#he was doing a video diary for the dvd

[ansonmountdaily]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 behind the scenes

Some highlights of Anson Mount appearing in the DVD extra features.

[wanderingandfound]

What do you call somebody who doesn't seem to be an out-and-out scammer, but is always jumping on the latest tech bandwagons and puts their name on things they haven't even read let alone written and doesn't make sure their coworkers/employees are adequately compensated even when their Kickstarter makes over seven times its initial goal but when they do make good things those things are very good? And it probably isn't solely the work of their coworkers/employees?

[neillewismybabydaddy]

the xxx section

summary: your just a girl with a bad history of sex and a love for porn, but for some reason a certain Neil Lewis decided to shut down that love.

Neil Lewis x fem!reader

warnings: smut, penetration, unprotected sex, public sex.

word count: 1.8k

—————————————————————————

This day was a different day. you’ve grown tired of your usual porn collection which was great but a bit tragic at times knowing, no man has touched you like that. Hey, it’s not like you haven’t ever, you have but just sort of boring. Either they have touched you on ur labia and have asked SERIOUSLY if you that was your clit, or for some reason, treat you like an absolute body bag and would slam you onto the bed as if you were some sort piece of wood. Porn has been your friend for a while now, concocting fantasies in your brain that was certainly to far gone from reality. A man will never know what you like, how you like or what they will do to make it better. It’s not like you haven’t told them. Some guys you will tell them how much you’ve NOT enjoyed it and then they run away onto the next poor victim. At some point, you even considered women.

“give me peace and grace lord.” you though while walking into this cute little movie store called Gumshoe video. You saw this cheesy ad and heard around they had XXX videos so you knew it was time to find some more variety. You walk in and see this nerdy-looking man with the haircut of Michael Moscovits from The Princess Diaries. He was very handsome but now was not the moment to pay attention to that, you had a mission to complete.

“welcome to gumshoe video!” the man says peeking up as finally someone walked in to this very empty store. “can I help you find anything? we are doing a 2 for 1 sale for all jungle adventures movies.” he said.

“oh no, i’m good just came to look around.” you said. of course you had to hold some dignity, this was not looking around for anything, this was looking around for porn. You spot the xxx sections in the far back, out of sight from the entrance or the cashier box. You walk over, smoothly and calmly as if you were looking for a move for family night. They knew what they were doing with setting it back up here, i’ll tell you thank god for this little corner.

You begin to look through the neatly displayed rack of complete nasty DVD’s and VHS’s. How ironic how nicely these are racked while the actual contents aren’t all that nice. You chose out a couple that interested you, and they were perfect. Tonight was gonna be a great night, very sorry to the neighbors.

You walked up to the counter and set the array of DVD’s and VHS’s that could possibly get you beaten down emotionally but hey, TITS UP. The man looked at the DVD’s and VHS’s and was a bit thrown off, he didn’t know you were that kind of girl. You were pretty with gorgeous eyes and a beautiful body, so once he saw this, he didn’t know if this was a good thing or bad thing.

“Did you find everything okay?” he said

“Everything was perfect, thank you for asking.” you replied, seeming unbothered.

“My name is Neil, Neil Lewis I own the store.” he said abruptly while ringing you up.

“Hi Neil Lewis… Im Y/N” you responded, why would he ask you for your name? Is he trying to make a tab on me to his secret spy friends, what is he trying to do?

“Can I get your phone number?” he asked, like as if it’s okay to ask someone their number while they are buying porn.

“Are you hitting on me?” what is he trying to get at?

“I’m just trying to make you an account so I can keep track of your…. videos.” he replied. “But if you want to think I am hitting on you, then by all means, you are an attractive lady.” he retorted.

Is this really a good moment to get hit on? This could either be really good and an open door to see if a nerdy guy that owns a video store can make ur fantasies come true or are they gonna be just like the other guys but you know what, fuck it.

“You are not too bad yourself, Neil Lewis.” are you really doing this right now or is this a super bad idea?

“Hey, I have a XXX movie theater in the back. Do you wanna test drive these bad boys?” he said with the look of hopefulness but also embarrassment.

You face turned bright red. Where did this guy get off asking girls if they wanna go to his porn movie theater. It’s odd for sure, but you’re intrigued. This could lead into many things but you are really hoping for just one outcome. “Sure, but make sure to lock the door behind you so nobody walks in.” you said stoically.

“Oh yea for sure, I was planning on locking up the store anyways. It’s getting a bit late.” Neil in reality, had planned to get his friends over to watch some noir film. He definitely had other things planned right about now.

He was staring at your ass, you felt it at the back of your neck. Someone was staring and it was none other than that horny bastard, Neil Lewis. As you walked in, you sat down and he walked past to put in the DVD he had chosen ‘Naughty Girls Fight 4’, very embarrassing but intriguing and arousing for sure. He sat back down next to you and swiftly put his arm around you as if y’all were gonna watch some sort of Disney movie.

The film began and as it kept playing, you, of course, became hot and bothered. Who wouldn’t be, you have an attractive man with his arm around you watching a raunchy porno. The moans of the women in utter pleasure, the squelching sounds of the sex, the tension between you and this attractive man, it was all coming together.

You turned your head to face Neil, he looked like he was holding on with every ounce of his body to not jump and absolutely ravish you. So you’re now stopping yourself Neil Lewis, you were the one to ask me to go to your cramp porno theater. With this, you just decided to go for it.

You moved your hand to rub his cock through his jeans. He took in a big but quick inhale, as if he wasn’t expecting this. You kept going and began to kiss his neck, and using your other hand to caress the hand over your shoulder. He was breathing heavy and was slowly tipping over the edge.

Suddenly, he grabbed your hand that was on his cock and looked at you, “Are we really gonna do this here?” he said.

“Why not.” you replied.

He grabbed your face and pulled you into a rough kiss as if he was hungry for you, like some sort of feral animal. You kissed him back, making sure to keep on rubbing his cock through his pants. He slowly crept his hands up to your chest to squeeze your boobs and you pushed into him more, becoming more and more needy for him.

You stood up unfortunately but necessarily to take off your shirt and jean shorts, exposing your underwear which thankfully today, your usual granny panties weren’t clean so you had to wear a more revealing pair of lingerie. He ogled at you as if you were some sort of statue in the Louvre, completely entranced. You felt appreciated for once, like not some sort of meat but a sexy ass woman. He stood up as well and took off all of his garments and sat back down in just his boxers.

You walked over and sat on his lap and began to kiss him yet again. You could definitely feel his imprint and it made you even more needy. He got a little grabby and began to fondle your ass which made you start to hump him, getting that stimulation on your heat and making you moan in his mouth. He was absolutely loving how lewd all of this was. He began to guide your hips on his lap to continue both your stimulation.

It gradually became faster and longer humps. In a moment, he stopped your hips forcefully, “Get up and take the rest off.”. You stood up and took off the rest to show off your body and he took off his boxers. His member sprung out and was bright red and leaking “Sit on it, darling.” he said.

“Yes, sir.” you said giggly, excited to finally get some good sex.

You sat back down on his lap and aligned yourself with his cock. He slowly entered you. “Holy fuckin shit.. it’s spreading me wide open.” you exhaled. He bucked his hips up, causing you to gasp.

“Take it darling, isn’t it so good…” he said in a breathy manner. You did not expect this to be your Saturday evening. You continued to bounce on his hard cock, making the same squelching sound that every porno makes when having sex. All your fantasies were coming true in this one moment.

“Deeper..” you said, needing your insides to be explored in its deepest places.

“You got it darling” he said with assurance. He picked you up and placed you on the char, facing away from the front the theater with your knees on the seat. You held the back of the chair with dear life. He then, entered you yet again, hitting your deepest places. You moaned loudly, feeling him in your belly.

“Oh my god, it’s perfect, please… just keep going Neil.” you said desperately. You couldn’t get enough of him or this moment. You gasp for air and moan, “it’s so good… mmmhm..” you try to say but in reality, it’s just blabber.

“I’m getting close my sweet..” he said breathlessly. You didn’t want this to end, it’s like his cock was built for your vagina.

“Im gonna cum Neil.. mmhm” you push out. that high you’ve been trying to chase all these years, you’re getting without the help of a vibrator or dildo. “Cumming… Neil…” You cum all over his cock, making it very wet and creamy.

“I’m there Y/N…ughh” he takes out his cock and releases on your back, but breathing hard and continuing to recollect each other. “I wish you could see what I see Y/N.” he says while smiling, happy that it happened.

You both then, realize that the porno has ended already and y’all didn’t even notice from how loud this encounter has been. “Naughty Girls Fight 4 isn’t anything worth fighting for, im guessing.” he says jokingly.

“Yea of course, I have you now. I can’t let go of you that quick.” you reply.

At least your neighbors aren’t gonna be hearing raunchy porn as much anymore.

—————————————————————————

first time writing! do we like it? do you wanna read more, please send me reqs or i’ll just keep on making up shit in my head. this was much more vanilla then what i was hoping to come out with but it was just a sweet night but yk i’ll keep on tried!

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

The difference in the content, group vs solo projects is interesting to me.

The group content was heavily focused on the bond they share, only intentionally highlighting contributions of some members. A narrative they stuck with, where every member has a certain role, and their behind their scenes were curated to fit that narrative.

So I actually like that now we are getting to see more than just that.

From a marketing perspective, the company hit the jackpot with that strategy. They saw the potential on focusing equally or more on their personalities, group relationships through the use of social media. And it proved succesful and a result, we saw the Bon Voyage series, Run BTS and In the Soop. I'm not opposed to this choice of promoting a k-pop group and I do think that most of their content of all 7 together is enjoyable to watch, especially when they're younger, but it's also not enough. I think the situation changed over time and it's noticeable once you look chronologically through all the available material.

What ended up annoying me the most was the footage on the Bangtan TV channel and the Memories DVD in which they really started to gloss over the work. The footage of them recording music became scarce and when they were in the dance studio, the footage was cut short or edited with the break time in which they were shown interacting. Not a bad technical decision, but reached a point in which it was unbalanced.

As to Jimin's documentary, I think we can compare it to the other two that were released this year. With Suga, he was shown at that ITS house with his team, working on music, but a lot of focus was on this journey throughout the US and the people he was hanging out with. The sequence with Ryuichi Sakamoto was the most valuable to me anyway, compared to 10-15 minutes dedicated to Steve Aoki. And with J-Hope's documentary, it was an extensive Bangtan TV video with half the footage already known. The weakest of all and more in line with the typical BigHit documentary.

With Jimin's Production Diary, it would have been so easy to show a lot more footage of just hanging out, drinking, talking more with Jungkook or RM like in any other BTS material, but they didn't. I'm obviously happy with that decision because it felt like I'm finally seeing something new. Another facet of Jimin, of the way he works with producers, of people who don't get their faces blurred.

[naneun-no]

Hi, how do we know Jimin wore Jk's sweater the same day? Maybe it was a different day? Or maybe they both have similar sweaters? I am just trying to understand.

Hey! Thanks for asking!

So, we know it was the same day because it was his diary-cam thing they all did during 2021 Winter Package, and he filmed his on the night of the day that he, Yoongi, and JK made beer, and JK wore that sweater (hence me saying it probably smelled like beer 🤣).

Here’s a video of Winter Package if you have the time and want to watch it:

Other bloggers have also made posts about Winter Package 2021 (I’m never gonna be a blog that details/ does extensive commentary on content as I’m neither organized nor patient enough to do so), so here’s one from @stormblessed95 if you’d like to read a breakdown of the DVD and all that went on:

Now, on how I “know” it was the same sweater: I don’t! Is it possible that Jimin has the same sweater and wore it that night? Yes… and in fact the two of them do have a history of occasionally having/wearing matching clothes (though it’s probably more the stylists’ decisions when it comes to them matching for like photo shoots and red carpets and stuff). But it would just be quite a coincidence. That they’re away for a couple days and he happened to pack the same sweater JK did, and then decided to wear it randomly that evening the same day JK wore it even though he’d already been wearing something different all day. For the sake of argument I guess we could say he could have been inspired by seeing JK wear it…? Idk. If you don’t believe there’s something going on between them, then I suppose the idea that they have the same sweater and Jimin decided to change into his before filming his log is equally as plausible as my fake scenario of asking your platonic friend to loan you their sweater. You have to admit either one is a little weird, though.

For me, I’m using the context clues of JK wearing it that same day, the fact that they had a limited wardrobe to choose from given that they were away, (editing to add what somebody noted in the comments which is that JK wasn’t wearing the sweater anymore during his log that same night 😬), all of the other boyfriend-y vibes and instances they give off and the fact that I personally think there’s something going on between them. So, I’m concluding that it was probably his man’s sweater. I believe that, and it’s really not that deep for me, haha. I could be wrong, and as I say to everyone, you’re free to come to a different conclusion. Which brings me to something I’d like to briefly touch on:

In general, while I do my absolute best not to get things wrong, I sometimes do (I’ll try to come back and edit though and make notes when I do). I’m not a BTS/Jikook encyclopedia, far from it. I never intentionally mislead, I don’t care enough about Jikook for that — I’m not on here with an agenda, just for fun 🤷‍♀️. Still, feel free to always take my stuff with a grain of salt — I’m openly biased, after all! I’m not a news outlet, just a dork who loves BTS and Jikook. Lol. Thanks for the ask!

[casasupernovas]

the way the doctor who series 3 dvd extras include david tennant's video diaries, and you can literally hear him have an existential crisis when he has the old makeup for 'the family of blood.' you can literally hear him doing the "oh crap i am a real person and one day God willing, i will get really old. damn that's crazy."

[adultswim2022]

Clerks #1: "Leonardo Leonardo Returns and Dante Has an Important Decision to Make" | ‎February 20, 2001 (DVD) | Unaired Premiered on Adult Swim November 14, 2008 @ 11:00PM

Clerks began airing on Adult Swim in late 2008. I don't recall it lasting a very long time, but it lasted longer than I remember; they showed it pretty frequently in 2009, taking it on and off the schedule here and there, and then they also aired it in 2010 for one last hurrah.

Clerks was retroactively retitled Clerks: The Animated Series, which makes sense. I still like calling it Clerks for some reason. The show was supposed to air on ABC. Some of it did air on ABC, but most of the episodes made their debut on DVD. They also aired on Comedy Central in 2002. I always remembered this as a Comedy Central acquisition more than an Adult Swim one, personally.

In 2000, I was solidly a Kevin Smith fan. I'm still sheepishly a Kevin Smith fan; It's not that I think he's making good movies, it's just that I feel compelled enough to watch them, which I think is a bare-minimum definition of what a fan is. I was very excited for this show, and I even taped the Super Bowl just to record the one Super Bowl commercial it had. I also made the show appointment viewing for it's two episodes. I was kept abreast of the show's production via various View Askew fan sites and forums I checked regularly. Goddamn, I was a fucking loser.

My Kevin Smith journey was this: was intrigued by Clerks after seeing trailers for it on various non-R-rated movies I rented as a boy. I also recall seeing Siskel and Ebert review it. Was way too young to see it, and I was tad too young for Mallrats, too. But those movies left an impression as I looked up to the Gen-X definition of cool, and aspired to be that thing one day. At the height of my MTV watching, I saw the hour-long Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Video Stash special, where Kevin Smith and company watched goofy 80s videos and made fun of them with his friends, and they played the newly commissioned Jay & Silent Bob MTV promo spots throughout the show. This was the first View Askew production I ever saw. The idea that these guys made movies together and they were all somehow interconnected with one another finally sunk in.

I got my hands on the Jersey trilogy. Beholden to what the handful of video stores had on hand, I remember renting Mallrats first, then Clerks, then Chasing Amy. I spoiled Dogma by reading the screenplay online. Then there was this: A fucking prime time cartoon! Kevin's march towards mainstream legitimacy was progressing nicely. Maybe my mom will become a fan?

As the story goes, the show was considered a disaster by ABC. They only aired two of the six episodes. They didn't air this episode, but they did air the second episode, which heavily references this episode. According to the DVD commentary, the plan was to air this one fifth, which is why there's a text crawl that explains that it's the lost pilot to Clerks, and that there will be a much better episode next week.

This episode isn't all that great; it's one of two that I consider especially weak. The plot is: Leonardo Leonardo (voiced by Alec Baldwin) arrives in town and opens up a new "Quicker Stop" across the street from the Quick Stop. This one does have some funny stuff in it; my favorite gag is Dante and Randal's dedication to The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, a short-lived (in the real world) sitcom that in the world of Clerks is appointment television and a monster success.

Notable things in this episode include the defanging of Jay and Silent Bob, who now sell fire-crackers. There's also obviously no swearing, but there's some coarse language that wouldn't fly today. Not only do they say "re-re" but they also say "retarded", and "queer" (as a pejorative; one of the weirder instances of a show showing it's age because "that word is actually good now"). There's also one of my favorite gags; the end of the episode has a tacked-on, "Safety tips" segment featuring Jay & Silent Bob. Jay dashes off the line "if Silent Bob could talk, he'd tell you--" right after Silent Bob speaks normally. I loved shit like that.

In general, the sense of humor this show had was very indicative of the sense of humor I had in 2000, and still mostly have today. A lot of the jokes are deconstructive of sitcom humor. The resolution to this episode is vague and absurd, and comes because Dante and Randal copy it from Desmond Pfeiffer. The episode they watch is about a rival opening up a bigger and better "White House of the future" across the street from the white house. I still love that joke!

[appears]

Moments

It's Ayumi Hamasaki's birthday on October 2 and we're extending the celebration in true ego-maniacal, splashy celebrity fashion, by drawing out the festivities for an entire week! Each day I will briefly discuss a totally random item chosen (not by me) from my Ayu collection. Prepare for praise, disappointment, and controversial opinions backed by love and respect as we take a casual look back in this blurry snapshot of her career. Happy Birthday to our Party Queen, Ayumi Hamasaki!

Ayumi Hamasaki's Moments was the beginning of what industry insiders and now the lay public refer to as a new "era." The single followed the release of Ayu's first mini-album, a collection of eight songs released at the end of 2003 that compiled her last three singles (including the tripe A-side &, No way to say, and forgiveness), along with four new songs, of which all but one received an accompanying music video (that would be the closing, and fan favorite, title track "Memorial address (take 2 version)," which is considered something of a bonus track.

Her next album would be released almost one year later, and to kick start the promotions, she released the elegant "Moments," a sort of melancholy spring ballad influenced by previous ballads like "No way to say" and "HANABI ~episode II~." In hindsight, this was an ominous choice -- ominous as in thick with omens, not inauspicious or threatening -- because it succinctly foretold the musical language of its resulting album, MY STORY (think "walking proud" and "HAPPY ENDING"). It's a song that I immediately liked upon listening, with its simple melody highlighted by a quaint series of catchy la...la-las... It has a steady pace, but it never lacks for punch in the chorus. Like the return to spring itself, it's cyclical, always shifting back to that slower pace again and again. It's clear that this is another in a running series of "seasonal" singles that Ayumi, like the rest of J-pop, indulged in, but which took on a particular resonance here with the two follow-ups: the summery "INSPIRE" and wintry "CAROLS." This sets up MY STORY as a deliberate year-long diary that uses the seasons as a foundational base. And "Moments" is where it all starts, with its symbolic use of new life and rebirth in the flowers and bright greens of the cover art. The music video, too, features a literal room full of technicolor flowers, an almost blinding bubblegum-pink field of blooms among which children play. In classic Ayu-PV fashion, it takes on a sinister feel, but never gets scary or ugly, instead depicting an uncanny kind of wonder.

In March of 2004, we were well beyond the point of maxi-singles that featured a dozen remixes of the title track, but we do get two remixes on this single: a beautiful acoustic piano version that evoked the Acoustic Orchestra series of remix albums, as well as a mostly forgettable dance remix by CMJK titled the "Flying humanoid Mix." I'm disappointed by this remix, as CMJK usually produces some great stuff, like the "Ocean View Remix" on Far away as well as the extended mix of "opening run" on the Daybreak single (he also worked on many of the tracks for NEXT LEVEL). Ayumi's vocals sound great here so the acoustic piano version, which trades all of the pomp of the original for simple piano and some strings, sounds fantastic. The final track is the instrumental version which is also really great, though I would prefer it without the vocal harmonies.

This was the first Ayu single to be released in both a regular CD-only version, and a CD+DVD version that included the music video. The cover art was also the same for both versions of this, something that wouldn't change for three more singles until 2005's fairyland. The CD also contains the infamous copy-protection software on it, but is useless on today's computers and wasn’t much deterrence eighteen years ago either (but man, they really thought they were going to kill pirated music for a while there -- adorable!)

[stupidenousgirl]

❀*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*༺♥༻*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*❀

༺♥༻❀heyy al!! welcome 2 my tumblr blog!!!❀༺♥༻

°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖

❀ what i do here is basically just tlak to myself but its like a oepn discussion sort of thing!!! peraaps a digital diary orrr whatever!

❀°˖✧✿✧˖° soooo here is a little abt me °˖✧✿✧˖°❀

❀im 16.. i looov just chilling and im obbsed w pinterest ofc what teenage girl isnt??!! i also love beachtastic things like mermaids and tropical things but also im like a victoria secret pink bag vibe but also a ton of othr things yknow..no

❀i loooove movies and video games i love collecitng them as well!! saving up for a vhs/dvd player and its gotta be pink...

❀i also collecte dolls and music and i really love resident evil and also barbies and silent hill ik its kinda freaky but its just so fascinating?! yah!!!

❀big hello kitty fan since i was in kindergarden just got back into sanrio stuff and i couldnt be happier!!? lituarlly fun times always!!

❀i love Jesus!!! I got saved a cupple years ago he gives me a reason to get up everyday!! glory to Him!!!

❀°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖༺♥༻˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°°˖✧✿✧˖°❀

༺♥༻❀thats all i can think of!! Peace out!!! much love!❀༺♥༻

[streetsofaesthetics]

A Full Comprehensive List of Ben/Rosie Things

(Dear Diary Edition)

(as of 12/28 because I change shit all the time)

A slow burn like Sal and Eve were, but moves considerably faster.

Rosaria gets a job at a vintage bookstore as an assistant to the elderly shopkeeper and Ben works a few blocks down at a used video store. 

The first time they meet he came looking for a specific book about animation that was published in the 1970s. Rosie had posted about this book on her job’s social media account in an attempt to lure in customers, only to lose track of the book when working on other things. She spends 20 minutes in his presence looking frantically for the book only to never find it. Eventually this book is found because Rosaria stayed overtime (until 10 pm) looking for that book because she felt heavy shame for her accident. Giving Ben the book seals their friendship.

Rosaria begins going to Ben’s job in the pursuit of finding new movies to watch or selling her DVD boxsets when she really needs to make rent money. They usually just spend (her) entire lunch break talking about all types of movies and directors.

From the first time Ben saw Rosie he thought she was cute. Clearly anxious and neurotic but he was charmed with it, and felt like these traits meant he could be himself. Rosie only saw Ben as a friend, but thought ‘I think I could date him?’ when he explained the history of Claymation. Needless to say, she goes to Eve to talk about her interactions with Ben and how her feelings are developing. Sal does not approve but both Eve and Rosie ignore him. 

Rosie and Ben’s first date is at a small bar and its a mess. He found himself stuttering and under pressure to make it worthwhile, he spills a drink on her because his hands were shaking, Rosie overthinks everything and wonders if he’s going to ask to have sex. But despite all these mishaps she wants to see him again.

In this specific universe, Ben becomes Rosie’s first real boyfriend. She had only went on two dates with other men in her past. He’s also the first person she has sex with. Dynamic-wise they function like a nice, working class, 20-something white couple that belongs in a independent movie. 

They move in together because Rosie hates her studio apartment and have an enormous honeymoon phase. They only want to spend time together when they’re not working, which stuns Eve because she always tried to balance out the time she spent with Sal and the time she spent with her friends. (That, and Sal can be very overwhelming when Eve’s social energy is drained)  

Rosie and Ben are so hooked onto each other that she’s had sex with him upstairs in the bookstore when her boss was out for lunch too many times.

Ben begins making a webcomic of Rosie’s cat, because he feels like the kitten has a “face with a story to tell.” They actually make bank off of this. 💰💰 Ben also thinks he and Rosie are probably going to get married someday so he also occasionally makes webcomics about a fictional version of them.

Rosie decides she wants to go back to college because she’s growing restless working at the bookstore. Ben supports her ambition to go to the local community college, but as she begins spending a lot of time on campus for events and clubs. Plus, she’s still working, so Ben is hardly seeing her.  As a result he develops these elaborate concerns about Rosie finding a smart, sexy classmate (or professor) and he feels she’ll fantasize about what life could be like with them. Or maybe she’ll be seduced! While this doesn’t happen, their sex life has taken a nose dive and typically Ben has to remind her that schoolwork, while important, is secondary to actually being a living person. 

What makes them break up? Sal and Franco’s imprisonment. Rosaria is burdened by her father and brother going to prison for five years, and while Ben initially tried to be supportive and console her, he also tries to tell her they were crooked and when you do certain things, there’s consequences. After ninety arguments about Sal specifically, Rosie breaks up with him, similar to how Eve silently breaks up with Sal. 

They’re mutually bitter. Mutually resentful. Ben finds reasons to contact her even though he shouldn’t, like because she left a (lost) slipper in the closet. Then Ben gets sad. Then Rosie gets sad. But Rosie comes to the conclusion with Eve that things like this are just apart of growing older.

By Mean Streets they’re still not dating. May not ever date again. Although Sal and Ben do ironically become good friends.

[amplesalty]

Halloween 2022 - Day 24 - Bad Taste (1987)

Hey, up yours too buddy!

Too soon, movie, too soon...

It’s not everyday we’re graced on this blog with the work of an award winning director, much less an Academy Award, but that’s what we’ve got today in the form of Sir Peter Jackson. Much like year one of this blog and our look at Braindead (Or Dead Alive as it may be known to you if you’re from certain parts of the world), we’re going back to his early days of pissing about with his mates making films just choc full of cartoonish violence. This is his very first feature length film, no less, but certainly does share that same sense of over the top gore and unpleasant sounds affects as Braindead.

Jackson wears many hats in this film; director, producer, writer and even actor...twice in fact! I didn’t even recognise him in the role of Derek, one of a small team of government agents sent to investigate a supposed alien invasion of the fictional village of Kaihoro, which apparently comes from two Maori words of Kai (food) and Horo (village). A fitting name given that it transpires that these alien invaders plan to use the Earth as their own personal supermarket, 4 billion prospective choices for food that they can shuttle back home and use in their homosapien fast food business.

He is much more recognisable as one of the aliens, Rober, though, seen here just casually tucking into the head cheese of one of his dead mates. Where do you think he got a spoon from? Do you think he just always carries one around like Joey?

These aliens are ore like zombies really, a bit dimwitted and slow moving at times and with headshots being the preferred way to kill them. Though, they are a bit more intelligent than most zombies and eventually even start using firearms.

The action here is much more muted in comparison to Braindead, at least from what I recall, but you’ve still got copious amounts of fake blood, projectile vomiting, heads being caved in, guts flying everywhere and arms being ripped off. It really is amazing what Jackson and his pals were able to pull off on such a limited budget of only $25,000. Though, that might need to come with an asterix as apparently the New Zealand film board would later give them a rather hefty grant too. There is a short behind the scenes documentary for this which would be interesting to check out. Seems like Jackson has always been very into documenting the whole production aspect of his films even from day one. I know I’ve got a DVD around here somewhere of his production diaries from the 2006 King Kong remake and I think he did similar videos too for The Hobbit movies.

The movie does really ramp up into straight up action farce by the end with a huge shoot out between these two warring factions but it’s good cheesy fun overall. Just seeing these rather unassuming guys take on these waves of other worldly creatures with their New Zealand accents is rather amusing, but maybe that’s because I watch far too much DankPods with all his off the cuff stories of bogans with delusions of grandeur. Again, from my hazy decade old memories Braindead really did kick this up a notch with the gross out visuals and kung fu priests that kick arse for the Lord, but it’s interesting to see Jackson’s humble beginnings and It really is a marvel what these guys were able to produce with all these different setpieces, props, effects etc.

Including the Popemobile esque car where the driver sites in an elevated position because the normal driver level front window is taken up by four cardboard cut outs of the Beatles. Whoever owns that car must be a real Day Tripper...

[ipseduo]

[He is the definition of precious.]

[stormblessed95]

Winter Package 2021 Part 1

My thoughts and commentary as I watch Winter Package 2021! There is only the one making DVD in this package (107 minutes long). The other part of this was just the photobook and extra merch. Reminder that these are just my thoughts, it's not very organized. You get me typing it out as I go like I'm reacting to a friend. Somewhat like a bullet point format in a way. Love these packages! Trailer for WP 2021 and trailer number 2

Winter Package 2021 was filmed in Gangwon-do, South Korea. They were there shooting from 201208 through 201210. B cuts from their photoshoots posted by Naver here. And Jihope also posted extras to Twitter after the DVD released in Feb. 2021. Jhope here. Jimin Part 1 Here. And Jimin Part 2 here. 💜 And Jin on Weverse. And you can watch it in full in not wonderful quality, but still with subs on YouTube if you want here

The video opens up with all the covid safety precautions. Lmfao peak pandemic video vibes. The start is of their first shoot at the hotel. So cozy and the outfits were amazing. Then they all went to the beach for indivual, unit and group shoots! Vhopemin were the first unit, followed by Jinkook and Namgi! Namjoon was so excited to get to shoot with Suga. It was so sweet. He said it had been 6 long months and he was going to keep these photos until he died 😭 they missed him so much.

Jimin kept everyone giggling. Lol so cute. And Jimin's memories of the winter ocean included when he jumped into the cold ocean with Suga holding hands as a penalty 🥺🥺 Everyone else talking and there is JK shouting "ahhhh" lol cold maybe? Jimin just giggling and pointing at him! They then all went to go eat dinner together at a restaurant 금화정막국수 and Jikook sat next to each other and JK barely talked he was just enjoying his food too much! Lol

To end the first day of filming, Suga MC'd their games related to childhood, and they decided to just do their teams by table. So we got Namkook, Jinkook, Vhope. And they all picked unit names for their teams. Lol Ugh (namkook), Jinji-do and Vope. They played a complete the fairytale game and so many giggles. Lol Jimin trying to help JK cheat and give a hint when he got stuck on an answer, but he still got it wrong! The next game they played was looking at pictures drawn by kids and guessing who it is 😂 Jimin going "ayee" and pinching Tae's cheek when he saw the portrait he thought was of V!

The one kid who said they wanted to do a princess role play with the member they drew 😭 and it was Jimin who they drew! Jimin wanted to say thank you to the kid too 🥺 And we know that it was actually Son Sungduek's son (Moa) who made Jimins photo thanks to his insta post! The way everytime JinMin are on a team together and win a game, they jump into each other's arms is adorable! Yoongi throwing shade at all the members for their origami skills in game 2 😂 and they ended their day with yummy snacks!

They ended day 1 with their diaries as always. Tae said the most memorable part of the day for him was the drive and that he fell asleep during it. Lol JKs favorite part of the day was dinner because it was really yummy (we can tell he enjoyed it!) Jimin crashed Jins diary time and wrote on his page that he was proud of him 🥺 these 2 on this day man! Jin wrote about the rocks and the ocean. Jimin wrote about how the sky looked so pretty while he was getting ready that it made him happy. Hobi wrote about the winter ocean and enjoying the photoshoot. Namjoon wrote about playing games and eating snacks. Suga wrote about how he was on a low carb diet but broke it for good food at dinner.

The last part of the day was the video diaries too before going to sleep from Joon, Suga and Hobi. They all looked so sweet. Namjoon bringing up again how special it was to have Yoongi back with them. Hobi talking about being scared but also excited to go ziplining the next day. And Yoongi talking about his rehab, being back to work and excited for beer tasting the next day, even if it's a 2 hour drive away.

Day 2 kicks off with everyone going to the High1 Ski Resort for the next photoshoot! Which is one of the absolute cutest they've ever done in my opinion!! Photos in the snow with a bright concept. And i love it. Everyone skidding around in the snow, so cute. Jinjikook have a unit shoot and JK initates chaos by starting a snowball fight and jinkook quickly spiral out of control with their snowball fight 😂 JK with his cute blue and pink fake highlights! The way they match Jimins blue hair too! It's always them!! Lol jinjikook playing rock paper scissors to see who has to roll down the hill. JK loses and Jimin tells him immediately not to actually do it, it's dangerous while Jin just encourages bad behavior the whole time 😂 This trio! Sope is the next unit who practice their English on the ski lift on the way up to the shooting site! Vmon being the last unit and looking so cuddly! Jimin and Jin running up yelling so pretty and taking photos of them too! Lol Hobi taking photos of Jimin and Jin while holding his hand on break, JK taking a photo of Tae doing a pull up too! Jinkook wrestling match round 2 happening as well 😂🤣 Jikook playing around with the giant fake snowball before the group shoot starts. Everyone just seems like they are having so much fun! The everyone cuddling Suga group shot is probably my favorite. The sweet jinkook backhug after all the bickering today is so nice. Lol and the way Tae melts into Jimin is so freaking cute.

They then all head off to their activities in 2 teams. Yoonminkook to go make beer and the others for ziplining and yoga. Lol 2seok getting really nervous and asking if it's too late to go make beer instead 🤣 everyone said they were only here for the yoga lol and the relaxing chill entrance to the brewery in contrast. Lol Jimin saying that Suga had made beer before but it was our (jikooks) first time. The cuts between the 2 groups 😭🤣 everyone being so scared about getting ready to zipline vs everyone calmly learning about the brewery tools and getting a tour and a promise to taste test some beer too. Lol regardless of being scared, when it was over they all had so much fun on the zipline and loved it! I loved seeing them all have fun!

It's the way jikook always talk mostly to each other even as they speak to the whole group. Lol they loved the beer! They are all so cute! Jimin scolding JK "don't get too excited" when they were sitting down in front of all new beers to try and JK automatically started trying to touch them. Lol Jimin sharing that his first try of black beer was one that Jin bought him years ago and he didn't really like it. JinMin are really so freaking cute this package. I can't stop loving on them. Suga encouraging Jimin saying it's bitter so you tend to like it more as you get older. Lol yoonminkook make 3 types of beer today while they are there. JK cracking jokes and making Jimin laugh so hard 🥺 Jimin saying his acting has gotten better and JK just going "ayee." Sigh, these two. So many little touches through this whole trip too. JK stirs so aggressively when making his beer! Lol! Jimin scolding him again when it's time to move on but he doesn't stop. The armpit tickles and chest smacking! 🤣 JK saying he wishes they could share the beer they made with the other members too!

The guys doing yoga being so cute!! 2seok in the back keep giggling to each other. Lol Tae accidentally falling over during meditation. When told to get more comfortable. Joon tells Hobi he is sitting like his Mom 😅🤣 anyone else really enjoy the yoga and all the tips over good breathing and how relaxing that all was. And Tae saying how nice it was to be there with them and happy being together over their dinner 🥺 the teams had dinner together and yoonminkook had the other members send them a video of them ziplining and they watched it being so endeared 🥺 Jimin saying he originally wanted to do yoga but ended up doing beer instead but still had fun. Lol wonder if he was talked into it by someone or by Yoonkook together. Lol

Day 2 ends with the diaries and video logs before sleep too! I'll cover those for the end of Day 2 and all of day 3 in part 2 of this post! I wanted to be able to include more photos so I I'm splitting this up into 2 posts and unfortunately that means day 2 gets spilt up too! Lol they all had so much fun and that's honestly all I want to be able to see! Thanks for letting me share!!

[stereostevie]

When you think of grunge, do you picture a bunch of long-haired White guys in plaid shirts, singing about teenage angst and self-loathing? Time to expand that viewpoint. Standing above them all should be Tina Bell, a tiny Black woman with an outsized stage presence, and her band, Bam Bam. It’s only recently that the 1980s phenom has begun to be recognized as a godmother of grunge.

This modern genre’s sound was, in many ways, molded by a Black woman. The reason she is mostly unknown has everything to do with racism and misogyny. Looking back at the beginnings of grunge, with the preconception that “everybody involved” was White and/or male, means ignoring the Black woman who was standing at the front of the line.

Bam Bam was formed as a punk band in 1983 in Seattle. Bell, a petite brown-skinned spitfire with more hairstyle changes than David Bowie, sang lead vocals and wrote most of the lyrics. Her then-husband Tommy Martin was on guitars (the band’s name is an acronym of their last names: Bell And Martin), Scotty “Buttocks” Ledgerwood played bass, and Matt Cameron was on drums. Cameron would leave the band in its first year and go on to fame as the drummer for Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But he paid homage to his beginnings by wearing a Tina Bell T-shirt in a photoshoot for Pearl Jam’s 2017 Anthology: the Complete Scores book.

“For some reason a couple of skinheads are up front, calling her [the N-word] And all of the sudden, Bell grabs a microphone stand and she starts swirling it around her head like a lasso… She swung that fuckin’ thing around her head and about the fourth time, she smashed that son of a bitch.”

Bam Bam’s sound straddled the line between punk and something so new that it didn’t have a name yet. Their music combined a driving, thrumming bass line; downtuned, sludgy guitars; thrashy, pulsing drums; melodic vocals that range from sultry to haunting to screamy; and lyrics about the existential tension of trying to exist in a world not designed for you. The band’s 1984 music video for their single “Ground Zero” is low-budget, but Bell’s charisma seeps through.

“She was fucking badass. That’s all there is to it. She was amazing as a performer. I’ve only seen one White male lead singer command the stage in a similar way that Tina Bell did, and that was Bon Scott of AC/DC,” says Om Johari, who attended Bam Bam shows as a Black teenager in the ’80s and who would go on to lead all-female AC/DC cover band Hell’s Belles.

Christina King, a Seattle scenester who was close friends with Bell from 1984 until the early ’90s, says the singer’s talent was obvious. But she believes a lot of people dismissed Bell as a gimmick.

Among those attending their shows: Future members of grunge bands like Nirvana (Kurt Cobain did a stint as a Bam Bam roadie), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam.

“I remember one person saying to me that they didn’t get ‘the whole Black girl singer thing,’ it just didn’t fit whatever they were into,” says King. “They were too ahead of their time.”

Bam Bam came into being in an era when hundreds of underground clubs, taverns, bars, and social halls — anywhere that you could cram in a band — were within the Seattle city limits. Bam Bam played almost all of them, and often to big crowds: The Colourbox, Crocodile Lounge, Gorilla Gardens, Squid Row — just to name a few.

Among those attending their shows: Future members of history-making grunge bands like Nirvana (Kurt Cobain did a stint as a Bam Bam roadie), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. Not to mention all the other people, mostly White and male, who would become prime targets for music labels trying to market this new sound.

Bell “already possessed everything they were trying to attain. She had a truer rock and roll spirit than almost any of those guys in that town. Everything they tried to do, she naturally was,” says Ledgerwood, still a loyal bandmate.

One Seattle club, The Metropolis, became “like our fucking living room,” says Ledgerwood. It was also the site of an overtly racist verbal assault against Tina Bell.

“For some reason a couple of skinheads are up front, calling her [the N-word],” Ledgerwood recalls. “And all of the sudden, Bell grabs a microphone stand and she starts swirling it around her head like a lasso… She swung that fuckin’ thing around her head and about the fourth time, she smashed that son of a bitch… She nailed that fucker right in the temple of his head. Split like a melon. And the other guy next to him caught it too, they go down, and we’re like, ‘What the fuck?’”

Ledgerwood says that after going backstage for a while to regroup, Bell came back “and put out the most blistering set of our fucking career.”

This could easily be an anecdote about Bell’s power, her resilience, and willingness to fight back against oppressive forces. But it’s also a story about the cost of being a Black woman who does something that some people don’t expect or approve of.

“She’s being pulled out of her zone because somebody is acknowledging how the rest of the world can see her,” says Johari, empathizing with the star rocker. “And even to react to it by picking up a microphone and smashing someone in the face, that means that that incident cost her not only that moment it takes to get back into the song, but the whole [effects of her] action will last for weeks.

“She’ll replay that over and over and over and over again. And then the people she sees that were there when it happened, they’re gonna come up to her and they’re gonna forget everything that she’s saying, all the stuff that she had did, and they’re only going to focus on, ‘I was at that show where you knocked a dude in the head for calling you an N-word,’” Johari says. “It has nothing to do with her artistry. But it reminds her of the way in which she has to be prepared, just in case it happens again.”

King remembers Bell also felt that some of the other men in the band’s changing lineup failed to treat her as an equal partner: “She’s getting that from her own band members — what do you think audience people are like?”

A European tour in the late ’80s gained Bam Bam international fans, but ended after Bell and Martin split up, and Bell was caught in an immigration enforcement dragnet in the Netherlands.

When they returned to the Pacific Northwest, Bam Bam continued playing shows until 1990, when Bell abruptly quit as they were packing up to head to the studio in Portland, Ore.

“She had just had enough,” Ledgerwood says. “For almost eight years she had almost literally eviscerated herself for the audience.”

But that work never resulted in the national recognition they deserved.

“Grunge, whatever that means, is being identified as from your community, your colleagues, your sound that you were a participant in help shaping, and you’re not even mentioned in any of it.”

“Sometimes you need to be a little bit of an asshole to protect yourself. And Bell wasn’t much of an asshole,” Ledgerwood adds. “She was a pure-hearted person and had a really hard time believing that people couldn’t accept her over something as stupid as race.”

Bell didn’t just quit the band, she withdrew from music completely, says her son, Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker TJ Martin. Not out of resentment, he adds, but perhaps to escape the painful reminders that the music she helped pioneer was now earning other bands multimillion-dollar record contracts.

“Grunge, whatever that means, is being identified as from your community, your colleagues, your sound that you were a participant in help shaping, and you’re not even mentioned in any of it,” Martin says. “I can’t even fathom what that would feel like for it to be sort of spit back in your face with such frequency.”

Ledgerwood believes Bell died of a broken heart. But when Bell died alone in her Las Vegas apartment in 2012, the official cause of death listed was cirrhosis of the liver. She had struggled with alcohol and depression. Her son says the coroner estimated her time of death as a couple weeks before her body was discovered. She was 55 years old.

The things that could have told Tina Bell’s story in her own voice are lost. Martin arrived in Las Vegas to find that the contents of his mother’s apartment — except for a DVD player, a poster, and a chair — had been thrown away. All of her writings — lyrics, poems, diaries — along with Bam Bam music, videos, and other memorabilia — went in the trash without her family even being notified.

If you think you were in Seattle in the ’80s, in the grunge scene, and you don’t remember Tina Bell and Bam Bam, you probably weren’t really fucking there.

“I couldn’t help draw a parallel between her not being respected and seen in the first chapter of her life, as the front person of a punk band, and then even in death being disrespected and not being seen for the merits of the life she lived,” says Martin.

Bell’s death is also an indictment of the way she was written out of her own story. The way grunge’s almighty gatekeepers chose to look through her instead of at her. Grunge became the domain of alienated young White men in flannel shirts, and Tina Bell didn’t fit the narrative they were trying to sell.

“Black herstory can suffer immense amounts of erasure if somebody is not brave enough to ensure that women get counted,” Johari says.

To many of those who were part of the scene at the time, the amnesia seems intentional. Ledgerwood brings up the seminal history of Seattle’s grunge era, Everybody Loves Our Town. In it, the author refers to Bam Bam as a three-piece instrumental band mainly notable because Matt Cameron was the drummer. Tina Bell isn’t even mentioned.

“How in the hell would he have a recollection of how great Bam Bam and its drummer was, and not this unbelievably beautiful woman, this firecracker, this explosive rock and roll goddess?” Ledgerwood asks. “Even if he thought she sucked, to not remember the only Black woman on the whole fuckin’ scene is — well, it’s like that old joke about the ’60s: If you think you were in Seattle in the ’80s, in the grunge scene, and you don’t remember Tina Bell and Bam Bam, you probably weren’t really fucking there.”

You can listen to more of Bam Bam’s music on this Spotify playlist. A vinyl album with the band’s songs is coming out this year on Bric-a-Brac Records.

[adultswim2021]

The Venture Bros. #20: “Twenty Years to Midnight” | August 6, 2006 – 10:30PM | S02E05

In this episode: Brock stumbles on a box of old shit. Among the items is a video left behind of the senior Dr. Jonas Venture relaying a message to his son with instructions for assembling an important device. It will involve Team Venture going to several locations to secure various parts for this machine. Thank god it's not season one, because this'll require a lotta new backgrounds, baby!

I don't call this one a favorite, but I do think it's really good and has a lot of things going for it. The design of the episode is fairly elegant; it has the plot of a very solid sci-fi adventure film (quietly ignoring that the ending is basically a parody of Contact). The second act has a few strong funny scenes that barely have anything to do with the story. Jonas Jr. and the ghost Pirate from season one (whom we learn is now working for Jonas Jr.) visit a drug-addled Jonny Quest who is living in some kind of underwater pod. Hank and Dean visit Colonel Gentleman who is apparently passed away in his bed. They read his diary that's filled with nonsense.

I'm just observing where the episode COULD be stronger, which is not necessarily the same as complaining. Actually it's exactly the same as complaining. I just don't want to get yelled at. These scenes are funny but I always remembered them separate from this episode. This episode has a strong story and those scenes are fun detours, but it’d be nice if those characters had more bearing on the plot and not just there as a goofy obstacle. They're mostly just stuff happening, driven by the location of a macguffin. I actually found myself saying “oh! So THIS is the episode where this scene comes from!”.

I still consider these scenes a net positive for the episode. It's just imperfect in my eyes because this could be a very good standalone adventure and a gateway episode for new viewers, except for the fact that it does wind up being a bit of a previous-episode-reference fest. This episode directly references events from “Ghosts of the Sargasso” and the third act is a sequel to “Ice Station Impossible”. This could actually have the opposite effect; further intriguing people into visiting the backlog of the series. There WAS a season one DVD for sale.

Actually... now that you mention it: that might be what happened to ME. No shit! I actually remember sort-of half-watching this episode. I was a “person who did not watch Venture Bros.” mostly because of the bad pilot episode and the lukewarm first regular series episode. I did have a positive experience watching the first Burger King Have It Your Way marathon, which included a small handful of season one Venture Bros. episodes. I do credit that night for helping thaw the freeze-out I was perpetrating on my now-beloved brothers.

I remember half-watching this episode, and hearing Stephen Colbert's voice, and thinking “wow, Stephen Colbert is on this show sometimes? I should probably watch it?” (NOTE TO YOUNGER READERS: Before Stephen Colbert did limpdick lib comedy for CBS he was a highly-respected subversive comedy writer and performer that none of us knew was a Christian). Even though I remember having this thought about this episode, I still considered this the “try before you buy” phase.

Somebody else already made this point, which is why I'm tacking it onto the end of my write-up: The scene where Hank and Dean discover Colonel Gentleman dead (or is he?) and go through his stuff, they leaf through his journal and find a bunch of inane lists, like “TOYS HE WISHES HE HAD AS A KID”, “GOOD NAMES FOR AN IMAGINARY FRIEND” and “HOLLYWOOD ACTRESSES THAT COULD USE A GOOD PUNCH IN THE MOUTH”. The very smart point, which I nearly passed off as my own until I remembered somebody on twitter did already, is that this is basically what clickbait articles are now. That guy was ironically presaging the future of the internet. It somehow wasn't badly writing up cartoons for a tumblr blog that nobody reads.

Oh! Also: the Jonny Quest scene was maybe the last explicit reference to the Ventureverse and the Questiverse being one-and-the-same. They kept this character but only refered to him as “Action Jonny” after this, I’m pretty sure. Remember when I promised to watch every episode of Jonny Quest in preparation for this? Whatever happened to that idea? I wonder.

EPHEMERA CORNER:

Ed's Burger King "Have It Your Way" Lineup (August 5, 2006)

Speaking of the Burger King “Have It Your Way” marathon! This happened! It was all anime. The end! Nothing else to say! Bye bye Ed!

[therivergirl]

So, that last post I made, the ask I answered? Well, it also led to me writing this. Donsy humour and fluff with little plot and some random shenanigans happening in the background!

Summary:

It's been about a month since the defeat of F.O.W.L., and Daisy and Donald barely had a moment alone since. But, even with kids on a sleepover at the Sabrewings house, will the coupla manage to have a simple, low-key, home date, or is the McDuck manor just chaos magnet of greatest strength?

CW: some allusions to sex

Full work:

Donald and Daisy were on his houseboat. It was early evening, tasty dinner for two was bubbling on the stove, a selection of romantic films set on the side table.

A bit more than a month has passed since the defeat of F.O.W.L. A month filled with dealing with the fallout of said defeat, emotional secrets being revealed, Scrooge’s business being uprooted, media showing their beaks into their lives.

For Donald and Daisy, it also meant dealing with a whole lot of paperwork as, even with Scrooge’s lawyers pulling strings and pushing the legal adoption of the girls much faster than it would be possible in normal circumstances, the process was still stressful for everyone involved. Daisy was now truly finding her place in the chaotic family, having moved in with Donald. To top it all off, the usual shenanigans that came with being a part of the McDuck extended clan did not subside. If anything, while everyone, even Scrooge, was taking a break from grand adventures, everyday mischief was stronger than ever with six kids around.

And while Donald and Daisy loved their family dearly, they wanted a night for themselves. They needed a breather. They needed a simple date night.

“So,” Daisy said, pouring a glass of wine. She was wearing a dark blue of-the shoulder dress with pink lace trim, one of her own designs, “the girls...”

“...and the boys,” Donald filled in.

“Yes, the boys too, are at the Sabrewings who graciously offered to host tonight’s sleepover. Poor souls, they don’t know what they are getting themselves into.”

“Della and Penny are having sparring matches in the hangar, which means they will remain distracted until one of them collapses.” Donald took a glass from Daisy. He wore his nice jacket and shirt; they were at home but it still felt nice to dress up for the date.

“We asked Launchpad and Drake to distract Storkules with video games…”

“…and everyone else just wants a calm, relaxing night just like we do. Everyone else being Scrooge, Beakley and Duckworth who will not bother us.” Donald finished for her.

“And you are making a dinner that smells divine, we have a nice bottle of wine and a plethora of films we never managed to get around to watching together,” Daisy set her glass on the table and wrapped her arms around Donald’s waist, “I missed this, moments we had for just the two of us.”

Donald set his glass away as well, pulling Daisy into an embrace and kissing her softly, “I missed it too,” he pulled away from the embrace, “Now, shall we start with some appetizer?”

“Wow, you even made appetizers?” she was surprised. She spent most of her day at work and had no idea what exactly Donald was planning.

“They are really just bruschetta with leftover zucchini sauce from yesterday,” Donald said sheepishly.

“And that was a very good sauce, so the bruschetta must be really good too! Which movie should we watch first?”

“Maybe Bridget Jays’ Diary?”

“Sure! Or, maybe we should start with some period piece, like, Sense and Sensibility, or Emma?”

Donald raised his eyebrow suspiciously, “Do you just want to gush over costumes again?”

“YES!”

“Ok, but in that case, we’re also watching La La Land! I want at least one musical tonight!”

“Deal!” Daisy said, “you get the food, I’ll start the film!”

“Which one?”

“Bridget Jays! We’ve got time to see them all! Hey, can we agree that we’re not watching anything sad?” she asked, picking through DVD boxes.

“Sure?”

“In that case, I’m removing The Notepad from the ‘Movies to watch’ basket, that film makes me bawl my eyes out every time!” she picked a DVD box and set it aside.

Donald walked over to her, setting the plate with bruschetta on the end table, “Never saw what the big deal was with that film,” he shrugged.

“Oh my goodness, Donald!” Daisy gasped, “It’s so sad!”

“It can be so messed up!” Donald frowned.

“Fine, there are moments that are messed up, but the ending makes me cry! Next, you’ll tell me you don’t cry when Jack Dogson dies in Titanic!”

Donald scratched his neck, “I cry at the very ending…and at the orchestra scene…”

“Well, Titanic is out of the basket as well,” She took another DVD box out and tossed it aside. “Why do you even have The Notepad if you dislike it?”

“It’s not mine, it’s Drake’s. I asked him to lend me some films from his collection since my romantic film collection was lacking, thought you might like it. Seems like I was right.”

“Oh Don,” Daisy said, blushing. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Well, we don’t have to watch the films you dislike, any other here you have issues with?”

“No. I do agree with you, I want something cute and romantic and without sad endings!”

“Ok,” Daisy popped in Bridget Jays’ Diary DVD into the player, “this feels nostalgic, I can’t remember the last time I watched something on DVD and not on the laptop.”

“Not to mention the film is old,” Donald said, “I was a kid when I first saw it.”

The two settled on the sofa, Daisy leaned on Donald and he pulled a blanket over them. Daisy pressed the play button and the two were ready to enjoy Bridget Jays’ romantic shenanigans.

But, before Bridget even finished her sad, loner dance, they heard someone on the deck.

“Maybe it’s just Mrs Beakley coming to ask for sugar?” Daisy suggested.

“Friend Donald!” a joyous voice bellowed from the deck.

“Oh no!” Donald’s face fell.

“I think you said Drake had him distracted!”

“He should have,” Donald said, pulling out his phone. He had a few texts from Drake.

Hey Buddy, sorry, but your friend ran off to your houseboat to get something he apparently forgot

We tried to stop him

But you know

He’s a demigod…

So, yeah, if you’re doing stuff on the sofa, better stop!

“Drake, I will kill you!” Donald said as Storkules descended down the stairs.

“Friend Donald, Fair Daisy!”

“Storkules, what did I say…” Donald warned.

“Oh, thy shan’t worry, Friend Donald! I have simply forgotten mine room key here earlier today. I have decided that it would be better if I disturbed thy date at the beginning of it, rather than later. My apologies if I have caused a disturbance, I shall return to the game night with Launchpad and Drake immediately.”

Donald and Daisy let out breaths of relief, “It’s ok Storkules,” Daisy said.

“Just, don’t bother us later,” Donald said bluntly.

“Unless there is an emergency,” Daisy added.

“And we do mean an emergency. At the very least, something being on fire!”

“Do not fret, friends! I am capable of putting out flames myself,” he picked something up from the kitchen counter, “I have found mine keys and from now till the end of the I shall only disturb you again for the greatest of needs! Farewell, friends!”

“Bye Storkules!” the two sent him off, very mild exasperation in their voice.

“Well, it was naïve to expect an evening without any bumps,” Donald said, “And Storkules finally learned how to read the room.”

“Or maybe he is just really into whatever game he, Drake and Launchpad are playing,” Daisy said, snuggling closer to Donald, “Now, let’s watch the film and eat those bruschettas before they grow cold!”

….

They were barely 20 minutes into the film when they heard weird splashing sounds from outside the boat.

“Who is coming to swim now?” Daisy wondered. “If it’s Drake, LP and Storkules I’m going to show their beach towels where the sun don’t- erm, sorry, they are our friends…”

“Oh, no I agree entirely! But what’s weird is that is sounded like someone diving out of the pool, without said person falling into it first,” Donald frowned.

The splashing continued, and the couple exchanged a glance. Resigned, Donald pauses the film to go check what was going on but, as he got to his feet a spectre suddenly flew into the houseboat through one of the walls.

“WHAT THE-” Donald stuttered, falling back on the sofa as Daisy let out a surprised scream. The greenish, transparent figure of an old goose dressed in a toga floated in the middle of the room, seeming very, very displeased.

Before the two got their bearings, another spectre, a large black figure with horns and glowing red eyes, flew in, ramming into the first one. Daisy yelped again, ready to fight both figures as the black one forced the first one through the floorboards.

“Hey, you two better not mess up the engine below!” Donald yelled after them. “Where is my ghost fighting equipment?”

A moment later, the black figure appeared again, making Daisy jump and hurl her plat at it. The ghost simply caught it and then changed his form. Duckworth, dressed in his leisure clothing, stood in front of the couple.

“Apologies for the disturbance,” he said, putting the plate down, “I was playing my regular chess match with Hades when a couple of souls escaped Hades and I decided to help Hades round them up. One of them decided to leave the underworld right under Killmotor hill. “Also, apologies to miss Daisy. I believe you have not yet witnessed my more intimidating form.”

“No,” Daisy said, breathing heavily “I can’t say that I have.”

“Well, I will you two alone now. Enjoy your evening!” Duckworth said, floating into the ground.

“Can’t we have one peaceful night?” Daisy asked.

“I warned you, this family and this house especially is pure chaos. This night is tame,” Donald said.

“Oh, I know that tonight is tame. I remember the girls summoning the ancient god of shrubbery last week! Why is there even such a thing as the ancient god of shrubbery!?”

“I don’t know,” Donald said, “But those were two interruptions. How about,” he took out a small candle from the bag he took out of the cupboard and lit it, “There. Violet and Lena got this for me, it should keep the ghosts, except Duckworth because I don’t want to be rude, out of the houseboat. Now, where were we?”

“I believe Bridget was just about to meet Mark,” Daisy said, getting back on the sofa.

….

They watched the film and then sat down to eat dinner. Pasta with salmon, one or both of their favourites.

And then Donald got a text from Tyrian.

“Don?”

“The girls are doing magical shenanigans at the Sabrewings,” Donald said.

Daisy was pensive for a moment, “Could we go check on them? Please? I know it’s par per course for them but, you know,” She shrugged.

Donald sighed, setting his wine glass down, “You’re worried, that’s understandable. And while I do believe the kids will be fine, I don’t want the guys to get too in over their heads. Ty and Indy, that is,” Donald said, looking at the text again. “They do seem freaked out. Maybe we should have asked Della and Penny to take Storkules with them and have LP and Drake do the sleepover at St. Canard…they are used to chaos.”

“Well, too late now,” Daisy said, “Let’s just go check on the kids!"

The two got off the boat and rushed towards Donald’s car, almost bumping into Beakley on their way.

“Sorry Mrs B,” Donald said.

“What are you two doing out here, I thought you wanted a nice romantic dinner at the houseboat?” Beakley asked.

“We were,” Daisy answered, “But Tyrian just called Donald, he sounded worried.”

“Ah, yes, he informed me as well,” Beakley said, completely calm, “tried reaching to me first.”

“So, why are you not coming too,” Daisy wondered.

“Donald, Daisy, let me ask, what did Tyrian tell you the children were doing?”

“Trying out levitation spells and apparently May accidentally made Louie and Dewey float!” Daisy said, apprehensive.

“Yes. Now, on the scale of 1 to 10, how outlandish does that sound for an average sleepover? For our kids, at least? And keep in mind that, today, the entire gang is at the Sabrewings, all ten of the kids. So the scale is skewed.”

“Well, there is no ancient shrubbery gods…” Daisy said.

“Or monster summons,” Donald pointed out.

“Those two events, at least to my experience, barely amount to a 6. A simple levitation spell is a mere 2. Also, do you not think that I wouldn’t already have gone there if I thought there was an issue?” Beakley asked. Both adults frowned, searching for a good argument.

“I understand that you both worry, Donald you always had enough reason to be. Daisy, you are still new to all of this. And you are new parents plus this is the first time that your girls are at a sleepover happening at someone else’s house.”

“We were just going to check on them! Tell them not to escalate things further,” Daisy said.

“I already had Dewey and Webby promise me not to take things too far. Those two are usually the instigators. I also asked Lena to be careful, as she is the one with magic. They promised to be careful,”

“Well…” Donald said, apprehensive. It’s not that he didn’t trust the kids. But Dewey and Webby promising to keep things calm and normal was like asking a child not to go crazy in a toy store.

Beakley noticed Donald’s apprehension, “I also asked Huey and Violet to promise me the same and they each swore on their Woodchuck honour to keep things in check,” she added, “Violet, in particular, would like to host a sleepover with all her friends at her place again and that will not happen if she were to spook her fathers with the first one!”

“But what’s about the levitation spells?” Daisy asked.

“Well, expecting those ten not to experiment with any magic or fight practice during a sleepover is like expecting sky not to be blue,” Beakley said, “Tyrian and Indigo will simply have to deal with that on their own. They are raising Violet and Lena, I’m sure they can handle it. Plus, they need to learn.”

Donald seemed convinced the moment Beakley mentioned Huey and Violet giving their Woodchuck promise. Daisy still seemed a bit unsure.

“Listen,” Beakley said, “we have had a very exhausting month. You two more than many. You deserve a rest. The kids will be fine, they can handle it. And if the Sabrewings can’t handle one sleepover, then, and this might sound harsh, they have no business parenting Violet and Lena.”

“That…I agree with,” Donald said, looking at still apprehensive Daisy reassuringly. “But I’m certain Ty and Indy will be able to handle it.”

“You two deserve some time by yourselves," Beakley said calmly. "And from the levels of frustration, you are both exhibiting, I’m going to assume this is not the first disturbance you had this evening. Go ahead, have your date. If the Sabrewings call with genuine concern, I promise I will go handle it myself. And those three himbos in the garage playing video games will come with me.”

Daisy considered the older woman’s words.

“We can always call the kids and ask them directly how they are doing,” Donald offered. “Besides, if there was really an issue, I’m pretty sure Ty and Indy wouldn’t be asking, Hey the kids are practising spells, should we be worried? They'd more likely call in a panic asking us to come immediately.”

“You have a point there,” Daisy let out a breath of relief, “Sorry I got a bit in over my head, and thanks to both of you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Beakley said, “Have a nice evening,” she said, walking towards the manor.

“We could still go check on them if you need it to settle your nerves,” Donald suggested.

“No, I trust your judgement. But I would like to give them a call, to be certain!”

“Of course,”.

….

“There,” Donald said, as they finished talking to the kids and got a few words in with Indigo as well, “Everything is fine. And June says the same thing. Also, Huey just promised me to keep the things chill as well.”

“Ok, good,” Daisy said, “Again, sorry if I freaked out a bit:”

“It’s all right,” he took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

“I mean, now that I think better about it, levitation spells sound like something I would have done at sleepovers if I had the resources," Daisy chuckled, "I have done plenty of Light as a feather, stiff as a board incantations in my teen years. This simply seems like one step beyond that.”

“And Beakley is right, it’s time that Sabrewings get a bit of a taste of our kid's sleepover at full force.”

“Indy sounded a bit overwhelmed, but with all ten of them there, I don’t blame him. That really is trial by fire.”

“They do live in a relatively normal house, though. I mean, I know that their house is haunted, but the ghost is apparently a laid-back young adult guy who just wants to be left alone. But the kids don’t have the same access to magical artefacts they have here.”

“So,” Daisy took a sip of wine, “now that we made sure kids are safe, what is next on the schedule?”

“The dinner,” Donald said, “I made your-”

“I know,” Daisy laughed, “one of my favourites. You said it three times! No need to brag about it,” she joked.

“You be the judge of that,” Donald offered to feed her a spoon of the sauce. She accepted.

“Mmmmm,” Daisy savoured in the taste, “Forget what I said, you have bragging rights for this!”

“Could you get me the plates?”

“Sure, here you go!” she offered. As Donald placed the food on the plate, they heard the noise outside.

“Ugh, what is now?” Donald wondered and the two walked up on the deck.

In the middle of the lawn, Duckworth was wrestling against three ghosts, “Don’t worry, you two,” he shouted to them, “I have it under control, you go back to enjoying your romantic evening!”

At that moment, they heard people approaching from behind the manor and two sparring figures strutted to the lawn.

“You should just give up! You know I have more stamina!” Della shouted. Great, they moved their sparring practice from the hanger to the yard, Donald lamented in his mind.

“Moonlanders don’t give up! What is that?” Penumbra snapped her head towards the wrestling ghosts, pausing in her attacks.

“Seems like Duckworth is in trouble,” Della said, lowering her sowrd “oh I got an idea! The first one to banish a ghost, wins!”

“Deal!” Penumbra agreed and both women ran up to the ghosts shouting like Amazon warriors, their weapons raised.

“Idiots,” Duckworth shouted at them as they passed through the ghosts harmlessly, “you can’t defeat spectres with regular weapons!”

“Hey, what is the commotion?” Another voice joined the noise as Drake, Launchpad and Storkules approached from the garage.

“Do thy require our assistance, oh Duckworth, the Ghost butler?”

“None of you can touch them,” Duckworth grunted, pushing one of the spectres into the ground.

“But we can be moral support!” Della shouted, “Duckworth! Duckworth!”

Donald turned to Daisy, “So much for the peaceful night,”

“Well, dinner and the show?” she quipped, trying to find a positive in the situation.

“My friends, I would love to join thee in thy support of Duckworth, but mine Friend Donald and Fair Daisy have a romantic date tonight and I promised them peace and quiet!”

“Oh, they can shove it!” Della shouted back, as everyone else continued chanting, “This is more exciting!”

“Werry supportive sis!” Donald shouted back.

“My apologies, friend Donald, I did not want to cause a ruckus," Storkules answered as Della completely ignored her brother, "I was merely coming out to see if something urgent was happening!”

“QUIT THAT HELLISH HULLABALOO DOWN THERE YOU RIP-ROARING RIFF-RAFFS!” Scrooge suddenly appeared on one of the windows, “SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO HAVE SOME PEACE AND QUIET!”

For a moment everything was quiet, even the enemy ghosts stopped resisting as Duckworth pushed them into the ground, “My apologies, sir,” he said.

“Oh I’m not blaming you,” Scrooge said from the window, “I can see that you are just dealing with something unpredictable. The rest of you, calm down! Oi, Donald, lass, how is your date going?”

At that moment, Donald just wanted to be somewhere quiet. But he now knew he had an ally in Scrooge, and he was not about to miss the opportunity to use it, “Great Uncle Scrooge, especially before we were rudely interrupted!”

“See! Not only are you disturbing my work, all of ye are ruining poor Donald’s date! Of to your designated rooms, all of ye!”

As everyone dispersed and Scrooge closed the window, Donald and Daisy descended back into the boat kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” Donald said, “I really thought we would have a peaceful night.”

“It’s not your fault,” Daisy pulled him into a hug, “I’m not sure what we were expecting.”

“Heh, right, as if we were born yesterday!”

“Hm, I may have an idea,” Daisy said.

“Yes?”

“How about we move the date?”

“Where? Into my room in the manor?"

“No, a bit further away,” Daisy said, putting her arms around his neck “My apartment, we could go there, have dinner and enjoy a bit of alone time. Nobody to make a ruckus, walk in on us, cause a fight…”

Donald pulled her closer, planting a deep kiss on her beak, “That is a wonderful idea, let’s do it!”

…..

They packed the dinner into Tupperware containers, took the DVDs and wine with them and, less than half an hour later, the couple was at Daisy’s apartment at the edge of the financial district.

“Well, it’s a bit of a mess,” Daisy said, passing by a few rolls of fabric in the entryway, “Glamour,” she continued to mutter to herself, “had me kicked out of her studio the minute I said I can’t be her personal assistant anymore except with things I can solve online. So many things to move…”

“It’s fine,” Donald said, “Nobody expects it to be tidy with you changing jobs, and planning your own studios and moving out…”

“But it’s still nice and relaxing to come here, despite the mess,” Daisy said as she put the salmon pasta into the glass tray and then popped it into the microwave.

“Sorry that the evening didn’t turn out perfect. Again,” Donald apologized, as they moved between rolls of fabric and boxes filled with Daisy’s stuff with dinner that would have to be microwaved.

“Donald,” Daisy smiled, “I don’t need things to be perfect. If I wanted the quote-unquote perfect date I wouldn’t suggest us to come to, how did Della put it, the fancy mess that is my apartment right now.”

“Still, I wanted us to have one perfect relaxed home dinner and a movie date,” Donald said.

“Well, you’re here, I’m here, the dinner will be heated up in about a minute and 20 seconds, I have a perfectly comfortable sofa and the movie,” she took out Emma DVD box and shook it in her hand, “is also here. Perfect enough for me.”

“You still just want to gush about how good the costumes are, don’t you?” Donald said adoringly.

“Yes! You know fashion history is my second passion, after design,” Daisy said, her eyes shining.

“Then prepare the sofa, pour the wine, I’ll bring the food over. Is it ok with you to eat on the sofa?” Donald offered, looking ad Daisy fondly, finding her excitement absolutely adorable as she practically danced her way to the living room.

“Absolutely fine,” she said, as she placed cushions and blankets on the sofa, making it as comfortable to cuddle on as possible “Donald, I may be a high-maintenance woman, but I’m not a snob!”

“You’re not high-maintenance, you just like finer things in life on occasion,” he said, bringing two plates of pasta and kissing her briefly on the cheek.

“Mm-mph,” Daisy muttered, grabbing a fork from his hand and taking a bite of food, “like your salmon pasta, finest there is! And served in very nice plates!”

“Are you complimenting your own plates?” he asked as he sat down on the sofa.

“I have good taste and I know it. But now, let’s get comfortable,” she paused for a moment, looking at the sofa as if she considered something. “Speaking off, this is a home date, no need for fancy dresses,” she said making Donald raise an eyebrow. Daisy was always well-dressed. To her, nice dresses were appropriate for pretty much any occasion.

“Fine, I don’t want to stain it,” she said, unzipping the dark blue dress she wore. As she took it off, Donald couldn’t help but stare and felt blood rushing to his face. “Seems to me like I better find something to wear, before you explode,” she blinked, making Donald blush even deeper as he nearly dropped the plates.

“No n-need,” he said, trying not to stare. Even after being together for a year, it felt rude to gape like that.

“Oh, listen to him,” she chuckled, “no need you say? Well, I would love to lay about in my bra, but, first of all, no I wouldn’t, and secondly, it’s a bit chilly here, so give me a sec.” she walked over to her old bedroom and got back a minute later, dressed in silk nightgown and robe, “If you want to change, you left one of your flannels here the last time you visited and I’m yet to return it.”

Donald went to the other room to change from his suit as Daisy poured the wine and settled on the sofa with the plate.

“Start the film,” Donald said, settling next to Daisy, taking his plate “Do we do that thing where we joke about whether we’re allowed to comment on how cute a certain actor is? Like Johnny Flight?”

“You look at Johnny Flight and Ana Talon-Joy as much as you like, I’ll look at what they are wearing,”

“I feel like I should be more jealous of a nice coat than a handsome man wearing a said coat,”

“Yes, yes, you should!” Daisy said, “Oh the costumes here really are masterfully crafted! And actors look so beautiful in them!”

“Should I dress up as a regency gentleman,” Donald asked. They were both done with their food, so he wrapped his arms around Daisy who leaned into him.

“Oh definitely, but only if it’s well made. None of the Party Town junk!” she frowned for a moment, “Oh that sounded snobbish, did that sound snobbish?”

“You have very particular things you’re snobbish about. And what would you do if I appeared in Party Town costume of, let’s say, Mr Darcy?”

“I’d get it off you as soon as possible!” Daisy said, sounding offended-

“And what if that would be my entire plan;” Donald asked suggestively, leaning closer, resting his beak on her shoulder.

“Oh, shut up!” Daisy said, showing a cushion in his face and making him laugh, “I’m watching the film! You’ll make me miss things!”

“Like a dress? You’re choosing a dress over me!”

“A dress is not making dirty suggestions,” Daisy countered jokingly.

“Hey, you’re the one that started talking about how you want to rip the clothes of me!” Donald joked, and earned another swat with a cushion, “Ok, ok, I’ll stop!”

“Thank you! Now, let’s watch the film and be quiet!”

….

They watched Emma. And then La La Land. Halfway through La La Land, though, they stopped paying attention to the film as one small kiss from Donald turned into a make-out session. And then they remained laying on the sofa, spooning.

Donald yawned, “I think I’m ready to go to bed,” he said, but made no attempts to get up from the sofa, instead of wrapping his arms tighter around Daisy.

“No! Up!” She ordered, despite sounding just as tired, “If we fall asleep here, we’re both going to have neck pain tomorrow; come on!” She tried to wiggle free.

“Ugh, do I have to,” Donald muttered, “We had too much wine to drive home,” he said. They were not drunk, they were barely tipsy, but he still didn’t feel comfortable getting behind the wheel. “I mean to the houseboat.”

“Yes, I agree. But I do have a bed in this apartment, come on,” Daisy freed herself from Donald’s embrace, “you get the dishes into the sink, while I make the bed.”

“The bed is made, nobody slept in it for weeks,” Donald said.

“Fine, in that case, I’ll wait for you in it,” Daisy said, looking over her shoulder as she walked towards the room, leaving her cardigan behind.

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Donald exclaimed and rushed with the dishes to the kitchen, almost tripping on the carpet.

“Don’t hurt yourself!” Daisy, already in her room, yelled after him, but she barely finished the sentence when she heard the sound of a body hitting something, followed by an ouch, the sound of dishes breaking and then Donald cursing. “Oh my, Don?” she bolted out of the bedroom, “Donald, are you ok?”

“Ouch,” Donald was rubbing his head, “Forgot to close the cabinet door before, hit my head in it and dropped the dishes. I broke your fancy plates, sorry,” he said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

“Don’t worry about plates, as long as you’re not injured. You know I meant it when I said not to hurt yourself,” she softly teased and pressed a kiss on his forehead where he hit his head.

“Har, har,” Donald rolled his eyes,  “But really, sorry. I’ll clean it up,” Donald said.

“Nope. I don’t want you to cut yourself,” Daisy said, “Get everything else in the dishwasher, please.”

“I’m capable of cleaning broken plates,” Donald said, but then slipped in a small puddle of water and fell on his butt, “It’s just that my bad luck decided to pick this particular moment to attack.”

“And therefore, we will not give it a possibility to hurt you with the chips of my fancy plate,” Daisy said, picking up the broken pieces. “Why don’t you go,” she leaned in closer to him, looking him directly in the eyes, “And wait for me in the bed?”

Donald gulped, feeling his cheeks flush again, “Yup! Can do!”

A few minutes later, Daisy returned to the bedroom, “Hey, how’s your head?”

“Fine,” he gestured for her to move closer, “come here!”

Daisy snuggled next to him and pressed a kiss on his lips, “I decided to leave the dishes for the morning, after ruining another plate. Perhaps it’s not your bad luck just the alcohol.”

“Mph-m,” Donald muttered, nuzzling against her neck, “I forgot how comfy this bed was.”

“Well, we did get the exact same mattress, we always sleep together, it must be the silk sheets that make it so special,” daisy joked.

“Is that so? In that case, I’m really sorry I stuck you with plain, old cotton ones!”

“And it’s a good thing I’m not dating you because of your sheets,”

“Obviously. Can you get some of these on the boat?”

“Oh, are you just dating me for my sheets?”

“Possibly, or rather what can be done in them,” he looked at her with a lopsided grin.

“Donald,” Daisy scolded, between offence and laughter.

“I’m joking,” he laughed, and they kissed. She kissed his neck, travelling to his collarbones and he pulled her closer but seemed almost hesitant.

“What is it?” Daisy asked, pausing, her breath fast.

“I’m a bit tired,” he said

“Oh, of course.”

“There is always morning,” he suggested, a naughty glint in his eyes. “The bed will still be here, we will still be here…”

“And the dishes can wait,” Daisy said, pressing one final kiss to his beak.

“This is nice,” Donald said.

“The sheets? Us together? Hugging?” Daisy asked, her brain feeling a little foggy.

“All of it. But I meant, a bit of alone time. Just the two of us.”

“Yes, it is.!

They lay like that for a few minutes, just enjoying the closeness of the other, revelling in the touch and body heat.

“Donald?”

“Mhm?”

“Sorry, I’ll ask in the morning if you’re asleep,”

“It’s fine. What is troubling you?”

“I know both you and Beakly said otherwise, but I can’t shake the feeling…Is it a bad thing when we, when I, juts want some…time without anyone around, even…” she trailed off.

“The kids?” Donald narrowed his eyes, reading through Daisy’s hesitation, “May and June specifically?”

“Yes. I feel like a bad parent saying that,” Daisy admitted.

“Daisy, you’re not a bad parent. Trust me, every parent I know, myself included wants, no needs some time alone. Every couple needs a bit of time away from the kids, away from everything. And you’ve got stuck with not just May and June, but the boys and Webby as well.”

“Don, I’m not stuck. I love all of them. May and June as a mum already, and I’ve been an unofficial aunt to the rest of them for a while now,” Daisy said, “But sometimes, I just want you for myself. Just for a few hours, maybe a day.”

“And that is normal. It’s healthy. I need it too, I just told you it’s wonderful for it to be just the two of us for one night. And ask any parent and they will tell you the same. Ty and Indy, that friend of yours from work, Della, everyone. We need time to talk, to rest, to be with one another as a couple.”

“Thank you,” Daisy said, “for reassurance.”

“Besides, we’re not just dealing with kids, the manor is always such a chaos that being alone is almost impossible, even if we sent kids to a summer camp.”

“Don, that makes me think,” Daisy’s eyes grew distant for a moment, “What if I kept the apartment?”

“What? Do you want us to move here?” Donald frowned. He didn’t like the thought much.

“No, no,” she shut the idea down immediately. “Living with you is amazing. And there is no second bedroom here, the girls would have no place to sleep. I meant what if I kept it for us!”

“I thought you were meeting with a buyer this week, that you wanted to use the money for the new design studio once we get back from travels?”

“I did. But I’ve been considering it at the back of my mind for a few days now, so I did the math. I could pull everything off without the money from the apartment. And this could be additional office and storage space, which, as it’s obvious from the state of this place, I will clearly need. Besides, it’s nice to have a place for ourselves…”

“No chaos…”

“Loud noises, interruptions…” Daisy counted further, “I love your family but-”

“Our family,” Donald smiled, and Daisy was over the moon for him at that moment. “they see you as such already.”

“Ok. Our family. But having a quiet night without battles in the yard and nobody to barge in. like our friends,”

“Or my sister…”

“The ghost butler, or your uncle, which almost happened once…” Daisy shivered.

“And worst of all, kids!” Donald blanched.

“Oh yes, I don’t want to be the cause of that childhood trauma,” Daisy agreed.

“Come to think of it, I think Uncle Scrooge might have been taking his revenge on me when he almost barged in…”

“What? Why would he…”

“Me and Della, when we were kids, we almost walked in on him and Goldie once,” Donald said awkwardly.

“Oh for god’s sake, Don!” Daisy swatted his shoulder.

“What?”

“Don’t talk about your uncle’s love life when we’re cuddling! You’re ruining the mood!”

“You’ve ruined it further when you uttered the words your uncle’s love life!”

“Because you brought it up first!” she countered back and for a moment they scowled at each other, before bursting into laughter. Their laugh subsided and, for a few moments, they just gazed into each other’s eyes.

Then Daisy let out a big yawn.

“See, you’re ruining the moment,” Donald teased, yawning himself, “you’re contagious!”

“Oh, be quiet now!” Daisy muttered, resting her head on Donald’s chest. “Might be the time to go to sleep.”

“Yes, it is. Night, Daisy,” he planted a kiss on her hair.

“Good night Donald,” she lifted her head slightly and gave him a peck, “I love you,”

“I love you too,” he said as she laid her head back on his chest and they enjoyed the closeness of the other, taking peace in the other’s breathing as they drifted to sleep.