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dekusleftsock · 10 months ago

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This is your hazbin hotel warning so sorry 🫶🫶🫶

OKAY SO, a thing I haven’t seen this fandom consider is that Alastor doesn’t deal in souls. Or, not often at least.

If there has I’d honestly like to see the posts bc this is a thought I’ve seen basically just me and my sister talk about. He doesn’t care—I’d even argue he thinks he’s too good to do so, thinks it’s too easy.

There’s a couple reasons I believe this, one of which being his backstory arriving in hell. Let it be known, the reason all of hell was impressed by his takeover as the radio demon was solely because he does not own any industry. He doesn’t have some company he’s been building for several decades. He didn’t join in with other overlords for shared power. He arrived in hell, and disrupted the power structure of overlords, and sinners. (We’ll get back to this later)

And the reason all of these overlords own major industries, famous for their insane production value and craft, is because the way that overlords gain power is through souls. Employment therefore being THROUGH these contracts (I’m going to refer to deals having to do with souls as contracts from now on, just to make a distinction). This is why Angel is owned by Valentino as a pornstar. It’s why Vox can just “call up the lowest earners this month” for Valentino to shoot for sport. It’s why Velvette can call her models hideous and let Valentino tear apart her best model. None of these souls, these employees, have any say in what or when or who their employers say they have to do. They simply do not have the autonomy to do so.

Now this calls in the question then, how did Alastor gain his overlord powers? If he owns souls, they are either ones he was given or earned from other overlords (ex, Alastor wins all of husker’s souls in a game of poker, leaving him powerless, and making his deal in the first place), or they were given to him by an overlord themself. Alastor CAN make souls stay at the hotel, but presumably, it’s not because he owns them.

If Alastor owned any other souls than Nifty and Husk’s, they would already be working at the hotel. We get back to that employment dynamic, contracts are means of living. None of these sinners had a choice because sinners have to make contracts to live.

Now, okay, we’ve established why Alastor’s overlord status is confusing and honestly makes no sense, why overlords are even overlords in the first place, the class metaphor and dynamic of the whole situation, AND why we know Alastor doesn’t own that many souls.

Now, I present you this: Alastor does not want Charlie’s soul. Alastor, wants to be rid of the overlord class completely.

LET ME PREFACE THIS BY SAYING: I KNOW The current ideas in the fandom of Alastor are that he wants more power. But, to be honest, the last scene with his character feels disingenuous to this idea.

Clearly, he’s in a deal with someone else. Clearly, this system has affected him too. Clearly, he just wants an out in the first place.

So, let’s go back to when Alastor first arrives in hell. Mimzy narrates how people dismissed him. How he wasn’t taken seriously. And then, proceeds to imply that targeting overlords for his radio show was to show said strength. Because Alastor was not someone to be dismissed.

And this characterization furthers in the episode itself: Alastor immediately has some beef with Lucifer because he’s a far more powerful being who wanted to dismiss his presence in the first place, preferring his daughter. Where they then have a pissing contest musical number, and Alastor generally dislikes him afterwords. My man even wipes his hand on his shirt after shaking his staff.

Not only that, but when Husk even IMPLIES that he’s not strong enough to handle whatever Mimzy has gotten herself into this time, that he’s still someone on a leash, he rampages on a killing spree to prove that he’s “still the baddass radio demon”.

This isn’t even mentioning when Carmilla said she wasn’t curious as to why he was gone. He needs to be important, to be noticed.

I understand that Alastor is genuinely someone who must prove themself and show their strength. It’s probably why he became a serial killer in the first place.

However, I think there’s a deeper intention with solely targeting overlords—one of his only contracts is with Husker, an ex overlord. The question would also be, why would he not put husk in his radio show as well?

Clearly, based on the fact that he warns him that Mimzy is just using him, that she’s a fake friend, they at the very least were amicable with each other. At some point. Maybe even still are. They STILL banter. And this isn’t to say it’s some weird “I’m in love with my kidnapper uwu” situation, this happened well before they were in a contract together in the first place.

Not only that, but Husker earned his souls, and therefore his power and overlord status, through gambling. He didn’t have some big scary industry, he wasn’t trapping people in these forever deals because they had no choice, he gained these through the unethical means of others. Maybe… Alastor believed that the ways in which he dealt souls, were different.

I can’t help but think that the company entirely surrounding taking away consent is the ONE COMPANY/THREE OVERLORDS that Alastor simply does not fuck with.

Not only that, but the only other overlord he’s friendly with is one that… just genuinely helps the people she employs? Just give them advice? Makes it THEIR CHOICE to march with someone else into battle? I love Rosie.

This isn’t to say Alastor is some saint that cares super oober deeply about consent. He doesn’t. If he did he wouldn’t be associating with overlords in the first place. He wouldn’t be taking advantage of people in such lowly positions.

All of this is to build the argument that Alastor does not own souls, nor associate with people who own them in irresponsible or unnecessarily cruel ways.

And, to further this point, Alastor most likely thinks it’s stupid in the first place.

In the pilot (which I understand isn’t COMPLETELY canon but it’s still Alastor’s character so. Whatever) Alastor almost immediately tries to jump Charlie with a deal. Work at the hotel, in exchange…?

But notice that this does not include ownership of her soul. At all.

In episode 7 before Charlie makes her deal, she asks, “You want…my soul?” And while he has this weird radio-y affect that goes all over the place while he says “your soul”, he also immediately replies in the most babying voice ever “Heavens no!” Like the very idea of needing her soul was silly. Ridiculous. Idiotic.

And, not only this, but when Vaggie bursts in to try and “save” her, he also rolls his eyes as he says “oh relax, she still owns her soul.” Again, babying. Infantilizing. Ridiculous.

It, again, feels like he doesn’t take the concept seriously. Like he thinks they’re almost too easy. To me, it’s clear he never wanted her soul. He’s always been far more interested in what Charlie can do for him, and what she can do with her dream.

Owning Charlie’s soul would simply give power over her, and her alone. Even in the interpretation that he “wants more power” she’s still just one person, one soul, one hell born. It’s so small inmemorable in the grand scheme of things. If he really wanted power through means of souls, he would fight the upward battle of capitalist destruction that is the overlord monetary system.

SO THIS IS ALL OVER THE PLACE, AND I ALSO WANTED TO WRAP THIS UP WITH ALASTOR’S TRUE MOTIVATION BEING DISRUPTING POWER—but this is also far too long and I’ve been writing for like. An hour straight lmao. I need a break and I wanna post this. So.

#alastor #literary analysis #hazbin hotel #hazbin spoilers #hazbin alastor #alastor analysis #hazbin hotel husk #no shipping sorry y’all love ya tho🫶🫶#hazbin charlie

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13thdoctorposts · 10 months ago

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At some point 13 fans needs to actually put the numbers to paper on the era's audience numbers, because my recollection is that they're perfectly on par and at times even better than Capaldi's and several of the latest specials. I'm tired of haters whining about 'everyone hated it' when they mean misogynists targeted it and boycotted it from the very instance of a rumour that 13 would be a woman.

Peter Nolan from Blogtor Who did a post on the numbers after the airing of Power of the Doctor, in one section of the post he compares the Whittaker and Capaldi eras…

“It’s remarkable then, that the Whittaker era of Doctor Who is overall on course not only to retain the audience it was given, but actually very slightly grow it. The average Thirteenth Doctor was watched by 4.67m viewers, up 0.12m (2.6%) on the 4.55m average of the Twelfth Doctor. It’s median viewing figure of 4.21m, meanwhile, is 0.34m (7.4%) lower than Capaldi’s, representing the boost Whittaker’s average is given by the large audiences for her first series. But overall, we haven’t seen Doctor Who just do a respectable job all things considered. Rather, it actually got ratings that would be good a decade ago.”

You can check out the whole article here https://www.blogtorwho.com/doctor-who-power-of-the-doctor-viewing-figures/?amp=1

As you can see the Whittier era did quite well especially when considering it had to fight to get through the Pandemic, which people seem to like to act like isn’t a big deal with their revisionist history of how difficult that time actually was. Not only were millions dying and getting sick, people were losing their jobs and lock downs were keeping people at home and a number of parents learnt how hard it was to home school your child even with a teacher on zoom, some while also having to work full time at home. This isn’t to mention the ridiculous amount of restrictions on how they could make the show and keep everyone safe. Sadly they also just didn’t have budget, it was why they needed Disney to come in. In the Who Corner to Corner podcast Chibs talks about how he wanted to do a new years special after Flux but was told there was no budget and he couldn’t do it but he wanted there to be a new year special so he ask if he used monster from the cupboard (a couple daleks they had sitting there) a warehouse and only 2 guest stars could he do it and they still told him they didn’t think so but he told them they were doing it and then we got Eve of the Daleks, one of my fav episodes of the run.

This goes to show the show was struggling to afford to make episodes it had no real money for marketing. If series 12 and Flux got the marketing series 11 did of course we would have seen even bigger numbers but Chibs stated in his Radio Free Skaro podcast from Gally One in 2023 that the only marketing budget they had after series 11 was marketing that could be done on the BBC that’s extremely limiting. They also didn’t have a brand manager unlike all previous eras. If you can afford a brand manager you’re not going to choose to not have one and having one probably would have also help quite a bit.

It’s not 2008 anymore, even Tennent couldn’t pull his 2008 numbers and that was with the big Disney budget to make the show and market the show, and they had a year to market the show and the most well known Doctor, so considering that vs what Chibs had to work with the Whittaker era is a solid era of Doctor Who. It just came at a time when the Budget was struggling, and the TV landscape was changing along with a campaign to try and destroy it before it began simply because they chose a Woman to be the Doctor, as demonstrated by the fact the BBC had to release a press statement backing Whittakers casting and the change to a Female Doctor. And that did have a snow ball effect of people picking everything apart to an insane level they do not do with any of the episodes from the male Doctors episodes a lot of which could be seen as far more problematic.

All this to say could the numbers had been better? Yes, if they had budget to market the show the way it needs to be marketed in a landscape with a million competing shows on far more streaming services than there were regular channels back in the day. But did the show do well with the limited resources it had. Also Yes.

#13th doctor #thirteenth doctor #thirteen #13 #13 era

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beehiveofblorbos · 5 months ago

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my predictions for season 3 plot beats for the main six. Under the cut because it’s LONG. My favorite part of it is the third bit, where I discuss why I think Remi is likely to kill someone next season. Predictions are numbered for ease of navigation.

1. The main cast will end up staying at Cameron’s home. This isn’t a bold one, but the three free groups of highly plot relevant characters are split up across different places. Leilah and Darren are in Neil’s territory to the north (which might include New Bostin considering it’s a low tier area and Sera kinda implies they’re not far), Remi Isen and Kuyo are staying at Grayson’s apartment, and John and Sera are with Cameron.

To be more specific, probably Leilah and Darren will end up linking up with Jera and Cameron first, then Kayden will follow, then Kuyo Remi Isen. I think Grayson’s apartment will get raided (it’s explicitly said to be temporary when they first use it, and Blyke’s capture means that it’s compromised) which will force Cameron to take them all in (he’ll need to have had some development by then).

I kinda think Grayson’s apartment raid will be a bit later in the season, if only because I imagine it as the trigger for Remi Isen and Kuyo to be much more impulsive about saving Blyke, as they understand the depth of the danger he’s in. Or maybe even (if im lucky) John will be impulsive about it, knowing from that that Blyke is dealing with Keon and that Blyke doesn’t deserve that.

2. Blyke and Rein will break out together, just as John Sera Remi Isen and Kuyo arrive to save him. Well, this one is pretty complex, let’s break it down into pieces.

I def think Blyke and Rein will link up, and Rein will get clued in as far as what’s going on with Arlo there, and Blyke will learn more about Spectre. Probably more angst as far as Arlo maybe being seen walking free around the facility or even sneaking away to visit them and get some answers after he begins to recover his memories.

Rein of course kinda needs to break out soon, because if she doesn’t she’ll die à la Terrence. If she did though that would be kind of boring and a waste of her character. Plus, as she was part of Orrin’s faction, perhaps she’ll have some more info to offer as far as his ability and what his greater plans are.

I can’t see John not being part of the rescue mission to save Blyke. This is in large parts because Blyke is being subjected to Keon, so they have yet another bond/similarity now. Plus, John’s even had a panel dedicated to him thinking about how Blyke Remi and Isen don’t deserve readjustment during the convo about what readjustment looks like with Arlo

And Remi and Isen coming for Blyke was never even in question. Even Kuyo’s initial connection to the vigilante trio was Blyke.

3. Remi will kill someone. Remi is the only member of the main cast who hasn’t had some sort of big mistake era to come back from, and I think hers will be nothing less than murder.

She’s always been extremely reckless and prone to losing control of her emotions, especially when it comes to facing EMBER. in the Main Cast v Authorities Ambush battle in the last episodes of season 2, we get this series of images:

So first, Remi’s the one who initiates this talk of murdering. After all, it’s been her focus the entire time. These are the people who killed her brother. Makes sense.

There’s some banter I’m not including because it’ll be in later images, then they fight. Once Arlo and Isen join them, they manage to knock Farrah out. And then she gets back up. And then we get this:

Arlo’s the one who brings it up. But ultimately; he can’t do it, when the moment calls for it. And as he’s joining the authorities at the top of season 3 more than likely, he won’t get another chance to revisit this choice soon.

Enter Remi. It’s her directly reacting to the suggestion of killing Farrah, it’s her who gets focused on during the flashback to Farrah’s little speech about why murder is valid morally. It’s Remi who essentially says that murder is an acceptable option if it’s a choice between the lives of her friends and the lives of her enemies.

And then this:

Remi, getting focused on AGAIN even though presumably all of the focus should be going to Arlo. It’s his scene after all… right? Or is it a surprise tool to help us later.

AND Remi’s arguably the one who suffered the greatest personal losses due to this ambush. Blyke is her presumptive love-interest as well as one of her best friends whom she personally dragged into this, and Arlo is her protector and even possibly brother figure (based on her saying Rei saw him as a brother, the implication to me is that she does too). AND on top of all that, Remi’s had a huge power boost, now on-level with Rei when he died.

If she does, I can totally see it either being an encounter with a new Spectre agent or during the mission to rescue Blyke from prison (doing it in front of Arlo, setting him back on his path to rejoining the other main six, is peak drama, peak angst, peak Uru).

4. Jane will reunite with John. This is kind of a lowball, but I think we’ll also get at least one fight with Jane if we’ve got her level. I definitely think she needs rescued first thing because it’s her blood both antagonist orgs are using to become bigger threats, and also Cameron needs to become a decent character in one season instead of being the terrible wine uncle who has about the same level of emotional maturity as a seventeen year old.

5. Kass will bring Arlo back to his senses/help him regain his memories. Additionally, Arlo will be hunting down Spectre. For normalcy reasons, I suspect that Arlo is gonna end up becoming a full time employee for the authorities, still working under Kass. He might get taken-in to the EMBER department, but I doubt it and here’s why:

Farrah herself comments on the issue. She later mentions Valerie “pulling some strings” (S2 finale ep) to save Arlo, which suggests to me that he won’t be getting a combat position. Instead, he’ll help hunt down Seraphina and John due to them being Spectre associates.

Kass will recognize the behavior change from when she and Arlo last spoke about EMBER and be able to help him snap out of it and prevent him from making any decisions he’ll regret.

6. The game of Unopoly John played with the Safe House will become relevant. This sort of isn’t directly related to the main cast, but idk I just wanna point out that John played a game of Unopoly with the Safe House members and games in this webcomic always become relevant/have a second meaning/foreshadow future events. I can’t find it no matter how I try, but I’d love to see it again as it’s the only game we currently have outstanding without a meaning to it.

#Unordinary #unordinary analysis #Unordinary predictions #Unordinary theory #john unordinary #unordinary remi #unordinary arlo #unordinary main six

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moxie-girl · 3 months ago

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DRDT EP 13/14 ANALYSIS/THEORIES

I said I'd do this once I collected my thoughts! haha Warning! This is super long…

To start, I'm going to pick apart all the stuff I predicted for ep. 13 (I'll try not to make it too long…)

Levi's Secret

Well. Levi sure did admit to. All that! I think this eliminates any last doubts I personally had about him being the killer… (your honor just because I'm a serial killer doesn't mean I killed that specific person /ref) I really like that he isn't shown as a bad person just because he lacks empathy, and he's actually actively trying to be a good person… the fact that he just admitted his secret because he thought it was the right thing to do is so funny though, there go all my theories lol! (I'm still a little worried about rule 14 though…)

Ace's (Almost) Murder

Yeah!! This is probably what we're gonna spend episode 14 talking about, with murder method and alibis, etc. I still don't think it was Nico though! (I want to say I called that it'd be relevant, but it felt a little obvious…)

The Murder Method

I think we can say this has been all figured out, with the method being exactly what several people much smarter than me all figured out.

The Possible Culprits

Rose was still acting a little odd, but I think Whit on the other hand, despite whatever all that was, is off the hook for now, so my number 1 suspect is still Hu! I'm like 90% sure she was the one who tried to kill Ace, at least, and that's become very important now!

Secrets

Well, we got all the secrets figured out! (Hu :( ) The fandom interpretation was pretty much correct, except for Teruko's (we'll get to that later…) I do hope that after this trial, some of the secrets that are not relevant/haven't really been discussed do get adressed, because I could even see them becoming motives for murder again. But also, I just want the characters to talk about them! (gimme that juicy juicy angst…)

Ace

He didn't re-open his injury or really freak out like I expected, but we got some vulnerability (and a new sprite!) from Ace, and considering next episode is probably gonna focus a ton on him, I'm still expecting at least one of the two to happen…

Teruko

Luckily for Teruko, we didn't have anything unlucky happen to her this episode! But she sure did get her time in the protag spotlight anyway, I'm glad she didn't let the mistake from last episode get her down!

☆ ☆ ☆

Also, my bingo card! I got a bingo!! (ft. my messy tiny notes if you want to read them)

A few of my other bingo predictions I'm still going to hold on to for the next (few) episodes, but now, onto some new stuff!

Final Arei Flashback

Whoooah boy was that scene a doozy. I'm starting to think David's murderous rage towards the blackened at the start of the trial was genuine, because me too, man. I'm really glad Arei got at least a little bit of closure before she died, though! She also had an interesting take on the "good person" role, something that has been very important to this trial thus far and will likely continue to be. (I'm thinking that the killer may have had a "good person"-related motivation for killing, which is why it's the chapter's overarching theme?)

Also, to adress the elephant in the room… EDEN??? Well, no wonder Xander "didn't expect her to attack [him] like that" - and from her expression I wonder if she expected it either - I'm really looking forward to learning more about what, exactly, happened before the killing game that involved them! I didn't really believe in Mastermind!Eden before this, but it's starting to look pretty plausible... (Also Xander is the king of haunting the narrative oh my god lol)

Teruko's Secret

Many of us, myself included, were hoping/guessing/assuming that when all the secrets were figured out, David would reveal that he actually had Teruko's, not Xander's. While that didn't happen, the way he reacted after she claimed "her" secret essentially confirms it, as does a lot of other evidence:

That secret being hers would complete a secret circle of Teruko -> Rose -> Whit -> David -> Teruko and a secret pair of Xander <--> Min, which makes sense considering all other secret swaps are either circles of four or in pairs.

Xander and Min would have each other's secrets logically since neither of them can receive secrets, so theirs would probably be separated from the rest.

MonoTV's line about not knowing whether they're all correct feels like a reminder/a hint that some of the secrets are incorrect, and those two feel like the most likely options.

Teruko apparently has no idea which secret is actually hers, so may have just guessed the one that sounded more like her, except we know she never knew her parents and only had one sibling (as does Charles… I wonder if he'll notice)

EDIT: I cant believe I almost forgot, but I feel like David’s attitude towards Xander (and Teruko) makes more sense with these secrets, because why would he idolize Xander if the killing game was his fault, but he would idolize him if he thought Xander was trying to end the killing game by killing Teruko, the person David now thinks/knows is at fault.

However, since David didn't claim out loud that Teruko was lying, it's likely that this piece of information will become relevant much later in the series, and he'll be keeping it to himself for now.

Veronika and Hu

When did Veronika and Hu make their pact? And how did Hu, presumably the one who wanted to make the pact, know that Veronika had her secret? Also, what on earth do you mean, Veronika, that your secret isn't the worst thing you've done???? This little section with the two of them could just be entirely innocent and a way for the dev to get the rest of the secrets on the board, and let Veronika be a little unhinged as she tends to be, but I get the feeling at least some of this is relevant. (I'm betting on either Accomplice!Veronika or Veronika's actual "worst thing" being important to a later trial…)

David

Ohhhhh, David. I feel like Veronika with how much I want to psychoalanize this guy. He is on the verge of a breakdown, and I can feel it! The question being, of course, whether Arei's death was enough to make it happen this chapter, or whether this is something that's gonna last another chapter or two before coming to a head. My money's on the second option, because I think this trial is about to be about Ace and his impending breakdown :)

I do hope after this trial we do get to see a little more of what David's actually like beyond his facades/the roles he's been playing! Also, as much as I'd like to see David survive and have to deal with the consequences of revealing his "true" personality on live television, I think it's more likely he'll go the way of DR antags trying to end the killing game via self-sacrifice.

(We also better keep a close eye on anyone who tries to befriend or help David in Ch3, because they're gonna die next! /j)

J's Morality

This is a short one, but I just wanted to comment on another analysis I saw point out that J has been one of the most vocal people anytime murder has been brought up. I think that behind her rougher personality, J is a more empathetic person, and/or has very strong morals, making her a narrative foil to Levi now, so I do hope the two of them interact in Ch3!

Whit??

Whit. Whit why do you know so much about hanging??? Being serious though, I saw someone else bring up that his mother might have died by hanging and he researched it afterwards as a coping mechanism or something? That's the saddest possible explanation, but it does make the most sense by far… I honestly don't think that Whit is the killer, because then why would he be being so helpful in figuring out the murder method, but he's still so weird and suspicious sometimes.

Nico!

Even though I still don't think it was Nico (crime scene makes more sense if seen as Nico trying to help Ace, they may have just admitted to it because it was the less confrontational option, next ep is def not the last one and I think it'll be about proving who it was other than Nico, and if you look at Nico's secret quote…) I still do hope they get the chance to get mad! Get mad at Ace! Get mad at David! Get mad at whoever the (attempted) killer was for putting the blame on them! Idk I just want them to have their moment.

☆ ☆ ☆

And finally, here are my new bingo cards for the next episode:

(I can't believe ep14 is gonna be 40 mins + there's a "non-spoiler" thumbnail rn oooooh I'm so nervous)

#godd i missed being in a fandom w weekly episodes + theorizing its soooo fun #drdt #drdt spoilers #danganronpa despair time #hu jing #nico hakobyan #ace markey #arei nageishi #teruko tawaki #david chiem #drdt theory

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myfairkatiecat · 4 months ago

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hello ‘tis I 😊

I have strong (and negative) feelings about the MBS show. I think that almost everything they did and changed was a betrayal of the books. So I’m curious as to why you like it! (No hate at all, I think parts of it were good, I’m just curious)

Okay so. I really like the MBS books, and I really like the show, but boy oh boy are those different pieces of media! And they should be treated as such. If someone turns on the MBS tv show looking for an adaptation of the books, they will be sorely disappointed! Initially, that was me. “What do you mean curtain has no wheelchair and sunglasses and narcoleptic seizures we’ll only recognize were that later??” Katie asked herself, and if she had continued in this mindset, she would have probably thrown something at the tv when season two came on with its entirely different plot that was pulled out of thin air.

What’s charming to me about the MBS show is hard to place. It might be the way the whimsical nature of the books was captured so well, or perhaps the extremely loveable main characters. I came to love the changes after a while, but I had to start seeing them as different.

For example, I’ll only ever find obstinate two-year-old Constance at the library or bookstore. However, sarcastic Russian 10-year-old Constance lives in the google drive of pirated tmbs episodes, and I love her just as much!

And the brotherly betrayal?? I’m a sucker for that stuff! Having Mr. Benedict already know he had a twin, having lingering guilt about being the one to be adopted, was a twist I actually really appreciated. I think I actually prefer show Benedict brothers dynamic to the one in the book! However, they’re different things, both of which I enjoy reading about.

If you look at each Curtain under a magnifying glass, you’ll find that Book Curtain and Nathaniel Benedict are very different beneath the surface (far more different than we can even see! Which is saying something! Because there are a lot of visible differences!) and this changes each villain’s motivations and complexity as a character. (What do you mean there’s too many show Benedict brothers fanfics on my ao3? Whaaaat…..) for example! The happiness thing from season two! Him wanting his brother to believe he is a good person and only getting worse and worse while trying!!! *loses my mind*

It’s an enjoyable plot line, it’s just not what’s in the MBS books.

Also!! SQ being Curtain’s adopted kid who is an artist! It’s a different character from book SQ, yes, but he’s fascinating! And the dynamic there! I love book SQ, and I can still read about him, so I don’t give up that character by finding enjoyment in this other one, if you get what I mean.

Martina in the show? The tetherball obsession? Her budding friendship with Kate and the way she doesn’t feel like anyone gets her AGDKDHSJSHD listen book Martina is also awesome and super interesting, but this Martina is too, even though she’s different. She’s not a bad different, she’s a different different!

Honestly? The characterizations make me want to hug that show soooo tightly. Reynie is so endearing. Sticky is so relatable. Kate is so fun, even with her difference from her book self, and so is Constance! Mr. Benedict is lively and quirky, Rhonda and Number Two are distinct characters with lots of interesting traits, SQ (loses mind) and Dr. Garrison is such an interesting villain, especially once she breaks apart from Curtain. And the implication that Milligan worked with Curtain willingly before his memories were wiped in this universe?? No that’s not what was written in the books, but it’s in the show and it’s fascinating.

I love that show. I love its resemblance to the books I love and the nostalgic moments that remind me of that book series. But I also love its unique plot and character dynamics. It’s just… different!

Honestly, things that aren’t faithful to the book are kinda hit or miss (Percy Jackson movies being a huge miss!) but this show maintained the spirit of the book with a new and enjoyable plot line! I got to be on the edge of my seat again, not knowing what was going to happen. Instead of seeing character dynamics I knew I enjoyed play out in front of me on a screen (which I also would have liked to see, don’t get me wrong), I got to see new character dynamics I hadn’t already explored, also deeply fascinating!

I think watching and enjoying the MBS show requires letting go of elements of the MBS books, in a way, in order to enjoy what the writers did with it. The MBS books are still there, with the same characters and setting and dynamics, and I’ll always love them, but the show gives me a new thing to love as well! In the end it’s a universe I enjoy playing with dolls in, and the show gave me some new dolls to play with!

#tmbs #the mysterious benedict society

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axreliono · 1 month ago

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an island lost at sea

Chris Feistl x Daniel Van Ness

For the @narcosfandomdiscord's monthlong event, ft prompt #16 from Book of Locally Sourced:

Fanwork that mimics a bottle episode, so the entirety of it takes place in a relatively mundane setting

Warnings: Language, mild mortal peril, incredibly light angst, set during S3 (specifically ep2)

Word count: 5.7k

A/N: This feels so silly but I absolutely had to write something for these two. Vanfeistl you will never leave my brain. Posting this at almost 3am so if it's bad... no it's not.

AO3 link:

- fic under the cut -

MINUTE -1

“Hey.”

It was far beyond the point at which Chris found he could still focus on his work. With the announcement earlier that everything was fucked and over before it had even started, it was a miracle he’d not walked out the door right then and there. Instead, he’d sat at his desk, mulling over Peña’s words for hours, trying to find reasoning, some kind of way out, any loophole, until everyone around him had left and taken the last of his hope with them.

“Hey.”

Everyone, that was, apart from Dan. Chris hadn’t told him what had happened. He was sure Dan would be over the moon at the news, which would only leave Chris to suffer alone. That was a worse fate than the one he’d landed himself in already, and so he had decided to say nothing, just silently packing away his things as fast as humanly possible, throwing open files and unlidded pens into his bag like his life depended on it.

“What are you doing?”

“Packing up. Going home.” Maybe in more than one sense. The job was done; what else was there to do? The Cali team was dissolved permanently. The career criminals they claimed to fight had won with nothing more than a handshake. Some deal. He slung his bag over his shoulder and bolted for the elevator, ready to be out of here and away, somewhere he could actually think.

Footsteps followed him across the empty office floor. The space was lit only with the dim glow of computer screensavers and lamps carelessly left on here and there.

“Hey, man, talk to me. You’re acting weird.”

Weird didn’t begin to cover it, but Chris kept his lips sealed shut, pressing the button and watching the numbers go up.

“Seriously.”

Chris whirled around to stare at him. “Seriously, back off.”

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Chris stepped inside, expecting that to be the end, with Dan watching from the other side hesitantly. The doors started closing, peace almost in reach, only to be interrupted as Dan ducked in, the doors slamming shut behind him.

“What is your problem?” Chris hissed. He was too tired for this bullshit.

Before Dan could explain himself, the elevator juddered, leaving both of them stumbling. Then, it stopped dead. The two of them stood in silence, staring at each other, waiting for it to spring back to life and start moving again. Instead, the red light illuminating the buttons died.

Perfect.

MINUTE 1

Dan reached across and hit the bell button, and a piercingly loud alarm burst to life, filling the tiny metal box with its wailing.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” Chris asked, plugging his fingers into his ears.

“I panicked, okay?” Dan said, hitting it again. The sound didn’t stop. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? To get someone to come and help us?”

“Okay, well, who in the office can save us?” Depending on the answer, they’d either be fine or utterly fucked.

Dan just stared at him, saying nothing. Chris mentally worked through the office, trying to remember who was actually around and only coming up with images of empty desks and logged out computers. Realization dawned on him slowly but surely, and his heart sank. Unless someone was in the toilets, or sitting in a side room with the lights off like some kind of freak, they were alone. Every other fucker had been sensible enough to leave on time, probably lured out by Duffy and Lopez’ promise of goodbye commiseration drinks. Which meant they were trapped in an elevator in an entirely empty office.

“Shit.”

Chris started banging on the doors, to no avail. Dan dug his fingers into the seam of the door, leaning back and straining as he tried to pull them open. They didn’t budge.

“Hey!” Chris yelled as loud as he could, but the sound was lost in the blaring of the alarm.

“I really don’t know if that’s the best solution to get us out of here,” Dan drawled, though the bite wasn’t as powerful as usual. He was hunched over the button pad, wincing as he scanned each one, as if there would be some magic opening code if he just looked closely enough.

“Like you’re doing better.”

Dan whirled around, looking incredulous. “This is your fault.”

“How is this my fault?! You must’ve fucked up the doors jumping in at the last second! Why are you even in here? You’ve never used this elevator in your life. Are you that desperate to piss me off?”

“Hey, fuck you, man.” Dan said, stepping away from the corner. “You’ve been in a bad mood for hours. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you spent three hours staring intensely at a blank document like you were trying to light it on fire with your mind? And tapping your pen like you were trying to bore a hole in the desk?”

“And so you follow me into an elevator?” Chris folded his arms.

Dan ran a hand over his face, sighing deeply. “Can we get the fuck out of here?”

Chris didn’t think so. They’d set off the alarm and nobody had come - not yet anyway. If there was anyone to come. Dan had tried the doors and stared at the instructions. Chris walked over, digging his nails into the gap on either side and pulling as hard as he could.

“I already tried that.”

Chris fell back, surprisingly out of breath. The doors didn’t even have a scratch mark, not a single sign that they’d been pried at, not moved at all from their original position, jammed solidly shut. Okay, so there was no way out of this shitbox metal cage they’d managed to trap themselves in. Fine. Surely there was another way out. Surely these elevators were designed for incidents like this. Maybe that panel on the roof…?

“I’m going to climb on your shoulders,” Chris said, rolling up his shirt sleeves. The hatch would likely have as little give as the doors, but it was better than wasting away in this stupid elevator until someone deigned to return to the office, likely tomorrow morning.

“The fuck you are.” Dan took a step back, looking at Chris like he’d grown an extra head.

“There might be a way out through the roof.”

“What, so we can scale the elevator cables like we’re spies in some action movie? We’ll still have to pry open a different set of jammed doors once we’re on the other side.” Dan looked Chris up and down in a way that suggested he did not believe they were getting up those cables. It would’ve been hurtful if it wasn’t true.

“We’re competent DEA agents. Surely we can work our way out of a trapped elevator.”

“Barely. And clearly not.”

Chris stared at him. His features were contorted into a hard, cold expression, not a single hint of hope mixed in with the despair he was trying so hard to conceal underneath. His hands had definitely started to shake, and despite his even tone, his words were getting harsher and more clipped with every minute that passed.

“You weren’t joking. You’re actually afraid of elevators.”

Dan didn’t meet his eyes this time.

“Oh my fucking god.”

Not only was he trapped in this elevator, he was trapped with someone potentially minutes away from a full-blown breakdown. The day just kept getting better and better.

“Are you fucking stupid? Why the fuck would you follow me in, then?” Chris snapped. He immediately felt guilty for how scathing his words sounded even to him, but everything felt like it was amplified ten times over in here, intensified by the fluorescent lights overhead and echoing off the mirrored walls. “You in love with me or something?”

A heavy silence fell over the two of them, punctuated only by the blaring of the alarm, persistent as ever.

“Actually fuck off,” Dan said, turning back to the keypad.

Chris watched as he pressed all the buttons in order, none of them reacting at all, nothing inside changing, and sunk to the floor. Maybe that was that. Maybe this was just his fate, the perfect cherry on top to an already shitty day. Dan eventually gave up, giving the keypad a final whack before joining him on the floor, curling in on himself in a ball.

“The elevator isn’t going to collapse in,” Chris said, though as soon as the words left his mouth, he wished he hadn’t said them. He had no real confirmation the universe wouldn’t immediately try to prove him wrong.

“And you know this how?”

Chris didn’t have an answer to that.

“You’re convincing yourself as much as you’re convincing me,” Dan said, a hint of smugness crossing his face, briefly extinguishing the fear.

“I am not,” Chris backed up. He wasn’t taking shit from a guy who chose to take stairs instead of the elevator every single day.

Dan just shrugged, shifting back into his corner. So he was perfectly able to cope when it came to jabbing at Chris, it seemed. “If we die in here, at least I’ll be able to say I told you so right before impact.”

Chris buried his head in his hands. This was going to be a long evening.

HOUR 1

The alarm died after an hour of assaulting both their ears, but with the near-deafening tinnitus that followed, it may as well have stayed on. All it meant was they were trapped in silence, and anybody who came into the office from this point forwards would never know they were in here. Chris had tried to think through every option, every possible outcome that could happen depending on what they decided to do from here, and came up with no better answers than to sit and wait. At the very worst, people would be in in the morning. Fucking with the mechanics anymore would only risk sending them to their deaths. So, with no feasible way out and his mind slowly dying off in the now silent, empty elevator, he started walking from end to end of the claustrophobically small box, bored out of his mind and succumbing to stress with every minute that passed. The elevator was exactly three and a half steps by five steps, he’d discovered. The numbers were now seared into his brain, not that they would help him at all.

“Please stop that.” Dan said quietly. He had his head resting against the wall of the elevator and his legs folded underneath him, as far as they’d go into the corner. It didn’t look anywhere approaching comfortable.

“Stop what?”

“Pacing.”

Chris stopped for a minute, and took a deep breath in, wooziness washing over him. He couldn’t be entirely sure he had been breathing properly at any point during the last hour. His reflection watched him from the mirror, already dishevelled and exhausted-looking. It could’ve been the harsh fluorescent lighting overhead, but Chris doubted it. He was wasting away in that office long before he walked in here. If he wanted to file reports and listen back to recordings all day, he may as well have been put on basement duty and locked away with all the evidence.

“Are you going to explain what the hell is up with you?” Dan said, pulling one of his knees up to his chest. “Or are you going to stand there all evening?”

“I’m quite enjoying standing,” Chris said, turning away from the mirror. “Getting my daily exercise in.”

“You could’ve got that easily if you’d taken the stairs,” Dan mumbled, furrowing his brows, but he no longer had the alarm to drown out his words and hide behind.

“Well, I didn’t, and for some reason, neither did you. So you better get used to the idea of sleeping here tonight.”

Dan was looking more and more weary with every second that passed. “You couldn’t pay me to fall asleep in here.”

Chris just sighed and turned back to pacing, unable to stop the nervous energy from rising up in him the second he gave it room to breathe. He didn’t like feeling helpless; his entire job was searching for answers and hunting them down until they came to fruition. In here, he had nowhere to go and nothing to work off. He wasn’t used to hearing his own thoughts. It had been a long time since he’d last let himself sit alone with them, and he was not about to start again now.

“Chris-”

The elevator suddenly let out a long, drawn-out creaking noise, almost a cry of pain. Both of them froze, eyes meeting each others’ in the split second before the elevator dropped suddenly, before jolting to a stop again. Chris let out an admittedly undignified scream, stumbling to grab onto the handrail as his stomach dropped from beneath him. He missed and tripped forwards, barrelling into Dan, both of them crashing into the wall and causing the entire box to shake. Chris looked up at Dan, their faces much closer than was comfortable. He’d gone white as a sheet, one arm grabbing onto the handrail as tightly as possible, the other curled protectively around Chris’ torso. Chris could feel his face heating up with every second that they were in contact, but he couldn’t bring himself to move in case the entire elevator collapsed under him.

“Oh fuck,” He whispered, heart jumping into his throat. Trust them to get themselves into this shit. “Oh shit.”

“I don’t want to die in this shitty evil metal box with you,” Dan said simply, voice quivering. “This is not what I had in mind.”

“Is my company that terrible?” Chris joked, but it fell flat in the silence between them and in the shaking of his own voice. There was only so much bravado could do to salvage a situation like this, after all.

“Can you be serious for one second? Just because you’re being pissy about this stupid Cali decision doesn’t mean we’re free to die in this elevator.” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut as if the conversation was physically paining him. “Jesus christ.”

Chris stared at him. So he knew all along and said nothing? Acted like it was all fine and to be expected, and that this wasn’t the blow of a century, the humiliation of the entire department that hot on the heels of such a big success with Escobar, they were giving up on Cali over nothing?

“You might not get it because your biggest ambition in life is paperwork and your own comfort,” he snapped, tearing himself out from Dan’s hold and backing away, “but I don’t know how to stand back and watch as the biggest cartel in the world hands over the keys for nothing more than a slap on the wrist when everything I’ve worked towards for years now, trying to painstakingly take them down, gets burned to cinders in an instant.”

Dan didn’t say anything in response, staring him down with that slightly pained expression of his, which told Chris nothing more than he’d just let his stupid big mouth run away with itself. The elevator creaked in agreement.

“My life isn’t over,” Chris clarified, turning away to look back in the mirror, more so convincing himself than Dan at this point. “I care about more than just this stupid job.”

“Sit down before you bring the entire floor down with you,” Dan said quietly.

Chris had the sinking feeling he’d crossed a line somewhere along the way, but he didn’t know when or how to even begin to fix it, so he just sat down in the far corner in silence, resulting to tapping his hands against his knees instead of pacing, in case he really did bring about their untimely deaths.

“Do you have to do that?” Dan watched Chris’ hands, frowning deeply.

“You get to pick one; the pacing or this.”

Dan sighed, like maybe. “Fine.”

Not sure where he went wrong, and still waiting for the inevitable moment that the elevator came crashing down around them, he kept tapping like their fates depended on it.

HOUR 2

“Can you please stop announcing every hour that passes?” Dan gritted out, burying his head in his knees. “This situation is depressing enough as it is.”

Chris shrugged. “It’s like keeping tally marks in prison. Gotta keep my eyes on the prize.”

“There are no prizes for dragging out every godforsaken minute in this place.”

Chris turned to him. It had been almost a full hour since the elevator last made a noise, and they had yet to fall through the floor and splatter across the reception floor, but they had equally not got any further along in getting out of here. He was really starting to doubt that anyone was ever coming back to the office, and had now got to the stage of truly wondering if the universe was personally conspiring against them specifically.

“You never answered me earlier,” he started. Dan looked up with a quizzical expression. “The piss question.”

The other man’s face went suddenly slack with horror. “Please tell me you’re not about to piss right now.”

Chris tried and failed to stifle a laugh. “I’m not. You just never gave me your answer, and now it’s actually pertinent.”

Dan looked defeated. He shuffled forwards, bringing his knees away from his chest. “There is never a socially acceptable time to piss in a trapped elevator.”

“Even if you got in to go to a bathroom on another level? Even if we’re stuck in here for 6 hours?”

“This is why I don’t take the elevator,” Dan muttered to himself.

“To avoid philosophical conundrums?” Chris pulled a face. Dan tried to reach across the elevator to swat at him, but missed by a few centimeters, instead just throwing his arm across the room. “Look, what else is there to talk about in here?”

“I already tried asking you things,” Dan said simply, withdrawing back into his corner. “Instead, you choose to talk about this.”

Chris sighed. He still hadn’t worked his way up to any kind of apology, but the air between them had cleared a bit in the last hour, probably helped along by the knowledge that they weren’t seconds away from perishing in here.

“You knew why I’d been acting off,” Chris’ tapping got louder and more desperate, echoing off the metal walls. “One minor screw-up, not even close to the shit that went down with Escobar, and it’s over. Why even hang around here? We may as well pack up and go home if we’re going to let them pick their own punishment. I don’t get it. No matter how many times I’ve raked over it, I can’t understand why they’d pick this of all the options.”

Dan was watching him with one of those indecipherable looks of his again, somewhere between concern and pity. Chris wasn’t sure he liked it. It made his skin itch.

“They agreed a surrender deal with the Colombian government. There’s nothing we can do to interfere with that.”

“They’re some of the most powerful figures in Colombia. Don’t act like they don’t have all the connections needed to force their way out of this mess entirely unfairly but entirely unscathed.”

Dan ran a hand through his hair, some of the dark strands coming loose and hanging over his forehead. He looked so different in here, in the dim light, blazer abandoned and tie hanging loosely around his neck. More like the man he’d caught glimpses of in the corners of dark bars and rowdy office parties, more like the man he was always trying to provoke out of that impenetrable shell of his. The atmosphere between them was always shifting; it was hard to pinpoint where it would go next when the ground beneath their feet had never quite been steady. They never talked about it, of course, but “back to normal” felt less like the truth every time it happened. Everything managed to lead to something new with them. The prospect usually excited Chris, but here, trapped in this lift with no way out and no next step in sight, it terrified him.

“I’m not happy either,” Dan said simply. “I do give a shit, you know? This is just as much of a blow to me as it is to you. You know the last thing I want is to be sent home, let alone empty-handed. But what do we do? I’m not going to meddle with an entire government. We don’t have the same power as the CIA.”

Chris snorted. “The DEA always gets their slice of the pie, too, you know.”

“So maybe we will this time, too. But my point stands; that isn’t up to us two. We’re nobodies.”

Chris knew he was right. He wasn’t in any position to make decisions like that; he was barely more than an admin lackey at this point. He might’ve been a respected detective in Arizona, but here, he didn’t even have a partner, let alone enough power to oversee these kinds of decisions.

“They’re not even going to have their businesses confiscated,” Chris said quietly. “I can understand them not wanting a repeat situation of Escobar, but Cali pales in comparison to the shit he got up to. Why give them so much?”

“Quiet doesn’t mean dormant,” Dan warned. “They keep a lot under wraps, I’m sure. Doesn’t mean people don’t suffer, definitely doesn’t mean people wouldn’t suffer if they were provoked.”

Chris shifted around, turning to the wall and trying to picture the pinboard in the office splayed across the room. “Gilberto owns enough legitimate businesses to get into bed with politicians. That’s his entire social circle. One of them has got to be involved.”

“Do we know anyone specific? Anyone connected to higher government?”

Chris shook his head. He couldn’t visualize the whole board. “Not without the files.”

“Well, funnily enough, I don’t have them. So now what?”

Chris opened his bags. He’d just sort of thrown things into it in a huff. There were a few files, a few loose sheets that had slipped out of them, too. Mainly the financial stuff Eddie had faxed over after Cornerstone. But maybe, deep within encoded transactions and offshore accounts, there was something, one name or company or link that’d expose the entire thing. Fuck Peña and his instant dismissal. There was something here, Chris just knew it. He just had to find it. He spread the files across the floor, crawling between them on his hands and knees in case the entire thing came falling down.

“Some office,” Dan joked, watching but not making a move to get involved.

“It genuinely isn’t half bad. Get me some tape and some red string, and we’d be set. It’d be quieter than the main office.”

Dan quirked up a single eyebrow. “Not to mention how tiny it is in here, the lack of computers, the fact that we can’t get out and the ever-looming threat of falling two stories.”

Chris couldn’t say much in response to that. “Okay, fine. Fair point.”

It wasn’t the best setup, that much was true, but it was a distraction from his wandering mind, and a welcome one at that. Another hour in silence would kill him off, and he was already starting to feel the effects. Dan shuffled over to him, turning to try and read the files before sitting himself down next to Chris and reaching across to help him unpack the files. Just like that, the last of the tension in the air was gone, both of them wordlessly sorting through the paperwork he’d abandoned as useless earlier in the afternoon, positioning banks together into stacks, handing each other papers of interest, all with a silent agreement and occasional one-word clarifiers or accidental brushes of their hands, moving in perfect synchronicity. The files slowly emptied, dispersed across the floor, forming a mosaic of evidence, but it still didn’t add up. Without more information, without feet on the ground and eyes in the sky tracking when, where and how they were getting all this through, it was useless. No matter how they pieced this together on the elevator floor, no matter the order or the theories, it wouldn’t change the course of events, and the intel would sink to the bottom of a drawer somewhere to gather dust.

Chris bashed his fist into the side of the elevator. Dan only had time to shoot him a concerned look before the elevator juddered, making an ear-splitting creaking noise.

“Chris…” Dan warned, backing up very slowly.

Chris was immediately back in his own corner, hugging his body against the metal walls as tightly as he could. “…Sorry?”

Dan was clinging to the handrail so hard, his knuckles were turning white. “Please, please just sit back down.”

Chris mushed all the files into one big, messy pile, sheepishly shoving them back in his bag before carefully inching back down into a sitting position again. So much for that. They were no further ahead and only closer to an untimely death. What a waste of time.

“Look, you’re not wrong to be doing this,” Dan said. It was uncanny how much he seemed to be able to read Chris’ mind nowadays. Chris wasn’t sure how to feel about it yet. He wasn’t used to being an open book - most people saw him as a noisy but ultimately empty vessel, and that wasn’t such a bad thing as far as he saw it. “This data is useful. We can keep track of the accounts from the office just fine.”

“But what’s the use of that without people to pin actual crimes on? They’re just a bunch of numbers.” Chris buried his head in his hands. He was tired of this shit now. He just wanted to be home, where he could sleep off the terrible day and try again tomorrow.

“All we need to do is find one case. One example of laundering, drug money going through a legitimate business,” Dan explained. “Catching just one of the four leaders in breach of their deal could send the entire thing up in flames.”

Chris froze. He slowly lifted his head to meet Dan’s unwavering gaze. He didn’t seem at all rocked by this information.

“What?”

“They have to cease all illegal operations, right?” He gestured to the file poking out of Chris’ bag. “Maybe it’ll be harder to catch them doing that on the ground, what with their airtight security and eyes everywhere, but we find one dodgy transaction from the comfort of our computers, and we have all the ammunition we need to start the manhunt again.”

It took all of Chris’ energy not to jump up to his feet right there and then. “Laundering in Panama, undeclared offshores in Gibraltar…”

“Financial crimes are still crimes.”

Chris couldn’t stop himself from grinning. They’d found it. A key out of this clusterfuck. Sure, it relied on a lot of luck and good fortune that never seemed to be on their side, but it was something.

“See?” Dan flashed him a smug kind of half-grin. “Not worth throwing your shit around over, after all.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Chris felt a little breathless at the prospect. “We have to get the hell out of here.”

“Well, yes, hasn’t that been your aim from the start…?” Dan started, but Chris was already rising slowly to his feet and tiptoeing as gently as he could towards the door. “What are you doing?”

“Getting us out of here.”

Dan backed up into his corner again. “Absolutely not. You’ve got us into enough shit in this death box already. Get away from those!”

Chris was trying to pry open the doors again, with just as little success as the first time around. “Get up and help me.”

“And if you send us falling to the ground?”

Chris shrugged. “I’ll buy you a nice headstone.”

Dan looked at him for a second, face crinkled up in distaste, before he eventually pulled himself up using the handrail, looking far beyond disappointed. “You won’t be alive to buy me one, asshole.”

Chris rifled through his bag. Surely there was something in there that could pry these doors open. A particularly thin pen? A stray mouse mat? Anything? His search was cut short, though, as Dan brandished something shiny in front of his face. Chris backed up to take it in. A shoehorn, in all its metal glory.

“Why do you own a shoehorn?” Chris said, excitement causing him to immediately bypass the ‘thank you, I owe you my life’ or the ‘how did you know exactly what I needed?’ . Dan rolled his eyes.

“Do you want it or not?”

Chris took it, slotting it between the doors. “Grab the scissors from my bag. We’ll need some kind of counter action, right? Torsion or some shit?”

“Stop pretending you have any idea about physics.” Dan reached in. “These are going to snap instantly.”

Chris just waved him over. “You get the top of the door.”

Dan sighed, positioning himself on the other side of where Chris was crouched and reaching up to jam the scissor blades into the gap, his arm digging into Chris’. God, this elevator was far too small.

“On three.”

“This won’t work.”

“Two. One. Now.”

Both of them strained against the doors, the elevator rattling as they pulled at them. There was a non-zero chance this sent them both on a quick trip down to the first floor at full speed, but Chris was just about ready to lose it. It was about time they got the fuck out of here. The doors creaked and strained, small dents in the metal appearing but no real gap appearing between them. It looked like it wasn’t going to work. After all that, they might actually be stuck here overnight.

Suddenly, the shoehorn in his hand started bending, and the smallest gap, only a centimeter at maximum width, opened up. Chris reached into his bag with his free hand and jammed it with a fountain pen, then moved around to start prying it open with his fingers.

“It’s going to crush your hand, you fucking idiot,” Dan yelled, grabbing the shoehorn and placing it right under the scissors, pulling the other door away from Chris’ fingers until he was red in the face. The doors kept denting, not moving any further, until they suddenly flew open, throwing both of them into the walls at the side before the entire box shifted down again before jolting to a stop.

Chris stared at Dan, gasping for breath and dizzy. Dan looked no better off, eyes squeezed shut and sweat beading on his forehead. Chris dared to roll over and peer out of the newly opened door, waiting to be met with the dark inside of the elevator shaft, and instead staring out onto the reception. He looked down. They were maybe three inches above the ground at most.

“Dan…”

Dan slowly opened his eyes, then quickly darted forwards to take in the scene. “You’re fucking joking me.”

The day wasn’t done with them yet, though. Before either of them could say another word, none other than Stoddard walked right through the front door, humming to himself, only pausing when he saw them sprawled across the floor of the lift, both staring up at him.

“Hi?” He said, looking them up and down.

“Hello.” Dan said, as if everything was completely normal. Chris could barely bring himself to grunt a greeting.

“Are you guys… okay?”

Chris nodded, letting his head collapse to the floor. “Yeah, yeah man. So fine.”

Stoddard just stood there, still staring at them. Chris just wished he’d fuck off already, but he didn’t have the energy to say that. Instead, he forced himself to his feet, dusted himself off and stepped out onto solid ground. He’d never really valued fresh air quite as much as he did now, inhaling like it was his first breath in 26 years. Dan followed him out, looking about as frazzled as he felt.

“I… gotta go pick up some files.” Stoddard said slowly, still watching the two of them suspiciously.

“Party over?” Chris asked.

He shook his head. “I’m just going home.” He stared at the lift expectantly, then back at Chris and Dan where they stood in front of the doors. Chris could have explained what had happened over the last two or so hours to him, to warn him off the inevitable failure he was about to experience, but in his exhausted, elevator-fevered brain, he just stepped out of the way.

“After you.”

Stoddard shot him a final, poorly-concealed, concerned look before stepping around him and up into the lift, dented doors and all. Chris wasn’t sure whether he was just unobservant or if he truly did not care anymore. He couldn’t bring himself to care, either. He turned to Dan.

“So? Shall we get started?”

Dan was watching some unfixed spot on the horizon, clearly in a world of his own. Chris jabbed him in the ribs, and he jumped, finally making eye contact.

“Yeah, alright. But we are taking the stairs this time.”

Chris took one last look at the lift as the doors inched shut behind Stoddard, wobbling the whole time. “Obviously. I’m never getting in that piece of crap again.”

“I’ve been telling you this all along,” Dan said, lips quirking up at the corner.

“Well, I’m sorry, okay? Stairs stay on top. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Is that what you want to hear?”

Dan’s mouth quivered as he clearly tried to repress a smile. He nudged Chris in the arm, though not with enough force to be convincing. “Ass. Come on, then.”

They headed towards the stairs, climbing up them like their entire futures depended on it - because maybe they did - as the distant sound of a familiar alarm ringing to life followed them up.

DAY 0

#narcovember #narcovember prompt roulette #narcos #chris feistl #daniel van ness #chris feistl x daniel van ness #vanfeistl if you will #chraniel if u hate me #narcos s3 #day 16 #book of locally sourced

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miguel-manbemel · 2 months ago

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Sanderstober 2024 - October 27th

@thatsthat24

Put the Sides in your favorite piece of media. I put the six of them inside my favorite show of all time, which is a Spanish show so I have to describe it a bit.

As it's seen in the drawing, it's titled "1, 2, 3", and it got its name because it was three game shows in one in a combination of fiction and reality that featured Broadway-like musical numbers in huge sets that changed each week.

Each week six couples of contestants started in the first part of the show which is the one depicted in the art, a game where contestants show their culture answering to questions of the multiple-answer format, for instance "Give me names of flowers", and in 45 seconds, answering always in alternate turns, they'd give as many answers as they could until they gave a wrong answer, or repeated one, or time ran out, and they'd win money for each answer.

After three questions per couple, the couple with most money would be named champions, given pink sashes with the word "Campeon" and return the following week, while the other two went on to the second round, a physical game according to the topic of the week, for instance if the episode was dedicated to "Far West", they'd have to ride a mechanical bull and the couple resisting the most time would be winners and proceed to the third round.

The third part was the main show, full of attractions, characters and musical numbers related to the topic of the week. After each act or piece of dialogue of the characters with the host, an object related to it would be left on the table where the host and the contestants stood. Each object had a card attached to it with a text. The host read a part of it until a certain point, that text could contain a clue or all the contrary. When there were three objects on the table, the contestants had to dismiss one, which was when the host read the whole card and revealed a prize the contestants had lost.

Then, the show continued with this game of dismissing prizes and bringing more, until the end of the show was reached and there were three final objects on the table. The contestants had then to dismiss two and keep one, sometimes one by one, other times two at the same time. At the end, the object they had kept on the table was the prize the contestants won. Anything could appear in the show. Typical prizes were a brandnew car, an apartment, a trip, jewels, money... but also flat tyres, a van full of chickens, two million light matches, a couple even won their own tombs in the cemetery of their choice.

To give more emotion to the end, when there was this final object, the host started offering money in exchange of the prize, and it was up to the contestants to guess if the host was trying to help them get rid of a bad prize or trying to fool them changing a really good prize for a very inferior amount of money.

I loved this show when I was a kid and when I grew up I had the chance to attend the filming of an episode as part of the live audience, and I'll never forget that memory. That's why I chose it for this art.

For anyone interested, I add a YT video with a musical number featured in an episode dedicated to "Broadway Musicals", where the cast sang and danced to a Spanish-language version of "Anything Goes".

youtube

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #sanderstober2024 #Youtube

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telomeke-bbs · 2 years ago

Text

OUR SKYY 2 x BAD BUDDY x A TALE OF THOUSAND STARS – A REVIEW AND PARTIAL ANALYSIS

Yes, I'm well aware that it's been more than two weeks since the Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars 4-ep closer for OS2 aired, and I'm far behind the bandwagon in posting this.

Thing is, I've had to take some time to gather my garbled thoughts on how I feel about the mini-series, and I have many. Also, the longer I dawdle, the more others have posted similar musings, and I then have to edit down my own write-up to avoid repeating stuff that others more knowledgeable and eloquent than I have already made public.

This is like my fourth or fifth re-write, and I've already chucked so much aside. But now the ideas jangling in my head seem a bit more coherent, and maybe it's time to solidify them in the written word.

I think part of the block I was facing had to do with the fact that I was expecting the Bad Buddy portions of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS to be doing more than they did, and when they didn't I was left a little directionless. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the episodes though; I most certainly did. How great was it to see Pat and Pran back in action again? 😍 Even though their dynamic and storyline weren't as deeply resonating as what we saw in the original Bad Buddy, they still managed to charm me no end.

While I certainly wanted more information regarding Pat and Pran's relationship (and we did get to see a tiny bit), what I'd really been hoping for was more of the intellectual gamery that had been so carefully interwoven into the original BBS, that was densely layered with metaphor, allegory and messaging. It was also rich with linguistic wordplay and cultural content, and I was on the lookout for more of the same in OS2 the moment Pat and Pran appeared. But these were mostly missing, even though they delivered callbacks and charisma in spades.

It was only upon re-watching that a number of realizations crystallized for me, chief of which was the fact that I'd been looking for things in the wrong place. The subtextual (and even metatextual) cleverness I was expecting actually was there, but it had been woven more into the ATOTS portions instead. And while I like the original ATOTS, it didn't inspire in me the same kind of obsessive love that Bad Buddy had done, so I have never gone in for a re-watch or examined it in greater detail, and thus wasn't paying as much attention to the ATOTS portions of OS2.

More fool me. No wonder my first watch of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS missed what it did, because I kind of sped through Phupha and Tian's story, when the mini-series was leaning more on ATOTS than BBS to telegraph its messaging.

I really shouldn't have been surprised. We know that the creators of Bad Buddy (Director Aof mostly, but Ohm and Nanon were in on it too) viewed BBS as having told all that needed to be told of PatPran’s story, and this was signified by the apartment door closing on the happy couple’s continued rough-housing at the end of Ep.12.

(above) BBS Ep.12 [4/4] 18.22 and 18.23 – the door closes on Pat and Pran's story (dunno who was swinging it shut though – Nong Nao maybe? 😂)

And this is why OS2 x BBS didn’t show us events post-Ep.12, but chose instead to position the mini-series during the timeskip between Episodes 11 and 12.

So when BBS became the success it did, pressure must have mounted on all sides but especially from the higher-ups to squeeze out a sequel somehow, because it would undoubtedly be a money-spinner. But what more is there to spin out when you, the maker, are convinced that not only is the whole yarn already spun and done, the tapestry you wove from it is pretty much complete as well?

I will go so far as to say I think OS2 x BBS x ATOTS was Director Aof’s escape hatch – instead of trying to spin out more from nothing, he shone a spotlight on a previously unseen section of his opus (letting management and fans know we would be getting Pat and Pran back, but then showing us their timeskip rather than events beyond Ep.12). And a short while later he segued artfully into a related piece, wrangling PatPran into a crossover with ATOTS that would have its message revolve a lot more around PhuTian’s story instead. I'm sure we find out more about Phupha and Tian's relationship too, but I'm not going to go into it in any detail because I'm not as au fait with their backstory as I feel I am with Pat and Pran's; I'm pretty sure though that their story in OS2 was the primary vessel for deeper messaging.

And I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one to pick up on Director Aof making ATOTS do the heavier lifting – see @wen-kexing-apologist’s write-ups linked here and here.

To my mind, Director Aof's bait-and-switch (kind of a hallmark with him) was also signaled at the end of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [4/4], when Pran had to hike up to Pha Pun Dao just as Tian had done in the original ATOTS.

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [4/4] 10.28

Pran found it as much of a physical ordeal as Tian did, and the parallel with Tian's trajectory is unmistakable (while also being oddly illogical, since Pran should still be pretty fit as an ex-rugby player while Tian is a heart transplant recipient 🤷‍♂️).

But in service of the narrative, when an exhausted Pran finally reaches his destination – it’s the waiting Phupha who faints, not Pran-as-Tian. (In the original ATOTS, it was Tian who fainted at the end of the long hike up to PPD and Phupha was the one who caught him.)

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [4/4] 11.28

For me, this signals that a switch-up has happened, and Phupha's story has somehow taken up continuity from Pran's (and we do see him learning from their similar experiences when they talk in the forest in Ep.3). More than just a callback to ATOTS, it also represents the moment when the red thread of the narrative, the coursing of the prana or qi, symbolically transfers from PatPran's storyline to PhuTian's.

So, summarizing the structure of this four-ep mini-series:

Ep.1 was basically a set-up to get PatPran up to the mountains, padded out with lots of gleeful fanservice moments for BBS fans (not that I'm complaining! 💖);

Ep.2 was devoted to setting out the main subject matter at hand and establishing the framework within which it would be discussed (PhuTian’s relationship, juxtaposed against PatPran’s);

Ep.3 – the jungle jaunt – introduced external conflict as the tool by which the subject could be dissected under scrutiny; and

Ep.4 was of course the resolution, drawing matters to their natural conclusion.

And with regard to Bad Buddy, what we see in OS2’s BBS portions is really a kind of compromise. It’s not a sequel to BBS by a longshot, but mostly a flourish of fanservice instead (hence the generous gifting of callbacks and re-creations of iconic moments from BBS, especially in Ep.1 of the four-parter – some scenes, like the one starting at Ep.1 [1I4] 8.31, consisted almost entirely of callbacks).

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [1I4] 8.47

This is not to say we don't see anything at all with regard to growth though. By situating PatPran's storyline during the timeskip between the original BBS Episodes 11 and 12, we were effectively allowed a glimpse into the state and development of their relationship sometime after the heady hormonal rush of their honeymoon period in Ep.11, and before its relative maturity in Ep.12, and there were some choice moments on display.

OS2 called this out at Ep.2 [2/4] 10.29, when Pat asked "Since we’re here in the North, should we make it our honeymoon trip?", which Pran then dismisses with a reminder of their task at hand (getting PhuTian's permission for his play).

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.2 [2/4] 10.51

The honeymoon reference was a callback to BBS Ep.11, in which Pat was wanting to live indefinitely in a sort-of forever honeymoon by the sea (that even he knew was only illusory). Pran's dismissal of Pat's suggestion in OS2 was a reminder that their honeymoon period was over, and it was time for them to be dealing with the growing pains that every couple faces on their journey to a stable pairing.

What wasn't addressed in the original BBS is that PatPran's natural propensity to draw each other into conflict could not have been healthy for their longer-term relationship post-honeymoon, unless they found a way to corral the constant infighting and invent a set of gentlemen's rules that would prevent damage to their bond.

(above) BBS Ep.5 [1I4] 3.19

And I think this is part of what OS2 was trying to show us (however briefly): Pat and Pran moving toward finding a balance between loving each other and punching each other up (emotionally), despite conflict and rivalry paradoxically being the age-old rockbed of their relationship.

The following are some of the relationship dynamics that they explored in OS2:

Transitioning from an individual mindset to a couple-based one (which was highlighted by Pran's solo expedition to the mountains, before Pat managed to catch up);

Adapting to each other's personal styles (Pran's is spikier, and Pat's more embracing);

Learning about give and take, and looking for win-win outcomes rather than keeping score (in OS2, this was illustrated by how their earlier duels – like who gets the auditorium, who gets the HighTem sponsorship – were framed as zero-sum win-lose situations, where a win for one would mean a loss for the other; it was also given a nod in Pran's talk with Phupha at Ep.3 [4/4] 1.19 regarding his insecurities about who gives more in a relationship).

There are possibly others, but these are just the ones I could suss out with my one haphazard re-watch, and I'm not ready to go looking for them. 🤷‍♂️

Now I was originally going to go into these in detail, but I realize it's not what interests me the most about OS2 x BBS x ATOTS, nor do I think OS2 adequately dealt with these (and/or other) relationship issues between PatPran during the mini-series itself (as in, we aren't shown enough of Pat and Pran working together on detangling the knots in their bond for any suggested resolution at the end of the fourth episode to feel logical and satisfying).

It seems almost as though OS2 x BBS x ATOTS was expecting us to believe that PatPran's Ep.3 trial by forest (which they also went through mostly apart from each other) was enough to be some magically purifying crucible, imparting wisdom via its sufferance.

(above left) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.3 [1I4] 15.16 – Tian, Pran and Kampung lost in the forest; (above right) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.3 [1I4] 17.46 – Pat and Phupha on their wilderness search

We do know that PatPran's journey to arrive at a steady-state couplehood will continue unseen beyond OS2 and that they eventually end up on rock-solid footing, with a set of mutually-agreed ground rules for engagement that is acknowledged and respected, because it's obviously what they have in place by the time we see them in BBS Ep.12 (so much so that their relationship could withstand the difficulties of a long-distance commitment after Pran moves to Singapore).

(above) BBS Ep.12 [3I4] 8.15

I'm willing to accept this because I think OS2 x BBS x ATOTS was not meant to be a PatPran vehicle in the main, and so I will take whatever crumbs are on offer and view their forest ordeal as more metaphor than real-time depiction of their actual process to ground their relationship in greater maturity. (If you'd like to look at PatPran's learning track more in detail however, I can point you to the ever-incisive @miscellar's breakdowns linked here, here and here. 🤩👍)

But what I find really interesting about OS2 x BBS x ATOTS is when PhuTian's storyline gets drawn into the mix – and it happens much earlier than you would think on first watch.

One part of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS that stood out for me was all the discourse around the Engineering play, because quite frankly it felt incongruously spotlighted. First of all, why Snow White? And why an entire scene of Pran demonstrating the art of theater to Pat backstage? I now believe Director Aof was doing this to call attention to some underlying significance.

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [2/4] 9.15

Tumblr user @ranchthoughts has very astutely pointed out that the story of Snow White has many parallels with the original ATOTS (e.g., the gallant woodsman; the fragile, privileged damsel who falls in a swoon; the journey through the forest; the misappropriated heart that doubles as proof of good faith – see these links here, here and here for more 🤩👍).

(above) An illustration of the seven dwarfs finding Snow White by Franz Jüttner, from Sneewittchen (1905)

So by bringing up Snow White, Director Aof was already slyly alluding to PhuTian in OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [2/4].

Although it is not a strict retelling of the fairytale, I think that OS2 x BBS x ATOTS also contains elements of Snow White:

Another character (Phupha) swoons into unconsciousness (like Snow White did after biting the poisoned apple);

There is also a journey through the wilderness (mirroring Snow White's abandonment in the woods and finding her way to the dwarf house);

A cast of supporting characters parallels the seven dwarfs (Kampung is one, and this is perhaps why they dressed him in oversized windbreakers, playing with his proportions to make him seem more dwarf-like; this is also possibly why Pat jokingly mentions Korn playing one of the dwarfs in the Engineering play at Ep.1 [1I4] 13.26 – Drake may have been originally envisioned as part of the cast, in character as Rang, up in the mountains);

The magic mirror, that always tells the truth, is actually PatPran, in whom PhuTian see their own relationship problems reflected, and whose truths help them to better their own dynamic (see Phupha's comments at Ep.4 [3I4] 0.53 and 1.05 – "It has to be you two who play the parts" and "No one gets us better than these two" as well as PhuTian's more light-hearted callbacks to PatPran's cheekier moments, e.g., at Ep.4 [2/4] 1.25 and 1.59).

But it's really Pat and Pran's interaction backstage at Ep.1 [2/4] 8.54 that both illuminates and foreshadows some bigger themes to come in OS2 x BBS x ATOTS (when Pran demonstrates how a simple bench can transform onstage, depending on how you frame it for the audience via the narrative).

(above left) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [2/4] 10.12 – Pran shows Pat how a bench can be a dining table; (above right) BBS Ep.3 [3I4] 9.01 – Pat shows Pran how roleplay can spark a creative bus stop design

On the surface level it's a parallel and callback to PatPran's roleplay at BBS Ep.3 [3I4] 8.38 (although flipping the roles with Pran turning educator doesn't quite gel, given that Pat was fully aware of how to use the power of imagination at the bus-stop).

It's also a tip of the hat to theater legend Peter Brook who famously said "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged", which invokes the same kind of metamorphic magic that turns Pran's bench into a mirror, a dwarf dining table and a glass coffin. (Peter Brook also passed away just a few months before the Our Skyy 2 trailer aired, which lends a poignancy and weight to this moment.)

(above left) Theater legend Peter Brook; (above right) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [2/4] 11.03 – PatPran roleplay Snow White and the glass coffin

The bench as glass coffin is also a metaphor for the constraints that PatPran must face living their relationship in a glass closet – open to view yet limited on all sides by expectations (remembering that they've officially broken up but still have to interact in public on school matters).

And of course it's unmissable that both Snow White's glass coffin and PatPran's relationship are a metaphor for queer lives in the closet. (PatPran leaning in for a kiss on that bench only to be interrupted by a uniformed security guard, is also a tongue-in-cheek reminder about how higher authorities can and do impinge on the freedom of queer people to love freely.)

However, in the context of BL and of Our Skyy 2 as a BL anthology, OS2 x BBS x ATOTS is also a metatextual comment on the telling of queer love stories in the media. The entire four-parter can be seen as a metaphor (or more correctly, an allegory) regarding the commodification of LGBTQ+ love by the BL industry itself, if you will, as well as some of the issues this stirs up.

In OS2 we have:

PatPran turning PhuTian's love story into a drama for public consumption;

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [3I4] 7.00

The emphasis placed on consent for that story to be used (in the words of Ajahn Pichai at Ep.1 [2/4] 12.15, 12.31 and 12.38, and PhuTian's exchange at Ep.2 [1I4] 16.30) and the comment that partial consent is not enough (from Pran at Ep.2 [1I4] 10.18 and 20.22);

(top) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.1 [2/4] 12.38; (middle) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.2 [1I4] 16.32; (bottom) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.2 [1I4] 20.22

Phupha's objection to being portrayed as a one-dimensional love interest, reduced to only his romanticized and/or sexualized self (Ep.2 [1I4] 18.35), instead of being seen as a fully-realized human being in his own right (Ep.2 [1I4] 18.25);

(top) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.2 [1I4] 18.35; (bottom) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.2 [1I4] 18.25

Pran detecting Phupha's self-doubt and commenting at Ep.3 [4/4] 0.58: "Why do I feel like you’re just insecure and not sure if you’re good enough to tell anyone that story?";

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.3 [4/4] 0.58

Phupha finally giving permission for PatPran to dramatize his and Tian's story, with the proviso that Tian and he be played by PatPran themselves (Ep.4 [3I4] 0.48).

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [3I4] 0.48

The parallels with the BL industry are striking. (I'm sticking with BL as the established industry here, but you could perhaps apply the same points to the nascent GL as well.) No disrespect to allies, but Director Aof is pointedly saying the following:

Queer love stories are constantly being dramatized in Thai media (by cishet-dominated parties and largely for cishet consumption) – but this is often done without the LGBTQ+ community having much say, let alone any consent, in the matter;

The commodification of queer love (especially in the BL industry) has resulted in most productions forefronting the romantic and/or sexual aspects of the narrative (understandable, because these are romance-driven), but this also has the unfortunate result of reducing the queer characters to pretty vessels for love stories, deified and/or fetishized, and with limited room for more to be said about other aspects of their queer lives;

Perhaps because of discrimination, people might still be carrying the idea in their heads that queer stories are somehow less valid than the cishet ones that dominate media (remembering how SOTUS had to break the mold for BL, and InkPa for GL) – and the call sometimes even comes from inside the house, when queer people feel that their stories may somehow be unsuitable for mainstream channels (as echoed by Phupha's insecurity, called out by Pran at Ep.3 [4/4] 0.58).

Not only are queer stories that exist beyond the romantic/sexual dimension worthy of being told in a more expansive arena (Pran's Architecture play, and its reception), the LGBTQ+ community should be mindful when control of how these stories are told and who gets to tell them is not in its hands (echoed by "neutral" Ajahn Pichai's reminder about consent, and Phupha's insistence on having a trusted couple incarnate his and Tian's story).

But remembering Director Aof's leanings toward LGBTQ+ activism in his work, it's also possible to read the drama in OS2 x BBS x ATOTS as an allegory itself for real-life situations, beyond this BL anthology's metatextual comment on the BL industry. I think that this is the ultimate message with PhuTian's story being the finale for Our Skyy 2 (landing not coincidentally during Pride Month and all).

With the metaphors in Pran's theater class backstage and the BL allegory as a launchpad, OS2 x BBS x ATOTS (and Ep.4 especially) is also allegory for queer life in a broader context:

In wider society, the narrative for queer lives has for so long been dominated by the cishet majority and dictated by it (just as the queer romances in BL have had to respond to cishet impulses).

So many queer people have to live their lives with varying degrees of (in)visibility, subject to unseen but still suffocating constraints (Snow White's glass coffin, standing in for the proverbial closet).

Queer lives often take on a performative public face and people have to pretend to be less than their whole truth (Pran's bench, actually so much more than meets the eye).

Queer individuals' self-worth and self-acceptance are influenced by the views of those outside the community, whether coming from family or larger society (Phupha's insecurity, called out by Pran at Ep.3 [4/4] 0.58).

Remembering how Heart in Director Aof's recent (and also mega-important) work Moonlight Chicken was sequestered away by his parents because he was different (i.e., he was a Heart who did not fit what they perceived as "normal"), there is also a parallel in OS2 with Tian whose heart is one step removed from what is considered the norm by wider society (being a transplant from Torfun in ATOTS).

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [4/4] 12.23 – Heart weeps in silence at his isolation

Tian's heart often causes him pain, and he is often enfeebled or constrained by it, but even so he loves with his heart just as hard as the next guy (maybe even more, seen not just in his relationship with Phupha but also in his compassion for his students and especially the lost Kampung).

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.3 [3I4] 2.57

We are shown that Tian is not willing to be held back by his difference, and expects to live his life to the fullest. It's just that he needs to live his life a little differently, and indeed he thrives when he is given the right circumstances (controlled exertion, and the right sustenance/medication) and freedom to do so. And all this is of course a metaphor for queer people, whose hearts also love differently from the cishet majority's, and who are simply asking for the freedom and space to live their best lives.

So in a sense – just as PatPran were a magic mirror to PhuTian – OS2 x BBS x ATOTS is also Snow White's magic mirror held up to its audience, reflecting truths about queer life back to all who are watching.

But as is typical of Director Aof's work, Our Skyy 2 also suffuses its message with hope, so it's not all hard truths, raw and unvarnished. The series draws to a close on an uplifting note, and as an allegory it hails on behalf of the queer community the hope of a positive future that is presented as not only attainable, but also deserved.

Homophobia is not shown to exist in this universe (as was the case with BBS and also ATOTS). So when Phupha meets up with Tian in Bangkok, they're surrounded by a supportive network of family, friends and allies who were working together to make Phupha's attendance at Tian's birthday celebration a reality.

(top) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [4/4] 3.06 – Tian's birthday celebration with his parents, best friend Tul and surprise guest Phupha; (bottom) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [4/4] 4.32 – Tian's parents give Phupha their blessing to marry Tian

Tian's parents also giving joyful, proud and formal blessing to their union, as well as Tul and Yod's cheerful assistance, all signal the aspirational message that a better, more accepting world is possible for the LGBTQ+ community.

And of course that super-romantic wedding proposal caps it all off:

(top) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [4/4] 8.46 – Phupha kisses Tian's hand after placing the engagement ring on his finger; (bottom) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [4/4] 12.16 – Phupha and Tian's post-engagement kiss by the pool

But it's not just trumpeting support for marriage equality, the cause célèbre that BL series have been championing over the past few years. Noting that Thailand is expected to legalize LGBTQ+ marriage in the coming weeks or months, queer people in the country are now daring to look to the future with much more hope in their hearts. 💖

With this as the context, Phupha and Tian's engagement in the present, with matrimonial union set for the future, can also be seen as symbolizing the hope of even better days to come – when members of the queer community will finally be afforded equal rights in all respects. And I think this has given Our Skyy 2's last episode a rainbow flourish truly worthy of Pride Month 2023. 😍

‌ P.S. Not to take away from the importance of Director Aof's vision, but this is a Bad Buddy blog after all, so I will close this write-up with a bit of a rewind back to PatPran. We didn't get to see a whole lot of information regarding their relationship growth in the four episodes of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS, but there is an Easter Egg hiding within the layers near the end. One of the issues that Pat and Pran had to deal with as a new-ish couple was how to move away from scorekeeping in their constant, competitive jostling. Their first few contests that we saw in OS2 x BBS x ATOTS were win-lose ones ("if you get it, it means that I won't", e.g., the use of the auditorium and the HighTem sponsorship), and that kind of dynamic would only have been corrosive for their couplehood in the longer term. What we see in OS2 x BBS x ATOTS is that in the end they somehow arrive at a win-win instead (just as their Ep.6 Beachside Bet in Bad Buddy sidestepped a black-and-white win-lose outcome and gave them both the winner's prize of being in love). I don't have proof that it's intentional, but Director Aof and his team are certainly clever enough to have planned it to be so. For if ATOTS really is a version of Snow White, both of them got to stage their plays (and share in the sponsorship) since Pran's play (ATOTS) is also Pat's play (Snow White). OS2 x BBS x ATOTS winks at this with Pat – an Engine boy – playing Snow White/Tian, and by showing Wai and Korn in cahoots backstage (why should Engineering student Korn be helping with the Archi play anyway?). 😍

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [3I4] 6.55 And then PatPran are of course forced to kiss onstage (celebrating their union in more ways than one).

(above) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS Ep.4 [3I4] 7.13 Another sly little wink from OS2, they're lovers pretending to be enemies pretending to be lovers, which in a way is also emblematic of OS2 x BBS x ATOTS's deeper message, told matryoshka-style with layers of allegorical meaning. 💖

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#bad buddy #our skyy 2 #our skyy 2 x bad buddy #patpran #our skyy 2 x bad buddy x a tale of thousand stars #os2 x bbs x atots #phutian

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thevindicativevordan · 3 months ago

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Hey there 🙂 why do you think Alan Moore agreed to write a WildC.A.Ts book for Wildstorm in the first place, considering his open disdain for edgy 90’s cheese (heavily influenced by Watchmen/Rorschach, much to his chagrin) that was all the rage in comics at the time? I mean, I’m personally a big fan of his WildC.A.Ts run, but it does seem like a weird fit, no?

Money dear boy.

"I can write this entire six-issue series in a week, as opposed to all this brainy stuff that takes me months to write an episode. It's not at all fair; it's quite ironic really. Things like Big Numbers, From Hell, Lost Girls - this as far as I'm concerned is the best stuff I've done in my life. It will not make a tenth [of the money] of this frankly brainless garbage that I'm doing for Image comics; but it will support it." - Comics Forum #4, Summer 1993, when 1963 was first rumored.

"The Image stuff is very lucrative and a great deal of fun. It's been a real breath of fresh air amongst the other projects. After wading through entrails in Whitechapel for a month, writing an episode of From Hell, it's really nice to do something...silly." - Hero Illustrated #7, January 1994

"In terms of future comics work, in terms of the serious comics work, by which...all right, I'm doing various stuff for Image, for Extreme Studios, for WildStorm Studios which I'm having fun with and which I still think of as being very valid in their way. I'm trying to create an interesting realm of the imagination for teenage, adolescent, or even younger boys. And that seems valid. But, in terms of the serious work, the next serious comic work that I'll do after concluding Lost Girls will almost certainly be a history of magic." - Feature Magazine Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1997 (which shows how long we've been waiting for the Bumper Book of Magic!)

"Doing the work for Image, after being away from mainstream comics for a long time, was different. Image was everywhere and everybody wanted comics about super-heroes with a pin-up every three pages and no story. I thought that this is a challenge, so let's see if I can write comics like this. I worked at it for a while. At the time, I had a lapse in consciousness where I thought it was my job to work out what the readers liked and luckily, around about the time I started doing Supreme, I worked out that it's not my job to work out what readers like; it's my job to tell readers what they like. My job is to do what I like and then readers will like it. So I started doing what I liked again and the readers have liked it as well." - Comic Book Artist #25, June 2003

"the whole Awesome Comics experience wasn't a lot of fun; there was a lot of messing about and stuff like that dealing with Rob Liefeld, but I enjoyed the work that I did there. I thought that I'd done a good job on Youngblood; I thought I'd done a good job on Supreme, on Glory, you know? Some of the other things - I mean, Judgment Day - I did the best job I could." ... "But, you know, Rob Liefeld never seemed to put any enthusiasm into any of these drawings; he wouldn't put enough backgrounds or anything like that. It was pointless writing scripts for him because he'd just ignore most of them because he wanted to do the easiest, simplest thing. So, there were limitations, but yeah, it was fun to be on Supreme, on Youngblood, like I say. But by the time that Awesome fell apart, I was starting to get a bit frustrated because I was starting to see how you could actually put together a really, really good mainstream comics company." ... "I'd some great fun doing the various bits that we got to on Supreme, you know. Working with Jim Mooney, and working with Rick, with Melinda and Jim Baikie and - a lot of my favorite people. It was an interesting experience. I don't think that the ABC books would have turned out the way they did if we hadn't had that sort of springboard or that kind of rehearsal that we were able to get for ourselves with the Awesome comics." (then, apparently talking about Rob Liefeld again:) "Well, it was just so - I just got fed up with the unreliability of information that I get from him, that I didn't trust him. I didn't think that he was respecting the work and I found it difficult to respect him. And also by then I was probably feeling that with the exception of Jim Lee, Jim Valentino - people like that - that a couple of the Image partners were seeming, to my eyes, to be less than gentlemen. They were seeming to be not necessarily the people that I wanted to deal with. I was quite happy to carry on doing Supreme as long as it was there, as long as it was providing work for people that I wanted to work their way and work with, and we were getting to the stories that we wanted; I was quite happy to go along with that." - The Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore, July 2003

Even wizards have bills to pay.

#alan moore #wild cats #image comics

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psychogirlfriendandsupervillain · 1 year ago

Text

Walk of Shame Pride

Benny Watts x Genderneutral!Reader (at least I tried to make them readable as any gender)

Content warnings: Flirting, 18+, smut, dirty talk, constant switching between sexual tension and sarcastic flirting because it’s my brand now apparently, unnecessary lore.

Disclaimer: I don’t live in New York, have never been in New York, Google maps and random generators are what you get ok? I also had already started writing this before watching the two last episodes and so refuse to change his apartment to be accurate in this either. I might next time.

Summary: You leave one hookup and find yourself invited to another.

Word count: Looking like it’s gonna be 2k. (It is not.) 4k

A/N: Clearly I feel some type of way about Benny Watts. Inspired by deciding to pull up Walkashame by Meghan Trainor and Walk of Shame by P!nk (which is like my favorite) while thinking about Benny.

It’s five to seven when Benny pulls on his coat and unlocks the door to his apartment. The rest of the house lay quiet, not too surprising for a Saturday morning. As he puts the key back in the lock a door slams a bit further down the too-bright corridor, catching his attention.

Looking over his shoulder he sees someone standing with their hand still on the handle, hooking the other shoe on their foot. They’re far too dressed up for this time of day, but Benny also doesn’t think they’re dressed for the office. What was probably adjusted to perfection the night before now hangs uneven, covered in wrinkles, bunching up in several places.

Benny’s eyes flicker up to their face as they start heading down the corridor in his direction. He can’t tell if the traces of makeup are from the start of the night or the end, maybe somewhere in between. There are signs of a sleepless night around their eyes and they look…not tired, but like they had a fun night, a self-satisfied smile resting easy on their lips. They run a hand over their head, and Benny feels entirely too warmly dressed. The heat only gets worse as they come three, two, one door away, and as they pass him, he can’t help himself.

“Fun night?” His voice is nonchalant and steadier than his pulse when he glances over his other shoulder, watching them stop a few feet away. Then they turn around and his heartbeat almost drowns out your words as you smile, undaunted.

“Yeah, it was.” You don’t know why anyone would be up at this hour on a weekend, much less dressed and heading out. He’s wearing a leather coat and a hat which would make him blend in as an extra in a western movie, although the dark color palette lends itself more to him being cast as the outlaw. “How was yours?”

“I thought it was good then” He matches your smile, and even at this distance you can see his dark eyes sparkle. “but now I’m starting to think I missed out on something. Whoever you just came from has my night beat.”

You open your mouth with an amused frown, taking a second before responding.

“Don’t you have a job to go to? Where else are you going so early?”

He raises his eyebrows with an amused smile.

“You’re going somewhere too.”

You roll your eyes in pretend annoyance.

“I need to go home and change.”

“Want to, yes.” His eyes pass over you. “Need to, absolutely not.” He looks back up and you suppress your amusement to raise your eyebrows at him.

“Are you done? Can I go now?” You gesture down the hall as if to say that there are places you’d rather be than flirting with an attractive stranger.

He opens his mouth, closes it, and thinks for a moment. You cross your arms.

“One second.” He pats his coat pockets, coming up with a pencil and a piece of paper. Using the door in front of him as support he quickly scribbles something on the slip, takes a step back, and holds it out against you between two fingers. You look at his held-out hand, then back at him. He shakes the paper for you to take it, eyes on yours, and you give in, pulling the note from him. Unfolding it you read a series of numbers.

You fold it back up, eyeing him. “I’m not a prostitute, you know.”

He makes something akin to a shrug and puts his hands in his pockets.

“Didn’t necessarily think you were, wouldn’t care if that was the case either.” He sounds sincere enough.

“Okay, then why?” You tilt your head and eye him with amused suspicion, putting the paper away on your person.

He takes a breath, rocking once on the balls of his feet, darting his eyes to the ceiling and back to you.

“ ‘Cause you’re attractive and seem like fun.” He does a small gesture with his head. “Call me sometime.”

You smile and turn, calling over your shoulder. “You wish!” There’s a smile audible in his voice when his answer reaches you.

“Yeah, I do.”

It’s two minutes past eight when you press the last digit in a smoke infused telephone booth outside a club on the next Friday evening. The line to the door is not horrendous yet, but it’s long enough for you to wonder why you decided to step out of it. As you wait for the call to go through you remind yourself of why you did: because he most likely won’t be home to answer it and part of you wants to give him the chance to get out of having this conversation.

The line clicks.

“Benny.” The voice on the other side answers, matching your memory of the guy you spoke to in the corridor after leaving a hookup. Well, he definitely gave you the right number.

“Hi” You almost start laughing. “You gave me your number and told me to call you.”

There’s a second’s pause before you hear him respond, clearly as equally amused as you.

“Just so I don’t offend anyone, is this the person from the hallway?”

You roll your eyes, holding the phone closer to hear over the soccer chant starting up in the line.

“Wow, you meet that many people like that? I’m glad you remember.” Kicking up your foot you lean back against the glass wall, pressing the receiver to your ear.

“I just want to make sure I don’t accidentally accuse the wrong person of looking so good when leaving someone else’s place in the morning that I wanted to pull them into my bed and continue the job.” His voice dips and you feel it in your stomach, looking to the door to check that no one is waiting for their turn. There’s a pause and you can hear your heartbeat in the ear not pressed to the phone. “You called me…” He lightly prompts and you find the thread you lost again.

“Are you busy?”

“Would it be pathetic if I said I’m at home hoping for you to call?” He’s smiling again, his accent smooth around the words. “Have been all week actually.”

“Every evening?” You laugh. “That is pathetic.”

“No, every whole day.” Laughter threatens behind his words too.

“How have you not been fired?”

“I’m a chess player, I don’t work like that.” There’s a shuffle on the other side. “I go to tournaments, competitions, but other than that I practice at home.”

“Wait” That connects some previously unknown dots and you smile. “Benny, you’re not Benny Watts, are you?” Even as you ask you know you’re right, and he can tell that, because there’s an immediate addition of smugness when he answers.

“Oh, you know who I am?” You can visualize the face he’s making, raised eyebrows and self-assured smile.

“Don’t get cocky now, I read the newspaper like everyone else.”

“Yeah, but it’s not everyone who reads those articles.”

You roll your eyes at his teasing tone, trying to chase the smile from your voice. “Back to the point, I’m outside Harmony in Brooklyn, wanted to know if you wanted to join.”

“I just told you I’m a chess player and have been home every night for a week, what gave you the impression that I go to clubs?” He laughs.

“I have faith that you have a vivid social life, I believe in you.” You tease.

“It’s between Bushwick and Jefferson, right?” You hum affirmative. “I’ll be there in ten.”

“Good, see you by the bar.” The phone clicks and you hang up the receiver, heading back outside to join the ever-growing line.

Fifteen minutes later you see him enter and less than a minute later he’s standing next to you, his face slightly lit up by the reflection bouncing off the counter.

“What are you drinking?” Benny gestures to the glass in front of you, a slice of lemon floating on clear liquid.

“Sparkling” Taking a sip you judge his reaction, wondering if he’ll be a jerk about it, but he just shrugs, ordering the same of the bartender who has stopped in front of you both. With the glass in his hand, he turns around to look out over the crowd, leaning back against the counter.

“This your usual place?” Eyes flicker over to you as he lifts his glass to his lips. You turn to lean against the counter too.

“It’s one of them.” Previously called The Trial, now under new management, Harmony is a bare redbrick room lit up only by the display case of bottles behind the bar. Its main crowd is people fresh out into the working life, the music is the same as the Top 100 on the radio and you’re fairly sure the custodian is overworked and underpaid for the job they do. You’d been on the fence when the place was sold, having been a regular at the steel barred counter and blank polished dance floor of its old existence, but two visits were enough for you to decide that you didn’t mind the changes. “Not your style?”

“I’ve been here too many times for it not to be.” Benny turns like he just realized something. “What is your name?”

You cut off the laugh about to spill out and answer, continuing: “You came all the way here without knowing my name, that’s commitment.” Benny looks away, failing to hide an amused smile as he scans the room. You on the other hand don’t hold back your laugh, enjoying how he’s giving an answer by not responding. “So, how’d you get into chess playing?” This time he laughs.

“I thought you said you read the paper.” There’s something adoring in his eyes when he looks at you, tone and smile teasing.

“I must have forgotten that part.” You put down your empty glass behind you, noting the way he follows your movements. The song switches to something with more bass and Benny downs the rest of his drink. Pushing off the counter you stand in front of him, his eyes falling to your shoes and dragging up to meet yours. “Feel like leaving?”

He smiles, one hand coming up to adjust the hat on his head.

“If you’re ready.” He lets you lead the way between groups of excited friends and even more excited new acquaintances until you reach the cold air outside.

You’re ready to start walking but Benny steps out into the street and with a wave and a sharp whistle that bounces between the buildings he has hailed a cab. Holding the door open he gestures with his head for you to get in, letting you use his free hand for support as you sit down, scooting further in to give him space. Benny flicks his coat so it doesn’t get in the way when he sits down, pushing forward to give the driver the address.

He leans back into the seat, his upper body closer to you, his hand supporting his chin as he looks out the front window, before it falls to lightly rest on your knee.

The building looks just like it did last time, dark and dormant. Following Benny up the stairs you feel your heart beat a little faster. No one meets you in the stairwell, nor in the corridor as you walk down the row of doors. When the door clicks open he holds it for you, smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.

“Hungry?” Benny pulls the door closed behind you, meeting your confused glance with an amused look of sincereness.

“Sure” You laugh a little, pulling off your jacket. “what’d’ya have in mind?”

He plops his hat on a hook by the door and heads further into the apartment, his voice reaching you from behind a corner where the kitchen must lie. “I got eggs and toast.”

You look over the sofa, taking a step closer and spotting the started game of chess next to a beer bottle laying on the coffee table. Scanning the room a little further you find the phone, on the small table on the other end of the couch to where the chess board is, and you grin.

“Sounds great.” You call back, walking to the kitchen and leaning against the wall. Benny has thrown his coat over the back of a chair and rolled up his sleeves, putting a frying pan on the stove as you enter.

“Sit down.” He gestures to the table and turns back to his task. You slide into a chair as he cracks an egg into the pan. “Scrambled or sunny side?”

“Scrambled.” You glance at your watch, leaning your arms on the table. The toaster makes a noise. “Want any help?”

Benny opens a cabinet.

“No, I’m good.” Some short minutes later he clicks off the stove. A plate slides in front of you and a glass clicks against the table.

It’s good, really good, almost as good as he looks sitting across from you, sleeves rolled up, blond hair pushed back. The first three buttons of his shirt are undone, several chains laying against the t-shirt underneath. Light catches in his rings as he eats, tongue swiping over his lower lip.

You flick your eyes away when Benny looks at you, a bad habit that you thought you had broken. Those lectures of if someone catches you looking, look away immediately overriding your personal opinion that if you were interested in someone, you should be clear about it. It’s a reflexive response, and you curse yourself out in your head, you’ve not reacted like that in years.

He’s still looking, barely holding back a grin, tongue flicking out, pulling his bottom lip into his mouth. Eyes flicker down to your unfinished food and back up to give you a meaning look. You raise your eyebrows, giving him a look back. He holds your gaze, and breaks, looking away with evident failure to not look smug as all hell while you resume eating, this time standing your ground and continuing to look at him.

After you both finish Benny takes the plates before you have a chance to move, leaving you to lean against the end of the table while he puts them in the sink.

Movement shakes you from the slight trance you put yourself in looking at his back while the water was running. It takes Benny two more steps, which you follow with great interest, until he’s in front of you, closeness making you push back into the table. Not really blocking you physically, but just the fact that he is standing there makes moving seem like an extremely undesirable alternative. Palms resting against the solid wood behind you, you’re in no rush to do anything else than look into his dark eyes, feeling like if this was a movie, a fuse would break due to the electricity in the air.

Then his tongue wets his lower lip, your eyes flicker down, you lift yourself onto the table at the same time as he invades your personal space even further, hands pulling your hips back forward, pushing you against him in the same moment that your lips connect with his.

Your thighs lock him in place, keeping him close even though leaving seems to be the last thing on his mind with the way lips move against yours. It’s like he’s been starving for hours, not eaten just five minutes ago; then again, maybe that wouldn’t be far off. Seven days is a lot for someone who is currently pressing his whole body against you, pulling in your tongue to envelope it with his own. There’s a hand on your back and one at your side, pulling as much as they are caressing you.

Benny’s hips roll against you, sending your eyes rolling back at the friction.

“Don’t stop.” Your hands tug at his sides to get him closer, smile pressing against your lips as he complies with fervor.

Devouring you, Benny almost distracts you from your position until he pushes you back and gets on the table with you, placing a knee between your legs and pushing off the floor. When he leans back down the pressure of his thigh between yours sends sparks up your spine. A sound rolls off your tongue onto Benny’s as you push up against him, arms bracing against his back to pull him down.

Hot air mix between your mouths, letting up only for a second before connecting again, swallowing the sounds the other one makes. You reach up to undo the rest of the buttons in Benny’s shirt, whining when he pushes down harder against you. The hand not holding him up runs down your side, starting to free you of your clothing too as you flick one side of the shirt off his shoulder.

Next the t-shirt gets halfway up his body before your fingers tangle in his chains, lightly tugging him down, earning a heavy drag of his hips as his tongue slides into your mouth. He tears off you for only a second to rip the shirt fully off.

In the back of your head you try to remember if there are buildings facing this one and if there are windows, but that thought gets stuck at the station when everything save your underwear falls on the kitchen floor beside the table. Quickly pulling his belt from his pants you let him go. Before he disposes of the jeans, he pulls a square from one of the pockets, and you can’t help smiling at how you both came to that club prepared.

You sit up, leaning on one hand to watch Benny roll the rubber over his freed cock, palm coming away glistening wet in the light. His shoulders give away the deep breaths he is taking, but even without that, his eyes, running along the floor up to meet yours, would have shown his desire and unwillingness to control it more than you need him to. You let your own eyes run over his skin, sending an almost unnoticeable shiver through his body.

Benny comes back to you, using the free space next to you on the table to get back up, pulling you down over him as he lies back against the wood. You kick a leg over his, as a hand at the back of your head implores for your lips to meet Benny’s. The other hand runs down between your legs, stroking places that makes your eyes flutter and heat roar in your stomach. Your increased breathing seems to encourage his hand to move faster, the one keeping your lips against his running down to push against your back.

The friction between you causes a sound in the back of his throat. You can’t tell if he is embarrassed or more turned on because his mouth grows more insistent against yours. The hand on your back pushes down again, his hips move up, as does another sound from his lips. The hand between your legs drifts down and you straighten your back, despite frustrated sounds from Benny. Setting one hand on his heaving chest for support, your other hand seeks out the one Benny removed from you. You close your hand over his, following the slow strokes he is doing over his cock. Your eyes meet his. His breath hitches and his hand eases up, letting you take over. After a few more strokes you still your hand and lower your hips to meet it. It’s not quick, but Benny’s labored breathing and tremors makes it worth it.

Your thighs shake with the effort to make slow focused movements and not get distracted by the signal of every pleasurable nerve ending being touched by his cock inside you. It doesn’t help that Benny’s mouth keeps falling open, sounds that set your skin on fire tumbling off his tongue. Worse yet, his eyes sparkle every time he opens them to look at you, like a lost man looking at salvation. It sends skitters of fire along your back, pushes air out of your lungs in similar sounds to those he makes. You lower yourself again and his cock strokes against a sensitive spot. When you open your eyes Benny’s pleased look tells you he heard that. Oh, did he hear that.

His eyes locked on your face, his hands help you move your hips as thrills dance up your spine.

“That’s it, use me, just like that.” His soothing voice urges, seemingly without Benny noticing the words falling from his mouth. He’s too focused watching your eyes flutter, dragging your hips down just a little harsher to hear a sigh escape you. Your thighs clench around him at the feeling. You start to do it again, but Benny’s hands are already working to help you through the motion. He drags along the same spot and you feel rushes of pleasure going through your body. “Take what you need from me.”

You’ve never been one to deny someone a request like that. Benny lets out a whimper as your hips start to move faster and you’re not sure how much longer he’ll last. He is flushed red and his every breath is a moan, his hips bucking to meet yours. His cock strikes true every time, pleasure washing over you again and again in heady waves. Sparks set of wildfires in your stomach that spread to every limb and meeting those in Benny’s hands. Your thighs are shaking worse now, especially when Benny runs his hands over them, gently but burning the skin in his path. It’s so much and so good, and Benny’s eyes are alight with all the stars in the sky.

“So good.” He responds to the praise with a moan that vibrates into your body, dark eyes locked on yours. He won’t make it much longer, but he’ll try. You grind your hips down against his and you feel the wave threatening to crash. “Just like that.”

His breath hitches when you push all the way down, and you feel your stomach flip. Then it rushes over you. Benny curses and gasps your name as he finally falls from his balance point. Every stroke is fire, like you are burning and taking Benny with you. You push closer as you feel him shake, sending pride and pleasure through you. His hands guides you onto him over and over, even continuing a few times after he is finished. Then his hands fall to his sides and he closes his eyes. You look at him with a proud smile as he catches his breath. He puts his arm over his eyes.

“Yeah, definitely better than my last Friday.”

-Morning after-

It’s half past nine when you have finished your coffee and eggs. Benny insisted on giving you food before you left, maybe just so he could make you sit at the table again. You wonder if he’ll think about this every time he sits at it now.

You step outside and give him a look when he follows.

“Let me walk you down.” He shrugs and locks the door while you wait.

“I think I can find it myself; I know where it is.” You tease as you start walking.

“Just want to make sure you get hold of a cab.” He follows you down the stairs and holds open the door out to the street. Then he points to the buzzer labeled Watts. “That’s how you get up, for next time.”

You laugh.

“Next time, huh?” Benny shrugs, turning around into the street just as the smile breaks through. His sharp whistle stops a cab rolling past. Benny opens the cab door for you.

“Next time.”

#benny watts x reader #benny watts #smut #fanfiction #the queen's gambit #I had a note in the document that said how down are we for Benny getting fucked on his own kitchen table?#"I think the likely hood is growing by the minute #and I'm very glad we did

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