#honestly hilarious that i made this so sincere because the first reaction i shared about this show was 'it's about people being a bit

[beesarthur]

Shrinking (2023) is about grief: the grief of a sudden death, the anticipatory grief of having a progressive disease, the grief you do or don't (let yourself) feel when a relationship ends. It's about life stages, and growing up, and growing old. It's about therapy and friendship and being a mentor (or a grumpy surrogate grandfather). It's about figuring out who you want to be for yourself and for others, and how you can get there. It's about the dual relationships we make along the way. It's (not) about safe dick. It's about the coping mechanisms that don't work and the ones that do. It's about relationships with dads and relationships to being a dad. It's about hydration. It's about rocks. It's about making new friends as adults who thought they didn't like each other. It's about marriage, and what it is and isn't and can be. It's about wearing your mom's heels. It's about hiking, and what you wear hiking, and the things that happen while hiking.

[kthstrawberryshortcake]

BTS Reactions: Their S/O is Inexperienced Yet in Their Mid 20s

A/N: Here it is, my first post after my long-ass hiatus :) I hope you guys enjoy it! Requests are OPEN, please send some over! <3

PREMISE: OT7 reacting to finding out that their s/o is physically inexperienced relationship-wise / that this is their s/o’s first relationship despite them being in their mid 20s

A/N: I think a lot of people won't understand why this is a reaction in the first place (lol) but it can be super uncomfortable / awkward to have not dated / had any experience at that age, and a lot of people react badly to finding that out about someone. It's definitely an insecurity for a lot of people (myself included).

warning: mostly unedited due to my status as a trash gremlin

Jin:

Jin was completely shocked when he found out that you had never dated before him. Without thinking, he let this incredulity show on his face, total surprise evident and eyebrows raised. He was briefly silent in disbelief. You took that to mean that he thought you were weird now. You certainly felt that way.

Involuntarily, tears welled up in your eyes and Jin finally registered your distress. “What’s wrong?” he asked in concern, gently brushing away a stray tear from your cheek. You stared down at your feet, murmuring “You probably think I’m super strange now.” in explanation. Jin shook his head insistently, imploring that he didn’t find it weird at all.

“Honestly I was just shocked because I don’t know how you didn’t have people practically lining down the block to date you.” He explained, bringing a small smile back to your face. He pulled you into a hug, assuring you that he was in no hurry as long as he got to spend time with you.

Yoongi:

You and Yoongi were having a cozy night in and catching up on dramas. In the show you were presently watching, there was a character who was in her mid 20s that had never dated or even kissed anyone. Yoongi scoffed, rolling his eyes at this. “This is so unrealistic. Like come on, seriously? How do you get to be that age having never dated, having never even kissed somebody? It’s a completely absurd concept.”

You started to curl in on yourself, looking down with a tortured expression on your face. You were scared to explain the truth, fearful that if he knew he wouldn’t want you anymore. After a few minutes like that, Yoongi finally noticed your body language. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He inquired gently. How were you going to explain this to him?

“I, um… I guess I kind of freaked out when you were talking about the plot being unrealistic… You were so sure it couldn’t happen that you were annoyed by it. And then I really didn’t know how to tell you that the plot line we were discussing is literally the same as me. I’ve never dated before, you’re the first… And when you kissed me for the first time, that was my first kiss.” You took a deep breath, having exerted a lot of energy to force out your words.

Yoongi’s eyes lit up in recognition, then guilt crept onto his features. “Baby no, I’m so sorry, I completely overreacted about the show. I shouldn’t have said all that. I never wanted to hurt your feelings.” Yoongi admitted sincerely. He could tell that you felt a little bit better after that reassurance.

"It’s not a bad thing to do things on a different timeline. Plus, I got the honor of being your first boyfriend because of it. Maybe I’ll be your last.” He said the last part quietly, smirking softly before pressing a kiss to your forehead.

Hoseok:

One of your favorite things about Hobi was his open and energetic attitude. He was truly one of the friendliest people you’d ever met, and it had felt easy to become close with him. You hadn’t been dating long at all, but the ease of conversation made it feel like you’d known each other for years.

On one particular day, the two of you were chatting over a dinner of your favorite delivery food. Hoseok was in the middle of a funny story about one of his exes, never one for unnecessary social boundaries or conventions, which was fine because you were laughing like crazy at the ridiculous tale he told. Then he continued, though, to tell (admittedly hilarious and absurd) stories about some of his other exes. You were entertained, certainly, though the number of people he seemed to have dated was a bit intimidating to you.

When he finally finished, he asked about *your* exes, and that was where the issue really started. You deflected, not wanting to directly bring attention to the fact that you had never dated before him. He became oddly persistent, seeming frustrated that you didn’t want to share. Not wanting him to misunderstand why you weren’t telling him what he wanted to know, you sucked it up and told him that he was your first boyfriend.

He was extremely surprised, but seemed to understand now why you had been reluctant to answer his questioning. He apologized for going on about exes for so long, and for inadvertently making you nervous. You assured him that it wasn’t a big deal, especially since the only important thing was your relationship moving forward, not either of your pasts.

Namjoon:

When you and Namjoon had only been together a few weeks (after a much longer friendship prior to your romantic relationship beginning), you were spending a nice chill evening at home, eating takeout and chatting. The two of you seemingly never ran out of things to talk about, one of the things you loved about being with him.

You don’t even remember what had led to it, but partway through the evening, he made some dumb joke about virgins and you visibly froze. You had yet to tell him about your lack of experience, and now you were terrified to. Was that really something he’d be bothered by? You hadn’t thought so, but his joking around about it made you doubt that. You did your best not to show your panic, paying unusually close attention to the glass of water you were drinking.

Unfortunately for you, your discomfort was completely apparent, and Namjoon asked you if you were okay. You nodded with a forced smile, making him frown, easily able to tell that you weren’t. You were afraid to tell him now because if it really bothered him that much, maybe it would disappoint him. Maybe it’d be a dealbreaker and he would lose interest in you. Unsure what to do, you stared at your hands, tense and worried. Namjoon lightly rested his hand on your shoulder, staring at you in concern. “Please tell me what’s wrong.” He implored gently.

At that moment you could no longer hold in your emotion, your fear, and tears began to leak from your eyes as you sniffled, starting to shake a bit as you cried. You let him pull you into his arms, holding you close as you tried to stop crying. After a few minutes of you trying to calm down, aided by Joon’s sweet behavior,  he asked again what was wrong, insisting that you could tell him anything. Your chest felt tight, but you didn’t see a way out of sharing what had upset you.

When you explained what had happened, Namjoon felt horrible, cursing himself for having said something so dumb. He told you that it was just a stupid joke, not something he actually cared about, apologizing for upsetting you with his thoughtlessness. He made sure to assure you that it wasn’t a problem for him in the least, and that he was in no rush. Afterwards the whole situation seemed a little silly, though you remembered how genuinely panicked you had been only minutes before and shuddered. But things were immediately made better, the two of you snuggling up on the couch to watch a movie.

Jimin:

Your blossoming relationship with Jimin made you feel like you were walking on a cloud. He was incredibly sweet and so much fun to spend time with, you felt very lucky to be dating him now. Just to be sweet, you had picked up food from his favorite lunch place and were bringing it to him at the BigHit building, where he was currently busy at work in a practice room.

When you arrived, the door to the room was open, but you heard voices coming from inside. You only paused when you heard Jimin say your name. You didn’t mean to eavesdrop, and you were about to announce your presence until you realized what he was saying. “You know I really like her, man, I just feel so unsure right now. There has been like, zero physical affection up to this point, nothing beyond hugs and holding hands.” Jimin grumbled, sounding irritated.

Tae hummed in acknowledgement, pausing before inquiring “So obviously you’re frustrated, but what are you thinking about it?” Jimin sighed. “Maybe she just doesn’t like me as much as I like her. I don’t want to think anything bad about her, but what if she’s playing me? Like, she doesn’t have actual feelings for me.” He sounded very down, clearly hurt by the mere possibility. At that moment you were so shocked by what you were hearing, you accidentally dropped the bag of takeout, hurrying to pick it up, but you’d already drawn attention to yourself.

Jimin and Taehyung looked beyond shocked to see you, and you realized you were crying. Taehyung excused himself to let the two of you talk. You walked farther into the room, approaching the boys. “I thought we could have lunch… I know you don’t take enough breaks, and I really wanted to see you…” You admitted quietly, unable to actually make eye contact.

“I just feel so horrible, it’s all my fault that you don’t even know how crazy I am about you. I can’t believe…. I let you be unsure of how much I care about you. It’s my fault, I’m so sorry Jimin.” By the end of what you were saying, you were holding back full sobs. Seeing how distressed you were, Jimin wasted no time in rushing to you and pulling you into his arms, hugging you close.

When you’d finally calmed down and stopped crying, you thought you owed him an explanation. “The lack of physical affection isn’t because I don’t like you. I like you more than I’ve ever liked anybody. I’ve just… never done anything. I haven’t even been in a relationship before now, it’s all new to me.” You admitted, feeling Jimin stiffen in your hug.

When you pulled back to look at him, tears were welling up in his eyes. “Oh, I’m the worst…” He muttered, feeling so guilty. “I was just frustrated, I was feeling insecure. Now that I know, I don’t mind one bit waiting for anything until you’re ready.” He assured you, planting a quick kiss on your forehead as you nodded understanding.

Tae:

It had only been a few weeks since Tae had confessed his feelings to you and the pair of you had started dating. Long before that, you’d been close friends, so you had spent a lot of time together over time. During one of your first few movie nights as a couple, things slowly began to escalate between you. You were sitting close together, seemingly focused on the film, when Tae moved to put an arm around you, pulling you closer so you were snuggled up beside him.

His eyes never left the screen, but there was a telltale little smirk on his face. You rolled your eyes a little, but you certainly didn’t mind. Despite it being such a small thing, at this stage in your relationship, this was a little bit thrilling. Soon you could feel him staring at you, and you turned your head to look back at him. His face had gotten much closer to yours than you’d expected. “…Tae?” you whispered, seeing both affection and mischief in his eyes. “Yes love?” He replied quietly in his gorgeous low voice, making you shiver just slightly.

You shook your head almost imperceptibly, and before you knew it his lips were on yours. You froze, all of this being completely new and foreign for you. Feeling you stiffen and fail to reciprocate the kiss, Tae pulled back to look at your face, wearing an expression of concern. “Um, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have just… assumed you felt the same way…” He muttered nervously, not making eye contact. “No!” You exclaimed a little louder than you meant to, quieting your voice to a near-whisper before speaking again.

“No, Tae, I do feel the same way! I really, really do. I love you. I have since we were just friends. I… I want you too. Just, um, I don’t know what to do…. That was my first kiss just now and I kind of just panicked and froze.” You confessed, watching the surprise and then recognition cover his face. That was all it took to take his unsure expression back to a smug smirk. Knowing the power his voice held over you, he leaned in close to you to speak in your ear when he said “in that case, I think we need some practice, don’t you?” Oh boy.

Jungkook:

You had been seeing Jungkook for a couple of months now and it was more than apparent that he was smitten with you (and vice versa). He complimented you frequently, his heart eyes for you always clearly on display. The only problem was the way you practically jumped away from him any time he got close to you. He had definitely noticed your weird behavior, and though you didn’t know what to do about it, you knew it was only a matter of time until he brought it up in conversation.

When that moment came, you had just clammed up and pulled back from him when he tried to put his arm around you while watching a movie. When you saw his expression in reaction, you felt immensely guilty, seeing the hurt on his face. After a moment it shifted to extreme irritation, him clenching his jaw in annoyance. “What’s your problem? I can’t get anywhere near you without you freaking out and moving away in a hurry.” You couldn’t make eye contact anymore at that point, feeling the tears well up in your eyes as you were filled with the fear that you had ruined things with him.

“I… I don’t really know why I keep doing that, it’s just all new to me. I’ve never dated anyone before you so I kind of don’t know what to do with myself most of the time.” You confessed, trying to mask the sniffle that you gave as the first tear rolled down your cheek. Now it was Jungkook’s turn to feel guilty. He approached you slowly, asking you to look at him in a gentle voice. When you did, you saw that the irritation was completely gone, replaced with remorse and fondness. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, I could have just asked like an actual adult rather than how I behaved. I guess I was just insecure, afraid that you don’t like me in the same way I like you.” He explained, and you nodded slightly in understanding.

“That’s not it at all! I really *really* like you. A relationship is just totally uncharted territory for me and I handled it wrong. I should’ve just told you.” You sighed, the heaviness leaving your heart as an adorable bunny smile grew on his face. “Uncharted territory, huh? Well let me be your travel guide. We can be explorers together.” You rolled your eyes at his dumb joke, but smiled in spite of how silly his words were. You felt like now, with it all out in the open, things could be good with the two of you.

a/n: Feedback please! <3 I love to hear from y'all!

[timbertumbr]

BET! (BHC! Blue X Reader X BHC! Nox)

Right, First Bonley Hearts oneshot. Let's go!

Disclaimer: Blue and Nox are simping for Reader, not each other. Just to let y'all know.

Oh, And there will be flirting.

Lots of flirting.

And just in case-

Blue is Underswap Sans

Nox is Swapfell Sans

Rus is Swapfell Papyrus

Red is Underfell Sans

Ash is Horrortale Sans

You have known the skeletons across the street for a while now. So you were well aware of the bets Blue and Nox had on the daily. So when you received a text from Red while chilling on the couch, you knew today was going to be… interesting. 

Bad2thebone: Hey, so Blue and Nox made another bet. And it involves you.

You squint at the text, what? Blue and Nox usually keep people OUT of their bets, not in.

You: I’m afraid to ask, but how so?

Bad2thebone: They flirt with you until one of em gets you flustered, winner gets to take you out.

You: Okay- 1. How the hell did you know this and 2. With a sniper or on a date?

Bad2thebone: 1. They’re loud, especially with their bet declarations. And 2. That’s a surprise. ;)

You snicker.

You: Oh boy. Thanks for the warning, I owe ya.

Bad2thebone: 👍

You sharply inhale upon receiving a message from one of the devils themselves, Blue.

BLUESTREAK92: Y/N! WANNA HELP ME TEND THE GARDEN WITH ASH?! HE’S OKAY WITH YOU COMING OVER TO HELP! ONLY IF YOU WANT TO THOUGH! ^^

. . . Fuck. Your one weakness, the adorable gardener named Ash. Now you CAN’T say no! Damn you Blue, damn you…

With a sigh, you force yourself off the couch and leave the home towards your impending doom.

__________

When you arrived, Ash and Blue were tending to a patch of one of the many plants in the backyard. They wave as you approach, kneeling beside them.

“Hey Y/n…” Ash mutters, you nod with a smile which Ash appreciates and is quick to get back to work. 

“I’m glad you decided to join us Y/N!” Blue says with a knowing smile. You slightly glare at him before directing your attention to Ash.

“So what can I do to help?” 

“You can… um… hand me the tools?” 

“I can do that!” And so you do. You hand Ash the tools he asks for and Blue was talking about everything and anything that came to mind. Soon enough, you were done tending to Ash’s garden.

“Thanks guys… I really appreciate you both helping…” Ash says with a smile, FUCK HE’S TOO CUTE FOR HIS OWN GOOD!

“No problem dude, always happy to help,” Blue nods at your statement and glances around the garden before smirking, oh NO.

“Ya know Y/N, if you were a flower, you’d be a damnnndelion,” 

. . . Okay, you have two weaknesses. Ash, and the smooth talker named BLUE! YOU WERE NOT EXPECTING THAT!

“Pft- Hahahaha!” You couldn’t help but laugh, that was hilarious! Even Ash seemed to think so since he was snickering into his hand. Blue wasn’t expecting this reaction but he was glad to see you smiling, bonus points for making his soft spoken “cousin” chuckle as well! He should try doing this more often…

_____________

You were currently helping Rus in the kitchen, he was trying to make a cake before you came over per Nox’s request (demand). Rus was happy to spend some time with you AND his brother while you were making the frosting and Nox was working on something at the kitchen table. 

“So… you know what’s going on right? With Nox and Blue?” He asks hesitantly, You nod.

“Yeah, Red informed me. So far it’s just been Blue trying to make me laugh, Nox hasn’t done anything remotely flirty,” Rus winces silently at that.

“Yet,”

“Huh?”

“He hasn’t done anything ‘flirty’ yet because he’s planning, I’d be careful If I were you,” Rus jokes, knowing just how suave his brother can be. You smirk.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful,” You assure as you start helping Rus frost the cake. Unbeknownst to you both, Nox was silently watching, a devilish smirk creeping onto his skull. 

“Aaaaaand, done!” You say proudly, looking at the decently iced cake with “cake” written on it with a different colored frosting. 

“Looks good, lets see how it tastes,” Rus suggests, you nod and grab two plates and forks and bring them over to the cake. Rus takes them and gets the knife.

“I’ll be serving them if that’s alright,” You nod at Rus’s request and take a step back to let him work. Nox then made his move, silently standing up and walking up behind you.

“There are plenty of fish in the sea, but you’re the only one I’d like to catch,~” He purred in your ear, causing you to squeak from surprise and turn around to see the smirking Nox. A blush crept onto your cheeks as your heart fluttered, god damn that was smooth and so sweet.

“Aww, th-thank you Nox,” You say with a sincere smile, Nox blinked bewildered. You had gotten somewhat embarrassed and flattered, not flustered. Nox couldn’t help but smile slightly, even if this wasn’t the result he wanted, your reaction was quite the sight. 

He gives you another smirk, winks and then walks back to his work while your blush grows slightly. You sigh and turn to Rus who was watching with an amused smirk.

“I warned ya,” He teased as he handed you a plate, you take it.

“Hush,” You mutter, causing Rus to snicker.

___________________

A week has passed. And their attempts to flirt have not slowed ONCE. Their flirts ranged depending on their mood and time of day. From hilarious and slightly embarrassing to down right dirty. (cough Nox cough) The two were now having a flirt off with you as their target and you don’t know how much more you can take. Then, your saving grace came in a text. 

Bad2thebone: Hey, I’m gonna cash in that IOU in now if that’s alright.

You: Omg, you have the BEST timing! So, whatcha wanna do?

Bad2thebone: Just watch me play a game, you know where my room is.

“Sorry guys, Red wants me for something, we can continue hanging out later okay?” You say as soon as you read the text, they both give you a look of disappointment, before Blue smiles.

“That’s alright! Have fun!” You nod as you hastily walk up the stairs and into Red’s room with a relieved sigh. 

“That bad huh?” He asks, not taking his eyes off the screen. You drag yourself across the room and faceplant his bed.

“Ugggggh, I don’t know how much more I can take!” Red glances at you before pausing the game.

“Well, what’s stopping ya from just letting one of em win?” Red asks, half wondering why you’ve held out this long and half surprised you DID hold out for this long. You pause before moving your head to stare at him.

“I’m… not sure honestly, maybe… because I don’t want one of them getting hurt?” Red hums, knowing how competitive and how emotional those two could get.

“Well, why not just end the whole bet by asking em both out?” You blink and rise from the bed.

“That’s… a really good idea, why didn’t I think of that?!” Red chuckles.

“And for the icing on the cake, giving em a taste of their own medicine,” You smirk.

“Once again, an amazing idea! Thanks Red!” You exclaim, getting off his bed and speed walking to the door.

“Knock em dead!” Red calls after you, causing you to roll your eyes as you leave the skeleton household and into your own to plan.

________________

You gathered the two skeletons in your living room and stood in front of them as you gathered your courage.

“Okay,” You start, getting the skeleton's attention.

“I’m aware of the bet you two have, and I’m not mad about it, it’s just…” The skeletons look at you expectantly, anxious thoughts ebbing their mind. You take a deep breath and continue.

“I’m grateful you two feel this way for me but I couldn’t just choose one, so would it be alright if we all go on a date?” You ask, Blue and Nox look surprised and glance at one another before returning their gaze to you.

“Of course!” Blue exclaims.

“I can work with that,” Nox comments, you smile brightly.

“Th-That’s great! Is it alright if we go on that date now?” Another glance is shared by the skeletons.

“Sure!”

“I don’t mind,” You smile again and gently take each of their hands and lead them outside of the home and towards the park.

“I’m glad I can spend the day with my two favorite skeletons!” You comment happily as you continue to lead them. Unbeknownst to you, both of them were blushing lightly.

Have you heard? There's a Valentine's Oneshot Event. Click here for the ground rules.

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[quickspinner]

S4E1 Truth Reactions

Just a reminder, you can filter #quickrants if you don’t want to see this kind of thing.

So...I’m not that upset.  I think I’m in the minority here, but clearly my expectations were sufficiently low and I’m really mostly okay with it. I wanted one thing out of this episode, for them to not screw up Luka’s character, and I got that. 

There’s a lot of things I’m not happy about, but all indications from early on were that they were going to break the ship up way sooner than we expected, so I kind of had time to make my peace with that. I just wanted them to keep Luka’s character intact, and for him and Marinette to part on good terms so that we can HC that they get together later when they are both more mature.

The things that I didn’t like were so typical that they didn’t even bother me that  much:

Literally every character they could possibly shoehorn in saying “Marinette is in love with Adrien Agreste” (however, note, that while every other character was talking about Adrien, aside from that first convo, Marinette was not)

Adrien didn’t even show up and it was all about him, from the rambly confusion in Marinette’s bedroom, to Luka saying “hey, if you’re still in love with Adrien, I’ll understand.” 

Chat Noir saying he would never force a secret from Ladybug when the entire episode Siren exists. I mean, regardless of how you feel about Chat’s behavior in that episode...he was trying to force the issue. If not from Ladybug, then to get Ladybug’s secret from Plagg, all without being akumatized. 

The biggest issue I have with the episode is the way they shoehorned the Couffaine family drama into it, which meant that neither plot thread got the attention it needed/deserved, and as a result, they had to skip over a lot of stuff, and the entire narrative of the episode was choppy. Would it have been that hard to have a few episodes leading up to this where we saw Marinette ditching Luka on dates, instead of cramming it all into one montage of pain? And we’re really going to go from Jagged saying that he basically ditched his family for no good reason, into Luka hugging him and letting him be the dad-comforter at the end of the ep? AND WHAT ABOUT JULEKA? Does she just not count because she’s a girl and men only care about their sons? Astruc just doubled down on the twin thing on Twitter, but we’re not even going to address that at all? 

That whole thing should have been dealt with in another episode; Luka could have found out in this one, and then we could have seen him approaching Jagged as a civilian later (maybe we’ll still see this, but I don’t have any faith it will happen) to work it all out. 

I admit I kinda screamed when Anarka said it, though. I didn’t think they would ever confirm it on air. The way it was handled, though, ugh. Jagged really comes off like a deadbeat jerk and then he just, what? Gets forgiven for no reason? After he wrote a song called “My Guitar Is My Only Family”???? 

Also, the episode as a whole was visually really ugly, and Luka really got the worst of it. Like, yikes. I don’t know why they went full on Lord of the Rings with the special effects, either, can’t you make a character look shocked without inverting the entire background? Multiple times? 

Side note: can I just say how hilarious I find it that Hawkmoth repaired the peacock Miraculous with a 50 cent pin back from Joanne’s and by saying “Repair yourself!” Just...so ridiculous.

There were a lot of things I liked.

The sincerity of the movie date. Marinette may have flaked big time not remembering it, but once they actually got out together, away from other influences, they were having so much fun! Going to see a movie they knew was terrible because they both love Jagged so much! I have hearts in my eyes. They were super cute! Their lyric guessing contest! They way they were so focused on each other and having fun. Marinette’s cute way of giving him his gift for ‘winning’ the contest, and Luka using their lyric game to ask for a kiss, and having that cute little nervous look before he really went for it. I’m gonna be watching that scene like a billion times. 

My heart broke for both of them when Marinette kept running off. I like that they made it clear that this was an ongoing thing. That one moment of Luka being snarky and upset that she didn’t come to the concert just hurt that much more because he’s normally so calm. It really hurt when he didn’t get excited that she finally arrived.

But what happened after that was so Luka. He didn’t get sulky and passive aggressive. He didn’t get upset with her in front of everybody. He took her somewhere private, somewhere that was important to him, and he gave her context for how he was feeling by sharing something private about himself, and he asked her as gently as possible what was going on. I think it’s telling that he made a point of letting her know that he was okay with it if she was still hung up on Adrien.  All he really wanted from her was confirmation that she was committed to this relationship, because after being ditched so many times it’s natural to start questioning whether she was really ready for this, and he didn’t want to be pressuring her into something. He just wanted her to tell him the truth. I think the parallel he gave her was nice, too; not only was he sort of letting her know he maybe has some abandonment issues that are making this hard for him, he’s giving her an opening to admit that she gets overwhelmed for whatever reason and that she ditches him to go hide and collect herself. In spite of all the things he is clearly feeling, he’s so careful with her, and it shows even more when he’s fighting his akumatization. Because his feelings are that she should tell him, that she should trust him, and he’s hurt that she doesn’t, but what he says, and what his behavior backs up, is that you can’t force the truth out of people (nice callback to Silencer there, where Ladybug said something similar about forcing someone to tell the truth is meaningless). He wants to believe that Marinette trusts him and has a good reason for not telling him; he wants to believe that if he can make her feel safe enough she’ll choose to confide in him. Poor guy is just trying to understand without spilling his bad feelings all over her. That’s really the core of what I like about Luka; he’s thoughtful, respectful, and gentle, but he confronts issues head on. He did it in Silencer, he did it in Felix, he did it in Miracle Queen, each time getting right to the heart of what Marinette was having trouble saying without putting pressure on her to admit anything she wasn’t ready for her. That’s what I was really, really scared of losing in this episode and I am just over the moon that they handled it so well. 

The akuma is another story, but akumas are akumas. Those where his emotions without control and I’m not upset about that. Both of Luka’s akumas were about anger and powerlessness. 

I feel deeply cheated that we didn’t get any kind of scene of Luka coming back to the boat, and Anarka having to tell him again about Jagged because he doesn’t remember, but she said it in front of everyone (including Juleka) so there’s no way to keep it a secret anymore. The cut to the breakup scene on the bridge was just so abrupt, and there was so much that should have happened between that that we should have seen.

I would have liked to have seen Marinette finding him, and asking if he’s okay, and giving him a little sympathy before finally giving him the honesty he asked for. Even when she tries to say it, that she can’t give him the relationship he deserves right now (and I’m eternally grateful that she didn’t lie to him and tell him that it actually was because of Adrien), Luka makes a choice. He closes his eyes as he hugs her (which I think is significant, given the whole third-eye imagery of Truth) and he doesn’t make her say it. Honestly, I usually feel gross about using the word ‘deserved’ in relationships, but I think it’s justified here--he deserved for her to look him in the eye and tell him that she couldn’t be with him. But he didn’t make her do it. He wasn’t angry at her, and they didn’t part with bad feelings, and he was Luka right up until the end.

Maybe it’s sad that that’s as much as I felt could be reasonably hoped for in this episode, but there it is. I’m not happy, but I’m satisfied.

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian Chapter 14 reactions: HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME BUT ALSO I’M CRYING edition

- the good good din characterization is back after all the weirdness last episode!!!! that soft way he says ‘no, no, I’m not mad at you’? THAT’S din djarin, he would not be fucking impatient with his son having just been informed and seen for himself that he is terrified, go away mr filoni I know you’ve got all of canon memorized but you don’t get this lol. this feels much more right in how din being conflicted and still thinking he should give the baby away for his own good plays out too  

honestly every line of dialogue for him in this one was perfect I was just whispering ‘I love this awkward clueless wonderful man just doing his best’ to myself any time he said anything. “...does this look Jedi to you?” sir I adore you more than words can describe

- we got din chuckling. asjdklfhsdkafghsdafsadhjkfsdahjkfh. fskahfksjad. side note: I can’t believe my joke post about din desperately trying to Force home school the kid with the one (1) jedi trick he knows about and the baby being delighted by it over and over anyway -- listen to his expectant excited laugh when din takes the ball and sets up the game!!!! -- was canon all along. and then the baby & mando music kicking in when he gently put the silver ball into the baby’s hands again and tells him he’s special (because he IS special. to din)? hmng. hmmmmnnnnn  

they opened on the height of softness so we would all crumple under the weight of the rest of the episode and that was very mean of them in a way I sincerely appreciate 

- nothing to see here... just a dad trying to walk through the literal manifestation of the unassailable underlying forces of the universe to get to his baby again and again........ the desperation in that, the love, the foolhardy devotion................... shit

- okay so I might be a dumbass, but I’d never noticed this before -- the silver ball has a blue spot on the top, like so: 

and in addition we get the room where the baby goes full darth grogu (I have to laugh so I don’t cry okay) on those storm troopers, and there’s a red light in there dominating the room (and it did even more in the concept art):

in star wars blue means light side and red means dark side (it’s very sophisticated that way), meaning the visual storytelling here is that there’s a battle for the baby’s soul and gideon and all his nonsense (and the trauma bb’s been through in the wider sense) is pulling towards the dark, while grogu and din’s connection leads him towards the light. just... the image of the baby looking at his own reflection in the symbolic representation of his relationship to din? the way children find their sense of self through being safely reflected and held by their caretakers? god help meeeeeee I will go in there and fistfight gideon myself for disrupting that in any way  

the smaller light seems to be blue too, like there’s still the presence of light even if it’s dimmed and small in that shitty horrible room, which is a change from the concept art!

- FENNEC SHAND SURVIVED BITCHES!!! I even called that she’d be back with new shiny robot parts back in season 1, could not happen to a cooler lady, I hope we get more backstory and interaction from her the next episodes -- sounds like she’s basically sworn herself to boba’s service in gratitude for saving her life, I wonder if that’s a cultural thing of whereever she comes from? does she live aboard slave 1 now too?? because that would be hilarious and amazing, it must be like two strange cats trying to get used to sharing the same space   

- everything I could ever hope for about boba fett in this series came true, they went down the much more interesting and nuanced route with jango and boba’s identities as mandalorians, he looked cool as fuck and made din as a character shine rather than overshadowing him... amazing beautiful yesss 

(I did 100% not anticipate just how ‘cool uncle boba here to help you fuck shit up’ he was going to be but I am delighted to get it anyway. uncle points deducted for getting someone to point a gun at the baby, but the main point still stands lol) 

the power and brutality of his hand to hand fighting too... a w e s o m e , I enjoyed the action scenes a lot in this one

- they even recanonized him actually wearing jango’s armour. what more could I ask for. I’ve had confused parent & child feels about these two since I was like eleven and here we fucking go again. and jango fighting in the mando civil wars too!

- so I’m grieving the razor crest (and I always will be, rip you magnificent jalopy, always in my heart) but also there’s the grim satisfaction that my reading on it was sort of true -- it is (...was. oh god it’s going to take a while to sink in huh) a symbol of din’s self and life, and at this point when they take the baby it tears everything else to pieces. the only thing that’s left in the ashes is the beskar and the thing that connects him to the baby. and there’s... a strange solace in seeing that that’s all he needs to keep going? he’s fucking obliterated from orbit but he still has his love for the baby and the beskar and that can keep him going until he finds something new, everything else can be replaced?????? weirdly healing, though he is probably going to have a solid breakdown at some point after they get the kid back (shut up they are getting the kid back) and the cold distant fog lifts 

also this scene/shot feels like it carries some Meaning, doesn’t it? I’m on record several times saying I never want din to be mand’alor and that’s still true, but there’s something about the framing of this and the way boba looks at him that’s like... hm. I’m not sure I have the words for it. there’s something heightened about it, anyway, for a moment he looks like something mythic there in the wreckage 

(something I would be much cooler with is our clan of two growing a little bit and those new people rallying behind him, actually, that might be neat. imagine if a force user does show up for the baby and gets adopted into the clan somehow??? so many possibilities.) 

- from the way he picks up the silver ball... din djarin is on his way to straight up murder some people huh

I think part of what reassures me about this scene is the music -- this mando flute is not distant, is not beaten, is not despondent, it’s clear and determined and strong.

- 

I love this. I love when we get explicit baby POVs, it makes it feel so real and intimate and... like home. (I especially loved baby’s point of view inside the razor crest, which just made me tear up again. baby lost the closest thing he’s had to a home in a long long time on top of it all. everything is suffering)

-

Emotionally Significant Thumb Grabbing tm; the show

- din djarin looking for the ‘on’ switch on a magic rock fhsdakjfhsadlfhsdjah I can’t breathe

 “Well, this is the seeing stone. Are you. Seeing anything?” fsafkdsajhfsa sdhfksjalhfkjsdahfkjsdhf

- the energy around the baby as he’s, in ahsoka’s words, ‘choosing his path’ is blue, and the force sort of works across time and space, right?? so there’s definitely still hope for our lil green bean to not have to come up with a really dumb unsubtle sith name for himself, as is regrettably yet delightfully tradition. darth babbu should never come to pass (I do like how they’re interrogating the normal dark/light side dichotomy in this series, seeing as this is a literal baby who can’t really be responsible for that stuff himself yet and has such capacity for both.)  

- listen. listen, the way din says ‘can you please hurry up’ with no sarcasm or real impatience whatsoever, more like a harried worry, to his force-meditating son as he jogs off to make sure no one’s trying to kill them. is hilarious and also YES this is what the character is!!! weirdly and incongruously polite under stress sometimes and with a slightly odd reaction pattern to things!!! he’s not just quiet and badass, he’s a little strange sometimes and it’s so good!  

- a friendly opening volley warning shot from boba there

also din uncertainly asking BOBA FETT if he’s a jedi... now this is the dramatic irony I’ve been looking for haha 

I guess neither shand nor boba actually know din’s name after this either. baby you gotta start introducing yourself at some point it gets real confusing when there are two mandos on screen 

oh the long weary sigh going through din’s frame when boba says he wants ‘the armour’ and he thinks it’s just someone trying to peel the beskar off his corpse again. sorry the galaxy’s so shitty dad   

- “But fate sometimes steps in to rescue the wretched” is a killer line well done mr favreau. I like that boba actually offers din a good deal as well and seems to intend to deliver on it from how things are going. 

- din using his beskar-covered bod to cover someone he’s fighting alongside!!! literal moving cover haha. also I love fennec’s costume design  

- I don’t know where din got more whistling birds from and I don’t care, it was really cool haha 

-

wow haha um so anyway -- 

(cue all the ‘who wore it better’ with cobb vanth’s ‘spiderman’s first home made costume’ look on one side and ABSOLUTE UNIT DADDY boba fett on the other side posts lol)

- aaaghh the music almost like a stunned desperate fluttering heart beat as din watches the razor crest be destroyed 

- for someone who has willingly worked for them in the past boba sure sounds less than thrilled about having the empire back in any capacity 

- oof the deadness in din’s voice when he says “The child is gone”. ooooh no that got me  h e l p 

- guessing next episode is at least partly a ‘gathering old allies and preparing the assault’ step before the grand finale, then! they cannot go for the season ender cliffhanger with this, I will fucking riot. anything can be up in the air except baby and dad being separated, I will not allow it

it would be very funny if the force user baby called out to comes stumbling into the middle of all this like the troy entering the room with pizzas meme too 

- the music in the darth grogu scene is partially a dark mirror of the baby & mando music :’( is nothing in this world sacred

also from how he reaches out for it baby might have used a light saber before in the past with the jedi? ngl the idea of baby wielding the dark saber not when he’s all grown up but in like two episodes -- with all the chaos a toddler holding a laser sword would involve -- is all that is keeping me sane here 

‘liable to put an eye out with one of these’ well gideon you sure have doomed someone to lose an eye with that one, here’s to hoping it’s you, for full dramatic payoff 

he is a deliciously smug awful force with great musical cues tho, you have to give it to him

- okay so this

is obviously awful and horrible and it makes me so sad... but it is undeniably also very very very funny in how it’s framed. you know what? after all this bullshit baby grogu can have a little dark side tantrum, as a treat, we’ve all been there right

(forget finding a jedi, we need to go out there and find a child psychologist who can help him deal with this without adding the fear that he’s on the path to become a two foot tall evil space sorcerer to the mix Y_________Y) 

- rip the razor crest except for the second time :’’’( gone but never forgotten

- the last thing din tells the baby is “I’m gonna protect you; I’ll be back soon”. and I hope that stays with the kid somehow and that it actually comes true, that din will be back for him as soon as humanly possible and all this pain and fear can be repaired. ggggghhhhh my emotions are too big for my dumb human body 

[atopearth]

Collar X Malice: Unlimited Part 6 - Side Stories

ONWARD (Kazuki SS)

Awww, I love how Akito and Kazuki first met. I think it's really cool that it was Kazuki who chased after him and was interested in him because he saw him doing music related stuff. I guess I'm so used to Kazuki being so harsh and whatever with Ichika that having him actively befriend someone is refreshing haha. I thought it was so cute how Kazuki so genuinely thought Akito's music was amazing, that probably really touched him. On the other hand, it's kinda sad to hear that people only talk to Akito to make fun of him, that's so sad. I wonder if Akito just allows it too because of what happened to his sister, so he wants to know how she might have felt? Anyway, I really love how Akito didn't listen to Kazuki, and told him straight the first time he went over to his place and met Ichika that she was just worried about Akito being here considering how late it was, and that he should greet her since he's in their home, and that it wasn't wrong for Ichika to be worried about him, which I'm very glad for. Kazuki is wayyy too blinded into thinking of Ichika as "the enemy" that it gets really frustrating a lot of the time. Anyway, seeing Ichika in third person perspective is interesting, she's so cute~ It's really cool how much Akito expanded Kazuki's world in music, like not only did he introduce him to bands and other people who play guitar that can give him better advice on his playing, but Akito also tried his best to contribute a lot to helping Kazuki mend his relationship with Ichika. LMAO at Kazuki's imagination of what Isshiki was going to be like and then called him ordinary😂😂

I really enjoyed seeing much more insight into Isshiki's feelings to his pro debut being cancelled. I think what hit me the most was when he talked about starting solo again, and people came to see the "tragic vocalist that got mistakenly arrested" instead of listening to his music as a musician, and I think that probably broke his heart quite a bit. I can see why he would have wanted to quit. Isshiki is really admirable though, but I guess hearing about Fujii's death pushed him to putting everything he could into his music, since it made him realise that your daily life can shatter in an instant, so he wants to appreciate every opportunity and chance he has to sing, and share his music and feelings to as many people as he can. Hearing Akito shout at Kazuki saying he doesn't have the right to continue composing music, especially as a pro made me really sad. The whole time from when Akito met Kazuki to them having fun tweaking their music and everything, Akito was suffering. He was happy that he could compose music and find it fun again, but he also felt really guilty for "having fun" because this was something he felt that he took away from his sister. It was because of this "fun" that he chose to ignore her and signs of her plight because it was too annoying to deal with, and that regret torments him to this day. And then now on top of that, the guilt and pain of all those bullies' lives are weighing on him because he told Zero that the whole class was a part of it and practically deserved to die, and then they did... It's understandable why Akito would think that he doesn't deserve anything "happy" since all he's been doing is taking away lives and the happiness of others.

Honestly, I love Akito and Kazuki's relationship, so seeing them make up and have Akito admit he really enjoys composing music etc was really nice. I also loved how Akito gave Kazuki his own guitar pick, it was so pretty! I'm so glad Akito got them to all take a photo before Kazuki's debut concert with Isshiki and officially formed a band with him. I'm glad Akito wanted to keep such a precious memory. And yep, I really loved this side story. I honestly didn't think there was much to add to Kazuki, Akito's and Isshiki's story anymore but I'm glad I was wrong haha! I think the emotions, their thoughts and their feelings throughout the story were portrayed really well to kinda show how much of a journey Kazuki was on whilst all the X-Day stuff were happening. It was like a whole different life compared to Ichika. But anyway, I really liked how we got to see more of the friendship between the three of them and how they all worked hard because of their passion for music, and how they felt connected to each other through listening to each other's music. I think that's really sweet and I can see better why Akito and Isshiki were always so protective of Kazuki and really understood him, and wanted Ichika to acknowledge him and his hard work. Still doesn't change the fact that I didn't like his attitude to her in the main story, but I liked seeing Kazuki try his best to grow in music and as a person with Akito's and Isshiki's support and acknowledgment.

Pride (Minegishi SS)

I guess it's interesting to see that aside from civilians in Shinjuku having to try and get used to normal life again, Minegishi is also trying to get used to dealing with "normal cases" and prioritising those rather than just X-Day incidents. I guess it's to expected since the Investigations HQ is disbanding. Considering how much SCRPO gets looked down upon, I'm really happy that Ichika and her diligence in telling civilians to report anything suspicious helped Minegishi and them solve a case with a kidnapper. LOL when Minegishi said he wants to be closer with all his subordinates and then he told Ichika she can call him "Mine-chan"😂😂😂 Imagine calling him that at the police station😂😂 Anyway, I've always really liked how sincere Minegishi is, so I was really happy when he personally went to thank Ichika for helping out with the case, praised her, and then even took her out to lunch. Anyway, even though the incidents are over, people like Saeki and other Adonis members haven't been captured, so it's understandable for Minegishi to still "care" about the X-Day stuff.

I know Minegishi is mainly interested in Ichika because of how crucial she was to solving the X-Day incidents and he wants to know more about her to see why they targeted her but awww, it would be so cool to have a Minegishi route! Lmaoo at Minegishi's joke saying he came to the station just to see Ichika and receive chocolates from her😂 It was so cuteee when Ichika ran after him and actually gave him chocolates she prepared~🥰 It's so cute how Minegishi loves teasing Ichika because of her funny and honest reactions🥲 I loved the chat Minegishi had with Sasazuka and Okazaki at the cafe hahaha, they're all interested in Ichika in their own way, it's so adorable lol. It's nice to see that Minegishi was in a sense frustrated that he believed he could lead the way to solve the X-Day incidents but in the end relied on one of the many subordinates he didn't take notice of alongside a group of police dropouts. I guess that would be difficult to face when you're so capable. I'm glad Minegishi was a bit more honest with her about his intentions and thoughts. Awww, I loved how Ichika teased Minegishi back in the car ride home! I totally dig their relationship and would have super loved an actual route with Minegishi, so cuteee!

Overall, definitely more of a fluff story than anything else. Makes you wish that Minegishi had a route, but also gives a bit more insight into the idea of the X-Day incidents "ending" and missing it. It makes me miss the main plot of the original game haha, and I guess that was the aim of this route, but at the same time, gotta move forward to accept other things~

Crossroad (Yoshinari SS)

Honestly, I've always loved Yoshinari because he's obviously capable considering he's in the SP, but he's so silly it's hilarious. Lmaooo at his drawings and notes on all the guys, I loved Enomoto's and Sasazuka's ones, totally shows their personalities😂😂 Yoshinari's sound effects are so funny, especially when he's sad🤣 Hahahahah, Shiraishi calls Yoshinari Inari-kun😂 I actually like inari sushi hahaha. Anyway, considering Shiraishi's nicknames for Sasazuka and Enomoto, him naming Yoshinari anything is actually friendly lol. It was so cute how happy Yoshinari was when he got Ichika to laugh, he's so adorable for trying so hard to talk to her so she won't feel so tense and guarded around him. Considering all the "exotic" things Okazaki likes to try, I'm surprised the durian shake is the one that made Yoshinari nearly vomit hahaha, but maybe that's just because I'm used to the people around me liking durian.

LMAO when Yoshinari collapsed from hunger and even made Kazuki be nicer (since he was initially quite prickly with Yoshinari) and carry him to their apartment to feed him lol. It's actually kinda cute how that encounter ended up making Kazuki feel like it was easier to approach Yoshinari and chat with him lol. Omg, I didn't expect Yoshinari's past and his relationship with his parents to actually be so...sad. I mean, I can understand to an extent why his parents might feel "resentment" or whatever towards Yoshinari since he never came home, was in a gang etc whilst they were probably working their asses off just to make ends meet, but I honestly don't think I can really empathise with them if they can say something to him like just die somewhere that won't trouble them or whatever, like really??? That's just such a cruel thing to say to your child. It's depressing to think that Yoshinari wanted to make up with them and tried to be an upstanding guy and worked hard to be an SP and stuff to show them that he's changed, but they didn't even want to give him a chance and literally just disowned him, that's really terrible.

I love how Yoshinari would willingly "make fun" of himself just to defuse and ease a situation (when Kazuki and Ichika clashed after she followed him to his band practice place), but I really love his sincerity. He's not great with his words, but seeing his sincerity and consideration for Kazuki made Ichika understand that she could trust him and wait for Kazuki because someone like Yoshinari asked her to, and that gives her confidence since she isn't aware what Kazuki is always up to. I think it's sweet to see Ichika appreciated that and told him that she trusts him, and I think that really helped Yoshinari too, since he always feels like he's "trouble" because of his past, but hearing someone appreciate him for doing what he did must make him happy. Lmao at everyone in the office being mean to Yoshinari for planning on going on a date with Ichika hahah. Aww, Yoshinari in work mode is pretty cool~ 

Aww, Ichika crying and hugging Kazuki feeling relieved that he's okay and not in danger anymore was so cute. Gotta feel sorry for Kazuki, he's always targeted lmao. Anyway, seeing the scene with Ichika and Kazuki being able to be more honest with each other and care for each other openly made me really happy. It also made me think, this is probably one of the reasons why I always found it "sad" in Sasazuka's route that they made it like Kazuki needed to "grow up" and live by himself so she could be with Sasazuka properly, when I feel like it's so sad that Kazuki and Ichika have finally made up and can be a "proper" family now, but they didn't even get to spend much time together yet. But it's okay lol, since we get to see her bond with Kazuki in moments like these in other routes.

I can understand why Yoshinari is so insistent on detaching himself from Ichika and them though. As an emotional person myself, when I get attached to people, it would definitely affect my feelings, my thoughts and how I handle things regardless of how much I want to stay logical, so I usually adopt something similar to Yoshinari's way of doing things. But I'm so glad that Yoshinari just went screw that after Ichika gave him a scarf for Christmas haha. In the end, as he said, people aren't machines, and life is too short to hesitate and give up on things like that when it's so difficult to find someone you actually like! Too bad the world wants to bully Yoshinari too, so even though he was able to talk back to Okazaki and tell him he seriously wanted to tell Ichika his feelings, the writers didn't want him to lol. Oh, and I loved how all the guys treated Yoshinari like an abandoned puppy outside in the cold and kept giving him food and stuff so he would keep warm whilst on the job, that was so cute hahaha.

Overall, I quite liked Yoshinari's story, I think it was really cute to see how even though Yoshinari is kinda like the "joke" character that gets bullied, he also has a past that allowed him to connect with Kazuki on a deeper level and help mend Kazuki and Ichika's relationship in his own way. I really liked how sincere Yoshinari was to everyone, and I think it's with such a personality that everyone is able to do the same with him. I think a romance with Yoshinari and Ichika would be so adorable with how they are, and I also really like his friendship with Kazuki so I think they would be a really warm family hahahah. If only we got proper routes for all these side characters🥲🥲🥲 Definitely enjoyed all the side stories and in a sense, they were probably much more fun than the actual routes haha!

[namjhyun]

Hospital Playlist | Winter Garden

*SEASON 01 SPOILERS ALERT*

Remember you can find all the Hospital Playlist reviews/analysis filed in “hospital playlist reviews” tag at the end of the post.

It would be very difficult to talk about Jung-won without mentioning Gyeo-wool and vice versa. Their respective journeys have been intertwined from the very beginning and in ways we didn’t even know until the end of the first season of Hospital Playlist. Theirs turned out to be a symbiotic relationship. So, I decided to dedicate a full review to them.

Jung-won’s life was one of the first mysteries in Hospital Playlist. The drama introduced his character little by little and almost always thorough other characters to give us an idea of the kind of person he is. So, when it was revealed that he is the youngest son of the CEO of Yulje Foundation and Hospital, we already got the general idea that he was a dedicated and hardworking doctor, with a very particular (and hilarious) family situation that put him in the spot to take over his father’s place. And that he didn’t want that position at all.

Still, it’s pretty obvious Jung-won has a head for business. You can tell by the proposal he presented to Chairman Ju in the first episode when he transferred his family’s hospital stocks to him. In exchange he got lofty jobs for his friends and himself, and even complete control over the money coming from the VIP ward in the hospital. This is a man that clearly thinks several steps ahead. A man that goes the distance. A marathoner.

Right after his father’s funeral (in March) and finally free of the pressure of having to run his family’s foundation, Jung-won put that determination into achieving his childhood dream of becoming a priest.

Enter Jang Gyeo-wool.

When we were first introduced to Gyeo-wool, I remember thinking she was the opposite of Jung-won. While she was presented as blunt and aloof, he was tactful and a bleeding heart. Because of this I always believed the two actually made a good team and that they could learn from each other.

Now that the first season is over, I think that was Writer Lee and PD Shin’s purpose all along: to make the viewers connect the two, at least in a professional light at first, so that we would eventually start picking up subtle hints that something else might be going on between them.

Of course, Hospital Playlist exceeded my expectations because things started to be not so subtle pretty fast. For me it really was when Jung-won said that Gyeo-wool wasn’t his “cup of tea” that I started to think about them in terms of a possible loveline. But it was the scene of the maggots that really solidify it and I told everyone “He likes her”. Not for one minute I thought Jung-won was going to go through with his priesthood plans after that.

Soon, Jung-won’s good deed of helping his friends get better jobs backfired on him spectacularly: Lee Ik-jun, MD and Certified Cupid, was trying to find ways to win Jang Gyeo-wool’s favor in order to get her assistance in the OR. And since Hospital Playlist spent the entire first season letting us know that Ik-jun always knows what’s up, naturally he realized Gyeo-wool had feelings for Jung-won. And that they might not be unrequited.

The journey was slow paced and frustrating at times. With each episode it was more and more clear that Jung-won was going out of his way to keep Gyeo-wool at arm’s length. He was resolute to keep on track with his decision to become a priest and I commend him for it... but this is when his smoking became a sign that things wouldn’t be going his way. For someone who wants to be pure and closer to the Lord, that’s a pretty nasty habit. One that to me was always a sign of doubt. Bottomline, it’s a sign of his humanity. Another sign? His headaches. He was suddenly overthinking things and questioning himself.

I’m not saying Jung-won wasn’t sincere about becoming a priest but if he had wanted to do it, a man with his kind of determination, would have got up and leave. Instead, when he talked with the priest helping him with his journey to Italy, Jung-won kept pushing the date of his departure over and over again. Always prioritizing his patients. This is when I knew that priesthood was a dream idealized from childhood and I believe that in some place of his subconscious he was choosing this path in order to runaway from the pain of not being able to help all the people he wants to help. Fact is that at some point in his life he had fallen in love with his profession as pediatrics surgeon but his soft personality put him through much pain, specially with the most difficult cases. He had given up on hobbies like photography because he couldn’t stand to see the photos of patients he lost, and almost never took time off to do any of the sports he loves so much. When he did it was to support a cause like breast cancer.

My point is that I understand why Jung-won wanted to quit: he is overworked, stressed and tired of having to carry on his shoulders an understaffed pediatrics department. Add to all that he was also running the Daddy Long Legs program by himself, getting calls from hospitals all over the country, and that he was in a passive aggressive fight with his Mother that didn’t want him to become a priest. The only down time he was getting was when he played the drums with the band and went out with his friends. But even then we saw him get up and help the people running the restaurant. Yeah, he clearly couldn’t go on like that. Something needed to change.

His first move was to delegate the Daddy Long Legs program to Song-hwa. A wonderful idea and the first hint that he was up to something. Like I mentioned before: Jung-won thinks several steps ahead. And this was also around the time he had his heart to heart talk with Ik-jun. At this point of the story, it was clear to Jung-won that his feelings for Gyeo-wool were not going dispel and that spending time with her, watching her work through her hardships and getting to understand her, were only making him fall deeper in love with her.

In return, Gyeo-wool spent that time growing as a doctor, learning from Ik-jun and Jung-won on how to talk to patients and their guardians. Something none of the other doctors bother to teach her before because they all considered her competent enough due to her OR technique. She shed off some of her shyness and started to show her warmth, became bolder and more proactive to try to find ways to connect with people around her. She went from eating alone to always share a meal with other residents and/or Dr. Bong. She sassed Min-ha on her make up, kinda told off Jun-wan and behaved like a cutie pie around her honorary big brother Ik-jun. Gyeo-wool remained steadfast and composed through every professional and personal hardship, and her bluntness was no longer a weakness but a strength. I honestly believe that by watching Gyeo-wool in action, Jung-won learned a thing or two about perseverance and not running away but facing your troubles.

I also think Ik-jun didn’t tell Gyeo-wool about Jung-won’s feelings for her because he didn’t believe it was his place. Sure, he had his fun trying to get reactions out Jung-won and giving his support to Gyeo-wool but, at the end of the day, he knew it was Jung-won and Gyeo-wool the ones that needed to take matters into their hands and have a proper talk about their feelings.

When Mama Rosa witnessed that sweet, sweet, moment all the shippers were waiting for between Jung-won and Gyeo-wool, she saw her last hope. A last-minute Hail Mary. And while I think Mama Rosa put Gyeo-wool in a terrible position by asking her to stop Jung-won from becoming a priest, this was the first time Gyeo-wool got any indication that maybe her love could be successful. That her heart and instincts were in the right place. And despite the uncertainty that followed her through the entire first season, she went for it. Like the complementary sprinter she is to Jung-won’s marathoner. Watch out Usain Bolt.

What none of us knew by the time episode 12 started is that Jung-won had already made the decision to stay after the family of a patient thanked him for going the extra mile for their daughter. The past months of being able to have the 99ers as a support system at Yulje and having Gyeo-wool around to help him with his work, made him felt happiness and a new sense of fulfillment. For the first time in years, he was feeling the weight on his shoulders was lighter and his good friend Song-hwa could see it in his face. She knew all along he was in a crossroads about his profession. That scene in Song-hwa’s office was significant because it was the first time he voiced out his feelings and to his surprise, just like Ik-jun, Song-hwa knew all about his Lady Winter.

So, when Christmas arrived and Gyeo-wool finally musters up the strength to go to his office, everything comes together. Even though she thinks Mama Rosa is wrong about him having feelings for her or that she knows it’s not her place to interfere with his decision of becoming a priest, she still can’t let go of him. Meanwhile, he had decided weeks ago to stay at Yulje, in no small part because of her, and remained silent. He held back. Again! And fret over how, when or what to say - just like he did in front of the ER’s door- because he didn’t know how to start the conversation. Why? Because the fool himself put them in a strictly professional relationship by refusing to have any kind of interaction outside the cases they shared or the hospital.

But in that final scene at his office, Jung-won sees a vulnerable Gyeo-wool. Suddenly her emotional resilience is nowhere to be found and she is wide open for him to witness how much he has put her through over the past nine months. Even worse he realizes that she knew all along about his plans and said nothing. Gyeo-wool’s bravery makes him see himself for the coward he has been for the past three weeks. For the first time in the whole season, he stops overthinking, FINALLY does as his heart is telling him and jumps into action. Jung-won answers Gyeo-wool’s confession and request with tender affection, longing looks -that communicate he too has been struggling-, kisses and a hug. He didn’t need to say anything. Like Gyeo-wool taught him: actions speak louder than words.

[ziracona]

Benedict head canons? How does he mingle with the rest of the gang

Benedict is an incredibly odd mix of “Polite and socially adept by nature” and “the world’s most awkward man due to the fact he’s stuck almost 200 years after he lived.” He’s fairly adaptable, and learned a lot from other survivors as the cycled in and out of the realm, and worked hard to be able to keep up to date, but he’s also been punched on many occasions in the realm for saying or doing something he had no idea was going to get that kind of reaction. This is left him uhhhhhhhh extremely cautious saying things, and it’s not unusual for him to pause mid sentence and check facial expressions with sudden concern, afraid he’s fucked up again, but it’s super funny the kinds of things that lead him to do this. For example: was afraid that he might be suckerpunched for saying “Things really have changed a lot. I would have thought four unwed adults of different sexes sharing an apartment to attend college together would be looked on as a little scandalous, since no one could know the situation.” (About Claudette, Quentin, Nancy, and Philip all sharing an apartment to go to college) and was also deeply afraid after he said it that saying “Wow! The idea of standard middle class transportation has changed so drastically. To think an automobile like this is considered average,” might be some kind of class-offensive statement, and stopped right after both with a horrified look on his face waiting to see what the damage was. Which, in both cases, was none, but a lot of amusement from the person he was talking to. He does have a tendency in past of accidentally putting his foot in his mouth, but honestly, he’s gotten pretty good at adapting to the times and was never that bad. Alex Lin really just liked putting him in a world of hurt for everything he ever did because she thought it was hilarious, and Benedict could never tell which things were partially jokes and which were sincere, coming from her. Got beat up the first time he met her, because he told her to stay behind a rock and let him run a distraction for her since she was a lady and it was his duty to protect her if he could. She broke his nose with one hit and told him she’d break his fingers with her platform boots if he ever called her a “lady” again, and to stick the sanctimonious crap up his ass, she could take care of herself better than he could, and he instantly fell in love. Has Alex to thank for his paranoia, but probably also for how little he actually does put his foot in his mouth anymore.

Benedict is very proper, and still kind of dresses like he’s from the wrong century. He thinks tech is fascinating, but he’s also kind of a grandpa at learning it. Kate and Jane both give him lessons on tech and just society and things that have changed, and it helps a lot. He is super intimidated by the American highway system and taking a tin can hurdling around at 80 miles an hour while other drivers shoot past you, and afraid of driving, but Kate gives him slow lessons until while still afraid to drive on highways, he’s okay with taking residential roads and driving a bit, despite the way American drivers can get in big cities even just on their way to the drugstore. Kate knew him a little in-realm, so she’s one of the ones closest to him, and enjoys him a lot. She thinks it’s kind of sweet how gentlemanly and polite he is, and how he’s so fascinated by like, cigarette lighters in cars and automatic supermarket doors, and her ancient handheld tennis ball sized electronic 20 questions game. Jane likes him too, and they’re research buddies a lot. He can focus for hours and hours over the dustiest old times, and actually, he can read a lot of the ancient handwriting on old historical documents before common spellings developed, and it’s kind of a godsend. She also greatly enjoys how casually (and often) he drifts into ethical discussions while he does even the most mundane shit like washing dishes.

While no one but Kate met Benedict in-realm, and he spends the most time with her, and with Jane, who he lives and works with, all of them feel like they know him or like he’s a living legend or both, since they’ve been reading and hanging on his writing for years in-realm. He’s accepted immediately, and has so many common experiences—even if not of the exact same trials—that he kinda just fits like a glove, and is extremely welcomed and a natural addition to the group. Philip and Sally are especially close to him, and it kind of helps bridge the intial, slightly awkward gap. After icebreakers, he drifts from house to house like everyone else, and is like, the weird great uncle to most of the younger survivors. Min loves absolutely bombarding him with tech stuff to watch his eyes glaze over while he drowns trying to keep up with her discussions of bitrate and solid state drives, becuase she’s a little cruel, but she does also help him figure out his first decent phone, so she can be your devil or your only slightly sadistic angel. Claudette loves discussing realm stuff with him, and helping each other on research. Also the only one with any experience with falconing, so he kind of helped Jake get some of his initial setup and gear for Alex the crow figured out.

Benedict collects things from the 21st century, especially simple electronics, and everyone thinks that’s kind of endearing, and start picking out simple gifts to get him when they know they’re gonna see him soon. Singing birthday cards, an old gameboy SP, boom boxes, a record player, laser pointers, magic 8 ball (this actually freaked him out, but he didn’t tell anyone because he was afraid of being made fun of), a Bop It, and all kinds of little lights and decorations that make sound or light or move. He has an ever expanding self of these gifts he calls his “Little Marvels” stand, and he really enjoys it. Has tried taking them apart to understand them better, but is usually overwhelmed. Jake took pity on him and helped him get the extreme basic gist of a circuit board once though, and since then, he has been fascinated. Jane soemtimes comes to the table for breakfast to find Benedict with one of those Kid Science kits on the table and potatoes hooked into wires powering a mini fan going, “Jane! Would you look at this. Isn’t that fascinating? Who knew the PH could have this kind of ability?” She finds this endearing and also weirdly relaxing to wake up to.

Benedict takes notes all the time. On literally everything. Is extremely poetic and writes poetry occasionally when he is overcome by the beauty of something like his first time seeing a park lit up with Christmas lights in fancy sculpture arrays on a crisp December night. Gets book recommendations from Adam and Jane and loves talking shop with them. Is constantly horrified by the news. He’s not used to global news being so all at once or so much. He has a really really hard time adjusting and not being thrown into wild bouts of depression. Jane talks him into giving himself more healthy doses of time away from news so he doesn’t kill his 1860s adjusted brain, and he finally takes the advice and is very grateful for the improved quality of his life.

Loves dogs so much. Not a fan of small dogs though. Not like he hates them, just thinks they’re kind of depressing and bug-eyed usually and feels bad for them. Wants a hound. Ends up getting a Yorkshire Terrier mutt instead because it’s the whimpering thing that follows him down a New Jersey street in a rainstorm after a long day of research with Jane. Doesn’t mean to get a pet period but it’s so pathetic and its foot has been injured by something, maybe a car, so he picks it up and takes it home to warm up and give food to before dropping off at a shelter or vet. It’s so wildly affectionate and has so much love in its disproportionately big eyes he keeps being like “...It can stay a little longer,” until he was wrong and it just lives there now. Names it Missy and gave her a little hairbow. Calls her his research assistant. Jane loves this dog. Benedict was already well accepted and friends with the other survivors, but bringing a pet to a party makes people like you more in this family.

Mostly, Benedict is kind of an old man of a professor. He enjoys chatting, but is hard to drag into the more physical activities, except hikes, which he quite enjoys. He mingled quite a bit more than he expected though, and is deeply happy about how accepted he’s become, and how much he cares about these people and they seem to truly care about him.

[muthaz-rapapa]

Rewatch: Mahou Tsukai Precure Ep 3

Hey hey hey~!

I made it to Sunday with another MahoPre post again! Praise me, won’t you?

*bows extravagantly* ( -∀-)シ

ALSO, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU GREAT MOMMIES OUT THERE!! WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT YOU?!  (｡^▽^｡)/ ♡

Yaaaaa, you know the animation quality really went up when not only the new transformation sequence was top notch but the episode it debuted in was as well. Really! Everything was so sparkly and purdy~

Like Mirai and Mofu-chan’s excited faces, kyaaaaa~! xD

Ahem, so we start off with Mirai calling home and let’s just say she’s very lucky it was Grandma who picked up.

I don’t know how long Mirai’s been gone but judging by how Grandma’s first question is about Mirai’s search instead of asking where she is right now, maybe she hasn’t been gone too long to raise any alarms yet.

In any case, the beginning of the phone call was hilarious cuz though Grandma shares Mirai’s belief in witches and magic, I’m pretty sure she never expected for Mirai to be contacting her from another realm, much less hear that she’s become a witch herself.

She’s like “Huh? Wut?” xD;

And then there’s Mirai. Oh god, Mirai.

She really is the type to spill almost every detail out in a jumbled manner and gesture frantically on the other end of the line even though there’s no way her Grandma can actually see her, lol I do the same thing when I talk over the phone

Meanwhile, Headmaster and Riko are just standing awkwardly in the background, watching this girl play charades in front of a crystal ball.

(^ ∀ ^ ;;)

Anyways, despite all the rushed explanations, Mirai wants to attend class here and asks for permission.

Naturally, any normal parent/guardian would say “no” because first of all, what the heck is she going on about? Flying brooms? Magic World? WAT? Did you hit your head while playing or something?

I mean, even the most understanding person would just assume Mirai found a new friend at the playground who introduced her to some secret hangout or whatever and that Mirai just wants to stay out longer to have fun, that’s all.

But nuh-uh! Mirai’s really in the Magic World right now and she really wants to enroll in magic school for the rest of spring break!

Miraculously (and again, she is so lucky it was Grandma who picked up), she does get the okay.

Grandma actually believes Mirai will be alright with these strangers in some foreign place she’s never heard of. She’s never met them, there’s no address or even a phone number she can call to check up on Mirai. For all she knows, her granddaughter could’ve been tricked and kidnapped by some shady hoodlums.

But over the phone, it doesn’t seem that Mirai is any danger...and since she sounds so eager, well then, alright. Grandma chooses to trust Mirai.

Cue joyous, major squee-able hug! <D

But on a serious note, PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THIS IN REAL LIFE, OKAY?!

(O_ O ;;)

It’s somewhat forgivable in an children’s anime where things are more idyllic and even Mirai’s situation is an exception among exceptions because of plox. 

But if your kid is asking to stay out in some vague location with people who don’t have your trust to look out for their well-being, then you get in your car or call the police or do whatever’s necessary to bring them home immediately!

...come to think of it, I wonder how Mirai’s parents reacted when Grandma told them the news. By the time Mirai got back home, they seemed pretty cool with it but Mirai should’ve at least called them every day (off-screen) to ensure she’s alright so that they didn’t have to worry a lot while she was away.

I dunno, please don’t mind me too much on this matter. I'm just very sensitive when it comes to the safety of children, that’s all. The news and living in the city scared me into being cautious.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind becoming an Uber driver as long it’s a magic carpet I’m flying.

But I’m not sure what the insurance policy on that is like and it doesn’t look like there are seat belts either which is a tad bit concerning. Hmm...

Bouncy-wouncy flippy-floppy Mofurun~!

Look at this happy bear~! She’s having the time of her life!

Ugh, my heart~!!! x3333

I believe this is the first time Mirai’s had the chance to tell Riko something about herself and it’s quite nice that Riko was the one who (sorta) initiated the interest this time around.

We all know what Riko’s like. She’s not fond of people being too chummy with her because if they get to know her, they’ll learn how bad she is at magic as well. That’s why she’s always trying to maintain a distance. Trying not to interact with others too much and not volunteer too much info about herself so she can uphold an image she doesn’t really possess and protect where she’s most vulnerable. Tsundere defense mechanism in the works.

For her to reach out to Mirai, even if it’s only out of some courteous small talk and minimal curiosity, maybe it means she’s gradually becoming more comfortable. At least in Mirai’s company, there’s no need to have her guard up that high and she can talk to someone normally for once.

Mirai, on the other hand, is the honest type through and through and is thrilled to share anything about what she loves.

Her bright, sincere personality and close relationship with her grandma shows how well she was raised because no matter how wild or out of this world Mirai’s thoughts can get sometimes, those closest to her never ridiculed or made her think less of herself for that. That’s why she’s almost always able to face anything with open optimism. She’s free to be unapologetically herself because she has that kind of reassurance.

It’s a security that many people would die to have.

And Riko is one of those people.

Listening to Mirai talk warmly about her grandmother brings a slightly lonely expression to her face because Riko doesn’t have anyone like that. No one whom she can talk to about anything and everything, no one whom she can show her true self to without fear of being judged by them.

No one to call a real friend.

Well, guess what, Riko? Ya got right one in front of ya, dont’cha? Hahaha~!

She just doesn’t realize it yet.

Moving along, damn, the whole island is occupied by magic merchants and their shops!

Diagon Alley can’t even begin to compare!

Yep. If there’s any Precure universe I want to live in, it’s definitely this one! 8D

At the center of the giant square, of course there’s a statue and of course there’s a story to go along with it and of course, there’s an old man (by the name of Mr. Hook) just waiting to tell that story to whoever’s new in town.

Nevertheless, this story is a rather interesting one in respect to the Linkle Stone Ruby that’s set to appear later.

The Merchant Alley is where people gather to sell their trades and goods. It’s a place where they can share the work they’re proud of and passionate about.

And Ruby is the Linkle Stone of what? Passion.

So the Passion Flame was pretty much the Linkle Stone Ruby all along and it returned to remind the people of the magic they still have within themselves.

This slightly debunks the idea that the Linkle Stones will only appear when Precure do but it doesn’t change the fact that Ruby’s true form didn’t manifest until Mirai and Riko came to the Alley.

Anyways, on another note, isn’t it an extremely heartwarming thought that even though Mother Rapapa has been gone for centuries, her magic hasn’t disappeared and that it still extends itself to help people when they’re in need? Even now, Mother Rapapa still loves and wants to protect the world she defended with her very life which just goes to prove that the most ancient and most powerful magic of all is indeed, love.

Love never dying means magic never dying.

Aaaaahhhh~, that’s so beautiful! *sniff* <’D

Aww, but I wanted to hear about Pegasus Lane!

( •́ ∧ •̀ )

Ok, ok, maybe some other time.

At least we got Riko taking Mirai’s hand to lead her away instead. Me is a happy gurl~ <3

But then Mofurun says she smells something sweet and duh, it’s clearly Ruby sitting in the statue’s lamp but they don’t know that yet so they all assume it’s just the cotton candy from a street vendor near by.

Well, their reaction was adorbs anyway.

D’aww, omgawd, look at Mirai, trying to tug Riko in the direction of sweets and Riko having none of that. Kekekeke! xD

Ok, before we go in, I just want to say that I adore Francois and all the fabulousness he’s packaged with!

But more than that, I love how he’s always so kind to people who visit his shop, especially the girls. He’s always eager to give them the best fashion he can offer and since he learned his trade in the Mundane World, it’s probably safe to say he isn’t at all prejudiced against anyone from there either.

But also, also...!!

He knows how to recognize CUTE when he sees it!

Oh yea, Francois is my spirit animal.

Poor Mofurun, though. She looks so traumatized. xD;

My daughter is soooooo cute! Don’t you agree?

*pokes you in the back with ten needles* (*°∀°)

Man, if I could do magic......I would probably still go out to buy clothes instead of making them myself. It’s less about not having the talent to design and more about gathering the material that would be a pain for me. I’d rather leave that to the professionals.

That said, since it’s magic we’re talking about, I hope retail prices are a lot lower over there since production requires less manual labor. Or should it be magical labor?

Well, it takes less time if an outfit can be fitted and finished within the hour so that’s a plus at least.

Mmhmm. *nods appreciatively*

I wasn’t lying when I said this uniform is one of my (if not the) top favorite school uniform designs across all Precure seasons.

The colors, the plaid bows, and ugh, the HAT!!

...I wanna be a witch, too. TwT

Honestly, Francois is just one of the best recurring characters. Period.

He’s so thoughtful, going the extra mile even when he doesn’t really have to. He’s not in it for the famous name or money, he just wants to make sure his clients look good and feel good looking good.

What an artisan!

(Btw, Mofurun still uses the same pouch when Mirai grows up and I just find that so awesome because they’re continuing to treat a gift from Francois with such care~ <3)

I mean, fixing a loose button is a small task. Hardly worth mentioning but with Riko falling so often (*discontent Riko noises*), you’d think Francois would be exasperated about her always ruining her clothes.

Nope. 

He just goes and sews it back in place without charge, gently telling Riko in his own special way for her to be more careful.

Riko doesn’t miss the sentiment behind his words and really, you’d have to be blind to not see how all the people Riko knows really care about her.

More locals to meet and this one is Todd and he sells produce!

Not much to say about him other than he’s a nice dude, offering Mirai a sample of what a Frozen Clementine really tastes like.

lol, oh Riko, don’t take it so personally. These things happen. <D;

Also, that’s two strikes for Riko today. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole town was aware of how clumsy she is.

At least, none of them are mean about it or deliberately poking fun at her. Riko’s just a little too sensitive is all.

Again, the shifts through Riko’s many faces when eating clementines are fun to watch.

It’s okay, Riko! You’ll get there eventually!

Wouldn’t put it past an eccentric, old man like him to do something like that.

I mean, I’m positive that the Headmaster’s character is partially inspired by Albus Dumbledore who also fits these kind of descriptions so yea...

YEA.

Meanwhile, I am living for the savageness that Cathy is unrepentantly laying on the Deputy Headmistress concerning her stickler-policy/no-outsider opinions.

Nothing against the Deputy Head since she does come around eventually but hell yea, Miss Sassy Crystal Ball! xD;

Next up is Gustav’s, where Mirai gets her own broom!

God, I love this broom so much. It’s simple but so charming!! Perfect for a young witch!

Nooooooo, Riko-chan~

That’s not what she meant! (^ ∀ ^ ;;)

Ooo, that’s three strikes now!

Riko really can’t catch a break, huh?

I wonder how many times everybody in town has heard this reply, lol

Y’know, these shopkeepers have known Riko since she was little so for them to comment on Mirai accompanying her today just further supports the idea that they’re always watching out for her however they can.

Riko’s an awkward kid who’s trying too hard to act and see through the eyes of an adult and that’s why she blunders so much.

But perhaps, if they were to point that out too directly, it’ll just make Riko feel more ashamed or make her more stubborn than she already is.

If that’s true, then I’d like to think they all agreed to just give Riko her space and let her grow into it in her own time. They’ll still support her every now and then (because she needs it) but they won’t overdo it to the point where she’ll notice and misunderstand it as an remark on her poor skills in magic.

Anyways, at least Gustav seems happy to see Riko’s finally got a friend to spend time with. As much as Riko’s unsure about calling Mirai her friend, no one’s going to deny that Riko not being alone anymore is a good thing for her, hehe~

They got to eat cotton candy, after all! YAY~!

Gotta say, this might just be the best way to eat cotton candy cuz it just levitates a little above your hand and you don’t have to worry about holding onto a stick and then the candy melting onto the stick and your hands getting messy cuz of that and whatnot.

Also, it really makes it look like you’re munchin’ on a cloud. Cute, right? :D

So far, Mirai is having a superb day. She got the whole magic user starter kit and it really feels like she’s become a witch now.

But as Riko says, it takes more than just looking the part to be a genuine practitioner of magic.

I wonder if she realizes how contradictory she sounds here because if she knew that all along, then that would label her search for the Emerald as hypocritical.

Though it’s possible she only realized this after coming back from her recent trip to the Mundane World empty-handed.

Still, there’s no doubt the Emerald’s profound and mythical qualities would be desired by many, including those who are efficient in magic. Nobody is really sure what it’s capable of but since it’s reputed to be the rarest and most powerful of the Linkle Stones, we can at least expect it to live up to its name in some way.

And when Riko overheard the Headmaster talking about it in his office, well, who can really blame her for shooting off to go find it then?

If anything, had she found it, Riko probably would’ve used the Emerald to figure out why her magic seldom worked out the way she wanted it to. Then from there, she’d do whatever she could in her own power to make herself a great witch.

...Maybe.

Mirai, however, is more impressed by how brave and aggressive Riko is on fulfilling her dream. 

In fact, she’s more amazed by Riko than the Emerald itself and doesn’t think her search for the Emerald sounds ridiculous at all.

To her, Riko is a hard worker and she should be acknowledged just for how much effort she puts into becoming a witch worthy of respect.

But when she asks what Riko means by stuff like “excellent” or “splendid”, even Riko’s not sure.

Of course, even if you have a good amount of magical prowess, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re a great magic user.

Rather, it should be how you use your magic that determines whether you are great or not.

I guess that’s why Riko suddenly turned that question back on Mirai. Because as of this moment, she’s only looking for ways to cast her spells without them backfiring on her. She hasn’t given much thought on what she can do with magic once she does have it in her hands.

Riko doesn’t have an answer yet. And because she doesn’t want to appear like she doesn’t, her walls go up again in an attempt to prevent anyone else from realizing how unsure she actually is inside.

But you know what?

Mirai’s not sure about her own dream either. 

She’s never thought of it before now and nothing really comes to mind just because she’s asked out of the blue like this. However, that doesn’t really bother her.

It’d be awesome if one day, she can find something to dedicate herself to like Riko does...but until then, there’s no need to rush or stress it. If she’s meant to find it, then she’ll find it eventually.

Having a dream should be a wonderful thing, after all. It’s not something you must have but something you want, something you choose to pursue. 

I believe that’s what makes Riko so special in Mirai’s eyes. Because despite all the doubts and hardships that come with it, Mirai can tell Riko truly cherishes her desire to become a fine witch some day. 

If she didn’t, Riko wouldn’t have needed to try so hard. But she did and is still trying because she really wants it. That is what earned her Mirai’s admiration.

Not sure if those feelings reached Riko but at least it seems that she knows Mirai respects and understands her to extent in that regard, which then draws out a smile from her as well.

Cuz c’mon, it’s just nice to talk these things out with a friend.

That’s right, they’re definitely friends now.

They’re laughing together and the atmosphere is very light and pleasant and happy.

Just look at Mofurun, the perfect mood indicator. If that’s not enough to show how well our girls are getting along, then I don’t know what is.

Ugh, unfortunately if there’s a good mood going on, a mood ruiner is never too far off.

This time it’s Sparda and she introduces herself by stealing Mirai’s Diamond pendant. *GASP* BAD! >:(

Demands are made for the Emerald’s location, Mirai loudly defies the villain again and villain decide to wreck things as a response. Yada yada yada, same old, same old.

Except with them missing one Diamond and unable to transform into Precure, they really can’t do anything to stop Sparda.

As the situation becomes grimmer, so does the anger start to build within Riko as she surveys the damage of the town.

We even get a mini-montage of a younger Riko (OMG ISN’T SHE THE SWEETEST LIL’ WITCH-IN-TRAINING?!?!? KYAAA~!!! xDD) on her first time visiting all the shops, essentially telling us how many important memories she’s made here and how much the people who helped her mean to her.

This finally, finally makes her blow her top.

How dare this cretin selfishly trample all over the innocent people trying to do their daily jobs peacefully! How dare this insect woman make a mess of their community, a place where everybody works so hard to support each other, without remorse!

That is absolutely unforgivable!!

...but at the same time, Riko releasing her anger is just what they needed. Her feelings are now fully synchronized with Mirai’s...

...which causes the Ruby to awaken and reveal its true form to them.

Hmm, this is really fascinating because we can interpret it to mean that passion, the idea that the Ruby represents, is linked to many emotions and not just a strong sense of love towards something. 

Or you can say even “negative” emotions like anger or sorrow can also be proof of a very strong love.

Considering that rage and passion are often symbolized through flames and fire imagery, I’d say that the connection between those two is really appropriate for these turn of events.

But moving along...

THE BIRTH OF RUBY STYLE~!!!

(⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡

I’ll go into my thoughts on this design another day but ahhh, I do so love this Form Change to death. Have a hard time deciding if this is my top favorite among the MahoPre forms.

As for the battle, well, sad to say this one wasn’t worth writing home about either. And I think the animation quality dropped a little around this part of the ep. Not sure why there’s a sudden inconsistency when there wasn’t that much “fighting” going on.

But again, I’m not here to write about the battle scenes (until maybe post-Felice debut), which are more or less the same anyway so I’d just be repeating myself if I were. I’m here for the chemistry between the girls, the character studies and so on.

Some key highlights, though, because I couldn’t ignore them:

Mofurun catching the Diamond back like one would catch a home run ball.

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU, MY BABY!!!!!

x3

This kick.

This kick is everything.

Miracle and Magical grabbing each other’s hands to help propel their feet at the Yokubaru.

And then the ice thawing immediately upon impact, a call out to the Frozen Clementines they always eat and further demonstration of symbolism of passion through fire because heat melts ice.

Looks like this might’ve been the first time Riko was successful in using this type of magic. Too bad you can’t really eat it. But not that you’d really want to, lol

Then Ruby Passionale and another day saved.

Yay~

And now everybody’s witnessed the legend in the flesh!

lol, Miracle being polite to the crowd while Mofurun is trying to hide her face ("No pictures, please-mofu!”) and Magical is so close to freaking out cuz they gotta get outta here before their transformations become undone and their true identities are found out and ohhh, we don’t want to stick around to find out what that’s gonna be like......

...so they leave by leaping to the rooftops.

Classic.

Later that day, they go to pick up Mirai’s broom and aww, that’s so nice of Gustav to give her a cute ribbon as an extra service!

It comes in both her and Riko’s colors, too! How did he know?!?!?!? 8D

And he even gave one to Riko to match with Mirai!

Ugh, Gustav is so awesome. I want to buy him a steak dinner. 

I’ll buy dinner for any character in story who helps me ship my ship, hahaha! xD

Hehe, my lovely girls~

I love them soooo much. <3

Mmkay, I’m done for the day. I think I can manage to do one more post for next week. Then we’ll see what happens from there cuz I’ll be going back to work soon.

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x08

When episodes of TV shows are touted as 'epic' or 'game changing' I tend to proceed with caution, because chances of it living up to the hype are generally pretty slim. When it comes to Younger though, I should know better than to doubt such claims and 'Debu-taunt' (another pun-tastic title btw) really has changed the game and delivered some of the most poignant and meaningful character interactions of the series. This week's episode got back to the core of what this show is about: the female friendships in all their complexity. We saw lovely moments that deepened Diana and Liza's romantic relationships too of course, but these ultimately amplified the supportive and supporting role the men play in the women's lives. I've gotta say, I found this week's ramble hard to write because where do you start with an episode you've been anticipating for so long? The beginning, let's start at the beginning...

The episode opens with Liza and Charles living out some kind of domestic morning fantasy (minus the grapefruit for me thanks) and seeing the townhouse kitchen area in the daylight was something new, it's so much bigger than I realised! The entire scene is so aesthetically pleasing, particularly the Charles-in-a-vest-and-shirt situation as well as coordination of tie and Liza's dress, but of course it serves the far greater purpose of letting us know that Liza has fully integrated into the lives of Nicole and Bianca, right down to helping with homework and offering to drop a forgotten report off at school. It has been quite a few seasons since we saw or heard from the Brooks children and I fully appreciate catching a glimpse of Charles in dad-mode on the phone to Bianca, it's easy to forget that these characters have these other dimensions to their lives (speaking of which, is there some kind of alert out for Caitlin at this point? The lack of texts or calls or mentions is curious...Caitlin, if you're reading this, we're not mad, just let us know you're ok). Charles' gratitude to Liza for going to the school naturally makes my sappy heart swell, the 'I don't deserve you' only made better by his tardiness not being enough to stop him going back for a second kiss goodbye.

Pesky climate change forces Liza to discover she does not have a coat at Charles', but fortunately for her there is an entire closet full of coats, which naturally she does not question and is definitely not some kind of set up for a run in with the ex. Except it is of course and even as a viewer I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me watching Pauline ask Liza if the unexpectedness of their run in is why she is wearing her coat (seriously, I'm overwhelmed with second hand embarrassment typing this). Also, what was Pauline doing there? Just hanging out at the school for reasons or was she lurking in case Charles turned up with the report so she could catch a peek of him in a three-piece? While this remains a mystery (though who could blame her lbh), Pauline's desire to 'bury the hatchet' with Liza was def suspicious, but a nice distraction from the cringe-worthy, 'Bianca mentioned that she had two mommies' comment Mrs. Clipper makes before it's decided that Liza should be added to the pick-up list as she will 'be around for the long haul'. I am so grateful to see Liza showing that she is committed to and wants the life she has chosen with Charles in this episode. Regardless of what happens down the track, it's nice to see this character backing her own choices and decisions for now.

Any seasoned television watcher's alarm bells no doubt went off when Pauline cited the divorce negotiations as 'more or less behind us' (and again when Charles mentioned that 'it seems the worst is over' at the coffee station) because we all know that in the land of TV this 100% means it's only a matter of time before they will not be.

Keeping in the theme of wonderful character interactions, I may never get used to Charles and Liza just hanging out in the office (particularly Charles hovering around as an editor instead of the boss, but I am here for it until the end of time) and his adoring gaze as Liza recalls the awkward horror of her interaction with Pauline is topped off with a shared Harry Potter appreciation moment and honestly, these two and their nerd love, I cannot. The way the conversation about Liza moving in unfolded was so natural and yes, the answer is ALWAYS YES Liza when Charles Brooks suggests starting each day waking up together (insert swoon here). It turns out Liza doesn't overthink it, cue guilt pie and Pinot Noir with Maggie.  

These two are friendship goals times a thousand and Maggie's unwavering support upon hearing Liza talk about how she knows it's fast but it feels right epitomises the way these two only want one another's happiness (even if Maggie's expression as Liza goes to call Charles and tell him she will be moving in indicates she is going to very much miss her roommate). I loved hearing about and imagining them drinking wine and binging The Great British Bake Off and just how well they know and value one another, ugh, I could not gush more about all of it and this whole exchange felt like such a treat. I was envisioning Kelsey moving in once Liza moved out and I'm still holding out hope for this to happen when Liza does eventually make the move (remaining optimistic on this one even though I do pine for Liza/Maggie loft moments).

The sneak peek for this week showed us yet another golden interaction and that was, of course, Diana telling Charles about her engagement to Enzo. The main takeaways are a) Diana referring to herself as Charles' work wife and Charles's amused smile; b) Diana asking Charles for his blessing and him not really knowing why but giving it and; c) the longest hug in the world as Diana coaxes Charles into announcing her engagement to the office. I love that the interactions between these two always have a slightly awkward undertone but there is genuine care and warmth too. Diana telling Charles that he has always been able to read her like a book (lol) and the two sitting there with their hands together was just such a testament to their fabulously wacky relationship.

What better way to ensure that any DRAH-MAH unfolds in an overwhelmingly public forum than the morning meeting reveal that there is a Publishers Weekly Debutante Ball (for first time authors)  thrown every year! Turns out this is the event of the season, despite it being the first time Liza has heard about it (to be fair she has probs been distracted by the faux millennial facade previous years so didn't clock that this was a legit thing). I am digging Kelsey heading up and holding her own in these meetings, she is definitely stepping up to her new role it seems and I am keen to see how it continues to develop.  And those little looks across the conference room table between Charles and Liza, I see you.

Zane's gears still seem stuck on obnoxious since last ep, first throwing in Jake Devereux as a suggested author for the deb (a clear jab at Kelsey) and then putting his foot in it after hearing Diana's news by suggesting that DeLuca is 'better than Trout'. First of all, who in their right mind would say that out loud, let alone assume an established woman in her 40's (or any woman for that matter) is going to take a new husband's surname? Though Diana DeLuca is pretty great, I could definitely see her using it as an alias during future hi-jinx (preferably with Liza now that they can be actual proper friends, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Right from the get go Her Majesty D. Trout is taking none of Zane's rubbish, asking him to use his words when he finally offers up PTB as a deb option and her zero tolerance for insolence continues when she corrects his question of who she's engaged to with, 'to whom'. At this stage of my love for this character, I'm really just wondering what sized portrait of Diana I should put in my shrine to her. This all comes out after Charles is prompted to announce Diana's big news (I'm kind of loving that Charles is a bit hopeless at remembering these sorts of details, last week when he'd failed to mention Bob and Julia would be on their table, then this week with the announcement...soon enough we'll be regaling ourselves with a collection of these, and we'll laugh and shake our heads as we mutter 'classic Chaz' under our breath) and it is of course Liza's reaction that is next level and so freaking OTT and I love it with every fibre of my being. Seriously, her yell-cheering and clapping is me in any excitement-inducing situation. My love for her love of Diana starts here and embarks on one hell of a ride from here onward during this ep.

While this episode certainly had a more serious tone than some others (I think this was definitely emphasised by the music choices too, there was a distinct lack of the usual pop/vocal and much more instrumental), Liza following Diana into her office semi-screeching, 'I'm so excited, why aren't you more excited?' met by Diana's 'Liza, please deactivate yourself', was hilarious. Diana asked Liza to be maid of honour in a way only Diana could and I tell you what, I damn delighted in that one hug a year. Everything about this scene was SO good, which of course meant that there was a dagger waiting right around the corner to plunge into our rib-cages and shatter our hearts into a million pieces (I wish I was being dramatic but where is the lie?)

That dagger's name is Pauline and it's during lunch that Liza discovers her real motivation for being all chummy and that is wanting Liza to help with her new book. Always a smart cookie, Liza agrees, in exchange for Pauline attending the Debutante Ball as Millennial's deb (I have to admit I did chuckle with the 'do you need to borrow a dress?' line). Despite dodgy af being Pauline's general modus operandi, I actually do think she was being sincere in her initial offer to move forward and let the whole 'you're-now-with-my-husband-and-my-kids-love-you-maybe-more-than-me-because-I-abandoned-them-for-a-year-at-a-pivotal-point-in-their-development' thing slide for the sake of maintaining some sort of relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband and their children. If only she knew that the reason Liza understood her better than any of her current editors was because they were basically the same age and had similar life experiences...

...well THANK GOD for Mrs. Clipper, the true villain of the episode if you ask me, who quite frankly can't seem to get her paws on that copy of Liza's drivers license fast enough after Pauline tells her that men in her circle are always leaving their wives for assistants in their twenties. I might be off on an island on my own here, but you know what, I actually felt sorry for Pauline in this moment. In her mind Charles has also been deceived and by extension, her children, so I completely understand her initial reaction and feeling that she needs to tell Charles immediately and rescue him from this betrayal.

That all goes down at the Debutante Ball because it must of course, but first we catch Kelsey, Lauren and Zane reminiscing about their own proms at this prom for grown ups, with Lauren here for it and we unsurprisingly discover Zane was prom king (I heart Lauren's 'that tracks' comment). You always know whatever's about to go down is extra EXTRA when you see a couple of characters blissfully happy and unaware everything is about to implode, such as Charles and Liza celebrating their moving-in milestone, before Liza is whisked away backstage. When Charles is confronted by frantic Pauline and she discovers he knew about the lie too, I could imagine that up until that point she thought this would be something that would bond them in outrage, but it ended up being just another blow. While Pauline clearly has impulse issues and a pretty prominent vindictive streak, I do think it's one thing to wrap her head around her husband falling in love with a younger woman (though I do not understand on what planet Pauline thought she could piss off for a year on her own terms with zero communication and then just return to her life and there would be no upheaval) but the discovery that it was someone she could consider a peer would cut deeper.

As Pauline latched on to Liza's arm, it was like watching a live animal being led into the lion enclosure at dinner time.  I'm breaking out in a stress sweat just thinking about this scene, even though you could see it coming it was utterly shocking to watch unfold. The announcer emphasising that theirs was the only partnership in which the mentor was younger ensured the dagger was perfectly lined up before Pauline once again applied some revisionist history to her abandonment of the family, making a point of coming across as the blameless victim whose husband was 'lost' to the assistant standing beside her. As Pauline keeps talking Charles is clearly wary and concerned about where this is going and Kelsey quickly clues in just as Pauline drops that Liza is in fact 42 years old and the entire room gasps and murmurs and revels in the audacious reveal.

Enter Diana and that dagger is twisted well and truly into my fragile heart as she immediately assumes that 'this woman is deranged' and jumps to the defence of Liza, despite Charles and Liza trying to stop her. The fact that Diana tells Charles that she will not let this woman 'slander us', that she sees them as one united team, and holds Liza in such high esteem that she would put her own fear of making a scene aside to protect Liza's integrity, only made Liza's confirmation that 'it's true' even more heart-shattering. Miriam Shor deserves every damn award created for her acting in this entire episode, but the last 10 minutes in particular are nothing short of phenomenal. When Diana realises that Charles and Kelsey knew and that she had just made a spectacle of herself in front of a room full of the most important people in publishing, her need to escape is understandable and a panic attack is not an unreasonable physical response to such a huge revelation in such a public forum (I mean I was basically having one watching it all tbh).

Enzo's relief upon hearing that it was a panic attack is palpable and the interaction between him and Diana in the hospital may well be my favourite between these two yet. We see Diana as we've never seen her in this series; vulnerable, emotional, no necklace and no makeup. Always one to deliver a stellar line, her response to Enzo's 'how are you?',  'I'm fine, I've just lost trust in humanity as a whole, but other than that I'm fine', was on point and Enzo's response that 'she looks good' when Diana shares Liza's true age was A+ (for line and delivery). It is Diana's embarrassment at being that 'village idiot' when everybody else knew (I really wanted to somehow jump into my screen in that moment and tell her that Lauren and Zane didn't know either, it's not just you!) that took my heart pieces and trampled on them some more. I think it's because she is always so composed and controlled, but seeing Diana holding onto Enzo and saying that she just wants him, demonstrates how much he steadies her and allows her to be herself.

Just outside the room, Charles and Liza face a step back as Pauline has phoned to say she wants to re-visit the custody agreement (which I really struggle to see the relevance of or how Liza saying she was younger is anywhere near as bad as up and leaving your two small children for a year but sure, I'll play along for the sake of drama), which means that they cannot move in together as planned, Liza's lie has now impacted the man she loves as well as Diana and Charles feels responsible for Pauline exposing Liza the way she did. Liza reassuring Charles that he was just protecting her and the way he pulled her in to comfort her made any remnants of my shattered heart swell. It was such a tender moment between them and there was something about the parallel of Enzo comforting Diana in the room at the same time, whether intentional or not, that really stressed the uncertainty and distress both women were experiencing.

Josh phoning Liza to give her a hard time about being an upper East side lady was actually a really nice way to see this friendship developing (I would definitely expect my friends to do that) because had the timing not been so atrocious, I assume it would've been an otherwise pleasant conversation in which he would be happy for her (that's what I'm going with anyway). Obviously this call was to show that Liza's lie has once again stonewalled her and stopped her being able to move forward in her life and that she feels she's messed up everything at work and for Charles with his kids. Since learning that there were a number of deleted scenes, including the one in which Diana got her engagement ring, I must say that I feel like the phone call could probably have been omitted in lieu of progressing Diana's story for this episode and the choice to include it definitely feels like an extremely contrived attempt to stoke the triangle.

The fallout from the age reveal will no doubt play out over the coming episodes, however Lauren and Zane are still trying to wrap their heads around it the next morning (and again Zane, why on EARTH do you think you would've been someone who should know this information? I think I can count on one hand the number of conversations I've seen Liza and Zane have. Actually, no I can't because it's so few I can't even remember one) but I will say that I paused on the article Lauren is reading and Jackie Dunn has given a statement in it and this show, I swear, it outdoes itself even when no-one might notice. I appreciated Kelsey's itchy scalp to emphasise the stress of the situation and Lauren addressing Liza as 'Ma'am' was pretty darn funny (though I am a bit surprised at Lauren's reaction. I thought she'd be more intrigued and want to know all the details of how she did it etc.) But it is the final 3 minutes of this week's episode that absolutely blew me away and left me quite literally crying on the train as I watched.

There have been moments that have made me tear up and certainly times when character interactions have held such meaning on this show that the feelings are many, but there really never has been a scene like the one between Diana and Liza at the end of this week's episode of Younger. Diana's minimal make up and jewellery emphasised the rawness and realness of the entire exchange. Diana saying that she wouldn't have hired Liza if she'd known and Liza being able to say, 'exactly', made the point of why she told the initial lie so simply. In that moment Diana can understand Liza's need to lie about her age, but it is Diana's search for why, beyond that initial deceit, did Liza fetch her coffee and lunch and her urine samples...and hold her hand on the red carpet and convince her to go after Enzo...that she needs to know if everything else was real or was it part of the ploy to uphold the lie. Seeing Diana with her heart on her sleeve, needing to know if her perception of their relationship was a farce, was one of the most powerful moments, if not THE most powerful moment of this series. 

The resolution, that ‘honesty is the best policy’ and that Liza is no longer her maid of honour but her ‘old maid of honour’ could not have been more perfect. And in case I wasn’t already a blubbering mess, Diana’s emotional, ‘I just want to say...’ which Liza instinctively answered with, ‘I love you too’ did me in completely and honestly, the whole thing is so sublime, what an absolute gift.  No words I write can do justice to the incredible performances of Miriam Shor and Sutton Foster so I really can only suggest you go and watch the final scene again for yourself.

This episode of Younger really was something else. After five and a half seasons, Liza is finally free from her lie, she can FINALLY live her life without wondering if or when or how it is going to catch up with her. It feels like a big sigh of relief. For me this episode also showed how much more compelling it is for the drama to sit in the space of these women navigating friendships and work dynamics and how much the focus on the triangle detracts from what this show is actually about. It's not that often you get to watch an episode of a show you love and think, 'that episode is going to go down as one of the best in the series', but 'Debu-taunt' will without a doubt hold it's place as one of the best.   

[mymariahcarey]

Ready Baby? Will You Be My Man?

**a/n: **It took forever to write this one. Writing Patrick is not nearly as easy as writing David, for me anyway. It’s not beta’d. This is the second part of a series on AO3 called Cuz They Love Lizzo. The first part can be found on my Tumblr or on AO3.

**summary: **While listening to Lizzo, Patrick reflects on how much his life has changed since meeting David.

word count: ~1.9k

rating: T for language

It wasn’t his fault, he swears. He honestly blames Alexis. A few months ago on his morning jog and ran, nearly literally, into Alexis. He was shocked to see any of the Rose’s out of bed before 9 a.m, let alone as early a 7a.m. Apparently every now and then, which Patrick has now learned is at least once a week, Alexis has trouble sleeping and goes for early jogs.

She started joining Patrick on these mornings, and thus Patrick heard Lizzo for the first time. He’s normally more of an Alternative Rock guy. He’s insistent on the fact the 90’s has the best music, but there’s something special about these songs. 

Patrick thinks it has something to do with the sincerity wrapped in fun lyrics and a good beat. It reminds him a lot of his boyfriend. David, though quirky and hilarious, is someone that loves deeply and can be incredibly sincere all wrapped up in one very dramatic man.

So he likes Lizzo, he likes her so much he takes to playing her in the store instead of their normal soft jazz when there aren’t very many customers or when they’re doing inventory after closing. David protested a bit when he first started playing her, saying it didn’t go with the general aesthetic of the store but Patrick knew he liked it too. He would catch David occasionally mouthing the words to the lyrics and shimming his hips during one of the more upbeat songs. 

If asked, Patrick is pretty sure he has a favorite song. It’s the one that, when it plays he can’t help but think about how much his life has changed in the past two years. How much his boyfriend had a hand in that change.

Never been in love before, what the fuck are fucking feelings for?

It isn’t that Patrick would say he’s never been in love. He genuinely loved Rachel, he still does just not in the was she deserves, in the way he felt he was supposed to.

Being with Rachel, and the handful of other girls, had never felt right. At different points in his life Patrick had wondered if maybe he was gay, he definitely spent his fair share of time looking at men, much more than he spent looking at women. He always wrote it off, surely if he was gay he’d have known earlier in life.

Patrick grew up in a rather small town and wasn’t exposed to different walks of life other than middle america middle class until he went off to college. He didn’t really know there were other options.

Patrick rolls his eyes as he places the page turners on his fingers. David tells him constantly they don’t in fact help him turn pages faster but he is still in denial. Surely they serve a purpose.

He looks up and watches his boyfriend as he moves items around on the countertop, turning all the bottles so they’re facing the right direction, moving things to fill in gaps left by sales they’d made earlier in the day.

God Patrick loves this man. It’s a bit surreal. After all the years of wondering all it took was meeting this raven haired, snarky man, and he knew. He just knew. Though doubt was his worst enemy, never completely disappearing until things with David became too real to ignore.

Patrick was so thankful David had taken a risk, kissing him in the car after David’s birthday dinner. He’d wanted to kiss him for weeks at that point. He knew he was attracted to David, but he was worried it would turn into something fleeting, or he’d change his mind, or hell, he’d been wrong about himself.

He came to realize he was just scared. He cared a great deal about his business partner at that point, and was hesitant to do anything to jeopardize that. But when David had kissed him, that was the end of the doubts, and the end worrying about whether getting involved with his business partner was a good idea. It was clearly the best idea he’d ever had.

There was no turning back for Patrick after that. He wanted David. He also wanted to start out slow. While his doubts had faded, his insecurities hadn’t. He was new to this, to being with a man… especially a man as experienced as David seemed to be.

After many conversations and several makeout sessions, Patrick decided maybe the slow approach was overrated. In the rest of his life he was normally very straight forward and confident, he decided not to let the fact he was inexperienced stop him. Now, more often than not he took control of their physical relationship. He got a thrill out of making David weak in the knees. 

Tryna open up a little more, sorry if my heart a little slow.

Patrick could tell David was disappointed when he told him the apartment was just for him. They’d found a pretty great grove for their relationship and Patrick wasn’t sure he was ready to upset it. 

He also wasn’t sure where David stood with that amount of commitment. He knew without a doubt he wanted to spend forever with David, but after everything that had happened with Rachel it seemed so quick to go back to sharing a living space full time with someone.

They’ve also never spoken about the future of their relationship in detail. They make plans for the future as far as whose family they’ll spend holidays with, and a lot of decisions for the business, but neither one of them have brought up the fact there’s more steps their relationship can take.

Patrick wondered if this is why things had become more strained between them since he moved into his apartment. He also knew part of it was certainly to do with the fact that his parents had been calling a bit more regularly. Keeping David a secret was torturous, he so wanted to tell them. The anxiety about their reaction and David’s reaction when they found out caused his temper to be shorter, his decision making to be a little more cloudy than usual.

He knew it had affected David as well, but he stuck by his side through it all. Most importantly through his parents coming to town and him finally having the talk with them.

It’s after that, that Patrick figured out what his next step was. Knowing David was willing to move in with him told him he was ready for the commitment, and now that Patrick’s family knows everything about his new life, he knows he wants to ask David to marry him.

He is going to ask him. Tomorrow.

He’s been planning it ever since and he’s pretty certain he’s figured out the perfect way to do it. He just hopes David cooperates. 

I thought that I didn’t care, I thought I was love impaired.

Patrick looks over at his boyfriend again, seeing his mouth tick up in the corner, revealing the small smile he’s grown to love so much. The smile he’s come to know as the one he sees when David is trying to hide the full extent of his happiness or amusement.

He can’t imagine a world where he’d never come to Schitt’s Creek. A world where David had never kissed him in the car. A world where Patrick had never learned what love really was, what to love someone unconditionally meant. 

Loving David had taught him all the things he’d felt he’s been missing, all the things that made him broken. Sometimes he’d look at David and his felt fit to burst. 

…Now I’m crazy bout to tat your name.

When David chuckles, Patrick realizes he may have been listening to the song a little more closely than it seemed.

“What’s so amusing about healing crystals?” he asks, finally ready to give David part of the details about what he has planned for tomorrow.

Waving his hands in an awkward gesture and then shrugging David replies, “Maybe I was… getting healed. You did leave a bit of a, how would you put it, disgusting bruise on my lower back this morning.”

It’s his turn to chuckle now, unable to control the subtle blush he feels spread across his cheeks.

“Speaking of mornings… I was thinking maybe we could close the store tomorrow. I know it’s a bit last minute but it’s been awhile since we’ve been out. I was hoping to take you on a picnic,” Patrick suggests removing the rubber fingertips.

“Well, you know you don’t have to convince me to close the store. You do however have to convince me to eat outside with bugs and dirt,” David answers, his nose scrunching up like it does when Patrick tries to convince him to do anything that may mess up one of sweaters.

Moving around the counter Patrick makes his way towards his boyfriend and smirks, “alright, how about we leave around 11. Not too early. Maybe I’ll pack some of the fancy cheese,” he finishes, leaning his hip against the counter David has been working at. He reaches his hand out and it lands on David’s wonderful love handle.

“Mmm… I guess maybe that sounds fun,” he breathes. Patrick can see how distracted he’s making David. Not only is he suggesting they do something spontaneous, he also gets a little dazed when Patrick gets handsy at work.

David leans forward, his lips an inch from his, “Make it noon, and you have a deal.”

Closing the distance and kissing his boyfriend softly before retreating, Patrick nods, “then it’s a date.”

But baby, I don’t know what I’m gonna do, I’m crying cuz I love you.

This lyric of course, pops in his head after a very stressful and taxing hike he makes his boyfriend take the next afternoon. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. He’s ready to turn around and take his boy home. He’s so ready to throw in the towel because surely at this point there’s no way in hell David is going to say yes.

It pops in his head after his boyfriend carries him on his back for the last leg of their journey, after David assures he does indeed want to spend this time with him, no matter how much he may hate the activity.

He’s still not sure he’s going to go ahead with the plans until he sees David standing where he stood on so many mornings. He stood in the spot day after day thinking about this beautiful man he wanted to badly to kiss. 

It pops in his head again as David insists on setting up the picnic despite his protests. So, Patrick tells him where the blanket is, where the cheese is. 

When David pulls the champagne out he’s certain he can hear Lizzo singing that damn line in his head. He can write the champagne off, of course he can, but he doesn’t want to. 

It pops in his head as he slides off the rock he’s perched on and onto one knee. He tells David the story of this spot, he tells him he is the love of his life. Tears stream down his face at the look of shock and then joy on his boyfriend’s handsome face. He’s assures David he’s never been more sure of anything in his life.

He’s certain his heart explodes when he hears David utter the words, “It’s a yes. I love you.”

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 21

21: Prom Queen

Written by: Ian Brennan Directed by: Eric Stoltz

Overall Thoughts: This is such a good episode. Oh, my god this is a good episode. And it’s one of those episodes where I always seem to forget like, 80% of what happens, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I watch. Like, actually, there is so little I don’t like about this episode. Let’s get to it.

What I Like:

Kurt being so excited about asking Blaine to prom, but also being willing to not go to prom when Blaine admits why he’s hesitant.

Piling on the sad backstory for Blaine. It’s cool, I guess, it just kills me every time I watch it. No big deal.

Santana and Karofsky are so fucking funny oh my god. Those Bully Whip scenes and them dancing at prom is pure gold.

Karofsky apologizing to Kurt. Honestly, I never thought we’d get such an honest and sincere apology from him, and I remember watching this for the first time and almost bursting into tears.

Mercedes in this episode makes my entire life. Because honestly? I’ve been there. Nobody asked me to my prom either (I ended up going with my back up date, which was my best friend), and while there wasn’t anybody I was specifically wanting to ask me, it still stung not to be asked. I totally get where her head is at in this episode, I get the pain, and the frustration at feeling that pain. I’m so happy that did this, because, UGH, it was just so wonderful and relatable.

Rachel cheering Mercedes up, and then coming up with the idea to go to prom with Sam as a thruple was awesome. I’m not going to lie, if they had gone with Sam/Mercedes/Rachel instead of Sam/Mercedes and then Sam/Rachel I would have been 100% down for that.

That being said, Sam/Mercedes owns my fucking ass, and this was the official start of that. I remember squealing so fucking loud when Sam asked Mercedes to dance. It wasn’t a pairing I’d even thought of before this episode (outside of thinking their interaction in “Hell to the No” was cute) but it took hold of my heart since day fucking one. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched that short ass scene.

JESSE IS BACK. I love him so much, and the way he bursts into “Rolling in the Deep” is so amazing. He and Rachel really are made for each other, like, seriously, look at how fucking extra they are together.

“They must have sensed that I was a lesbian. Do I smell like a golf course?”

I love the contrasting post-Prom Queen announcing scenes with Kurt/Blaine, Santana/Brittany, and Quinn/Rachel.

I’m so glad that they gave Quinn an actual reason for why she was being so over the top about this (her “There’s no way I’m staying at this school. I’m going to transfer” kills me every single time I don’t know why but I find it so goddamn funny), and that they had her share it with Rachel in what is probably one of the sweetest scenes Rachel ever shared with another person. Honestly, I have no idea why Faberry never actually became a thing. They set it up so perfectly? And really, the amount of scenes where Rachel actually sets her feelings aside to help Quinn feel better is insane, especially considering she rarely even does this with Finn.

When Brittany tells Santana that she voted for her and believes in her I literally die fuck I love these two so much. Also, I love how Brittany tells Santana to be there for Kurt. The only one out of the four girls who is aware of who this is actually going to be hardest on.

Gosh, the Klaine scenes in this section are just lovely. The way Blaine runs after Kurt without a second thought, the way he just lets him rant, the way he leans into him with that little smile when Kurt decides he’s going to be the bigger man about this and stand up to his bullies… I JUST LOVE ALL OF IT OKAY.

Kurt coming back and accepting the crown. Bless this boy.

Something I never noticed before is that in “Born This Way” Karofsky says he isn’t even sure if he is gay. Here, Kurt asks him to come out by dancing with him, and instead of denying that he’s gay, he just says, “I can’t.” Karofsky is one of those character’s whose journey I was so invested in, and it makes me so happy to see that he’s finally come to a place of accepting that he actually is gay. I like to think that if Kurt had been the protagonist of Glee that Karofsky would have had a much larger role in the show, and I really wish that had been the case, because he’s the type of character I would have loved to actually see take these steps, not just see the highlights during the few moments he’s on screen.

The fact that Finn gets kicked out and is just… gone. He’s kicked out. He’s not in the episode anymore. I don’t know, I just like that.

Rachel telling Finn what to get Quinn. I think the point of this was to set it up for next episode, when Finn didn’t know what flower to get Quinn but he knows which one to get for Rachel, but instead it just seems really fucking gay and like Finn’s girlfriends are more into each other than they are him.

The scenes with Artie and Sue are hilarious.

Puck executing his amazing plan by trying to distract Sue when there isn’t any music. Because he’s a literal idiot.

Jesse’s face when Finn throws a punch at him. I’m pretty sure that boy has never been in an actual fight in his life.

The pictures at the end! I particularly like that Quinn took her picture alone (a HUGE moment for her), and that Kurt and Blaine are the last picture shown!

What I Don’t Like:

I know I already talked about this in my review for “Rumours”, but it does frustrate me that Artie is seen as the one in the wrong for his break-up with Brittany when she was the one cheating on him. Yeah, he shouldn’t have called her stupid, but seriously, is that really worse than cheating?

Finn being so blatantly jealous of Jesse when he’s literally dating someone else. Oh, and that someone just so happens to be right in front of him every single time he lashes out at Jesse. Quinn deserved better than that.

The fact that Rachel sings a song that perfectly describes her relationship with Jesse… to Finn. As Jesse stares on. Like… Glee. Come on.

We don’t get to see Lauren’s reaction to not winning Prom Queen, which sucks, because she most likely knows that Puck didn’t actually want to win, and therefore would probably blame him for her loss. OR she could have just felt bad for Kurt and not even cared. We just don’t know.

Songs:

Rolling in the Deep: I’m so glad they did Adele justice in this episode (unlike the first time they cover her). This cover is so ridiculously dramatic and extra, I fucking love it.

Friday: Ugh, so like, I used to really like this cover, but now every time I see it I think of Mark Salling and the fact that he was the one who suggested it and I just feel… really gross about that. Also, the autotune. It’s embarrassing.

Jar of Hearts: I really do like this song, and I like this cover, but it still annoys me that it perfectly describes Rachel and Jesse’s relationship and Jesse is literally in the episode, but Rachel sings it to Finn.

I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You: This is a cool and fun song, and I think it actually works well as a backdrop for the Finn/Jesse fight. Also, I always find it hilarious when Puck is planning his heist and it shows Blaine singing this song, even though at that point Puck would have no clue that Blaine would even be attending the prom.

Dancing Queen: I LOVE THIS SONG. Santana and Mercedes always sound amazing together when they sing, and this song just blows my mind. It’s such a nice and happy way to end this episode, and it always brings a little tear to my eye watching everyone dance interspersed with the pictures.

Final Thoughts: I remember watching this episode for the first time and feeling trepidation. I knew what was going to happen, everyone did (does anyone else remember the spoiler being tweeted, followed by Brad Falchuk literally tweeting that that girl would never work in Hollywood again? No wonder all of his characters were so fucking extra lmao). I didn’t want it to happen, and I was worried about how it would go down. By the time the episode was done, though, I was in love. For a long time I didn’t even re-watch Glee – I just re-watched this episode on an almost constant loop. I just… I really love this episode, okay?

[night-filled-mountain]

So the Labenda Swamp/Berleben episodes, while they had plenty of stand-out moments (KIRI! CALI! Shaving with a greatsword! Awkward hug!), weren’t exactly my favorites this campaign. Intra-party tension, lots of combat, lots of single-minded focus on their job (...their purely mercenary job for a crime boss, with no element of emotional investment or even a whiff of heroism). Basically, they had the generally grim atmosphere that you’d probably expect from a shitty swamp town. By the end of ep. 23, I was really craving some downtime for the group, some richer, softer interactions, juicy character development, and maybe an altruistic side quest that would help me really root for the Mighty Nein (much as I adore their shadiness).

...I cannot express how hard Hupperdook delivered on all of this. I loved this episode so much, you guys. SO MUCH.

Highlights:

There was so much goodness that I think I’m going to have to divide this up based on characters. Starting with...

CALEB

This episode was like the grand payoff for all of Caleb’s conflicts with the others about his inability to integrate with the group. Practically every little thing he did confirmed his affection for them and his determination to be kind and playful and fully present for them, to shed his sad-loner persona and become a team player:

-Magically lighting Beau’s firecracker for her with no hesitation, even though they’re both well aware of his issues with fire

-Encouraging Nott in her dance plans with Jester--i.e. encouraging her to enjoy herself with someone other than him, which feels incredibly healthy for both of them

-Hasting Jester to improve her piano-playing, and tossing gold in the “tipping hat” for her

-Having a civil (and hilarious) conversation with Fjord about the hazards of rooming with Molly in a party town--and actually inviting Fjord to share a room with him and Nott, which I kind of wish we got to see, although the way things actually turned out was equally satisfying

-Telling Yasha he was sorry she wouldn’t be going out with them because he counts on her as his social-anxiety buddy

-Gently checking up on Fjord re: his flirting anxiety (more on that later)

-Participating in the drinking contest--again, with no hesitation (and killing it!). This went against so many of Caleb’s usual scruples (not spending money frivolously, avoiding crowds and social interaction), not to mention making him extremely vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. He had to know that some of his closely guarded secrets might come out, and he had to extract a promise that they wouldn’t let him pass out in the gutter...but he went through with it anyway, trusting the group to take care of him. And they (specifically Jester) justified his trust.

-THE DRUNKEN SINGING. Counting and singing both seem to be compulsions for Caleb, especially in stressful situations (we’ve seen him sing a version of that “Mighty Nein” song on the battlefield, haven’t we?), but even after the heartbreak of the waltz scene, nothing can quite beat, “One of those things is true...aaand you are blue.”

-Speaking of which...

JESTER

-That waltz honestly might have been the saddest (and sweetest) scene of the entire campaign. In a situation that would normally be ripe for high comedy (the most awkward, inhibited member of the party gets super drunk and agrees to dance with Jester, trickery cleric and perpetual agent of chaos), we got a quiet slow dance and a line so poignant in context and delivery that I’m tearing up just thinking about it. The way Laura/Jester’s face instantly crumbled (even though Jester knows nothing of Caleb’s backstory). Her instantly softened tone, the complete lack of teasing. Caleb’s broken little “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m...I’m sorry.” His sudden reversion to Sad Loner Eternally Punishing Himself, as he walked away to seek out solitude in some filthy gutter. Jester’s determination to Not Let Him Do That, to keep her promise and get him into bed. “I’m sure Astrid loves you very much.”

...Yeah, I’m not sure how to do that scene justice other than crying about it.

Moving on to somewhat lighter tidbits...

-“I go over and give Caleb a kiss on the cheek.” 😊 (I need to make a whole separate post at some point about Caleb and touch.) (...About everyone and touch, for that matter.)

-Jester has never been drunk. I always kind of figured that her habit of ordering milk was just an in-joke about Laura’s pregnancy, like the pickles--but no, it’s a legitimate character detail stemming from her sheltered upbringing. I felt sorry for Jester and Laura when she was the odd tiefling out in the drinking contest, but in retrospect, it’s really good (for Caleb’s sake as well as their finances’) that they had a Sober Friend on deck.

-Her conversation with Caleb about “hidden skills” made me wonder, not for the first time, whether she’s actually had a lot of sexual experience as she often implies, or whether her childhood surrounded by courtesans (and her habit of spying on their clients) has simply made her feel qualified to speak on the subject. Passing the written exam but not the practicum, as it were.

-Her frantic (and mostly futile) attempts to get her teammates to say who they’re attracted to while under Zone of Truth were good fun, but her frantic attempts to get them to say whether they like her held a bit more weight, I think. Jester is, without a doubt, the best-liked member of the Mighty Nein--I don’t think there’s a single teammate who couldn’t have truthfully answered that question with a resounding “Yes”--but Jester, with her history of isolation, her social inexperience, her lingering fears of being left alone again, still feels insecure about whether her friendships are sincere. Give Jester hugs, is what I’m saying. Give her ALL the hugs.

-Jester’s concern for Kiri gets more adorable each episode. I especially like how emphatic she is about the fact that Kiri is a person, appearances notwithstanding (“She’s like you, she’s a little girl, not a pet”). Laura said in a Talks episode a while back that Jester thought of Kiri like a doll, but I definitely think her views have evolved. There was something especially touching about the music-box scene. Hupperdook seems to present several options for safe and wholesome environments in which they might leave Kiri, but I’m kind of rooting for Rissa and her father to take her in.

-Jester got to throw around her magic a lot in fun, non-combat ways this episode. Loved the Thaumaturgy cheers for Beau, and the Infernal whispers surrounding the blacksmith kids. But that Locate Object spell not only single-handedly saved their asses, financially speaking, but also changed the entire direction of their current adventure when it led them to that final scene, with the kids in the boarded-up shop.

-It was kind of amazing to see the different ways and specific moments in which each member of the Mighty Nein was affected by the kids’ story. For Jester, of course, it was when they said their parents were thrown in jail for “idol worship.” It is killing me (in a Very Good way) how we’re gradually finding the cracks in the Nein’s cynical, mercenary armor--the emotional buttons that can be pushed to lead them to propose (or support) an actual altruistic quest, despite their much-cherished self-identity as “a bunch of assholes.” Which, of course, leads me to...

FJORD

Holy cats, did this episode radically transform the way I see and feel about Fjord. I haven’t done such an intense 180 on a character since Beau’s one-on-one scene with Dairon back in the day. That was the scene that 100% hooked me on Beau. I went in feeling lukewarm and iffy about her, and came out finding her lovable, secretly vulnerable, and generally fascinating...and this episode had the exact same effect for me re: Fjord.

-His flustered reactions to flirtation have always seemed funny before, and they were funny in this episode too, up to a point...and then, as Travis played it up, it began to feel like something more. I love that it was Caleb, of all people, who sensed Fjord’s genuine discomfort and asked if he was okay. Whether that discomfort just stems from virginity/inexperience or from some kind of bad experience, it makes Fjord’s relationship with Jester--who defaults to flirting as a standard form of social interaction, because of her upbringing--a lot more interesting to me than it’s ever been before. Her offer of sex lessons would have felt like simple comedy in an earlier episode, but now it felt like a case of fundamental miscommunication, a clash between two people with very different backgrounds and worldviews when it comes to sex and romance...and I am All About It, I am so on board for that ride, it appeals to me so much more than Jester’s simple romance-novel-fantasy version of their relationship.

-In my notes on last week’s episode, I forgot to even mention Fjord confiding in Molly about the eyeball on his sword (and Molly’s poorly-timed and poorly-executed Charm Person spell), but Fjord and Molly’s relationship always intrigues me. In this week’s installment of their roommate shenanigans, we got Fjord’s rather jaw-dropping line “Half of me’s interested, the other half is terrified” (I could just hear the fics being written on the spot). My shipping compass is all over the place at this point. On the one hand, Fjord has low wisdom and an occasional tendency to jump on board with crazy scenarios just for the hell of it. On the other hand, I could swear sometimes, looking back over the whole campaign, that the only people in whom he’s shown anything like romantic interest are Caleb and Molly. (If you want to get all metaphorical-innuendo with this, they’re the only two teammates he’s almost allowed to hold/examine his sword...yet, in both cases, he decided to refuse/hold off.)

-Fjord coaching Beau on behavior and facial expressions never, ever gets old. And for once, instead of trying to help her be more courteous and less off-putting, he got to help her ramp up her intimidation to a whole new level (for a couple of teenage punks! 😂). Molly and Caleb doing good cop/bad cop last week was a delight, but Fjord and Beau pulled it off just as brilliantly. (Are we ever going to hear what became of those kids, as they spent a day frantically searching for the thieves the Mighty Nein had already found? ^_^)

-And finally...HOW ABOUT THAT BACKSTORY, THOUGH!?

No, it’s not the first backstory drop we’ve gotten for Fjord; in fact, it’s one of the briefest. We knew about the kids who made fun of him for his tusks and drove him to file them down. We knew about his sailor background, the shipwreck, his near-drowning experience, and that he presumably made a shady deal with his patron (whether he remembers it or not). We knew about his mentor, Vandren, whose fate is still up in the air. Yet somehow, none of that had anywhere near as much impact on me as that one little line, that achingly hesitant response to the question of whether he’d ever been in an orphanage: “Yes. I was. They’re terrible fucking places.”

I’ve actually thought a lot over the course of this campaign about why I’ve had more trouble connecting to Fjord than to the other characters, and I realized that a lot of it boiled down to the fact that he’s just never seemed to have the same vulnerability. Yes, his backstory was painful, even traumatic, but there was a certain macho romanticism to it--explosions, shipwrecks, a shady kraken-esque magical patron, even the fact that the loved one he lost was a surrogate father. It was all a little bit too “classic hero” for me to really feel it down to my bones...and honestly, that also applied to Fjord in general. He was always so smooth, so polished, so badass and confident and leader-like. I never heard the same raw desperation in his voice as I did in Caleb’s when he talked about his parents, or Nott’s when she talked about her goblin heritage, or Molly’s when he talked about rejecting his forgotten past, or Jester’s when she begged the Traveler to appear, or even Beau’s (downplayed as much as she could!) when she was seeking Dairon’s approval.

But with that one line about his childhood, regardless of the specifics, Fjord has joined the club for me. I’m all in. I’d die for him as soon as I would for any of the others. ...And this turned out waaay longer than I expected. 😳 Moving on!

-Everything about Fjord during that last scene (and actually, everything about that scene in general) was pure gold. Fjord was so soft toward those kids; he gave us the gentlest rendition of the line “I’m the one asking questions” that I’ve ever heard. His quiet, eloquent, persistent appeal to the others to join him in a dangerous, unpaid, purely altruistic rescue mission did such a number on my heart.

-Also?  “I would really like the opportunity to leave this place better than we found it” was a direct quote from Molly when he talked about his circus days under Zone of Truth--and Molly definitely noticed. I love, love, love that the members of this chaotic-neutral trash group are learning to appeal directly to each other’s backgrounds, issues, and specific values, not just to get a rise out of each other, but to activate the compassion that every one of them has buried beneath a hundred layers of cynical self-interest.

-Of course, Fjord and Molly weren’t the only people having their buttons pushed in that discussion, and Fjord’s wasn’t the only big backstory drop this episode! Which brings me to...

BEAU

-Though I was initially disappointed that the gang didn’t set off a whole bunch of them in the streets of Hupperdook, I am now thrilled and terrified at the thought of all the firecrackers she still has in her possession.

-Everything about Beau and Jester’s friendship is pure as the driven snow, and Beau getting Jester a flower necklace was no exception.

-Beau: *tries to snatch Molly’s tip for a dancer out of midair; rolls a natural one* Dancer: *grabs the coin, kicks Beau in the face, and winks at her* Beau: “I wink back. You know, I kind of liked that. That was kinda hot.” Me: This is the most quintessentially Beau moment I have ever witnessed, and I love her more than air.

-Low-charisma Beau and Molly leaning on the bar, totally ignored, for 15 minutes, was beautiful...but Beau’s “Sorry to interrupt your incessant flirting, but can I please have a drink?” is everything I have ever wanted from Beau and Molly’s frenemyship. I feel so fulfilled.

-Beau’s brief involvement in Jester and Nott’s dance plans (“Yeah, I know, I’m your second choice” / Nott: “No, third” 😂). Beau gets a lot of flak for arrogance, but honestly, her self-deprecation game is almost as strong as Caleb’s, and it is both hilarious and kind of poignant every time.

-Her defense of Nott from the racist (species-ist?) firecracker salesman. “Hey, don’t ever apologize for who you are, man.” Also telling her that Caleb is “a good guy”--which, coming from the one person who (a.) knows Caleb’s full backstory and (b.) isn’t Nott, is kind of huge.

-BEAU BACKSTORY DROP. BEAU BACKSTORY DROP. I wanted it SO BADLY, and I got my wish!! There was nothing about it that I didn’t love, starting with the fact that she confided in Nott. Out of all the Mighty Nein members, they’re probably two of the people with the fewest interactions, but it makes sense that the weird Caleb/Beau/Nott bond formed during Caleb’s backstory drop continues to strengthen.

-“Are you evil? Are you a bad guy?” / “No. I don’t...I hope not. I think it differs from day to day, depending on what I’m doing. Do you think I’m a bad guy?” This said so much about Beau herself, and also Beau’s self-image--and how heavily it depends on how other people see her, despite how vehemently she’d like to claim otherwise.

-Beau’s story wasn’t shocking or even surprising--it basically just tied together a lot of the hints we’ve already gotten--but there were so many little touches that killed me:

Her painfully realistic reluctance to pronounce her father a bad person

The fact that he hired the monks to straight-up kidnap her like some kind of horrific “scared straight” stunt (which is a thing that real parents do to real children, and that’s all I’m going to say about that)

The pained sarcasm of her, “Sure. Great,” when Nott asked if she was okay...and the brief dropped eye contact when Nott asked, “Was it hard?”

The looong pause and deeep breath between, “He was hoping...” and, “...they were gonna beat my indiscretions out of me.”

“I think all of the things that my father saw in me that he hated, the monks saw as a potential advantage.” I’ve always known that Beau’s first scene with Dairon felt raw and emotional and Important, but this scene finally gave us the context to explain why.

And, more than anything, the way her voice broke and dissolved into pained laughter when she said, “In fact, he told me he never wanted to see me again.” ...If this guy is still alive, the Mighty Nein had damn well better hunt him down and give him the full Syldor Vessar or Howaardt Darrington treatment.

...I have to note that amid all those dark emotions, something about Beau’s deadpan delivery of “I worked at a library” sent me into hysterics. (Also, “That had to do with the job that I had before the job that I had--”)

In short: For her first big backstory drop, this was deeply satisfying, but there are still so many things we don’t know! Why was her childhood “meant for someone else”? What about “I came to hate the town I was in and the system my father was a part of”? That seems related to her previous confession to Caleb, that she watched her father give up everything for the Empire and get screwed over somehow. And what about her comment to Dairon ages ago about how her father’s money (for her upkeep) must not be coming in anymore? Is he dead? Missing? In prison? I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING.

Still not the end of the Beau moments, though:

-Beau getting Fjord out of awkward sexual propositions by pleading erectile dysfunction on his behalf. Best/worst anti-wingwoman ever. (Bonus: Fjord’s Very Southern, Very Offended, “She doesn’t know me like that.” 😂)

-She finally followed through with her long-ago threat to slap Caleb! (Caleb, luckily, was not in a state to care.)

-“I will fucking punch you if you try and kiss me.” Literally could not ask for more with Beau and Molly. Could. Not. Ask. For. More.

-Her anguished “NOOOO!” when Molly literally pulled the alcohol out of her body...and of course, ”Did you touch inside of me!?”

-Despite finally dropping backstory of her own, Beau is still #1 when it comes to digging out other people’s: “I mean, Nott’s over here trying to pull my heartstrings, but it seems like you should be the target. Do you have a thing with kids in orphanages?”

Speaking of heartstrings...

NOTT

-So happy to see more of her friendship with Jester (“Do we need choreography!?”), and an attempt to revive their Detective Duo dynamic.

-It’s been a while since we saw Nott deal with racism (species-ism?). Still as much of a gut punch as ever.

-I loved seeing her gratitude to Beau for taking care of Caleb, along with her determination to make sure Beau is doing it right. I’m still not sure how I feel about Nott’s whole “I am the parent” attitude, but she’s certainly a better ‘parent’ than most of the Mighty Nein have ever known.

-She did a fantastic job bringing out Beau’s backstory without overshadowing Beau, but she still got off some great lines in that scene: “So wait. Little townsgirl, her parents are wine-makers, now you’re a brutal assassin martial artist who can kill anything...what happened in between those two things?” and  “You were bootlegging your old man’s hooch!?”

-“I never thought of you as an optimistic person, but that’s a very positive way of looking at it.” Okay...I may finally, finally be letting go of my cherished image of Scrappy Urchin Child Nott, and warming up to Maternal Nott. Watching her earnestly encourage her ever-growing collection of adopted children is kind of the best. (She was also great at “pulling Beau’s heartstrings” during the final scene, though I couldn’t help thinking that a lot of her “Don’t you think the children should be with their loving parents!?” rhetoric would’ve hit home for Caleb as well.)

-The drinking contest was a delight from start to finish, but Nott’s match was probably my second-favorite. (Nothing could beat “little Caleb” triumphing over his mild-mannered opponent.)

-It was a small moment, but it made me inordinately happy to see Nott and Molly profusely congratulating each other after the contest and then DANCING TOGETHER. They’ve barely exchanged a word since (1.) Molly wrenched deeply personal confessions out of Nott with Charm Person, (2.) They clashed in the aftermath of Scrollgate, and (3.) Nott offended Molly pretty seriously during his Zone of Truth backstory. Every single moment of Mighty Nein friendship/concern/camaraderie in this episode gave me so much life, but these two were a highlight.

And, speak of the devil...

MOLLY

It’s been quite some time since Molly got a big chance to shine. I’m mildly concerned about that, but that’s a matter for another post. (And it will probably get cleared up soon anyway--I think Tal just has a somewhat quieter play style, and takes a while to settle into his characters.) That said, the Molly moments we did get in this episode were absolute gems:

-Straight-up knight-in-shining-armoring Rissa with the punks who were harassing her. Nothing will ever be quite as gloriously creepy as blood maledicts.

-“Do I have masculine wiles!?” / “You have...pan wiles.” / “I’m into it.” (There’s this very specific voice Molly uses once in a while, this tone of pure childlike wonder, that sends my Molly love into overdrive. The lines that come to mind are, “Can I!?” back when Fjord joked that Molly could take the mirror from Pumat Sol’s shop, and “I won a strawberry!” back at the Harvest Close festival. I love that I can now add “Do I have masculine wiles!?” to the list.)

-Drawing alcohol out of Beau with his blood-hunter powers to ease her hangover

-“Whatever team you’re on, I don’t think I play for that one...It’s Team Fuck-Off, I’m well aware.”

-Throwing up on Fjord, and then tenderly bringing him to bed (...not that way)

-His “Say no more, I’m in” as soon as Fjord made it clear that the quest to break the kids’ parents out of jail was personal for him. In perfect accordance with his carnie past, Molly often walks this delicate line between “keep your head down, don’t make trouble” and “be the chaos you want to see in the world,” and I love that a friend’s Strong Feelings can single-handedly push him from one side to the other.

-I feel like there are probably more Molly moments I’m forgetting because I’m at the tail end of a post the size of Mt. Everest here, and I am most sincerely sorry.

BONUS

Yasha was barely there this episode, for obvious reasons, but I still desperately want art of her cuddling with Kiri!

IN CONCLUSION

This episode was amazing and I cannot wait for next week.

[annewithagee]

What is the news?

Anne blinked repeatedly as she stared at her unexpected, uninvited and yet most welcome guest. She eyed him from top to toe and back, feeling her jaw lower at the sight and only half-consciously hoping that she wouldn't start drooling at some point. Gilbert Blythe was at her door. Alone. Smiling. And he was okay.

Or, a little alternative for GGF Shirbert get-together, set after Lost Chances (Episode 3.23).

fanfiction.net / AO3

Anne heard somebody knock on the door as soon as she pressed the record button.

She froze for a second, her fingers hovering over the device. She had told her friends explicitly that she had no desire for company that day, and she would have been very surprised to see them ignore her request; especially at a time as trying as this. The only one of the trio who might try to take matters in her own hands was Phil but then again, she certainly wouldn't have bothered to knock, even if she hadn't been sharing the small room with her.

Her eyes flickered back to the camera as she pondered whether she should turn it off, if only to avoid the unnecessary questions or comments that were bound to come if the visitor was anyone from outside their small group, and of that she was almost certain. The remembrance of Roy scolding her for wanting to document every hour of her life didn't feel very encouraging at first, either; until she also remembered how little she cared for his schooled judgements and opinions.

She had no idea what the unexpected visit would bring her – she could as well have it recorded, even if she decided against posting it anywhere.

Maybe she would just keep it for herself. For...

...for memories.

She was startled by another knock and she straightened up, turning hastily towards the door. Had there been any room to run, she would have done it; being were she was, she as well as jumped to the entrance and, pushing away the painful thoughts that had come to her mind just seconds before, she grabbed the handle and swung the door open. She felt that her smile wasn't entirely sincere but she was more than sure it would do well enough for now.

She could totally do this.

"Hello, Anne."

Or could she.

She blinked repeatedly as she stared at her unexpected, uninvited and yet most welcome guest. She eyed him from top to toe and back, feeling her jaw lower at the sight and only half-consciously hoping that she wouldn't start drooling at some point.

Gilbert Blythe was at her door.

Alone.

Smiling.

And he was okay.

"Anne?" she heard him say again and she shook her head, wanting to bring herself from her stupor before her friend decided to interfere. She returned the smile somehow hesitantly but stepped away. The last thing she wanted was to scare him off, when he'd decided – on his own accord no less – to come and see her, when she was sure he had so many other things to take care of.

Regardless of the lack of a voiced invitation Gilbert seemed to have understood her cue and crossed the threshold, the smile on his face widening ever so slightly.

Anne closed the door and turned around. It was still difficult to believe that he really was there, standing in her own room, when they had been so close to never speaking to one another again. The accident had left her more scared than she ever had been, and the feeling hadn't quite gone away yet – and even as she'd learnt about his recovery, she still felt too anxious to believe he really was going to be alright.

Now however, he was standing before her and he looked just like she always thought he should look. Strong, healthy, with joy and determination reflecting on his face. He smiled at her and she felt her heart leap.

The world appeared to be singing with joy. Or maybe it was just her soul that did?

"I'm sorry for intruding like this," he began somehow apologetically, while Anne couldn't come up with a proper reason for him speaking like this. She wanted to protest but the lump in her throat successfully prevented her from it. Gilbert went on, "I guessed you'd be busy and I see you're recording, so I honestly hope I didn't spoil anything – although I wouldn't have knocked if I'd heard you talk. Anyway, I met Stella in the park earlier today, and she said -"

"It's so good to see you," she cut him off eventually, obviously disinterested in whatever Stella had had to say. She saw the surprise in his eyes and shook her head with a little laugh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted you. But you really didn't spoil anything, I only just started and... And I'm just so happy to see you again. I've tried to visit you at the hospital but they wouldn't let me in as we obviously aren't family and they seemed determined not to understand that a friend can be just as important and then when you got better I had to take care of the -"

"Hey, hey, calm down!" It was Gilbert's turn to laugh quietly, with both of his hands raised in defence. "I'm not here for an apology and I know you've been at the hospital. It's okay. I'm okay."

"You're okay," she deadpanned after him, unwittingly echoing her own thoughts from just a few moments earlier. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes already, and with a forced smile, she wiped them away before any of them could fall down her already reddening cheeks.

All she wanted was to run towards him and throw her arms around his neck and never, never let him go again, holding him close to her until he admitted that his feeling for her didn't change. She knew it was not what she should do – her mind told her it was reckless, considering the accident he probably still hadn't fully recovered from. Her heart stopped her for a different reason entirely.

It knew that she could not endure his rejection now.

"Don't you want to sit?" she suggested and marched towards the bed, waving her hand at the space next to her. She saw him hesitate and immediately decided she wouldn't let him squirrel out of it so easily. She smiled at him gently. "Come on, Gilbert, after scaring me like you did you owe me a few minutes of an unrushed visit. And I don't bite, you know."

His reluctance seemed to disappear as he returned the smile with more enthusiasm this time. "I suppose magnetic slates have proved to be more effective."

"Lucky you then, because I don't have any with me."

He laughed again then and finally sunk down on the bed close to her. Anne felt her blood run faster in her veins.

"I was so worried about you," she admitted after a while, her voice a little more than a whisper. "When we heard about the accident and about you being involved and about how badly you were hurt... I... I really didn't know what to do. I know it's nothing extraordinary, considering how rarely I actually know what to do or how to behave but... I was terrified, even though we hadn't talked for so long and it almost felt like our friendship was over, and I couldn't just ignore it. I was scared out of my wits, Gil. And I guess I'm just relieved to see you now. And I'm a mess."

"So that's why you're crying?" Gilbert answered with a teasing smile as he leaned towards her a little. "I was beginning to think it was your natural reaction to seeing me."

"Idiot," was all she could say as she pushed his head away, her hand against his face, as she'd done so many times before. She wasn't looking at him but she still could hear – feel – him chuckle against her palm as if her actions had been the most hilarious thing he had ever come across.

She realised how much he'd laughed during his short visit already.

She realised how much she'd missed the sound of it.

"Anyway, what brings you here?" she asked lightly, hoping that his answer would be elaborate enough to let her organise her very tangled thoughts. "You must be overloaded with meetings, or duties, or whatever it was that you'd missed because of that accident. I'm sure you don't really have much time to spare on nonsense."

"I'm not sure overloaded is the word I would use; overwhelmed, more like. There is much to catch up with, although I suppose I was lucky to get hit by that car after all of our exams were over," he chuckled again; Anne smiled fondly at him, again. "But I really am not as popular as you think, so except from trying to get back to my own rhythm and combining it with all the indications the doctors gave me, I don't really have much to do."

"When did they discharge you?"

"Monday. Yes, I know," he added after he saw her stir a little at the news. "It's been four days already, and I promise I would have come earlier but things just kept popping out. Every time I made up my mind to visit, something would prevent it – usually just about the time when I was going to leave."

"That's not what I meant!" Anne protested firmly. "I didn't expect you to come earlier. To be honest, I didn't expect you to come here at all."

"Didn't you want me to?"

"I did, you know that I did. But you're making it sound as if you owed me this visit – you don't owe me anything, Gil."

"Hey, we are friends, aren't we?" Gilbert contradicted her again, this time reaching towards her and covering her hand with his own. He squeezed it gently, in this affectionate yet safe manner of the easy comradeship, as Anne had used to call their friendship before any idea of romance even crossed her thoughts, and for the first time she fully understood what it meant that a friendship was no longer enough.

"Yes. Yes, we are," she answered a little sheepishly, quietly wondering whether she should actually try to let Gilbert know about the real feelings she had for him. She did not withdraw her hand, however, deciding to enjoy the comfort the closeness of him gave instead.

Pushing him away was a mistake she was not going to repeat.

"I'm glad to know that," she heard him speak softly; she looked up and met his earnest gaze with her own. "But I'd lie if told you I didn't have a more specific reason for coming here as soon as I could."

He paused, clearly waiting for her reaction. Anne wasn't quite sure where he was heading with this and she certainly didn't dare to guess – she felt vulnerable enough as she was and had no need of making it worse by some untimely assumptions of hers – so she just nodded, hoping it would be enough to make him talk.

Gilbert understood the hint and went on with his speech, "It's about something Phil mentioned when I was still at the hospital. She came to visit, apologised for not bringing you with her, and... said something about the last video of yours."

She took her hand away then, too surprised to fully control her actions. Gilbert's gaze was steady and dark, determination reflecting in his eyes as he bore them into her face and he seemed too focused on it to have noticed anything.

"What about my video?" was all Anne managed to say.

"Phil said it was incredibly important and that I watched it," he answered. "She almost made me promise that I would. I asked her what kind of video it was – what sort of news I should expect, but she wouldn't say anything. All she did was repeat how crucial it was that I watched it."

Anne drew a sharp breath, readying herself for the truth that was about to come.

"Did you?"

Here she was, blabbing about her worries, thinking whether she should tell him how she felt about him – when he'd already known it. He'd known it all along, not just for today but for an entire week because that was how much time had passed since Phil had visited him. There was no way he had refrained from watching the video, not after Phil had advertised it to him in such manner – and even if he only had done it so Phil would leave him alone, it made no difference, because he had known.

When he had come to visit her, he'd known. When they'd talked about the accident, he'd known.

And yet, he was there, sitting on her bed right next to her, staring at her expectantly. Just mere moments earlier he'd been holding her hand and if it hadn't been for her sudden reaction, he would have probably been holding it now.

Did it mean he was happy about her admission? Or did he feel so completely at ease that he could allow himself such words and gestures, and had only come because he wanted to clear things up and tell her he no longer cared for her?"

"No. I didn't."

His words roused her from her stupor. She needed a few more seconds to fully comprehend what he'd just said, no matter how short his answer had been.

"Oh?" she stuttered eloquently. "Why not?"

Gilbert looked away then, and bored his gaze onto his knees. "I don't think it's much of a surprise to know that I didn't really follow your documentary lately. Not after... after what happened in the Spring. I tried at first and even though it was hard, I made myself believe that I can do it, if only to support you as I had before. But then Roy came into picture and I gave up. I couldn't... wouldn't force myself to watch you two grow so close, see you blossom in his company. It was enough to see you together on all those college events. I think the only video I watched after that was the one for Ruby, but then again, that was different."

He made another pause, although this time it was more about him trying to find the right words than to give her time to process. He sighed deeply and continued, "When Phil told me about the latest one, my first thought was that it was about some great announcement concerning you two. I knew you had broken up, but maybe that was what it was all about? You getting back together, loving, and happy and all. But even if it wasn't – if it was something entirely different – if it really was that important, I thought I'd rather hear it directly from you."

Anne made no immediate answer, too busy trying to calm down her own heart that had suddenly begun to beat so violently in her chest. All at once she felt more terrified than she had been since she'd heard the news of Gilbert's accident, even if for different reasons entirely. Just a few moments earlier she'd been shaken at the thought that her secret was out – only to realise that in was the opposite, and that if she wanted her kindred spirit to know the truth she had to explain it to him openly, now.

She had to confess her love once again, only now he was sitting next to her, and he could actually reject her this time.

And she hadn't got the slightest idea how she could do it.

She was not looking at him now, although she could tell his eyes were on her once more. She felt him lean towards her. "Anne? What is the news?"

A little reluctantly, she turned to him again, wondering how on earth she was supposed to tell him everything she felt at the moment. All the shame and guilt, and amazement, and love, which seemed to fill her body and soul together with the fear that was mingled with those. What if instead of the beautiful speech Gilbert so deserved she told something stupid as she had done so many times in the past? What if she couldn't explain it properly and he would get the wrong idea?

What if he really had stopped caring for her?

Her mind raced back to that cursed afternoon back in the Spring when he had come to confess his feelings for her, the confession she had so recklessly rejected. She had been a fool, she knew it now, but that wasn't what caught her attention. Was this how he had felt that day, as hesitant and insecure as she did right now?

And yet, he'd come and said the words, risking everything they'd had, because he cared and was brave enough to show it.

It was her time to be brave, too.

"Anne?" Gilbert repeated in a hushed, slightly cracked voice. She glanced up and once again was met with the intensity and concern in his gaze. "Anne, is there anything -"

"I love you," she said then and there, suddenly indifferent to the consequences of her statement. Gilbert's eyes widened. "I love you, in that way. In that and in so many, many others. I'm pretty sure that I have loved you like that for a long time, I just didn't realise it until recently – I think there were so many ways in which I loved you that I missed the romantic one among them. I'm sorry it took me so much time and a car accident to understand that but I'm happy that I did at last, even if your feelings have changed entirely, which they probably have and – and I'm prattling again."

She fell silent there, waiting for Gilbert to react. She half expected him to laugh at her blabbing as he usually did, although she couldn't foresee whether his next move would be to gather her in his arms and kiss her or to tell her politely that her words made no difference, because he no longer loved her back; tell her that the change of her heart had come too late to mean anything to him.

Gilbert, however, did nothing of the kind. He didn't laugh and he didn't move, restricting himself to staring, as if he'd been trying to judge the truth behind her words by studying her eyes instead. Anne could not answer it.

"Do you really mean it?" he asked her eventually, his voice weak with disbelief. "Is it how you really feel? Or is it just the pity for your dumb friend who almost died because of his own stupidity?"

Anne couldn't help but snort at his words. "Gilbert Blythe, have I ever done anything out of pity whenever you were concerned?"

"No," he admitted with a small laugh, but returned to his previous seriousness almost at once. "But after all that I've seen and heard, it's pretty hard to believe how it could be true otherwise."

Again, Anne took her time to think about the answer. During Gilbert's short visit she had come up with a hundred possible reactions he could give to her words, but not for once had she thought that he could not believe her.

Not exactly confident, she took one of his hands and squeezed it affectionately. He frowned a little and she smiled warmly in response.

"I mean every word, Gil," she repeated slowly, making sure she wouldn't rush this sweet yet still slightly awkward moment. "I was blind and silly, and stubborn and I hurt you, even though I never wanted to. And I understand if you don't feel the same anymore, after I gave you every reason in the world to stop, but if by some miracle you still do -"

"I do," he interrupted her firmly, and before Anne could react, he cupped her cheek in his hand and drew her close, as close as they only could be.

His lips were soft against her mouth and she could almost hear her heart sing – no, roar – with the happiness that suddenly washed over it.

Because Gilbert Blythe was kissing her.

It didn't take her long to get over her initial astonishment and soon she was kissing him back, her hands flying to his chest and clasping its collar as she deepened the kiss. Gilbert responded eagerly, his other hand embracing her waist and bringing her even closer to him.

In the back of Anne's mind there were the memories of the many kisses she had shared with Roy.

None of them compared to this.

They didn't really edge away after the kiss had ended, the only difference being that their lips were barely brushing now. They remained as close as possible, however, with Gilbert's nose touching her cheek and her smiling against his chin, hardly managing to stop herself from pecking the corner of his mouth or maybe even dragging him back into a proper kiss right after.

"I'm sorry," she heard him gasp eventually, with another of his short laughs following. "I was afraid you would change your mind before I could respond and it would all be for nothing."

"Gilbert Blythe!" she huffed, offended. "Do you really think I am so fickle a creature to do that?"

"Well, you did dump Royal Gardner after all."

"Gil!"

He cut her off with yet another kiss, smiling against her lips in the same way that she did against his. It was sweet and it was pure, and it was still as passionate as a girl could ever hope her second true love's kiss to be.

"I love you," Gilbert said when they parted again. "I've loved you since the day you bent that magnetic slate over my head and I don't think I could stop loving you any time soon; I tried to, but as you can tell, I failed spectacularly at that."

"I am very glad you did," Anne responded with a smile. "But I'm afraid it works both ways – you're not going to get rid of me that easily, either."

Gilbert only laughed at this and placed a long kiss on her forehead before moving away a little more and looking her directly in the eye.

"Good. Then we're stuck together, Carrots."

[sebongie-loves]

youtuber!junhui

i feel like this would be very fitting for april fools lmao. enjoy!

junhui does pranks videos and yeah you didn’t read it wrong

his content is pretty similar to  woodandkleiny’s (on ig) because he lives in an apartment building with twelve other youtubers as his neighbors slash roommates because there were times where four of his same-age friends were bundled up on one apartment but later get kicked out because the apartment unit’s owner got himself a s/o

so now they bundled up on his apartment and he got more people to prank

his pranks are never dangerous or harming for his surroundings or the environment and actually very hilarious because of the reactions he receives from his friends. that’s why people enjoy his videos

it’s like that one time he tricked the gamer youtuber, seungcheol to play a video games that turned out to be a horror and scared the crap out of him

or that one time junhui filled seungkwan’s bathtub with orbeez which ended up being a great storytime video on seungkwan’s channel and being a war of pranks between the two of them and a series on junhui’s channel

or when he pretended he bought two flight tickets and brag it to hansol saying he’d snatch hansol’s s/o when it’s fake but it ended up very emotional and junhui being guilty for one month straight

also, he did wrap jeonghan’s new car in aluminium foil with a big bow on top 

he does a really good prank calls especially on seokmin 

“seokmin.. my dog dies.. i-i’m so, ugh this is too much on me.”

“OH MY GOD HYUNG ARE YOU OKAY? I AM HERE FOR YOU.”

“no i am not, seokmin. i can’t live in korea anymore, he reminds me so much of home that i feel less home sick but now that he is not around i can’t bear the pain. i’m going back to china.”

“NO HYUNG. YOU HAVE MINGHAO HYUNG RIGHT? DOESN’T HE REMIND YOU OF CHINA EVERYTIME YOU TWO TALK IN CHINESE? PLEASE DON’T LEAVE. YOU ALSO HAVE ME AND THE OTHERS. PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT.”

“…. seokmin i am sorry for making you cry it’s a prank call and i don’t have a dog. our apartment doesn’t allow them, lord.”

however his OG prank was with his life-long friend, none other than wonwoo and probably the reason why he ended up being one of the youtuber when his original dream was to be an actor in south korea

he started living with wonwoo when he was 20 years old on wonwoo’s apartment because he was looking for one and apparently, so did wonwoo. long story short, they ended up being roomies

he was working for 3-4 part-time jobs and studying korean on top of it. no one has the heart to say it’s pretty impossible for him to reach a star, to be one of the stars 

junhui knew it but this boy and his overflowing positivity believes on himself and his dream. which is to create something and to stand infront of the camera 

even with that, junhui still has this mischievous part of him. he loves pranking wonwoo to death or basically jun really loves wonwoo

like he once said to himself, even if he can’t reach his dream, he’d stay in korea because of wonwoo 

the event that lead him to be on youtube is when he decided to prank on wonwoo by buying red cups and putting it all over wonwoo’s bedroom just to prank him when he was asleep and video taped it because he wants to see wonwoo’s reaction 

and wonwoo being the youtuber he is, uploaded it online and his viewers keep saying how hilarious junhui is and how funny his prank is even though they’ve only seen it once 

and junhui is hot too so

so he started making videos 

because wonwoo told junhui to make that for extra cash which ended up a lot of cash instead of ‘extra’ cash and he volunteer to help because wonwoo loves junhui a lot and he just doesn’t show it 

he volunteer to put hard subs on it because junhui can’t speak english and one thing he didn’t realise is that he is the only friend junhui has at that moment so he is the only one that junhui can prank 

however that problem is solved when they moved to the other apartment 

however, putting subs is tiring. good thing junhui starts learning and keep on improving but when wonwoo’s s/o came, wonwoo was like ‘fuck this shit you’re rich now’ 

well yeah, junhui has succeed on his new career that he actually really enjoys and realised it’s a better path for him instead of acting

oh, so, junhui came to every platform he has and just asked with the help of google translate and wonwoo

‘guys i’m looking for a someone that understand korean and english. mandarin is a plus but yeah please email me on wonwooquitshisjob@junhui.com’

you are a broke college student in korea, studying korean literature and there you are looking for a part-time for some extra cash when your friend told you about junhui’s announcement

you binge watched his video for a night and thought to yourself how cute he is and how funny he is so you decided to sent an email to that 

you used mandarin for your introduction and wrote the rest in english

what’s surprising is that you are one of his million subscribers that sent him an email but his eyes just catch your email because of your horrible typo in the mandarin 

and you are hired :-)

his first text was ‘you have typos on the mandarin but yeah you are hired this is junhui the youtuber don’t share my number pls’

good thing he also asked you where do you live as a distraction and when he found out you live in korea he asked for a meet-up. you know, about the pay and stuffs 

when junhui saw you for the first time, he was starstruck. he could feel a thousand butterflies on his stomach when he saw you approaching him 

you two talked 

he realised about a lot of things about you when junhui is usually not that observant about people

junhui loves the way your eyes crinkles when you smile, he loves the way you laugh 

by that he keeps on wanting to see you and use this job as an excuse to do so

you’re not different though. you also thought junhui is super cute. too cute for his own goods and at the same time, you want his shoulder to hit your face because it’s just too attractive

so the fact that he keeps on wanting to see you by texting or calling you to meet up just makes you so happy

junhui also ended up calling you for non-work deal, for instance he asked you to buy presents for his friends or just to go for a dinner or lunch on his favourite soup restaurant

and keep this on mind, junhui loves eating alone

so the fact that he asks you to join, it means something

“hey are you free?”

“i want to eat, do you want to join?”

“the boys made a mess on my room omg”

“how was your day, y/n?”

“i miss my home”

those are his texts and honestly you’re not mad of it

the more you know him, the more you realised that he is not just a guy in his early twenties that make videos on youtube

junhui is someone’s thoughtful. he has a lot of worries yet he chooses to be positive through thick and thin

someone you’d love to be with and makes you feel things that you used not to feel before

and junhui feels the same thing with you

you two like each other 

but it takes too long 

even his subs are shipping you two with all of their hearts because of how many time you appeared on his videos when he pranked you and like the way he looks at you just explain his feelings 

oh yeah, ofc he pranks you and it’s like the cherry on top for you two’s relationship 

until finally wonwoo just yelled at junhui’s face

“YOU LIKE Y/N”

“DO I? OH GOD I DO!”

junhui, being the youtuber he is, confessed through video. he pretended to send it to you through email and said it was a video you need to work on

“sooo, as you guys know, i am having the best time of my life and i’d say this is a perfect video to tell you guys something that has been going on-” he paused, pointing at his chest. “here.”

“ y/n is one of the reasons why. they really understand me and make me feel like home. i feel it’s unfair for me to say they’re only on my heart when they are everywhere in my mind, they make me feel the whole zoo inside my stomach.”

“and to be honest, this video is not for you guys nor this video is a prank. it’s for none other than y/n and a very sincere one. i.. i really like you and i really hope you feel the same way with me because i want to spend my days with you and to be around you.”

oh boy 

you are crying when listening to his voice. the last part was in english with his accents and everything because it means that he is willing to speak in english for you even though he refuses everytime someone asks him to speak in english

you immediately call him, with tears on your eyes and happiness is the only feeling you feel

“yes! yes yes yes yes yes yes! i like you too, moon junhui!”

“you’re mine now, y/n.”

so it ended up being posted now instead of april fools and it makes me lowkey sad but yeah it’s okay. thank you for reading! 

[shipcestuous]

Incredibles 2

It was really exciting to see so many messages about Incredibles 2 in my inbox! I'm sorry that some of them had to sit for a while but I saw the movie a few days ago so the good news is that I’m ready to talk!

(This is NOT SPOILER FREE.)

Anon #1:

Hey, so I sent a message a while back about how, based on their character descriptions, the two new siblings (Winston and Evelyn) seem like they might be shippable. I just saw the movie and WOW, WERE THEY SHIPPABLE! The first scene especially could easily take place between love interests, and they spend a lot of time invading each other's personal space and alone in small rooms together ;) I don't want to say more because spoilers but they were VERY good.

Anon #2:

Saw Inc2 and honestly Dash and Vi being like mini-parents to Jack Jack is my jam. My entire aesthetic. Theyre so great

Anon #3:

I just saw the Incredibles 2 w my family and, without going into too many spoilers, I really enjoyed it.

First of all, I’ve got to talk about the new characters, sibling team Winston and Evelyn who play a huge role in Helen getting back into heroing again. In a lot of ways their personalities conflict, but in the end, it’s obvious from both ends that there’s a lot of love there.

Now, Dash and Violet! Of course we already loved them from the first movie but we got plenty more sibling moments in this one too. They bicker as most siblings that age do, but they make a great team and come together when it counts.

There’s also a couple moments when the Parr family is around Violet’s crush and Dash is obviously doing his best to embarrass her in front of him and taking a lot of glee in it. (I like to imagine he keeps doing that w any of her future would-be datemates, going out of his way to sabotage her love life and only realizing WAY belatedly that there might be an ulterior motive behind his actions.)

Also—in hindsight it’s already apparent in the first movie too, but this movie really cemented the idea in my mind that they’re like younger versions of their parents. Violet and her mom are similar in some ways, and even more so with Dash and his dad. In a lot of ways, Violet and Dash’s dynamic echoes Helen and Bob’s, and that of course makes it seem shippy to me even if it’s unintentionally so.

Anon #4:

Just watched the incredibles 2 and I think the villain and her brother are super shippable. I thought she was his wife at first and then when I got to know she was her sister and an artist meanwhile he was a business man, I mean, wow they are the other's half so perfectly.

Anon #5:

There's a scene in The Incredibles 2 where they go to a diner, and Violet spills water out of her nose upon seeing her crush work there, and Bob says, "I'm sorry, she usually doesn't drip like this." Apparently - according to some viewers' reactions - this line was meant to be innuendo.

Bob and Violet:

Lmao. I never would have interpreted that line that way and maybe I’m too innocent but I sincerely doubt it was intended that way. BUT that’s hilarious and I love it. I love the dirty minds of animated fandoms. 

Dash and Violet:

These two were great once again. I got giggly over all the times they were put in charge of Jack-Jack and had to work together like parents, trading him off and then teaming up to figure out how to handle him. I really love in both films that they ended up on their own and had to use their powers and minds together in order to win the day. I also 100% agree that they in so many ways mini versions of their parents - personality wise, looks wise, dynamic wise. The parallel game is strong. 

I also noticed that Dash - probably just in typical comedy little brother fashion - didn’t seem particularly interested in making sure Violet got her crush and was more likely to actively sabotage the effort than help. 

I also think it’s a little suggestive that when Violet finally got her date at the end, her entire family was there in the car, and then Violet ran off with them and abandoned her date. I’m sure it’s the beginning of a pattern in which crimefighting and being a super - a secret and a responsibility shared with a very limited number of people and most importantly and especially her family - always come first. 

Winston and Evelyn:

Even though we had talked about these new characters being siblings some time back, I was not expecting them to be so shippable! We saw how they are the perfect team - Evelyn is the creator/inventor, Winston is the seller/business end. They complement each other perfectly and have obviously made a great success of everything they have attempted together. It seems like they spend most of their time together and despite being middle-aged, neither one of them appears to have married. I totally agree that they were in close physical proximity a lot of the time - definitely noticeable to someone who was looking for it (like I was, ha). 

Plus Helen and Evelyn had that long conversation in which Evelyn’s relationship with her brother was quite explicitly paralleled with Helen’s relationship with her husband. 

The ending really showed how much they loved each other, and they overcame a lot of the unfortunate tropes involving villain sibling(s). Evelyn thought Winston was a “child” for thinking that bringing supers back was a good idea and she obviously had at least a little contempt for Winston’s side of the business, even if she had to respect and admire how good he was at it. But aside from crushing his dream of bringing supers back, her beef was not with him and she didn’t want him to get hurt. And then Winston was grateful when he learned that Helen had managed to stop Evelyn without killing her. He still loves her very much. 

Good stuff. I really want to watch the Evelyn/Winston scenes again.