ah, ok here,” passing the cue cards to the man beside you.

“Oookay here we go. Hello, hello internet. I would like to introduce you to Chelsea Handler, Netflix’s jack of all trades,” Pedro read from the paper before looking at her. “I’m doing 4 documentaries” she immediately stated, looking at him.

“you’re doing 4 documentaries?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,..I’m almost done with them”

He continued, “so you-you’ve been shooting. Does this have anything to do with the amount of travelling you were telling me about before we started?” while pointing at her, to you then to the camera. Making the camera show the confused look you have on your face.

“Yeah, I’ve been travelling all- I’ve been bopping around. I mean I just kind of like to incorporate work with travel cause I really can’t sit still for very long, so I kind of like, kind of explore at all times.,” Chelsea enthusiastically shared while you were seen getting comfortable in your seat before leaning your head on Pedro’s shoulder as he scoots impossibly closer to you than he had been.

She continued with, “I’ve been doing- I did one with Chelsea does marriage, that’s my first one, which is all about my personal feelings about marriage and exploring it with my family. It was all- it was very personal, talking to my ex-boyfriends, talking to people who’ve been married for like 65 years-.” 

As she was talking, both of you were in your own little world as Pedro looks at you and pinching your nose before leaning to the side, to rest his head on his hand.

“-talking to people who were in-“, 

“65 days..” Pedro said chuckling, getting back in focus.

Agreeing, ”yeah, 65 days exactly. People who were in like a throuple relationship, like two women and a man-,” she stated as she looked at you two. “-that like operate as a couple, it’s called a throuple. That’s a thing now.”, she ended.

“Ohh..,” stunned, he looked at her. “I had no idea, did you?,” he asked as he looked at you who was still leaning on him. Moving to look up at him then to Chelsea,” Uhmmm.. I’ve heard of it but never really got the chance to look more into it.” You simply said.

Continuing, “Uhmmm we did that. Chelsea does racism which is fascinating-” She listed, which resulted in laughs from everyone.”-Chelsea does Silicon Valley, cause I just don’t understand anything about the tech world and how they operate. And then Chelsea does drugs, is the last one.” She continues as she looks up.

That caught Pedro’s attention as he jumped up his chair and gestured to the both of you with a teasing expression on his face,” Come to our show!.”

“ So I’m finishing it that’s why-“

“maybe that’s why they put us together.” He joked towards the camera.

 Chelsea lets out a laugh before continuing, “so I’m doing ayahuasca in Peru.” You perked up, making Pedro chuckle “Oh no! just come on y/n,” hearing him from behind the camera

Laughing, the camera focused on you, “have you ever done it before?”

“Nooo of course not. I was waiting to- I’m gonna do it on camera.” And weirdly, her answer had an effect on you as you were now laughing hysterically while hitting a very shocked Pedro on his midsection.

“you’re gonna do it on camera?!” He asked with a look between disbelief and interest.

Humming, “yeah that’s like the point of this whole series, is to show people. Everything I’ve done on camera’s medically supervised. Like taken Adderall, showed what happens to your brain, do like mental acuity and physical tests“. Pausing to think, “Ok ok so where was I- oh I’ve taken Ambien with lots of vodkas to see in my own house.”

A small voice was heard before the closest camera pans to you. “Out of curiosity, I’d like to try that,” you whisper to Pedro. He lets out a hearty laugh, “No, no, I won’t let you-“

She cut Pedro off suddenly interested in what you have to say, “hold on what’s happening?”

“she told me she was curious and wanted to try what you did, with the ambien-vodka mixture,” he answered for you.

“you should try it sometime—“ she encouraged, resulting in you nodding your head with a grin.

With a hand on his forehead,” no, don’t encourage her, 'cause she’ll fucking do it. I’m telling you.” Pedro looks genuinely concerned while you were laughing your ass off getting a few laughs from the production staff with you.

“I mean— it’s not a pretty sight”

Pedro nods agreeing with the host, “to see everything that you do and have no memory of it whatsoever,” he added. Looking at him, Chelsea finishes with a “yeah, just to show people how they behave when they’re not acting responsibly.”

“How did you convince Netflix to let you do it?” You suddenly asked out of nowhere resulting in a not-so-surprised response from Pedro, “See!! See!! I told you not to encourage her”

Turning to him you, “She didn’t encourage me, I’m just genuinely curious about how she’d convince them. It’s not like I’ll do it,” you said in a voice that sounded like you don’t believe what you’re saying.

Ruffling your fixed hair,” nope, I don’t believe you.” Earning himself a small pout as you leaned back in your chair.

“To answer that, I remember pitching the drug one to Netflix’s producers and said maybe I should just do drugs, have everybody see what happens— how you act on weed, on alcohol, on pills, and all the things that people abuse. Nothing really illegal or narcotic cause you can’t really film that kind of stuff and get away with it,” the host said when she interrupted your small moment.

“right”

She looks at you, “and then- or there are certain places where you can film and so ayahuasca obviously is legal in Peru so uh-“

You butted in and teasingly looked at Pedro, “I’m booking the earliest flight to Peru as soon as this wraps.” He softly lets out a breath, “oh gosh” as he dragged his hands on one cheek. “NO NO, I’m kidding,” softly chuckling while you reached to cup his cheeks. 

“yeah, go do it!! Do you like the people that you work with?” Chelsea asked as soon as you were seated properly.

Looking at him, leaning on one side of the chair. “hmm, do you Pedro? Like, the people that you work with?” asked with a small smirk.

“yes very much,” he said turning to you. “But they aren’t that funny, 'cause I’m the funny one” he continues as he turns to Chelsea like he’s stating a fact.

“HUhhhh!! No, you aren’t,” shaking your head, disagreeing with him.

Chelsea with curious look, “Are you?”

“Maybe, possibly…”

“so you think you make a lot of people laugh?”

Pedro smirks he glances at you “Yeah…. Yeah I do”

“mhmm, believe what you want to believe,” you said as you looked down to avoid his teasing expression.

Laughing aloud “I don’t think she agrees with tha-” she points at you

“or cry what’s the difference” he looked around to see some nodding. “Cry??” You asked confused. “Yeah cry. You know that,” he pauses, giving you a knowing look

“Wha-Ohhhhhh, ok. I get it now,” you said looking abashed as you turned away from the camera.

“why what is it?  Did he make you cry?”

“uh-haha, kind of a long story. But he did this thing that-“ covering your mouth to stop you from spilling. “Ok that’s enough. Going back, so then what are you?” He looks at Chelsea while still covering the lower half of your face.

“don’t worry about me. I’m a very loud personality. It was more important that we interviewed you,” Chelsea began, giving him a pointed look.

“no no this was- I got to kinda interview you but we should’ve-“ he says

“yes you did, a little bit. But I controlled the interview,” she stated as a fact.

“you controlled the interview-“

“because I know what I’m doing”

He nods, “because you do know what you’re doing, and I do not so meaning we should’ve interviewed this-“ he drags you to him with the same hand he used to cover your mouth, “-person right here, who was particularly interested in the drug part. why- why are you interested in that y/-“

The host cut him with, “So it was fun it was a pleasure to meet you” pointing at Pedro, “I like you.”

“I-it was a pleasure meeting you too, uhm I like you too” he answered while he was still looking at you.

Readying to stand, “yeah.. great, we’re gonna go- can we get a bag of blow?” Chelsea joked which you laughed at.

-cut- 

Now standing by the door the host, Chelsea Handler, was nowhere to be seen. The cameraman walked a bit closer to where the two of you were conversing. Once close enough and you were heard, they zoomed in on the both of you.

You bumped your shoulder into him. “can we go get it though?” You looked up at him from where you were standing.

Looking back at you, he crosses his arms and steps towards you, “Get what?” Raising a brow he watches as you step closer, arms on your waist.

You gesture to the staff behind you, “the.. the bag of blow”, you said fighting off a smile. 

Shaking his head at your teasing he proceeds to engulf you in a hug before dragging you out the room, “Absolutely not”.

Comments:

Fan 1 I like how Pedro literally tries to include y/n in the conversation she was purposely being left out of, why invite her if you’re only going to talk to one person.

Fan 2 Pedro Pascal is my guilty pleasure

Fan 3 No cause like why did y/n literally just jump out of her seat when the topic of taking drugs come in, girl you’re in a show where you fight against drugs and you’re curious about it like hell. Pedro’s way of stopping her like ughh

Fan 5 If Pedro looks at me in that way, he looks at Y/n, I’ll literally be in heaven.

Fan 6 The lady barely let y/n speak. Let my girl talk

Fan 7 There is a lot of chemistry between them. I am sure that had a very sexually passionate escapade.  ↳ Fan 5 replied to Fan 7: Girl his GF's literally right there ↳Fan 7 replied to Fan 5: rumoured, there’s not enough proof

Fan 8 I love him. He's being so attentive and respectful when Chelsea talks about her work, and how he includes always tries to bring y/n in. And then the "I controlled the interview!" was just CRINGE as well as her cutting y/n off as soon as she speaks.

Fan 9 Y/N: I wanna try what she did  Pedro: Nope Chelsea: yeah go ahead  Pedro: Don’t encourage her!!

Fan 10 No cause why are they so snuggly in this interview, like the subtle touches? Also, why does y/n seem so down in this? ↳ Fan 5 replied to Fan 7: probably cause she was probably feeling bad or already sick at the time they were recording this. She posted something about being bedridden for a week.

[david-talks-sw]

I havent watched it yet, but I saw a lot of reports that The Acolyte promotes a lot of Jedi Order "hate" if you will. What did you think about it? As a Jedi fan, I kind of DONT want to watch it because of that.

If you ask me, it's a fine show :) it hasn't quite gripped me, the thick lightsabers that look like toys are a nitpick that keeps triggering me.

But overall it's nice!

Yes, there are some small jabs.

The Jedi in The Acolyte are really reticent towards using their lightsabers, resorting to hand-to-hand or even stun weapons.

From what I've seen on Twitter, people are speculating that this is to show how much more "good" the Jedi were back then, as opposed to the more "square, dogmatic, quick-on-the-draw Prequel Jedi," who lost their compassion and have fully detached themselves to the point of dehumanizing themselves.

Yord is clearly meant to be one of the first "Prequel Jedi" as described above.

It's played for laughs 50% of the time, but yeah. The narrative frames him as being a bit of a dick who's a bit too proud of himself. And I'm seeing reflections of Tales of the Jedi Mace Windu & what Filoni described Episode I Obi-Wan as.

Same goes for Vernestra, dogmatically insisting he return to Coruscant because "protocol" and literally shown playing politics.

I've seen folks draw a parallel between Vernestra's attitude and that scene in Episode II where Yoda and Mace agree that they can't let the Senate know their powers of foresight are waning... and yeah, people interpret that scene as the two of them playing politics.

The director commentary of Episode II states that's not the case. It's more about the fact that if they trying to keep the war from starting.

Parallels between Sol and Qui-Gon

Very evident. But again... if you ask me, Sol is just being a Jedi. Qui-Gon isn't the only one with those character traits. Look at Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Shaak Ti.

Finally, there's some hints that some evil shit went down years prior to the show and the Jedi were at the center of it.

I'm gonna hazard a guess that it's not as black and white as Mae or Sol makes it seem. A "big misunderstanding" type deal.

So yeah. Vernestra and Yord strike me as one-dimensional and a bit cartoonish. But overall:

Love seeing Jedi do some Kung Fu.

Love that they finally fixed how lightsaber blades look on camera.

Love the concept of a Jedi-centered detective story.

Mae and Osha are fun in different ways, but I'm kinda scared that, from their mantra, the show is gonna culminate in a "Gray Jedi is the way" kinda direction, and you know how I feel about that.

Love Qimir. And I get the feeling he's more than what he says he is, if you get my drift.

Love the acting in it, the set pieces, the production value, the way some Force powers are used (Sol with the Force speed, fuck yeah!)

Love that the title of "sith acolyte" is an actual thing now. It kinda helps us figure out what Dooku was between when he left in Dooku: Jedi Lost and his last episode in Tales of the Jedi. If I understand correctly, Sidious had an apprentice while grooming an acolyte... once the apprentice kicked the bucket, he promoted Dooku.

8/10 as far as I'm concerned.

[prince-liest]

Yo, I'm writing a pre canon fic in which young fanboy Vox gets assigned as Alastor's assistant by Lilith, any tips for characterising him?

I think you have a lot of room for leeway and playing around since you're working with pre-canon, but the main points that I tend to at least personally keep around as a scaffold for writing Vox are:

He's got a Charisma modifier of, like, +4. This doesn't mean he's always suave - in fact, he's pretty pathetic around Alastor in particular! But he knows how to put on a performance that appeals to his intended audience, whether that be a customer base whose trust he's winning over, or a fellow Vee that he's trying to wrangle into behaving. He switches between ridiculous showmanship and collected CEO, and this works for him despite both personas being rife with overcompensation.

Every single one of the Vees including Vox thinks they're the only normal, reasonably-behaving person in the room, it's wild.

He's smart, he's capable, he's manipulative. He's good at knowing what people want and how to leverage that to sell them those things. The general population thinks he's #goals thanks to the image he puts forth.

He's a piece of shit that has no qualms with Valentino's behavior with Angel Dust, Velvette selling date rape drugs, or abusing his own hypnosis ability to manipulate people into buying his products (which include spyware literally advertised to voyeurs). This is part of the fun of this character!!

I think he has a lot of very fun physicality to him (as do most of the Hazbin Hotel characters), and I really recommend re-watching some of his scenes to get the hang of how he moves and interacts with people physically because you'd be surprised at how much that can add to characterization even in a non-visual format like writing.

...I also genuinely think he's kind of a horny bastard, to whatever extent and rating your story could even use that, but that's me extrapolating from his behavior around both Alastor and Valentino. It's just a fun cherry on top of the "low impulse control around Alastor" thing, because he's got so much going for him on the intelligence front that it's really funny to me when he tangibly switches to thinking with his dick.

And, of course, on the subject of Alastor in particular:

He's obsessive, and Alastor makes all of his impulse control go out the window. I started using the "Vox's One-sided Psychosexual Obsession with Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)" tag for a reason, and it's that I think it's in fact really funny how much evidence we get in canon that Vox doesn't just hate Alastor and want to dominate him, he'd also probably roll right over into the affectionately wheedling persona he uses with Valentino if Alastor suggested he'd take it well.

We don't just see Vox wanting Alastor dead, we also see Alastor telling us that Vox first asked him to join him; the torn-in-half photo of them standing together; and Vox pretty much popping a boner over Alastor getting wrecked by Adam, nevermind how manically he jumps around to get a word in before Alastor even shows his face during Stayed Gone. Even his little "Fu-uu-uuuuuck!" at the end of the song is like 50% actual despair and 50% :pleading: emoji. He wants Alastor, obviously, and I think a lot of the anger that he's projecting at Alastor in canon is specifically anger at being rejected, which is frantically covering up the fact that he is still desperately, embarrassingly into the radio deer. If Alastor won't join him, Vox has to beat him.

Anyway, I love this funky little TV. This was by no means a comprehensive guide or anything like that, but I hope it helped share at least some of my personal thoughts on writing him!

[katelynnwrites]

i can do it with a broken heart | laura freigang

warnings: angst with no happy ending

word count: 831

summary: you're determined to fake it 'til you make it, even with a broken heart. also known as your the reader's perspective of down bad

a/n: the third installation of my 'the anthology' blurbs series

you can feel laura’s gaze on you, from across the locker room.

a few short weeks ago, you would have blushed and teasingly told her that it’s rude to stare.

now, it makes your heart clench so you plaster a large smile on your face and turn to look at tanja, starting an intentionally cheerful conversation.

it is impossibly hard for you to ignore the blonde, especially when her eyes are on you again, this time in the club as you and your teammates celebrate the club’s win.

in stilettos, you have a drink in hand, a pretty sequined dress on and your makeup is done to perfection.

she’s sitting alone, at a table by the side of the bar and you can practically read her mind. you know her well enough for that.

‘she’s having the time of her life.’

well you can show her lies.

you can show up to trainings on time. you can attend every team bonding with a bright expression. you can do it all. even if it’s killing you inside.

because you’re a real tough kid. you can handle your shit.

after all they say you gotta fake it ‘til you make it. and you will.

so the one thing on your mind, repeating over and over as you push through each and every day is ‘lights, camera, bitch smile.’

even when you wanna die, you will do it.

your ex said she would love you all her life.

you believed her. you still do because you see the dark circles she has. she’s clearly devastated and barely holding herself together.

and you know it is all your fault for breaking up with her.

but you had to. had to because you love her so much. you trust her excessively and before you fall any harder for her, you needed to stop yourself.

it would have hurt too much when you landed and you know that if you allowed laura to love you the way she wanted any longer, there would be no coming back from that kind of pain.

so for your own sake, you had to leave her. even though it gives you overwhelming guilt to break her heart.

but you can grin like you’re winning and you can hit all your marks.

you’re playing better than ever because you know you are good. you know you’re good because you can do it, even with a broken heart.

you cry a lot now that you have left the striker but you are still so productive that one could consider it an art.

really, it’s only through the extensive uses of subtle makeup, face masks, cooling eye packs and the odd frozen metal teaspoon that no one has noticed it yet.

most of your relationship with laura was spent staying over in her apartment but there were nights that were spent in yours.

more than a few if the way you keep finding her things in your drawers is anything to go by.

first it was a old penn state sweatshirt. the next, one of her retro frankfurt jerseys.

now it’s her favourite pair of jeans.

you choke on your tears when you find it among your own clothes.

she’d worn them to your first date.

laura might keep looking at you but she avoids you like the plague otherwise. she doesn’t want to walk near your cubby in the locker room or be in the same training group as you.

she must hate you and you can’t blame her.

it is part of the reason why you cannot bear to return any of her things to her. they are the last tangible memories you have left of her, crucial evidence that for a brief time, you had the love of your life.

you feel like you’re drowning in your grief now but you can hold your breath.

because you’re a real tough kid. you can handle your shit. there is no reason to drag the german woman back into it, if she would even deign to give you the time of day.

so breaking down, you’ll hit the floor. all the pieces of you shattering as the fans chant, ‘more!’.

you might be depressed and you might be struggling but you will be damned if you’re not doing your best.

you will show up at trainings and team bondings on time, with a happy grin fixed on your face. you will only post the most positive and staged content on your social medias and you will not let any of your teammates or most importantly laura herself, see just how not okay you are.

‘lights, camera, bitch smile.’ you think once again.

even when you wanna die, you’re doing good. you know you’re good because you’re miserable and nobody even knows.

you swore that you would fake it ‘til you make it and you’re doing it.

it’s your new job and you are not going to let anyone try to come for it.

[mistypsych]

ANATOMY OF A CRIMINAL - CHAPTER 7

/ yoongi / suga / agust d

summary: as a doctor you never expected to be dragged into “the criminal life”, nothing and no one seems to be true anymore, your whole world turns upside down after you save him.

pairings: yoongi mob boss x f.reader x non idol bts members.

warnings: smut, guns, knives, stabbings, blood, gore, murders, drugs, criminals, gang life, medical emergency, illness, abuse, swearing, angst, dubcon, gang violence, corruption, manipulation, lies, cheating - 18+ minors dni.

Note: Hi! This is an attempt of writing a fanfic long after not writing anything at all. Please keep in mind English is no longer my first language and it might be a bit rusty at times. Comments and thoughts are well appreciated. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, state your thoughts for me to post up and have me add you to the tag list!

You blinked very fast. Your thoughts were all over the place. Keeping your gaze on the KCIA badge you took a deep breath and mumbled “Yea… it does look like we need to talk…” trying to gather yourself, you turned to face the kind eyed man.

This was the moment he should start explaining, because you sure as hell had no idea what the actual fuck was going on.

He let out a long, quiet sigh, keeping his eyes on the road. “So… I am well aware you normally would not have anything to do with a gang, if it wasn’t for your reckless friend…” he started. “But… our target isn’t really the whole group. I mean yea, they are dangerous, cause some havoc but… they are also a well know danger… they keep the product they sell clean and such… yes it is bad, but how to say it? A evil you know is better than anything unknown and out of control right?”.

You tried to follow his logic, one questing popping into your head - then why was he even there? As if reading your mind he explained “We are fishing for the police… we have known the department has gotten very dirty in the recent years… and we are collecting enough evidence to be sure to take that scum down…” he turned his eyes to the road again waiting for you to slowly take in the information he has dropped on you.

You shake your head a bit and then look up as if asking the universe why the fuck this is all happening. “So… let me guess… my fiancé happens to be on the list…”. Jimin sighed and slowly nodded his head, clicking his tongue he looked at you for a second. “Listen… I know this is all a lot to take in… especially that your fiancé is an absolute dick… but… I assume you’d have nothing against putting his ass behind bars right?”.

You look at the man sitting next to you and try to think of an answer. In all honesty you would gladly have Hobi suffer since you found out not only is he dirty but also a cheater. The fact you slept with Agust-D did not seem like proper justice for the fact that asshole ruined all those years of your life. But having him locked up seemed like some kind of karma.

“Yea… I would not mind that at all…” you paused for a while and then asked “So… let me take a guess. You would love to have a spy in me huh?”. Jimin cleared his throat quietly, clearly not expecting you to be this blunt. “I won’t lie… it would probably make things easier… I believe you could fish out some important intel for us…”

Without much hesitation you say “Ok. Count me in then, as long as me and my friend Jungkook are not dragged into whatever consequences this shitshow brings…” the hazy eyed man slightly looks at you and nods “Of course… you will be my informant so I will make sure your demands are met…” you roll your eyes a bit not enjoying the fact once again you have been put in a peculiar spot.

You asked to be dropped off a couple of blocks before your building. Your neighborhood was safe enough for you to walk back and you sure as hell would not wan’t Hoseok seeing you get dropped off by Jimin.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

You will have to lie, pretend and play games with Hobi. It was not something you ever would see yourself doing but given the circumstances, you did not have many options in order to receive some sort of justice for yourself. The worst part being that you had to pretend you have no idea about what he did and that you are still oh so blindly in love with him, when in reality all you wanted is to beat him into a pulp for wasting all those important years of your life.

Walking in slowly into your apartment you gently closed the doors hoping that if your fiancé was there you would not wake him up. Looking around you saw his jacket and sighed. Luck was not on your side. It seemed that you were gonna have to deal with his company sooner then later.

You made your way passed the opened bedroom doors, making sure to be quiet and to get you the chance to sleep on the couch, but no, you had to be shit outta luck. “Y/N? Hun? That you?” you swore in your head and barely controlled your impulse to punch the wall. Silently clearing your throat you said “Yea… it’s me… I went out with Kookie and some other coworkers… since you said you would be home late again…” you lied threw your teeth.

A sound of the bed covers rustling hit your ears. You knew he was getting up, so you put your best pretend happy tipsy face on. Right then you saw him stand in the door and lean on the frame with a slightly sleepy face. He smiled at you and came up taking your hand in his. “Mmm… I’m sorry I am having to work so much lately babe…” you nodded your head afraid that if you spoke that moment he would pick up your pure rage.

After a second you gathered yourself “It’s fine, we both have jobs that can occupy us at times…” wrapping his arms around you he kissed your shoulder “What did I do to deserve such a woman?” you forced a giggle. “Can I make it up to you Y/N? Hmmm?” he hummed in a low voice pulling at your waistband. You laughed lightly and gave him a peck in the nose saying “we can discuss that after I take a shower and you make breakfast.”

He mumbled slightly disappointed but made his way to the kitchen, you on the other hand got into the bathroom. You stood there looking at your reflection in the big mirror questioning all your life decisions and if you should have ever moved to Korea. You turned on the water for it to warm up. You needed a hot shower to was off all the strain from your muscles.

Suddenly your phone rang causing you to jump up. Looking at the screen you could see a no caller ID show up. Normally you would ignore such a call but something in you gave you a hunch. Picking up the phone you quietly answered. “Hello?” you heard a deep sigh on the other side of the line and then the well know gravely voice “Didn’t take you would be the type to sneak out at dawn?” your heart clenched and then started beating like crazy. You could feel your body getting tense.

“And I wouldn’t think you’d be the type to be bothered by such a thing… I would think you’d appreciate it…” he chuckled, you could almost see him shaking his head in amusement “Nah… I was thinking of round two for breakfast…” you sigh grabbing the tip of your nose. This was all one big mess. “I have a fiancé…” you muttered hoping this would salve it and make him cancel the call, but instead he laughed loudly “Oh… I know you do and I ain’t bothered babe, because I know now when he fucks you, you’ll be thinking of me and all I can do to you”. His words rendered you speechless “Mmm just what I thought. You’ll be coming back for more Y/N and oh I will give it to you…” and at that he ended the call.

Standing there and looking at your cellphone you were trying collect yourself. This fucking cocky bastard was so sure you’d be coming back to him. “You wish… we will see who’s left begging…”

tags: @wobblewobble822 @nansasa @nochook @kootieful @kooslilhoe @yoongisducky @xjiminsthighsx @danielle143 @llallaaa @idkjustlovingbts @darcyw16 @missusally-blog @honsoolgloss @nochuel @kaitieskidmore1 @starrlo0ver @geek-lara-nerd @jwnghyuns @xyahrinx @acquiescence804

[thecraftyninjacat]

shoutout to @princeasimdiya12 for their super cool matakara utena analysis, check it out i am chewing on it as i write this!!! i was honestly blindsided by how much the two had in common and it really made me think about why my interpretation was the way it was in the first place, so this ended up being…about a lot of other things, and a lot more complicated than my arajin utena post.

anyway, you wanna see me go fully off the rails? *slaps matakara = reverse anthy ramblings on the table*

(i would recommend reading my reverse utena arajin post first for slight context for this insanity. also some major utena spoilers below the cut, so be warned!!)

Now I can hear you asking: How is Matakara the reverse Anthy to Arajin's reverse Utena? How is Matakara an Anthy in the first place?? crafty how the fuck does this make sense to you this show is not that deep??? I can answer two of those questions!

First we gotta bring up princesses again. Princesses do not have a tangible equivalent like how honki people = princes, but they don't have to have one. After all, princesses plays a vital role in the Aladdin allusion. And yes by the logic of Utena all girls are princesses, but Matakara is specifically the princess to Arajin's 'prince', which from an meta perspective is what makes him special. But he's not the only princess. Let's talk Arajin and Mahoro!

(there was a tangent here about how the show defines strength, but it was kind of off topic so I cut it. TLDR, uhhh despite some evidence stating otherwise strength in bucchigiri exists separately from gender, something something girls can be honki people men can be princesses etc.)

In RGU, the student council members and Utena see worth in claiming Anthy because to them the Rose Bride is a symbol of something they wish to attain. Their wishes stem from events from their past, and since they all refuse to grow past these events they remain stagnant characters, trapped within the academy.

Guess who also remains stagnant because he refuses to mature past his wish!

(what i'm getting from this is that a reverse anthy is a lot like an utena lol)

Let's focus on Arajin for a second. Arajin, as the reverse Utena, abandoned the honki person dream as soon as he realised he couldn't save Matakara. Mahoro is a symbol of the ordinary life as a teenage boy he wants to have, and Matakara symbolises the fairytale he doesn't feel worthy of and wants to leave behind. Mahoro is like Anthy (and Matakara) kind of in the way that Nanami is like Anthy. Essence of Anthy. Rose Bride Lite. Which makes Matakara more of an Anthy imo.

(I think there's something to be said about compulsory heterosexuality if you consider how Mahoro being a girl makes her a conventional princess for Arajin to chase, while Matakara may be everything Arajin wants, but his gender and closeness to the fairytale Arajin is trying to escape bars him from being an option. Also interesting how no matter how Arajin tries to distract himself with Mahoro, everything he wants Mahoro to be eventually circles back to Matakara.)

(something could also be said about the mahoro/matakara and nanami/anthy parallels, but i Do Not have the brainpower to unpack that atm lmao)

Anyway, Arajin is just so, stupidly determined to achieve his dream, which I think makes him a lot more Utena-like. Matakara...not so much? Before Arajin comes back into his life, it's the community of Minato Kai that gives him the stability he needs to largely ignore his monster, so he kind of puts his dream on the back burner.

He was doing fine...then Arajin fell back into his life and he got reminded of the promise he left behind.

So, Matakara is a princess! He's literally the princess of the fairytale allusion and he's someone who wants to be saved from a monster (the nebulous driving force for princes to save girls and turn them into princesses). In Anthy's case, the monster Utena wanted to save her from was the burden of humanity's hatred. Matakara's monster is a product of his own inner darkness.

It’s established that while Matakara may have a strong will, he’s too weak-hearted to become a honki person on his own. In fact, his weak heart is exactly what makes him a princess. But even then he doesn't fully fit into the mould. Princesses are supposed to be pure and passive, and Matakara is neither (at least not completely). His darkness may manifest as a monster, but before his recruitment into Minato Kai he goes to pretty morally dubious lengths in his attempts to become ‘strong’. Furthermore, not only is he rejected by his prince, it's revealed to him that his prince never existed. Arajin was a liar, and he was never going to save him. And so Ichiya uses that against him. He acts as Matakara’s saviour and threatens him with the idea of the monster to get him to kill the 'false' prince.

As powerful as she is, years of trauma have made it impossible for Anthy to break from the cycle of abuse on her own. Isolated from all support, Matakara is not in a mental state where he can break free of his monster either. Ichiya and Akio have free reign to manipulate Matakara and Anthy into becoming vessels for their revolution because at this point in the plot, they're all they have left. The twisted visions of the once-noble prince and honki person.

In Utena terms, Matakara is a princess who wants to defeat his own monster by becoming a prince. Anthy is a princess who doesn't think she should be saved at all. Matakara is someone who fights tooth and nail to be free from his demons at all costs, while Anthy simply allows hers to consume her out of guilt and love for the monster she used to know. Both need help from someone who understands them.

But killing the fake prince won't turn Matakara into a prince himself. What was that saying about girls who can’t be saved by a prince? What's left for you if you're not strong enough to be a prince and not pure enough to be a princess?

Anthy could tell you.

Matakara from Episode 1-7 reminds me of the version of Anthy from Adolescene of Utena. Dios and Akio can no longer directly influence Anthy, so she gets to be far more strong-willed and assertive. However, she’s still ultimately trapped within mental barriers she’s set for herself, hence why she still wants Utena to become her prince (like how Matakara still wants to become a honki person with Arajin). If you interpret Adolescence as a sequel to the original series like I do, then you can picture Matakara's descent from Adolescence Anthy to RGU Anthy due to Ichiya and Akutaro's manipulations as the reverse of Anthy’s character progression. 

so...matakara is basically a reverse anthy.

Incredibly jaded Anthy neck-deep in manipulative abuse from a higher power gradually warms up to Utena because of her genuine kindness and inner strength. Incredibly naive Matakara is manipulated by a higher power into losing faith in Arajin through the revelation that his strength and bravery were an illusion. Through their abuse and suffering both characters attain power that stored/drawn from their chest/heart from someone emotionally manipulating the absolute shit out of them to serve their own selfish goals. Almost the whole cast victimises Anthy and considers her lower than them, while Utena alone treats her like an equal. Matakara alone believes he’s inferior to Arajin and strives to be on even ground to him, while Arajin pushes Matakara away because he believes he’s not good enough for Matakara. Anthy gives Utena a respectful title that she gives to all of her grooms, only to call Utena by her name without any honorifics once she’s freed herself from the Rose Bride system. Everyone who wants to get close to Arajin gives him a nickname, but Matakara’s is particularly childish and personal. Anthy's older brother is a manipulative monster, and Anthy’s ultimate revolution is her emancipation from him and the system he perpetuates. Matakara's older brother is so ideologically good it ultimately becomes his downfall, and his injury becomes the catalyst for Matakara’s descent into despair. Anthy constantly changes how she acts depending on who she needs to manipulate into the duels. Matakara is the only main character who always presents himself with utmost sincerity. They’re both full of love at their core, but their circumstances fill them with hatred and hopelessness. Their first reintroductions to Utena and Arajin are them being observed through a window. They both suck at cooking. i have to post this before the next episode proves me wrong-

[greenesmyfavcolor]

What year does Little Shop of Horrors take place?

Alright, as you can tell from the title, Imma bout to dissect which exact year LSOH takes place since there’s never been any concrete answer from an official source to my knowledge and lemme tell ya, it’s harder than you think lol

Ok so we know that Audrey II came to earth on September 21st/23rd (21st in the stage version and 23rd in the movie version) during the 1960’s “in an early year of a decade” but they never tell us the exact year.

However we do know that Kennedy was president during the events of the movie as he is mentioned on Seymour’s radio and his presidency lasted from 1961 to 1963.

And in the directors cut (which I consider canon to some extent), Jason and the Argonauts is shown to be playing in a theater during Don’t Feed the Plants and that movie came out in June of 1963 so that must mean LSOH has to take place after that date. So the year has to be 1963 if Kennedy is still president and that movie is playing in theaters.

However Audrey II mentions during Feed Me that Seymour could be on Jack Paar’s radio show and that ran from 1957 to 1962.

So now it can’t be 1963 as Jack Paar would have already ended by then and it can’t be 1962 as Jason wouldn’t have been playing in theaters yet.

However LSOH can still take place in both years. Who’s to say that Audrey II didn’t take over the world until the year 1963? It could have been 1962 when the events of the film started but by the time Audrey II gained enough power to start to destroy NYC, a few months could have passed for it to be 1963. And the film does begin in September which is late into the year so it is plausible.

But here’s when this whole theory really starts to fall apart lol.

Before the shop is renovated, there’s a calendar in the back that’s very hard to read but based on the positioning of the dates, it matches up with the year 1964 as the first day of the month starts on a Tuesday. And it’s shown at the very beginning of the movie so the solar eclipse has to have happened in 1964 which goes against everything else that has been brought up so far. Although the year the calendar says doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the actual year, it’s kind of a long shot to assume that they would have the wrong calendar year hung up.

Also neither the 21st nor the 23rd of September fall on a Thursday in 1964 which is the supposed day of the week the eclipse happened according to the same radio broadcast that mentions JFK.

Also also I looked up what exact month Jack Paar’s radio show ended and it just so happened to end in March of 1962 so LSOH can’t take place in 1962 if it starts in September.

So right now, it may sound like we’ve officially hit a dead end. But the thing is, I’ve mainly been listing off things that show up in the movie which isn’t the original source material. That would be the 1982 stage version. We have to remember that anything in the movie that contradicts what year it takes place in in the stage version is not solid evidence because that’s not what was originally intended. So technically, we only have to go off what the original stage production states if we want to figure out the year.

So in the stage version, it’s still mentioned that it takes place in the 1960’s “in an early year of a decade” and that Jack Paar had a radio show before 1962. The only things the movie brought up were the argonauts, Kennedy, the calendar, and what day of the week the eclipse happened. If you want to go ahead and count anything in the movie as canon evidence as to when LSOH takes place, be my guest but there’s so many things that contradict when it does happens that I’m just going to go off the original stage production.

Because of this, my bet is that the events of LSOH start on September 21st, in between the years 1960 and 1961.

I wish I had more of a solid answer so if anyone has any more evidence that suggests what year it might take place from either the stage or movie version, lmk cause I’ve been thinking on this for way too long 🥲

[wexhappyxfew]

And then “Look at you! You're spilling coffee.” For Brady and Annie >:)

HI POET!!!!!!! thank you so much for sending in a prompt + incredibly sorry it is so SO late for a response!! my summer has been so incredibly busy and i've only just gotten to this now, so i truly hope you enjoy!!! <3 annie and brady are an absolute joy to write and i always love getting to play around in the areas of time we get to see them in - so this is in the early days of getting to know each other and - you guessed it - it involves coffee haha! THANK YOU AGAIN!!! (also hi and hello i am back after an absolutely chaotic af week)!!!!!! <3333

porcelain, silk and starch

(a/n): ANNIE X BRADY GIRLIES THIS IS FOR YOUUUU!!!! getting back into some 'early days' sorta stuff for these two that i felt were needed for their connection. just those early moments of first meetings and interactions that i wanted to work with a bit! and ofc a cameo from co-pilot francis who is my fav of favs fr! a queen in true form!!! i hope you all (and poet most of all - this was a great prompt THANK YOU) enjoy!!! :D

“Silver Bullets should’ve been put into mass production the day she made the run over Caen,” Francis said, pulling her cigarette from her lip and patting the edge of the wing, the early dawn rays of the sun tickling the edges of the metal, “flies like a fucking angel, I tell ya, Bradshaw.”

Annie looked up at the large berth of wingspan for the B-17 and smiled a bit; it was evident how much Francis cared about the plane, like it was this thing they were caring for day by day, somehow watching it grow. It seemed Francis was coming around - they were actually on a name-to-name basis rather than incredibly formal 'Lieutenant Bradshaw' and 'Lieutenant Montez' callings. It was actually kind of nice. Annie knew Francis still held her bearings about everything, but she was more receptive and open-minded than she had been a few days back.

“So, how’d you get wrapped up in all this?” Francis said turning to Annie, a slightly darkened look in her eyes, “Some stupid bet, couldn’t handle a joke from a sick fucko back home? I’ll do you one better, an old boyfriend who thinks he’s God’s greatest gift-“

"Joined the WAC," Annie said, rather unceremoniously - not like her mother had been pleased, so Annie was just used to the lackluster of it all because of that fact (no one had been excited for such a thing, for someone like her, from where she was from), "started ferrying planes - fuel reloads, supply drops. Seems they liked me in the higher ups. Now I'm here." Francis watched her for a moment, smoke lingering up from the butt of her cigarette. With their uniforms on, they both actually looked half-decent - no pilot gear and uniform looking mangled from a mission, no sweat, burnt pieces of hair, frozen eyebrows and bloodied cheeks. Just like normal people for once.

“You know, I like that for you,” Francis said, “I had some guy tell me I could never pilot a plane. Showed him up.” Annie smirked from behind her aviators at Francis - quite the character, she could hold her own and had no problem telling it how it was. Yeah, Annie was already sold, even if Francis wasn't sold on her.

“So. The WAC. Do tell.” Francis said, pointing at her.

“Well, I did translating for a good period of time before I was wrapped up in flying. Gotta say if the opportunity had been presented, I would've stuck with it.”

“Whatcha translating?”

“German, French…tried to get a handle on Russian. Still trying my best with that.”

“Damn, Bradshaw,” Francis said before pointing a finger at her, “what the hell did that have to do with flying?”

“They said we couldn’t do it.” Annie offered back, crossing her arms and shrugging, "That sorta stuff you listen to, even if you don't want to. And then you do, even if they think you can't."

"Birdie really would've loved you." Francis said, the first real genuine smile growing on her face as she crossed her arms, "Wanna see inside?"

Climbing up into the belly of the plane, the lingering silence hit her like bricks, the feeling inside the fort. What had happened here. What they all knew had happened her; what the women of Silver Bullets had experienced. What had Montez said to let them know their pilot was dead? That she had to take control of the plane and the body was in the front seat? What mind-fuck had they gone through to wrap their minds around that fact?

"Pretty isn't it?" Francis said from behind her, briefly patting the edge of one of the seats as they both moved towards the cockpit.

"She's beautiful." Annie said, adjusting herself in the left side of the cockpit, running her hands along the buttons and the wheel and the edges of the window, "Really, it's a beautiful plane."

Glancing back at Francis, she noticed the woman far-off it seemed, eyes glazed, staring somewhere out to the hazy horizon. Annie slowly brought her focus forward again - Birdie had died here. Right where Annie was sat. It was a wonder Francis could even walk up here again - Annie gave her a lot of credit.

"Well," Francis started, blowing breath from her lips, a quick smile darting onto her lips, "we'll have plenty of time to admire this bucket of bolts in the coming days, for now…we oughta get ourselves to the dining hall. Breakfast. Ain't they say it's the most important meal of the day?"

Francis' voiced trailed off somewhere between her talking about breakfast and saying how she thought the most important meal of the day was actually dessert. Annie stood there for a moment, in the middle of the plane, lingering in the stillness, the plane that had launched that crew up into the sky and came back down without a pilot. Who still stood tall and strong, right here, right now.

Annie tried to clear her mind. She hopped out of the plane, landing beside Francis, rather gracefully, and looked up at the co-pilot in the morning sun, who was grinning like a goose at her.

"How many missions you been on?" Annie asked Francis, genuinely curious. She was trying to connect the dots from the incident to now. Had they been up in the plane after what had happened? With a new replacement that hadn't made the cut? How many had Birdie been on?

"Only two." Francis said with a slightly constrained look, before seeming to shrug it off as they made way towards the dining hall, "They wouldn't allow us to go with any of the replacements until we did a practice run or two. As you can see, those didn't go too well." Annie glanced at Francis and evidently saw the stress running rampage through her. It was evident in her face, in the way she spoke - she wanted something to work, she wanted to get in the sky again, she needed something to go right for the first time.

"If I get the position. Officially, that is," Annie started, looking up at Francis, "I intend to keep Silver Bullets as one of the best B-17s in the air. With the crew we've got, the co-pilot," Francis smiled, "I don't doubt that. Birdie had the crew for a reason." Francis watched her, a bit of sentimental air wafting through them as Francis reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

"You're a good one, Bradshaw," Francis said and Annie quirked out a smile, "c'mon."

Entering the dining hall - Annie realized quickly it was only for officers and high-ranking officials when she saw the likes of Major Cleven and Major Egan at a table together, huddled over some coffee alongside Kidd, Crank and DeMarco.

"Here we go." Francis said, leading Annie towards the center strip of table, covered in a white tablecloth, filled with all sorts of baskets of goods, utensils, coffee and mugs, "Usually, you can just get it served to you. But. Figured you'd want to see the spread, huh?" Annie's eyes widened at the assortment of things as Francis gently gave her shoulder a tap.

"I'll get us a table, get your fill, I'll get the food." Francis said before walking off, giving a wave to a few, fellow officers down a few rows of tables, bee-lining towards the food line.

Annie stood quietly for a moment, her eyes running over the length of the table in slight amusement and wonder. Growing up, she never had the sort of luxury as much as simple things like sugar or cream - even in coffee. Coffee was usually black, and a little watered down (it saved them from having to buy so many coffee grounds, you know?), and usually it was bitter. But you washed it down because it was what you had.

Now - there was sugar, cream, honey, biscuits for dipping, actual cloth napkins, a little spoon just for stirring! Gently, she touched the white tablecloth, the soft texture something so delicate and foreign to her in ways someone shouldn't have to think of.

Tablecloths were rough, scratchy and torn where she came from.

Here - they were soft, cream and stitched.

Annie retracted her hand and instead focused on the coffee.

Coffee.

Sometimes all she wanted day in and day out was coffee.

Reaching forward, she picked up a mug and cradled it in her hands - it was still warm, like it had just been freshly cleaned, straight from the hot water.

Annie had remembered feeling out of place before - plenty of times had she done things in her life where being the odd one out was normal for her. But now - even with just beautiful tablecloths and hot coffee mugs - she felt like being the odd one out was something she had to address. Right now.

Glancing around, officers and officials at the tables weren't looking at her (of course, they wouldn't be, why would they, this is normal for them), but for her, being in a place like this? With things like this? Annie set the mug down and then looked at the pot of steaming coffee. She debated. Did she need the cup of coffee?

"Hey," a voice said from somewhere to her left, causing her to turn away from the coffee pot and towards the voice, finding Lieutenant John Brady there, a smile on his face, as he slowly removed his crusher cap, "Bradshaw, right? New pilot for Silver Bullets?" A smile popped onto Annie's face as she suddenly took in that it was that pilot - from a day or two back - John Brady.

A part of her had been wondering when she'd see him again or even just around. He'd been nice, hospitable, and had a funny sense of humor she could get behind. People like that you wanted in your back pocket. Even if all she knew was his name and that he had a nice face.

"Yes. Annie Bradshaw." she said, unable to help her ever-present mannerisms and held out her hand (as if they hadn't met a few days ago and they'd all but tag-teamed Major Egan), "….uh, Brady?" He grinned - she knew it was him too, she couldn't forget a face like that, but she wanted to test the waters. Give a bit of it back.

"Brady. John Brady." he said, reaching forward to shake her hand, smile growing on his own face, "How's it been going? Hopefully Egan wasn't bearing too hard after your introduction a few days ago." Annie laughed - almost a bit nervously and awkwardly - trying to make impressions was something she was never great with, but things usually weighed in her favor at the end of the day.

"No, no, it was fine, really," Annie said, as she slowly dropped his hand, a slight tinge of warmth pooled in her stomach at the thought of his hand again - and the fact that was the second time she had even touched his hand, "Major Egan is definitely quite the character."

"That he is." Brady said with a laugh, shoving his hands in his pockets, nodding to her aviators in her front pocket, "Busy day?"

"Francis' showed me Silver Bullets," Annie said with a nod and a smile, "she's a beautiful plane." Brady smiled at her and then glanced over Annie's shoulder at Francis, before readjusting his eyes on her.

"That crew's really glad you're here," Brady said, face falling slightly, "after what happened…." Annie nodded to fill in the gapping hole of words.

"I'm giving them my all. After everything." Annie said quietly and Brady nodded, watching her, something in his lingering gaze a comfort in a way she would never make out, "Well, don't let me be in your way-"

"No, no not at all," Brady said quickly with a nod, "coffee drinker?"

"Yeah," she said, reaching up to run her hand along her hot collar a bit - almost like she couldn't get her mind in gear properly, "never did have much of any of these sorts of fixings back home, so….to say the least, I'm pretty stoked to try it out." She looked back to Brady who was watching her with a quiet look on his face, a soft grin riding his cheeks as he reached forward and took his own mug.

"You said you were from Mankato? Minnesota?" he asked her as she reached forward and picked up the pot of coffee and began pouring.

"Yeah," she said, turning to look at him as she poured, "didn't have a whole lot, but…it was home." There was a twinge of pain to that word. Home. Her mind blanked for a moment, before she was hearing a voice in her ear and her hand was burning.

"Look at you! You're spilling coffee. Here, here-" Annie blinked and turned her eyes and found Brady slowly removing the coffee pot from her grasp, the mug overflowing with hot coffee there on the starch table clothes, stained with dark puddles of drying liquid, her heart pounding. She watched frozen as Brady grabbed some napkins to dab at it, before looking to her gaze again.

"You okay there?" he asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Didn't mean to batter you with questions, I swear my folks just raised me like that, questions and all-

""No." Annie said quickly, shaking her head and looking at her hand stained with hot coffee and gave a nervous smile, cheeks turning a bit pink, "I got….distracted. About home and this place. It's…it's all good. Sorry. About the coffee. And now the damn table cloths." Brady chuckled and took his hand off her shoulder and grabbed the empty mug and poured the coffee to a reasonable amount before handing it to her.

"Don't you worry, Little Birdie," he said with a smile, "it's a big place here. Lots to look at, get distracted by. Being so far from home anyway, that is. I'll let the cooks know-"

"Little Birdie?" she said, interrupting his train of thought. Brady grinned.

"You're a lot like Birdie. Captain Faulkner. You remind me of her, ya know? So - Little Birdie." he said with a smile, "Much better than Egan calling you No Name, too." Annie let out a laugh and nodded.

"Yeah, way better." she said and Brady smiled. For a moment, they stared at each other before Annie cleared her throat and looked at the coffee cup and back up at him.

"I'll be-"

"Your hand okay-" The two looked at each other before letting out a few nervous laughs.

"You first." Annie said, "Rank does its duties."

"We're both Lieutenants, Bradshaw."

"You're 1st. I'm 2nd." she said with a smile, "So?" Brady smirked, before the corner of his eyes and lips softened.

"Your hand okay? The coffee was pretty hot." he said softly and she nodded.

"Fine." she said, "Had cuts and bruises worse than this. Climbed trees as a kid." Brady watched her, brow peaked in interest. She smirked. "Also fell out of a lot of trees, too, so….all good." Brady let out a chuckle at her words, watching expectantly as she cleared her throat.

"And yes…..I was just going to be going. Don't want to hold you up." she said and then looked up at him. "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, of course," Brady said, "probably flying club, right?" Annie raised a brow.

"Flying club?" She really was quite clueless on more than she thought.

"Drinks, dancing, music - get the tension out of your shoulders sorta thing." he said, another grin growing, "So, I'll probably see ya tonight?"

"Right." Annie said with a smile, holding the mug close to her, forgetting about cream or sugar, "Sounds good to me. I'll see you around. Thanks. Sorry again." And with that, she was turning away, slightly mortified at her clear inability to pour coffee efficiently. She hurried towards Francis at a table with their food, slamming her body and the mug of coffee down, meeting Francis' slightly annoyed gaze at the rough presence announced.

"You okay?" Francis asked her, eyeing the coffee and Annie's face again, "You look a little flustered. Hey, you drink black coffee?" Annie looked between the coffee and Francis and then sighed again.

"I meant to grab…." Annie looked over her shoulder and watched as Brady poured some cream into his own coffee cup - the one she had previously overflowed, to her own mortifying realization - and was now wandering away with, sipping it ever so gently, settling into a spot beside DeMarco. A pair of fingers snapped in front of her face and she turned quickly to look at Francis.

"Grab what? The LT's attention or a donut?" Francis said, before chuckling at Annie's slightly flustered expression and chuckled, "I'm just kidding you, c'mon, let's eat up. I think we're doing a practice run, just us girls - maybe with Just-A-Snappin', too." Francis bit into a piece of toast, "Harding wants to see us in the air. 'Longside another crew."

"Alright." Annie said with a nod, "We can make that happen." Francis smiled.

"Good," Francis said, "now, eat up. Don't need my pilot going hungry in the cockpit. Might have to feed you some of Margie's crushed up peanuts she's always carrying around-"

"Oh God." Annie murmured, "Bessie warned me….briefly…"

"Yeah, they're a goddamn curse on that thing, but she swears on it. Superstitious that one is." Annie chuckled at Francis' words and they continued to eat and discuss their day. Annie couldn't help but think of it all though - porcelain, silk and starch.

Everything and all things.

When you came from nothing, things like that were practically gold.

[countesspetofi]

Today in the Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars, George Takei guest stars in "A Matter of Honor," episode 10 of the single season of Assignment: Underwater (original air date November 11, 1960).

There are a couple of caveats here. Firstly, the only copy I could find of this episode was a very lo-res kinescope, but I thought it was interesting enough to make up for the fuzzy images.

Secondly, I wanted to take a minute to talk about depictions of non-Anglo cultures in this series of posts. Sometimes, I'm comfortable just shrugging and saying "Times were different back then" and sometimes I'm not. I've skipped over episodes where the use of yellowface or redface seemed gratuitous to me, or where there aren't any other things going on in the episode that made me feel it was worthy of note. I'm still on the fence about other episodes, where the depiction of BIPOC aren't necessarily negative, but are just kind of ignorant, or reliant on stale storytelling tropes, where you can tell that the White screenwriters didn't really make much of an effort at research, or consultation with people in the culture they're depicting. (NB: I don't think any of this reflects on the actors involved; sometimes you just need to pay your bills and do the best you can with the scripts you get.)

This episode of Assignment: Underwater feels like it might be dipping its toe into that last category. Japanese and Chinese culture are kind of lumped in together, there's some "model minority" stuff going on with the Japanese-American family, and Italian-Americans don't exactly come out smelling like roses. But I thought the episode was interesting enough to make it worthwhile. It's available for free on The Internet Archive, so I encourage anyone who's interested to watch and make up their own minds.

Takei plays Ken Kitigawa, the oldest son of an immigrant family who are friends with the main character, who is in charge of some kind of U.S. Navy underwater rescue/civil defense operation. Ken has gotten involved with an organized crime syndicate, who are sending him to sabotage the boat of one of their rivals. The hero stops him in the nick of time, he agrees to turn state's evidence, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Other Trek Connections:

Takei's gangster boss is played by Stanley Adams, AKA Cyrano Jones in the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles,"

And his girlfriend is portrayed by BarBara Luna, who played Marlena Moreau in the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror," as well as appearing in two episodes of James Cawley's fan production Star Trek: Phase II.

[sillysootyboi]

i like to hope there's an other side to this situation (like an end point), and when it happens, I do hope we can be kind. This is unfortunately some people's first brush with these kind of accusations and these kind of situations, and when you're introduced to situations like abuse in your comfort media, I know it can feel so...so horrifying, so it feels easier to go the other way, to be so angry to feel like you have control.

I don't really think people who joined hate mobs or spread vitriolic messages or acted how they acted are inherently bad people (even if some are still acting that way). I feel like for many they feel ike the 'message' justifys their angry actions.

I do hope we can instead help people understand why approaching any situation that demands you form an opinion 'RIGHT NOW' and demands biiiig emotions urgently should always be met with skepticism and a willingness to discuss it and ask questions without immediately attacking or labeling others who disagree with you as abusive/harmful.

More below for a rambly essay on misinformation/persuasive content 😵😶‍🌫️🫣

Misinformation is always a concern, but with short form video content and short form media like tweets, I really feel like it's the same as headline reading in the before-decade. You're seeing parts and parts and parts of a story, and due to time constraints, you're going to only be able to process those parts. ANY story, even if it's about stuff you agree with, that wants you to be upset and angry from the get go needs to be handled with more skepticism than standard.

It's okay to decide 'i don't know enough about this topic to form a strong opinion.' it's necessary to realize 'this tiktok made me hate this thing...should I? Who made the tiktok? Why did they make this tiktok? What did they leave out?'

I know there's been some posts circulating about the actions of Wilbur's mods/discord mods, and I do think they did more harm themselves to the community than Shu(b)ble did alone. People forget it isn't outsiders that ruin fandoms; it's the people in it. Their initial behavior regarding it was downright deplorable and continues to be something I am bothered by, but not surprised.

But it was their initial posts. Their initial condemnation without any evidence, without waiting for a reply or anything from Wilbur, that started this in my eyes. It was the update accounts. It was the mods. That was how I first heard of it.

I can't say it was like theyre evil masterminds, obviously, it wasn't their intention, but being able to say 'hang on, this is really upsetting, but I need time and space and more information before doing anything' is a skill people must learn.

When we enter the other side, I want people to look at what moment they made up their minds (whether it was in DMs, tweets, posts, etc.) and ask "what thing did I see before this?" For most people it'll be a friend or a mutual or some big account they follow that's opinion sealed the deal.

For most it won't be that Sh(e)lby stream at all.

And if you realize you looked to others, you looked to 'group leaders' in the fandom to seal your opinion, then I really, really, really need you to learn to validate your emotions and allow yourself to feel 'I don't know what to make of this. I need time.' Because most misinformation campaigns that will affect your life extremely won't be as detached as fandom, they'll be much, much more subtle and play a bigger role in your life

For example if you Google something for information and the results are pages trying to sell a product or service EVEN if they frame it as a simple information page, if it ends in trying to sell a service...it's not. Their purpose isnt to inform you, it's to persuade you. Know their language and information are going to try to make you feel a certain way they think will make you buy their product (whether it be anger/fear/shame/envy/happy)

And unfortunately that happened here. And suceeded. And it's going to happen again.

so kill me for the essay, but unfortunately that's what I studied :').