#he's trying to pay him a compliment with that last line but it's.....very jamie. very poorly executed

[tartt9]

Jamie doesn't touch gossip rags. The further he can stay away from The fucking Sun, the better. He learned his lesson way back before he and Keeley started dating; anything in a gossip rag isn't worth reading, and the people who're paid to write it aren't worth the title of journalist. With that being said - Jamie doesn't know what [ if anything ] has been published about him in those papers, not in recent years, not during his City days. He especially doesn't know what they have to say about Arlo. In Jamie's mind, they're like two sides of the same coin, if one side of the coin was shiny and new, and the other side was dipped in shit. Which may not be enough grace for Arlo, but Jamie's not a perfect person. He's trying to be the best man he can be - that doesn't mean he's always successful.

He doesn't intend to be cruel about it - Jamie hasn't intended to be cruel since his loan year - he knows that Arlo's family hasn't been kind to him from what little he's seen on Twitter [ when Jamie's on twitter, if somebody isn't mentioning him, one of his teammates, or Roy by name, he tends to skip past it without a second thought ]. But he can tell his words affected Arlo. And Jamie isn't the sort to pretend like what he's said hasn't hurt someone, not anymore. "Look..." he starts. He still doesn't think he's very good at this apology thing. "I grew up on a council estate in North Manchester." Everyone knows that. It's the first fucking thing under Early Life on Jamie's Wikipedia page. But it's important context, so he says it. "And -- that... fucking... influenced everything for me. From the moment I were born 'til I was seventeen and making Premier League money. And even sometimes after that." Because people love to bring it up, don't they? Jamie's not ashamed of where he comes from - not at all, if anything, he's proud of it, proud of the work he's had to put in, proud of the fact that he's gone above and beyond what most other footballers would have had to go to get to where he got. But, sometimes, he doesn't want to talk about everything he had to sacrifice for football. How he'd never been outside of England until he was 14. Jamie would take any opportunity to lather praise on Georgie's name, but she doesn't deserve to have to hear him talking about how much extra work she had to do to get him his boots whenever he grew out of an old pair - how much time they could've had together, just... wasted, working to get Jamie what he needed to keep playing the game he loved.

"So... it's... fucking hard, sometimes, to... accept... when I'm... y'know. The same as somebody. Especially with how different we grew up. Childhood's, like, a massive influence on adulthood, innit? So - yeah, yeah, we both got fucked up childhoods. But my fucked up childhood is really fucking different than your fucked up childhood." Jamie doesn't want to talk about his father. Doesn't want to bring him into his conversation. Especially when he hasn't heard from James since Wembley, which is fucking weird, and freaking him the fuck out [ losing 4-0 to City at home after Zava fucking disappears on them? That's very much a James Tartt reason to send some texts ]. "I don't mean to hurt ya, and I don't mean to say anythin' stupid-like. I'm grateful for you tryin' to be open with me, 'cause it's tough to be open with people, I know that. But... for me, I mean - it's still a little weird to be compared to Arlo fuckin' Thompson, yeah...?"

jamie practically laughs in arlo's face, and the actor can't help but deflate at the gesture. he's sure the athlete isn't intending to be cruel, but   it  stings  nonetheless   . he fixes his attention firmly on the ground, hoping that in concentrating on the cracks in the pavement, he can keep his cheeks from turning that   VICIOUS  ,  SPLOTCHY RED   they become when he's fueled by upset . of course they aren't identical  ━  of course they've got their differences, arlo's not   so  fucking  naive   that he'd compare apples to oranges. he'd just meant that jamie could talk to him and he would understand  ━ and even if he didn't understand, he'd do his best to be there for him anyways. but...it doesn't really matter what he'd meant now, does it? because he can hear this tinge of disdain in jamie's voice, 'but that weren't always the case, weren't it?', as if arlo had any say in the matter. as if he was somehow proud of that which marked them as being STARKLY DIFFERENT from one another, their backgrounds creating a bridge he thinks that he'll maybe   never  be  allowed   to cross. funny, that. arlo thinks he'd trade all the money in the world for a set of parents that actually loved him, or maybe even a set of parents that at least loved his sisters. he tries not to be upset with jamie  ━  they weren't incredibly close   ( despite  arlo's  best  efforts  ,  as  he's  pushed  away  time  &&  time  again )   and what jamie knows of his shite parents, he knows from social media and ridiculous gossip rags most likely, not yet arlo himself. still…he's hurt, as jamie draws that   LINE  IN  THE  SAND   between them.   ❝ no, i guess not, ❞   is all he can muster, voice quiet and drawn, biting his lip so hard it just might bleed.

[spaceagesparkledust]

Makeups Your Doctor Who (Random Doctor Who Headcanons)

It’s Rose and her drug store mascara against the world. Girl is prepared

Jack and Nine get a kick out of watching Rose do her makeup routine. Every time. I don’t think Nine pays any attention to Rose putting it on until Jack comes around. Sure he always thinks she looks pretty but Jack’s the one who’ll come in Rose’s room while she does her makeup and keep her entertained. (Nine likes to be surprised)

Rose and Jack do each other’s nails. 

They convince Nine to let them paint his nails once. (Black, like his soul. ) Coincidentally, this is their first official TARDIS flying lesson. He can’t fly with wet hands after all. 

Rose eventually does Nine’s mascara, and eyeliner because she needs to know how goth he’s going to look in eyeliner and a leather jacket. The answer is incredibly goth. Nine spends a good ten minutes looking in the mirror, which is a new record considering he never looks in the mirror. 

River isn’t allowed to leave her lipstick lying around because Eleven will pick it up thinking it’s normal and then start having hallucinations.

One doesn’t understand Earth makeup trends. At all. They’re just so different from Galifrey. 

I think he tells Susan that she’s very pretty without it and she’s like “that’s very nice grandfather” while flipping through a magazine. 

She gets all her makeup ideas from watching her classmates. Also advice from barbara! 

One sits in on these Barbara sessions sometimes to learn. They offer to teach him but he prefers watching. 

I think eventually Susan manages to convince him to let her try it on him. It happens once and they never get to again. 

Before really trying to acclimate to school, Susan’s makeup skills were never period or place accurate.

Susan Foreman bringing you the hottest looks from Galifrey and planets 3000 years in the future.

Lets all his surrogate granddaughters use Susan’s old makeup she left on the TARDIS

Six and Peri, like with everything else, fight about makeup 

Six does enjoy makeup but i don’t think he ever puts on anything super elaborate because his coat does all the work for him 

He has a surprisingly good grasp on what colors work together and what clashes 

Buys makeup for his companions and keeps it stashed on the Tardis. Does not tell Peri. He’ll just put it somewhere obvious and make hinting comments until she notices. And then gets upset when she thanks the TARDIS and not him.

 WILL tell Peri if her makeup clashes or is the wrong shade

Uses his own arm as a tester swatch 

Four does Sarah’s makeup once

She gets poked in the face/eye a lot. He tells her to stop moving. 

It doesn’t look bad. But it also….doesn’t look good. Harry spends five minutes trying to compliment it before Sarah tells him to give it a rest.

Jo is very good at makeup and has given the Doctor a thorough explanation of makeup trends while they’ve been captured. The Doctor knows more than he’s ever wanted to know about makeup. which is good for getting Jo a Christmas present. 

Both Two and Ten try to make their own makeup….to varying results 

Two tries to replicate Victorian style makeup for Victoria but better ™ 

To keep it secret he tests it on himself and Jamie and Jamie is horribly allergic to one of the ingredients 

Victoria is very happy about it

Zoe tries to make improvements on it when she’s around. Mostly so Jamie doesn’t die

Many many many years later Amy finds it and tries it on. And it looks very nice on her but to her and Eleven’s panic the long lasting makeup effects are uh….very long lasting and don't wear off for weeks.

Ten gets dragged to a makeup shop with Donna and is very very very bored 

He insists that he can make something better than anything Donna’s buying. So he tries.

Its not bad honestly. Fairly decent, the colors look great on Donna. Its even eco-friendly.

Donna jokes that they should have their own makeup line which is a business venture they try for 0.2 seconds before it backfires horribly and wind up running from an evil space CEO.

15 and Ruby routinely do nails together as a means of decompressing

15 is Ruby’s hype person while she does her makeup, that jukebox is turned allll the way up

15 really likes period-accurate makeup and will find any excuse bust out a vintage collection of makeups he’s picked up at some point. Really good at it too. (this is definitely a result of Rose-Uncle Doctor bonding time)

They visit Space Sephora so Ruby can pick up things for her mates and her family

Eleven compliments Clara’s makeup quite often. Every time Clara changes her makeup Twelve acts like he’s never seen her before in his life. 

He doesn’t understand why Clara likes eyeliner because her eyes get even bigger somehow. 

Twelve narrates Clara’s makeup routine like a nature documentary. It annoys her at first but then she finds it endearing and alerts him every time she’s about to fix her makeup.

Twelve's not big on makeup himself but he does rock glam makeup.

[twistedmusings]

Vil Schoenheit: After RSA’S Performance

The first time he had been left speechless was because of you.

You who always knew what to say, you who always had an answer to the problem at hand.

Where were you?

A/N: What is formatting. I don’t even know.

But listen though. When did Vil get hot? I mean he has always been hot but is it now because he is sad boy? A rude boy turned sad boy? Is that why I am attracted to him now and was compelled to write this?

I don’t know but I’m in love so I’m going to run with it.

This is how Vil would react if MC looked like they were enjoying RSA’s performance.

Part 2, here!

What Vil felt couldn’t really be put into words.

His grades would say that he was one of the highest ranking students in the Language Arts for Night Raven College. Not just in regular human speech but also in fairy-dialect, animal dialect and any sort of dialect that Professor Trein would demand. Vil also excelled in prose, poetry and abstract writing.

Being left speechless was not something that was supposed to happen, not twice in a row.

The tightening of his throat would speak otherwise, as well as the sudden feeling of vertigo.

Vil could barely hear Kalim through the jovial sound of Neige’s voice, the one thing that had kept him awake for these past few weeks--no these past few years. When was the last time that he had felt so helpless? Was it when he had first met him? Neige, with his bright smile and lovable personality that made people overlook his mistakes, his very obvious mistakes. The way he wouldn’t go when it was his cue, or how Neige would forget almost every other line only to finally have the script memorized by the time it was opening night.

A children’s song.

“What even is this song! The chorus just won’t leave my head!”

He wasn’t even ready during dress rehearsal, Neige would wait until fucking opening night.

Was it dramatic to say that the whole event had haunted him? As well as the domino effect of undeserved fame that Neige had gotten afterwards?

No, to Vil, being overshadowed by this person despite all the effort that he put into each and everyone of his performances was something akin to being shot by a gun.

Over and over and over.

He had been beaten by a children’s song.

Every single commercial, every music video, every promotion and every product placement that Neige did was like a dagger carving him up from the inside out.

So when the VDC presented itself, he jumped at the chance to not just shape himself into the perfect being to defeat Neige, but to shape others to show that not only could he surpass himself but he could help others break through their own ‘ugly’ exteriors to discover their own personal beauty. And by all means he had done it, he had taken five rough and ugly rocks and turned them into polished jewels.

Polished jewels that framed the diamond he had worked so hard to turn himself into.

His grip on the audience seat loosens when something flashes through his mind.

The practices had been rather arduous, not only having to make sure that he was flawless but trying to deal with Epel’s stupid gender based ideas, Ace and Deuce’s lack of grace and even Kalim’s really really terrible singing voice. Yet something had made it even a little bit worth it.

Someone, he needed to correct himself, someone had made it a bit worth it.

The sixth potato that he had hoped to start shaping after this whole thing was over.

What could he say about you? At first glance you were truly nothing special. An uneventful, magicless person from an equally uneventful place that hadn’t even been accepted into this school but was instead made a student because of the monster next to you. You weren’t even a student, more like a glorified problem solver for the Headmaster. Ideally, Vil should have also hated your guts since you were essentially getting the same education that he had been getting when he was a first year but without any effort but there was something different about you that he had not expected.

I think you’re probably the fairest out of everyone in the school.

A small glimmer of something beautiful.

But in the end your opinion is the one that will matter to you.

You were honest. That is something that Rook had mentioned about you once he did his recon of the new manager for the VDC team. How the Ramshackle prefect really didn’t have anything to offer but that the quality that stood out the most to the hunter was your refreshing honesty.

He had modeled for crowds of adoring fans and yet he found himself pulling out his pocket mirror and fixing non-existent imperfections before talking to you. Yet even when he tried to make himself look presentable to you, you always seemed to catch him when all of his walls were down.

“You should have seen the information that I got from Riddle, Leona, and Azul. They have really gotten a reputation behind them, the Ramshackle prefect. I wonder what will happen if we keep them close~”

Vil wouldn’t admit it to anyone but there had been a brief moment that his heart skipped a beat when the news about how the VDC team would be rooming in Ramshackle. He figured it had skipped out of beat due to the horrific news that he would have to room in a dorm that had not been used for who knows how long but when he had come inside and been greeted by your smile, it was almost surreal how he had come to terms with this feeling of nervousness.

The night before the VDC had found Vil in the Ramshackle lounge, a cup of tea in his hand as he watched a video of that day’s performance. There were still minor imperfections here and there but those would be easily covered up by his own singing and movements. Epel had also improved exponentially which highly increased the probability of a successful performance and with Jami’s hypnotizing movements and Rook’s aura there was no doubt that he had this competition under his heel.

But nerves like these didn’t leave overnight.

A creak on the stairs brought him back to the present, taking a sip of his tea as he continued to look at the video.

“If you’re here to ask me about why I am awake at this hour, Rook, I would like to remind you that you insisted we review the performance in the morning which already did nothing to calm my nerves--”

"Vil-senpai?"

His head snapped up to look at you , the light of the moon masking him in shadows while illuminating you as you made your way down the staircase. He clicked his tongue and turned off his phone.

"Was I interrupting something?"

Vil shook his head, “Last minute detail check. Everything has to be perfect by tomorrow.”

You nod and walk towards him, standing next to the couch before pointing to it. Vil looked at you before looking at the seat next to him. What were you--oh. He nodded and you sat down on the other side of the love seat, both of you farther apart that he would have liked.

“Does the manager have anything they want to say to me?”

“It just gets me thinking. You have been doing this performance perfectly in my eyes. Over and over again that it makes me wonder just what you think is lacking.”

You bring your feet up to the seat, hugging your knees together as you look down at the floor, “Maybe your definition of perfect and my definition of perfect are so different.”

The Pomefiore dorm leader rolls his eyes, “Did your Heartslabyul friends put you up to this?”

“Ace and Deuce? Great Sevens no. If they did I would have rightfully ignored them and gone to bed. I’m just your manager, I’m not here to negotiate.”

“Just a manager.” Vil frowns and looks at you, “You understand that you are currently housing the Vil Schoenheit as well as six other people who happen to be under my temporary tutelage. If you and your dorm weren’t around I would have had to keep those two Heartslabyul potatoes in the Pomefiore dorm and I don’t think I could stand letting them sleep in one of our beds. Our dorm has standards, luckily yours is the most neutral place I can stand being around those two without losing sleep.”

He blinks at the snort you let out, staring as you wave your hands and apologize while trying to prevent another one from surfacing.

“That is the only straightforward compliment my dorm has received. Neutral.” you laugh again before wiping a fake tear from your eyes, “Am I allowed to take it as a compliment?”

Vil is glad for the darkness, it hid the sudden flush in his cheeks.

“Take it as you will.”

You nod and stand up, stretching and letting out a satisfied sigh when your back made a small cracking noise that had Vil clutching at his cup. Anybody else and he would have walked out of whatever conversation he was having, so why did he find that tolerable with you?

“Then let me pay it back.” you hold out your hand and for a brief moment Vil wants to take it. Clearly that was an invitation for something and it alarmed him that he didn’t mind the mystery behind it. Yet your finger pointed at the cup, Vil looking down and seeing it was empty.

Oh.

He hands it to you, doing his best to make it so that your fingers would brush in the most accidental way possible.

“In my own opinion, as well as the opinion of others, I think you are the fairest out of everyone in the school.”

The air in Vil’s lungs gets caught in his throat.

“No joke. The way you carry yourself, the effort you put into everything you are a part of. Even the potato comments are almost...endearing? Potato plants produce rather pretty flowers, right? Maybe you are just trying to get the flowers inside of us to bloom as well?”

He is staring.

He is staring and not saying anything. You had left him without speech.

“But in the end your opinion will be the one that matters most to you. I just hope that it will always be positive.” you scratch the back of your head and yawn, “I’m going to grab a glass of water and head back to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Your eyes are still meeting his as a small flush adorned your cheeks, probably embarrassed by what you had just said. Or he would like to think you would be embarrassed, if this was any regular love story he would stand up and grab your wrist and keep you from running away from him before cupping your face and leaning in--

“Good night, Vil-senpai.”

"Goodnight."

You who always knew what to say, you who always had an answer to the problem at hand.

Where were you?

His eyes start looking around for your figure, hands itching and brain running slower than it ever had before. Maybe you would make it better? No, you would make it better. You would go over to him and smile before saying that the competition hadn’t even started and just because that song seemed to be moving everyone under a stupid nostalgia spell, Vil’s hardwork would shine through. Neige hadn’t taken everything from him, not just yet.

Vil feels the weight on his shoulders lessen when he looks at you only for it to double when he sees your face.

You were smiling, humming along to the silly melody as your head bobbed up and down.

Even in practice your gaze remained fixed on them, yet with Neige you seemed to feel that infectious, annoying melody and enjoying it?

“What’s wrong? You look pale.”

Had he lost you as well?

“Vil...Vil?”

The first time he had been left speechless was because of you.

“...Nothing. Don’t worry.” he turns his back to Rook, “It’s not worth seeing their performance. I will be in the waiting room.”

Vil walks away, so many thoughts clouding his head as he replays the words you had said to him.

Who the hell cared about his opinion when yours was just as important?

[harrytpotter]

RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME — Part V

Plot: Y/N finds herself trapped in a time in which she doesn’t belong only to learn that maybe that was her place all along.

Pairing: James Potter x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mild cursing.

A/N: First, sorry for the delay in posting this! I had some personal things going on and didn’t have the time to stop and write. Also, this chapter is a little shorter than usual because it’s mostly a filling-in one! Thanks everyone for your thoughts about this imagine so far, hope you guys enjoy this chapter! ;)

Once you arrived for transfiguration, the class had already started. As you entered the room, McGonagall glared severely at you. You mutter a quiet apology as you start walking to your usual sit next to Lily. However, before you could approach the redhead, a paper ball hits you in the head. Turning on your heels with a fulminant look on your face, you’re met by Amos’ amused smile. As you frown confused, he pointed to the seat next to him.

“Did you really have to hit me in the head with a paper ball?” You roll your eyes at him, whispering as you sat down.

“Well, I figured that it’s only fair that we spend more time together since we’ve been seeing each other,” he grinned playfully, mimicking double quotes with his fingers.

“You’re such a delight, Diggory,” you roll your eyes at him again, this time with a grin on your face.

You diverge your attention from him when your eyes land on Lily, who looked at you quite seriously. She didn’t say anything but you could hear her ‘what the hell?!’ loud and clear inside your head. Lily then motioned in James’ direction. Once you looked at him, you felt your stomach sink. He was staring at you and Amos with a sad expression, the hurt so clear in his eyes. You lower your head, awfully aware of the disappointed glances you were getting from all of your best friends, who rightfully stood by James’ side.

“Why don’t you just tell him the truth?” Amos says after studying your face for a while.

“Amos, please, we’ve been over this already,” you bury your face into your hands.

“Have we? Seriously, Y/N, I think you’re making a terrible mistake here. You fancy each other, besides it’s clearly bloody killing you to see him hurt like that,” he frowns worriedly.

“Why are you so worried about my wellbeing or James’ for that matter? It’s not like you and I have been friends forever,” you say a little harshly, trying to change the subject. “Sorry, I’m just... so bloody frustrated.”

“That’s okay, really. But to answer your question, I’m a sucker myself for a good love story,” he grins teasingly, lifting his brows and earning a laugh from you. “And as odd as it may sound, I do care about you, L/N. You’re just... extremely likable.”

“I’m sorry, are we disturbing the two of you?” McGonagall’s voice startled you and Amos. She had a brow lifted and her nostrils were dangerously inflated.

“Oh, please! You could never bother us, Minnie!” You joke as you realize all eyes were on you and Diggory, so you had to pretend everything was fine. “You do teach the best subject in the school’s curriculum after all.”

“Then I suggest you two quit chatting and start paying attention to my class,” she shoots back. Her lips were pressed in a thin line but you could swear you saw a shadow of a smile creep in there for a split second.

“I’m afraid Miss L/N won’t be paying much attention to your class today, Professor McGonagall,” Dumbledore’s voice waved from the doorstep. He had a serene and kind smile on his face. “Can I borrow her for a second?”

“Thank Godric!” You mutter to yourself, a sudden relief washing you. You were finally going to get back home, to your easy, romantically boring and happy life alongside with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Weren’t you?

McGonagall sighed heavily and shrugged before motioning for you to go. You quickly got your stuff together and followed the Headmaster to his office.

***

“So, can I go home already?” You ask barely waiting until you crossed the doors, your heart beating faster and full of hope.

“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Dumbledore offers you a sympathetic smile, sitting on his chair and pointing the one in front of him for you.

“But, sir, I’ve been here for weeks already,” you furrowed your brows in despair, occupying the offered seat.

“Time-turners are very temperamental and complex devices, Miss L/N. It can take some time before it gets fully functioning again; I told you that,” he interlaced his hands, lowering his head a little so he could look straight into your eyes.

“Pardon me, sir, I don’t want to sound rude, but... If you didn’t summon me here to bring me home, then why am I here at all?” You ask curiously.

Dumbledore just smiled at you whilst taking a few seconds to think. “I thought you could use the talking.”

You open your mouth but shut it immediately as you see him lifting a brow at you. You lower your eyes, thinking of what to say. You knew Dumbledore wanted to know why you had this rush to leave — given the dozen owls you sent him along the week — when you had a lot of close friends in this current timeline who you’d definitely miss and would definitely miss you as well. But how were you supposed to open up to him? How were you supposed to just open your mouth and say ‘yeah, you see, I fell in love with my best friend’s dad and ‘m actually besties with his mom as well, ha! Talk about double betrayal!”

“How is Mr. Potter? — James, I mean,” he asks bluntly, adding the latter after he noticed you were about to deflect the real question by mentioning Harry.

“He’s... alright, I guess,” you shrug, trying to look unimpressed.

“Is he? I don’t think that anyone who doesn’t have their best friend by their side can be classified as alright,” he smiled, his glare intense from behind his half-moon spectacles.

“Godric, you really do know everything that happens inside these walls, don’t ya?” You look at him in awe, genuinely impressed. “Sorry, sir, I mean no disrespect,” you add suddenly, earning an amused laugh from him.

“I like to keep myself up to date, yes. But in all seriousness Miss L/N, why do you think you’re here? Why do you think you came back to this specific time in history?”

“I... I wish I could know,” you whisper.

“What is the most powerful magic in the world?”

“Yours?!” You shrug, unsure if he meant what you thought.

Dumbledore laughs, grateful for your compliment. “Though I appreciate the compliment, the most powerful magic in the world is love, Y/N.”

You stare at him, sadness taking over your face as you were lost for words once again.

“Allow yourself to remember, Miss L/N,” Dumbledore smiled warmly at you.

***

Dumbledore’s words were floating on your mind as you walked aimlessly through the castle. He was known to be quite mysterious and it didn’t surprise you that he left you with an apparently senseless puzzle in hands instead of telling you exactly what you needed to do. Well, if he did, it wouldn’t be him. At first you had thought that you had to bring Lily and James together, due to the whole love-is-the-most-powerful-magic thing. But then he had told you to allow yourself to remember. Remember what, exactly?!

“Oh, fuck it!” You huffed in frustration, running both of your hands through your hair and sliding down the wall until you were sit on the floor. You shut your eyes and kept them that way in hope that once you opened them again, you’d wake up from this horrific nightmare.

You heard someone sitting beside you, but you still didn’t dare to open your eyes. It was probably Remus, Sirius or Lily, worried about you and ready to give you a lecture about the poor choices you had made in the last 24 hours. When the person slid their arm over your shoulder, you felt at ease. Your body could recognize his touch without flinching.

“You alright, love?” James asked you when you rested your head on his shoulder.

“No. Are you?” You finally opened your eyes and studied his face. His jaw was clenched and he was staring at the wall in front of him. No jokes, no warm smile. His eyes didn’t have the usual spark of eagerness. His nearly arrogant confident vibe was gone. He almost didn’t look like himself. You sighed heavily.

“Not really,” he rested his head on top of yours, reaching for your hand.

“I’m sorry. I really am,” you said sincerely, interlocking your fingers in his.

“I miss you. I just... i can’t lose you, okay? Not now, not ever,” he sighs.

“Me too. Not having you in my life every single day is the shittiest thing that could ever happen to me, Potter,” you hug him. James finally laughs and plants a kiss on top of your head.

“Same here, sweetheart. I don’t think I can be myself if I don’t have you around. You’re... part of who I am,” he smirks softly.

You rested your forehead in the crook of his neck, your thoughts fuzzy, wishing you could just kiss him right now and allow yourself to be truly happy for the first time in your life. But being the loyal friend you were, of course you suppressed this impetus you felt whenever he was around once again.

“Come on, let’s head back to the common room and let everyone breathe a sigh of relief that we’re on speaking terms again!” He joked after a while, getting on his feet and helping you to do the same.

As you made your way into the castle, James took your hand in his. You debated with yourself wether or not you should take it away, but it felt so right that you just shook the thought. Before he could say the password as you reached the Fat Lady portrait that guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor tower, you squeezed James’ hand. “Jamie...”

“Yeah?” He gave you a smile when he turned around to face you. The same smile that always turned your legs into melted jelly and caused your heart to beat like a drum.

“Promise me we’ll never loose each other again,” you say, hugging him and smashing your eyes shut.

“I couldn’t let you go if I tried,” he hugged you as tightly as he could. “You’re too bloody important to me.”

“Are we okay?”

“Always.”

The two of you just stood there in each other’s arms, enjoying the moment as much as you could before reality came smashing into your faces. And it didn’t take long to do so.

“Alright lovebirds, are you planning on moving any time soon or you’ll just stand there blocking the entrance forever?” A bored sixth year asked.

Blushing, both you and James let go of each other and muttered an apology, whilst the fellow Gryffindor rolled her eyes with an amused smirk.

“Just get together already, it’s getting quite embarrassing to see you painfully longing for each other year after year,” she shrugs before disappearing into the hole, leaving you and James with a dumbfounded look behind.

“Quite the crowd we have, huh love?” James asks with a laugh after seeing your pink-toned face.

“I think we just became more fascinating and eagerly awaited than the quidditch matches,” you frown playfully, bitting your lower lip whilst trying to shrug off the burning feeling in your cheeks.

James stared at you with a side smirk, his eyes lowering from yours until landing on your lips. The lips that he wanted to kiss every second of every day. The lips he wished belonged to him, but bitterly remembered it was now Diggory’s.

“What’s wrong?” You squeeze his shoulder as you noticed his smile fading and his face falling.

“Nothing, love. Let’s get inside,” he forces a smile before he too disappeared into the portrait hole. You stood there for a while, partially happy that you got your friendship with James mended, but also scared that it was only going to break your heart even more, and his own in the process.

“Are you coming in dear?” You hear the Fat Lady voice from beside you.

“Yeah! I’m just... sorry,” you shake your heard confusedly before crossing the frame yourself.

———————————————

Taglist: @treestarrrrrrrr @fanfic-enthusiast-collector @jgtfvhsg @jullianerey @silver-winter-wolf

[crazy-little-cool-cat]

Gold Digger - Chapter 6 | Gwilym Lee x OFC

A/N: I did not forget to put one this time! Ha! If anyone isn’t familiar with Merrida from Brave, please do so now so you could understand the joke that’s coming ahead in the story. Thanks!

Warnings: The usual.

Word Count: exactly 1.5K

The Playlist (Updates Regularly)

Chapter List:   Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Lizzie felt Gwilym's fingertips on her skin, almost as if they were searing her skin and burning it. She gulped and blinked in shock. Her eyes darted from his hand to his electric blue eyes, confusion plastered all over her face. She let Gwilym pull her to him again, gentler this time. Her curls bounced slightly as she stumbled over her own feet and braced herself from falling against his chest.

"Gwil, I have a date tonight."

She heard Gwilym's breath catch for a split second. She looked up and made eye contact and felt like she's free-falling. A flurry of butterflies unleashed in her stomach as he looked down into her eyes.

"That's unfortunate," Gwil replied, his voice low and husky. "I was hoping I could take you out."

"I... Well..." Lizzie struggled to find words.

With a chuckle, Gwilym closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers, slower than he previously had. This time, his kiss was soft and warm and overwhelming. Lizzie's hand rested on his bearded cheek as they deepened the kiss.

"Tomorrow night." Gwilym murmured against her lips. "Tomorrow night, you're going on a date with me."

"You don't care that I'm going on one tonight?" Lizzie leaned back slightly. "Really?"

"Oh, I care plenty." Gwilym wrapped his arms around her slim waist, intertwining his fingers on the small of her back. "Will you call it off if I asked you to?"

"Well, no..." Lizzie looked down. "That would be very rude to the poor bloke."

"So, I'll suck it up and take you out tomorrow night." Gwilym shrugged. "All the more time to prepare the most amazing evening you'll ever experience. You'll forget all about tonight's chap."

"You realize there's no turning back from this?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow. "If we try this and it doesn't work out... I'm not Clara. I won't try to stay friends if this goes awry."

"Fair enough." Gwilym nodded. "Only means I'll have to work extra hard to make you see that it would be improbable."

"What?"

"Us going awry," Gwilym said. "I doubt it will happen."

"Huh." Lizzie hummed and jumped slightly when Gwilym's phone started ringing.

"Come on, I'll drive you home. You have a date to go on." _______________________________ "You're joking." Shelly followed Lizzie around the apartment like a lost puppy. "You're pulling my leg!"

"Nope," Lizzie said coolly. "He kissed me. In my classroom."

"Lizzie, that's -"

"Disgustingly romantic?"

"Yeah!" Shelly nodded excitedly. "But also, so sweet! God, he really is prince charming!"

"Yes," Lizzie said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to get ready for."

"I thought you said he's taking you out tomorrow night." Shelly looked confused.

"Yes," Lizzie confirmed. "Tonight's date isn't with Gwilym."

"Joe's going to have a field day over this," Shelly smirked.

"Oh, as if you're not." Lizzie rolled her eyes and walked past her best friend towards her bedroom. _______________________________ "Come to New York."

Shelly groaned and rolled her eyes, taking the phone off the speaker.

"I can't just come to New York out of the blue. It costs money!" She countered.

"I'll pay for the ticket. You pay for anything else." Joe offered.

"And where will I be staying?" Shelly asked tauntingly. "Yours, I assume?"

"If that's what you want." She could practically hear him shrug. "If not, you figure it out on your own, baby."

"I'm not your baby." Shelly giggled. "When?"

"When are you free to travel?" Joe asked.

Shelly sighed as she thought about her work schedule. She still hasn't turned in her shift requests for the next week, and she could take a few days off if she really wanted to. God knows, she needed it.

"Next week?"

Joe sputtered his coke and coughed violently on the other end of the line.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Shelly, that's 7 days from today."

"I know what next week means, yes." She assured. "Or are you too scared to have me over? I can be quite -"

"Scared?" Joe sneered. "Girl, you're the one who should be scared."

She heard furious clicking and tapping in the background.

"Joe, tell me you're not ordering my ticket as we speak."

"I'm not ordering your ticket as we speak." He said robotically. "But I totally am." ________________________________ Lizzie almost trotted towards the door when she heard the doorbell ring. Her burgundy taffeta dress rustled as she double-stepped down the hall, trying not to fall over and face-plant because she was running on wobbly heels. Her curls still bounced as she opened the door and gasped when she saw Gwilym wearing a blazer and a burgundy sweater underneath.

"Great minds." He smiled and pointed from his chest to her body. "Hello."

"Crazy." She breathed and squealed when she noticed the bouquet of red tulips Gwilym held in his hand. "Are those for me?"

"You said these are your favourite?" he passed them over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, ever the gentleman. "If I remember correctly."

"Yes!" She beamed and stepped back to let him in while she put the flowers in some water. When he went to the sofa to have a seat, she raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Might as well make myself comfortable while you finish getting ready..." he froze.

"I am ready," Lizzie chuckled. "Just need my coat and we're good to go."

"My God, you're perfect, aren't you?" Gwilym grinned and stretched out his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

"After you." Lizzie smiled sweetly and placed her hand in his. ______________________________________________________ Lizzie felt giddy. Almost euphoric. Gwilym opened every door, pulled out every chair, let her be first in anything. He complimented her on her makeup, on her outfit, on her laughter. He told her all about his acting career, family, and friends, and listened intently when she spoke. He even stepped in a puddle of rain so she won't have to. When her feet got tired from walking around London town, he picked her up bridal style and carried her down the street while she laughed heartily.

He bought her whatever she looked at - chocolates, stuffies, a knitted hat with a pompom on top. He took her to the fanciest restaurant and on a ride on the London Eye. As the colossal Ferris wheel turned slowly, she and Gwilym stood at their personal pod, sipping on mulled wine and listening to the soft Bosa-Nova tunes Gwil had arranged for the ride. They chatted animatedly, their eyes sparkling and laughter rolling. At one point, they laughed so hard, Lizzie had to physically hold on to Gwilym for dear life.

That's why she never would have imagined in a million years that when they disembark from their pod, they'll collide headlong with Gwilym's ex and her new boyfriend. Lizzie felt Gwilym's fingers twitch and squeeze her hand for a split second. She looked up at him and saw him smiling calmly as he pulled her one step closer to him.

"Who's the lass?" Jamie asked Gwilym.

Lizzie felt as if she's emerging from underwater, and realized she hadn't been listening to a word that was said for the past couple of minutes. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her head to face Clara and Jamie and was met with Jamie's flirtatious wink.

"Jamie, silly," Clara lilted, "that's Merrida."

"Merrida?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," Clara locked eyes with Lizzie and sneered. "You know, the unruliest Disney princess of them all."

"It's Lizzie, actually." Lizzie rolled her eyes at yet another Brave reference. "Hi."

"Heard Gwil knocked you on your bum," Clara bounced from her heels to her toes as she spoke, her voice sweet and smooth like honey.

"Anyways!" Gwilym looked down at Lizzie and smiled reassuringly, "we're just heading off, enjoy the rest of your night, mates!"

"Nice meeting you, Merrida!" Clara called after them.

When the night was over, he walked her to her door. Lizzie was starry-eyed and awestruck through the entire evening. Gwilym clearly went out of his way for her, but it still felt so natural. She didn't mind the looks and stares and camera flashes in the slightest. It was as if no one else existed, but themselves. She didn't want the date to end.

"Tonight was lovely," Gwil said as they reached her door and intertwined his fingers with Lizzie's. "I had a great time."

"Likewise," Lizzie's cheeks turned rosier and rosier under Gwilym's electric gaze. "It's been a great night."

"Is it alright if I kiss you again?" Gwilym asked.

"Pardon?" Lizzie chuckled.

"You shoved me off you last time we kissed..."

"I was caught off guard!" Lizzie countered.

"Well, then, are you on guard?" His voice made currents run from her ears to her fingertips.

"Mhm." Lizzie squeaked out and shifted her weight to the tips of her toes, placing her hands on Gwilym's shoulders. "You have my permission."

"Oh, thank God," Gwilym heaved dramatically and placed a sweet, lingering kiss to Lizzie's lips.

_____________________________________

TAGLIST: @filmslutt @lose-you-to-find-me @sonic-volcano  @nosferatyou @rogertaylorin1976 @mrhoemazzello

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 50

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: Jamie and Claire see at first hand the business that Madame Cheung is in and Claire is troubled by the exploitation of the girls there.  When they return to the house, she discusses her disgust and abhorrence with Jamie.

Woo! Hoo! Chapter 50! ... THANK YOU so much for coming on this journey with me to the covert world of Section One. I appreciate each and every one of you who has embraced this story and read each chapter I have posted. I hope you are enjoying this rollercoaster ride of Jamie and Claire and the life they lead as operatives in trying to capture the terrorists and those who would do harm. I have really valued your support over the last 49 chapters.  To those who may have just found this story, I say THANK YOU as well for reading, liking or reblogging my story.  Previous chapters can be found … below.

Chapters 1 - 50 can be found at …https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

 CHAPTER 50

  Madame Cheung’s new club was a short distance further along the street and they soon took a sharp left and turned into what appeared to be a forbidding alley. This lane was very different from others they had passed. It was covered overhead with large canopies that stretched from one side to the other and almost appeared to be air-conditioned as it was significantly cooler than out on the main road.  Along the way numerous neon signs flickered advertising the different nightclubs and bars where people could be entertained for a price. Hustlers from two or three of the similar clubs beckoned any potential clients to come closer to inspect the entertainment available while Thai hawkers tried to verbally entice them into their establishments.

The noise in the alleyway was boisterous not only from the spruikers but from the milling crowd that walked along the lane that the hawkers failed to notice the formidable woman and her entourage walk past.   Not realising who the important woman was with the young couple, it was only when the spruikers saw the four bodyguards looming behind that they knew who this woman really was. Their banter stopped and they stood there carefully watching as the imposing Chinese woman and her companions all ignored their requests and kept on walking. Madame Cheung gave each vendor an icy cold glare as she passed by and the others realised that their trade tonight would be diminished now that a senior member of the Rising Dragons’ Triad had arrived to inspect her new establishment.  They watched as she continued down the street towards a brightly lit sign near the end of the alley that beckoned and a logo that was more noticeable and more dazzling than that of their own establishments. 

“Come we are nearly there,” Madame Cheung announced with a decisive pride in her voice.

Beneath the flashing neon sign and amid a crush of men lined up to enter the property they reached the entrance to her new club. Raucous wolf whistles filled the evening air when the men saw the exquisite, tall brunette woman pass by thinking that she was one of the new ladies who would cater to their personal preference requests. Claire smiled but ignored their enthusiastic jibes as she bypassed those gathered. However, the men were soon silenced when Jamie wrapped his arm around Claire’s waist and cast his steely look their way signalling that the woman was indeed with him. They continued a little further down the street before entering the building by a side door and followed Madame Cheung inside where a petite Thai woman was there to greet them.

“S̄wạs̄dī - Good evening Madame,” the young girl repeated in English as she acknowledged her employer with a slight bow with the palms of her hands pressed together in a prayer-like fashion.

Madame Cheung returned the greeting.

“I see business is booming tonight Mali,” she replied most pleased knowing that the crowd outside her business establishment was considerable, which meant that these paying customers would indeed add to the coffers of the triad tonight.

“Yes, Madame Cheung ... it has been very steady.”

“That is good.” She then issued another order, “Tell Suchin I wish to see her in my office.”

“Straight away Madame,” she replied making her way out of the office to find the person in question.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A short while later a beautiful Thai girl with glowing skin and beautiful ebony hair appeared in Madame Cheung’s office where she was conversing with Jamie and Claire trying to impress Le Comte St Germain as to the success of her establishment here in Patpong. She stopped talking when she realised that the girl had entered the office.

“Ah, Suchin, come in my dear. I am very impressed ... you have done wonders here in managing the club,” Madame Cheung said as the girl approached her desk. “I have been examining the books and I see our profits are up 100 percent from last week. Great work.”

“Thank you Madame,” Suchin replied a little embarrassed by the compliment.

Madame Cheung merely smiled and turning her attention towards her two guests she stated, “I’d like to introduce Monsieur Le Comte St Germain and my newest protégé Claire Beauchamp.” The Thai girl nodded her head in greeting as Madame Cheung continued. “Would you show them around? Monsieur Le Comte is thinking of becoming my business partner so he will want to see how things operate here.” “Certainly Madame ... follow me please,” she urged gesturing to the two Section One operatives to follow her out of the office little knowing that they were doing reconnaissance on the building for their future plans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Jamie and Claire exited the office, they saw a stairway leading upwards to another level. Tuneful music could be heard coming from the second floor and they proceeded up the stairs to find a room where padded bench-style seating ran along the back of the wall. The area looked very comfortable and a well-stocked bar ran alongside the opposite far wall. There were several escort girls congregating near the dance stage and some more in a curved corner of the bench seating waiting for the male clientele they knew would soon be here from outside. A number of the girls looked no older than teenagers and Claire cast a probing look Jamie’s way, but he merely responded with his patent blank stare. However, she immediately knew exactly what he was thinking without communicating one word. Those non-verbal responses were a pattern between the two of them and Claire responded with a sight tilt of her head in understanding. Her eyes scanned the upper floor with interest and when she noticed a young scantily dressed dancer was getting ready to perform, an eerie feeling of déjà vu weighed heavily on Claire.  This club was similar to what she had worked in, in Hong Kong, when Oliver Chan had approached her.  These kinds of establishments were obviously typical for the Rising Dragons and were used to lure young women into prostitution with little or no way out. It made her feel sick to the stomach. The vile taste of bile rose in her throat and Claire swallowed the acrid fluid quickly when their hostess spoke. “Would you care for something to drink?” Suchin asked as they approached the bar area. Turning back to face the Thai girl after casting a covert glance around the room as well Jamie replied, “Cha ... thank you.”

A little surprised at his beverage request she answered, “Of course, Monsieur Le Comte.  Tea is certainly more refreshing in this heat. And you ma’am?”

“I agree, tea sounds perfect. Thank you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Suchin ordered the tea to be brought to a table near the bar and when it arrived, she poured the hot brew into the small oriental cups then passed them to Jamie and Claire. They placed the cups to their lips and drank while their eyes surreptitiously surveyed the surroundings once more.

As they drank, she began to promote the wonderful things about the club to Madame Cheung’s potential partner and in particular the policy to which all the patrons of the club must adhere.

“There are certain rules here Monsieur Le Comte that Madame insists upon. For one thing, there are no drugs and the other, safe sex.”

“Commendable indeed,” Jamie replied.

“Yes, Madame Cheung insists that the girls are tested regularly for drug use or any sexually transmitted diseases.” 

“The girls appear young,” Claire stated casting her eye around the room at the girls who were waiting for the male patrons to enter.

Ready with an appropriate response Suchin elaborated, “Yes we like to train them early Miss Beauchamp. In actual fact we rescue them from rural poverty, for many are the youngest in large families that are already struggling to make ends meet. It is truly a blessing that Madame Cheung is so benevolent to her girls.”  

Her answer was indicative of them being a godsend for the girls working there rather than the true answer to their plight and Claire was inwardly seething at her flippant reply. It took all of her willpower to bite her tongue and if not for Jamie continuing the conversation, she may have said something she would have regretted.  

“Interesting you should say that Suchin. That is my line of occupation too,” Jamie stated with a forced smile on his face as if this information was normal practise for all of these establishments. “Ah, I can see now why Madame wants to be in business with you Monsieur,” Suchin replied with a tacit understanding as to her employer’s motives in seeking to form a partnership with this man. “Madame Cheung is like a mother to them ... a role model for the girls. They love this work.” The words were spoken so naturally and with complete pride in her voice that Claire nearly spilt the tea down her dress as she chocked on a mouthful of the hot brew. She found herself listening with a heavy heart. The frustrations building inside her were being exacerbated the more the Thai girl extolled the virtues of Madame Cheung. Claire was appalled at the underlying underbelly of her business which ultimately was the exploitation of young gullible and innocent poor victims. When they had finished their tea, Suchin announced, “Shall we go? I have more I would like to show you.” “Certainly.” Moving back below, they proceeded with their inspection of Madame Cheung’s latest establishment from the discreet quiet quarters for tète et tètes to the more public rooms where girls mingled with the clientele. In one such area there were several banquette lounges, and a number of the men who had been waiting outside now intermingled with the beautifully attired Thai and other Asian girls. The new club certainly catered for all kinds of decadent requests and sensing Claire’s distaste in the whole situation, Jamie indicated that he had seen enough, and requested that they return to Madame Cheung’s office. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Looking up from her ledgers as she heard them all enter the office Madame Cheung proclaimed, “Ah, you are back. I trust that Suchin showed you all around our modest establishment Monsieur St Germain?”

“Yes she was very thorough,” Jamie replied smiling at her but at the same time trying to keep the disgust out of his voice.

Madame Cheung was most pleased at this statement.  “Good. So, Monsieur Le Comte ... have you reached a decision?” Her expression was hopeful as she looked at him and waited for his reply.

“I believe we can do business together Madame Cheung. I can definitely help you out. Do we have an agreement?” Jamie reached out his hand as she stood up to acknowledge his reply. Madame Cheung could not wipe the smile off her face. “Yes ... I think we have a perfect understanding Monsieur Le Comte ... I never doubted that would be your answer. Shall we have a drink to toast our collaboration?” “Of course.” Depressing her call button she summoned for champagne to be sent to the office. “Mali... bring my best champagne ... we have cause to celebrate.” “At once Madame.”

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Here’s to a most beneficial association for the Rising Dragons ... and for me. I believe that you will go far in our organisation Monsieur Le Comte.” “Merci, you are too kind Madame Cheung ... but I’m sure your association with me will be the better one. I have plans for you Madame that you will not be able to resist.” “Sounds intriguing Monsieur ... I look forward to that and so much more from our association ... May it be a long and successful one.” “Oh it will be very successful ... I can assure you.”

Jamie’s ambiguous answer given to this terrorist who soon would feel the wrath of an interrogation in the White Room was cause for a wry smile not only from him but from Claire as well who could not wait until this woman was no longer around to inflict more hardship on vulnerable young women.  

Later that evening ... 

Jamie noticed Claire’s quietness and melancholic mood since returning from Madame Cheung’s club this evening, and as she sat down, he broached the cause of her disquiet.

“Sassenach, what's wrong?” 

“Jamie, I just need to talk.” Little did he know that she would unburden all of her pent-up frustration at what she had seen. “We have to do something ... this can’t go on. Those girls tonight were mere babies. It’s exploitation of the worse kind. I can’t bear this another moment.” “Listen to me Claire … You're too emotionally vested. Don’t worry ... it is all under control.” “Control? What control? These are innocent, lovely girls, born on poverty-stricken farms in Thailand and other places in Asia, who are being exploited.” Jamie tried to reply as sympathetically as he could particularly knowing Claire’s mindset at the moment.  This mission had tested her emotions and her empathy for the vulnerable women caught up in this insidious business. “Unfortunately child exploitation is prevalent in poor, underdeveloped countries Sassenach.” “Yeah ... I’ve heard the spiel before! Unscrupulous "career counsellors" and "job experts" eagerly trek to their villages seeking out these lovely underage girls. They take them to Bangkok with a promise of marriage, education, and well-paying jobs. It’s a farce Jamie ... it’s sickening.” “That’s the business Le Comte St. Germain and Madame Cheung are in mo nighean donn.” “What did Suchin call it? ... Ah ... yes ... We like to rescue them from rural poverty because they like to train them early.” Jamie could see that his Claire was upset by what she had seen and witnessed and tried to diffuse the situation with some words that would ease her distress to what would happen.  “We will do something about it Sassenach. Madame Cheung won’t be in business for much longer.” “When Jamie?” “Soon ... be patient mo ghràidh.” Claire was nearly at her wits end while the emotion in her voice indicated that she was bordering on tears.  “I have been patient Jamie ... I don’t know how much longer I can be. These girls are sold for the price of a television set or opium or for a quick baht in their parents’ pockets ... maybe even kidnapped.” “Unfortunately it's not called kidnapping if illiterate parents draw their X's on paper releasing their daughters. St. Germain was a master at doing just that … exploiting the illiteracy of the parents.” “He’s dead ... thank God! It’s duping them into selling their daughters’ souls. These trusting girls have no idea what awaits them here in Bangkok when they are forced to prance on stage and are sold like animals in a meat market Jamie. They end up with no rights and no life. It’s vile ... it makes me nauseous.”

“Dinna fash yersel' Sassenach. Once we know Madame Cheung’s schedule, we’ll implement the profile but we’ll need to know her plans for the next two days ... Just be prepared for anything.”

“Good. I’ll find out that information then,” she stated emphatically.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Claire’s passionate tirade showed her deep compassion for the oppressed innocents that Madame Cheung exploited in Hong Kong as well as here in Thailand which was obviously only the tip of the iceberg. Jamie knew that the sooner she was Section One’s guest the better it would be and the faster Claire would be released from her deep cover mission. They stared at one another in silence and Jamie watched the weariness of this mission wash over her features. She had endured a lot over the past few weeks and the subterfuge around Madame Cheung was beginning to take its toll. Claire needed closure on this mission sooner rather than later or her emotions would be further affected and the pretence life that she had embraced under the Rising Dragons’ triad needed to be done with.   In order to do this Jamie knew that his planned scenario only needed the green light from Madame Cheung herself. When they knew her movements ... he would contact Section to alert Abernathy’s secondary team to provide back up for first team, but until then they needed to be cautious and wait for the window of opportunity they needed.

His Claire needed to regain the happiness in her eyes that had been eroded bit by bit because of this mission and she needed to know what it felt liked to be loved.  Jamie knew what he needed to do to bring that spark back to her eyes and placed his hand over the small package he had put in the pocket of his jacket.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Claire let his words sink in Jamie approached her and stood quietly until she looked up. Her eyes connected with his in inquiry for he had a look on his face that she could not quite decipher. She watched somewhat perplexed as her eyes looked at his hands then to his face before following his hand movements again to where it rested on his chest.  Unexpectedly Jamie then reached into his jacket and pulled out a small box and handed it to her. 

“What’s this?” She asked in surprise at receiving the gift but a smile bowed her mouth at his unexpected gesture. “Just open it,” he uttered softly as his fingers beat a little nervous thrum on his thigh. Jamie watched as Claire bit her lip in anticipation of what it could be, but his thoughts remembered the only other gift he’d ever given her on her first mission when he’d taken her to the restaurant. Claire had thought it was a celebratory dinner for graduating from the extensive Section One training regimen she had endured for four years, but he had dashed her hopes when he’d presented her with the gun and told her what to do. This time however, Claire’s eyes filled with wonder and unshed tears as she saw the lovely Franck Muller watch she had wanted. Looking up her eyes captured his hopeful gaze with such tenderness and gratitude at his wonderful gesture that her look pierced his heart. He had never given her anything personal before and he knew that the present was beyond priceless to Claire. At this moment he was lost for words and didn’t quite know what he should do when she stood up. “It’s lovely ... thank you Jamie,” she replied her voice choking up with emotion. Spontaneously Claire threw her arms around Jamie’s neck and kissed him, hugging him to her chest realising just what he’d done for her. His lips softly caressed hers in return tasting the salty tears that had trickled down her cheeks.  Ever so gently he brushed them away with his fingers, then reciprocating the embrace, he held her tight deepening the kiss as his lips fused with her pliable mouth once more.

Claire groaned, then picking her up, Jamie carried her into the bedroom, their conversation about Madame Cheung and child exploitation all but forgotten for the time being. 

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

[dachi-chan25]

GoT S8, Episode 1: The Pointy End Recap Part 2.

-Once they are alone Tyrion muses about her title and she about his while throwing some shade at d, Tyrion says the last time they saw each other was at Joffrey's wedding, Sansa gives a half ass sorry for leaving like that and Tyrion is still salty about it (like fuck off) Sansa is like we both survived so... Tyrion makes a remark about how everyone that underestimated Sansa is now dead and she looks proud (damn right that is my girl) which in this case sounds ominious af for D. Then Tyrion proceeds to show how far he is into the lizard cult, by trying to sell Sansa Stark of all people that bs of Cersei sending the armies, and Sansa in not so many words calls him and idiot (my girl is not holding back her punches and I am here for it) and Bran is just staring at them probably enjoying the drama as much as I.

-Jon is on the godswood in front of the heart tree (you know what? ?? If aegony was real at all she would be there with him, he would like to show her the place where he grew up. he would be like i am really sorry about my people not wanting you here but you'll see they'll warm up to you once they see what a good queen you are or something along those lines, maybe even a kiss in front of a heart tree, a sacred place where you can't lie) but no Jon looks worried and fucking miserable

-Arya sneaks up on him, they banter playfully and can you believe??? He straight up casually mentions he died (👀👀) they hug and it's very heartfelt and brotherly (honestly no stark reunion has been filmed like the Jonsa one, ofc one can argue they were the very first reunion, but duuude the music, the snow falling softly around them, how they get a close up on both Jon and Sansa's face, the nuzzle, and how bloody long is that hug, as well as the fact that neither of them has had a follow up like just drinking having a good time together) they talk about Needle and Longclaw (like if you don't get how different are the Jon - Arya interactions played against the jonsa ones then idk what to tell you) Jon says something that really bothered me at first but then I really thought about it and I came up with why:

1) He is an asshole so far up D's ass he forgets Sansa is the one who really gave him a reason to fight for the living again, and that she literally saved him in the BotB, and that she made him a fur and called him a Stark, or that she has been doing an excellent job preparing for the war against the AotD , but this can't be, I would believe it if this was a season 4 or 5 or even a season 1 and I knew nothing about who Jon is and what he wants, and after seven seasons I know Jon enough to say he would never think this.

2) He is hurt about Sansa still not trusting him to protect her and their home,and is salty cause she really thinks he didn't listen to her when he did. I mean doesn't it remind you of that argument they had about Sansa undermining him, he was desperate to know that Sansa trusted his desicions (super unfair to sansa still cause she doesn't know anything about Jon's plans) he says sansa believes she is smarter than everyone, when he knows she is not seeing he listened to her and is appeasing D so they have a chance against the NK. And i believe this one because it doesn't destroy Jon's character.

Now he says this to Arya and not in the Great Hall (that would have been super shitty of him and would go along with number 1 case) because he and Arya used to poke fun at Sansa's expense when they were kids and he thinks Arya would agree with him and trust him, but she is totally on Sansa's side and defends her (yasss this is what we deserved after last season's shit show) that Jon wasn't expecting it (dude he was joking he doesn't say it with hate or anything like that) much less was he expecting Arya to say Sansa is just trying to protect the family (as if he wasn't) and we see number 2 is real when in a very vulnerable voice he says 'i am her family too' , like he really wanted Sansa's support and trust in the Great Hall and he thinks she is so angry and trusts him so little that she doesn't even consider him family anymore (i'll be crying in the corner excuse me) even more so when Arya makes that remark of not forgetting about that (like seriously we have seen this boy for 7 seasons like how could he ever forget about his family???) And duuude I can't even begin to imagine how sad and alone Jon felt. They hug again and Jon closes his eyes (important detail)

-We cut the scene to Cersei looking like the evil queen she is, smiling while Euron's fleet arrives with the Golden Company when Qyburn informs her that the Wall is no more, and she looks so pleased (dude also in the Recap at the beginning of the episode the really drove home that d was fire and the nk was ice, and i mean GoT starts with Robert's Frost poem about how ice and fire are destructive forces of nature) .

-We get a glimpse of the Golden Company, and then we get a scene with Euron and Yara, Euron is being an annoying piece of shit.

-now we are in the throne room, Cersei welcomes the captain of the Golden Company (his name is Harry but I can't remember how to write his last name) but she is disappointed about not having elephants. Euron is disgusting again, Cersei is savage with him but he starts complaining and is so insistent that Cersei finally gives in and fucks him.

-Bronn is having sex with some prostitutes, the only intresting thing about this scene is the girls talking about the Loot Attack and the horrible deaths of the guys who fought there (apparently Ed Sheeran's character face got burnt off and if that is not an attempt to show D as a villian then idk what that is) Qyburn arrives and says Cersei is summoning him, she is willing to pay and give him a castle if he goes north and kills both Jaime and Tyrion (also I feel Sansa's kidnap plot is gonna happen).

-We get a post-sex scene of Cersei and Euron, and Euron is fishing for compliments but instead annoys Cersei.

-While Euron is trying to measure his dickin' abilities to Bobby B's and Jamie's my boy Theon rescues Yara, who decks him in the face for not fighting for her, but still they escape (I have so many doubts about this, like Theon went to Braavos and back or he just waited, and how did he know he was coming back to KL after he supposedly betrayed Cersei,and if he knew it was a ploy why didn't he warned D or Jon through a raven) Yara wants to take the Iron Islands (I don't believe she gives a fuck about D she just wanted to take back her home) but she knows Theon wants to fight for the Starks so she tells him to go, and it's a good scene.

-More refugees arrive at WF, and we get a sense of the camp and how big is this army, we get a glimpse of Alys Karstark (she is wearing something similar in cut and color to Sansa, and i do believe people are gonna think Sansa is dead at some point) then we get Davos,Varys and Tyrion talking while they watch Jon and D at a distance. Davos tells them the northerns are not gonna like D, Tyrion is worried, but then Dadvos proposes a marriage between Jon and D (duuude I said he was going for this since last season but he only says it until now, this ship is doomed) and this would be a pretty good idea if the people didn't hated her and feared her already but Davos is not a good politician cuz he wasn't raised for it, he is loyal and all you want but he doesn't know the north. Varys is like nothing lasts and I don't blame him cuz he has been unimpresed by D since Mereen, and now he gets to see Sansa's savvy politics and A+ administration while he probably thinks Jon is just another dumb asshole thinking with his dick.

-D and Jon are walking around, and who is brought up in this conversation?? SANSA fucking STARK! !! Even when no northern lord liked her D is just whining about Sansa not liking her (they really trying to sell this triangle when I know, I see I hear with everything Jon does that Jon has no romantic feelings for d at all) and Jon's deadass answer is "well she didn't liked me either when we were kids" (i call bs cuz whe sansa tried to apologize for this he said there was nothing to forgive so this is not serious) he was trying to joke to light the mood, direct the conversation to how alike he and d are instead of a "I'll talk to her don't worry bae" duuude D is really dumb, but she is annoying again implying that if Sansa doesn't respect her she'll do something about it, we don't get to know what but you can see when d is not looking at him that Jon is not happy about what she just said (but also I don't think jon gets that it was a threat cuz he hasn't seen d's uglier sides and I believe he think he has, and he thinks he can manipulate her not to do anything rash).

Some dothraki riders inform D that the Dragon's are barely eating :0:0:0 oh noes!!! If only someone hadn't burned food during the Loot Attack (idgaf about the lizards at all )

Jon and D go to check on the dragons, and D prompts Jon to ride Rhaegal (Jon while not as afraid as before is still weary of dragons) Jon doesn't seem to want to and says what will happen of Rhaegal doesn't want him to and d basically jokes about Jon dying which is not cute or flirty cuz Jon looks scared af. We get further proof D is flying by the seat of her pants and doesn't know shit about how to control her dragons yet she probably thinks Rhaegal likes Jon because they are meant for each other or some other self important bs.

And Jon is not thrilled dude he almost falls off (you ruined horses for me is bs) and we get Varys, Davos and Tyrion see him on the Dragon. Tyrion looks worried.

Jon somehow takes the lead and takes D to some waterfalls, and she is like we could stay here forevaaaaa and he is like we would be too old (the romantic interactions are still at 0 the chemistry is again flat, Jon's responses are awkward and not romantic) he practically tells her she doesn't belong in the north and she asks him to warm her, they kiss (bland passionless) Jon opens his eyes to stare at the dragons, d is like don't be silly darling, he kisses her again and then fucking turns her around so he can stare at her dragons while kissing her. Peak romance amirite ?? Lmaoooo Pol!Jon is real sorry not sorry he had to stare at the dragons while kissing her making the dragons and not the kiss the focus of the scene. I do believe this was just to appease her and keep her happy and commited to the cause after everyone treated her like she deserved.

Gendry is working at the forge, and Arya enters, the Hound is being a cunt, and tells Arya she is a cold bitch for letting him to die and Arya couldn't give less of a fuck. She and Gendry flirt hard like pls make this canon, and pls don't let d burn my boy.

K Imma need a part 3 cuz the Jonsa scene!!!!

[jj-lives]

Do you think you will write more brittana?

Okay!! Fine! Heres something ive been hidding away from back in the day. Ill post it in parts here if people want me to continue. Probably 8 parts about this size. Mostly written just need to re-edit the rest.

Dude Ranch part 1 - Brittana

It’s warmer than I anticipated out in the open. The minuscule breeze isn’t enough to cool me but has just enough force to blow a few stubborn strands of hair from behind my ears and into my eyes. I think, too late, that I should have redone my ponytail before it became a problem. It’s hot but I’m convinced the bead making its way down the curve of my jaw has nothing to do with the heat. It tickles as it makes its way down my neck but I don’t dare wipe it away.

My nostrils flare and I hold my breath for a three-count to halt a sneeze from forming as dust from the ground is churned up. My palms dampen and I tighten my hold. It’s difficult to both relax my muscles and concentrate at the same time.

Just once, please, I beg.

I take a steadying breath and release it as I tighten the muscles in my left leg. I raise my left hand slightly, enough to be noticed but not too much. My body shuffles to the right a half step. I release, relax my leg and lower my arm. I can’t believe it. Ecstatic isn’t the word for it. I’m over the moon! All I want to do is jump for joy but I can’t and it takes more than enough self control to refrain from squealing.

I reach down and run my hands over the velvet softness beneath me before sitting up again. I give myself a metaphorical pat on the back and sigh in relief knowing my job here today is done.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can ruin my mood right now.

“Lopez!” I hear a shout from behind me.

Before the noise even dies from my boss’ lips a prayer is leaving my own. It’s to no avail. Within a millisecond I feel my body lean back as Buckshot’s hind quarters lower. He jumps forward lowering his head as far as he can reach to tear the reins from me. I try to tighten my hold but the sweat has my hands sliding down the roughened leather so fast I know I’ll have rope burn.

Shit! I’ve just lost all of my leverage.

The air gets punched out of me as my body is jostled forward, my gut coming in contact with the hardened horn of my saddle. Finally, my instincts kick in and I tighten my legs securely around Buckshot’s girth. My body is flung backwards, then forwards again. It’s the worst feeling in the world, worse than the scariest fair ride, to know that another, stronger being than you is in control and there’s very little you can do about it.  I have enough control over my body to stop myself from hitting the saddle horn again. I frantically reach to tighten the loosened reins but I keep losing my grip with each time the fifteen hundred pound animal kicks up.

I’ve been on enough horses to know Buckshot isn’t about to tire himself out. He’s not going to stop until I am on the ground or I’ve gained control. I try again to reach further down the reins closer to the bit but my hand won’t tighten on the leather anymore, the rope burn starting to take effect. I swear under my breath and look up. I’m in the middle of the arena which is good. The last thing I need is Buckshot trying to brush me into the rails to get me off his back.

I prepare myself.  I keep my calves tight behind his front legs and move with him, forward and back, again and again. I breathe, deep and steadying.  

I don’t have to wait long before Buckshot shoots to the right. I kick my feet out of the stirrups and fling my body to the left in one smooth movement.

The landing could have been softer and I immediately make a mental note to tell the maintenance manager to add another truckload or two of sand to this arena.

The air is knocked out of me again and I wheeze to fill my lungs. My body spasms trying to make my collapsed lungs work. I turn on my side and try to breathe deep.  I gasp in a small amount of air and I try again and again. Soon I’m able to take normal amounts of air into my oxygen deprived body but it burns with each inhale. As soon as I can I sit up clutching my stomach with one arm and lean up on the other. Across the arena Buckshot stands still, head level with his withers and eyes trained on me. The staring contest is broken when he snorts and licks his lips.

That bastard!

I stand up and dust my jeans off, not that it helps at all but it gives me a second to assess if there are any broken bones. I don’t find any injuries besides the pinkish hue added to each of my palms. I’m definitely going to need to rub salve on them later.

As I make my way toward Buckshot he stands perfectly still. I don’t know why my first assumption was to think he would bolt. I pause, deciding what’s the best way to handle this.  He needs to know that I do not tolerate bucking for any reason, whether he was scared or not. But as I open and close my hands and listen to my raspy breathing I know I don’t have the strength to fight with him for the required time he would need to learn the lesson. At this point I’d be doing more damage than good so I reach out and grab the reins dragging in the dirt and turn towards the gate. I’m mad, I hate not having the upper hand and this feels like surrendering. Buckshot falls obediently in line behind me and even goes as far as pushing his nose into the small of my back gently. Any other time I would think it was cute, this time it pisses me off more than I already am.

When I get to the gate Burt is there to open it for me.

“Wow, that was some wreck you just had.” He supplies like I hadn’t just experienced it first hand.

“Yeah, he was fine when it was quiet out here.” I can’t really tell my boss he was the reason for Buckshot startling in the first place but the dig is there and I see Burt flinch.  Technically it isn’t Burt’s fault. It just means I need a lot more time sacking Buckshot out. There was no reason for him to react that way but I hate being interrupted when I’m working and I’m disappointed that my good mood is ruined.  Burt might be less likely to interrupt me next time and that’s all I want at the moment. Well, that and getting home to nurse my bruises for the next couple days. But I’m disappointed that I’ll have to start all over with Buckshot when I come back from my days off. We’ve made so much progress this past week. Maybe, by some miracle, he won’t be affected by what happened today.

A girl can dream can’t she?

“Do you have a minute to talk?” Burt catches up to me after closing the arena gate. Well at least I won’t have to come back here to close it.

“About what?” I ask without looking at him. “If it’s about the Johnson’s mare I rode her earlier and she’s coming along great. Like I told them, I need another couple weeks with her and then she can go home.” I rub my ribs on my left side and inhale sharply, definitely bruised.

“No, no, the Johnsons are really impressed with what you’ve done with her. They phoned me yesterday to compliment you. They said they barely recognize her she’s so calm now.”

“Okay, then what’s this about?”

I enter the stable and exchange Buckshot’s bridle for a halter before tying him beside the tack room. I wince as I tighten the knot. I’m so going to be cursing my hands for the next week.

Burt jumps forward before I can make my way to the saddle, “I’ll get that!” He says way too chipper. He loosens the girth strap and lifts the saddle off Buckshot’s back before disappearing into the tack room. I grab a brush and start brushing the black hair flat where the saddle messed it up. When Burt returns he smiles a little too wide at me. I’m starting to get suspicious. Did he take in another client’s horse even though I’m overbooked as it is? Did he forget to order grain again and is now about to ask me to run to town to get some?

“Brent’s girlfriend just went into labour.” His smile must be stuck on his face.

“Well good for them. Isn’t it a little early though? I thought she wasn’t due for another two weeks.”

“She wasn’t,” Burt supplies as he grabs a brush and drags it down Buckshot’s other side. I glance over Buckshot’s withers and Burt averts his eyes. “The doctors said nothing is wrong with the baby. Just that it wanted to arrive early. But this means Brent needs the weekend off.” Burt sighs.

I shrug and throw my brush in the bucket I retrieved it from. I’m about to reply, saying that there are plenty of hands to help feed horses and clean stalls, when I remember the date.

“Hell no!” I grab the lead and quickly untie it before pulling Buckshot toward his stall. I hear Burt follow me.

“But-”

“But nothing,” I cut in.

I make sure there is feed and water in the stall before closing and latching the door behind me.

“I’m going home.” I hang Buckshot’s halter on the hook beside his stall and make my way towards the back of the stables where I parked my truck. Burt’s still following me and he stutters out reasons why I should and why I have to stay. I don’t listen to any of them.

I reach my truck and pull the door open but Burt’s gotten desperate and he rushes forward and slams the door closed before it’s even half open.

“Please!”

“Get Kurt to do it.”

“He’s out of town.”

“Sam.”

“He almost burnt the campsite down last time I tried him.”

“Jamie.” I supply another name.

“She had knee surgery. You know she can’t ride!”

“She walks around the grounds just fine, coulda fooled me.”

“Santana, I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t my last resort. I’ll do anything, just please do this one thing for me.”

I cross my arms over my chest and lean my back against my truck. If I had an excuse I would have played that card but Burt knows I have no plans for this weekend.

“I hate that whole part of this business, you know that!”

“Yes, hence me begging. Please?”

“How many city slickers are coming this time?”

“Four or five. Not many.”

“I want double what you pay Brent.”

“You have got to be kidd-” My face is dead serious and he changes tactics as I reach passed him for my driver’s door. “Fine, okay you win.”

“I’m going home to shower. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I don’t give him an opening to argue. I just jump in the truck and pull away.

I really, really hate the dude ranch part of Burt’s business. He tries to tell people it’s good for the city slickers to get out into the country and back to their roots. I know better. A bunch of rich business men or women come on retreats and think it’ll be like the old west, like in the movies. They get out here and up in the saddle and I have to watch as they treat these animals like quads more than living things. They kick and yell and “yee haw” so much that their horse gets startled and then they blame the animal for them ending up on the ground.

Not to mention, the guests are supposed to look after their own horses and do the work a real ranch hand would do but all they end up doing is complaining of the smell or how heavy the saddles are and I’m going to be the one having to pick up the slack. Exhaling I keep reminding myself that at least this is a small group.

But even so, this weekend is going to be a nightmare

[sordidfood]

SortedFood Psychoanalysis

I am by no means a psychiatrist or a psychoanalyst or an student of either, however this thought tripped into my head a few weeks back and I can’t seem to shake it.

After watching so many SortedFood videos, I wanted to delve into the personalities of the Sorted guys, particularly where they are most confident in themselves, where they are most insecure, and what the other guys do to help with that insecurity (because that’s what friends do)

Ben

Ben’s Confidence- His analytical nature. Ben has an intense love of learning and was a star pupil in school. He is incredibly left-brained and uses that to his full advantage, dissecting any topic he has interest in until he has a complete (or semi-complete) understanding of it. Ben could have been a mathematical engineer or a rocket scientist or a medical researcher and would have been at the top of his field. But Ben instead chose a path he had a lot of passion in, culinary arts, and put all that investigative curiosity into discovering all he could about not just cooking, but the science behind it, what advancements could be made in the future of food and how to make better food through understanding it, inside and out.

Ben’s Insecurity- He’s not cool, or at least he doesn’t think that he’s cool. Ben is great at so many of the things he tries, but being on trend with fashion or memes or slang terms is just not one of those. Hell, even his own innuendo seems to fly right past him. He doesn’t have a knack for it, and for a guy who has a knack for SO MUCH, it’s probably disheartening. Obviously, Ben is called a “Super Geek” a lot and in the videos he leans into that title, using it as an avenue to really show off his in-depth knowledge of the topic. However, I suspect that that “lean-in” is his way of pretending that he doesn’t care when he really does. 

How do the guys help him- Despite all the stitching up over him being a Super Geek, the boys continually show their admiration for Ben and his knowledge, remarking that something he made or did was really cool or interesting. They make Ben feel like the coolest guy in their circle of friends all the time. 

Mike

Mike’s confidence- Mike’s confidence lies in his loyalty. There was a comment made in a couple videos and in one of the podcasts that Mike may be perpetually late to things, but he will ALWAYS show up. Mike wants to be there for his friends and will do so in whatever way possible. He’s generous with his time and his words of affection. Mike is happy to make a fool of himself for the sake of other’s happiness or comfort. As long as he’s brightened someone’s day, Mike is up for anything. 

Mike’s insecurity- Oh, where to begin? Mike has a lot of insecurities and the amount of self-deprecation in the videos makes this plainly evident. No one has to drag Mike down, because he’s already pulled himself down and pointed out every flaw in his personality, his mind, his body, etc. whether real or imagined. Mike is the type of guy to see his own quirks and tics in other people and hates them. Rather than taking it out on those around him, though, he internalizes it and tries to make it a joke at his own expense. 

How do the guys help him- Mike seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t take compliments well, but he does react well to teasing. Mike knows that if someone can take the mick out if him and make him laugh (and he can do so in return), they care about him. It’s never wholly serious insults, just lighthearted roasting that shows that someone is paying attention to him, knows him, and likes him for who he is, flaws and all.

Jamie

Jamie’s confidence- Jamie is a pretty confident guy in general. He plays it up in a false-macho way for laughs, but deep down he’s just generally comfortable in himself in a really low-key way. Jamie has BDE and fight me if you disagree. I think if I were to zero in on one aspect of his confidence, though, it’s his ability and willingness to learn. While Jamie may not have the technical mind like Ben, he’s a smart guy and when he doesn’t know something, he’s humble enough to really try and learn. Look at how he’s grown as a cook over the last decade. To see the “Gut Health” challenge video and watch the way he really held his own against a professional chef like James is truly heartwarming.

Jamie’s insecurity- He wants to be taken seriously. Jamie has expressed in the podcasts how he has trouble with balancing the idea of being a marketing professional while also having to explain to sponsors and advertisers that he wasn’t able to respond to that email because he was dancing around like Sia. In spite of his happy-go-lucky persona in the videos, Jamie does take his role in Sorted seriously and wants what’s best for the organization and its persona and he fears that people won’t take Sorted (and by extension, him) seriously if they find videos of him dressed as a cheese grater or Minnie Mouse. These are all internal fears, of course; sponsors and advertisers want Sorted because of who they are. 

How do the guys help him- They put faith in him. Jamie is a one-man show when it comes to negotiating with the sponsors and advertisers that they work with and that is not an easy thing to do. He’s spoken about having to come up with partnerships that don’t come off as cheesy and can lend credibility to Sorted as well as the sponsor (The “Visit US” series is an excellent example of well-blended partnership that is still authentic while executing its goal). Jamie has an incredibly stressful, time-sensitive role in Sorted and the fact that he handles it so well speaks a lot for his ability and the other guys’ trust in him. 

Barry

Barry’s confidence- Barry is always on trend and he takes pride in that. I’m not just talking about fashion sense either (although he is definitely the most fashionable of all the guys), but also about his sense of where trends are heading. Barry understands food trends, trends within media and music, and the best ways to shape Sorted so that it doesn’t get left behind. There was a comment made in one of the podcasts that Barry has this innate ability to not only come up with ideas but also make other people as excited about them as he is. There’s a reason Sorted has lasted for so long, and a lot of it is Barry’s knowledge of media zeitgeist.

Barry’s insecurity- Barry fears being boring. His biggest concern is that someone will see him and think he’s boring, uninteresting, or basic. There are a lot of jokes made about Barry “don’t put me in a box” Taylor, but it’s because in Barry’s mind, being categorized means doing what people expect of you and doing what’s expected is just boring. This is also the reason why in every battle, Barry bends the rules. He sees what the others are doing and zigs rather than zags. Barry never wants people to guess his next move because that would mean he’s predictable and predictable equals boring.

How do the guys help him- While they do make jokes about Barry going for these weird ingredients or recipes in battles, no one stifles Barry. They let him color outside the lines, they listen to his ideas and they don’t shut him down. Barry is allowed to live outside his box and let his creativity flow.

James

James’ confidence- James’ confidence lies in his method. He knows his shit and he KNOWS that he knows his shit. James was taught early on that every action in the kitchen matters and that’s why the method matters. There’s a blog post where James talks about his distaste for shortcuts in the kitchen, how the time and effort that goes into a dish that is supposed to take a lot of time creates a better end product all around. James loves the explicit nature of recipe writing and that why he appreciates Sorted so much. James is very deliberate in all he does and he doesn’t take it for granted.

James’ insecurity- While James has been with Sorted since the beginning, he doesn’t have the personal history like the other guys. This makes him feel like an outsider at times. It’s part of the reason why, after being the development chef on the initial cookbook, James volunteered to take on the role of Social Media Manager; he just wanted to stay a part of Sorted. James has said that Sorted is his dream job and and he clearly has a deep love for it. Part of him feels that, if not for the serendipity of being in the same course as Ben, he might never have had that chance at all.

How do the guys help him- They include him and make him feel as much a part of the group as if they had met him at 11-years-old, as well. James’ role has grown exponentially over the years from occasionally showing up on camera to being a featured member of the group along with the others. Mike has said that he’s James’ biggest fan. Barry admitted that the best meal he ever ate was prepared by James. They make James feel integral to everything SortedFood is because, really, he is.

As I said, I have no real expertise on this field, this is just from observations. I wrote it mostly just to get my thoughts down. Agree? Disagree? let me know.

[takemeawaytocamelot]

Speed Dating - 2

Here it is!! Again, MASSIVE thanks to @outlanderedandoverhere for coming up with this prompt. @diversemediums and @outlandishchridhe as always are my amazing editors/encouragers/comment-ers as I write these silly things. Hope you like it!!

PART ONE

Claire grabbed something out of one of her drawers and disappeared for her nightly routine. Jamie stripped down to his undershirt and his boxers. Had he been in his own bed, alone, he might have been in just his boxers, but he didn’t want to make Claire uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry but I don’t have an extra toothbrush.”

“Dinna fash. Neither of us were expectin’ a sleepover. God I’m gonna get crap from the lads.”

Claire gave him a sweet smile and slipped into her bed. She’d been right earlier, when she’d said her bedroom was small. The mattress took up nearly every free inch.

“I didna think ye’d have flowers on your blankets,” he said, sliding in beside her.

“Oh?”

“Ye didna seem the type.”

She nudged him as she turned out the small lamp beside her bed, casting the room into darkness. He could hear the smile in her voice.

“You just don’t know me very well yet, Fraser.”

“Oh last names, is it Beauchamp? What have I done to earn being called Fraser?”

“Nothing yet…”

He lay with his back to her, trying not to invade her space. The notion was a little foolish, given that she’d invited him to sleep in her bed, but his father had raised him to be a gentleman.

The springs squeaked as she adjusted herself, trying to settle into a comfortable position. It was quiet in the room, though he was sure she could hear the thundering of his heart. A time or two, he thought he’d heard her take a breath as if to speak, but no other sound came.

Sleeping on his side wasn’t his preferred way to sleep and before long, he found himself lying on his back. That put him much closer to her. His left hand lay across his chest, tapping silently as he tried to force himself to sleep.

Something brushed against his right hand and he glanced down to see Claire had moved. She wasn’t clinging to the edge of the bed now, but had scooted closer to him.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, pulling herself away.

“It’s…” his voice cracked. “It’s alright, lass. Ye were right. There isna much room in here.”

The bed bounced a little as she laughed.

“Makes things… cozy.”

“Claire, I…”

She turned and met his eyes, hers becoming unreadable. When he didn’t say anything, she prompted him.

“You what?”

“I… Well I dinna ken, actually.”

The tension between stretched as neither was able to look away. Slowly, one of her hands emerged from beneath the sheets and touched a thin scar at his hairline.

“What’s this from?” she asked.

He’d nearly forgotten it was there and it almost tingled beneath her fingers.

“Wasna paying attention on a colt. He decided we were done riding and galloped beneath a low branch. Cracked my head on it and he ran on home.”

“That wasn’t Donas, was it?”

He laughed, relaxing into the sensation of her touch.

“No, it wasna Donas, though he’s tried a time or three.”

She fell quiet again, exploring the lines of his face once more.

“Is this… Whatever this is between us… is it… usual?” she whispered.

Her finger traced delicately around the edge of his jaw, hesitating near his mouth.

“What I feel when we talked all night… The way my heart races when I touch you. Or how I feel faint when you look at me.”

“I dinna ken,” he whispered back. “I’ve never… No’ wi’ anyone before.”

She pulled back quickly, giving him an assessing glance.

“You’ve never slept with a woman before?”

His ears and face turned deep red.

“Aye, I have. Have you?”

Her mouth opened and closed half a dozen times before she giggled.

“No, I can’t say as I have. Though,” her finger drifted up to follow the curve of his ear. “I’m surprised you have, after what you told me.”

“Only once,” he said, a sudden need to tell her everything coming over him. “And it was after that I kent my da was right. I couldna be wi’ a woman I didna feel something for.”

As he’d talked, Claire had moved closer to him, her body warm and immediate. Rolling onto his side to face her, their bodies nearly touched.

“Is it too soon for you to know if you feel something for me?”

“It’s never happened before,” he admitted, allowing his own hand to tuck her wild curls behind her ear. “But I ken what ye said before. I dinna ken a bit what it is between us, but I feel it too.”

“Would it be alright if I kissed you?”

He nodded and let her close the distance between them. At first her kiss was tentative, nervous. But as her fingers ran through his hair, she began to relax. Her lips were soft and her tongue tasted slightly of mint from her toothpaste.

Neither of them wanted to let the kiss end, but the need for oxygen forced them apart.

“Well,” Claire gasped.

He blinked hard a few times, realizing he’d moved onto his back again and pulled Claire on top of him.

“That was some first kiss,” she said, her chest heaving as she fought to control herself.

She sat up, straddling his lower abdomen. He hoped she hadn’t noticed just what that kiss had done to him before he could give her a way to turn him down.

“If ye wish, it can end there. We’ll make plans to see each other again and see where this takes us.”

“Do you want it to end there?” she asked, very seriously.

“I dinna want to jump into something we’re no’ ready for.”

Then she leaned down, resting her body atop his, and kissed him again.

“This connection, or attraction or whatever, is the most powerful thing I’ve ever felt, Jamie. I don’t think I’ll ever feel it with anyone else. We just met, but… I want to give you everything.”

She searched his eyes for something before sitting up again.

“Unless you don’t want to.”

As she moved to get off him, he caught her hand.

“I just need to ken one thing.”

“I’m on the pill.”

He snorted.

“No’ that, but that’s good to ken anyway.” He kissed the palm of the hand he’d taken hostage. “But if we want this to go further, I need to ken you’re serious. I dinna do what Angus calls the ‘one and done’. I’d verra much like to make love to ye, but only if I ken ye understand what it means to me.”

“That’s good,” she said, lacing their hands together and pinning his arms down. “I don’t want to share you with anyone.”

Her kisses grew feverish and greedy and he lost any ability to think.

“I’m yours, Sassenach, if ye want me.”

Letting go of his hands, she kissed his lips again.

“Then have you I shall.”

Then, after a deep breath, she pulled off the t-shirt she’d worn to bed. Taking one of his hands in both of hers, she placed it on her breast and smiled. His other hand mirrored the first and her eyes rolled back. For a few minutes, he massaged her soft flesh, enjoying the small sounds she was making.

Pushing her down a little, he sat up and her legs wrapped around his waist. He held her close, feeling his pulse begin to race as he trailed his lips down her neck.

“Wait,” she breathed and he forced himself away.

“What is it?”

Her grin was bright and wide as she looked down at him.

“Come on. Off with your shirt as well. Fair’s fair, I showed you mine.”

The undershirt was off and on the floor before she’d finished her sentence. Her elegant hands danced over his chest as his counted her vertebrae. Without warning, her hips began moving against his. The friction she created had him groaning in moments. She pulled herself back and shimmied out of the red knickers she’d worn.

Before she could return to his lap, he pushed her onto her back and hovered above her. She bit her lower lip and he licked the side of her neck. Putting his weight on one hand, he pushed off his boxers with the other. Slowly, her legs opened and spread to give him access to her most intimate parts.

Claire’s interruption when she’d asked him to take off his shirt had distracted him from his goal. Her hand came around the back of his head and he flicked his tongue over her nipple. She gasped, her fingernails digging into his scalp.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!”

Too involved in his task, he simply held her in place while her body trembled. Her back arched as he grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin before sucking it into his mouth. He continued that way on both breasts until her breathing turned to wheezing.

“Are ye sure, Claire? This is what ye want?”

The hand that wasn’t tangled in his hair came down on his backside with a smack! and she dug her fingers into his flesh.

“Don’t you dare bloody stop now!”

The last time he’d made love to a woman had been awkward and uncomfortable. Being with her had felt like trying to force two puzzle pieces together even though they were from different puzzles. With Claire, everything was different. At the start he worried he was hurting her, but after a moment her face relaxed.

Holding most of his weight on his forearms, he bent his neck to kiss her, absorbing her sigh as his full length filled her. He rocked gently, and her body moved with his in perfect harmony. It was in that moment, when he truly couldn’t tell where he ended and she began, that he knew she was the one. She was the piece that fit him, the one that complimented him and completed him.

Her heels dug into the backs of his thighs, driving him harder against her. Both her eyes were closed tight, though her mouth hung open.

“Like that, is it?” he muttered, nipping her ear.

Throwing caution to the wind, he rode her relentlessly. Her hands clawed at his back and arse, wherever they could gain purchase. She cried out as her climax hit, her body convulsing slightly. Pleased he’d earned such a reaction from her, he continued grinding his hips against hers for a few strokes more.

Then it was his turn to howl his pleasure, burying his face in her neck as he soared into nirvana. It was a long time before he came back to himself. He moved slowly, aware of how their bodies were still entwined.

“I don’t usually sleep with men on the first date,” she said, her voice warm and soft in his ears.

“Weel… If ye wanted to stretch the truth a bit, ye could claim this was our third.”

“Third in less than twelve hours? How exactly does that work?”

Smiling, he rolled onto his side and pulled her close, leaving their legs tangled.

“Weel, there was the date at the speed dating thing. Then we came back here.”

“Mmm,” she said, holding back her own grin. “That counts two, darling, not three.”

“It was Friday night when I came here. Now,” he nodded to the window where it was obvious the sun was getting ready to emerge. “It’s Saturday morning. I say that’s three.”

Finally she broke into giggles and kissed him sweetly.

“Alright then, Fraser. Three it is. Will you stay a while longer?”

“Aye. I’ve no plans at present.”

“Good,” she said through a yawn as she rested her head on his chest. “I’m not ready to let go of you yet.”

Continue to The Morning After

[newagesispage]

                                                                        OCTOBER 2017

 *****The beautiful dino, Sue will be moved to her own gallery in Chicago’s field museum. New to her long fixed spot will be a cast of patagotitan mayorum, the biggest dinosaur ever found.

*****Richard Thomas is selling his NY midtown coop for $2,995,000 and is located at 7th Ave. and w. 58th.

*****California is waiting for Jerry Brown to sign a bill that bans puppy mills.

*****WWF has released wild tigers back into Kazakhstan. Scimitar horned oryx were released into the Sahara desert and indigo snakes were reintroduced into Florida.

*****Toys “R” Us has filed for bankruptcy.

*****Tom Price, health and human services secretary, has resigned after hic charter flight scandal.

*****After 50 years Rolling Stone may be up for sale.

*****Doc Martin is back on Acorn for series 8.

*****As social media has been telling us, we don’t need a border wall. Tourism is down about $37 billion. Thanks Trump!

*****Trump supporters don’t seem to like him fraternizing with the Dems and waffling on DACA. They have been burning their red hats but scary clown already got the money for selling them so what does he care. Anne Coulter wonders if there is anybody left who does not want Trump impeached.** Some states are suing over DACA.

*****”Holes separate men and women.”- Billy Connolly

*****The dreamer program has been signed away. The Deferred Action for Children’s Arrival has been handed to congress for 6 months to deal with. The administration says it violates the rule of law.

*****The Peoria Blues and Heritage fest went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect and we should all be looking at the Jamiah Rogers band, these guys are fucking awesome. John Butler checked them out before his own set and was great with his fans.

*****Bill Withers has his first solo record since 1985 with a cover of (You’ve been quite a doll) Raggedy Ann.

*****In this country, a woman dies every 2 hours of cervical cancer because of improper health care.

*****Can I just say that I do not want to see reporters in the middle of hurricanes. Can they just stay safe in a room and fix a camera outside? I would much rather see different angles of the storm and see no people out there.  It was often impossible to hear then anyway.  The communication between the studio and location was fucked up and did not help anyway. It also seemed like they showed an awful lot of Shell stations. JS

*****An estimated 70 million Americans saw the fake Russian ads during the campaign.  No impact??

*****The Stones are on their No Filter tour in Europe and they brought out ‘Dancin with Mr. D’ which hasn’t been played live since 1973.

*****Trumps lawyers seem to want Jared out.

*****Steve Bannon’s Great Great Grandfather was an immigrant from Ireland who needed no papers to get in this country.

*****Montgomery , Alabama is going to open a Museum of lynching.  There is a wall lined with jars of dirt that were collected from sites of lynching’s from around the country.  Very powerful.

*****Thanks Trump administration for removing references to ‘LGBTQ’ youth from a federal program for victims of sex trafficking. It also eliminates funding to international groups that provide abortions. This comes from mostly evangelical lobbyists who are reporting that they are having more discussions  with this administration than they ever had with any President.

*****Vanity Fair has their best dressed list out which includes Harry Styles, Rihanna, Solange, Jack Schlossberg, Justin Trudeau, Janelle Monae, Dev Patel, Cate Blanchett, Zoe Kravitz, Ruth Negga, and Donald Glover. The hall of fame mentioned Lauren Hutton, Jeremy irons and Prince Phillip.

*****More police brutality against the black man with the subduing of the Seahawks Michael Bennett for no apparent reason.

*****Leslie Van Houten has again been granted parole. As last year she is waiting out the 120 days to get the word from Gov. Jerry Brown.

*****Lovin’ Greg Garcia’s The Guest book on TBS. What is not to love about seeing Charles Robinson and Carly Jibson again.  It made my day to see guest Orson Bean!!

*****The U.S. office of government ethics has changed a policy that will now allow lobbyists to donate to staffers legal defense funds.

*****Cameras have taken the first pictures of white giraffes in Kenya.

*****The Simpsons will be going to New Orleans this season!

*****The Middle is starting its last season. We will miss U!

*****Jay Pharoah has a new show on Showtime. White Famous is loosely based on the life of Jamie Foxx who is the executive producer.

*****John Davis Washington, son of Denzel may head the cast of Black Klansman. Spike Lee will direct and Jordan Peele will produce the true story of an African American who in 1978 infiltrated the KKK. Ron Stallworth used phones and his own writing to communicate with the organization. When he had to appear in person he sent a white officer in his place. They were able to sometimes sabotage cross burnings and other activities.

*****IT just had the biggest horror movie opening ever. The acting is quite nice for chapter 1 but the ending a bit long.

*****Netflix is bringing a delicious doc : Jim and Andy  The great beyond featuring a very special contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton. Spike Jonze is producing with the hundred  hours of footage from Man on the Moon. ** Other new docs on the way look at Eric Clapton, Grace Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. It is the first time that Kim Novak will talk on camera about dating Sammy.

*****September 16 brought the Juggalos march on Washington. They have been bringing awareness about their gang designation and the harm that it has caused. The running man with a hatchet is considered a gang symbol and gives cops probable cause to search. The FBI labeled Juggalos a hybrid gang in 2011. Also marching were some of the alt right calling their march the mother of all rallies but it only produced about 500 people.

*****Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin requested use of a government jet for his honeymoon and he later withdrew that request.

*****Finally there was a confirmation from a charity that Trump claims to have given to after the Hurricanes. Direct relief received 25 thou. ** There have still been no charities that received money from the inauguration fund.

*****WGN is bringing us a new show called Bellevue.

*****Howard Buffett will be the new Sheriff of Macon county in Illinois. His father Warren had donated millions to the area.

*****Prophets of Rage are here to raise awareness with members of Cypress Hill, Rage against the Machine and Public Enemy.

*****LA summer Olympics in 2028?!

*****Sean Spicer landed on Jimmy Kimmel. Wow.. What a kiss ass whiny bitch. He tried hard to stay in Trumps good graces with compliments for the Pres and constant berating of the press. He reminded me of a ventriloquist dummy with a hand up his ass.** His cameo at the Emmy’s did not go over very well either.

***** Model Monroe Bergdorf was fired by L’oreal because of her anti- racist remarks.  She has now been hired by Illamasqua.

*****Boycott Dragon Dumps! Don’t pay your bill on time and the owner dumps garbage on your lawn.

*****It looks like Trevor Noah will stay with the Daily show until at least 2022.

*****James Woods used his twitter account to try and shame a movie about a gay romance between a 17 year old and a 24 year old. Amber Tamblyn tweeted that Woods had hit on her for real when she was only 16.

*****Scientists are trying to bring back the chelonoidis elephantopus Galopagos turtles. 80 blood samples of modern day island turtles have genetic traces of the lost species. Even though they have been extinct for 160 years, scientists think they can reproduce though not to 100%. Could they reverse the negative effects that humans cause in the environment?

***** Why do bullies feel the need to use the art of artists who want nothing to do with them? It is like using ‘You can’t always get what you want’ for Trump when there are plenty of artists who agree with you that would love for you to use their art. Now Universal music and American recordings had to send a cease and desist letter to the white supremacist site Stormfront to stop using Johnny Cash’s version of ‘I won’t back down.’ The host blames the Jews.

*****Tru tv will bring us At home with Amy Sedaris.

*****North Dakota paleontologists have been uncovering so many bones that they are inviting the public to help.  It sounds like a dream come true.

*****Paul Newman is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Godfather. JS

*****St. Louis exploded into protest with yet another acquittal of a police officer after the shooting of a black man, Anthony Lamar Smith. Peoria, Il is also dealing with the shooting of an alleged bank robber who was shot 18 times.

*****The NFL is standing together in solidarity for equality and scary clown is sniping at them like a bitch. Our leader would not know respect and maturity if it bit him in the ass.** The Packers asked their fans to stand arm in arm with them on their Thursday night game with the Bears. Respect to Aaron Rodgers and the guys for speaking out before the game on equality. Some ‘fans’ are burning their Packer stuff. ..  Why do these Trump supporters always want to burn everything? Do they have any idea how racist and ridiculous that looks?

*****Veep is going to bring us their last season while Julia is battling breast cancer. Joe Biden tweeted that us Veeps must stick together to show his support.

*****The Emmy’s with Stephen Colbert have come and gone. My best dressed were Ellie Kemper, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Leslie Jones, Matthew Rhys, Claire Foy, Evan Rachel Wood ,Gabrielle Union, Donald Glover, Emmy Rossum, Zoe Kravitz, Nicole Kidman and Julia- Louis Dreyfus. My worst dressed were Uzo Aduba, Debra Messing, Anna Farris, Tracee Ellis Ross and Prianka Chopra. I love Sarah Paulson and the back of her dress was great but …?? There was so much black fabric which was awesome. Was it mourning for the earthquake and hurricane victims or just a general sadness for the country?  Whatever the reason.. hooray black!!**Also happy that hairstyles were mostly long and loose.** I was happy to see Laura Dern win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. ** The Handmaids tale won for show, directing and writing , for Anne Dowd who looked more shocked and appreciative than I have ever seen and Elisabeth Moss. ** I was happy for Alec Baldwin for best supporting actor but was really routing for Louie Anderson. ** When the noms came out, I could not imagine anything beating out FEUD but everything did. ** The girls from 9 to 5 stole the show with their mention of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot. ** Donald Glover won for directing and acting. **Alexander Skarsgard won which gave he and his brother quite a week. ** John Oliver won two and he again flew in his whole staff. ** Julia- Louis Dreyfus has now won the most Emmys for the same character in the same show. Veep got best comedy.**It was a wonderful moment when Carol Burnett and Norman Lear came out but DeNiro looked so disinterested.** Cicely Tyson has often been described as a bit of a diva and seemed a bit out of it on the broadcast but her counterpart saved the day.** So sad that Bob Odenkirk did not win but kudos to sterling K. Brown. They seemed to play him off too quickly while Nicole Kidman and big little lies had all the time in the world.

*****Bobby Moynihan stars in the new  ‘Me Myself and I’ on CBS.

*****Word is that the Trump campaign is asking supporters to contribute money to build the wall.

*****Can we pay a little more attention to Puerto Rico? Why is the Pres giving them grief? Things were tough enough before the devastation. Puerto Rico has no bankruptcy and running a business is so costly there. Companies there must buy American which we don’t have to do.  Forty percent of residents don’t have insurance. So many of the supplies sent to help are just sitting there in San Juan.

*****Angela Merkel has won a 4th term as German chancellor.

*****Singapore got their first female President, Halimah Yacob. She was the only candidate.

*****There was a settlement in a lawsuit against Club Cabaret. Dancers sued to be employees instead of individual contractors. The dancers won a million and cost of legal fees.

*****Art Garfunkel has a memoir/diary/ book of musings out called ‘What is it all but luminous.’

*****The personal account of Ted Cruz hit ‘like’ on a porn site on 9/11. He calls it a mistake by a staffer. A college roommate of Cruz said that he was not surprised.

*****After a tweet from the Pres about hitting Hil with a golf ball, Stephen King tweeted: Thinks hitting a woman with a golf ball and knocking her down is funny. Myself, I think it indicates a severely fucked up mind.

*****Brooklyn 99 is back and funnier than ever with the same great cast and opening.

*****Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel are rated number 1 of tv personalities based on Facebook, Instagram, twitter et al.

*****R.I.P Richard Anderson, Walter Becker, Don Williams, David Tang, Troy Gentry, Murray Lerner, Mexico’s earthquake victims, those lost to hurricane Irma, Frank Vincent, Len Wein, Grant Hart, Harry Dean Stanton, Michelle Rounds, Bonnie Angelo, Hugh Hefner, Jake La Motta, Eddie Russell Jr., Edith Windsor, Tony Booth and Monty Hall.

ȅ

[eddiejpoplar]

Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock finish in the top ten for BMW in Spielberg on Sunday

Marco Wittmann (GER) in sixth place and Timo Glock (GER) in seventh were the two best-placed BMW drivers in the Sunday DTM race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (AUT). Maxime Martin (BEL) was on course for a points finish in the 16th race of the year, but fell back to eleventh place in the closing stages. Augusto Farfus (BRA) was 12th, followed by Tom Blomqvist (GBR) in 13th while Bruno Spengler (CAN) came home 16th.

In the Drivers’ Championship, Wittmann is now fifth with 134 points ahead of the finale in Hockenheim (GER). Trailing championship leader Mattias Ekström (SWE, Audi) by 38 points, he still has a mathematical chance of defending his title. Victory on Sunday went to Audi driver René Rast (GER).

The qualifying: Marco Wittmann, in the Red Bull BMW M4 DTM, was once again the man challenging for a start position at the front of the field. His fastest time of 1:22.156 minutes landed the reigning champion third place – 0.201 seconds behind Jamie Green (Audi, GBR), who secured pole position. A further three BMW drivers – Timo Glock (DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM) in seventh, Tom Blomqvist (BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM) in ninth and Bruno Spengler (BMW Bank M4 DTM) in tenth – qualified in the top ten places. Maxime Martin (SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM) and Augusto Farfus (Shell BMW M4 DTM) were eleventh and twelfth fastest.

The race:

Wittmann defended third place at the start, while Blomqvist climbed to seventh, followed by Glock and Spengler. Farfus (end of lap one) and Blomqvist (after lap three) came in for early stops. Wittmann lost a position on lap nine, but came straight in for his tyre change. As he returned to the track on cold tyres, he was able to fend off Ekström. His next battle then began on lap 21 with Ekström’s fellow Audi driver Nico Müller (SUI), who Wittmann was ultimately unable to keep behind him. Glock was the last BMW driver to come into the pits after 24 laps. The BMW M4 GTS DTM Safety Car made an appearance on lap 29, after Lucas Auer (Mercedes, AUT) hit the crash barriers following contact with Spengler. The BMW driver was given a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident. The ensuing safety car phase saw the field bunch together again. There was some jostling for position at the restart, and Wittmann dropped back a number of positions. The race stewards wasted little time in deciding that Ekström had to allow Wittmann back in front of him, however, as he had forced him too far off the track at the restart. Wittmann eventually crossed the finish line in sixth place after an eventful final few laps, closely followed by Glock in seventh. Martin, Farfus and Blomqvist were eleventh, 12th and 13th, while Spengler finished 16th.

The reactions:

  BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt: “On the whole, it was a tough weekend for us in Spielberg. On Saturday, the podium positions were out of reach for us. At least three of our drivers were able to pick up points. Sunday’s race was also hard work for us. Marco Wittmann was blocked several times, and ruined his tyres in the process which meant he had to settle for sixth place in the end. Despite this, a big compliment has to go to Marco, who kept his nerve and came away with eight points. The rest of the guys also fought for every point. On the whole, I cannot understand why the opposition is still playing such unnecessary tactical games, although they clearly are ahead in terms of performance. The situation in the overall standings may look relatively straightforward now, but we are still looking forward to the grand finale in Hockenheim. We will try to end the season with another good result, and to put on a great show for the many BMW fans there.”

Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal, BMW Team RMG): “We were a bit stronger in qualifying today than we were on Saturday. Unfortunately, we were unable to convert our start position into a good race result. Marco lost valuable places at the restart. He was forced off the track, for which there was a penalty. However, once your tyres are dirty, you have a clear disadvantage in terms of performance, which you cannot make up for. The team did the best job possible this weekend.”

  Marco Wittmann (#11, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 3rd place, race result: 6th place – 72 races, 8 wins, 19 podiums, 9 pole positions, 657 points, 2 drivers’ titles): “I am disappointed and angry. Following the changes to the weight situation, Audi now clearly has the car with the best race pace in the field. If you still feel it necessary to block the opposition, then that is not on. I am the kind of racing driver who wants to see hard but fair racing. Unfortunately, that was not the case today.”

  Augusto Farfus (#15, Shell BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 12th place, race result: 12th place – 82 races, 4 wins, 12 podiums, 6 pole positions, 374 points):“Our early stop did not pay off. The tyres degraded too quickly. We stopped again during the safety car phase. That was a clever tactical move, but we were unable to capitalise on it at the restart. We will now concentrate on Hockenheim.”

  Timo Glock (#16, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 7th place, race result: 7th place – 72 races, 4 wins, 8 podiums, 3 pole positions, 328 points): “It was generally a difficult race. I put my faith entirely in the team when it came to the strategy, but unfortunately the pit stop was not the smoothest. I then found myself behind Marco after the safety car phase, and eventually came home seventh.”

  Bart Mampaey (Team Principal, BMW Team RBM): “That was a disappointing day for us. Maxime Martin struggled with back problems, which meant it was not an easy race for him. Our strategy actually worked really well. Maxime was on course to finish in the points. They were also within reaching distance for Bruno Spengler and Tom Blomqvist. However, the Indycar start was a lottery. The tyres on all our cars collected a lot pick-up and we were unable to defend our positions. We will try to do better at Hockenheim.”

  Bruno Spengler (#7, BMW Bank BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 10th place, race result: 16th place – 155 races, 15 wins, 48 podiums, 18 pole positions, 832 points, 1 drivers’ title): “I had an unfortunate situation in the race. I out-braked Paul di Resta, and Lucas Auer suddenly appeared in the turn at that very moment. I hit the back corner of his car and he spun off. It was unlucky, and I was given a drive-through penalty. A points finish was definitely possible today.”

  Tom Blomqvist (#31, BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM – Grid position: 9thplace, race result: 13th place – 52 races, 1 win, 5 podiums, 2 pole positions, 194 points): “I had a good start, but then came into the pits really early. That did not pay dividends. After a certain point in the race, my tyres were finished. I then dropped back through the field like a stone. The restart was okay – but the third and fourth turns were not. The rest of the race and the result were disappointing.”

  Maxime Martin (#36, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 11th place, race result: 11th place – 62 races, 3 wins, 10 podiums, 3 pole positions, 341 points): “It was a tough race. I actually looked odds-on to pick up a few points, but I then lost places at the restart. I was forced offline in turn one but never mind, I am still happy. I have struggled with back pains since yesterday, but was able to finish the race. I only just missed out on the points in eleventh place. It was definitely a tough fight.”

  The standings:

  Drivers: 1. Mattias Ekström (172 points), 2. René Rast (151), 3. Jamie Green (137), 4. Mike Rockenfeller (134), 5. Marco Wittmann (134), 6. Lucas Auer (131), 7. Timo Glock (115), 8. Robert Wickens (113), 9. Maxime Martin (110), 10. Paul di Resta (99), 11. Gary Paffett (88), 12. Nico Müller (81), 13. Bruno Spengler (74), 14. Maro Engel (51), 15. Edoardo Mortara (49), 16. Augusto Farfus (29), 17. Loic Duval (22), 18. Tom Blomqvist (22).

Teams: 1. Audi Sport Team Rosberg (288 points), 2. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (253), 3. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me (201), 4. BMW Team RBM (184), 5. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT (180), 6. BMW Team RMG (163), 8. Audi Sport Team Phoenix (156), 8. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy (150), 9. BMW Team RMR (137).

Manufacturers:1. Audi (697 points), 2. Mercedes (531), 3. BMW (484).

The article Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock finish in the top ten for BMW in Spielberg on Sunday appeared first on BMW BLOG

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[briangroth27]

Baby Driver Review

Baby Driver is a blast! After taking on zom-rom-coms, buddy cops, alien invasions, and video games, Edgar Wright’s heist film is my favorite of his movies yet. Wright first played with the idea of a getaway driver who timed crimes using songs in a music video for Mint Royale, and the expanded version is even better. While the broad concepts of the movie: a driver forced to continue working for criminals, “one last job,” etc. are not new, filtering them through music made the movie feel fresh and exciting.

The music, selected before Wright even wrote the film (here’s why he chose a few of the tracks), made for a cool, unique window into Baby's (Ansel Elgort) life. Baby was a solid, sympathetic lead, enjoying his ability behind the wheel even while wanting out of the crime business. From the trailers, I’d expected Baby to have a tortured-if-meticulously-cool personality, but Elgort made him a happy dancing idealist. I was pleasantly surprised. Baby’s tinnitus was a real-world handicap film heroes don't usually have and it provided a smart reason for planning his life around his tunes. An early sequence of Baby getting coffee as the lyrics of the song he’s listening to appeared in graffiti on the streets around him was a great way to physicalize the impact and importance of music on his world: it’s everything to him and it’s the stabilizing force of his entire life. When his songs got screwed up, like during a frantic foot chase or a heist that doesn’t time out as planned, his disorientation was a stumbling block we don't normally see in movies. Baby's hobby of making mix tapes of conversations was a cool connection to his mom's would-be singing career as well as another example of Baby processing and reshaping the world around him with music. Elgort displayed great range with his various scene partners, particularly with his roommate/foster father Joseph (CJ Jones), Kevin Spacey's Doc, and Lily James' Debora.

Doc ran a tight ship and Spacey was great as the ultra-cool (and scary, when need be) crime boss. It was clever to make him a twisted reflection of Joseph as a criminal “father figure” to Baby. Doc could seamlessly segue from protective and respectful of Baby to threatening and casually dangerous, making him unpredictable. With that in mind, I shouldn’t have been surprised at his reaction to Baby trying to leave with Debbie towards the end. Still, I bought it and liked that it revealed an unexpected layer of his character. Doc’s nephew Sammy (Brogan Hall), just as cool about crime as his uncle, was an awesome surprise that I didn't see coming at all. 

I loved that Baby and Joseph communicated in sign language, neatly displaying the flip side to Baby’s musical life. Even without saying a word verbally, you could feel their familial connection and the strength of that relationship was an unexpected plus. Jones’ expressions spoke volumes about how much he wished Baby could escape the criminal life (or at least do something to help his son) and casting an actor who’s actually deaf was a great move, as representation is important. While Lily James was charming and I was rooting for her and Baby’s sweet love story, I couldn’t help but think “you basically just met” when they were so hot to run away together and leave Atlanta behind. This could’ve been easily remedied by giving us a short montage of their relationship or even just a line that indicated a time jump between (light spoilers) Baby paying Doc back and Doc insisting he continue working for him (“What? I gave you six months off” or something). I also wish we’d learned more about Debora’s dreams beyond just driving west. Debora’s lack of goals outside the diner/Baby and their underdeveloped relationship were the weak points in an otherwise totally solid movie.

On the surface, Jamie Foxx didn't get an opportunity to show much range as Bats, but I didn't need him to be anything more than the total whack job he was. He was great as an unhinged trigger-happy criminal and he was truly scary for pretty much every scene he was in. As crazy as he was, he clearly wasn’t “Joker” insane: he’s a thinking criminal whose self-preservation instincts and impossible standards mixed with his shoot-first tendencies to create arguably the most dangerous character in the movie. We don’t get much background on anyone besides Baby, but I thought it was clever to have Bats reveal a hidden talent for reading people when he accurately guessed Buddy and Darling’s pasts.

Jon Hamm's Buddy probably had the most range of the criminals besides Doc, going from the one underling who seemed genuinely interested in connecting with Baby as an older brother-type figure to a much darker path by the last act of the movie. Hamm played it very well. I thought he and Darling (Eiza Gonzalez) had good chemistry and felt like a real couple; a modern Bonnie and Clyde. Her enjoyment of heists and general verve for life made her stand out from the typical gangster’s moll. Gonzalez didn’t play this obvious sense of fun as “crazy,” preventing her from coming off as a Harley Quinn rip-off; she simply enjoyed what she did and who she did it with. While Buddy seems to want to retire at some point (his potential white collar background indicated he might be above this stuff), I could see her having too much fun to stop.

The other criminals, Griff (Jon Bernthal), JD (Lanny Joon), and Eddie No-Nose (Flea) rounded out Doc’s crew in colorful fashion. I’d say Griff was a little too similar to Buddy in terms of style and Bats in terms of how he distrusted and antagonized Baby to truly stand out, but he’s in the film for such a short time it didn’t bother me. JD has some great comedic bits and a totally distinct demeanor from everyone else; I wish we got more from him. Eddie seemed like he had a wealth of character to him and I liked that he kept getting brought up as the inside man on Doc’s various heists (assuming his nickname is the “nasal problem” Doc kept referring to).

The romance is rushed a bit (though Elgort and James’ chemistry saves it), but the pacing is quick and the editing is flawless. I’ve always found Edgar Wright’s ability to choreograph and film much more intricate action sequences than you’d expect from the genres he works in impressive, and this was no exception: most if not all of the action was synched to the music! The car chases and action all felt very real and immediate; as smooth and polished as this movie is, it doesn’t feel like your typical CGI blockbuster because everything is happening for real. I will say that the armored car heist, foot chase, and climax were too loud at points (particularly the crashes) for me to comfortably hear everything, but that may’ve been the theater I was in rather than the sound mix of the film. Nevertheless, I liked that the soundtrack was a mix of familiar and less well-known songs and look forward to buying it. 

If you’re looking for something original and stylish to compliment your typical summer blockbusters, take Baby Driver for a spin!

 Full Spoilers…

-I was surprised Baby didn’t bristle at all under the paltry earnings he made as a pizza driver—he was just happy to be free and still got to drive fast in his legit job—and it's one reason I can't see Baby getting back into crime in a potential sequel at all. The movie even has Doc point out that Baby won’t be able to give Debora the finer things in life—and she isn’t someone who’d demand them—and Baby doesn’t give it so much as a second thought, so I don’t believe he’d find himself as a criminal again, unless maybe the cops asked him to go undercover. And I don’t think he’d do it even then. As much as I liked this world and these characters, this felt right as a one-and-done with a happy ending and doesn’t need a sequel. On the other hand, I trust Edgar Wright, so if he sees a story I’ll check it out.

-I thought for sure Baby’s tapes would come back and help exonerate him, so when they didn’t pop up at his trial to prove he was coerced into at least some of the heists it felt like a small dangling thread.

-In fact, I was surprised Baby served time at all. I totally expected a generic “he was coerced; let him off with a slap on the wrist” ending, so actual consequences to Baby’s actions was a respectable twist.

-I was surprised Griff of all people survived, but as my brother pointed out he did say, “If you don’t see me again, I’m dead.” haha

-At first, I didn’t like that Buddy went EVIL-evil because Darling died. I’ve gone back and forth as to whether or not she was fridged—killed just to make Buddy angry—but ultimately I think it’s her choice to open fire on the cops instead of standing down (and instead of standing behind cover, just like at the arms dealer shootout), which is consistent with her character in the rest of the movie. She has agency in that moment, even if Buddy pins the blame on Baby. Additionally, (as TV Tropes reminds me) if you take her warning to Bats seriously, Buddy was always this crazy killer and Darling’s death didn’t create it. Again, I feel like she was having too much fun to ever stop and was always headed for this moment.