#from the valentine's extravaganza extras

[wyrmdefender]

[gubler-me-up]

Red Lingerie

Request: Can I ask for a Sub!reader fix please? Some heavy nsfw?

A/N: Thanks for the request, anon! Very simple request but did I ever struggle to think of something LOL I hope it checks all your heavy NSFW checkboxes and it satisfies your craving! Happy reading! 😏

Couple: Dom!Spencer/Sub Fem!reader

Category: Smut (NSFW 18+)

Content warning: Unprotected sex, choking, oral sex (male receiving), rough sex, creampie, hair pulling, overstimulation, fingering, penetrative sex, degradation, slight bondage, spanking, slapping, dom/sub dynamic, spitting, swearing

Word count: 5k

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Valentine’s Day was a day to celebrate the love between two lovers. Too bad your lover was away during the day. You two wanted to go out for a nice Valentine brunch, go for a romantic walk down by the lake before going home for the day to enjoy each other’s company. It was supposed to be extra special considering you two hadn’t spent a lot of time together for weeks.

Unfortunately for you, your boyfriend had an unpredictable job. He left a week before Valentine’s Day which earned him a huge, exaggerated sigh from you before you accepted he would be absent. You were excited to show him the special outfit you had planned for the night portion of your Valentine’s Day extravaganza. It was a little number you had picked up a few months prior because you felt as if you dripped sex in it.

When you tried it on in the store and looked at yourself, you felt as if you were the most beautiful version of a femme fatale. The mesh babydoll dress with mid-thigh high matching mesh stalkings that had a cute lace pattern at the top. The lace at the top of the stockings matched with the red lace thong that accompanied the outfit. Faux red feathers decorated the bottom of the mesh babydoll dress and a generous amount of the feathers covering your breasts. You knew it had to be yours immediately for not only your eyes to appreciate but for Spencer’s eyes as well.

You stood in front of the bathroom mirror with the lingerie hanging from your fingertips as you pressed it up against your nude body. You sighed as you thought of what could have been. You tossed the outfit aside as the chances of Spencer coming home for Valentine’s night was slimming by the hours. Even though you weren’t going to wear it you decided you could at least get ready as if you were about to wear it. You opened the cupboard and pulled out your favourite lotion that made your skin feel amazing. You then pulled out your hair products and tools.

You reached for your phone on the bathroom counter to change the playlist on your phone to something uplifting. Sometimes you needed the motivation to style your hair into something decent. You noticed a text from Spencer on your lock screen. You raised a curious eyebrow as you saw the message he had sent you. A smile instantly spread across your face and you could feel your heart race in excitement. You put down your phone before picking up your red lingerie piece.

You placed it against your body again. You admired yourself in the mirror once more but this time you looked more energized, over the moon even. You used your free hand to press the lingerie closer against your body as you rand your hand down it to mimic how Spencer’s hand would caress your body in a few minutes.

“I guess I am going to be his little whore tonight.”

You spent the next 20 minutes preparing yourself for his arrival. You knew how much he loved seeing you all dolled up for him. It made the unwrapping process so much more enticing for him. He loved stripping you from perfection down to the desperate whore you masked behind your perfect hair and put-together look. You loved the way he looked at you once he had you how he wanted you. It was as if you were his candy he wanted to indulge in over and over and over again.

You made sure your hair was perfectly done with not a single strand out of place. You made sure every part of your body had your favourite lotion portioned on it. You then pulled up your mid-thigh high stockings before slipping on your lace panties. You then completed your ensemble with the red baby doll dress. You made sure to fix your hair in the mirror one last time before leaving the bathroom to get yourself positioned.

Before you went on the bed, you went to the dresser and selected his favourite perfume of yours. You sprayed your neck once on the left and then once on the right. You lightly sprayed your breasts for him. You then sprayed your wrist and rubbed your wrists together to pass on the scent to the other. You placed the perfume bottle back in its spot and went to turn off the bedroom light.

When the lights went off the only light pouring in was from the February moonlight. You went to the side table to turn on the lamp to add a bit more light to the room. You didn’t waste any more time lingering on the small things as you knew he’d be home any minute now. You crawled in the bed to get yourself ready for his arrival. You laid on your side with one hand propping your head up with the other laying on your side.

It was as if he knew you were ready for him because not even a minute passed by when you heard the apartment door open. You felt your heart race again as you could hear him place his keys down on the side table next to the door and heard his footsteps walking towards the bedroom. He wasn’t even in your presence yet and you were already getting wet at the mere thought of all the things he would do to you.

He opened the bedroom door to see you waiting for him on the bed with your red lingerie. He had a large bouquet of red and white roses wrapped in a light pink wrapping paper. You believed he wanted to surprise you with them but you had beat him to the surprise of the night. He stood there, frozen, analyzing every inch of your body.

You smiled at him. “Are those roses for your favourite whore?”

He smirked before he started to move again. He walked over to the empty chair in the room and placed the flowers on it. He looked back over at you before taking off his suit jacket. You eagerly changed your position from laying down to being on your knees on the bed.

He walked over to you as he started to undo his tie. As soon as he stood in front of you, you couldn’t help but put your hands on his face. You looked at him with an overbearing lust in your eyes as you caressed your hands down to his neck to pull him closer to you. You took a hold of his undone tie with both hands as you stared into his desired driven eyes.

“Please make me your whore for tonight,” you begged.

He tried his best to refrain from breaking into a smile from how needy you sounded. He placed his hands on the back of your thighs and caressed them gently up and down. Your muscles loosened up under his touch and you just wanted him to wreck you already.

“I don’t think you’re ready to be my whore tonight,” he said.

You pouted. “I am. I want you to fuck me like a dirty whore. I want you to use me as a cum dump.”

He nested his head in the crook of your neck. You could feel his steady breathing on your neck before he planted two kisses on your neck. You let out an eager moan as you tugged on his tie to get some kind of response from him. He hit your earlobe softly before placing his mouth close to your ear.

“You want to be a cum slut not just a simple whore,” he whispered.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be. If you want me to be your cum slut, I’ll be your cum slut. If you want me to be a filthy whore, I’ll be-”

You gasped as you felt him shove two of his fingers into you. You felt his fingers steadily flick against your g-spot. You moaned out a hungry as you desperately wanted him to continue. He had you right where he wanted you and you wanted to continue being in his lustful grasp.

“I’ll decide what you are and what you’re not tonight. Do I make myself clear?” He asked.

“Y-yes, sir,” you whimpered.

He took out his fingers from inside you. He leaned away from you and you immediately dropped your grip on his tie. From the way he looked at you it was clear he was ready to use you like the whore you wanted to be treated like. He placed his fingers on your mouth and then shoved them in so you could taste yourself. You moaned in delight to let him know you enjoyed the taste.

“I need a good vessel for my dick. Do you think your whore mouth can do that?” He asked.

You nodded in response. He took his fingers out of your mouth and immediately gripped your neck. He pulled you close to his face so you could see how disappointed he looked.

“I think a desperate whore like you can use her words,” he said.

“My whore mouth can do anything for you, sir,” you said.

“I don’t want to hear any gagging. You’re going to take my dick like a deprived whore. Am I making myself fucking clear?” He asked.

“Yes, sir,” you responded.

Without another word exchanged, he pushed you down to the side with you looking up to the ceiling. He gripped onto your hair and yanked your head so it would dangle off the bed. Even though you could see he still had his pants on you didn’t wait to open your mouth to prepare yourself for his dick.

You watched eagerly the upside-down image of him undressing. He threw his tie on the bed which could only mean he was planning on using it later. He threw off his dress shirt and flung it on the ground. He then unbuttoned his dress pants and pulled them off just leaving his underwear on.

He approached your mouth and rested his bulge on your mouth. You licked the fabric which concealed what you really wanted in your mouth. You could feel his hard dick through the fabric which made you overly excited and overly wet.

“Pull it off if you want it so bad, whore,” he demanded.

You didn’t hesitate to yank his underwear off. His dick slapped you on your face as it bounced out which made you smile. With no more delay, he shoved it in your mouth. You tried your hardest not to gag on it, especially when he went right into fucking your mouth.

He pulled down the top of your babydoll dress to reveal your breasts. He gripped your right breast into his right hand with a mighty grip on it. You let out a powerful moan in response. He slapped your breast and you felt the sting linger before he did it again.

“Did I tell you to make a fucking noise? Your mouth is for sucking my dick, not for commentary,” he said as he slapped your breast again.

Your facial muscles flinched but you didn’t make another sound. If you wanted to be his whore for the night, you had to do everything he said. You knew what he had in store for you was going to be a night of sexual thrills.

You then felt his hands messing around with your underwear. You heard a slight rip of lace but didn’t care since you expected it to happen. When he was in the zone, clothing couldn’t keep him from getting what he wanted from you. You soon felt his fingers back in you stroking your g-spot. You tried your best to refrain from moaning even though he was pushing you towards it.

“Your whore pussy’s as wet as your fucking mouth. I can’t choose which one to cum in first,” he said.

You felt your legs tremble as he started to stroke your g-spot even more intensely. You tried your best not to make a single sound and continued to let him fuck your mouth. Your spit started to leak out of your mouth and go down your face. You could feel it go down your cheeks, past your forehead, and into your hair in an overflowing, bubbly stream.

Your focus switched from your hair to your clit when you felt him fiercely circling your clit. You couldn’t even hide how badly your legs trembled and you could no longer hold back your moans. You let out a cry of a moan repeatedly. Your sounds only motivated him to go faster and faster around your clit. His thrusts inside your mouth started to become more rapid and deep to the point where his dick was touching your throat.

“I thought I told you not to say a fucking word while I’m fucking your disgusting whore mouth,” he said.

You couldn't even respond to plea your case as his thrusts weren’t lightening up and neither was his hand around your clit. He stopped circling your clit and landed a harsh slap on your overstimulated clit. You let out a muffled shriek as the slap tingled throughout your body. He then went back to circling it for a few seconds before slapping it again. You arched your back as you muffled out another shriek.

“You were fucking begging me to treat you like a whore and you can’t even put out like one. You better be the fucking best cum slut right now if you want a chance to get fucked,” he said.

He went back to circling your clit as you tried to maintain your cool. Then you felt it. You felt a tingling sensation overcome your body. You tried to hold it back. You tried extremely hard to. Then he put his fingers back in you to stroke your g-spot relentlessly. You had no choice at that point but to cum.

You arched your back further as you let your orgasm take over your body. You moaned loudly around his mouth but he didn’t let up from fucking your mouth. He also wasn’t done with you. You felt him roughly squeeze your left breast in response to you having an orgasm. You let out a muffled shriek in response.

He went back to rapidly circling your overstimulated clit. You were still on a high from your orgasm so you couldn’t control anything any longer. You could feel tears forming in your eyes from how overwhelmed your pussy felt from his touch. You muffled a scream around his dick as you felt yourself squirt. He slapped it one last time which nearly made you jolt off the bed.

“You weak fucking whore. You get a little overstimulated and you decide to cum,” he said.

You didn’t attempt to moan anything. He didn’t give you the chance to anyway. He grabbed the back of your head to push your mouth all the way on his dick. You couldn’t hold back your gag as he hit the back of your throat. You could feel the tears drip from your eyes to join your saliva in your hair.

You couldn’t even move back from it with the way he gripped your head. He had you exactly where he wanted you and where you wanted him to have you. In no more than a few seconds you felt his cum in your mouth. You coughed since it tickled the back of your throat. He soon pulled it out to look at you. You let out a few more coughs and some of his cum managed to leak out of the side of your mouth.

He didn’t ignore your little slip-up. He slapped you on your cheek as a response to wasting his cum. You took it with no complaint because you knew you were being bad for wasting his cum after you begged for it. You already disappointed him with disobeying his demand of you being quiet and now this. You were definitely in for some big trouble.

“What kind of fucking cum slut wastes cum?” He asked as he slapped you again.

“A bad one, sir,” you whimpered.

“Don’t beg for shit if you can’t fucking deliver,” he said with another slap to your cheek.

“I’m so sorry, sir. I promise I’ll be a good cum whore from now on, sir,” you begged.

He grabbed you by your hair and sat you up on the bed. He then yanked you off the bed with your still slightly shaky legs. You got off and he pulled you down to your knees so you were face to face with his dick.

“Apologize to it,” he said as he shoved your face into his pelvis.

“I’m sorry,” you said.

“Sorry for what?” He asked.

“For wasting your cum,” you said.

He shoved your head down towards his balls. You assumed he wanted you to put them in your mouth to show how really sorry you were. You placed them in your mouth and sucked on them until a fresh pool of saliva escaped your mouth. He then pulled you away and forced you to look up at him. You could see this desire mixed with fury in his eyes. You could feel a tingle run down your spine again. If he could send chills down your spine with just a look he definitely owned you. You could have just melted into a pool with the way he looked as if he wanted to fuck his rage into you.

“Do you think you deserve punishment?” He asked.

“Yes, I do, sir. I’ve been such a bad cum slut,” you said.

He slapped you on the cheek with his free hand. “Don’t dare call yourself a cum slut until you can properly take cum. Fucking get up.”

He didn’t give you the chance to stand on your own two feet before he yanked you up by your hair. He pulled off your red babydoll lingerie dress and tossed it aside. He then threw your torso onto the bed, leaving your legs to be close to the floor. He pulled down your underwear and you stepped out of it. You felt him roughly squeeze your right ass cheek as if he was trying to find the right spot or the most tender part. You knew exactly what he was going to do and only a second later did he do it.

You let out a scream as he harshly spanked your right ass cheek. It stung so bad you knew it was going to leave some sort of bruise in the morning. He then did it again in the same spot. You screamed again as you tensed your right ass cheek from the pain. You knew his hand was in the air for a third one on the same spot so out of instinct you placed the back of your hand on the spot he hit. You could feel the heat radiating off from it.

“You fucking slut,” he said.

He grabbed your wrist and yanked it away from the spot he had hit. He then grabbed your other wrist and held them both together with his right hand. You turned your head to the left to see what he was going to do next. You saw him reach for his tie he had thrown on the bed and knew the chances of you using your hands for the rest of the night were slim.

He tied your wrists together as tightly as he possibly could. He made sure you weren’t able to interfere with his punishment any further. He yanked on his tie to see if it was tight enough. You knew they were tight enough just by the way they squeezed your wrists. They would definitely leave a mark once you were untied.

He noticed you looking at what he was doing. You immediately looked away so he wouldn’t think you were trying to overpower him in any way. You were genuinely curious as to what he was doing. You knew he wouldn’t accept that answer at all.

You felt his body closer to you as if he was leaning over you. You felt his teeth dig into your shoulder and you let out a short yelp. Then he did it again and again and again across your shoulder until he reached your ear. You bit your lip so you wouldn’t make another weak sound.

He grazed his lips on your ear. “This is exactly why a slut like you needs someone like me to keep you in line.”

You nodded your head still without looking at him. You felt his hand grab the back of your neck. He turned it so you had to face him. His eyes were low and his breathing was oddly calm and steady. You hadn’t even done much work but you knew you looked wild and untamed compared to him. Exactly how he loved you to look.

“Isn’t that right, slut?” He asked.

“Yes, sir,” you whimpered.

“You’re going to take your punishment and you’re going to fucking love it. Are we clear on that?” He asked.

“Yes, sir,” you said.

He leaned up and didn’t waste a second. You felt him spank the same spot for the fourth time. You buried your face into the sheets to prevent your scream from hitting his ears. He grabbed your hair and yanked it up.

“Say how much you fucking love it,” he demanded as he sparked the same spot.

“I fucking love it,” you screamed with tears stinging your eyes again.

“Keep saying it,” he said as he spanked the same spot again.

“I fucking love it. I fucking love it. I fucking love it. I fucking love it,” you repeatedly shrieked as he continued to spank the same spot.

He then let your hair go. You let your head fall onto the bed in silent relief. You breathed heavily into the sheets as you took the time to catch your breath. It didn’t even sting anymore. After the fifth time it almost became numb. Obviously your punishment wasn’t over though. He yanked your head up by his right hand this time.

“Next cheek,” he said.

His announcement was followed by a deafening spank on a fresh canvas. You bit your lip hard as you tried not to scream. You let your tears freely escape your eyes as he did it again.

“I fucking love it. I fucking love it,” you repeated as he spanked you repeatedly.

“That’s what a fucking cum slut should act like. Pathetic and desperate,” he said as he spanked you again.

“I’m a pathetic fucking cum slut,” you screamed as he spanked you again.

He yanked your hair. “And what are you fucking desperate for?”

“Your cum in my pussy,” you screamed as he spanked you again.

He yanked you up so you were standing in front of him. He shifted your body so you were facing away from the bed. He yanked your hair back so you could see his face. By the way he looked at you, you knew it was time. You tried to refrain from smirking to avoid another round of spanks.

“You better make me fucking happy,” he said.

“I’m your fucking cum dump, sir. I won’t waste it again, I swear,” you said.

He then pushed you over so you were at a 90-degree angle. You had nothing supporting you by your legs and your back. Your hands were still tied and you had no bed to rest on. You knew this was his way of testing how committed you were to his need for you to be his willing cum slut.

He grabbed your ass and you let out a soft yelp from the sting that ran through your body. You waited in anticipation as you could feel his dick outside of your hole. You wanted to move back so bad to take him into you fully. You had to keep reminding yourself about the stinging of your ass to calm your desire for him to fuck you.

He cut you from your thoughts as he pushed you back onto his dick. You shrieked out of surprise as you felt his whole dick enter you. He kept pushing you back and forth instead of thrusting into you. It was a unique choice but a calculated move. He for sure wanted to test you and you weren’t one to make a mistake twice. It was hard keeping your balance as your stockings were sliding against the hardwood floor.

“Keep your fucking balance, slut,” he demanded.

“Yes, sir,” you moaned.

You straightened yourself up as you continued to let him use you in the way he pleased. You could hear him making slight groaning sounds which you hadn’t heard all night. You just knew he was in love with the way his dick felt in you. You started to think he realized how good of a cum slut you could be with a pussy like yours. Your mouth could use a bit more work but he could never complain about the way your pussy hugged his dick so well.

“Your pussy sounds as if it’s ready for cum,” he said.

You took the time to hear the way your pussy sounded when his dick went in and out of you. You smiled at the sound of it. He then sped up the pace. Nothing but his groans, your moans and the sound of your juices sounded the room.

“My slut pussy wants your cum in me,” you moaned.

He continued to move you back and forth on his dick at a rapid pace to what you guessed was to come to his finish. Your legs started to wobble and become unstable as his strokes made you unbalanced. You arched forward as the pleasure of him fucking you was taking over your whole body.

He smashed you against him all the way. You shrieked at the thrill of having his dick all the way in you. You didn’t even care about the sting you felt when your ass hit his body. He grabbed your hair to pull you all the way up so your body was against his. He pulled your hair back so you could look at him again.

He placed his mouth against your neck to bite it. You moaned loudly in satisfaction and widened your eyes as you felt him full you with his cum. You bit your lip as he slowed down his pace to gently fuck his cum into you.

“Let’s see how good your slut pussy took my cum,” he said into your neck.

He pulled out his dick from you and reached down to rub his finger up your pussy. You shivered at his touch and let out a soft moan as he inspected. He brought his finger up so you both could see how well you did. There was a little bit of cum on his fingers. You eagerly opened your mouth and stuck your tongue out. He gave in to your eagerness by glazing his cum on your tongue.

You gladly took his cum into your mouth. You made sure to show him how happy you were to have his cum in your mouth again. You wanted him to know you wouldn’t dare waste another drop of his cum. You opened your mouth to show him every trace of his cum was gone.

“Now that’s how a cum slut takes cum,” he said.

“Does that mean I can always be your cum slut, sir?” You asked.

“You have major potential, slut,” he said.

He used his other hand to grip the side of your cheeks. He squeezed them hard enough for you to open your mouth. He spit into your mouth. He let go of your face and watched you swallow his spit. You opened your mouth to show him you could swallow more than cum to make him happy.

“I’m dedicated to being your personal cum slut,” you said.

“I love to hear that, slut. I can’t wait to use you again,” he said.

“Maybe another day though. I think I overworked you tonight,” he said.

He let your hair go as he backed up from you. He untied your wrists and you could feel the circulation back in your hands. You watched him go over to the chair and pick up the bouquet of roses. He looked back at you with a gentle smile but still had lust glazing over his eyes. He walked over to you with the bouquet.

“For my favourite cum slut,” he said.

You smiled as you took the bouquet from him. He grabbed your face to pull you closer to him. He hit you with a huge, pleasure-filled kiss. It felt as if he waited to give you this kiss from the time he walked through the door. He backed away from you and leaned into your neck to kiss it.

“I know you wore that perfume for me. Don’t think I didn’t notice. I love a cum slut who cares about the little details for me,” he whispered in your neck.

“I would do anything for you, sir. Thank you for the flowers,” you said.

He leaned up from your neck to look at you. He grabbed your neck gently which brought a proud smile to your face. He grabbed your ass which caused you to yelp pathetically. It brought a smile to his face.

“There are also chocolate covered-strawberries in the kitchen for you. Eat up so you have the energy to be my cum slut again. I want to give your mouth a second chance,” he said.

“Thank you, sir. I promise I won’t disappoint this time,” you said.

He kissed you gently on the lips. “I love to hear that. Happy Valentine’s Day, slut.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, sir.”

—–

MASTERLIST

Tagged: @shadyladyperfection, @slutforthegubes, @pinkdiamond1016, @spencerreidsthings, @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto, @slutforsr @bxtchboy69, @fallinallinmendes @haihappen5 @mgg-theprettiestboy @siltuz-png @ptrs-prkrs @tclaerh @agentadhd @alexmarie29 @closetedreidstan @mac99martin @blxckhearthood @jesspavlik0vsky @katexrichardson @keniaasf @reidbuck @corishirogane3 @thegoddamncrazycatlady @keniaasf @pastelbabygirl19 @shadybagelsludgecolor @bootycrackraisinjuice @vintagebeauty1496 @laneybobeczko-g @littlewierdalien @cynbx​ @calm-and-doctor​

[writtenonreceipts]

Thanks @jilychallenge​ for setting up these monthly challenges!!  I’ve been wanting to write more jily lately, so I was super excited to hop on for the jily challenge this month and I just wanted to have some fun.   Enjoy!

if you’re interested my main masterlist is here AO3 Link

Warnings: None aside from my miserable attempts at fluff and humor.

Prompt: I kissed you / I know…I was there​

...

A Valentine’s Kiss 

February came on silent feet.

Normally, Lily wouldn’t have cared much about the passing of months, nor would she have bothered to pay attention to different holidays and what they meant.  She would have gone on as usual and only paid attention to when chocolate sales occurred.  Normally.

This year, as luck would have it, was different.

“Oh hell,” she muttered as she stared at the small calendar pinned up in her kitchen.

“What?” her roommate, Dorcas Meadows, came around the corner from the bathroom—toothbrush hanging from her mouth.

“That stupid Valentine’s party my work is throwing is in three days,” Lily said.  Scowling, Lily turned away from the calendar and faced Dora's.

"And?"

"Valentine's day, Dor!" Lily shouted. "I have three days to get a date or I will have to quit my job and move to Antarctica. "

Perhaps she was being dramatic, but Lily didn't care. And perhaps this was all her fault to begin with, but she was willing to admit to that. What she wasn't willing to do was accept the consequences of her actions.

"Maybe you should have told everyone you work with that you were in a serious relationship." Dorcas spat her toothpaste into the kitchen sink and rinsed her mouth. At least she'd made sure there were no dishes sitting there already. 

"You could be my date," Lily said, scrambling not for ideas.

"As much as I love you, babe, I've met everyone you work with." Dorcas shrugged. "They know I'm your hot best friend. Besides, I don't think Emma would appreciate you kidnapping me on Valentine’s Day."

Lily groaned. Dorcas' girlfriend was usually rather understanding about the strange friendship these two shared. But Lily didn't want to push her luck.

"You know who you could ask," Dorcas said.

"No."

"It's your best bet."

"Please no."

"It's either plan b or face the consequences."  Dorca smirked before disappearing back to the bathroom.

Hell.

��

Lily stared across the hallway at the door for room 4D. The neighbors that lived there were nothing short of entertaining.  Whether it was hosting karaoke at two in the morning, attempting to smuggle fireworks into the building, or ordering from four different delivery services to see who would win—the men that lived there never failed to make life interesting. If it could he called that.

The ring leader of the lot of them was James Potter. And alright so he was attractive. And maybe he could be a bit funny. And he had given Lily and Dorcas the extra food from the delivery extravaganza.   But James Potter was also arrogant, cocky, and one of the biggest troublemakers she knew.  

This was a terrible idea.

Shoving off of the doorway to her apartment, Lily traversed the four short steps to 4D.  She knocked three times and waited.  She wondered what would be worse, if James was the one to open the door or one of his mates.  Either way, she would never live this down.

In the midst of her internal debate, the door opened and one very disheveled James Potter appeared.  His black hair was a mess of curls and his shirt was half tucked into a pair of basketball shorts.  

“Evans,” he greeted, adjusting his askew glasses. “It’s a bit early for house calls.”

She narrowed her eyes as his grin broadened.  “I need help with something.”

“Oh really?” James barked out a laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I thought you’d said that if I ever talked to you again, you’d burn a voodoo doll of me?”

“Please Potter,” Lily scoffed. “Am I really so childish?” Yes.  Yes she was, but that that was beside the point. “You owe me for taking the blame for the fire alarms being set off in the building again.”

Just last week Potter and his friends had done something that Lily really didn’t want to know the details about and next thing she’d known there was a small explosion and the building had to be evacuated.  In order to save Potter from being evicted, the man had asked her to help him out.  And Lily, ever the fool, agreed.

Now she was coming for payment.

“Should I be worried that you’re coming to my door the day before Valentine’s Day?’ His brows wagged at that.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “My work is throwing a party and I’m expected to bring someone.”

“Doesn’t Dorcas thrive on this sort of things?” James asked.

“Yes, but her girlfriend will murder me if I take away Valentine’s Day from her,” Lily replied regretfully.

“And you have to take someone,” he said, “to a work function?”

Lily felt her cheeks flame.  She’d been praying she didn’t have to explain this. “I may have told a few lies at work about my relationship status.”

Potter looked downright gleeful at the admission. “What on earth would possess you to do that?”

“You haven’t met the people I work with!” Lily shouted.  “Besides, I had to do something to keep Snape from asking me out.  Again.”

“Evans, Evans, Evans,” James mused.  He ran a hand over his jaw and took her in. “So, you need me to be your date?”

“Yes,” Lily agreed. “For two hours tops.  There will be food.  And drinks.  Anything else, I will pay for.  But, need I remind you; I am also the sole reason why you and your friends still have a place to live.”

“You play dirty Evans,” James said, “I like it.”

Lily swatted at his arm and scowled.  “Tomorrow, be ready by seven.”

“I haven’t even agreed to anything,” James said, though that smug look in his eyes told Lily everything she needed to know.”

“Dress nice, tie optional,” she said.

She waited long enough for to finally confirm that yes, of course he would help her out before she hurried back to her apartment.  After almost three years of living across the hall from him, Lily still couldn’t help but be flustered.  It was delusional of course to be so affected by him.  Yet here she was fretting about everything she’d said or done.

“Pull it together, Evans,” she muttered as she shut her apartment door behind her.  “All you have is one night to get through and then you can avoid him for the rest of your lease.”

…

The next day came much too soon to Lily’s liking.  No matter what sort of preparation, mental or otherwise, that she’d put herself through, Lily was not ready for this party.

But she had a solid plan.  Let the office see that she had a boyfriend and then everything would go back to normal.  Simple as that.

Lily finished pinning her hair back into a neat side twist with a few loose curls.  She rarely had time to do anything more than a bun or braid and felt like she had a decent excuse to do more for herself tonight.  Her dress was simple--deep green that very nearly matched her eyes and an easy flowing cut that she could actually breath in.  She looked good, if she were being honest.  And she may as well, Valentine’s Day only came once a year even if her date for the evening was a sham.

She was just slipping into her shoes when a knock sounded at the door.  Lily glanced at the clock.  He was actually on time.  

Shrugging, Lily dabbed on a little bit of her favorite perfume and headed out.  She grabbed her coat and purse before answering the door.

James Potter knew how to clean up.  He wore black slacks and a blue dress shirt that fit him expertly.  Even if his hair was still unruly, it was in an endearing sort of way.  

“Evans,” he greeted, eyes still taking her in.  Finally, he met her gaze and grinned. “You look beautiful.”

She felt her skin heat at the compliment. “You don’t look half bad yourself, Potter.  Are you ready?”

“Absolutely,” he said and offered her one of his signature grins.

Lily would forever be grateful that Dorcas was already out with her girlfriend and therefore not privy to seeing Lily in her flustered state.

She led the way to the parking garage, figuring the least she could do was drive to the party.  Her car was the nicest thing she owned and Lily was unapologetic to that fact.  After growing up having to share a junker with her sister and going all through college without a car of her own--Lily decided that she deserved a splurge in her life.

“How is it that I became your last resort?” James asked once they were underway.

Lily glanced at him with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“You asked me to come to a work event the day before Valentine’s Day,” he replied, stretching out comfortably in the front seat of the car. “Didn’t you have anyone else to ask?”

That was the last question she wanted to answer. “Says the man who didn’t have a date tonight himself.”

“Oh, I did,” James said, “Peter and I were supposed to have a bake off.  He’s quite heartbroken actually.  Though, Sirius took him to the bar down on Fifth, so I expect he’ll get over it.”

Lily couldn’t help but chuckle.  “How kind.”

She merged onto the highway and braced herself for what needed to happen next.

“So, considering we’ve technically been dating for four months—”

“You’ve been conning your work for four months?”

“It’s none of their business!”

“You lied Evans,” James said, his laugh rumbling through the car.

“Out of self-preservation, you’ll see,” she said, “but my point is--if we’ve supposedly been dating, you need to call me Lily.”

“Ah, yes, my darling flower.  We have to pretend to know everything about each other, don’t we?” He ignored her scowl as he continued. “What is the story of our love affair?”

“Sweet mercy,” Lily muttered. “You’re going to make me regret this aren’t you?”

“What don’t you trust me?” James asked.  A dimple appeared on cheek and he looked almost the perfect image of innocence.

She’d be lying if she said he wasn’t attractive.  When she’d first met him upon first moving into the building, she’d thought so.  Even said something to Dorcas about it.  Her friend teased her mercilessly over the admission.  Lily had thought that the little crush was under control.  And it had been.

Until a few months ago.

“Please don’t get me fired,” Lily said.

…

“I’d made the mistake of trying to cook dinner for her only to end up setting her best pans on fire,” James was explaining, rather charismatically.  His eyes were bright, smile in place, and his arms gestured with each important detail of his story.

Lily stared across the room at him, her wine glass half raised to her lips.  Who was this man?  As soon as they’d entered the event center, he’d acted the doting boyfriend.  He’d taken her coat, gotten her drink, a small plate of food, and stayed by her side throughout.  Granted he didn’t know anybody here.  And yet he’d immediately found a place for himself.

Her boss, Horace Slughorn, was absolutely delighted in every tale James had up his sleeve and every other female employee was watching James in keen interest.

“Your boyfriends a hit.” Mary McDonald sidled up to Lily, her own drink in hand.  Her short red curls bounced around her face and only enhanced her rich brown eyes.

“He is indeed,” Lily agreed.  All was going according to plan.

“Yeah, they’re all just eating it up,” Mary continued.  She plucked the olive out of her martini. “Next thing you know they’re gonna be asking when the wedding is.”

Lily froze and looked at the other woman.  Mary popped the olive in her mouth and grinned.  The two were close enough at work to be considered friends.  They often bounced ideas off each other for presentations and went out to lunch together on occasion.  Lily now realized that having Mary as a friend might be a little bit of a curse.

“You know,” she said.

“Oh please, Lily,” Mary laughed, “you’ve complained about your obnoxious but stupidly gorgeous neighbor at least one a day.”

“Mary, you can’t tell anyone,” Lily said.  She gripped Mary’s arm tightly. “It’ll ruin everything!”

“They’re gonna figure it out,” Mary said.  The red head shook her head and sipped her drink. “Because you can pretend to break up with him and it’ll be sad and no one will bother you, because they’re not that rude.  But soon enough the same invasive questions will come back up.”

Lily grimaced.  She looked back at James who was now miming the time he’d tried to scale the outside balconies of the apartment building when he’d locked himself out.

“Or you can let the lie live and then be subjected to another sort of invasive questions surrounding marriage and babies.”  Mary continued sipping on her martini.

“I hate you,” Lily said.

“I’m only reminding you of reality, Lily,” Mary replied, “and trying to show you the consequences of your actions.”

“No, I just think your drunk,” Lily said, to which Mary shrugged and finished off her drink.

Mary shrugged, the accusation not bothering her in the slightest.  

James chose that moment to come back to Lily’s side.

“I haven’t abandoned you; I hope?” Lily asked as he approached.

“Nah,” he said with a shake of his head, “not at all.  Your coworkers are just…very inquisitive.”

Mary cackled loudly. “I told you.”

“Where’s your date of the evening, Mary? I’d like to meet him.” Lily sipped her drink meaningfully.

“He’s by the crepe station, can’t get enough of them,” Mary said.  She paused considering. “The man is very easily impressed.”

Mary’s date for the evening was in fact her younger brother.  At nine years old, the boy had not been trusted to be left home alone while his parents were out, so Mary had brought him along.  If Lily had been just a little more desperate, she would have called her older sister for help.  But no this was fine.  James actually turned out to be a fantastic date for event like this.

“Well, your allotted two hours are up, Potter,” Lily said, setting her half-finished drink on the table behind her. “Shall we head out.”

“Evans!” James clutched his heart in mock injury. “You’re so eager to get rid of me already?”

Rolling her eyes, Lily patted his arm. “C’mon, it’s almost your bedtime.”

They made their rounds of Lily’s coworkers so she could say goodbye to all the proper people.  She knew if she left without doing so there would be hell to pay on Monday.

“Wait, wait, wait!” cried Rita Skeeter.  She was the Social Media representative and one of Lily’s least favorite individuals.

Lily gripped James’ arm tight. “We have to make a run for it,” she hissed at him.

“What are you--?” he cut off when he saw the camera in the other woman’s hand. “Oh no.”

“Valentine’s kiss!” Rita announced. “For the newsletter.”

“Rita,” Lily said, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Especially considering when Rita took any opportunity to slander PDA around the office on a good day.

“Nonsense!” Rita said.  Her blonde hair was arranged in tight ringlets and her bright red lipstick accentuated her mouth. “Just a quick snap.”

There was no stopping her as she pulled Lily and James over to a wall that was decorated with cut outs of hearts and cupids with red and pink streamers pinned around.  This was not good, Lily decided, not good at all.

“Rita,” she tried again.

“Stand here,” Rita directed as she adjusted Lily and James in front of the wall of decorations. “Act like you like each other, there you go.”

James leaned a little closer to Lily. “I think we can make a break for it.”

But a small crowd had already gathered and Lily highly doubted anyone would let them get very far.  No one was the least bit concerned over what was going on.  

Lily looked up at James. “Sorry about this.” And then she stood up on her tip toes and kissed him.

So perhaps Lily had been lying to herself a bit more than usual.  Because yes, James could be annoying and arrogant and all the things she’d complained about before.  But he was kind and a good friend and someone that made her smile, laugh.  And in all honesty, those qualities had become rare to find in other people.

She knew this was out of line and knew that he wouldn’t talk to her after this--but Lily kissed him anyways.  She meant for it to be just a peck.  Enough to satiate the maddening crowd around them, but as soon as she tried to pull away, James deepened the kiss, his hands immediately cupping her cheeks to keep her right where she was.

Lily had had many kisses in her life.  She wasn’t embarrassed to admit that, but kissing James Potter?  Well, there was nothing like it.

When they finally separated, Lily’s cheeks were flushed and her body thrummed in excitement.  She looked into James’ eyes and could have sworn she saw something similar flash there.

She didn’t have time to mull it over though.  Not when just about every single person she worked with was cheering and howling over one simple kiss.

Not wasting anymore time, Lily grabbed James’ hand and pulled him through the mass of bodies and out the door.  They didn’t need to be assaulted by anymore demands that night.  

They practically sprinted down the hall away from the event room and dashed around a corner, only pausing when they were both out of breath and anxious to make sure they hadn’t been followed.  And knowing Rita Skeeter as she did, Lily wouldn’t be surprised if the woman would do just that.

Once they were sure the coast was clear, Lily finally stepped away from James, disentangling her hand from his.

“Sorry,” she said, “there really was no other way to get out of there alive.”

James looked at her, running a hand over his face he shook his head. “What the hell happened?”

Lily blinked. “I kissed you.”

“I know, I was there.”

“I’m sorry,” Lily said again, “I wasn’t thinking, I should have just insisted we leave.  It was uncalled for.  We can head back to the apartment and you never have to talk to me again--”

“Lily,” James began.

“I can even get out of my lease, there’s only six months left on it, shouldn’t be too hard,” she continued.

“Lily,” James insisted.

She stopped talking.  He was staring at her as if she were a fool, which in all honesty she was.  Yes, he was staring at her as though she were a fool--but he was doing so with amusement and incredulity.

“What?” she asked.

He moved then, stepping in close to Lily until she was crowded against the wall behind her.  He still left plenty of room that she could escape if she wanted to.  As she looked at him, James was consumed with a nervous energy, something raw and cautious.

“You are impossible, sometimes, you know,” he said.  He raised one hand to graze her cheek in a gentle caress.

“I’ve been told,” she whispered, trying to tame the wild beating of her heart. “Difficult and annoying are other favorites used.”

James grinned as he leaned a little closer. “Brilliant, capable, funny.”

She raised a brow. “And?”

And then he kissed her.  Just a tentative brush of his lips against her as he waited to see if she would pull away or stop him.  But Lily did neither.  She surged forward and captured his lips with hers.  She decided that this was turning out to be a pretty decent Valentine’s Day after all.

…

as always thanks for reading!

[furiousqueenmarmaroth]

Why Strife Needs a YouTube Channel #3 (Holiday Edition)

(Just gonna keep posting these because I like.)

Valentine's Day. A very aesthetically pleasing video, very well shot. Clips of him arranging flowers, picking out a tie, and lighting candles are set to soft jazz. The camera pans across a nicely set dinner table to Strife, dressed in his best suit and looking devilishly handsome by candle light. He smiles and says, "Hello there. I got you some severed plant genitals. I thought tonight we could do something extra special. Though I have to tell you... I... wouldn't do this for just anyone, so I guess that makes you pretty damn special, kid." He pulls out his phone and begins his annual dramatic reading of terrible Harry Potter fanfiction

Mother's Day. Fury and Death host; Fury because she decides what they'll do that year and Death because he's the only one with anything that even resembles knowledge of parenthood. Strife participates in the challenges because it's his show and it's only fair. War participates because for whatever reason he thinks that if humans can do it then it's not going to be that hard... he is always proven wrong. One year they did a labor simulation. Another year they had to take care of a (mercifully fake) newborn for 48 hours that ended with Death getting bit when he tried to take the doll from War while he slept.

Father's Day. AKA. Death Appreciation Day. A cute video where they surprise Death. One year they decided to sit him down and tell him their favorite memories of him when they were growing up. A true good vibes video, only bad part is Death looks like he's about to flip a table most of the time because he hasn't quite yet figured out that it's okay for him to be loved.

Halloween. An entire month of horror games and crafts. Strife puts a lot of time into making bird costumes for Dust, since he's Spook-tober's mascot and it's not Halloween until there's a bird fashion show. He also takes great joy in poking fun at both the female costume industry and his friends by wearing costumes like "Slutty Vulgrim", "Sexy Azrael", and "Slightly More Dressed Than Usual Death"

Winter Holidays Meltdown. The BIG collaborative charity livestream. We're talking big like 48 hours with Jack and Markiplier. War's there because he's a good sport and he gets to have the beard he never had the patience to grow. It's not a December Extravaganza until Dust is in his crow sweater and Mayhem wears a hat.

Nephilim Appreciation Day. December 31st. This is actually a fan made holiday. At the end of every year he streams himself watching the videos his fans made for him until the official start of the new year. It's already a lot that people tell him that he makes them laugh, it's another to see titles like "Fury being iconic for 8 minutes and 37 seconds" and "Death being everyone's big brother part 2". He signs off with a heartfelt thank you to his fans for accepting both him and his siblings as they are and in supporting them through their journey.

[silverlake-rp]

Good day, residents of Silver Lake! In the February Newsletter below you will find outlined the events and happenings in our beautiful neighborhood this month.

What YOUR CHARACTER can do during these events:

You may include any of these happenings in your starters, incorporate them into your threads, text threads, social media posts, and so forth! The sky is the limit.

What’s ON. Here are just a few things that will be happening around town this month:

VALENTINE’S DAY IN SILVER LAKE

Mark your calendars, ladies and gentlefolk, for we have a Valentine’s Day extravaganza coming up!! 

OOC: the event will span from FEBRUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 19, and feature an all out bash, funfair attractions, and more in store! Love is in the air, and we are all positively enamoured.

other events around town

Steamy Calendar Discount Day @ Good Vibrations — 1 February

Burn, baby burn! After an unfortunate delay which is not indicative of their general response time, the fire department finally had their batch of smoking hot 2021 calendars delivered. Come on down and grab yours at a 30% discount and get it signed by your favorite firefighter* at no extra charge to you. And why not pick up a blow-up firefighter doll while you’re here? Sorry for the delay, especially to Mister and Miss January, but these poles are worth the wait!

* Autograph signing is subject to cancellation in the event of an emergency.

Groundhog Day @ Five by Night — 2 February

It’s that day again... and again and again. Come by for a screening of Groundhog Day and consider joining in on the marathon challenge. The movie will be playing on a loop from 11 am until closing. The current record holder managed to sit through it seven times in a row, but how many times can you stomach this beloved classic? As an extra incentive, all the bar staff will be serving you in groundhog costumes, so there’s plenty of reason to stick around.

Super Bowl Sunday @ Paco’s Tacos — 7 February

It’s all going down at Paco’s! Come see the Chiefs face off the Buccaneers on a Super Bowl Sunday you won’t want to miss. With more than six screens on which to catch the big action, and with beers, frozen margaritas and more being served all evening long, you won’t want to miss this!

Lantern Festival @ Silver Lake Meadows — 26 February

While ringing in the Lunar New Year at Silver Lake Meadows won’t be quite as grandiose as the celebrations in Chinatown, we have plenty for you to sink your teeth into! There will be activities for kids and young adults such as paper lantern making, and food stalls galore, whether you fancy dim sum or Sichuan hot pot. Most important of all, the releasing of the paper lanterns will certainly be a sight you do not want to miss, ringing in the end of the Lunar New Year festivities.

National Pokemon Day @ Daily Planet — 27 February

Do you want to be the very best, like no one ever was? Then come on down to Daily Planet where we are celebrating the birthday of this most beloved franchise! We’ll be having a Pokemon Go tournament, as well hosting an original trading card game tourney to kick it back to the old school days. Not to mention, all the memorabilia and merch you could possibly ever want!

oasis apartments bulletin

Soapy catastrophe! Chuck DeLino generously heard all of your complaints about the laundry machines not working up to par, and has decided to do an overhaul and replace all 16 washing machine units. Only problem is, they’ve been taken away too soon and the new, replacement machines won’t be arriving until March 1. That’s right, for the entire month of February, the laundry room is out of service. Residents are advised to visit facilities offsite, friends in the neighborhood, or hell, throw your detergent into the pool and wash some laundry together, communal style (not actually advised). We apologize for the inconvenience.

redcliff street bulletin

The mailman forgot his glasses again! The 3′s have become 8′s, the 6′s are 9′s, and there’s no telling where anybody’s mail has ended up. Who’s got your wedding RSVP? Could be your next door neighbor, or the one five doors down — there’s really no telling. At least when you end up with no Valentines, you can say they got lost! We promise we won’t tell.

silverwood terrace bulletin

The Silver Lake Homeowners’ Association is happy to announce an estate sale on the weekend of the 19th-21st of February, for the late Oscar Ramirez. Mr. Ramirez was a famed Hollywood stuntman whose career spanned 4 decades, whose obituary read: “If there was an explosion or car chase in a movie, you probably saw Oscar do it.” His Silverwood Terrace mansion will be open for visitors to the estate sale, but guests are advised to stick to the common areas of the home. Rumors are rife of his late wife’s ghost haunting the quieter corridors of the estate.

cinema paradiso screenings

Friday 5 February: The King of Comedy Saturday 6 February: Four Weddings and a Funeral + Notting Hill (double bill) Sunday 7 February: Mamma Mia! (sing-along)

Friday 12 February: The Lobster Saturday 13 February: My Bloody Valentine (1981), Pride and Prejudice (2005) Sunday 14 February: Pretty in Pink + Say Anything... (double bill)

Friday 19 February: Weathering With You Saturday 20 February: A Star is Born (1976) Sunday 21 February: The Night of the Hunter

Friday 26 February: The Blackcoat’s Daughter Saturday 27 February: The Commitments Sunday 28 February: Badlands

happy birthday to...

13th February: Tierney Rose (25)

14th February: Baz Howlett (36)

26th February: Javier Navarro (42)

weather forecast

[scribbles97]

February 14th (Part 2)

And of course there’s a continuation, Scribbs can’t do just one tiny bit of fic can she?

I borrowed Em Harris from @gumnut-logic for this one, thank you for letting me play with your characters Nutty :D 

You can read PART 1 here

Of all his brothers, Scott knew he was the one to buy into the Valentine's day crap the most. Of course, he knew as well as the rest of them that it was just an opportunity for corporate greed to rear its ugly head as were most holidays those days. But, he was a sucker for the chance to show off, to flash the cash and spoil a beautiful lady. 

It was just fortunate that, five days out of seven, the day landed on a work day. 

Given, being part of International Rescue meant every day was a working day, but Monday to Friday were business days giving him an excuse to fabricate some meeting or another with the board. John was totally onto him, his younger brother was too smart not to see the pattern even if it didn’t happen every year. After all, he had to be home for Gordon’s birthday sometimes. 

Except this year, Penelope was whisking the resident fish off somewhere for a romantic birthday extravaganza. All of it was, in no small part, thanks to their father’s return. There had apparently been too much of a lack of romance on the Island for his liking and had been working with Aunt Val since to get them all more time off. 

Scott wasn’t complaining. 

If there were a few extra trips across to Auckland in his free time, he wouldn’t deny that it had one hell of a lot to do with the Doctor that had saved his life. 

If he used the excuse of a business meeting to take her over to LA for a long weekend, well, he could just blame the old romantic he was. 

“You finished early.” Was Em’s first comment as he walked into the hotel room, shucking off his jacket and making a beeline for her. 

A whirr of hoverjets and she was up to meet him, her lips warm and soft against his, with the slightest undertone of strawberry lip balm. 

“Couldn’t wait to see you.” He grinned, pulling his lips from hers so he could look at her, “How was your morning?”

Really, he didn’t need to ask, he could see the shopping bags on the bed. 

“I went shopping.” She whispered, her tone and face full of conspiracy. 

“Mmm,” He hummed, distracted entirely by her simple presence, “Buy anything nice?”

Her grin shifted to something wicked as she raised her eyebrows, “Perhaps you’ll get to find out later.” 

Which only confirmed it for him, he thought he had recognised the discreet logo on the corner of one of the bags. 

“Ms Harris,” He sighed, shaking his head at her, trying and probably failing to look disapproving, “You are an absolute tease.”

Her grin was hardly guilty as she pulled back, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

He wasn’t going to tell her about the afternoon he had planned at the botanical gardens, followed by dinner at the best spot in town, and then an evening in just to themselves. No, surprise was part of the romance. She would find out as they went along, and he would get the pleasure of seeing her face light up as she did. 

“What?” She laughed, looking down herself, “Did I spill…”

“No,” He chuckled, reaching out to pull her into him again. 

She looked up to him, tilting her head slightly in question as he looked down to her. 

“I love you, Em Harris.” 

Her smile softened as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hoverjets whirring as she gained enough height to level with him. 

“I love you too, Scott Tracy, and whatever you have planned doesn’t matter, if I’m with you that’s all I could want.”

It was soppy and he knew she knew it, but it still made him smile as he leant in to kiss her, hesitating just a breath away from her lips, “Happy Valentines day.”

[silvcrlining]

founder’s day festival: finley’s entry

Though Finley never stops by the Pelican Town’s Founder Day Festival-- can’t really bring themself to--, that doesn’t mean they didn’t submit an entry for the art display. It was a decision they had made long before everything that went down in the Valentine’s Dance; plus, after a year of living in the valley, they had accumulated a hefty amount of photos. They wanted to do something good with them. So their entry hangs up in the exhibition: a series of portraits, with a plaque beneath them all that reads Faces of the Valley.

The sun is just rising over the trees in Cindersap Forest, over the top of a familiar van, and Sloane is caught mid-smirk, a teasing glint in faer eyes as fae reach faer tea cup out to clink it against the photographer’s cup, barely visible in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.

There’s a lone piano in the airport. The giant windows in the foreground are blurred, but the raging storm outside is visible. Even then, it’s easy to miss when the subject of the photo seems to capture all the attention: Ben, sitting at the piano bench, hands frozen over the keys. He doesn’t seem to notice someone’s taking his photo, and the look on his face is peaceful, calm.

Any picture of Koa in Finley’s reel is more often than not barely catching his blurry form. At the summer extravaganza, however, you bet he wants his knight costume to be immortalized through photography. He stands near the stage, chest puffed out, grinning wide, striking the most heroic pose he can (Finley made sure to add an extra shine to his suit while editing). In the back, Lizzie is trying to jump into the frame, waving at the photographer in her poofy princess dress.

Lizzie gets her own portrait, though. It’s after one of her and Finley’s training sessions. Her ponytail is slightly disheveled, cheeks flushed from running, but it seems like she set a new best running time, because she has her arms thrown in the air, eyes wide and mouth curled into a bright smile. She barely looks tired.

Some of the valley kids gather in front of the library after a day of school. Some stick their tongues out, others flash toothy smiles; meanwhile, Alex crouches behind them to level their height differences out, the look on his face somewhere between content and amused at the kids’ antics.

It’s nighttime, deep in a small clearing in the forest. There’s a scattering of camping tents set up in the background. In front of them, Henry sits on a log, a thick blanket wrapped around his shoulders, a cup of cocoa cradled in his hands. The campfire in front of him washes him in warm light. Although tired, the light shows in his eyes, which shine as gently as the shy smile on his face.

Kiran sits under a tree by the town, a picnic blanket splayed out beneath him and a sketchbook propped up on his lap. It seems like he was previously entranced with whatever he was drawing before Finley made him look up. His gaze is focused on the camera lens, a brow raised slightly, but the corners of his lips are raised slightly, pencil still pressed to the page.

The next portrait overlooks the ocean by the pier. There’s a lone boat floating along the water with two figures sitting inside. Willy, the fishing shop owner, isn’t paying attention to the camera; he has his fishing line tossed over the edge and is staring intently at the water in heavy concentration. Jemma, however, is not as focused; she practically leans over the boat, frozen in mid-ecstatic-wave towards the photographer, mouth open as if she was yelling out a greeting.

Matty stares at the screen of the only working arcade game in the Saloon, a picture of utter focus, his hands slightly blurred from whatever quick movement he was doing along the controls of the game. There’s a half-empty Joja Cola can propped up precariously beside the controls, and yes-- that is the renowned Pizza Slut hat sitting proudly on his head. Kiran is visible in the back, playing a game of pool with Malia-- though he seems more focused on Matty than anything else.

Malia isn’t looking at the camera. Instead, her head is thrown back in a laugh, an arm spread over the back of her couch. Her other hand is petting her cat, Salem, who is curled up in her lap. There’s a bottle of wine on the side-table and the sun is just beginning to set, the golden hour rays peeking in through the windows, casting the house in yellow light. For a moment, the house doesn’t look like a museum of memories; it just looks like a home. Malia looks happy.

Anya looks like an absolute natural on stage. The light from the disco ball glitters beautifully against her as she looks out at the crowd, clad in her skates and a charming smile. Behind her, her proposal for a roller rink is projected. Even if it wasn’t the winning proposal, the portrait makes it hard to ignore how easily she can capture anyone’s attention.

Art... really likes apples, huh? Did anyone else know that? His portrait is the definition of happiness, the grin across his face endearing as he reaches out towards the apple the photographer is holding out, visible at the bottom of the frame. The farm looms in the background behind him. Lizzie once again tries to sneak into the photo from a distance.

Sofia tilts her head at the camera, a small simper on her lips as she stands behind the counter of the library, hands placed neatly on top of its surface. Half of her hair is tied up in two buns on either side of her head. In front of her, there’s a notebook scribbled to the margins with words and, beside it, there’s a stack of books. Are they reserved for someone? There’s a sticky note on top that reads: for Elaine.

Sasha’s portrait is probably the most professional-looking, if only because it’s the only one that was planned-- she needed photos for her Instagram, and Finley needed more pictures in their portfolio. It was a begrudging agreement. Sasha leans back against a fence that overlooks the wide open space in front of the farms. The sun is shining, wind blowing gently through her hair as she looks off in the distance. Even if she’s posing, there’s an unmistakably pensive look in her eyes.

Dakota crouches on the forest floor, a wooden sign near them warning passerby's not to tread near. Their brows are creased in concentration, though it looks like they’re almost trying not to notice the camera-- which is exactly what had happened. “It’s for a festival entry! Just... act natural! Study the dirt or something, you know-- look academic.”

It’s after the General Store has finally reigned victorious over Joja Mart. Elaine is in charge of helping prepare the store for its reopening, but she’s taking a break at the time the picture is taken. She sits on the back of her ✨ truck ✨, the remnants of her finished snack beside her. She seems to be entranced in a book, a rare look of contentment washing over her face as her eyes dart across the pages. It’s hard to make out the cover of the book-- something by Stephen King.

Archie stands outside of the Saloon, leaning against one of the walls as a cigarette hangs from her lips, her bag slung over her shoulder. One of the outside lights shines down on her, given that it’s already well into nighttime. The look she gives the camera is dull, unimpressed. Finley must have said something really charming at the right time, however, because there’s a hint of something lighter coloring her features-- a gentle amusement.

The flower shop takes center stage... almost. Thalia commands attention, though; the small girl is almost a blur of movement as she’s caught mid-skip towards the camera. There’s a lemonade stand behind her, and she no doubt has a practiced script to get Finley to buy some. Gabe waits by the stand, hands tucked into his pockets, his gaze focused on his daughter; the love in his eyes is clear as day.

Finley doesn’t know Arden that well, but they find her outside of the General Store, and the light is hitting her just right, so it’d be a shame not to capture the moment. Arden only notices the camera after the photo has been taken. in her portrait, she’s too busy looking through the flyers pinned up on the bulletin board. Finley knew that look she wore all too well-- looking for a brand new start.

Iris had just finished pinning up a paper up on the bulletin board when Finley asked to take a photo. It seems like Iris had been almost too happy to oblige. In her portrait, she strikes a practiced pose, hip jutting out, a hand on her waist, head cocked to the side with a smirk. She’s wearing a puffy jacket and sunglasses perched atop her head, a combination that truly makes no sense, but her confidence radiates through the photo enough that it almost works.

Even if she’s new, Zola seems to fit in just fine at the Saloon. It’s an odd contradiction, though, because with the sweet smile stretched across her lips, she manages to stand out against the rest of the regulars loitering in the back. She seems to be in a conversation with the newest bartender, who looks sheepish but excited as she watches Zola, who’s in the middle of tossing an ice cube in the air and catching it within a shot glass. Sick moves.

Adria stands in front of her office building, smiling brightly at the camera. It had only been a few days after she arrived and was officially open for business, and that much is noticeable on her face. Her eyes are bright and enthusiastic, her smile warm and inviting. She looks hopeful. It’s the kind of hope the valley desperately needed.

There’s a softness to Jillian in this portrait that feels rare. It seems like it’s just another normal day of work at the General Store. Jillian is in the middle of organizing jam jars on the shelves, but her head is turned towards the camera. The photo captures the last remnants of what was probably an exasperated and/or annoyed glare before it was replaced by something much more simple, but just as loud-- a tiny smile.

The final photograph is the only one that has the subject facing away from the camera completely. It overlooks the ocean once again. The sky is a gentle, cloudless blue with silhouettes of birds scattered across; the water is rippling with lazy waves; the pier is empty, except for one person. At the end of the deck, Finley sits staring at the ocean, their back towards the camera, their shoes beside them. Their hair looks a lot shorter than it is now-- it was taken on their first week in the valley, when they found this spot and decided it might be worth staying here for a while.

[avaantares]

FFVII:REMAKE - A Review

So I beat the game two weeks ago and started writing down my thoughts while they were fresh in my mind, but I didn’t post anything then because my one IRL friend who is also playing it hadn’t finished it yet and I didn’t want to risk posting anything spoiler-y. But the extra time has allowed me to play through the game again on Hard difficulty, which has allowed me to reconsider and elaborate on some of my thoughts. And frankly at this point I just need to dump my Very Big Opinions somewhere, so... here ya go.

I discuss visuals, gameplay, character and story below. I’ve tried to keep spoilers minimal up front, though obviously if you want to go into the game totally cold, don’t read this. All major spoilers are clearly tagged. All of it is below a cut to spare your dash.

Also, there are pretty pictures, because why not?

First, my background with this franchise: I played through the original FFVII multiple times; I’ve watched and rewatched Advent Children and Last Order, played Crisis Core, gave up on Dirge of Cerberus despite my deep love for Vincent Valentine (sorry, VV, but your game was just a mess), and lamented that Before Crisis wasn’t available in my country. I even played (and own!) Ehrgeiz, the obscure fighting game that featured the main cast. (Still bitter that they didn’t keep Miki Shinichirou as the voice of Sephiroth. He’s one of my faves.)

^ Ehrgeiz, a mediocre fighting game that forever endeared itself to me by including Turks!Vincent Valentine as a playable character. 💖

In short, I’ve been waiting for this game for DECADES.

So. Here we go. My thoughts on Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE.

The good:

The character models are very pretty. With individual pores, threads and scuffs visible, they’re so detailed that it’s almost impossible to reconcile them with the mouthless sprites from the original game – even more so than Advent Children (and dear goodness, that was over a decade ago now, wasn’t it?). Still, they’ve kept the costume details and absurd proportions largely intact (Barret’s fists are literally larger than Tifa’s entire head, yet somehow it works visually), so it’s not too much of a departure from the familiar.

They’ve kept the aesthetic. I was afraid the game would try to update the iconic world of Midgar, but by and large, it’s full of visually-arresting designs that preserve the gritty-industrial look and feel of the original.

Japanese version is included. BLESS YOU, Square Enix, for including the Japanese voices and character animations. Not only is it impossible for me to hear Cloud in anything other than Sakurai Takahiro’s voice, but the Japanese script is a bit nicer to the characters. I’m not really keen on the English dub… but more on that below.

They fixed the spelling of Aerith’s name. This may seem like a minor point, but considering it’s been 20 years and I’m still bitter that Devil May Cry still hasn’t corrected “Nelo Angelo,” it’s a small victory.

Improved combat. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the new combat system at first, but after playing through the game twice, I’ve come to really like it. It has a few rough edges and can get chaotic in some battles, but it does a decent job of blending the feel of an action game with turn-based strategy. The fact that you can switch to a more traditional turn-based system if you prefer is also nice. (I haven’t tried Classic mode yet, though.)

Weapon customization. The Skill Points system allows you to upgrade your loadout instead of acquiring new gear. The tutorial was somewhat lacking (I didn’t quite figure out the multiple-core-unlock thing right away), but I appreciated the ability to add materia slots or stat buffs rather than just cycling through a dozen swords that Cloud apparently keeps in his back pocket.

Background dialogue management. On the whole, the conversations as you run through town enhance the story without slogging down the gameplay; you don’t have to stop and talk to every single resident, because snatches of their conversation reach you (and your on-screen chatlog) as you pass. You can stop and listen for more detail if you want, or you can just keep moving. The extra worldbuilding is really nice.

The music. The orchestrated versions of the original themes are excellent (and some of those music cues gave me goosebumps… Did I spend way too many hours immersed in the original game? Probably). I can take or leave some of the collectible jukebox tunes, but the background music in general is good. (But did I earn that Disc Jockey trophy? Yes, yes I did.)

Supporting character development. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge actually have characters! And personalities! Clichéd ones, admittedly, but it’s an improvement over the original game killing them all off within the first few minutes. The game also does justice to the Turks, and actually surprised me with how much depth of character it gave Reno and Rude in particular (perhaps setting them up for a mini redemption arc so players forgive them for dropping a plate on tens of thousands of slum residents?). Their moments of concern for each other and (brief) crises of conscience made them more than the stock villains they were in the original game, more in line with their temporarily good-aligned characters in Advent Children. Tseng, likewise, was on point. However, I do have to qualify all this with one irate question: Where the heck is Elena?! Seems like the female characters are always getting left out… /sigh/

Improved plot devices. REMAKE cleans up some of the more questionable and outdated content from the original. As you likely already know from the demo, the new game somewhat exonerates the protagonists by having Shinra blow up their own mako reactor to turn public opinion against AVALANCHE (possibly because someone finally realized that it’s hard to sympathize with characters who are willing to melt down an entire reactor and kill a bunch of innocent civilians). AVALANCHE are still eco-terrorists, but they’re… terrorists with a conscience? I dunno, at least they feel bad when people die now… Likewise, the weird and uncomfortable Honey Bee Inn segment of the original game has been reborn as an amazing dance extravaganza. Less voyeurism/prostitution, more Vegas floor show (complete with minigame choreography) and makeover. The whole Don Corneo scenario is still hella creepy, but frankly, there’s nothing that can fix that.

Series references. Fans of the original will appreciate all the inside jokes and direct references to the original game and other franchise entries: One-off comments about Chocobo racing; a broken console in Wall Market that shoots at you; a framed picture of the original 32-bit Seventh Heaven; ads for Banora apple juice; side mentions of characters and plot devices from spinoff games; PHS communication… The game definitely pays tribute to its history. They even recreate the original loading screen and several of Cloud’s iconic poses/animations throughout the game:

The neutral:

Recycled gags. Look, I know Advent Children was the ultimate evolution of FFVII for a while, and admittedly, it did some things very well. The running gag with Rude’s sunglasses and the victory fanfare being used as a ringtone are some of the best moments in the film, in part because they were so unexpected. But as much as I enjoyed the repeated nods to AC in this game, they felt a little desperate, like there were no new jokes to insert so they had to double down on the ones they’d used the last time this franchise had a renaissance. (See Rude’s broken sunglasses, below.) And fitting into the series as a whole, it feels a little weird. Why is Rude’s ringtone the same as the clones’ from Advent Children? Does Barret really need to sing the victory fanfare over and over when he defeats an enemy? Is there supposed to be some history behind that song that was left out of the worldbuilding? It just feels too meta.

Arbitrary localization of names. I don’t really grasp why it was necessary to rename so many items and characters for the English market. Some changes make sense for localization (e.g. Whack-a-Box certainly works better for an American audience than Crash Box), but others seem arbitrary, like changing Aniyan Kunyan to Andrea Rhodea or Mugi to Oates (a play on the meaning of his name in Japanese, but... does it matter?). And then… well, I don’t want to spoil A Major Plot Element, but there’s another thing that changes names from one English word (in the Japanese track) to a different English word. Why? No idea. It doesn’t affect gameplay, and it’s not really a problem, but listening to the Japanese track, I found it jarring to have the subtitles contradict what I was hearing.

Underutilized characters. While the whole gamut of original FFVII characters make appearances, several of them aren’t used to full effect, or aren’t used at all to advance the story. Rufus Shinra’s bossfight is a decent challenge, but while his character was vital to both the original FFVII and Advent Children, his presence in this game is little more than a cameo. His fight could be cut or swapped out with any other boss, and it would have zero effect on the plot. Similarly, while Hojo is a key player in the full story (which this game doesn’t cover, since it’s only a fraction of the original timeline), he’s largely wasted here, except as a means of extending play time by making you wander through corridors and fight a bunch of monsters for “research.” (I have no idea what his motivation is; you’d think he’d be more interested in recapturing Aerith or Cloud, but instead he just... opens an elevator and lets them leave? after they beat up some midbosses.) Reeve Tuesti actually has a solid presence in this game, but since he’s ONLY ever active as himself, there’s no explanation for the random Cait Sith cameo in one scene (players new to the franchise probably have no idea why a random cartoon cat showed up for a few seconds and was never mentioned again). Obviously the plot arcs have to change when the game is covering only a few days’ time in a much longer story, and the major players need to be introduced at some point if they’re going to feature in later games in the series, but from a narrative standpoint, there are an awful lot of superfluous characters doing things for no reason in this installment.

The bad:

THE PADDING. Dear goodness, there is so much padding to make this a standalone game instead of just the first chapter of a longer adventure. I got really, really sick of running literally from one end of the map to the other on side quests – and that’s me, an avowed trophy hunter who spends hours scouring dark corners for collectible items in other games, saying that. So much of this game felt like time fill that didn’t really advance the story. It’s also full of unnecessary new characters with improbable Squeenix hair, like Roche the super-annoying motorcycle SOLDIER (below), or Leslie, Don Corneo’s doorman who somehow merits his own backstory and side quest. (Though in fairness, every FFVII sequel has added superfluous characters, with Crisis Core possibly being the worst offender.) But it just felt really drawn-out and bloated for a game of this generation. If this game had been as compact and tightly-written as the other games I typically play, it probably only would have taken me 15 hours to beat instead of 50. (I don’t actually know how many hours I spent on it the first time through, as I didn’t check the play clock before restarting on Hard difficulty. I do know it took me over 110 hours total to complete the game on both modes, though much of the second run was spent dying repeatedly on a handful of nasty fights. Hard mode removes items and MP replenishment, and if you run out of MP at any point during a chapter, you’re going to die. A lot.)

The pacing. Related to the above... the Midgar portion of the original game was just the setup for a larger story. It wasn’t meant to have its own complete dramatic arc so much as to introduce you to the world and the major players. Consequently, there are some really odd beats in this story, as well as a total lack of urgency in your mission. There are no natural places to slot in the side quests and minigames, so they’re shoehorned awkwardly between plot sequences. “Quick, our friend is in mortal peril and needs our help!” "Okay, cool, we’ll go rescue her after we spend ten hours running around town doing random errands for townspeople and playing games with the local kids.” Uh... what?

The graphics just aren’t as good as they should be. While the character models are gorgeous, there are a lot of low-res background textures and weird polygons that don’t quite match up with other components. Most egregious are the Shinra logos, which frequently get close-ups as part of the fixed camera work and, frankly, look like lossy JPEGs. (See image below, screencapped from a PS4 Pro. Those jagged edges on the logo are present throughout the entire game.) There are weird clipping errors and artifacted images and reflective surfaces that don’t reflect, making the game look more like something from the PS3 era than a 4K late-gen PS4 game. (And it’s not that we don’t have the technology: Uncharted 4 was released back in 2016, and the rendering of its vast world was twice as pretty. Devil May Cry 5, released in early 2019, has far more realistic textures and object interaction. Granted, those are different types of games with fewer NPCs to render, but I feel like there’s no excuse for a game this big to look this mediocre.)

The HUD could be better. The lower-corners concept is okay, though it took me a while to train my eyes to travel between both sides of the screen and track the fight action. But for a long time, I didn’t even notice the commands in the upper left corner of the screen, and after playing through the game twice I still have no idea what they say because I couldn’t focus on the tiny text long enough to read them while trying not to die in combat. (I just looked it up; apparently they’re combat control shortcuts? Huh, that would have been useful to know.) It wasn’t until my second time through that I realized there even WERE separate controls on screen during the motorcycle minigames; I had resorted to panicked button mashing to figure it out the first time through because there was no tutorial (you’re just dropped into the action) and, having ignored the small text for the previous hundred combats, I had no reason to look for on-screen instructions there. Not that it would have helped, since on many backgrounds the text in the upper left is really difficult to read (see below). It’s worth noting that I have better than 20/20 vision and played this game on a large TV screen and still had trouble reading some things; on a smaller TV, or for someone with less acute vision (like my sister, who is blind in one eye), I think even the basic menu controls would be difficult to see. While you can resize the font for subtitles, my cursory glance through the menu did not uncover an option to increase the size of the HUD. 

Inter-fight menu mechanics. Specifically, the inability to save (or save loadout settings) between fights in a multi-part sequence. There are several back-to-back fights in which it is necessary to switch characters or change gear between bosses. The game treats them as one continuous fight, though it does allows you to access the equipment menu by holding square during key cutscenes. Which is good, if you only have one of a particular materia or accessory that you need to switch between characters, and in most cases when you die the game lets you restart just before your current fight instead of restarting the whole sequence -- also good, since some multi-stage bosses can easily take 20-30 minutes to beat, and if several of those are strung together in sequence, you’re in for a long play session to get past them. But since it’s treated as one fight, you can’t save between bosses (more than once, I had to leave my PS4 running in Rest Mode overnight and just hoped we didn’t have a power glitch), and if you happen to get killed and need to restart the fight, your loadouts reset. Which means if you’re, say, fighting the end boss on Hard difficulty and get killed in the first two minutes -- which happened to me a lot -- by the time you restart the fight, sit through the unskippable cutscene, access the menu and rearrange all the materia and accessories you need, you’re spending five or six minutes gearing up for two minutes of play, and then doing that over and over again every time you die. It gets really old.

The English dub script. *deep breath* Okay, look, I know I can be a bit elitist about translations, but I really do not like the English adaptation of this game. It makes Cloud come across as less socially-awkward and far more of a deliberate jerk, Aerith is mouthy and even swears (which is not accurate to her original character), and it downplays some of the symbolism that’s more obvious in the Japanese script. One quick example: When Aerith gives Cloud a flower, she says (in Japanese), “In the language of flowers, this means ‘reunion.’” It’s subbed/dubbed in English, “Lovers used to give these when they were reunited.” That’s a subtle difference, but since the concept of “reunion” is a freakin’ huge part of the FFVII plot, and since Sephiroth was on screen literally seconds before that line is delivered, my brain automatically went, “OMG REUNION!!!” while I’m guessing people listening in English only picked up on the romantic subtext. It’s a pretty minor thing, and of course translation is always a complex balancing act between literal meaning and local market understanding, but the English version just seemed to me to have a different vibe overall. (Unfortunately, the English subtitles are the same as the dub, so unless you can understand the Japanese audio you’re kind of stuck with that dialogue.)

-

-

[WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT]

-

- …And my #1 complaint about Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE is…

…it’s not actually a remake.

Sure, the game starts out the same way and covers a lot of the same events, but fundamentally, it’s a sequel, not a retelling. It’s evident from Cloud’s future-oriented visions throughout the game that something else is going on, and the ending MAKES NO SENSE if you don’t already know the story. Heck, even the rest of the game doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know the story -- Sephiroth’s presence is never explained; Zack isn’t even introduced, just shows up randomly at the end; Cloud’s flashbacks of Tifa and her dead father in Nibelheim are left as a complete mystery (and since she evidently remembers the burning of her town, judging by her dialogue outside Aerith’s house, why doesn’t she even react when Sephiroth shows up?).

The core elements of the plot – the Feelers (Whispers) preserving a specific fate; the three entities from the future (whose weapon types just happen to correspond to certain named characters) defending their timeline; the return of post-Advent Children Sephiroth (the only time we’ve seen him in human form with one black wing), who has inhabited the Lifestream since his death and promised that he would never truly disappear, who in the end appeals to Cloud directly for an alliance rather than attempting to control him, because he knows now that Cloud is strong enough to defy the Reunion instinct; the change in the outcome of story events in which Biggs (and, unconfirmed as to which timeline he’s actually in, but quite possibly Zack) now survives his intended death -- all point toward Sephiroth trying to manipulate destiny into an alternate outcome in which he is victorious, and using this naive version of Cloud to facilitate it. That means this game is taking place in an alternate or splinter universe, created at some point after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, and possibly even after the events of Advent Children.

All of that is fine from an overall continuing-story perspective – it opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, like the fact that Aerith might survive now that Cloud has seen prescient flashes of her death (among other events), and there are opportunities for more story twists and changes from what players might expect. But touting this as a remake of the original game has the potential to confuse players who are new to the franchise. FFVII was groundbreaking back in 1997, and it defined JRPGs for an entire generation of Western gamers. But that was more than two decades ago, and a lot of current gamers weren’t even born then, so while they’ve probably heard of the classic game, they aren’t necessarily steeped in its lore. FFVII:R relies heavily on prior knowledge of the series to carry its twist ending, so it largely fails as a standalone game.

Also, speaking as a longtime fan of the franchise… I honestly found the ending rather lackluster. It was a twist, of sorts, but not the sort of shocking, mind-bending revelation that made the first game so iconic. Granted, it’s hard to follow an act like revealing that your protagonist’s entire identity is a lie, not to mention killing off one of your main characters a third of the way into the story! But when the surprise ending is just, Surprise! We’re going to change things up a bit this time around so you aren’t entirely sure what’s coming! Also, here’s a gratuitous Sephiroth fight because everyone expects that, even though it doesn’t serve the main story at all nor resolve any conflicts previously established within this game! it smacks of Different for the sake of Being Different, not for the sake of a really amazing storyline they’re hiding up their sleeve. It’s a bit of a let-down, and I find that I... just... don’t really care that much. Which, for someone who’s been a fan of the series for nearly a quarter of a century, means there’s a Big Freaking Problem somewhere. If you’re not keeping the attention of your die-hard fans, how do you hope to build a fanbase of players new to the franchise?

Given the pacing and story issues inherent in this game, I’m not convinced that the following game(s) in the franchise are going to be structured any better. Considering the amount of pure side-quest padding they did in Midgar, I have no idea how they’ll maintain that same tone on something the scale of the World Map portion of the original game, unless they just completely eliminate things like Fort Condor and the submarine and the spaceship side quests. I have a feeling the Gold Saucer is going to be reduced to a Jessie flashback, a Chocobo race (probably to win a key item), and a battle arena run like the coliseum in Wall Market in this game. If they include all the story elements and side characters from the original, this series is going to be a dozen games long.

Still, on the whole this game was enjoyable, and I’m glad I played it. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but they haven’t completely killed off my interest, so I’ll probably continue with the series whenever the next game comes out. Though I’m not really sure if the higher-priced edition I pre-ordered was worth the extra money, so I may wait and see how the next game is shaping up before deciding which version to get...

But if they don’t give me a really pretty (playable) Vincent Valentine in the next installment, I may riot. I do have priorities.

[velvetchen]

Bound | pt. i

[ back to masterlist ]

genre: angst, some fluff - arranged marriage au, enemies to lovers au member: sehun word count: 6k warnings: angst i guess?

summary: How do you know which things are better left unsaid? 

a/n: okay i KNOW i said writing hiatus but this has been sitting in my drafts for a while and i have no idea if this fic will go anywhere since i didn’t plan anything but..here you go!

next part >>

The night Kyungsoo tells you ‘maybe we should take a break’ for the third time this month, you know it’s over. He’s nice about it, of course. He’s always nice. But you know that your relationship isn’t going anywhere, and have known it for the month and a half you’ve been officially dating. Which is why he doesn’t complain when you start to cry right there in the park where he asked you for a walk. He wraps his jacket around you, resting his hand over your shoulder as you sniffle, embarrassed, and rummage in your bag for tissues.

“It’s okay,” he says, and if Kyungsoo says it’s okay, it is. You both part ways right there on the bridge, in a moment that for any other couple would be romantic, picturesque - with the full moon glimmering over the lake below, and the soft glow of streetlamps seeping through the trees above. You know that once you leave, you won’t have any reason to see each other again. 

Perhaps that’s just the way it should be. 

You would have been okay with that, would have gone home feeling not as heavy as you should have had it not started raining on the walk home. Seven blocks separate you from the comfort of your apartment when the first drops hit your head. You barely take a few more steps before it’s a full-out downpour, and you’re completely soaked through. Your hair hangs limply around your face, your clothes quickly plaster to your skin, and the chill of the night invades. 

The tears come back. You clasp your arms tightly around yourself as you trudge back home, the rain showing no signs of letting up. When you finally struggle into the lobby of your apartment building, you leave a sodden trail towards the stairs.

When you manage to drag yourself into your apartment, it’s dark and quiet. It isn’t too late, but Minji had gone out earlier, so you suppose you’re alone for now. All the better - you want to be alone right now, want to have the privilege of drowning in your misery before reality hits you again. But first, you’re cold and wet and your face is sticky from tears and rain. You shut yourself into the bathroom, the silence feeling heavy as you sit down under the stream of hot water in the shower.

You come out twenty long minutes later, swathed in your blanket, and wearing your softest pajamas. Your ‘breakup pajamas’, you call them. 

You’re surprised to find Minji there, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her laptop propped up in front of her. There are extra pillows next to her, and snacks on the table. “I made you some ramen, too,” she calls when you’re halfway down. “It’s on the table.”

A small smile slips onto your face.  Somehow, she knows when you need someone to sit beside you in silence as you eat ice cream and watch Netflix, when you’re still smarting from a broken heart. 

Kyungsoo is your thirteenth breakup, and the one that hurts the most. Which is why Minji seems to be extra understanding. She sits in silence as you curl up on the couch next to her with the cup of ramen, which is perfect, just the way you like it, as you try to follow the movie she’s watching. You eat in silence, taking longer than usual to finish, and when you’re done you put the cup away and lean back on the couch.

Minji mutes the movie. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asks carefully. 

You usually don’t, but this one time… “Okay,” you say.

She shifts slightly so she’s facing you. You take a deep breath, unsure where to start. “I…think you can guess what happened. He broke up with me. I mean, not explicitly at first, but I knew. We don’t work together, and as much as I care for him, we just realized it wasn’t…going anywhere.”

You and Kyungsoo had chemistry. Off-the-charts chemistry, Bora had said. You first met him at a career fair, and you spent the whole hour staring at him, and he spent the whole hour staring back at you. At one point you couldn’t take it anymore and you walked up to him and introduced yourself. He took you home and gave you (arguably) the best night of your life. You hooked up three times before he asked you to properly date him, one night as he was spooning you, his velvety voice in the shell of your ear. 

You had chemistry, but you didn’t make sense together. You both wanted different things. He never said so - he was too nice - but you could tell that he was unsure about your dating history. You knew he wanted something permanent, something steady and smoldering instead of a spark that flared and fizzled out. Which was all you had. 

Surprisingly, even as you tell Minji this, you don’t cry. You don’t feel hollow or worn out. “I hope he finds someone who’s right for him,” you murmur. “He deserves it.” 

“You really care for him,” Minji observes. 

“I do,” you say. “But enough about that. It’s over. Done. I have to move on, right?” You laugh, a hint of irony seeping in. 

Minji gives you a sympathetic smile, and leans onto your shoulder, patting your arm comfortingly. Then, something strikes and she springs up to look at you, a hint of something sparkling in her eye. You know that look - it’s her ‘I’m your best friend and you’re going to do what I say’ look. You pull away, wary. “What?”

“I read about this thing,” she says, trying very hard not to smile. “It’s like an experiment or something like that. A study? Anyway, I think it would be perfect for you.”

“What is it?” You’re almost scared to hear what this newest idea is. 

“It’s an experiment on love,” she grins. “You sign up, and they pair you up with someone for six months based on how compatible you are. And you have to stay with them for those six months, live in the same house and do normal relationship things, but the catch? You don’t get to know who your partner is until the wedding.”

“Sounds…” you start, then backtrack. “Wait, what? Did you say wedding?”

“Yes, a wedding! And then you go on a honeymoon and stuff, and after the six months you can choose to stay married, if, you know, they end up being your true love, or you can get a completely legal divorce.” She winks. “Their last study had an eighty percent success rate. And the honeymoon is all expenses paid.”

“Honeymoon?” You repeat dumbly. “Minji, I don’t - I don’t want to get married. I just want a romance. To, like, enjoy life.” Never mind the growing doubt in your head now, after this, that maybe you’re just not cut out for that. That love isn’t for you - that maybe, you don’t believe in it anymore. Maybe you should stop trying.

“It’s like a trial!” she argues. “Besides, what if you actually end up finding the love of your life? It’s worth it!” She gives you a meaningful look, and your mind flicks over all the failed relationships you’ve had over the past few years. And you brush over your most recent wound: Kyungsoo. 

“What if I don’t, though?” You mutter, turning away and tucking your knees up into your chest as you chew at your bottom lip. “What if it doesn’t work out, again, and I’m stuck with them for six months?” 

Minji pats your knee. “Have some faith, Y/N. If you keep worrying about things not working out, then you never really have the chance to let go and just…enjoy the moment.” 

You don’t know what to say to that, except that she’s right. To some extent. Maybe you are too caught up in the fact that things don’t work out for you, and that’s why they don’t. 

“So?” she nudges you. “What do you say? Will you do it?”

“I don’t know,” you answer honestly. 

“I just want you to be happy, Y/N,” she groans. “Like, really. I’m trying my best here.”

“I know,” you crack a smile. “Okay, maybe I’ll check it out. For your sake only.”

She flings her arms around your neck. “Thank you! Thank you thank you. You’ll sign up, you’ll find the perfect partner, and I’ll say I told you so.”

“Of course you will. I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

Minji heads back home later - Baekhyun comes over to pick her up, and even as you wave goodbye to them you’re hit with the solid pang of jealousy in your gut as you watch him kiss her temple and help her into the car, both of them giggling at something he’d said. 

That pang is what makes you whirl around and head to your computer. Your fingers hover over the keys for just a moment before you type in the words: Project Cupid. 

Their website is sleek and businesslike, not the pink-and-red extravaganza more fitting for Valentine’s Day that you were expecting. Everything seems legitimate, and you even have to admit their description is attractive:

At Project Cupid we endeavor to study the true constituents of love. What makes it bloom? What makes it tick? And what keeps it going? This is why we ask you for help. We ask you to put your trust (and your heart) in our hands as we pair you with someone who is at least eighty percent compatible with you in all aspects - emotionally, physically, even astrologically. 

Though this is an experiment for us, for you we hope it will be so much more. A chance for you to find what everyone seeks and what hundreds of stories and folk tales have exalted for centuries: true love. 

You scan the site, heart thudding unnecessarily fast as you navigate to the ‘apply now’ page. Should you do this? Is it worth the risk of another heartbreak, perhaps worse, just for the chance at true love? 

The questions are intimate. Really intimate. There are things you’ve never even thought of by yourself, much less came close to thinking about in the context of relationships. You never lasted long enough with anyone to really think about these things - well, except for one person. Is family important to you? Do you value honesty or loyalty? What do you look for in a partner above all else? And questions that you wouldn’t expect to have anything to do with a matchmaking service. What emotions does the color blue evoke for you? Where did your parents go to school? Questions that make you blush fiercely, even as you answer them as truthfully as you can. Do you enjoy being sexually active? What kinds of activities excite you during intimate moments with your partner? 

When you come to the last section, though, the part where you have to read through the legal terms and book an interview with someone who’ll complete your profile and have you sign papers - you hesitate. It’s taken you three hours to spill everything about yourself into an online form that’ll be sent to people you don’t know, for them to review and pair you with someone whom you don’t know. You’ve laid yourself bare here. Somewhere, the person you’ll be paired with has filled out the same form too. 

The thought hits you full force. This is real. If you click submit, then you’ll be matched with someone. A real person. Who’ll be given the power to make you fall in love with them, to break your heart. 

You can’t do it. You can’t go through with it. Minji will understand, won’t she?

If you save your profile now, you can come back to edit it at a later date. You click save and turn off your computer, the dark of your room closing around you.

Junmyeon is wonderful. The kind of boyfriend that everyone dreams about coming home to, settling into a comfortable life with. He’s that kind of person for you, too. Bora is your mutual friend, and when she says a childhood friend of hers recently contacted her and she’d like you to come with her to meet him, you’re not expecting a set-up. You should have, though. Bora knows it’s been over a month since you and Kyungsoo broke up, and you’ve been on two dates since then, neither of which led anywhere. Dates number fourteen and fifteen were both startlingly similar to Kyungsoo in hindsight, but you hadn’t had any of the same chemistry. 

It’s been two weeks since you’ve gone out now. Junmyeon is a refreshing change. In some ways he’s very much like Kyungsoo, too, ways that you can’t help but notice - he’s dependable, hardworking, sweet, considerate, nice to a fault. But he’s different, too, and you find yourself liking that. He’s soft where Kyungsoo was rough, he’s steadfast where Kyungsoo yielded. 

On your third date, you stop comparing him to Kyungsoo. On your fifth, you confess to Minji that you think you might be in love, with the operating word being ‘think’.  There’s still that dark cloud lingering in the back of your mind. After so many failed relationships, failed opportunities, there’s nothing that guarantees this won’t be a failure, too. The words sink down in your gut every time you consider it - you just aren’t made for love. 

Still, Junmyeon is a comfortable presence in your life, and you don’t hate yourself enough to push him away. Not now. You don’t stop to wonder if you’re taking things too fast. He’s nearly four years older than you, but you don’t mind, and he doesn’t either. You spend nearly every night at his apartment instead of yours. You let him take you shopping. You wake up next to him in the mornings, tracing the lines of his lips and nose in the early sunlight as he pulls you closer in his sleep; blush as he kisses the palm of your hand and says, voice husky from sleep, “Good morning, beautiful.” 

It feels like a honeymoon. This is it, you think. He’s the one. Everything is perfect, just the way you always wanted, and you’re finally thinking things might settle down for you. You’ve had fifteen bad endings. You don’t need a sixteenth. You’ve found your happy ever after, and the part of your mind that is whispering to you that this delusion will eventually shatter is pushed down into a box that you quietly pack away and hope you never have to open again.

Junmyeon leaves for a business trip the next weekend, and you come back home. It feels strange - home is with Junmyeon now, with the steady kind of rhythm you both had built over the last month and a half - he never explicitly asked you to move in, it just happened, and neither of you are complaining. Home is waking up to him, eating dinner together when he takes a break from work to spend time with you, and curling up in his lap and talking as he runs your fingers through your hair before bed. 

This is new for you. You’ve never had anything this comfortable, this constant. Junmyeon is everything you could have wanted and more, which is why you can’t escape the feeling that this is too good to be true. 

You pluck up the courage to talk to him about the future one day. You figure that it’s better to ask him about his plans now than after you’re completely headfirst in love with him, too deep to swim out. There’s only one way you can think of to calm your nerves - the moment you’ve both washed your dishes from dinner, you corner him against the fridge and box him in. 

A mischievous look slips onto his face. “Already, Y/N? You couldn’t wait until we went to bed?” 

“No,” you admit, placing an open-mouthed kiss on the side of his neck, coming down to suck at the curve between his throat and shoulder. He shivers, his reactions always satisfying. “I couldn’t.” You pull away abruptly and grab him by the hand, leading him inside. 

In the space after you’ve both finished, laying panting on the sheets as the cool air brushes across your skin, you ask him. He’s turned off the bedside lamp, and you’re comfortably curled up into his chest. His hand is curved over your bare back, and he strokes it up and down as he watches you speak. 

“Junmyeon,” you begin, “do you want…a family someday?” It’s too dark to see his reaction, but you’re already feeling like you’ve crossed a line, so you quickly backtrack. “I mean, not necessarily with me, I know we’ve only been together a few months, but would you ever…have you considered it?” 

He chuckles. “Of course I’ve thought about it. And I’ve thought about a family…with you, too. It’s been long enough that the thought has crossed my mind.” You wait expectantly. “And?”

“Yes, I do,” he says, somewhat wistfully. “Someday. I gave it plenty of thought, and I want to focus on my career for now. I’m still on my way up, and I want to come to a stable place before I make any outside commitments. Besides, you know how busy things get these days.” You can hear the frown in his voice - you know he hates that.

You hum sympathetically. “I wish you didn’t have to spend so much time working,” you murmur into his skin. “But yeah, I understand. And I know you’ll be successful.”

“You’re always so flattering,” he chuckles, and rolls onto his back, pulling you up with him so you can pillow your head on the broad expanse of his chest.

“Because I’m proud of you,” you say. “What about…us, though?”

“Hmm,” he says. “I like how we are right now. We didn’t plan anything out. I like that. I think we should just see how it goes like this.”

You smile, but the fact that that isn’t a promise sits heavy in your stomach. The box in the attic of your head starts to peel open again.

Junmyeon breaks up with you over a phone call. In a way.

Maybe you’re exaggerating. It’s not a breakup - more like a mutual agreement of termination. Junmyeon is too tidy, too sophisticated, for a breakup. Like signing a contract, snapping a stick, but nowhere near as clean. He leaves you with ragged edges and even less hope than you had before you started dating him. 

He gets the offer on your three-month anniversary, during your obligatory fancy dinner, and excuses himself to take the call. When he comes back, he’s elated - it shows on his face. You’ve never seen him this happy. 

You lean forward, over the table, bursting with curiosity. “What is it?”

“I got a promotion,” he says, and grins ear to ear, his eyes turning into shining half-moons. “To regional director. They want me to take over managing the whole branch.”

You gasp, reaching for his hand. “Junmyeon, that’s incredible. I’m..I’m so proud of you.” 

His smile grows broader, if that’s even possible. “I’m honored to hear you to say that about me.” And then his face falls. “But I didn’t mention…the position is for their Tokyo office. I’ll have to move.”

Your heart sinks like an anchor, but you try your hardest to keep the dejection off your face. “That’s okay. I know you’ll be perfectly fine.”

“What about us? I can’t ask you to move with me,” he says, and you hate so much to see that his excitement over the offer is dampened by this. By you. You’ve always known this - that his career comes first - but it hurts just the same, it really does. 

“I can’t go,” you agree softly. You can’t leave your education for him. Tokyo is a whole sea away - even visiting now and then is out of the question. “It’s fine. We’ll figure out the…the long distance thing.”

He stares at you long and hard. You can feel his conflict, almost see the wheels turning in his head. He’s trying, you know, trying to find a way. Then he shakes his head. He can’t meet your eyes now; he thumbs the skin on your wrist as his voice lowers. “I don’t know if we can. The time difference…and I’ll be busy a lot. My workload will be even worse than it is now.” 

You swallow. 

“I can’t do that to you,” he murmurs. “It would be selfish of me to keep you when I know I won’t be able to give you what you deserve.”

You want to offer to try it out for a while, but close your mouth before the words slip out. You know how busy Junmyeon is. He makes time for you now, sure, and you know at what cost he does. You can’t put the extra stress on him of having to find ways to spend time with you while he’s in another country, in a different time zone, with a workload so tough he’ll barely have time for himself.

Nodding quietly, you squeeze his hand. “When do you leave?”

Minji finds you crying over an empty carton of ice cream after you come back from the airport and text her to come over. You’re sure you look pathetic, laid out on the floor, your hair a mess, tears staining your cheeks and your pillow, but you don’t care. Alarmed, she turns on the light and you groan, raising your arm to cover your eyes. “Minji,” you drag out her name. “Turn it off. I’m sensitive.”

She doesn’t. She rolls his eyes as he squats down beside you, plucking the empty carton from your hand and heading over to throw it away. “Stop wallowing in your despair.”

“Just one day,” you plead. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“If by ‘fine’ you mean chasing after the next person who’ll break your heart…”

It might just be because you’re still smarting from Junmyeon leaving, but that cuts a little too deep. “It’s not like I actively seek out people for that purpose.”

“I gave you a solution! You chose not to listen to me!”

“Yes, because I had Junmyeon-”

“And now you don’t! Why are you so scared to take risks, Y/N?” 

You groan and bury your head in your pillow. “Because I’ve taken so many, and all of them end up with me like this! I’m…Just let me be sad for today, okay?”

“That’s what you say every time,” she comments, but her hand rubs comfortingly over your back. 

You must fall asleep, because you wake up in the dead of night with a sticky note stuck to your forehead. Grumbling, you pull it off. 

I had to leave 4 a night out with B but I made you some dinner!! Love, ur BEST FRIEND

P.S.  don’t be an idiot!!! You know what im talking about!!

Minji has indeed left you dinner on the stove, and she’s also surreptitiously left your laptop on the counter with your Project Cupid website open. Another sticky note is stuck to the screen: DO IT!!! 

You let out a long sigh, ignoring the laptop for a moment as you go over to pull a bowl from the cabinet. She’s right; you are unwilling to take risks, but isn’t that what you’ve been doing this whole time? Trying again and again, taking the risk of someone breaking your heart and then dealing with it anyway. How is this any different? You drag a chair over to the counter and sit down, glaring at the logo on the screen as you mull it over.

You can’t say it won’t hurt, because it probably will. The chance of you, with your current track record, finding your dream partner from a random matchmaking service - no, an experiment - and having everything sail smooth from day one is realistically zero. The chance of you finding someone who will truly love you, someone whom you can spend your life - or at least a good chunk of it - with, considering your track record, is realistically zero.

How is this different from you dating sixteen people in the fruitless hope that you’ll find the one?

Then it strikes you, like a blow to the chest, that the reason you don’t want to go through with this is because you believe it might actually work. At that, your brain starts reeling. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting for? 

You stand up, leaving the Project Cupid page open to the submit button and pacing around the kitchen. “I can’t do this sober,” you mutter to yourself, and head over to your wine cupboard. With your head fuzzy, the conundrum you’re facing doesn’t seem so hard. 

Three glasses later, you almost can’t think straight. “Fuck it,” you say, and press submit. 

The email confirmation greets you the next morning, when you wake up with your head pounding and the light from your phone screen threatens to make your skull explode. But you’ve done it. You’ve done it, and you feel like an utter idiot now that the implications have set in, but it’s too late to take it back.

Dear Y/N,

Thank you for your application to Project Cupid! We take our applicants very seriously. A committee of dedicated reviewers will go over your application, evaluate it with very specific, expert-verified criteria, and eventually pair you with someone who we think best matches you in every aspect. To follow up on your application, we’d like you to meet up with an interviewer - attached is the contact information for the interviewer in your area. Please discuss a time and location that works for you so we can go ahead with the matching process.

Here’s to true love, The Project Cupid Team

Your interview is a week and a half later, at a coffee shop that you frequent often. Minji can’t hold in her excitement as she offers to drive you there on her way to Baekhyun’s - you’re trapped in the passenger seat with mortification still bubbling up in your chest. 

“I’m so proud of you, Y/N,” Minji says, and the look on her face is so sappy that you can’t help but smack her arm lightly. 

“This was a complete mistake. I did this in a moment of weakness,” you mumble, fidgeting with the hem of your shirt. It’s just the interviewer you’re meeting - not even your future partner - but you’ve taken the same care in dressing up that you would for an actual date, even going so far as to curl your hair and put on more than just mascara. 

“It’s not a mistake, trust me,” Minji insists. “This will all be worth it, I promise.”

“Well, I’m holding you to that,” you tease. You take a deep breath as you rearrange the strap of your handbag, and Minji brings the car to a stop a block away from the Brim, the coffee shop you’re supposed to meet at. 

“I believe in you!” Minji grins, and you blow her a kiss as you step out and head inside. 

The Brim is mostly empty - just your luck. The few patrons that are here are hunched over laptops or their phones, and Minseok, the barista you’ve become familiar with, isn’t behind the counter today. Your interviewer isn’t here, either. I’m wearing a bright pink shirt and heels, she’d laughed over the phone conversation you had this morning. There’s no way you can miss me.

You pay for your coffee and then settle for the most secluded spot available - a little booth tucked away by the window that is partially hidden from view by a large statement art wall. You’ve only been scrolling through your phone for a few minutes before you hear a familiar voice. You look up and bright pink fills your vision. “Hi, Y/N,” Tiffany beams, and slides into the seat opposite you without any further preamble. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s alright,” you say, voice catching, and you clear your throat as subtly as possible. 

“So, let’s get right to business,” she says, and pulls out a file from her bag. “This is your application, and I’m going to ask you to talk a little more about some of it before we get on to the official interview questions, okay?” 

“Sure.” Your face heats up a little when you think about some of the stuff you had to write on the application. “I can choose not to answer a question if I want, right?” 

She shakes her head vigorously. “Of course you can. You have no obligation to tell us anything you aren’t comfortable talking about.” 

“Right,” you say. “What’s first?”

“How’d it go?” You can hear Minji practically bouncing over the phone. Baekhyun’s laugh is audible behind her. 

“It went pretty well,” you admit. Tiffany was nice, and like she promised, she didn’t pry. She’d listened to you carefully, taking notes occasionally in neat black ink, and interrupted here and there with anecdotes that lightened the mood. “I feel considerably better about this whole mess now.” 

“Did they say when you’ll be paired?” 

“A month from now,” you frown. “And the weddings-” you choke a little on the word “-a couple of weeks after that. I’m not going to go on any dates while I wait. I’ll just enjoy my alone time while I can.” 

Minji laughs. “Guess what this means, Y/N.”

“What?”

“It means I totally win our bet from second year of university about you getting married before me.” 

You whine. “This doesn’t count! It’s not an actual wedding.”

“Yeah, but if - when - this works out and you decide to live happily ever after with whomever they pair you up with…” she trails off. “In any case, you owe me…crap. I don’t even remember what the stakes were.”

“Neither do I,” you confess, laughing. “But if - when - this works out, I’ll definitely take you out for dinner, on me.” 

Minji’s voice softens. “I’m happy to see you finally having some hope again, Y/N.”

“Yeah, well,” you shrug, even though she can’t see you. “Better hoping than dreading, I guess.”

Dear Y/N,

Congratulations!

After considerable thought and thorough deliberation, you’ve been matched! We sincerely hope that our efforts are not in vain, and that this opportunity gives you love and a fulfilling relationship. Your partner is a perfect match in almost every aspect - our experts estimate that your compatibility lies between 80 and 90 percent, one of the highest rates in this round of Project Cupid!

According to the conditions of our experiment, we cannot disclose any details about your partner to you before the fixed date of your ceremony, which will be negotiated with both of you in the coming weeks. At the ceremony, you will get to meet them for the first time: an exciting, magical moment that we hope you’re looking forward to as much as we are! 

Here’s to true love, The Project Cupid Team

“I’m calling to invite you to my wedding,” you laugh over the phone. 

“Has it been decided?” Again, Minji can’t contain her excitement. “I’m going to be right there next to you. Honestly, I’m tearing up just thinking about it. My best friend is getting married. Wow.” 

“Minji,” you pout, but then you’re smiling, her mood contagious. “Anyway, it’s not a proper wedding, they said. It’s just a contract that we sign that binds us together, but we’re not given ‘married’ status on any legal terms. The actual wedding is…we can have one after the experiment period is over, if we decide to stay together.” 

“I’m coming anyway,” Minji says, “and so is Baekhyun, and I am taking you shopping this weekend because you have to make a good impression on your future life partner.”

“He’s going to live with me for six months and see me in old t-shirts and my rat-nest hair anyway,” you say, and speaking the words out loud really hits you like a stone. You’re going to live with a complete stranger - never mind the 80 percent compatibility - for six months. You’re going to try to fall in love with them. They’re going to try and fall in love with you. The next breath you take catches a little in your chest. 

“You okay?” Minji asks, concern evident. 

“I’m good, I’m good,” you say. “Anyway, shopping this weekend?” 

“Or else!”

The Project Cupid office is sleek and futuristic, with glass and steel everything and a stunning view over the expanse of the city. The woman at the front desk leads you to a waiting room, which is far more extravagant than you ever expected, and a few moments later someone comes in with glasses of champagne for you, Minji, and Baekhyun. 

You can’t sit still, and your stomach is in no condition to process alcohol, so you hand your glass to Baekhyun, who takes it gladly. “I don’t know, but I’d never pass up free stuff, especially when it’s champagne this expensive.”

“I don’t really want it,” you say in a small voice, staring at the flecks of gold leaf on the pastries they’ve left in the table in the middle of the room. Minji rubs your back comfortingly. The dress you picked - a classy deep emerald green that falls right above your knees - is suddenly stifling, and all you want is to be out of this office and back home, where you don’t have to worry about getting married - for all intents and purposes - to a complete stranger. 

This is it. This is the big day. Minji clasps your hand in hers. “Everything is going to be just fine,” she murmurs, her voice as comforting as ever. “You’ve got this.” 

Your stomach is still churning when a knock sounds on the door and Tiffany pushes her head in, a broad smile on her face. “Morning, Y/N! We’re all ready for you, so if you are, we can have you meet your partner.”

“Oh god,” you say, but it comes out as an unintelligible groan. Baekhyun snorts, and Minji kicks him lightly. “I mean, yeah, I’m fine, I’m great. Let’s go.” You stand up, too suddenly, and Minji has to wrap her arm around you to steady you. 

Tiffany gives you an encouraging smile, and - this is it. This is what you’ve been waiting this whole time for. 

The hallway down to the signing office feels far more constricting than it really is. You have your arms crossed tight over your chest, and you stumble a little in the heels Minji picked out for you. The walk down seems like a million miles, but then it’s over, and you’re at the door of the signing office. 

“After you,” Tiffany says, and with a deep breath, you push inside. 

You can see the back of his head. His hair is jet black and falls with that perfect mix of casual and perfect around his face. He’s wearing a forest green suit. We’re matching, observes the part of your brain that’s still functioning. He’s sitting in front of the desk, but you can see that he’s tall. Pretty tall. Fit. Well-groomed. 

You feel like you might fall over, and then the woman behind the desk, facing you, looks up at you with a smile. “You’re here,” she says, and the man - your partner - turns around. 

And you think you might be sick, because you know him. His face is achingly familiar, every slope and angle of it engraved in your mind. The tilt of his brows, the shape of his lips. The ghost of what he looks like when he smiles. 

He stands up. He is very tall, and his face shadows when he looks at you - recognition flashing for a moment in his eyes. Yet he doesn’t say anything. The woman gives you an encouraging nod, and he holds out his hand for you to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m your partner, Oh Sehun.” 

“Likewise,” you choke out. “Y/N Y/L/N.” His voice is as smooth, as warm as you remember it, before - 

“You look wonderful together,” Tiffany beams, and you feel like you’re about to collapse any moment now. Deep breaths, you tell yourself, as she guides you over to sit in front of the desk. Next to him. Next to Oh Sehun. The man who promised you, almost ten years ago, that you would never meet again. 

Your hands are shaking when you sign the contract. You don’t know what you’re doing - your brain is on autopilot. It’s only when you step out of the room ten nerve-wracking minutes later that you remember you had the right to refuse the contract. That you had one last chance to withdraw from the program, no hard feelings intended, but by now it’s too late. 

The minute you burst back into the waiting room, Minji takes in the look of utter panic on your face and hurries toward you. “What’s wrong? Y/N, what happened?”

You fall into her. “Minji, it’s him,” you sob, the flood of memories hitting you again, all at once. “It’s him. My partner is Oh Sehun.”

[kathyprior4200]

Dragon Ball Characters as Teachers / An In Depth Look at the 12 Universes

Goku: Teaches martial arts and provides free lunches for his students every day.

 Vegeta: Etiquette for addressing royalty.

 Gohan: Math, martial arts, and Saiyan culture. Wrote a book in a later age.

 Trunks: Teaches sword fighting, justice studies and the pros and cons of time travel.

Tien: Teaches the New Crane School with their martial arts styles

 Krillin: Teaches the New Turtle School with their martial arts styles

 Frieza: Monarchy and world conquering studies.

 Hit: History of assassins and time breakers

 Ginyu Force: Dance classes and learning poses. Also offers gymnastics and yoga.

 Piccolo: Spiritual studies, meditation, and perseverance.

 Bulma: Engineering, science, and the autonomy of capsules

 Chi-Chi: Home Economics, team teaches with Videl

  Master Roshi: Pornography studies, Kamehameha technique and his own version of anatomy

 Broly: Fighting techniques, the geography and life on Vampa…KILL KAKAROT!...that was his other older self, we’re not doing that…

 Caulifla and Kale: Fusion techniques and women in Saiyan history

 Cabba: Universe 6 history and the dynamics of a student/teacher relationship

 Cell: How to absorb others and become the perfect being. Also offers a course on bug and reptile studies.

 Majin Buu team teaches with Hercule: Wrestling techniques, how to become a champion, and how to enjoy the most candy. Bring pets and chocolate for extra credit.

 Android 21: Counseling and addiction course

 Beerus and Whis: A divine cooking course, learn how to make your favorite dishes from around the world. All students are required to bring pudding and meals to professor Beerus, unless they want the Earth to be destroyed.

 Jaco: Police duties and the history of the Galactic Patrol

 Zamasu and Goku Black: religious studies and the ugliness of humanity

 Jiren and Toppo: Fighting for justice across the realms. Strength is absolute.

 Baby: Tuffle technology and the science of possession

Turles and Bojack: How to be space pirates and colonize other worlds. Learn about the fruits from the Tree of Might and learn how to grow your own.

 Zeno Destruction Group: Team teaching, featuring Hearts as the head teacher. Teaches the tyranny of oppressive forces (Zeno) and how to make the world fit your own standards.

 Fu: Traveling to the past and future to gather energy. How to bring warriors together to fit your purposes. Have warriors fight each other and learn about science at the same time.

 Dabura: Demonology studies and the world of the Demons. Extra article: “My surprisingly good life in heaven”

 Pilaf: Rule the universe, gain wealth, and order your lackeys around! All the steps you need to make the universe yours!

 Kami and Dende: Namekian studies and the perils of releasing your evil self

King Piccolo: Rule setting, releasing criminals and living the good life. Learn about Namekian reproduction and how handy minions can be.

 Raditz: Saiyan history and world colonization.

 Yamcha: Desert living, thievery, and baseball studies. Win a baseball game for extra credit. Learn the Wolf Fang Fist and how to survive  when fighting Saibamen.

 Korin: Grow your own Senzu beans

 Shenron and Porunga: History of the Dragon Balls and why one should always be careful what they wish for

 Android 17: Environmental studies and how to be a park ranger

Android 18: Android physiology and how to raise a strong child

   U1 1st

U12 2nd

U5 3rd

U8 4th

U11 5th

U2 6th

U3 7th

U10 8th

U4 9th

U7 10th

U6 11th

U9 12th

  NEW! Travel abroad to other universes and learn their values.

 Universe 1: “We are one.”

With the symbol of the wise owl, this universe has the highest mortal level (harmony) of all the universes. Meet Iwan, the god of Destruction, Awamo the Angel and Anat, the Supreme Kai. Our universe has a vast collection of books and tablets filled with knowledge from ancient to modern times. Learn the secrets of true harmony and the ways to hinder violence and bias. Our Universe is closest to the divine, so you may get a chance to interact with the Grand Priest and even Zeno-sama. Our Supreme Kai/Core Persons are the most organized in all the universes.

 Universe 2: “Love is always in the air!”

The symbol of this universe is the eye of Horus, representing our love for Egyptian mythology as well as harmony. Meet the beautiful Goddess of Destruction Jerez and her angel attendant Sour and the Supreme Kai, Pell. Learn about our lovely warriors of our universe, featuring our trio of magical girls and guys. Ribranne explains the art of her transformations and her fellow warriors have graciously agreed to perform dances for tours! If you ever want to find true love, need relationship advice, or are plain lonely, our people will give you all the support you need. (Also, don’t miss our Valentine’s Day extravaganza and Sailor Moon movie night.)

 Universe 3: “Fix it if it’s broken; if not, improve it!”

Welcome to the most technologically advanced universe in the galaxy. Mule, the God of Destruction explains the workings of his robotic suit. Camparri is the angel and the Supreme Kai is Ka. Meet Castopersa, a member of our police force and a participant in the Tournament of Power. We make all sorts of efficient gadgets that would leave the technology-oriented Tuffles speechless! Feel free to sign up for our science studies program…engineers are always in high demand.

 Universe 4: “Conspiracies and secrets galore…hide them no more…in Universe 4!”

Our people will do anything to emerge victorious, consequences need not apply. Quitela is our God of Destruction, Cognac our Angel, and Kuru our Supreme Kai. Join us for an exclusive interview with our warriors, including the seductive Caway, Damon, our shrinking member, Gamisaras who can turn invisible, and many more. Have something to sell on the Black Market? Are you secretly plotting to influence the world? We got you covered, 100% guaranteed. Just come on over to our Universe and see the amazing things we have to offer!

 Universe 5: “Balance is key.”

Our Universe represents Ying and Yang at its finest. As a Universe with one of the highest mortal levels, we are committed to being the best we can be. Arak is our God of Destruction, interests include peaceful meditation. Cukatail is our Angel and Ogma is our Supreme Kai.

 Universe 6: “Giving up is never an option.”

Champa is our God of Destruction, Vados is our Angel, and Fuwa is our Supreme Kai. In our Universe, you’ll get to experience an alternate world where the Saiyans become protectors and Planet Salada still survives. You may get a chance to encounter His Majesty King Salada (who was better than King Vegeta ever was). Meet our Saiyan fighters Cabba, Caulifla and Kale as they share their stories from Salada. Hit is our legendary time breaker and assassin. Frost can be a cheater, but he’s still a great fighter. We also have robot fighters, but be sure to be nice.

Update: Our Earth has been restored thanks to the God of Universe 7. Now let’s hope that the mortals there don’t get into fights again.

 Universe 7: “This land was made for you and me.”

Beerus is our God of Destruction, Whis is our Angel and Shin is our Supreme Kai. Here is where the events of Dragon Ball Z and Super took place. Also, we are the Universe that won the Tournament of Power due to our teamwork and determination. Meet Goku, Vegeta, Androids 17 and 18, Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo, and many other great individuals. (But don’t meet Frieza, he’s evil).

  Universe 8: “Dignity in Diligence.”

Work hard, play hard. No other Universe puts in more effort than ours! Liqueur is our fox God of Destruction, Korn is our Angel and Iru, our Supreme Kai.

 Universe 9: “Our bark is worse than our bite!”

Our Universe may be barren, but that doesn’t stop us from surviving! Sidra is our God of Destruction, Mojito is our Angel and Ro is our Supreme Kai. Bergamo, Basil, and Lavender are three warrior wolves and our finest fighters. Weakness is not tolerated here, so survival of the fittest does apply. Here we forge brotherly bonds to help us survive the harsh and violent climate we live in.

 Universe 10: “Muscle is Might!”

Come visit our marvelous Universe and meet the strongest fighters in all the realms. Rumush is our pink elephant God of Destruction, Kusu is our Angel and Gowasu is our Supreme Kai. (Be sure to bring him tea if you see him. And don’t mention the traitor Zamasu). If you think you have what it takes, join our boot camp and see what our fighters face each day.

 Universe 11: “Strength is absolute, but Justice is for all.”

Justice is more than just a concept. Here in Universe 11, we believe that everyone deserves equal treatment…and the proper punishment when necessary. Vermond is our clown God of Destruction (who has his own group of harem woman), Marcarita is our Angel, and Cae is our Supreme Kai. Come join us for an exclusive interview with the Pride Troopers and the strongest mortal in the world: Jiren!

   Universe 12: “Be the Ultimate Being.”

Meet Giin, our aquatic God of Destruction, but be sure to treat him with respect. Martinu is our Angel and Ag is our Supreme Kai. Learn about a mortal who used a time machine from one of our civilizations. Our Universe has the second highest mortal rating…and you won’t be disappointed. Travel and stay in our futuristic Atlantis city, visit our oceans and learn aquatic techniques to cleanse your mind, body, and soul. If Giin decides to be ruthless and conquer other worlds, don’t take it personally.

[flowersdelivering-blog]

Five Secrets You Will Not Want To Know About Flowers Delivering

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[aion-rsa]

How the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Trailer Reimagines the Original Games

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Say what you will about the eventual quality of the movie, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is at least aiming for a more accurate adaptation of the original PlayStation games. Indeed, the veil of mystery surrounding the new Resident Evil movie reboot that’s out next month has been lifted, just a bit, with the arrival of the first trailer, which gives us a look at a few familiar faces and story beats survival horror gamers will undoubtedly recognize.

One thing’s for sure as we watch Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia), and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper) shooting their way through the zombie hordes plaguing their idyllic midwestern city: director Johannes Roberts has left the Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich era behind. Far from the CGI-heavy, action extravaganzas (with emphasis on EXTRA) of the Anderson era, Welcome to Raccoon City is teasing something a bit more horror-focused, undoubtedly all leading to an explosive third act as is the tradition with the games as well.

Along the way, we get more accurate big-screen versions of the series’ main characters, with STARS agents, RPD officers, and one very determined muckraker (looking at you, Claire) running around the trailer, and they’re complemented perfectly by the costume design. The outfits worn by Amell’s Chris, Scodelario’s Claire, and Jogia’s Leon S. Kennedy look especially faithful to the original games.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

But the biggest attention-grabber in the trailer is undoubtedly the claustrophobic scenes inside the mansion, the setting of the 1996 PlayStation classic. While Anderson’s first Resident Evil movie alluded to a haunted house in the outskirts of a soon to be doomed city, it wasn’t interested in recreating the feeling of slowly making your way through an old, creaky labyrinth full of hungry zombies. Instead, it quickly moved the action to Umbrella’s top-secret underground lab, with Alice (Jovovich) tumbling down the rabbit hole along with a special ops task force that died almost immediately upon entering the Red Queen’s domain.

In Welcome to Raccoon City, Roberts calls back to the haunted house-inspired scenes of 1996, as we watch Chris and Jill explore the mansion, opening doors to rooms full of horrors. At one point, we even watch the STARS team encounter likely the first zombie in the movie much in the same way the characters did in the video game. The flesh-eating ghoul slowly turns his head towards Chris and Jill as they enter one of the mansion’s dark rooms. “What the –” is all Chris can say before the bullets start flying in the rest of the trailer.

Of course, the inclusion of Claire and Leon means that this reboot isn’t just influenced by the first game but also its sequel, which sees the duo traverse a zombie-infested RPD police station. In the trailer, we watch as Leon takes care of zombies reaching out to him from a jail cell, with the undead eventually breaking through the station’s gates and crashing through windows. It’ll be interesting to see how the mansion and police station play out in parallel to each other. In the games, Claire and Leon arrive at the police station after the events in the mansion lead to a zombie outbreak in the city.

There is one big Resident Evil 2 character missing from the trailer, though: cunning super spy Ada Wong, who is played by Lily Gao in the reboot. It remains to be seen just how big a role she’ll play in the movie, or if her appearance is meant to set up future international adventures for Leon and Claire.

In the meantime, we’re also getting the infamous zombie dogs, a first look at the reboot’s version of a Licker, and confirmation that we’ll get to see William Birkin’s disgusting transformation into the eye-ball-ridden monstrosity from Resident Evil 2. All of which is to say that fans of the first two PlayStation games should at least catch some fun easter eggs in this movie. This certainly looks more faithful to the games than even horror legend George A. Romero could have envisioned.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City opens in theaters on Nov. 24.

The post How the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Trailer Reimagines the Original Games appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3oDzWxG

[agent-shield-blog]

I had the Time of my Life

Nothing beats a night in with Bucky Barnes Pairing: Reader X Bucky Warnings: None

You could always appreciate a good night out on the town. Drinks and dancing, or dinner and a walk around the city. But nothing could ever beat a night in with Bucky.

After last years Valentine's Day extravaganza, You two had decided to keep Valentine's Day simple this year.

Your day started off great, having woken up to a bouquet of beautiful red roses resting in a clear vase next to your bedside. After a stressful mission, because the day of love can not even sway villains, you had returned covered in sweat and dirt to find a note card placed on your bathroom counter. You opened up the card and smiled at the familiar handwriting.

Evening doll. I'll let you catch a quick shower and change into the surprise on your bed. Meet me in the screening room when you're ready. -Bucky

 You grinned at the card before setting it down so you could get a shower.

Once in your robe, you exited the bathroom and noticed a box that wasn't there before. You carefully brought the top off the box and began to giggle once you saw what was inside. You grabbed the pajama set out of the box and smoothed it out across your bed. It had cartoon pictures of Bucky's face patterned all throughout the clothing. You were quick to change and headed downstairs to the screening room. You lightly knocked before opening the door. Bucky smiled at you as you walked in.

"You look great in those pj's doll." You smiled as you walked up to him giving him a quick peck on the lips before taking a step back to admire his pajamas. Your face was also in cartoon form was stitched into his pajamas.

Bucky led you to a table close up to the screen where a plate of pasta was waiting. He brought back the chair for you to sit, and gently pushed you in. He grabbed the remote to the screen and pressed play before taking a seat next to you. Your eyes lit up when dirty dancing flashed across the screen. You loved the movie so much, but it wasn't really Bucky's favorite, so you didn't typically pick that film to watch with each other.

Once finished with your meal Buck quickly and quietly removed the plates and pushed the table to the side, so you two could sit in the very expensive lounging chairs Tony had insisted on getting.

Bucky stretched his arm out and placed it on top of your shoulders. You were quick to adjust and leaned into his side, putting your head lightly on his upper chest area. You placed your ear close to his heart, listening to the smooth, steady beat.

Your eyes grew heavy throughout the film, but you managed to keep them awake, as you didn't want to fall asleep on Bucky for the tenth billion time.

Just as you thought you were losing the battle to sleep, your favorite part came on. You sat up from your position, and your eyes became fixated on the screen. You watched as Baby ran towards Johhny, and watched in awe as he perfectly lifted her up into the air. You sighed in content at the splendor of choreography. Bucky looked down at you and smiled.

"Want to give it a go?" Your eyes shot up to Bucky as you began to grin.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure we can do it?"

"I wouldn't offer if I didn't think we couldn't do it. Come on." Bucky paused the movie a rewound it back to before the infamous move. He gently grabbed your hand and lifted you up off your spot. You made your way to the front where there was extra room to attempt the move. You stood in places as Bucky situated himself in position. He pressed the play button, and the scene began to start once again. You shook your body getting rid of the nerves, and then just as Baby started to run you did as well. You were getting closer and closer until Bucky gently grabbed you and brought you into the air. You matched in perfect harmony with the screen behind you. Bucky held you up as you laughed in excitement. Slowly he brought you down sliding you just barely against his body. He snickered as you gently pushed the hair back away from your face.

"What I tell you'll doll? I knew we could do it." You gently pressed into his body as he held you close. You ignored the movie in the background as you stood to hold each other.

"You know if you can do that I bet you would be great at learning the whole dance." Bucky drew back from your embrace and smiled.

"Not to break the magic doll but it took me like a month to get that move down." You smiled as you gazed into Bucky's eyes.

"So who played me in this practice scenario?"

"Well I asked Nat and Wanda, but they weren't really up to falling on the ground..."

"You had Peter help you, didn't you."

"Maybe."

[deehollowaywrites]

12 days of girlfriends

@ignitesthestars said something very nice (which I needed to hear because honestly: not having a great day), so below the cut she and you all can find some OG horse girlfriends from the Patreon’s December rewards, since I oddly enough don’t have anything Valentine-themed.

1

The camera jogs up and down with Adair’s stride. She grins into her phone, tilts the screen now and then to show me the sidewalk piled with snow and the line of bare trees outside the Carnegie building. She could walk all over Lexington with me and it wouldn’t be enough. Her breath forms a cloud, lips just parted. In the dark of her neighborhood street she’s all bright eyes, smiling teeth. Starry white flakes land on her hair, and I blink, hard. She looks like home.

2

“What are you wearing?” Felix coos. “My weather app said it was like barely twenty degrees last night.”

I have to laugh at that. “You’re the one in Miami, babe, you should be telling me all about your utter lack of coverage.”

“Yeah, but that turtleneck you have. The blue one.” She sounds hungry, an edge in her voice that warms my skin even over the phone. “God, you’re such a sweater girl.”

I smooth my hands down my pullover, twitching it off one shoulder to let the lacy strap of my bra peek out. “A picture’s worth a thousand words. Hang on.”

3

Can’t believe you discovered ARTISANAL HOT CHOCOLATE FLIGHTS you hipster fucks, I comment on Phil’s newest Instagram post. It’s such a familiar photo it almost hurts--three faces and mine missing, Adair and Phil with Eddy in between them, beaming over their drinks. They’ve even got on ugly sweaters, Eddy’s featuring a cat wearing a Santa hat and Phil’s Chanukah-themed, Adair’s red plaid and spiked with gold pyramid studs.

Eddy’s response appears almost instantly: los celos son feos, nena and then Adair’s: I’ll take you when you get back--bring a flask to spike things ;)

That’s a good plan, I suppose. I sure could wish I were there right now, ready and willing to lick whipped cream off Adair’s lips.

4

“The guys made me take them Christmas shopping for their girlfriends,” Felix says, and stands up from her desk. The sweater she’s wearing, a chunky crochet in forest-green, looks demure from the front--and then she turns to show off the back, a deep V tied with a bow. The tails of the bow flop against her waist as she bends, just enough to let me see she’s wearing the sweater and her panties and that’s about it. A smirk appears over her shoulder. “Want to unwrap this present?”

5

There’s a bright red envelope in the mail slot at my sublet, like an exclamation point in the middle of takeout menus and Scientology pamphlets. The lipstick print on the card inside just about matches, centered below Adair’s neat handwriting in glittery gold ink. The message pricks at my eyes. She always knows exactly how much to say. I don’t press my own lips to the paper, but it’s a close call.

6

Leave it to Felix to find an off-brand Snapchat clone featuring X-rated filters. I stare at the photo she’s sent, her skin Miami-tan and her hair warm in the filter’s reddish tint, cartoonish sprigs of holly the only thing between her nipples and my hungry gaze. There’s no accompanying text, but then there doesn’t need to be; the shot is enough to keep me warm tonight, no extra quilt and no commentary required.

7

We’d agreed to send a few little things in the mail, and do big presents when I get home to Lexington. I go to Sephora, figuring I can pick up some new lipstick for Adair, but even the idea of stocking stuffers is distracting. All it makes me think of is her legs in tights, or better yet her legs in thigh-high socks...maybe her legs in both and not much else, maybe snowflake-print tights or socks with little velvet bows on the backs--

I leave Sephora in a hurry, empty-handed.

8

I text Felix a picture of the Christmas tree in our front window on the night we watch Love Actually and finish decorating, half of it decked out in Kelly’s kitsch extravaganza--glass pickle ornaments and Bettie Boop dressed as Mrs. Claus and the Christmas Story house--and half of it my offerings of white lights, silver balls, and rustic wooden stars. It’s my first Christmas with Felix and it kills me a little that we didn’t do this together, the tree and the hanging of the stockings, the shopping where you try to hide what you’re buying the other person, the first snowfall.

Her reply is succinct and pure Felix: nice tree but I’d rather climb you #4days

9

“I’m watching it right now,” I tell Eddy as he launches into another fawning overview of the video currently circulating Facebook. When it loads, I find out he hasn’t been exaggerating: there’s a whole choir of robed ladies belting, but Adair’s voice is easy to pick out. She’s in the back row, taller than nearly everyone else, but her smile hits me like I’m in the room. I don’t even recognize the hymn they’re singing--something about Judea’s plain--and I don’t care. She could be singing in Farsi and it’d still be the best thing I ever heard.

“Wow,” I say at last. “I think I just got religion.”

10

I take about fifteen selfies before my cat gets bored and retreats into the kitchen to paw at his bowl. None of them look right--none of them capture what I’m trying to convey: I miss her, I love her, I can’t wait to drive to the airport tomorrow at almost 11PM to pick her up, I’m still the hottest thing she’s ever seen even though she’s been riding Gulfstream’s December meeting with reams of Miami supermodels within easy hollering distance.

I pat my cheeks and adjust the hem of my sweater and try again, turning so that the lights of the tree reflect on my face. When I look at the picture I realize the most noticeable sparkle isn’t the candles on our living room windowsill or the sequins on my sweater’s collar, but the tears in my eyes.

11

“I’m in Charlotte,” Felix says, voice muffled. It’s not just the background noise, droning lectures on the airport intercom and people’s half-caught conversations; she sounds like she’s chewing. “Flight’s delayed, but I think that’s on Lexington’s end.”

“Lots of snow to welcome you home,” I say, and try to ignore my nerves over her plane trying to land in icy Blue Grass, flying through the snowstorm currently hovering on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. “What are you eating? Sounds delicious.”

“Those gingerbread jockeys you sent.” She swallows. “Thanks for decorating the one in Three Creeks icing, I think me eating it made Marty lose on Wednesday.” A giggle, nearly lost in the blare of a kid crying somewhere near her. “So what else you got in your cookie jar?”

12

“Remind me how many doorways are in your apartment,” I murmur, my lips at the base of Adair’s throat. We’re standing in her front hall, have been for at least five minutes, a little cluster of mistletoe and red ribbon and golden bells glinting above her head. She’s warm despite the temperature outside, the skin of her waist smooth where my fingers edge up her sweater.

“Front door, kitchen, two bathrooms, two bedrooms,” she says, and lifts me up. Her arms curl beneath me, brace my back against the wall. “There’s mistletoe in every single one, and one undisclosed location I encourage you to discover.”

Her dedication to the holiday aesthetic is truly inspiring.

[upsidesdown]

MY CHILDREN MILEVEN

who sings badly to make the other laugh?ok but imagine el and mike are doing their homework together and el is having trouble with some of it and is getting a lil frustrated. mike notices the adorable crinkle on her forehead and the frown she’s making because ever since he’s gotten her back he can’t help himself, he’s constantly looking at her and memorizing every detail of her face. with this in mind, he can tell right away that she’s upset and immediately belts out the chorus to karma chameleon. el giggles at how ridiculous he sounds, which is a music of its own kind to mike’s ears.

who gets the other’s favorite food/dessert if they’re having a bad day?y’all already know mike is on the case,, all eleven has to do is look at him with the slightest of pouts and this boy will have already made her a triple-decker eggo extravaganza. no questions asked.

who’s better at puppy-dog eyes?michael wheeler cannot handle the puppy-dog eyes el can bring to the table. this is a fact. non-negotiable. it drives dustin pretty crazy, he just can’t believe that el can hold his limited edition star wars figurine while he’s not allowed within five feet of it. unbelievable.

who tries to adopt any animal they find?eleven! she wants all the animals to have a home, and mike’s having one heck of a time trying to explain to her that while they all should have a home, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be in his basement. 

who takes flowers from someone else’s yard to put in the others hair?mike had to stay home sick and was pretty miserable about it, i mean, it was the day that mr. clarke was going to show them how to work the new gadgets the av club just got. el knew how much he was looking forward to it, and on her way home she spotted some daisies that she thought would look just perfect in mike’s hair. she quickly picked them, then made her way over to the wheeler house to do some serious cheering up. after she had finished placing the flowers she finally let mike see what she was up to. as mike was admiring her handiwork in a mirror, she was doing the same. the daisies looked right at home amongst his slight curls which were brought out by the humidity. “pretty,” she said. a soft blush creeped onto his cheeks.

who goes all out for holidays?mike knows that eleven’s never really celebrated holidays, which means that from here on out every holiday has to be extra special to make up for the one’s she’s missed! you best believe that whether its halloween, christmas, valentine’s day, you name it, their fort in mike’s basement will be decked out in festive decorations. of course mike will talk hopper into going all out at their house too, and will most definitely be there to help them decorate their christmas tree.

who turns cleaning the house into a dance party?ever since cleaning up the cabin with hopper, el’s always been keen on doing her daily chores to music. when mike’s basement undergoes a particularly lengthy campaign, we’re talking 3 days long including 2 sleepovers, karen insists that mike fixes the place up. el doesn’t want mike to have to do it all by himself, so she offers to help out resulting in many impromptu dance parties. by the end of it the basement looked good as new. 

[autumn2007-blog]

Avon Party Tips

Avon Party Tips

https://ift.tt/2QfXreq

New Avon Party Tips

Looking into new Avon party tips can spark new inspirations to have an old fashion party or new ideas for online busy moms. We will look into more ideas that can help make Avon Party’s more productive.

Avon Party Tips for Theme Ideas Be sure to be aware of the time of year and the different themes you can use for your Avon party. Here are some Avon party theme ideas to get you started:

Christmas Party

Flip-Flop Party

Best Friends Pamper Each Other

Sisters Get together

Mothers and Daughters

Pajama Party

Facial and Make Over

Valentines Party

Hawaiian Luau

Fall Extravaganza

Winter Extravaganza

Summer Savings

Spring Into a New You

Save with St. Patrick

Red, White and Blue Sale

Show your Independence with Savings from Avon

Santa’s Helpers

Avon Party Tips Ideas You can have a party in almost any location, whether it be at home, online or a business. The possiblities are endless when it comes to Avon parties.

When you have your party in person, here are some ideas to take care of your customers:

1. Avon Deals

Make your event real sweet with a discount offer of 10% for every order placed at the party.

2. Goodie Bags

You can find cheap goodie bags, Avon provides for representatives or small, cellophane bags found at the dollar store. Fill them with a brochure, samples, mini lotion and a few pieces of candy. They would equal out to be a dollar to include the brochure and the mini.

3. Gift Baskets.

Local businesses where there are men or women that do not have time to shop will appreciate the special touch you can make for them. Think of going to your local car shop, tire dealers, car dealers, and make gift baskets for them. Have flyers, jewelry, and any pre-made baskets that can be customized and have on hand. Adding some candy according to the season always helps make it a little more sweet!

4. Gift Certificates.

Perfect for those that just simply can’t decide on how to purchase for other people make a perfect gift. This allows their friend to decide exactly what they want as well.

5. Raffle

Offer customers a chance to enter a raffle for a gift. This can either be with a price point of .25 and up to $5 or more. Also offer an entry for every order they place as well. Make a nice basket or use one of Avon’s featured items. Give them a chance for an extra entry for new customer that places a $15 order or more. Extra chances for referrals too. The ideas are endless.

6. Extravaganza

Trying to get rid of a few items? Have a large sale of adding a sticker for each item and allow customers to add an item to their order. Or make it a surprize gift. Adding the word extravaganza will make it exciting and you add the rules. I like the idea of for an extra $5, you can pick an item from the extravaganza basket. Find creative ways to get rid of those few items people changed their mind on.

7. Plan for the future

Give your customers a reason to come back for more! Print coupons for a free shower gel with next order, surprise gift with order, or anything you can be creative with to keep customers coming back.

The Avon party tips are endless when planning and creating a fun party for all.

With online Avon party’s, you can still share with friends, that when they register on the site, they can get a free gift. This can be as small as a lip balm to mini lotion. This allows them to get their books in the mail, and go ahead and puts them in the routine to order online.

Having a live online Avon party is fun too. Use free services like anymeeting.com or any webinar service to connect people to attend your show live. This will help them walk through the website, and view where to find their favorite items. Also, how to find the latest deals.

There are fun games you can still play with online parties as well as offline. Keep it engaging and informative to help your customer.

Be sure to come participate in an Avon Party now! Just contact Alecia. Register on the site HERE and set up your free gifts too. Check out more online marketing training from Alecia Stringer with more Avon party tips.

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