#i also think at LEAST half the reason i haven't watched the seven is because i can't imagine anyone else besides brennan being zelda

[lovecolibri]

Fabian: You cannot date this person.

Kristen: You absolutely HAVE to date this person.

Adaine: Who else is he going to date?

Fabian: Alright, fair.

🤣🤣🤣 I love everyone trying to backseat drive Gorgug's flirting attempts. I adore Zelda and her and Gorgug are so adorably awkward together.

[archibaldtuttle]

Alien : Romulus - a 7/10 reason to stop making Alien films

This review will be spoiler-free

When I came out of the theater yesterday, after having gone through a viewing of Alien Romulus, I caught myself agreeing with my friends - this was pretty good!

And I am beyond poisoned about the Alien franchise since Ridley Scott got his grubby paws all over it with Prometheus. The only reason I made the effort to move my ass to the theater to see this one was because he wasn't directing (and also I didn't have to pay for it) (thanks sib).

I knew Alvarez from two of his previous films, the 2013 remake of Evil Dead and Don't Breathe. I am pretty mixed on both - they demonstrate solid filmmaking abilities and (in the case of Evil Dead), a deep respect for franchises he's adding to. However they are also a little heavy on the jumpscares for my taste, and in the case of Don't Breathe I just can't praise the film without having to mention that the third act twist is gross in an entirely unnecessary, shock-value way, that does nothing for the film thematically.

That did give me some hope for Romulus however, because that third act twist told me Alvarez likes talking about rape and impregnation. And contrary to Don't Breathe... that's right at home in Alien.

So what about the film then? It's good. Solid premise, I like that we're finally, finally, seven films in, seeing the planet-side society that births all those rundown spaceships. Good pair of main characters with on one side a demonstrably resourceful Rain and on the other a very nuanced look at the franchise's synthetics with Andy. The others are more forgettable but I can't blame that too much on the film - they're well characterized in a few short scenes and that's all I can expect really. The build-up is solid, the various ticking clocks and sources of tensions well established.

What I find particularly notable is the really good setpieces and the use of facehuggers in a way I've wanted to see for a long time. Very good physical effects supplemented by good to ok-ish CGI. The writing is very heavy-handed - I wish more people looked at what O'Bannon did with exposition before they write their own Alien scripts. I do give credit to Alvarez and his co-writer Sayagues for the cool concepts explored and the way they thread Andy's character exploration through them.

The editing is mostly blameless - I wouldn't call it great or even that good, especially with how hectic it gets during some more action-ey scenes, but you can tell Roberts isn't specialized or even used to horror films. I guess he took from his experience on Pressure which would explain a lot... The score is really good, one of the highlights of the film in my opinion - I've liked almost all I've heard from Wallfisch so I wasn't surprised to find out he did this one.

So why did I give this review a very baitey title. It became clear as I was watching the fourth, then the inevitable fifth act unfold, that we were, collectively, scraping the barrel on what can be done with Alien. Prometheus and Covenant, beyond the fact that they were garbage movies, were already trying desperately to find new things to do with the concept. Romulus succeeded, for the most part, in finding new ways to twist it into something interesting, something we hadn't seen before (or at least not entirely). And I'm pretty sure that's it.

I don't want more directors to spend months racking their brains to try and find three or more scene setups that haven't already been done in seven main films, two AVP films and countless video games, in order to string them together into a coherent 2 and a half hour flick. I don't think it's impossible, Alvarez clearly demonstrated that he could do it and I'm pretty sure other people could. But why waste so much time, talent and energy on a series that objectively does not need expanding upon?

I know why, it's because the current studio system is allergic to anything that doesn't have brand recognition. But I think it's sad. And I think it would be a lot more gracious to put an end to a franchise after a pretty good film that did all it could to honor its predecessors rather than try to keep squeezing more out of it until it turns into the horror version of Star Wars.

[qballqueue]

I haven't watched anime (or any show, really) for a while, but fuck man, Undead Girl Murder Farce really got me hooked, and I think it's mostly down to its two lead characters.

Like, yeah, the premise of the show itself is good. It's fucking excellent; a pair of Japanese yokai travel to Europe to solve Monster Crime™ is an instant grab for fans of horror, paranormal, and mystery (of which I am all three), but from episode to episode I keep finding myself drawn specifically to the main duo and their antics.

First you have Tsugaru, a man who, thanks to being half-oni, will have his life cut prematurely. But rather than him being mopey, he's decided to just have a good time while it lasts. If the candle is burning twice as fast anyways, he's going to make sure it burns twice as bright no matter the circumstance.

And on the other hand you have Aya. Unlike Tsugaru, she's immortal, but has decided--now that she's a severed head--that life isn't worth living without a body. It's a cold and logical decision that she only changes her mind about once Tsugaru convinces her that there's a chance to get her body back.

And despite their very, very different circumstances and methods of thought, what makes them the most entertaining to me is how similar they are.

Both of their perspectives give them a sort of detachment to the world, because for both of them (for different reasons) anything that happens, no matter how shocking or tragic, is only temporary. Which leaves them free to react to almost any situation however they want. This is best demonstrated through their shared interest in gallows humour.

That last one in particular is of note, because that bit they're doing happens in the middle of them questioning a man about his dead wife.

And it's not just that they make jokes in dire circumstances; they laugh at each other's jokes too, showing appreciation for the other's sense of humour.

We're only seven episodes in at the time of writing, but it also seems so far like they're both good examples of static character arcs. In other words, they're characters that don't necessarily develop a lot over the course of the story, but do develop the world around them through their actions. Another good example of a character like that is Sherlock Holmes, which is a hell of a coincidence because he's also a character in this show. But it makes sense for Tsugaru and Aya because of their detachment. They can't really be shaped by the world if they're rarely affected by anything in it.

The issue that typically arises from characters like that (at least I find) is that, without becoming interesting over the course of the story, static characters need to start their stories by being interesting, which Tsugaru and Aya both do extremely effectively. We haven't gotten a ton of their backstories yet, but it's pretty clear from everything they do and everything they say what kind of people they are and how they think, and that is fantastic character writing.

TL;DR: watch Undead Girl Murder Farce (or Undead Murder Farce? The anime seems to have dropped 'girl' from the title) because it's really fucking good.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Independence Day

I do not believe this country is having an election on the US' independence day. Especially this election. It feels like the world's unfunniest joke.

I mean, I guess I kind of do believe it. Sunak seems to be more at home in the US than he ever has here, and clearly wants to go back given how hard he tried to hang on to his green card even when he was declaring residency in the UK and serving in the government here. Then again, the Sunaks don't seem to think any of those rules about residency apply to them, given the green card thing and his wife claiming non-domicile status to evade taxes while living in the UK with her husband who at the time was serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Also the fact that he called a snap election with nearly no warning has caused problems with those who postal vote. I was starting to get nervous before my postal ballot finally arrived, and some haven't received theirs at all. There are workarounds in those cases, to a point, but results might end up being put on hold and the ballot in some places recalled because of the issue with the postal voting. Which wouldn't have been an issue if a) Sunak hadn't called a snap election for "basically right the fuck now", allowing minimal prep time, and b) the Tories hadn't finally privatised the service in 2010, leaving fourteen years of mismanagement to devastate the service (same as the electric companies, the water companies, the rail companies etc).

Anyway, I've obviously voted (see above re: postal voting), and I'm obviously glad that the Tories are almost certainly going to go. Just ... how much difference is there really going to be? Like, both sides of this not-a-two-party-system-BUT want me to just ... stop existing. Which is ironic given the shit both sides are giving David Tennant for saying that Kemi Badenoch should just shut up, but there you have it. All I really have going for me is "white" ... which, granted, is a lot, and I recognise my privilege there. Still ... it's hard when various people's whole political platform seems to revolve around my either being a burden, not existing, or both. Not that it's any better for those who are being called perverts and pedophiles and whatever other horrible misrepresentative slurs are being thrown at trans people in general at the moment - in fact, it's almost certainly worse. Doesn't make my personal situation any easier.

So while a lot of the people I know are going to be watching Critical Role, or fireworks, I'll be watching election news. May well nap during the day in order to stay awake as the results roll in tonight. Should be fairly easy; someone was ringing whatever doorbell they fucking felt like to get into the apartment block at, like, half-seven this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep after that. I don't get up that early when I'm not on leave; getting up that early while on annual leave for no actual reason is just bullshit.

But ... yeah, probable independence from the Tories ... and likely getting Tories in red ties instead. I'm sure there are some differences - like, at least Starmer doesn't want to send refugees to Rwanda. But they're taking their economic policy cues from Thatcher and most of the rest of their cues from the current Tory government, so while I'm happy for the current bunch of refugees who won't be sent to a country with a bad human rights record ... kind of unhappy for me.

[rengokugutspill]

other merchandise assessment, hearing voices + delusions in mental illness & speaking at expansive length about buying bras lmao

A clarification for my last merchandise post; so I guess the special bromides for the set are only a special foil stamp over a repeat image. Imo this is a missed opportunity to do something cool. & surprisingly, this was a rare scenario where it appeared buying resale could have been cheaper. I'd seen people selling the basic bromides together as a set of just thirty for under seventy dollars. Another clarification is there's a ten pull button set that I didn't understand what they were trying to convey on the listing page, but when I'd seen someone post one they had bought on resale, I realized the pins are holographic ? I'm not sure if that's the correct word. They had advertised as animation pins, which I thought they were just saying it was associated with the anime, but no, they're really neat because they're made to look like they're moving. So some pins are scenes of Rengoku turning around & stuff like that. So I did end up making a couple pulls from those.

I'm currently trying to get the Halloween acrylic stand, the Mugen Train key visual acrylic stand, the flame breathing bromides, two of the special lottery limited location shikishi, & at least one place mat.

I'm annoyed because the acrylic stands aren't price dropping. I don't think either should be worth over twenty five dollars but both are selling for at minimum thirty. I'm especially annoyed because I'd said before people need to stop buying at these prices so the price will drop, but from my perspective, it looks like a vast majority of the Halloween ones are selling...

I'm confused about the flame breathing bromides because typically I think a single bromide sells for between five to seven dollars. I don't want to buy singles because then I'm paying two more dollars on top of that for service fee, so I'd really just rather get a lot. I think the lowest I've seen the flame breathing bromides drop to so far is eight dollars for one. I'd mentioned before people will sell singles for like seven dollars but then turn around & sell three for thirty dollars, which if it was seven per item then the price should only be twenty one dollars ?? & I see this all the time ! It doesn't make any sense to me !! It irks the Hell out of me because wtf are you doing ?? I could understand charging maybe twenty five, but thirty does not make sense to me in this situation. Or they even charge more than that.

I'm trying to get about five of the six & I am thinking my best bet is three for twenty & watching if the price keep dropping. I think everything is on sale for another two & a half weeks or so.

I'm also bothered because I'd seen a listing for two placemats for seventeen dollars, which was a definite steal compared to all the other prices. I'd bought, but since the seller mentioned they were listed at other marketplace, my order ended up being cancelled & I haven't been able to find the other one list for a reasonable price since.

Personally I haven't seen the shikishis list at all. I know there was a delay between some items, a part of me wonders if they just sell immediately so I never see them, but also I only just started seeing the bromide box bromides start to list like yesterday I think. So currently I'm not seeing new listings for the place mats, stickers or the Halloween acrylic stand.. I'm definitely feeling annoyed.

Also weird shipping problems; so first I guess, the Ebay seller I bought the Zak & Hiei dolls from messaged me to tell me the dolls have been shipped together & I was given a tracking number. Though this was Friday & so far the tracking number has yet to go live at all ? I've checked parcelapp, seventeen track, Ebay, & USPS. What's also weird about this one is it's a Chinese tracking number, but when parcelapp crawls it, they're pulling USA ? So I'm not sure if it's one where it doesn't track in China but only tracks when it switches countries ? Another weird thing I noticed is the seller, although saying they ship from China, on the tracking page says they're in Ohio ?? So idk. The reviews say when the item shipped it actually arrived really quick. I suppose I'm just waiting until Friday & I will mention I'm confused about the tracking number if it doesn't update yet.

This morning I received a different looking tracking number from the other seller I bought from for just the cat Rengoku. This one is too early to track, so we'll see. Otherwise these should be good happenings.

Now onto the really irritating one; I'd mentioned in my last post buying a cute blanket I had been wanting. The seller gave me an Ontrac tracking number which proceeded to never update for about a week. Yesterday, before the sun even rose, I got an email from Aliexpress saying there was a delivery update for the blanket. I'd assumed the tracking just finally got a scan but my stomach really drop when it says it was delivered the day before ?? I was home all day & so was my roommate & obviously we never seen anything. Not only that but now the tracking number has switched from the Ontrac one to a DHL one ?? Obviously I immediately go to DHL website to try to figure out where the package was delivered, but to prove my identity & prove that the package belongs to me, they ask me for my zip code, but when applied they tell me it's not the zip code on the package ?? So like, okay, the seller deadass put a completely different address on the package & did a bait & switch on the courier... But why ? So now I can't even contact DHL about the matter since the package was never sent to me in the first place.

I can't understand this because what is the point of this scam ? Because obviously there's no other way to look at it, they deliberately gave me the wrong tracking number & deliberately applied the wrong address to the package. But I had the incident with the other seller who I had bought from multiple times where one package got fucked up at the sorting centre & due to the confusion over the cardinal direction, got marked as returned to sender. That seller told me that Aliexpress does not give packages back to the sellers & allegedly the packages are apparently incinerated. I don't know that I believe that, but it definitely feels like there is nothing to gain from trying to scam someone, why do it ? Especially because they lose credibility as a seller & can get straight up booted from the platform altogether. Why would you even want to risk scamming someone then ? It just does not make any sense to me.

& of course, it's respectful to first communicate with the seller before opening a refund request. I went to message them to explain the situation & keep getting an error saying my messages can't be sent ? So now I can't even communicate with them ? How sketchy is that ?? So I applied all this information to my report.

I'm just feeling especially annoyed because not only did I want the blanket, but part of the reason why I was buying it was to use it as measurements to get an idea of what size I need to replace the one I bought wrong measurements for before. So now I still can't even replace the other blanket !

This isn't exactly the same, but I was supposed to get four packages from studio before the month rolls over. There's about eight days I think, I definitely have ants in my pants because I am excited & want my items to ship now. I don't know what they're doing. I'm also waiting for my sumall shirt. When will it arrive ?? :<

Also idk, I am having issues with Aliexpress app. I don't know if I'd mentioned this before, but I'd thought my phone was still updating properly, but I guess it succumb to forced obsolesce. Allegedly my provider has an updated sim card to make the phone work properly again, so they've apparently sent it to me in the mail. I would say for the most part, all my other apps work, but I have been wondering if all the issues I'm having on Aliexpress are due to the forced obsolesce, if my shit just can't update to the degree they're running. So I definitely hope the sim card will fix the issue.

First it started with I wasn't receiving updates when sellers would list new items. Then I just can't view seller pages altogether. Now I can't view product review images. So idk if being unable to message that seller is something on the seller's end or if it's a problem with my app, because recently I had been able to communicate with other sellers. I almost felt like that seller in particular purposely blocked me or something.

While I was at it, I finally reinstated my health insurance. Basically I was getting what were apparently scam texts saying my coverage wasn't going to renew & I would have to find a different provider. I actually thought it was because my coverage was through my health insurance & since it had lapsed, I was worried they thought I wasn't disabled anymore. But I ended up calling the provider directly to ask what was going on with the service & they said there are no service interruptions & those texts weren't from them ?? But also, they had sent me a message saying I hadn't used my phone at all this month which definitely wasn't true because I text my roommate every day & have spoken on the phone with my mom twice this month, so I asked about that & they confirmed yeah, those messages were from them but the information was inaccurate & to disregard ??

So I blocked the weird number that kept threatening me about my service & it's funny in a fucked up away that after blocking that number, then a new number started texting me telling me my provider has to go to court for illegally selling my data... ? Like, okay ?? Not only do I know it's a scam but tbh like yeah, I'm sure they are stealthily harvesting my data, so ??

& I was thinking about it this morning when I woke up. My mom had called the other day & I was telling her how I had to look something up related to delusions & it broke down the difference between bipolar & schizophrenia was bipolar has intense mood swings. She said if you have both delusions & mood swings together it's schizoaffective I think. I was looking at the difference between that & the schizotypal. Then yesterday I was watching the scary true stories on the Youtube & one of them was a person with diagnosed schizophrenia talking about how they received their diagnosis & what schizophrenia looked like for them.

I found it interesting because I feel like one of the major foundations for schizophrenia is the concept of hearing voices. So the person had outlined the different voices they hear. I remember when I was a child & had to see a psychiatrist to be a pharmaceuticals guinea pig, they were asking me about my illness, which then I had desperately wanted attention so I lied about hearing voices to make it sound more dramatic. I remember the man had asked me if the voices were inside my head or outside my head. I think I said both. But realistically, there have been times, though few & far between where I have heard voices calling to me that were neither in my head nor quite in the room with me either. Almost on the physical plane but as if in the distance. Maybe only heard six times in my life though.

I'd mentioned to some care professional that it was difficult for me to contend with being sexually abused because as an adult I do hear voices that mock me over it & needle me for it, & it is the whole thing where I can't control them or get them to stop, the only recourse is to like turn on loud music so I can't hear them.

Even to examine taking edibles as an adult, I felt like my base operating is multiple conversations going on inside my head at once. I'm not directly involved, they're passive & I just hear them. As if there are so many voices all bouncing off eachother, they mostly become easy to ignore because it almost seems to turn into static. When I was high, it was like a lot of the voices quieted but instead I was hearing different voices that say different things. I wouldn't say either are violent or disparaging, but there is something about the voices I hear when I'm high where I don't really want to hear those ones.

I'd mentioned before I have this other uncontrollable affectation that drives me fucking insane where I practice conversations in my head. & I can't turn it off, it happens completely against my will. I will just start talking to people & me at myself is like can you fucking stop ?? What are you doing ?? You're not really having a conversation with someone ??

But also, I'd heard posited the voices could be ADHD or OCD. It makes me curious about other people's inner monologues; do you have multiple voices talking to you at all times ? Because when I get hostile or aggressive dialogues, I always imagine it as more of OCD, because it feels like a compulsion. Like I am trying to fight off the tantalizing idea of cutting myself. Or when I have thoughts about cutting off a limb, it's like, I'm saying to myself “that's great, but you know you're not going to do that.” Or just positing otherwise redundant & annoying thoughts & I'm really at myself like “can you shut the fuck up ??”

I was thinking about the voices as a way to be like yeah, I have always heard voices all my life but never actually thought anything about it. Because the way a mind works, you don't have a lot to compare it to but say I guess this is normal & this is just how it is... I was thinking about the corresponding delusions & psychosis after addressing a lifelong of hearing voices. My mom had always criticized me for being paranoid & telling me to stop because no one wants to be paranoid. & it felt really weird for me to hear because I felt like damn I don't think people choose to be paranoid ?

But i'm always really wowed by the “the government is out to get me” delusions because I feel like damn, no one is that important for the government to care about you as an individual or what you're doing. It's a really grandiose delusion. I don't have that. I know the government doesn't care about anyone, I'd say more than half the time they don't have the jump on an active terrorist so like no, they're not trying to peep on just some guy in his home lol

Currently my hormones fluctuate because I do think I am about to get my period. I'm only really annoyed because it exacerbates my already crippling mental illness. I felt really silly about it earlier this month. I'd realized rather than acknowledging a mental illness I do talk about, I was scapegoating all my symptoms just onto hormonal fluctuations. I'm sure the hormonal fluctuations don't help anything, but realistically I'm going to be fucked up regardless. So I'm also trying to look critically at the differences between mania, depression & mixed episode. I think I'd heard in the past bipolar one had a higher risk for extreme aggression, which was tied to mania. During this fluctuation, I went from excessive exhaustion & constantly sleeping to now a period of insomnia, which especially sucks because I am tired & getting brain addled exhaustion, but I can't fall asleep or stay asleep, so it only makes the way I feel worse because it's getting no relief for my exhaustion. I'm active & doing things, but I do feel really angry all the while & really volatile. It's frustrating because it's like obviously I'm not asking for this, I'm not trying to do this to myself, I'm literally trying to put myself to sleep at a reasonable time.

I think I tell you before that I have the performance delusion. That all my existence is a little guy on a stage doing things for someone else's entertainment. But isn't that what god is for anyway ? It's definitely harder to talk yourself out of the delusion because hidden cameras exist, social media tracks you, but not only that, in my room right now there are three audio trackers; my laptop, my phone & my Amazon remote. Although I know whoever tracks these really isn't doing anything, I do kinda feel like damn, I can't ever just abscond from these unseen eyes. I can't have an intimate conversation with myself out loud lmao but surely they can't all be actively monitored ? That wouldn't make any sense.

I just kinda hate it. It makes it very hard to disagree with or mitigate the delusions by this point.

I guess finally I wanted to make kind of a funny complaint over something I'm excessively frustrated about. The preface is half in jest I had to accept being a breast fetishist. But whatever, it was a long time coming & honestly I think it's run in the family the entire time lmfao I was born into it ig but my cup size fluctuates & the condition of my breast fluctuates as well. To say the actual cup is back & forth from c to d, but body dysmorphia can really trick me into thinking they're like an f which I have to be real with myself, I don't think they have ever been lmfao but at the same time, they get really heavy, to the point where it feels like the connecting skin is just going to rip off my body. So because I am some kind of breast fetishist, I basically only wear push up bras with like two cup sizes of padding. (attributing to my f delusion lmao.) Yet because I obviously don't always want to wear underwire or padded cups, if they're really heavy & I need them to be lifted, I wear sports bras or bralettes.

I had one sports bra that I've had for probably ten years, maybe even more that I always wear. The cup area looks small but seems like it holds a d &/or e with reasonable adeptness. The band was tight enough to hold the booby up without feeling like it was crushing the ribcage. I feel like I got it at Walmart, but it's possible it could have come from Target or Kohl's. Only recently the band has finally given out & it won't hold the bosoms anymore.

I have a certain aesthetic in my head of what I want. I find lace to be reasonable, but I noticed lately I keep seeing this god awful textured floral lace that does not make any sense in practicality, because how the fuck are you supposed to wear that under a shirt in public without advertising to everyone your dumbass booby trap ? But it just looks like actual garbage to me imo. Then I think scalloped lace around the top cups makes zero sense. Again, it looks gaudy & ugly as shit, but why if I am wearing a low cut top would I want this grandmother lace spilling out ? Also, absolutely no halter bands because those shits grind the Hell out of your neck. & I have a lot of fuchsias & black, so I'd like to have new colors.

For sports bras, I am looking for smaller cup coverage, considered a demi. Basically, the part that covers the breast should cover just a bit above nipple & the reason this is important is because full coverage are apt to have this triangular segment towards the armpit that will grate on the armpit. If you get a bra that ends lower, you completely avoid that grinding altogether. You want the upper breast fat to breathe & be unbound since realistically it's not doing anything to anyone or getting in anyone's way.

I'm conflicted on adjustable straps because realistically both adjustable & non adjustable can blow out, however, I like hiking my shit up considerably high because although I hear it destroys the straps, it gives relief to the constant pull of the dense fat on my chest. I think I'd heard at some point when I was younger than it was considered unbecoming & trashy for women to wear their breasts on their shoulders (I'm exaggerating for joke) but I'm saying honestly idgaf how it looks, I care about how bad my chest hurts. I think now it's called a shelf bust & it's performative.

So I know for a fact my band is thirty four & cup is very difficult to discern because different brands do them differently & mine do fluctuate. I feel confident with c-d. I wanted to look for bralettes on resale hoping I could get a look I want for a decent price. I looked at probably thirty bralettes & sports bras & one or two of thirty had the corresponding cup & band size mentioned. So I'd asked about ten women what band & cup size the brassiers fit & when women would respond to me, mostly the response was incredibly nasty, to reiterate to me that bralettes & sports bras don't have cups & bands... But my whole thing is every single women in the world has a corresponding cup & band size. The band is of course your rib width measurement & the cup is the measurement of your actual boob. The cup on the booby trap is the pouch your breast is going to be held by. So yes, literally every single breast accessory is going to have a corresponding cup & band size. The only way it wouldn't have a cup size is if it were a fucking tank top.

I was in fucking awe how women seem to know literally nothing about what a boob is or how they work. It feels not unlike the child neglect seen in uncircumcised dudes realizing they actually have to wash their foreskin or else it rots...

A part of me wants to be like damn go to Aerie & make the woman feel you up & tell you your bra size, but then I realized I think I did that deliberately to be a pervert.

Plus I'm also being super careful during these discussions because I'm not trying to look like I'm secretly some perverted dude because these aren't meant to be invasive questions but I need to be able to make an informed purchase T^T I don't want to spend money on something that isn't even going to fit me that I can't wear. Because I doubt anyone wants to entertain returns or refunds. So I won't volunteer my own size until they tell me what size they think it is because I don't want them to be like “oh yeah, it will definitely fit you.” Saying only what they think I want to hear rather than actually trying to be helpful. & then I'm also asking everyone about straps on top of it, to make sure the straps aren't blown out since these are something I'm going to have to rely on.

I'm looking at Aerie & Gilly Hicks because I have had good experiences with these brands before, but also a number of other random brands. So I'm glad I been asking because I forget which was which now but the one brand it seems their small is like thirty two a-b but the other the small is thirty four b-c. So it is extremely helpful when they're actually willing to respond to me. There were two super cute ones I really did want but despite the seller being online, they just refused to interact with me at all.

& I can't help but feel some type of way because literally everyone I've had to message has under ten sales, meanwhile I'm just short of three hundred with five stars.

I'd thought about it before that I feel like a bra salesman because one of the items I sell the most of are bras & I always point out whether or not it's true to size or if I think the size is different & not once has someone had an issue with a bra or said they felt my assessment was wrong.

So far I'd only bought one bralette because the woman was able to answer all my questions & it sounded like it was going to fit, but then she just hasn't shipped it yet & it's a day short of a week. I'd messaged yesterday asking what was up & she said there was a family emergency (sure) & that she was shipping that day. It's still too early to tell whether or not she's lied, but I'm so aggressive & volatile over this that I'm ready to cancel the order just because.

& then neither here nor there but I happened to be thinking about a conversation I'd had in the past in regards to cleavage. I hear some women just naturally have the straight line of cleavage no matter what they do, yet other women don't. I'd posited in the past that I have a broad chest & that's what my problem is, but other people have been like nah, your body is normal. I ended up looking it up yesterday in the morning, but I'd already been really emotional & suicidal beforehand, I don't know if you can say it's the hormones or just a mental illness flaring up. I ended up reading an article discussing tubular breasts & it's a spectrum like autism or intersex, but I'd known someone who'd previously expressed having that as a birth defect & saying it's because all their fat distribution is at the lower end of the breast. So like, if you look it up, it looks like a horror movie imo with how deformed a bosom can look & I'm saying I'm bottom heavy & probably on the spectrum but in a way where it's possible you wouldn't really notice without looking hard. Or maybe I have to tell myself that just so I don't kill myself since I don't believe in breast implants.

It definitely made me want to die to understand no matter what I do I'm really not going to have a pristine boob & it's not a matter of working out or abusing hormone medications. Though I ended up looking up something to the effect of large breasts don't have cleavage & redirect to a reddit post which was mostly oriented towards g-h but I figured searching why don't my breasts have a cleavage line wouldn't yield any reasonable results. & the women there discussed the difference between top heavy & bottom heavy but also said rather than tubular defect some of the issue is just having a broad set chest because that's the make up of your muscles. & some women mentioned having teardrop shaped breasts, which I think is different from the tubular ones ? All I can really think of is being with ___ one day & he had a women who had a crush on him who he didn't feel anything for but he made her strip on camera & show off her boobies & I couldn't get over how when she leaned forward to be sexy, it just looked like she had heavy socks hanging from her chest. I made fun of her & I think in that moment I cursed myself.

I feel confused because I'd heard the difference was held within breast muscle rather than fat distribution. Growing up I was constantly being told you have to wear a bra all the time or else your tits will stretch out but then also being told don't wear a bra all the time because it will wear away your breast muscle & then your tits will fall off. I honestly don't feel like there was anything I could have done about my fat distribution, because it seemed like reading articles was saying your body distributes fat where your genetics have chosen to distribute fat... The one article I was reading said non full & round breasts were a super common genetic defect but that it had never been studied because women have no reason to report it unless they get breast augmentation because it's really bothering them. They tried to insist nearly twenty thousand women got breast augmentation surgeries for the “defect” just last year. It makes me wonder if that's actually the normal breast & if the fuller breast is a more rare lucky genetic draw ?

Though anyway, the reddit thread redirected to the defunct blog of another big breasted breast fetishist who, since being really into having breasts, apparently was very studied about different types & models of bras. She did a breakdown of multiple different boob looks & how to achieve them, but I don't really think it's feasible for me since I think she said she was an h. Though she'd mentioned stage boobs achieved via smoke & mirrors (doubling padded bras) saying anyone can have cleavage. Though other women in the thread had pointed out if your breasts are wide set & bottom heavy, the best you'll probably get is a v shape. I'm disillusioned. Though of course my problem is only cosmetic for personal preference, I stand by what I said before about genuinely being afraid to have boobs alone in a public setting.

Also during my bra q & a, one women told me a bra would likely fit me as long as I didn't have my boobs done & I felt kinda floored to hear such a response because when I was a teenager I was thirty two e which I know is unnatural but I feel like damn, some women be all boob & no body wtf ?? But idk, all the more reason to be buying bralettes & sports bras rather than actual bras. When your cup size fluctuates or is unnatural for your rib width, I think they're better because the cups have an array of sizes they can fit & accommodate, whereas tailor made bra cups are more stringent for what size they want to fit. Either way I think I am doomed to just eat bras unless I'm specifically buying ones with removable straps so I can keep replacing them every time I eat them.

Before I go ! I'd seen this morning when I was making my rounds to check my news that there is a teaser for merchandise for the upcoming pillar event ! They said more will be announced as time goes & I believe as the event runs. I'm really jazzed about a majority of what was advertised, though I couldn't help but be like “oh no !! My wallet !! >.<,”

They are advertising one hundred products per hashira ! Points I will cover briefly are what is English translated as emotional badges, maniac badges, phrase cards, & bond charms.

For the emotional ones, Tomioka is one of the best featured ! Mostly imo because he's expressive & makes very funny & cute faces. Tomioka fans are absolutely winning with this one ! I don't think there is a single bad pull in the whole set of forty ! I felt Tokito is slightly disappointing, though it's difficult as a non-emotive character. At first glance, a lot of his look too similar & mostly less compelling for me. Though I suspect people who really love Tokito will really key in on the subtle nuances of all his different expressions, probably making it as crucial for drawing doujinshi as my Rengoku pallets. Also, the product images are hard to see, which I am sure is by design since a lot of people steal their designs. Uzui is also comparable to Tomioka when it comes to his fans absolutely winning on this one, there is a vast array of appealing facial expressions from a multitude of different moments ! Both Tomioka & Uzui's make me wish I was a considerable fan of theirs. Though ! I'd imagine these are probably especially fun for people who don't collect certain characters & just love the series as a whole ! Uzui's facial expressions are great in the respect I don't really like Uzui, but all of his expressions are so compelling & I definitely see where people are coming from who do think he is the most handsome ! Though it would probably feel like a massive diss to be one of those people who want to fuck Uzui so bad & want to pull the hot Uzui expressions & instead pull his silly faces lol I feel ambivalent for Gyomei because I feel he is as non-expressive as Tokito, which results in a lot of his pins looking relatively close. I forgot how hard he went by the end of this season, so at first I was thinking maybe they don't have enough to work with for him, but actually, we are able to see a myriad of expressions for him. He does fall short just a tiny bit as a less expressive character who, although we will see him more coming up, we haven't really seen him in whole yet. Shinazugawa's is very well rounded ! It's easy to overlook how expressive he actually is when you're not seeing a pallet of his very unique & diverse expressions. It is something that I really appreciate about Shinazugawa. Intense eyes & smile for a very devious & villainous look ! He is compelling just as Tomioka & Uzui ! I'd complained in the past that his merchandise is not cute enough, while also acknowledging he isn't supposed to be cute either, his expression set turns out to be both fun & interesting. Is it me or are some of his expressions really giving Edboy Elric or maybe Soul Eater ? Pin set for those who really love an unhinged badass lol Shinobu & Mitsuri are also extremely well rounded ! Though I especially love the colors for Shinobu's set ! I think she is a bit like Tokito, a character with a more stoic expression, but goddamn her coloring kills it ! I feel like Shinobu reads as a really cool women character, but her pin set seems to go all in on her cuteness; an adorable small women. Also a lot featuring a dark shading over her, perfect for an emo or otherwise impossible to approach women lol Mitsuri's are precious as always, it may be hard for me to not want to pull her cuter expressions.

Rengoku is a little difficult imo but outstanding for what we have to work with. Initially I felt a bit frustrated to be like well all the other hashira really do more than him & exist more than him, though I would argue thus far we've really only seen Gyomei roughly the same amount. I do think Rengoku was able to get in more expressions in a shorter time than Gyomei was. Though we do see a couple reused. I feel like for having only six episodes to work with, maybe a grand total of fifty minutes of screentime altogether if even, we have a nice array of his different expressions. I'd really like to try my hand to pull from this set, maybe not an attempt to take home the whole set but... perhaps most of the set lol

Looking at these reminds me of the pog binder I had as a child... Or maybe it was Holly's since I never saw it again after she moved out lol

“Maniac” badge is a little bit difficult for me to discuss ! What were they going for here ? There is a lot of emphasis on hands. Though Tomioka & Tokito are featured topless & Uzui & Shinazugawa got zoom ins on their breasts lmao we also get knees, feet, back of their head, mouths & eyes. What did they mean by this ? As funny as it sounds, there is a lot of very subtle nuance to be found within these. In the context of highlighting what makes a character & what goes into their personalities, this is actually a really interesting look. In a way, it makes you really take a hard look at what makes these characters & what defines them as them.

The phrase cards are also difficult for me. I really like the idea, but again, it's really hard to see the actual product images. Rengoku's is posted in higher resolution to the Twitter, but I kind of don't like it just in a personal way. The cut up by the lettering is a really neat idea, for me personally, it looks a bit distracting. Though there are a lot of things they'd shown product images for that I was not sold on that actually ended up looking really rad irl what I will also say about this is if you are doing a binder like I'm planning on doing, like, if you store your cards & bromides in scrapbooks, then these are going to look super sick along side them ! Color wise I think Tomioka's was my favorite. He has a really loud contrast that really appeals to me. Uzui's got a really badass one & I like Shinobu's coloring a lot too, but it's not as dramatic as Giyu. I also think these would hit a lot harder for me if I would just buckle down & learn Japanese ._.” lol

I think the bonds keychains are my favorite with the expression pins. I'm super into these, I really love the way they look ! Rengoku gets a notable feature in Tokito's. Most of them are very difficult for me to see in the product images lol .///.' At least I can see Rengoku's pretty well & personally I feel like he looks fantastic ! Again, I wouldn't pursue the whole set, but probably six or seven lol hopefully I'll be able to find them

I'm so excited !! I can't wait to see what else they have in store ! I had a dream they did unveil more new artwork, not too much, just a few pieces of each character. But maybe that's only wishful thinking on my end. A longing & begging lol

I'm curious as well if this event is going to get a sequel ? Because I was thinking, during the next few movies, we're going to get a lot more scenes of the hashira & their emotions, especially for characters like Tokito & Gyomei who fell short a bit with their conveyance, I was thinking, I know they are going to have so many more expressions coming up... Though another conspiracy theory idea I'd had while looking at this was I'd mentioned a number of times about the prequel series & running a study for character popularity, as I think such a thing would play into the alleged prequel. I think doing this actually makes a good tally for a research group to discern what the most popular characters are. So will I be right that Rengoku is going to be the star of the prequel series ? Though I'm only slightly jesting to posit that.

[chaos-has-theories]

🌀❄️🌤️🌧️🌈🌩️☔

THANK YOUUUU

Just as a general fyi: it’s been a while since I’ve worked on any of these (currently editing a tlt fic, but I assume you’re most interested in Sep Heap stuff xD)

🌀 Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing…

I really do want to work on a SH/ML crossover at some point. Right now I have a mess of worldbuilding notes, a couple of character designs, and not much else.

In my concept, the Wizards are essentially the Guardians of the Miraculous - with just one exception. The Ladybug Miraculous belongs to the Queens in what is half tradition and half a genuine attempt to have some kind of separation of power.

After the assassination, Marcia starts hanging on to the Ladybug like she does the Tiara in canon. She passes it on to Jenna when she thinks there’s no other option left - noone else may wield it, but someone has to.

The Cat Miraculous takes up the role of both the dragon ring and the Fly Free charm - Marcia really needs to pick an apprentice to be Jenna’s partner. When she finds Boy 412 in the snow, she gives it to him on a gut feeling. He gets to have very conflicted feelings about yes committing treason on the reg but also having friends for the first time.

DomDaniel has had the Butterfly and the Peacock ever since Alther cataclysmed him he jumped off the Wizard tower. The Supreme Custodian is one of his Akumas. So is the Assassin, etc, etc. (Simon does become his apprentice eventually, meaning: Sleuth is a Sentimonster)

❄️ Share a snippet from a WIP of your choosing.

There is an old saying in the Castle, about the position of ExtraOrdinary Wizard: As you have gained it, so you shall lose it. It is almost forgotten by the time DomDaniel begins his apprenticeship. There are only stories told on long winter nights, and the footnotes in ancient books you might find at the Manuscriptorium. It has been a long time since anyone has had reason to believe it.

DomDaniel has no time for foolish proverbs. He has decided that most things aren’t worth his time. He isn’t getting any younger, after all: though if he has anything to say in the matter, he won’t be getting older, either. Five years into his apprenticeship, Daniel slips into his master’s chambers by night and makes sure that Old Pavel doesn’t wake again. He’s outlived his usefulness, DomDaniel reasons. He’s found other sources to teach him magyk.

It’s a terrible thing for an apprentice to have to supplant his master, or at least that’s what the people say. Yet sometimes there is no other choice: No other Apprentice has finished their seven years and seven days and remained within the Castle. DomDaniel has made sure of that. When he arrives to watch Pavel be placed in his Leaving Boat, the people of the Castle assume he’s wearing mourning. But it’s just his purple, darker than anyone before him has worn.

Pavel’s Ghost never does Appear, but if anyone notices, they’ve already learned to keep their mouths shut.

(This is a 5+1 fic about the very literal generational trauma of being an EOW)

☔ Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

I honest to god want to write Nightmare Polycule. There is so much potential. I wouldn’t even bother making a plot, just random situation that amuse me and possibly nobody else.

I put the other asks into their own post, since my answers are all connected!

[henry-and-the-seven-lords]

Hello @gluttonousfruit you are in fact my first request. (I did not forget about you in moving my blog.) I am super excited to have anyone ask me to write something! Also I would love to be friends! Feel free to message me through asks or in private DMs! I hope you enjoy the imagine!

Warnings: Fluff with a small amount of angst because Levi doubts himself 😞

Brothers Masterlist | Dateables Masterlist

Levi with an Animator S/O

"Okay MC, I know we just finished 'Swimming Only Leads to Hot Mermaids,' but I was thinking since we are already watching otomes, we should watch another series that everyone is recommending online!" Levi says this as he begins to pull out one DVD and place in another while bouncing on the balls of his feet like an excited puppy.

"I guess I could watch one more series, but it better be a good one. Sure the mermaids were attractive, but there wasn't much of a plot." MC says with a yawn. A quick look over to the clock, and it reads 11:48 PM in a blinding blue light. Not too late for one of Levi's normal bingefests, but a little too late for MC when they have classes tomorrow.

"No, I promise this one is good. Everyone is talking about the art style. They say it is so original that it's captivating." Levi walks to the small futon briskly and plops himself down next to MC as he continues to ramble about the art. His voice slowly trails off as the opening begins to play.

As the music fills MC's ears, they perk up and a small smile appears on their face. "Levi, could this perhaps be, 'I Went to Hell For a Weekend and Got Stuck in a Love Heptagon with Seven Incubi'?"

Levi faces MC in shock. The look on their face is quite smug. (In all seriousness, it reminds Levi of Mammon when he wins poker, but he doesn't want to be think about his brother while looking at MC. So he pushes that thought away.) This anime came out only the day before their bingefest. And even then, Levi had this copy pre-ordered for this very occasion and it arrived before any stores were selling physical copies. There is no way a normie like MC could have heard about its release. Does this mean MC isn't such a normie after all?

"You heard of this show already?" The surprise in his voice was impossible to hide.

"Yeah, I have heard of it." MC smiles and chuckles quietly, "I have never actually seen it, but I have heard the opening quite a few times."

"Oh..." Levi sighs. He was so stupid. Of course MC had heard the opening. It is all over his Devilgram and they were on their phone for part of the last show, so they obviously just heard it on there. Levi deflates looking solemn. It was just a pipe dream that MC would ever be interested in his yucky otaku interests.

"Hey! There is no reason to be all sad just because I know the name of the show. I still haven't seen the whole thing. My first time watching will still be with you Levi, isn't that special enough?" The smile on MC's face seemed sincere enough, but the words that came out of their mouth made blood rush up to Levi's cheeks. Their first... did they really mean to say it like that?...

As thoughts begin to flood Leviathan's head the show began. It was true the art style was captivating. So captivating in fact, that he forgot about his embarrassment. But MC's words still lingered in his mind as he watched the show.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Well, I am dead tired." MC stands cracking their aching joints as they look at the clock. 2:37 AM. It was that late already? "I think I need to head to bed Levi. I have classes in the morning and I need at least a few hours of sleep."

"Are you sure?" Levi was just starting to enjoy MC's presence. At the beginning of the night, he was on edge trying to make everything perfect. Levi did want to mess up by being a yucky Otaku and give them a reason to leave him all alone. But as the night progressed, (and more snacks were consumed) he felt increasingly more comfortable with sharing his favorite shows with MC. "I have other shows we could watch to pass the time, or we could play this new game I got-"

MC walks over to Levi and gently sets their hands on his shoulders, "Games and anime are great, but what I need right now is sleep." MC watched as Levi's face filled with a blush and his eyes flashed with hurt. "I am not leaving because I am mad... or sad... or anything really. I just need to sleep, Leviathan." Their voice was barely above a whisper as they said his name. How could he disagree with them when they said his name like that; all the while, looking deep into his eyes. He felt like he could explode.

As MC turns away, the demon in question then sighs mutters a quiet "okay" under his breath. "Don't worry, Levi. This isn't the last time I will watch anime with you. I promise we can do another one of these when another new anime comes out." MC begins to pick up their things. A blanket they brought with them to keep warm in Levi's cold room and the rest of their human snacks. "Besides, I really liked that one, and I have heard they are already making season two." As they speak, MC makes their way across the room to the gigantic tank.

"Wait. How do you-"

"Good night Henry. Good night Levi." And with that, MC leaves. Closing the door behind them.

How did MC know about a second season? Even he, the Great Otaku Levi, has not heard about a season two on any forums or on any other website... After thinking about it, Levi suspects it's probably on Devilgram like the opening was. To prove his theory, he pulls out his D.D.D. and opens up Devilgram to the 'I Went to Hell For a Weekend and Got Stuck in a Love Heptagon with Seven Incubi' page. He scrolls through their posts and finds the opening, like he predicted, but what he didn't predict was their most recent post.

"This show would not have been possible without MC. Thank you for making such a great story and great art to go along with it!"

Levi reads the caption once, twice, thrice and is speechless. The photo for this post is none other than his MC standing with a hand drawn piece of the protagonist. He can even see their signature in the corner when he zooms in! He knew that they liked to draw, but he never thought they would make an anime.

Without thinking, Levi gets up and begins to run to MC's room. He needs to know that this isn't some sort of elaborate prank that MC and Satan brewed up to make him like a normie more.

The door to MC's room busts open, "MC!" The room is completely dark except for the light shining in through the doorway.

"Levi...? Is that you? Is something wrong?" MC's voice is soft and laced with sleep. If this were any other time, Levi would have screamed over their cuteness, but today he had a mission. He immediately marches up to the half asleep MC and promptly shoves his phone in their face.

"Did you make 'I Went to Hell For a Weekend and Got Stuck in a Love Heptagon with Seven Incubi'?" MC sits up and squints as their eyes adjust to the blinding screen and look at the post.

"Um... yeah. That's me isn't it?" Silence takes over the room, before Levi begins to scream.

"WAHHHHH! MC, why didn't you tell me!" Thankfully with the phone only being pointed at MC, they can't see the blush spreading across his face.

"Well, I didn't want you to treat me differently because I make anime." Laying back down as they speak, MC tucks a pillow under their head and looks up to where they guess Leviathan's face is. "Besides, I thought it was really cute how you were fanboying, and I didn't want you to stop because you knew you were in the presence of the creator." A small smile makes it's way on to MC's face as Levi feels his own get hotter.

Now covering his face, Levi quickly makes his way to the door while muttering, "You can't just say things like that..." As he begins to close the door, he pauses and opens it up again while looking back, "Can you tell me more about your show tomorrow, MC?" His voice sounds small compared to his previous scream.

"Of course Levi. We can talk for as long as you like."

[emyluwinter]

Well... WELL

Absolutely I did NOT expect that Eric De Lerenier would like you so much!

Several people wrote to me in messages that their heart definitely did a somersault and a few "tudum tudum", you know what I mean. As soon as they saw this gentleman.

Who would have thought that the Phantom of the Opera is so popular. I have heard very very little about him in the networks and the environment?

But yes, I read Gaston Leroux's book. I'm sorry, I haven't watched musicals.

For some reason, this dialogue was born in my head. And I'm not ashamed at all. I love talking to characters!

what is highlighted in color and italics are my replicas.

Eric, do you have anything to say about this?

Eric, meanwhile, is lying on the sofa burning with shame and covering his face with a pillow, screams into it.

- My Lady... I will be excessively grateful to you if you remove my image with a naked torso. Where you can see my curse in particular...why did you depict me half-naked at the very beginning?!

Oh, you won't wait for that, honey. You are loved regardless of that.

- YOU are absolutely Ruthless, my Lady.... well, some explanation is required of me?

I think they won't mind talking to you.

- You have at least blessed one marriage with me...and you are absolutely NOT ashamed.

Eric swears into the pillow, throwing the most angry and irritated glances at me while I'm working.

And then he removes the pillow and puts himself in order.

- Well, I am deeply grateful to you for such great attention..I'm flattered. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them.

The most important question will probably be about your type of love. Or related to the romantic side.

- My love is music and everything connected with it, my lady. Through the melody, you can make a person tremble with every cell of the body, as if in unbearable bliss and longing, or bring them to universal horror and fear. There is nothing better than to see the whole palette of emotions on the faces of listeners. In addition, you don't have to see a musician-performer. And the orchestra conductor is not always noticeable to you.

By the way, dear, Eric is fond of knitting. ...or tying people up?

De Lerenier snorts with displeasure and elegantly raises his head.

- I only connect people when they annoy or molest me. Rook is already starting to study all my nodes and this is starting to annoy me even more....He's terribly annoying at times. When I moved with my parents, my father often had to deal with very unpleasant "fans" of my Mother...hence my experience. In order to quickly disarm the enemy and leave him without the ability to move.

Of course I can make a Celtic knot even by tying it only in simple language, but to fight?

Eric grins and points to his right gloved hand.

- I am not a fan of physical abuse, in addition, it is not very good for reputation and may damage my mask or hand. When I was little, my bones were more fragile and I wore a special corset.

And he also does a good job with crocheting and knitting needles!

- Let me correct, I'm just learning, it's very relaxing. I also want to make a beautiful shawl for my Mother...and if at least one living soul asks me to show their "shibari" skills, I swear by all the seven muses, this person will not remain alive..

What are your least favorite berries?

- Where there are a lot of seeds, I don't like pomegranate and raspberry seeds that get stuck in my teeth. Because of the mask, it becomes very inconvenient to use dental floss.

How does your curse manifest itself?

- No one still knows for sure...We have a family doctor who studies this curse of my family. In childhood, it can cause a strong fever and even ring a limb or a part of the body where the curse spreads. At birth, it looks like a large, not very elegant birthmark...Sometimes the curse reacts very sharply if I use too much power or magic...The branch of my family almost broke off several times because about 8 generations ago this curse caused necrosis and rotting of tissues and bones...which was a very painful agony..

Eric pauses, adjusting a strand of hair behind his left ear that the mask does not hide.

If you don't want to, I don't insist. You've already answered quite a lot.

- It's all right, there's no need to worry....If my stone turns black more than less than half... This could end up in a hospital. In terms of magic, I need to be more careful with blackening than others...because the curse may react more acutely and I will be bedridden for several days because of a terrible fever.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

- I have two younger sisters, twins. - Eric suddenly becomes very confused, as if remembering something obviously awkward.

- They are charming, but they love to mess with my makeup and try to do whatever they want with my hair. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart that they don't have to deal with the curse of our family.

Do you spoil them often?

- Oh, when I come home for the holidays, we organize a marathon of various series of musicals and other things. While I'm at their house, I pamper them to the last. We get along well with each other... as long as these two don't try to sneak into my room and cause universal chaos there...

I'm sorry, I have a lot of work, because that's all for now!!

Eric makes himself comfortable on the sofa, with an elegant wave of his hand.

- We'll see you Ladies and Gentlemen again, her garden is always happy to have guests. -

De Leraigny adds more ominously. - BUT if at least one living soul tries to walk through my flowers in particular offends my Lady, it will be used as fertilizer ...at best.

Don't pay attention, he's just sulking that I didn't have time to make him even more handsome in sketches and draw more with him.

Remind me, I will tell you about Eric's attitude to the unique magic of Vil.

Yes, you know what I mean ~ * villainous laughter*

And I also need to write an excerpt about his "aggravation of the curse" I swear I need to write down everything that comes to mind otherwise my memory becomes terrible every day..

[camellia-salazar]

Things I've learned from each fandom part 2.

Bunny Maloney: the fandom is mostly cursed. But there are a lot of Jean-Francois fans (of course why not?).

Bone: probably full of promising fans. Also new animated show on Netflix probably.

Camp Camp: the moment I actually realized that some shows don't make it past the forth season. Also I haven't heard from this fandom in a while so my knowledge is pretty old.

BBIEAL: this fandom lived for about a year until it was ultimately forgotten. Also princibaldi was my otp for a while and I half regret it half not.

Aggretsuko: Season four is coming up (or already is up) and people started shipping Hayda and that other dude forgot his name (give me a break, i have probably over a thousand characters from each fandom so chill).

The Outsiders: I never got to watch the movie. I was supposed to with a friend but I haven't gotten to talk to her in like three years. But the book was my middle school favorite. Sodapop is best bro. Stay gold.

DDLC: idk what I learned other than what I already know in DDLC+. I'm just a bit surprised about how Sayori told Monika about how she feels. Well, I guess it makes sense, Monika wouldn't even really know if she didn't tell her I guess. Unless she found out in the files or something like I originally thought. But I like the results instead. I just like those little side stories ngl.

There She Is!!: I still can't believe I found out about the extra part RIGHT AFTER the week ended. Since it was shown to everyone for a week and then gone forever, I was totally bummed out when I found out that I was only a day late. Smh.

Nichijou: I ligit thought it was gonna have a plot (since that every other show/anime I've watch has one I think). I was wrong, but that doesn't mean I dislike it. It was hilarious and interesting. Idk. (Didn't get to finish it tho). I also keep having to search the title up just to see how the name is spelled. Oof.

Elfin Lied: ah yes, childhood along side Soul Eater (when it comes to anime). Gory and stuff, tragic, but still pretty good. Me and my siblings remembered the "dog getting beat up by kids" bit so whenever I go to talk about it I have to remind them with that one phase. Also probably one of the reasons on how Xavier got used to gore.

Little Nightmares: ah yes, one of the fandoms that got me thinking of how I should've been into it at the time everyone else was. Same with DDLC and TF2 on that category. Everyone used to talk about rk (the runaway kid) or seven however you call him. Now no one cares for him as much as they used to. Also I love how the fandom sorta dies until the second game came out.

Among Us: the memes are a bit annoying, but at least the game is pretty cool. A lot of angst. Honestly the reason I joined this fandom was really to make an AU/crossover of Clone High and Total Drama with it. Then it turned into another AU/crossover only this time it's with more characters from other fandoms. It was epic in my mind.

My Pride: this was big until I've heard rumors about how the creator for this webseries is also transphobic. Idk if that's still happening but at that point I realized just how much drama is happening within fans and the creators of the shows/webseries/games/etc. Also a lot of love for Feather.

Why Women Kill: idek how big this fandom is or if it's alive or what not, but the show still bangs. The one and only live action show I've ever really liked. Season 2 came out and my parents and I still didn't finish it. I like the changing of the decades deal in season 1 tho.

That's it for now, reply to this whenever I miss something because some of you did that the last time and I think it's a great idea.

Part 1 Part 3

[angstyaches]

If you're still taking prompts- Felix and Elliott haven't seen each other all day, and Elliott's been gassy all day, so when he finally gets to talk to Felix that night, Felix is really angry for some reason but E hasn't been feeling good so Felix takes care of him cause he feels bad and Elliott is just in so much pain 💔 Sorry English isn't my first language -🍫

Thank you for this request, it’s just lovely, and I’ve been so excited to get it finished for you! I couldn’t think of anything that would result in Felix being just the right amount of angry for this scenario, so he’s more annoyed than angry.

Also, we’re just going to ignore the fact that having someone heavier than you lie on your chest restricts your breathing, because Elliott deserves this, damn it.

CW: burping, stomach and chest pains, stomach noises, mention of vampire drinking (animal) blood, slight over-indulgence, slight mention of coming out a prolonged bout of nausea and lack of appetite.

___

“So,” Felix said, stretching his legs out across the bed and then crossing them at the knees. He was gradually working away on one of his blood lollipops, every so often sticking it in his mouth and having to speak around it. “Ugh, I was driving home, doing the speed limit, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Elliott agreed, resisting a sarcastic grin. Felix was the only driver he knew who didn’t violate speed limits every so often, not even by a couple of kilometres-per-hour.

“I suppose it was peak commuting time,” Felix went on. “Which was my own fault for leaving late. I was basically asking for trouble.”

As he listened, Elliott crossed the room to pick up the hairbrush from his bedside locker. He only had to bend a couple of degrees to reach it, but something about the shift in his posture made something shift inside him, too. He squeezed his lips together as he straightened, swallowing a clump of pressure that tried to escape up his throat. There was a distressed growl deep in his stomach as a result, which he managed to cover up by clearing his throat.

“Coming through town the usual way, past the supermarket and over the bridge,” Felix continued, unaware that any of this was happening.

“Mmhmm.” Elliott nodded in encouragement, going back into the ensuite bathroom and standing in front of the sink. His partner was still visible in the mirror, the door wide open so they could still hear each other.

Elliott pressed a fist to his mouth, releasing a short, grumbling belch.

“And then some idiot with a – I don’t know, a Chrysler or something? I mean, who needs a car that big, anyway? Anyway, they pulled out of the petrol station right in front of me, and I had to slam on the brakes!” Felix sighed deeply, letting his hands fall onto his chest. “I mean, I wasn’t going fast, but what if I had been? What if I'd had a cake on the front seat? It would've gone flying and been destroyed! Gosh, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, I was so mad.”

Elliott inhaled softly through his lips, looking into the mirror as he started tugging the brush through his hair. It was almost down to his elbows these days, and he couldn’t decide it he liked it, or if he wanted to cut it back to shoulder-length again.

He braced himself against a hiccup, realising he hadn’t responded to Felix in a while. He swallowed thickly, trying to recall the last thing he’d heard his partner say. “Did – did you honk the horn at them..?”

“I – well, no, I didn’t,” Felix said, sitting up on his elbows to glare at Elliott in the mirror. “I was mad, but come on, Elli. It was a built-up area, and it was after seven. What if there’d been a baby sleeping somewhere nearby?”

“Right…” Elliott murmured, as if he’d never, ever blown the horn of a car in a built-up area before.

“Anyway,” Felix grunted, flopping back down.

There was a distinct, bubbling sound coming from the upper part of Elliott’s abdomen now. He tried pushing his fingers gently into his stomach, just below his ribs, but he immediately hated the sensation and planted his hands next to the sink. That wasn’t going to work, but the discomfort was becoming so bad that he could feel it draining his energy and – more notably – his patience.

And the last thing he wanted, after a long day without seeing one another, was to snap at Felix over something as silly as a stomach ache.

“I’m just, you know… What the hell’s wrong with people?” Felix continued from the bed. “If they just opened their eyes for a moment, they might actually see something…”

He was still muttering – mostly to himself, at this point – about irresponsible drivers when Elliott closed the bathroom door and walked across the room. He approached the bed from the wrong side, which snagged Felix’s attention. The mint-haired boy looked up at Elliott, as though waiting for him to ask for something. His hands were folded neatly across his middle, his head on the pillow, his legs outstretched and uncrossed.

A pang of pure, untainted affection fluttered in Elliott's chest; as least, he was almost sure it was affection and not just a swell of pressure from his stomach. He half-smiled, watching Felix's expression soften.

“Are – are you alright, darling?”

Without a word in response, Elliott knelt at the end of the bed near Felix’s feet. He spread his hands and placed them either side of Felix’s waist, pressing into the blanket and the mattress.

“Oh,” Felix laughed, a slight blush instantly rushing into his cheeks. “Are we…? Oh, okay.” With a confused look on his face, he lifted his hands from his chest, making space for Elliott to lay down on him, head pressed between Felix’s neck and shoulder.

Felix dragged his fingers gently over the back of Elliott’s neck, pulling heavy locks of his hair together and scooping them to one side. “Darling, what’s brought this on?”

Elliott shrugged lightly. He didn’t really know himself, but the simplest answer seemed to be a fitting one. “You looked comfortable.”

“I see…. Well, you can rest your full weight on me,” Felix offered, his voice a little shaky. “I’m small, but I can take it.”

The tension gradually seeped out of Elliott’s muscles as he sank a little harder into Felix. He felt another shift in his stomach contents, which made a light sheen of sweat break out on the back of his neck. He swallowed, counter-productively, before dragging a heavy fist to his mouth.

The rumbling pressure got caught in the back of his throat, circling nauseatingly for a moment before slipping backwards. A tightness in his chest made him frown. His stomach rumbled so hard that it reverberated through his ribcage and gurgled in the back of his throat.

“Oh, gosh, I felt that,” Felix said, sliding on hand from Elliott’s neck towards his upper back. “Is everything okay in there?”

With his fist still waiting by his mouth, Elliott gave a quick nod. “My stomach’s slightly upset, but it’s nothing to worry about. Are you sure I’m not hurting you?”

“Yes, I’m sure! What’s wrong with your stomach?”

“Nothing…” Elliott winced as another bubble moved through his belly, catching in his oesophagus. “Well, I may have over-indulged slightly today, for the first time since my symptoms cleared up.”

“Ah, okay.” Felix’s tone was a little lighter now, as his hand smoothed over the plane of flesh between Elliott’s shoulder blades. “Obviously, I’m not relieved that you’re in pain, but it is comforting to know you’re getting back to your old self.”

“A bloodthirsty bastard?”

Felix stifled a laugh, And Elliott half-smiled to himself before a cramp rolled through his gut, once again coming to a sharp head just beneath his sternum. He parted his lips, hoping to coax some of the air up, but it gurgled all the way back down to his stomach, making the unhappy organ churn and roll.

A sigh of frustration left his mouth instead. Felix gave his back a slightly more urgent pat, hoping to move things along.

“Ugh,” Elliott groaned, resting his hand on Felix’s shoulder as he waited. “You can keep talking, boo. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“No, no,” Felix half-laughed, gently scratching his fingernails against the back of Elliott’s neck again. “That was just ranting. Taking care of you is so much more important.”

Elliott pressed his lips together. The pressure in his chest was beginning to build up again. The rumbling seemed to start behind his belly button and creep its way up behind his sternum.

Felix spread his hand over Elliott’s back again, no doubt feeling every vibration going through his organs and ribs.

Only when the pressure reached his throat, did it move with any kind of urgency. Elliott barely had time to form a fist again, pressing it to his mouth and releasing the burp as steadily as he could. It went on for about five seconds, making much less noise than it had when it had been rumbling around in his chest. Elliott frowned, knowing that there was no way that was the end of it.

“Sorry,” Elliott mumbled, turning his neck to burrow into Felix’s neck. He knew he was acting much shier than he usually would, but he’d already been feeling a bit embarrassed about climbing on top of Felix in the first place.

“Nothing to apologise for.” Felix tilted his head and rubbed his cheek against the top of Elliott’s head.

Elliott nuzzled even further into Felix’s neck as another belch bubbled up, determined not to direct it into his partner’s face. A low groan followed it, a sound that pleading for an end to this ordeal; although, if he was being honest, the pains twisting his stomach and tightening his chest were already fading. Felix’s hand continued to smooth over his back, fingertips occasionally tracing the shape of his spine and shoulder blades, and Elliott wasn’t about to ask him to stop anytime soon.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Cinderella (Spoilers)

Disclaimer: I am posting this review the day after the movie airs on Amazon Prime, so if you haven't yet seen it don't read on until you do.

General Reaction:

It is slightly weird to think of another movie studio taking on one of the classic fairy-tales that isn't Disney, because, as I am sure is the case for a large portion of the mainstream audience, Disney have almost claimed fairytale adaptations as their own.

However, as identified, Cinderella, is a fairy tale and one created long before Disney came about. As such, other studios are allowed to put across their own interpretation of these classic stories that we have seen a lot of times adapted at this point.

That being said, we have seen many different adaptations of Cinderella at this point from the classis Disney Animation version and it's live-action counterpart, to modern-day reworkings like A Cinderella Story of the mid-noughties starring Hilary Duff.

It's quite an easy story to tell and adapt to a variety of different settings, and what this 2021 retelling does with the story blends the old-fashioned with the modern. Does that mean it is set apart from the others? Well in my opinion yes and no.

While this is a Sony movie, it plays a lot like a Disney Channel Original Movie. From the comedy to the settings to the costuming and the music, it plays like the best of those types of movies. I'm talking the High School Musical franchise and the Descendants franchise. It is by no means bad or corny, but it isn't even on the level of the 2016 live-action Cinderella.

While that version was pretty much a straightforward live-action version of the original animated version, the style of the movie outweighed the substance.

Here however, there is a great blend of both style and substance. The story takes the classic elements of the original Cinderella fairy tale but tries to inject a modern and feministic twist that the recent live-action Beauty and the Beast tried to do.

In terms of whether this version of Cinderella stands out in the crowd of Cinderella movies, I would say it does. Not only is the titular character race-bent and the setting she is in seemingly plays into that, but the reworking of the Fairy Godmother as the Fab G as well as giving the Stepmother a more humanised backstory allows for a more compelling take on a classic.

Cast:

Because this is just the one all-in review I'm not going to do an in-depth character analysis and instead group the characters as who were my favourites, who did a passable job, who was bad and who were for some reason just there.

Favourites:

I have a top 3/4 favourite characters in this movie. Idina Menzel's Stepmother Vivian, Billy Porter's Fab G, Minnie Driver's Queen Beatrice and additionally Beverly Knight's Queen Tatiana.

Idina Menzel was always going to be fantastic in this movie, but to see her portray what is traditionally the villain character in the movie as a sympathetic character as part of the movie's feminist agenda was an interesting twist. No cat for a start, I don't know if Lucifer was a part of the original fairy tale but of course in the Disney adaptations Lady Tremaine is always accompanied by her faithful feline, but also the fact that her backstory parallels Ella's current story and the fact Vivian was so willing to have Ella reject her passion to do what is expected of her just as was forced on her was actually great motivation.

In truth I have only ever seen Billy Porter in one other thing aside from this movie and that was American Horror Story: Apocalypse. I have never seen Pose though I have heard good things, but from what I understand, Billy Porter only really has one speed. However, as the character's name states, that speed is fabulous. I loved Fab G in this movie, the fairy godmother is usually one of my favourite characters in the movie and every interpretation I have seen has brought something different and memorable. If this version of Cinderella is remembered for anything it will be for this very modernised take on the Fairy Godmother, not only gender-bending and race-bending a traditionally white female character, but with Porter choosing to make the character non-binary and that outfit speaks for itself, Fab G was simply a fabulous character.

In both Disney adaptations, I have never heard mention or reference to Prince Charming having a living mother...or a dead one for that matter. So to not only have the Queen being in a chunk of this movie, but also having her own story branch tying into the feminist agenda running through the movie and being portrayed by Minnie Driver, I was in love with this character.

Pretty much similar to the Fab G, if you've seen Beverly Knight's one second in the trailers you've pretty much seen her in the movie. She contributes to Ella's story in the movie and only appears in the latter half of the movie in 2 maybe 3 scenes but she makes an impact because she's Beverly Knight. My only gripe with her is she does not sing in the movie, you have Beverly Knight with not even a solo in a group number?

Passable:

Unfortunately the star of the movie Camilla Cabello is just passable in this movie as Cinderella. She does have some humour about her and her singing is great despite maybe being autotuned because I know how she can sing, but she doesn't feel like Cinderella to me, it actually feels more like a version of what Emma Watson was doing with Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast rather than Cinderella but at least she tried.

As for Nicholas Galitzine, he's definitely more engaging as a modern-day Prince Charming, Robert is definitely more engaging a character than Ella unfortunately, which to be fair is still good as the 2015 Cinderella is the only other adaptation to really make the Prince interesting, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly which movie it is but there is another movie I have seen where the Prince Regent doesn't want to be king but the Princess does and has to fight for her right to be it...that's pretty much this story for them.

Also Pierce Brosnan as the King, despite jokingly singing towards the end, did a great job at being the archetype of old-fashioned values with his on-screen wife Minnie Driver's queen pushing him into a modern-day thinking.

Bad:

As for who's bad, I have to say it pains but the British comic relief characters really let the side down in this movie.

In the three mice defence, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster are somewhat funny but unnecessary. James Corden however is abismal in this movie. I get he produces it, but particularly after Cats I do not understand 1) Why he'd want to portray another CG animal or 2) Ever think that one shot of him changing back from human to mouse with his head on a mouse body was funny...it was terrifying.

Also this movie is supposedly a family-audience movie...so why include a crass joke of Corden's character talking about peeing out of his front tail?

Additionally to the three mice, Rob Beckett has a surprising role in this movie as a potential suitor for Vivian's daughters, but he simply portrays such a creepy, cringe-worthy character it's almost uncomfortable to watch.

New Additions:

So as well as the two queens and the British comic relief there is also the addition of Princess Gwen to the movie who is the sister of the Prince and the one who wants to be ruler. It's kind of the same story as Jasmine's in the live-action Aladdin as wanting to be Sultan but being a woman isn't taken seriously, however here it is treated more comedically as every time there is a serious moment with the King trying to force Robert to grow up and be King, she always tries to interject with "Would this be a bad time to tell you about an actual real reason why I would be a good ruler" and they make sense but she's always dismissed until the very end.

Then there's a town crier, who is also inserted as a musical number while he's reading his proclamations but as a rap. Honestly I don't know Doc Brown as an artist but I did happen to enjoy what he contributed.

Music:

Which brings us on nicely to the music of the movie as this is a musical and I usually break down the songs. Again this time I will be doing groupings of best to worse.

Honestly my favourite number is probably "Shining Star" mostly performed by Billy Porter with verses by Camilla Cabello and, unfortunately, James Corden.

I also enjoyed the two original songs of the movie, "Million to One" which is Cabello's "I Want" song of the movie and used a lot through the movie, and then also "Dream Girl" which is Idina's main other song but also sung by basically the women of the movie, it's Idina Menzel if you don't give her an original song it's an insult.

Idina's other song is a cover of "Material Girl" and honestly it is a lot of fun, Nicholas Galitzine's rendition of "Somebody to Love" was also fun and surprising as I did not think this guy could sing that well.

The group numbers were fun and well choreographed but they are also somewhat forgettable. The song at the ball of "Whatta Man/Seven Nation Army" was probably the most memorable but still just mediocre.

Recommendation:

So with all that said, would I recommend watching Sony's Cinderella? Honestly I would say it is worth at least one viewing, and I do recommend watching all the way through just to get the full experience. I do think it will do better as a streaming movie than it would have done as a theatrical release, but I cannot pinpoint a market for this movie.

I don't think this will go down as one of the great adaptations, but there are moments and aspects of the movie that sets it apart from the crowd.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it's not as fantastic as I feel the trailers were making it out to be, but having seen the movie twice there are definitely elements of the movie I looked forward to watching the second time around.

So that's my review of Sony's Cinderella, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[thebreakfastgenie]

I don't even go here (westwing) but I would love to hear your analysis of how they screwed up each character in the later seasons :O

Okay so the thing is I haven't rewatched the later seasons in full in a long time, so I'm working from here! If I ever make myself watch them (which I probably will because I have a friend who's watching the whole show for the first time) I can make additions/corrections.

First I want to say that an underlying issue with a lot of this is they kept adding to the cast, which left less and less time for any real growth or development for the original cast. I like the new characters like Kate and Annabeth and of course Santos and Vinick, and I even like the recurring characters on the Santos campaign, but I think adding that many characters was a mistake.

Will is kind of a gimme. He's just a completely different character. He's less idealistic and more ambitious and honestly kind of a jerk. Because he was only in about half a season before Sorkin left, this Will ends up being the majority of who Will is, which is a shame.

Bartlet is probably the least screwed. He does feel a little different to me, which I think inevitable with the writer change, but he's fine. He actually gets a pretty good storyline, with the MS. I dislike how his marriage is handled in season 5, but that's more to do with how they screwed up Abbey. He does suffer a little from being out of focus in the last couple seasons, but I think that was to a large extent unavoidable. Bartlet kind of checking out from the presidency after Zoey's kidnapping also makes sense, although I think Leo should have tried to snap him out of it a lot sooner. And firing Leo didn't seem right.

Charlie is a mess because they had no idea what to do with him, but to be entirely fair, neither did Aaron Sorkin. Dulé Hill was criminally underused all seven seasons. Keeping Charlie in the White House well after he'd outgrown the personal aide role was a challenge, I get that, but in season 6 Josh, Donna, and Will were all allowed to leave the White House. Why not let Charlie leave as well? He could even have joined one of the campaigns. Charlie and Zoey rekindling was nice and I consider them endgame but like most of the relationships in the last season, they had so little screen time to develop that it felt a little out of left field.

CJ being chief of staff is a fun girl power moment but I've come to like it less and less. Before the Bartlet campaign, CJ had only worked for statewide campaigns. Become White House Press Secretary was a big deal for her. The reason I used to like her promotion is that she spends so much of the early seasons proving to the boys' club that she knows what she's talking about. But the fact is that CJ's skillset is not the chief of staff skillset. She has different, vital skills that deserve more respect and appreciation and I would like to see her continue to use those skills. I also think CJ being chief of staff was as much about the surprise twist as elevating a female character and honestly those are both bad reasons to do it (but the latter is understandable). They had to spend a whole episode making Josh and Toby act more incompetent than usual to justify giving it to CJ and it still didn't work for me. So many of CJ's interesting stories came from her working with the press. CJ taking on the communications director role could have been interesting, but not chief of staff. I think she just loses a lot of dimension. That being said, CJ is one of the least screwed up characters in the later seasons.

Abbey is complicated. Her reaction to Zoey's kidnapping is believable, but disappointing. The kidnapping storyline was a lot more interesting to me before she started blaming Jed. Also, while like I said it's believable that her emotions from that situation would affect her view, the Abbey we knew would not be angry with Jed for making a top secret foreign policy decision without consulting her. This is also a bit wrapped up in how annoying I am that they ended up tying the kidnapping to Sharif. I blame Sorkin for this as much as anyone because he had an ending in mind and didn't tell anyone. After that, Abbey's return to the White House and eventual reconciliation with Jed is just kind of glossed over. If they were going to put them at odds like that they at least needed to deliver a more satisfying conclusion. And Abbey working at a clinic and dodging questions about her suspended medical license just feels clumsy. Again, I love seeing her return to medicine and the storyline of the possibility press issues that can cause is great, and I would believe her feelings about her medical license changed, but it's never explored so it just feels thrown together.

Donna is probably controversial but I hate what they did to her. She's a completely different character and she lacks all the things that made her unique and fun. She becomes a generic political operative. Maybe she's a badass, but she's not Donna. She's missing Donna's idealism and also her quirks. It's also not actually character development. If it were character development, we would see a journey of growth. Donna is handed a very high ranking job on the Russell campaign, which is ridiculous. It was probably only done to keep her near Will, but it's bad writing. Donna having a high ranking job on a fledgling campaign like Santos might be believable, but Russell is the frontrunner. Donna has a lot of experience, but most of it is unofficial. Her entire resume is being an assistant and she doesn't have a college degree. Which is also why I dislike the statement that she outgrew her job three years ago. She didn't. She is maybe starting to outgrow it, but it also wasn't Josh's job to find a promotion for her. Donna's role in the show was always complicated, but showing how much vital work assistants do and how smart they are was a great element that's completely lost by basically saying that job is beneath someone like Donna. I would have liked to see Donna actually take control of her own destiny and work her way up. Let her confront that she gave up her education for a man, and then got a new start and built a life for herself but maybe allowed herself to stagnate a little for another man. You can still have the conflict between Josh and Donna without Donna unfairly resenting Josh, and it would actually make his feeling betrayed more personal.

Josh is another one who's handled relatively well, but I still think they missed some of the complexities of the character. Testosterone poisoned Josh test-driving a hummer and destroying a prius is funny, but it's a bit too much. Josh isn't that kind of a buffoon. He just falls down a lot. Josh being the one to say the president invoking the 25th was a mistake makes sense in some ways, but I think it's the first example of Josh being written as a little too cold and calculating. He's just... not very nice sometimes. He always had moments where he was a jerk, but it's more than that, somehow. To this end, the Dotty Baker storyline at the convention makes me furious. I honestly believe Josh would suggest leaking Dotty's mental health history in that moment, because he's desperate to win, but he would feel like shit about it later. There's a really interesting story there, but they don't tell it! They just forgot that he has PTSD. Which is funny, because a lot of what's off about him in those seasons could be explained by him ditching therapy when he starts the Santos campaign and his mental health subsequently deteriorating. He's also written as more of a screw-up. Not making him chief of staff makes sense if Leo wanted him to be free to go get the next guy (which would be in-character for Leo!) but it's not really explained and again, follows an episode of him and Toby acting like idiots for no reason, contributing to a larger pattern of Josh's competence being downplayed. He does have moments of competence too, though, so this might just be my memory failing me here. I don't like how he's written vis-a-vis Donna when they finally get together because whether he's ready to commit or not seems to change based on the scene. His loyalty to and love for the other characters gets lost a lot when he spends less time with them which is an issue because that's central to his personality.

Leo is just... mean. He is mean to Josh and basically everybody else in season 5. I get the idea is he's stressed because Bartlet is checked out but it really just doesn't feel like Leo. And then his fight with Bartlet. Again it seems like they understood one aspect of Leo, that he's intimidating and takes his role seriously, and just... missed his fun-loving human side and a lot of his complexities. I mean, bringing in Angela to do secret polling numbers... what even was that? I also think the cast shakeup in season 6 was a mistake. There wasn't much to do with Leo once he left the White House. Making him Santos's running mate doesn't make a lot of sense, except on an emotional level for Josh. Santos agreeing to that is... strange. Leo has never held elected office. He was Secretary of Labor, but aside from that his entire career has been as a staffer or in the private sector. He has recent scandals related to both his history of addiction (and he was using drugs while in the cabinet, so it's not just a personal thing) and Bartlet's MS, which you'd think the Democratic Party would want to distance themselves from as much as possible. He's recently had a serious heart attack and left his position a chief of staff as a result. Leo gets some fun stories as a candidate and he's much better than he was in season 5, but it's kind of a mess.

Toby... oh, Toby. Obviously the main thing is the leak storyline that never happened, but there's also everything else. Toby being an absent father does not fit with season 4 at all. I'm constantly baffled by that decision. Toby's desire to play more of a policy role in season 5 before Will jumps ship is interesting mostly because Toby was already doing that. Obviously his focus is communications but he was always part of policy meetings and advised the president directly on issues. Maybe the writers were basing his role more on what communications directors really did in the administrations they had experience with, I don't know, but they needed to stay consistent with Toby's job in the world of the show. And like everyone else he just... gets mean. He has these doom-and-gloom lines that make no sense (like his reaction to Vinick's announcement). He becomes so dark and angry. His anger at Josh makes no sense because all he'd done was belittle Santos as a candidate and insist he had no chance of winning, and then he got angry that Josh didn't invite him along? Also, before Bartlet, Toby had literally never won an election, because he picked candidates based on principles and refused to compromise. So Toby reacting that way to Santos is... odd. I'm not saying he needed to be onboard right away, but he should be the last person making the electability argument, or at the very least he should bring up his experience and discuss whether Democrats can afford to lose. The key to Toby, which they seemed to miss, is that his prickliness comes from a deep-seated belief that the world can be better than it is. Everyone and everything is constantly letting Toby down. The writers just didn't seem that interested in the character by season 7.

And what really, really gets me, is the actors definitely knew the characters better than this. I don't think they were given enough input. When I watch the episodes Bradley Whitford wrote, characterization-wise it feels like the old days. It's like they're back all of a sudden.

[firemanwhenthefloodsrollback]

side character deaths in buffy

I've been thinking a lot recently about death in buffy, mainly inspired by Help and everything that has to say to us about avoiding, accepting and understanding death

obviously the main characters' deaths are heartbreaking, because they're written to be heartbreaking and break our relationships with characters we love and know well. buffy (twice), angel, spike, joyce, tara, anya, and all the many alternate universe and dream vision deaths that kill the main characters rip my heart out of my chest for obvious reasons. but today I've been thinking more about the deaths of people we didn't know that well and whose deaths we watch without knowing them well. so I'm gonna talk about some of those cause it's my blog and you can't stop me.

(for the purposes of this post I'm counting main characters as anyone who was in the credits, with the addition of joyce because come on)

Deputy Mayor Allan Finch/Warren in Bad Girls and Villains

These two deaths both make you gasp for the same reason - they're sudden, physically icky (warren has the edge here with the flaying but the dark blood and death rattle for allan is also horrible to watch) and while we don't have a lot of positive feelings for the victim, we gasp because of what it means for the murderers and how we suddenly realised this season is going to get darker than we thought. faith and willow both spend the rest of their time on the show dealing with the consequences of these deaths and the audience knows in the moment they happen what it has to mean for the main characters. we want to save faith and willow from the consequences of having done this. just like faith, we're confused in the dark when a figure comes towards the slayers and we don't realise what's happening immediately, and with willow we've been watching her friends approach through the forest the whole time she's giving her evil speech thinking they have to be in time to stop her because no way would the writers let willow torture a man to death on screen. If warren or the deputy mayor had died because of a demon or accident we probably wouldn't have noticed (in the deputy mayor's case) or we'd have actively applauded (I rly wanted to watch warren die).

Jesse in The Harvest

I'm guilty of forgetting about Jesse (and so is the buffy writers room when they fail to mention him for seven years) but killing off a character who looked all set to become a scooby in the pilot and then making his best friend dust him as a vampire was both shocking and showed us a lot of the issues the show would go on to consider in miniature, right at the start. we've had campy vampires running around and wisecracking, we've had vampires being cool and edgy, the master being a total ham, but then we suddenly have to watch xander grapple with the idea that vampires are more than strangers in graveyards, they're the people you knew with yellow eyes and no soul, they can talk to you with all their childhood memories of you intact. season one might do a lot of floppy cardboard monsters but Jesse's death tells us they fully intend to Go There with the horrifying psychological implications of what vampires can do to you.

Jenny Calendar and Kendra Young in Passion and Becoming

I think of these deaths together because they were both characters that we half-knew and thought we'd get to know more. they were both characters who we felt could have gone on to be in the credits, have their own plots, and had a lot left to explore on the show. having two slayers in town could have been interesting (and would go on to be interesting in season three) and as well as her love story with Giles, we'd just had the veil pulled back about Jenny's heritage and reason for coming to Sunnydale - so both of these deaths were in the horrible sweet spot of having got to know the characters more than someone like Jesse, but not feeling 'done' with them yet. they were both killed by vampires who didn't even feed on them, by neck injuries that weren't bites by 'big bad' vampires who were really after someone else. after their deaths they both set more in motion and had long thematic afterlives - we think about Kendra when faith is called, and when we meet the potentials, and Jenny gives us the soul curse and gets willow started casting spells. Kendra definitely deserved more remembering than she got, and in a world where Joss Whedon had more time for Black characters I like to think we'd have got more of her and Mr Pointy.

the normal teens buffy couldn't save

before I started writing this post, I knew this was where we were going to end up.

(Jonathan maybe doesn't totally count here but I did because his final lines made me so sad)

characters who chose to join a battle between good and evil and died as part of that fight break my heart, but at least with Jenny and Kendra they knew at least partly what they were signing up for. Larry and Harmony we knew enough to have compassion for, and even when they were mean they were mean in regular school kid ways rather than big bad evil ways. I went to school with all of these people and probably so did everyone else.

Larry and Harmony died on graduation day when they were meant to be becoming adults under posters that said 'the future is ours' - Larry was newly out as gay and Harmony was about to get out from under the popular girls and maybe become a person who could stand on her own two feet, and Buffy could have helped them if there'd been less murder and death going on everywhere around them. harmony as a screaming blonde teen was exactly the type of victim buffy saves ten times an episode in alleys outside the bronze. Jonathan had more of an arc but at the end, back in high school after making an optimistic, bittersweet speech about coming to terms with high school and being optimistic about the rest of his life, leaving behind Andrew and Warren's bitter obsessive revenge of the nerds fantasies.

and Cassie, my heartbreaking queen, the one that gets me more than anyone that I wrote about a lot yesterday, knew what was coming and that no one could save her, and all the things she listed that she knew she'd miss were teenage coming of age things. she wanted to go backpacking, attend college, go to a dance with a boy, and fall in love one day. the whole of Help, she's considering the rites of passage she won't get to do, and in her therapy sessions Buffy tries to inspire her to want to go to college or join the french foreign legion. for buffy, saving Cassie means giving her a future. we haven't met the potentials or heard the word potential yet in Help but this episode is all about potential, and Buffy's attempts to save a life meaning safeguarding someone's potential and right to grow up.

[nanaminokanojo]

Play the Game | Nanami Kento X You | Part 3/8

CHARACTERS: Nanami Kento X You (fem!reader | PLEASE READ THE NOTES BELOW*) | Gojo Satoru | Geto Suguru | Shoko Ieiri | Utahime Iori | other JJK Characters CHAPTER COUNT: 3/8 WORD COUNT: 4,000+ GENRE: romance | fluff | slight angst | eventual smut | ooc depictions | female reader with described appearance* | modern au | rich people au | aged up characters CHAPTER TRIGGER WARNING: profanity | age gap | strong/mature/suggestive language | mentions of murder/crime/dying | mentions and use of drugs SPOILERS: n/a

collection masterlist

one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight

"Play the Game" Masterlist

"Do you remember the last time I was in your car?"

The hitch immediately started with that one question. It seemed innocent enough with the way you said it in nonchalance while you let your eyes roam the ivory interior of the Lexus. The two of you were only halfway out of the highway when you asked out of the blue, ultimately pissing Nanami off.

At the reminder, his knuckles immediately turned bone white on the steering wheel, his expressions turning dark as he glanced at you, mouth set in a thin line.

He couldn't remember a darker time in his life than watching you almost die from the rear view mirror of his car as you lay shivering on the backseat, unresponsive even if he struggled to both drive, not to crash and keep you conscious. The glassy look about your blue eyes and the way your pupils had blown up to more than twice their size making him shiver. It was safe to say it scarred him for life.

It was a day like any other. He had just gotten off work after a long day at the court, a mix of sadness and elation coursing through him after winning the case for a teenage girl who was brutally murdered. He finally put the man responsible for it in jail for good. It felt good to see the relief on the faces of the grieving parents; to finally put an end to the daily misery they have to go through, having to be reminded of what has become of their daughter.

But as he was resting in his study, a damp towel draped over his tired eyes and throbbing head, his phone suddenly rang. It wasn't yet 10 o'clock in the evening so he opted to answer it, surprised when he saw your name on the screen. You never really called, and the last time you did, it didn't bode well.

"Hello?"

"Suguru..." came your hoarse voice from the other end of the line, your shallow breaths and wheezes evident in each syllable followed by the sound of faintly splashing water.

"You've reached the wrong person, sweetheart," he muttered, reminding him just how Geto was your favorite among Gojo's friends. He did not resent that, but to say he wasn't the tiniest bit jealous was a lie.

Nanami called your name several times but there was no response, just loud rustling and what seemed to be the device falling on the floor with an echo.

"I fucked up big time," you managed to choke out when you spoke again, your tone slurred, and you seemed to be having a difficult time speaking.

"Where are you?"

"I n-need you... p-please..."

"What's going on?" Nanami was already on his feet, dashing out of the study and picking up his keys, still coaxing you to respond when he heard a ding on his phone. You managed to send your location but you weren't speaking anymore.

He was not religious, probably did not believe in a higher being, but as he drove towards your location, thankfully only half a mile away to the suburbs, he found himself fervently praying for your safety.

When he finally got to the address, he found a modernistic structure, a house, and there seemed to be a party going on. He saw some familiar faces, the gallery manager from the previous exhibit of your recent collection and some art connoisseurs he recognized from the same event.

He barged into the house, being handed a champagne flute the moment he entered, everyone welcoming him but he didn't see your face among the people. He refused, asking instead where you were, sprinting up the stairs in large strides when he was told you went upstairs with some people.

Nanami pretty much kicked every door open until he finally found you in one of the upstairs bathroom. He thought his knees would give out as his heart literally stopped at the sight before him.

There, on the half-filled bathtub was you, soaked to your chest. Your white hair was matted over your forehead while the tips floated on the water. You turned your head when you heard him enter, revealing bloodshot eyes, your lips blue and you looked like you didn't have any blood left with your almost greyish pallor.

Hurriedly, he took you out of the tub, carrying you downstairs much to the curiosity of the guests. "You will be okay. Stay with me," he kept telling you.

Despite your state, you managed to smile, tears springing from your eyes. "Nanamin..." you said weakly, making his heart swell that you were at least happy to see him.

He seriously thought you were going to die, but apparently, you did not necessarily overdose on the cocaine you had taken in as he would later find out from the doctors themselves. You had a bad trip and had to be weaned off the substance for the next twenty four hours.

"Are you drug dependent?" he asked when he picked you up from the hospital, opting not to tell Gojo about the matter until he got his answers.

"You won't tell Satoru, will you?" you asked.

"That depends on your answer and whether you're telling the truth," he told you gruffly, fighting hard not to be angry seeing as how fragile you looked. He hadn't slept and he felt as if his nerves were frayed.

You shook your head. "That's the first time. I promise you it won't happen again. I know it's stupid, but I was just curious."

"Your devil-may-care attitude will kill you."

"I know."

He didn't say anything more no matter how much he wanted to scold you and beat some sense into you. He never brought it up and neither did you. That was an unspoken agreement between the two of you. It was your secret which he will carry to his grave and for the last three years since then, nothing like it happened again. You voluntarily cut your ties with the people who were in that party and since then, you had been well.

"Don't remind me," he snapped at you, keeping his eyes on the road.

You’ve reached the shop that Utahime had instructed you to go to for your fitting, but before he could kill the engine, you spoke again.

"Come to think of it, I've never properly apologized for it, and I haven't said thank you enough for saving me that day."

Nanami shot you a sharp look. "I don't want to talk about it."

You sighed and held his hand as he was taking off his seatbelt. "I don't mean to make you angry, but I am sincerely apologizing for it. I am sorry because I put you through that."

Nanami held you by the wrist instead, meeting your gaze with a cold stare. "If you are, then I hope you also realized what a selfish person you are. You're right. You put me through hell. What could I have said to your brother if you died on me that night?"

You didn't say anything, appearing contrite for the first time.

"Gojo would have lost you. Your friends would have lost you." He sighed heavily, holding your hand properly, his expressions softening at how tiny yours looked in his. "I would have lost you."

At his last statement, you nodded and chuckled quietly. "I wouldn't refute that if it saves me. Still, I wanted you to know that it was a big deal for me." You smiled at him. "But that's not all. I could have lost you, but you're still here. So, thanks." And in a surprising turn of events which left him dumbstruck, you lifted both your hands and brushed your lips on his knuckles before disembarking from the car and skipping to the couturier's shop.

His mind wandered throughout the time he was being assisted into the suit that the bride- and groom-to-be had chosen for him to wear on their wedding. He had to give Gojo props for choosing well and suiting the ensemble’s piece to his preference. But he couldn’t quite concentrate on the task at hand when the scene in the car kept playing in his mind. The back of his hand still tingled where you kissed it.

All he wanted to do was see you, but you were a room away, also being pricked and pinned. He wanted nothing but for the fitting to be over so he can be with you again, regardless if it was just for the short drive going back to Gojo manor. Your course of action and words fueled something in him he thought never existed, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to see you, hear you, smell you, touch you. He wanted you, wanted to have you for himself come Gojo or high water. He already knew that, but he never felt as strongly as he did for you than at present because he also knew, that for the first time, you were being yourself and not playing games with him.

Nanami vaguely heard the tailor say something to him, but he didn’t quite catch it, but his image on the mirror suddenly became clearer as he was interrupted from his daydream. His brows furrowed together as he assessed what the man said, but before it could drag on for too long, his cluelessness, he said, “I’m sorry, you were saying?”

“Is the fit just right, Mr. Nanami?” the man asked again, expert eyes scanning over his figure.

“It’s perfect. Thank you,” Nanami stated hurriedly. He couldn’t care less about the suit, but it was already great. He didn’t see any reason to prolong the appointment. “Can I get changed now?”

“Certainly, sir,” the tailor said. “I will leave you to get dressed.”

He just nodded and carefully shed the suit off before changing back into his clothes, meticulously folding the sleeves of his shirt before he set out in search of you. He knocked on the door he was directed to, hearing music playing on the other side of the door along with some voices, one of which was yours.

The door opened and his eyes immediately met those cool blue ones through the mirror. You had your arms spread out to the sides as three women worked around you. “Done already?”

Nanami felt heat creeping up his neck as he averted his gaze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were far from finished.”

“Oh, shush. I need your opinion.”

He snorted. “Yeah. Like I know anything about this.” At odds to his words, he sat down.

“Your boyfriend is handsome,” the couturier commented with a flirtatious giggle as he sized Nanami up.

“I –”

He was about to protest when you cut him short and said, “Isn’t he?”

“That coming from the person who said she didn’t feel like drawing my face,” he said, feigning annoyance.

“Oh, baby. I can’t draw your face if its saves me.” You flashed him a seductive smile. “You’re too perfect.” You winked at him through the mirror while he just sat down and shook his head in amusement, picking up a magazine but not really reading through it. He just watched as you were directed like a doll to pose whichever way the stylist wanted and he could have sworn he has seen nothing more beautiful.

“Just another pin right here,” the couturier said flamboyantly, fastening this and that around your sides, “…and we’re done!” He clapped his hands, standing back as he admired his handiwork. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s fine,” you said, tilting your head to the side.

“Hmm,” Nanami butted in, closing the distance between him and you. He came closer behind you, silently ordering everyone else out of the room with a succinct jerk of his head before he stood there, eyes on your bare back. He placed both hands on either of your shoulders, towering over you.

You quietly observed what he was doing from the mirror, your expressions unchanging even when he traced your spine with his finger. His lips curled at the corners ever so slightly when you slightly jerked forward when he reached the small of your back, relishing the smoothness of your skin against his calloused digit. He lingered there, drawing circles as he met your gaze on your reflection.

“Isn’t this too low?” he asked, his breath hitting the shell of your right ear. “You’re attending a wedding anyway.”

“Oh?” You twirled around so that your back was to the mirror, while you looked over your shoulder to check what he was saying. The plunging style of the dusty rose gown dipped all the way to your waist. “You think so?” You looked up at him, noticing how his face was just inches away from you. “I think it’s okay.”

“Okay for everyone to see?”

At that, you smiled smugly at him. “And you don’t like that, do you, Nanamin?” you asked sultrily.

“I am your boyfriend after all,” he teased. “While I’d like to brag about you, it wouldn’t sit right with me to know everyone’s seeing what’s supposedly only for my eyes, now would it?”

“I never took you for the jealous – whoa!”

Without preamble, he wrapped a strong arm around you, pulling you close so that you were flush against his chest, a devious smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. He wasn’t even concealing his enjoyment anymore. He liked having you close like that, your intoxicating scent dominating his senses.

“Why did you say that to the stylist?” he asked, leaning closer and reveling at the fact that you were caught off guard, eyes wide in surprise.

“It’s easier to just say so than explain, isn’t it?” You leveled your bearing with his. “You didn’t do anything to disagree either.”

“First, you kiss me in front of your brother, flirt with me like it’s normal and say things like that. What are you playing at?”

“Is this one of your games?” you asked, returning his question to you the previous day. You reached up and cupped the side of his face, eyes lingering on his mouth. “Cause I’ll play, Kento.”

He has never quite thought of his name before, whether he liked it or not. It was given to him and he couldn't imagine being called anything else. But he has never liked the sound of it as much as he did when it was rolling out of your tongue. It brought out a strange feeling, spurring him on to give in to his desires instead of holding them back like he usually does with you.

It was all the encouragement he needed. Fuck everything, he thought, dipping his head lower to close the distance between the two of you until he was touching your lips. A quiet gasp left your mouth when he pressed his lips onto yours in an experimental touch, gentle as a zephyr. Your ocean eyes stared at him, taken aback when he pulled away but the dazed look you had was the same one that drew him back to you, landing pecks several times, each one lingering longer than the last.

"Are you teasing me, Nanamin?" you breathed out softly, the laughter in your voice dying out when he captured your lips, this time shutting you up for a good while, coaxing you to respond to his ministrations. He knew he won over you when he felt your fingers grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, pulling him closer, your chest rising and falling against his in shallow breaths, making his heart thrum wildly.

His senses were already heightened whenever you were in the same breathing space as he was, but it was always a different story when you were touching him. Hyper aware. There wasn't a better word that would describe how he felt at that moment. He seemed to see everything he wouldn't usually notice; hear his heart thrumming over every other thought in his brain; almost touch the tension in the air and feel that intense heat blooming from his chest outwards.

But at the same time, nothing mattered but the person in front of him, kissing him and making him feel all sorts of ways. He was a gonner and he knew it but he didn't want to fight it either.

You moaned into the kiss when he gently darted his tongue into your mouth, seducing yours in a fiery dance that united your breaths. His hands made their way up your shoulders, the feel of your soft skin awakening carnal thoughts, making him think of nothing but ways to own you, mark you until he was satisfied. He cupped your face in his large hands, holding you in place, unable to get enough of your taste and the sensations you gave him. They made him crave like a man starved and deprived and he wants to take, take, take.

By the time he pulled away, he was a panting mess, eyes closed as he leaned his forehead against yours, willing himself to calm down. He couldn't help the smile that graced his lips the moment he opened his eyes to find you flushed, lips swollen from his kisses. But that was short-lived when he heard a clinking sound on the side of his head and a wicked grin stretched over your mouth. When he followed the sound, he saw the keys to his car dangling on your fingers.

"What –"

You took a step back when he tried to reach for it, effectively holding it away from him. "Prestidigitation," you declared, sounding victorious. "I'm driving. No arguments."

Nanami sighed, his senses still fuzzy from your kiss and the sight of you whirling around in chiffon and taffeta. He just gave in to his affections for you in hopes of coming out the victor, but you still played him in his own game. "Fine. You win."

You stood on your toes and pecked him on the cheek, stepping off to the side to ring the bell for the shop staff. "I promise not to crash your car."

**

Nanami sat on the passenger side of the car, glancing at the fair-haired villain who stole his car keys, currently driving him to some surprise place of your choosing. He had protested when he noticed how you were going to the opposite way from the manor, taking the highway that led well away from the town. Thrice, he told you to turn back and for every reason he cited, you had a counterattack, not necessarily valid but enough grounds for you to get your way.

"I need to read through the case file and take down notes to make up for the time I'm missing at the firm," came his first excuse but you effectively shot that down by pointing at his briefcase neatly tucked at the backseat.

"Yeah, cause as anal as you are about your job, you don't keep spare copies in your car in cases of emergency."

He jerked on his seat at your comment. "Hey, I'm not anal about my job! I'm just being prudent."

You laughed at the way his voice was raised than usual. "No need to get defensive. Besides, Your initial hearing isn't going to be in two months and by the looks of it, you have everything almost done."

"How did you –"

"I saw them the first day you arrived." Shrugging, it was your turn to shoot him with an annoyed gaze. "You keep forgetting that I have photographic memory. I'm cursed to remember everything."

Truth was, he seemed to be forgetting whose sister you were, letting his guard down and kissing you the way he did. He knew he could have done more if he completely let go of his reins. You were just too tempting, too beautiful and brimming life and infinite galaxies in your eyes which devoured him and made him lose of all sense of time, space and just sense in general.

"Satoru will be looking for you," Nanami attempted for the second time which only earned him an imperious look from you. You said everything in that single action: one, that you didn't care and two, that he was behaving ludicrously.

For the final time, he tried to appeal with something which you would actually give a damn about. "Don't you want to spend time with your friends?"

"Seriously, Nanamin, they're the least of your problems. We're going camping tonight. Besides, they know –" You deliberately stopped talking, your ears turning red, evidently flustered.

"They know what?" he prompted, leaning forward to have a better look at your face to assess your mood.

But then you said, "You're distracting me."

"And you're being evasive."

"If you don't want to spend time with me, just say so." In an abrupt swerve which made his life flash before his eyes, you pulled over to the side of the road, letting go of the steering wheel after you killed the engine. "Drive us home then."

You motioned to remove your seat belt, but Nanami stopped you, shaking his head. Why anything never went right when he was dealing with you was beyond him. "That's not it at all."

"Then what?" you snapped.

Damn, he thought. If the two of you were already fighting the way you are at present, he couldn't imagine how things would be once you were in an actual relationship. Then again, maybe it was the confusion as to what was happening that was causing the unwarranted tension between you two.

He sighed. "You're just too erratic. I can't keep up."

"And you're too fucking vanilla!" you growled.

Nanami was appalled that you would say that same comment in such a way. Leveling his ire with yours, he spat, "That's rich coming from you. Didn't you date that Kamo kid?"

You were stunned at his citation of your former relationship, even more so at his childish attempt at spiting you. It was so atypical of him. "You..." You jabbed a finger at him, about to spit fire when you realized that he cared enough to notice. Your brows knit together. "How did you know about that?"

"You think I wouldn't notice that he's been following you around like a lovestruck puppy during last year's autumn festival?" Nanami scoffed, sneering. "A person like you with someone more boring than the vanilla you claim that I am?"

He was being petty, he knew it, too. The look on your face as you just ogled him in stunned silence says it all. It was as if you never expected him to ever retort the way he did. It was really unusual if he would say so himself since he never really indulged you enough to actually argue with you the way the two of you were doing at the moment.

Out of the blue, you burst out in a fit of giggles, the corners of your eyes watering. "Come to think of it, he acts more like an old man than you do..."

"You dare call me an old man?" He knew your argument was over, but he couldn't help but say it. There was an out of place sense of satisfaction that engaging you in a word joust gave him no matter how unintelligent and shallow it was about.

When you finally calmed down, you said, "I want you to have fun and have a sense of adventure for once. I swear I won't throw your dead body to the ocean."

His left eye twitched at your sentiment. "Well, if you put it that way..."

"Just say yes to me for once."

"I always say yes to you if you haven't noticed by now."

You snickered, starting the engine. "I want you to say yes to me now."

Nanami felt something tug at his chest. "Yes."

"Good." You leaned over and poked him on the cheek.

Nanami sat there, rolling down the window as you drove, letting lose and enjoying the scenery the car passed by on the way to the sea. For the first time in a long time, his face ached from smiling too much, unable to help it.

He knew it and he didn't care if he was doomed. He was in love with you, always have been and always will.

-end of part 3-

*I used “you” here, but since my character is Gojo’s little sister who is established to be his female clone for reasons essential to the plot, she possesses the same blue eyes and white hair. I did not exactly want to create an OC (although technically, I did by describing Y/N), but I opted for the best of both worlds in this fic, leaning more towards the literary aspect of it as opposed to it just being reader/you-oriented. I hope this isn’t iffy to anyone, and yeah, i’m not being exclusive or whatever.

Thank you so much for reading. Likes, comments and reblogs are deeply appreciated! Hope you enjoyed it.

© ORIGINAL WORK BY nanaminokanojo. CHARACTERS ARE INSPIRED BY GEGE AKUTAMI'S “JUJUTSU KAISEN.” [20210716]

PHOTO/IMAGE/GIF/FANART CREDITS TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

[one-boring-person]

Just A Babysitter. (Part Three)

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: theft, some blood imagery, some mentioned drug use, fluff (some)

Context: This part revolves around Michael's first night with the boys, which (Y/n) partakes in.

A/N: I felt like I should post this to make up for the short one I posted earlier, so enjoy!

Part One, Part Two , Part Four , Part Five , Part Six , Part Seven , Part Eight

A strong reek of motor oil hangs over us as we linger on the Boardwalk, waiting for Star to finally rejoin us, the boys restless again, though each for different reasons. None of them have said more than a few words to me since last night, though one of the things they did tell me is that I have to stay with them all night, which annoys me to no end. The silent treatment is also a little tedious and frustrating, but at least it gives me time to think without being interrupted by Paul's constant jokes and pranks, or David's weighted questions, not to mention Marko's sweet yet sometimes irritating habit of making comments in my ear about random people passing by. Out of all of them, the only one acting vaguely normal to me is Dwayne, who treats me with the same quiet friendliness he treats nearly everyone in the group.

"Isn't that her?" Marko suddenly speaks up, pointing to a spot not too far from us.

Following his line of sight, I manage to spot the half-vampire weaving through the crowd with a familiar brunette on her tail: Michael. The boy seems to have bought himself a new leather jacket, probably to appeal more to his intended audience of one, Star, sauntering along behind her with some confidence as they converse together amicably, laughing with one another in response to some joke I can't hear, but the others can. David's jaw seems to clench a bit as he watches them, Paul and Marko smirking at each other as if they know something we don't, Dwayne leaning back a bit to whisper something to Laddie, who is perched on the back of his motorcycle once more. He rode with me on the way up, but quickly swapped when Star told him to do so, though he was clearly a little reluctant to do as he was told.

"Let's go." The blonde leader commands us, expecting us to follow him as he kicks his bike into gear, allowing Marko and Paul to take the lead, followed by Dwayne and then me, though it is obvious by the way he instantly moves his bike next to mine that I won't be a major part of this conversation. Loudly, we pull up in front of Michael as he goes to help Star onto his red motorcycle, the brunette's eyes widening at our sudden appearance, flicking his gaze between us until it lands on me. I smile in greeting, sitting back on my own Triumph as David makes a show of asserting his dominance, trying not to show how much it bothers me.

"Where you going, Star?" The vampire questions, tone neutral for now, though it will likely become harsher very soon.

"For a ride." She responds, trying to turn her back on us, as I have many times in the past.

"Let's go." Michael says to her, voice quieter than it was last night, though this is likely just because he wants to impress the girl trying to get on his motorbike with him.

Obviously, David can't let this slide.

"Star." This time, his voice is laced with authority and suggestion, his icy blue eyes watching her pointedly.

A low laugh emanates from the boys as the half-vampire gives in, climbing onto David's motorcycle with him, but not after making a show of dragging her hand over his chest with her eyes fixed on mine. Rolling my eyes, I zip up my jacket again, knowing that we'll be taking the wild ride home tonight, just to show off.

"You know where Hudson's Bluff is, overlooking the Point?" David inquires, raising an eyebrow at Michael as a downcast expression makes its way onto his face.

"I can't beat your bike." Michael confesses, hands tightening nervously around the handlebars.

"You don't have to beat me, Michael. You just have to try and keep up." With that, he revs his engine and puts the motorcycle into drive, speeding off the Boardwalk and onto the beach with a startled cry from Star, followed swiftly by the others. I take off after them, leading the way for Michael to chase me, grunting when the impact with the beach winds me, reminding me that I need to get the suspension on my motorbike fixed. Behind me, I hear the tell tale sound of Michael hitting the sand, his bike quickly catching up to us as we hurtle over the beach towards the cave, Paul and Marko weaving in and out of my path as we continue on, exhilarated whoops leaving them as they ramp up the speed.

Despite the thrill, I ride the entire way with a grim expression on my face, knowing Michael is unlikely to survive the night without being encouraged to join the boys - and from the impression I get of him, I know he won't refuse their insistence. I briefly break the facade when Laddie calls to me under the peer, his voice high over the howling wind in my ears, reassuring him that I'm still here, as well as letting the others know I haven't run off from them again. A curse escapes me when I recognise the small ridge the boys enjoy springing off of looming up, my own bike often struggling to follow them over it. Determined not to be outdone by a newcomer, I put my foot on the gas and pop off the top of it, overtaking Paul and Dwayne with a loud roar of the engine, a dry smirk making its way onto my face when Paul protests loudly, revving his own engine so he can catch up again. As usual, this begins a small race between us, one which he will undoubtedly win, even though I try my best to out do him each time.

Sitting lower on the bike, I push the accelerator up again until it reaches its highest, a shriek of exhilaration finally leaving me at the pure speed that follows, the uneven ground beneath me causing the motorbike to leave the ground a few times. To my left, Paul calls out teasing encouragement, goading me on to push the limit again, though I can already see the edge of the cliff approaching, so to up the speed further would be suicide. He might be able to survive a trip off the edge, but I certainly won't, which is why I have to pull up short when I get in range of the precipice.

"One more win for me! What's the score now, like a hundred to zero?" The triumphant vampire floats as he stops closer to the edge, sending me a proud grin as I flip him off, breathless but smiling, too, my mood having brightened considerably.

"Shut up, Paul."

A laugh leaves us both before we're interrupted by Michael and David pulling up a little way away, the former skidding on his bike as he overshoots the turn, falling to the floor with a grunt. The latter smirks down at him, a chuckle threatening to escape his lips even as Star looks on with worry. Dismounting, the rest of us approach them, quickening our pace in alarm when Michael lunges for our leader, punching him straight across the face. Anger flares up in me at the newcomer's boldness, quickly joining in with the boys as they go to hold him back, only to stop when we see David's reaction, my eyebrow raising a little at the cunning smirk he is carrying.

"...just you!" I finally tune into what Michael is saying, rolling my eyes at his stupidity, hanging back behind the boys with Laddie as I try to stop myself from laughing.

"How far you willing to go, Michael?" David challenges the brunette, features sharpened in the harsh white light from the lighthouse just offshore.

Confused, Michael can only watch as we hide our bikes and make our way down onto the steps leading to the cave, following behind David as we enter the sunken hotel. Immediately, I head over to my usual spot in the corner: a dusty old armchair covered in my notebooks, comics and other useless trinkets I've picked up, or been given, over the years. Plonking myself down, I busy myself with one of the sketchbooks sitting on the arm, taking a pencil and starting a rough sketch of the hotel interior, one of many. Marko approaches me as David begins his spiel about the history of the hotel and that, a pigeon held gently in his hand, the other stroking it as carefully as possible, a small smile gracing his lips.

"What're you doing?" He asks me, leaning over me to see the page, chuckling a little when I lift it to my chest to hide it out of instinct.

"Drawing." I reply, the corners of my lips twitching up into a smile at Marko's eyeroll, sitting up to get a closer look at the pigeon, "May I?"

The young vampire's smile broadens and he nods, holding the pigeon out to me in offering, allowing me to run a finger over its soft head, the bird chirping as it wriggles a bit in his grip.

"Marko! Food!" David's voice suddenly interrupts us, drawing a small groan of irritation from the vampire in question.

"Want me to come with?" I offer, putting aside the sketchbook as I stand up, stumbling over a fallen comic.

"If you want to." He accepts, releasing the pigeon with a flurry of feathers as he and I climb back out of the cave and into the cooling night air.

"One bike, or two?" I muse, looking over at him in curiosity.

"Two, and we race there." Marko grins, heading over to the hiding spot where we keep them, wheeling his out and waiting for me to do the same.

"Oh, you're on. Where to?" I agree, swiftly accompanying him on the road and pulling on my gloves, shivering a little in the cool wind blowing up from the sea.

"The Chinese place." He decides, starting his engine.

"Sure. On the count of three?" I do the same, adjusting my grip on the handlebars as I prepare myself to race.

"Sure."

"One..." I begin, sitting lower in the seat.

"Two..." He continues, sending a smirk over at me as he revs the engine loudly.

"Thr-" I start to finish, only to catch a mouthful of dust as Marko takes off, drawing a protest from me. In seconds, I've recovered from the shock, thundering after him at the highest speed I'll risk this close to the edge of the cliff, quickly catching up to him with my minorly faster bike. On sand, the Triumph struggles to keep up with their lighter motorctcles, but on roads? Now that's a fight I can win.

Cries of excitement leave us, mingling with the growling of the engines, both of us yelling friendly insults at each other as we turn corners and weave in and out of the thin traffic, my motorbike quickly taking a good position a little way ahead of him. Pride in the vehicle fills me, though I don't let myself get arrogant, upping the speed once more in order to stay ahead, lowering myself in the seat to increase my aerodynamic stance, grinning deliriously to myself as the wind rushes through my hair and clothes, only adding to the exhilaration. Around me, the few other road users call out words of protest and anger at my reckless driving, one car even swerving completely to avoid me when I accidentally take up a place on the wrong side of the road. By the time the lights of Santa Carla come into view, my heartbeat is already at it's highest, tears forming in my eyes at the barrage of air attacking them.

Luckily, the Chinese is just outside the beach town, so there's no need for me to adjust my speed to a pedestrian friendly one when I approach the restaurant, the bike even skidding as I pull up in the parking lot outside, the brakes complaining at the sharp application even as a mother and daughter do the same, the former mentioning something about unruly teens before directing her ten year old away from me. I'm pleased to see that I'm the first here, glad that I've finally won a race against one of the boys after all these years of trying, a burst of pride and triumph filling me as I watch Marko enter the area a few minutes later, a large grin on his face.

"Damn, that bike is fast." The young vampire compliments, reaching out to clap me on the shoulder as he comes to a halt beside me. Climbing off, we make our way into the takeaway restaurant, Marko slinging his arm around my shoulders affectionately as we go, giving me a pointed look when a blush creeps onto my cheeks, his sweet scent clouding my nose briefly until we enter the restaurant itself, at which point all I can smell is food, which makes me hungry.

Going to the front, we order a few things, mostly rice and noodles, and wait for them to make it up. As we do so, I lean up to whisper in his ear.

"We paying for this one, or?"

"I don't know, should we?" Comes the reply, both of us exchanging a secretive glance, "How fast do you feel tonight?"

A mischievous grin makes its way onto my face at his words, my pulse instantly picking up at the idea.

"Very."

"Good." He responds, smirking at me.

For a couple more minutes, we wait for them to prepare the food, before going up to collect it with a neutral expression on our faces. I reach into my pocket for one of the fake notes we tend to carry around, just as a decoy, handing it to the poor worker with a polite smile, taking the food and leaving the restaurant with some speed. As we emerge, we break into a sprint, racing to our bikes and quickly starting them up as the owner bursts through the doors, screaming at us to stop. Giggling to ourselves, we speed off, the food secure on the back of our bikes, trying to get as far away from there as we can before the police are called on us, though it is very unlikely that they will catch us. Triumphant laughs and calls escape us as we hurtle down the road, keeping an eye on our tails to make sure we're not followed, and that the food is still there, making our way home with considerable speed, once again avoiding all the traffic possible. Dust flies up around us as we turn onto the smaller road leading up to the Bluff, a surprised yelp erupting from my lips when my motorbike skids on the dirt, nearly sending me flying over the handlebars, though I manage to hold on with as much strength as I can muster. Just ahead of me,  Marko looks back to see if I'm still in one piece, his momentary worry fading into amusement at the look on my face, my pulse having picked up considerably from my near-accident. As we approach the head of the cliff, his smirk still hasn't faded, it has only grown, finding it funny that the traction on the bike very nearly got me badly injured. Upon stopping, he starts his small comments, pestering me as we make our way back down into the cave.

"Feeding time! Come get it, boys." The vampire announces, chucking the boxes of takeaway at the others before handing me a pot of noodles, allowing me to retake my seat in the corner.

"Chinese. Good choice." David acknowledges, taking two from Marko and opening the first, offering it to Michael, who is sat across from his wheelchair. The brunette declines, to which David responds with his usual wit, "You don't like rice? Tell me, Michael, how can a billion Chinese people be wrong? Come on."

The others laugh at David's words as Michael grudgingly takes the pot, starting to eat as the rest of us do, looking up with confusion when David begins to play his first trick.

"How are those maggots?" He asks nonchalantly, looking inquiringly at his target. Instantly, I know he's decided to use his mind tricks.

When Michael fails to reply, David tries again.

"Maggots, Michael, you're eating maggots. How do they taste?"

At his words, Michael looks back down at his food, quickly throwing it on the floor and spitting the contents of his mouth at it, trying to clean it out. A laugh erupts from the coven of vampires at the brunette's expense, a dry smirk creeping onto my face at the confused expression on Michael's, Star scolding them a little.

"Sorry, no hard feelings, huh?" David apologises, picking at the pot of noodles in his own gloved hands, "You like noodles?"

"They're worms..." Michael states, rolling his eyes a little at the joke.

"What do you mean they're worms?" David says, shovelling a few noodles into his mouth in his usual messy fashion, returning his icy blue gaze back to Michael as he chews, "They're only noodles, Michael."

In disbelief, Michael snatches the pot away from him, picking some up with the chopsticks to inspect them, looking incredulous as they turn out to be inanimate, rather than alive. Another laugh escapes the group until Star butts in from her position a little way behind them.

"Leave him alone."

I try to fight the eyeroll that threatens to leave me, biting my lip when I see David call Marko over, whispering something in his ear. My eyes follow the young vampire as he goes to fetch the familiar jewelled bottle for his leader, handing it to him almost reverently. Having been given it, David opens it and takes a sip, shuddering at the metallic taste that accompanies it, before offering it to Michael.

"Drink, Michael, be one of us." The vampire encourages, smirking a bit at the brunette as he takes it, sniffing it. By now, Star has moved to stand behind him, looking nervous as hell, even though Michael's choice will not affect her in any way.

"You don't have to," She argues, speaking directly into his ear, "It's blood."

Michael scoffs, giving her a quick "Yeah, sure" as the boys start to chant his name, encouraging him to drink, whooping and cheering when he does, taking a long drag from the bottle before pulling away.

"BRAVO!" David calls out, ordering Marko to start pushing him around in the wheelchair as the others start to get excited, Paul swiftly lighting what is probably his fourth joint of the night to add to his buzzed state, Dwayne carrying a smile as he parades around with them. Sighing, I busy myself in my pot of food, picking up my sketchbook once more and carrying on with my previous drawing, knowing this will be a boy's night, preparing myself for yet more babysitting duties.

The hours drag on, the boys becoming more and more active as the night wears on, each of them drinking huge amounts of alcohol and smoking large amounts of cannabis and tobacco, ignoring the fact that Star and Laddie are trying to sleep in their beds. The former eventually manages this, but the latter struggles, coming over to me after around two hours to sit with me, watching the boys mess around, as well as me draw, holding himself close to me as if to keep himself safe - he might like the boys, but his trust in them is yet to become a steady thing. Somehow, he drifts off in my arms, causing me to stop sketching and hold him instead, rocking him a little to keep him asleep, which is where the boys find me when they finally decide to take the party elsewhere.

"We're going to the bridge, want to come?" Paul announces, shooting me a guilty look when I hush him, gesturing to the sleeping child in my arms.

"Sure, let me drop this one off in his bed first, then I'll be up." I agree, carefully standing and taking Laddie over to the cot the boys (I) prepared for him when they first came to us, tucking him in before stepping over to leave the cave, following the boys up and out.

As I emerge, I decide to myself that I don't want to ride by myself, so I go over to Paul with obvious intent, smiling thankfully at him when he lets me take a seat behind him. Doing so, I wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tightly when he and the rest of them take off, riding in formation with David at the front, though only after he gives me an odd look, most likely expecting me to ask him for a ride, even though he hasn't said more than two words to me all night.

The journey to the bridge isn't long, especially not at the speed the boys are going at, a small sense of regret welling up in me at Paul's particularly reckless driving, wishing I'd chosen someone safer instead. He seems happy enough that I chose him, though, so I sit tight and deal with it, wondering who'll take me home after this little show the boys have planned. As we approach, I'm quick to get off and pull off the gloves I forgot to remove earlier, wiping my sticky hands on my jeans so they won't slip off the bars of the bridge. As Paul dismounts, he throws himself onto my back, almost pushing me over with his sudden weight, a giggle escaping him as I grunt in surprise, my hands flying to grasp at the arms he has thrown around my neck.

"Jesus, Paul, you're heavy as hell!" I protest, wriggling out from underneath him as we step onto the train tracks running across the bridge.

"Hey, I'm not that weighty!" He laughs, quieting when Michael speaks up.

"What's going on?" He asks David, the platinum blonde throwing an arm around his shoulders.

"Michael wants to know what's going on." The boys chuckle at his words, though I don't, still trying my best to brace my muscles in preparation for the hang that will soon follow, "Marko, what's going on?"

David's voice is laced with sarcasm and heavy emphasis, drawing yet another laugh from the group.

"I don't know, what's going on, Paul?" Marko replies, grinning behind Dwayne's shoulder at us.

"Who wants to know?" Paul inquires, laughing with us as I finally crack a smile, their teasing amusing to me as it always has been.

"Michael wants to know!" Marko confirms again, stepping up onto the edge of the bridge as we come to a halt in the centre.

"I think we should tell Michael what's going on." David says suggestively, giving Marko a pointed look.

With one last smirk, Marko steps off the edge, looking down as he goes.

"Bombs awayyyyyy..." His voice trails off as he drops, as if he's fallen to the bottom, though I know full well he hasn't.

Paul goes next, letting out one of his odd noises as he goes. Dwayne follows, and then David steps up as if he's forgotten I'm here.

"Come with us, Michael." He says before stepping off as well, the brunette turning to me with a worried expression. I can only shrug as I step up, dropping off the edge with a wry smile.

For a second, I feel weightless, before I feel an arm grab hold of me, pulling me against their chest. Instinctively, I wrap my own arms around their neck, looking up at them to find David smirking down at me. Thanking him, I allow him to use his superior strength to lift me up a little, letting me grab hold of an overhanging bar, only releasing me when I have a firm, comfortable grip on it. I laugh nervously as I start to swing with the others, trying to avoid Marko and Paul as they take part in their usual kicking antics, Dwayne grinning across at me widely.

"Michael Emerson! Come on down!" David taunts up at Michael as the brunette finally realises we're all safe (ish), blue eyes piercing into each other.

Finally, he decides to join us, the rest of us greeting him with cheer of our own, allowing ourselves to swing for a little while before I hear the tell tale sounds of a train approaching, and not a light one, either. Adjusting my grip on the cold bar, I try to roll my cramping muscles a bit in time for the heavy vehicle to pass overhead, the metal structure of the bridge shaking under its weight, our bodies vibrating with the shuddering surface above us. Around me, the boys - barring Michael - whoop and cry out in exhilaration, their muscles much more capable of holding on than our human ones, their words distorted under the hooting and chugging of the engine above us, though it is clear when David yells at Michael to hold on. A quiet voice in the back of my head wants to speak up and ask what else he's supposed to do, but I ignore it, instead focusing on the hanging vampires surrounding me, grinning when Paul decides he's going to be the first to go. I don't catch what he says as he allows his hand to slip from the bar, crying out in mock terror as the fog swallows his lanky body, Michael's eyes widening in panic as his newfound friend meets his apparent demise. Marko goes next, though once again, I don't quite hear him as he opens his mouth to speak, my concentration now turning to the aching in my arms, my muscles starting to shake violently as they struggle to hold my body weight up. Sweat beads on my forehead despite the icy air around us, my hands becoming clammy and slippery around the smooth bar in their grip, my palms sliding on the metal, dangerously. I don't notice Dwayne has dropped until he's gone, the dark haired vampire shooting me a reassuring look as he vanishes into the mist. On my other side, I hear David shouting at Michael again, his voice just audible over the pounding above us.

"Michael, you're one of us! Let go!" The vampire encourages, most likely giving the brunette one of his signature grins.

"And do what?!" Michael calls back, incredulously, terror evident in his eyes. At this point, the adrenaline in me at the thought of falling, voluntarily, has made my pulse spike, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I watch David let go, the black-clad vampire falling into the fog in silence, as usual.

"DAVID!" Michael screams after him, eyes wide and panic-stricken.

The train finally passes by, the new silence eerie until the familiar whoops and cries of the boys below us start to float up from the mist, once more reassuring me. Across from me, Michael tries one last time to pull himself up onto the bridge, before he looks at me.

"What do we do?" He questions, voice laced with fear.

"Let go." I confirm, giving him the most ressuring look I can, though I know it's still daunting to him, and me, even if I have done this many times before, "On three, ok?"

He nods, wincing as his muscles start to hurt him, just as mine are.

"One..." I start, eyeing him carefully, "Two..."

As I reach this, he let's out a groan of terror, fixing his eyes on me.

"Three..." I finish, allowing my hands to release their grip on the bar as I say this, the weightlessness of the freezing air around me only adding to the adrenaline racing through me, a giddy shriek of excitement ripping from my throat as we fall. Spreading my arms, I use them to slow the descent, knowing one of the boys will catch me, Michael unaware of this fact as he screams the whole way down, clearly not enjoying the experience at all. Eventually, they cut out; by which time I've stopped paying attention to him, relishing in the sensation of the wind howling around my body as it tumbles through it, the cold barely registering in my mind.

Just as I start to think the boys will let me fall to my death, I feel my body suddenly stop, a pair of strong arms halting me in my path, the impact drawing a grunt from me as the air is knocked from my lungs.

"Gotcha, Princess." Dwayne's familiar voice sounds in my ear as he pulls me into his chest, smiling gently down at me as the floating vampire notices my exhausted state.

"Thanks, Dwayne..." I murmur, trying to recover from the fall as best I can, a breathless laugh leaving me when he grins in response.

"Of course."

Panting a bit, I allow my head to fall into his chest, my arms looping around his neck so I can hold on with more safety, breathing in his familiar scent: motor oil, dust and cologne, the dark haired vampire often preferring not to reek of his meal's blood when around other people. Sighing, I let myself relax as I feel the air around me shift, signalling Dwayne's ascent to the bridge, my attention now fully on holding onto the tall vampire as I try my hardest not to give in to my sudden exhaustion. I barely notice as he takes me to his motorcycle, the boys all joking around us, David carrying Michael's limp body briefly before passing it on to Marko, who looks swamped by the taller boy's frame, the blonde rolling his eyes when his burden lets out a small groan in his blacked-out state, sweat still coating his pale brow. Gently, Dwayne props me up on his bike, climbing on in front of me and allowing me to wrap my arms around his waist, chuckling when I squeeze his muscular torso in thanks again. Energy dwindling, I feel my head fall forwards onto his shoulder, grunting when the motorcycle sparks into gear, the sudden noise jolting me briefly from my trance-like state, causing me to tighten my grip a little, hoping to secure myself better.

Dwayne drives slowly, Marko doing the same beside us as he provides a taxi service for the passed-out Michael, the two vampires conversing as they ride, voices only just audible to my human hearing, though I can barely make out what they're saying. My eyes remain fixed on the crimson tail lights of our companions a little way away, the bright dots bouncing and jolting as the corresponding bikes go over uneven parts of the ground below them, the two drivers calling out encouragement at each other, most likely racing one another. A smile forms on my lips at the sight of them, even if I can't technically see them, my former anger at them mostly forgotten for the minute; instead, I'm just happy to be with them, realising how grateful I am to them after all they've done for me. With this in mind, I decide to pay a visit to Santa Carla tomorrow night, whilst they're feeding, to think up some way to repay them.

Just as I figure this out, I feel Dwayne's motorcycle come to a halt, meaning we've reached home, a relieve sigh escaping me at the prospect of finally going to bed after this long night. As the engines cut out around me, I feel another pair of arms lift me up off the bike, cradling me against their chest as they start to move with me. A quick glance up confirms this person to be David, the blonde vampire catching my eye with a soft smile as he takes me down into the cave, the rest of the boys - except Marko, who has gone to drop off Michael and his motorcycle - trailing along behind him, both equally as glad as I am that their leader finally forgave me. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face in his jacket, enjoying the smell that lingers around him, even if it does have the same sour odour I've come to associate with blood, the fabric of the garment making a comfortable headrest for me.

Minutes later, the feeling of my jacket and boots being tugged off makes it's way known, before quickly being replaced with the relieving sensation of a bed below me. Cracking my eyes back open again, I notice the boys standing around me, an unsure look on Paul's face as he twitches, itching to join me, the other two giving me more intent stares. I lift my arms up, gesturing for them to join me in the large bed, even if it is only for an hour or so, sighing happily when they all slip in beside me, David swiftly pulling me to lay in the crook of his arm, my head on his chest, whilst Dwayne moves to my other side, resting his head on my shoulder contentedly. Paul, as always, takes up his place in between my legs, placing his head on my abdomen as his hands move to hold my hips, pulling them closer to him as he lets out a groan of appreciation. Hazily, I feel a blush start to creep into my face as David starts to caress my hair, Dwayne tracing his fingers up and down my side comfortingly as Paul continues to rub circles into the skin of my hips, the attention from them all making me rethink my former inhibitions.

I fall asleep to the reassuring motions of the boys' affection, feeling as safe as I've ever been.

Part Four

[coping-via-clint-eastwood]

What Happens at a Lake - Philo Beddoe x Reader

Requested by @starryfallows

(A/N: THIS IS THE LONGEST FIC I HAVE EVER WRITTEN!!! FOUR AND A HALF THOUSAND WORDS!!!!!! I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF!!!!!!

All are by @clinteastwood-blog

Yeah sooo I’m posting it here anyway, even though it’s REALLY long. Sorry I couldn’t put the two black and white set photos, because for SOME REASON, Tumblr is telling me that I’ve reached the ten image limit, when there’s ONLY half of that! Seven with those other two! Ugh! Anyway, this is indeed the longest fic I have ever written, and I am honoured and proud that it’s a Clint fic, requested by someone on Tumblr. I love you all.

Update: @believerindaydreams taught me how to put keep reading :D thank you very much 🙏)

It took three months for Philo's bones to heal and get back to full strength. Since his main job as a car repairman really depended on both his arms having their full strength, and his other job as a lorry driver did require some strength to pull the levers in the vehicle, you had been working for twelve hours everyday at the Palomino, where you were a pianist. It was a relief when Orville returned from his nurse one month in, so you could work for just nine hours. You returned to your usual eight hours only when Philo had fully healed. During those three months, Philo and Clyde remained in the audience for you mr twelve hours everyday anyway, and you gladly let them be there - better to listen to your playing than to staying at home and listen to ma pestering him about his idleness.

It was one evening two months after Philo was back in business. Philo, Orville and you were around the dinner table, having almost finished dining. Clyde was off monkeying around somewhere and ma had finished earlier and gone to another part of the house, where she was likely griping to herself again about something or other.

"You know, we haven't done anything to celebrate," you said, looking around at them.

The boys looked at each other in question, confused as to what you were talking about and surprised at this sudden and random vocalisation. They then turned back to you. "Celebrate...?" Philo trailed off, his voice sweet and adorable.

"Your retirement," you said lanconically.

"Only from brawling! I'm still a lorry driver and car repairman!" he argued, leaning towards you slightly.

"Yeah but still. It calls for some celebration." You were still calm, because you knew that Philo was not trying to pick a fight. This was just how he always was.

"Okay...what did you have in mind?" There. He was as relaxed as if nothing had happened.

"We could go to a lake again. One with a cabin that we can rent for an indefinite period of time."

A smile immediately formed on his face. "That sounds great." He turned his head to look back at Orville.

"Yeah," Orville said, nodding, "yeah, we can do that." Philo faced you again.

"Alright! So, when do you guys wanna leave?" you piped up cheerily.

"Well, you're the one who suggested it. You decide," Philo told you.

"Can we leave tomorrow?" Your eyes darted to and from theirs.

"Oh. Sure," Philo answered.

"Cool with me," Orville agreed. You grinned at them.

When Philo and you were alone in your shared bedroom that night, he backed you up against the wall, his hands on either side of your head, the rest of his body blocking any way of escape, almost pressing against yours, and his face very close to yours. You were hyperventilating, yet you could not avert your eyes and resist staring into those gorgeous green gazers. "That was a very good idea of yours." Oh hell - he was deliberately making his voice deeper and more gravelly, the way he knew you liked it. This was something he did when he wanted to be especially affectionate with you. He did not do it during his three months of healing because you always would be too tired for it.

"I-I thought we could use it," you panted, shaking.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against yours, feeling the heat radiating from you. "It's agreed," he breathed, and you could feel his breath on your face. You squeaked and squeezed your eyes shut, turning your head away. He chuckled when you squeaked. "What was that?" You whimpered and shook your head vigorously, indicating that you were not going to answer. He smiled and moved a hand to rest it on your warmed cheek, gently pushing your head to face him. His thumb stroked your eyelids until you opened them. When you did, he leant in and kissed you.

When ma saw the three of you loading the truck the next morning, she, as usual, waddled within hearing range and demanded to know where the four of you were going.  "A lake, ma," Orville sighed over his shoulder as he threw a bag inside.

"A lake?!  What on earth're you goin' ta a lake fo?!"  she hollered.

"A vacation, ma," Orville grumbled out before he got inside the seating area and closed the door before he could hear anymore of ma's nagging. You were holding the back doors open while Philo helped Clyde inside.

"WHAT?!  A VACATION?!  AND LEAVING YOUR OLD MOTHER ALL BY HER LONESOME!!"  And so on.  Philo and you hurried up with shutting the back doors and getting in yourselves.  Philo sped off as soon as he was seated.

"We need a vacation from her," you huffed, relieved, leaning against the window.

"You're telling me," Orville got out as he took off his cap and tiredly rested it on his lap.

"Well at least we're actually away from that now," you comforted him. Philo fiddled with the radio and stopped when he found a station he was happy with.

The ride passed in mutual joy and comfort.  The three of you would occasionally crack jokes, and sometimes Clyde would give his input, especially when he was asked to pass a drink or food item in front.  This lasted for several hours and a few pit stops on the way.

"All right, I think this is the nearest one," Philo said as he drove through some trees.  A little further into them showed that there was a lake stretching in between them, dividing them into two. Philo drove on, and all three of you kept a watch out for a cabin.

There were two, one larger than the other. The larger one was obviously for if there was more than one guest to stay, and so the smaller one was for the lone landlord.  Philo drove up to the guests' cabin and parked.  The three of you got out then let the orangutan out as well.  All four of you walked the rest of the way to the landlord's cabin.  Since Philo was the nearest to it, he knocked on the door.  "Yeah?"  the landlord said when he opened the door.

"We'd uh, like to rent this place for a few days.  Don't know how long.  We'll let you know when we leave.  There are three adults plus," he put a hand on Clyde's shoulder, "an ape."

"Oh..."  he observed Clyde, "well, people are allowed to bring their pets here, so long as they clean up after 'em, and I do have a set fee for pets.  So that's not gonna be a problem.  I'll just come to you and collect rent everyday, so it don't matter how long you stay."

The three of you grinned at each other. "Perfect," Philo informed the landlord. The latter nodded his head politely and closed the door. "Alright!" Philo exclaimed, clasping his hands together, "let's unpack!"  And the three humans proceeded to do so.  Clyde was left outside to climb trees and do his thing.

Soon enough, all the luggage was unpacked and in your respective rooms.  You three were now seated on the couches.  There were three of these which surrounded a coffee table, save for one side which had the television against the wall.  Philo and you were on one couch and Orville was on the one in the centre.  "So, what do you guys wanna do now?"  you asked.

"Is the water clean enough to swim in?"  Philo mused, turning around and looking in the general direction of the lake.

"We can always find out," Orville suggested playfully.

You laughed, closing your eyes.  "I suppose we can just ask the landlord."

It turned out that the water was indeed suitable for swimming. As far as swimwear went, yours was just a t-shirt and shorts. So it was for the boys too, minus the shirt. Since you were the shortest, you waded in first to determine how far out was safe for you. You kept hopping until the water reached just below your chin. The two taller men followed, with Philo going the farthest out and Orville in between you two. Since it was deep enough for you, you let your legs float up so that you were now lying on your back on the water's surface. You let the current carry you out, occasionally moving a limb to change directions. Orville had swum away, which left you a clear path to catch up to Philo, who was also swimming. Once you reached Philo, you moved your legs back down and started treading water. "Hi," you said.

"Hey," he smiled, showing his teeth. He made himself stand and grabbed you, situating your legs around his waist. You put your hands on his shoulders. Smiling at each other, he walked you about.  It was a while of this before he started picking up the pace, hopping, and then pushing you away from him altogether.  You giggled as you bobbed away, treading water to stay near him.  After that, the two of you started swimming properly.

The three of you swam for two hours.  Since Orville was all by his lonesome and not staring at a romantic partner, he was the one to notice that his fingers were wrinkled.   "Alright, we gotta go," he called out, holding up hand, facing the palm towards you two.  All three quickly paddled to shore.   Philo's feet touched the bottom first, then Orville's, then yours.  Clyde was hanging from the tree that you three would pass by on the way out, looking at you all.

"Hi Clyde," Orville said as he passed.

"Hi Clyde," you followed.

"Hi Clyde," Philo finished.

"Oo oo oo," he returned to all three of you at once.

Orville went into the bathroom in his room to shower.  "You wanna go first, or shall I?  Or you wanna go at the same time?"  Philo asked.

"Same time," you smiled.  So the both of you stripped and went into the bathroom in your shared room, impulsively filling up and climbing into the bathtub rather than actually stepping inside the shower.  He sat with his back against the wall, so you sat in between his legs without your back to him.  He wrapped an arm around your waist and rested his chin on your shoulder. "Thanks for being here with me," he murmured, turnings his head and kissing your cheek. He was always additionally affectionate when he was happy and content.

You smiled brightly and brought an arm up to cradle his head, running your hand through his coarse fluffy hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." His other arm joined the one that was already around you. When he felt that you were about to fall asleep - it happened everytime you were relaxed in his embrace - he hurried up with bathing the both of you.

"Nbuh!"  you interjected as your head jerked up, having been shocked to the point of waking.

"Don't sleep in here.  We can have dinner and then sleep," Philo lectured, poking your upper arm once for each sentence he spoke.  You yawned and stretched, and then cleaned yourself.

The both of you got out.  Philo drained the tub while you wrapped a towel around yourself.  You passed another to him.  You broke out into a toothy grin when you saw him vigorously rubbing it through his fluffy hair.  He felt your gaze on him and looked up.  "What?"

"Nothing," you kept grinning, "Your hair is amazing."

"O...kay?"  He just went back to drying his hair.

You laughed softly before saying, "I love your hair."

"Thank you."  You could hear the smile in his voice.

After drying off, you opened the door and headed out.  Philo lay down on the bed and smiled at you, lifting the sheets for you to climb under.  You laughed softly and crawled to him, and you two snuggled.  "You sure we can do this?  Orville and Clyde might be waiting on us for dinner."

"Mmf..." he grumbled.  He begrudgingly reached his long arm to open the closet and pulled out a pair of boxers and then trousers.  He pushed you a little distance away so that he had space to put them on and then threw his feet over the side of the bed onto the floor, the momentum allowing him to spring up. He walked out of the room, and you nestled under the covers and waited.

Orville was at the kitchen counter, preparing dinner. "Oh," he acknowledged with some surprise when he saw Philo walk to him. "I figured you'd be longer, so I got started on dinner. I was gonna call Clyde in when I was done."

"Yeah, I was, but (y/n) reminded me that you might be waitin' on us. So I came out ta check on ya."

"Well you can go on back in there and give her a thank you from me.  You can do whatever with her until dinner's ready."

"You sure you don't need any help?"  Philo offered.

Orville shook his head and said, "Nah.  I can manage."

Philo nodded his head a few times in acknowledgement.  "Thanks," he said before turning around and walking away.

"Sure," Orville returned.

You were lying with your fingers interlaced, your head resting on them as you stared up at the ceiling. Your eyes turned to look at Philo when he appeared in the doorway. "Orville says we can stay here till dinner's ready. He can manage," he said as he walked inside. As he walked, he undid his clothes. You scooted further in, so as soon as he put his clothes on the seat of the chair as he passed he could slide in. You took your place right by his side again.  He had one arm under your waist.  He turned onto his side so that he was a little way on top of you.  He reached around and stroked the side of your head with his other hand.  You smiled softly up at him.  He moved to suspend himself above you on his hands and knees now, his limbs caging you safely. The both of you closed your eyes as he rested his forehead on yours. He pressed his lips forwards slightly, just touching your own and then withdrawing repeatedly, questioning whether he could kiss you. Your breathing became heavier at his teasing, and you put your hands on the back of his head and pushed it down the rest of the way.  At the exact same time, you both closed your eyes and let out heavy exhales through your noses as you kissed.  He lowered his full weight onto you, doing it slowly so that you had time to adjust and support his weight.  "Mmf..."  he let out when you kissed him a bit more aggressively.  You kept at it, eager and needy, and he let himself take it all in.  He withdrew when he needed to breathe, and rested his forehead on yours.  Breaths heavy, chests heaving.  He rolled back to lie down next to you again.  "Was that enough, or do you want more?"  he got out between breaths.

"Mmh..." you exhaled heavily, flipping to lie on your side facing away from him, "Too much for now..."

"Alright." You knew he was grinning at you with his teeth exposed. He scooted closer to you and wrapped his arm around your waist. You sighed and closed your eyes as he buried his nose in your hair.

And it was just...this. This sweet, unbroken peace, that the two of you shared, only interrupted when there was rapping at the door and Orville called, "You uh...are you guys...busy?"

"No, Orville. We'll be there soon," Philo called back, still staying as he was holding you.

"A'right." He walked away.

Philo turned you around and gave you one more peck on the lips, holding the sides of your face. "Come on," he smiled, "Let's go have dinner."  Smiling as well, you gave a nod of your head, and the both of you got out on opposing sides of the bed and got dressed.  Clyde was already sitting next to Orville, and they were eating.  Like everytime, Philo sat next to Clyde, and you sat next to him.  There was a fifth unoccupied chair between Orville and you. Again, the dining was accompanied by light chatter.

After the dishes were done, Philo opened the door to let Clyde out again, but Clyde clung onto his legs.  "Oh...okay," his human acknowledged.  He closed the doors and carried Clyde, seating him on one arm.  Philo joined you on the couch that was in the middle this time. "What do you guys wanna do now?" he asked, looking past Clyde to the two of you.

You shrugged, "Wanna watch a movie?" Clyde immediately jumped off Philo's lap and onto the couch, banging his fists against his chest and going "Ooh ooh ooh!" The three of you threw your heads back with laughter.

"He wants to watch King Kong!" you laughed.

"I was only three years old when that came out," Philo grinned toothily.

"We- weren't even born yet," you pondered, looking at your lap.

"I'll go get it," Philo said, standing up. You each had brought a selection of movies that might be wanted at any time. King Kong did not conform to this, but there was always a friend to think about. Philo went into the room and came out not long after, holding the casing in his hand. He put the DVD in the reader and let it play. And in the end, it was online Clyde who actually watched the film. The three humans fell asleep early into the film. Philo and you fell asleep, your head on his shoulder and his head on yours, and his arm around your lower back. Orville, who had laid down so that he could prop his head up on the armrest and watch the television, just shifted backwards so that the armrest was comfortably under his neck, and he fell asleep like that, hands resting on his abdomen. Clyde considerately clambered onto the remaining couch to carry out his capers as he happily watched the movie. When it ended, he turned off the television and jumped back onto the third couch to sleep.

The next day saw no less in pleasantness.  After a nice breakfast prepared by Philo, the process of which was carried out while Orville was allowed to sleep in, the three of you took to fishing for lunch and dinner.  Clyde played in the branches above your heads.  The mood was generally lazy and mellow.

And then, it happened. Several fish in, Philo just held up his most recent catch, staring at it. From the corner of his eye, he saw you turn your head to look at him.  Before you could say anything, he swung the fish and slapped you square in the face.

"WAH!" was your cry as you slipped and fell into the water.

Orville was laughing so hard that no sound was emitted from him.  Philo was just staring down at you, tittering to himself.  He still had a hold on the fish.  Your head broke the surface, along with your spluttering and spitting.  In return, you spewed a steady stream of water at him, standing up so that you could reach his face.  "Hey, wha-" he vocalised, turning his face away and putting his hands out to stop the water from reaching his face, dropping the fish in the process.  You quickly picked up the fish, the poor thing which had died due to shock upon impact, and sent him down.  Orville was wheezing by now.  The two of you played like this for some time, with Orville, and Clyde, who came to join him, laughing away.

Philo had to bear the task of preparing dinner after he showered, because he was the one who was not tired.  You were tired out from playing with him so energetically, and Orville was lying on his bed, making his belly ache worse as he kept on wheezing.  Even as he was showering he had had difficulty breathing.  As for Philo, he was as miraculously tireless as ever.  You did not know how he did it.  He was amazing.  You yourself had taken the precaution of showering instead of bathing this time, so that you did not fall asleep with the warm water submerging you.  After putting on warm clothing, you were facedown on your shared bed, spread eagle with your nose buried in the sheets. Now you could safely doze of. It was justified as well that you were not too deep asleep, for it seemed all too soon when you felt a loving hand on your shoulder shaking you awake.  You got up and followed him to the table.  You ate your food quickly so that you could go back to sleep as soon as possible.  Philo had a loving hand stroking up and down your back the entire time you were within his arm's reach.  When he saw you were almost finished, he murmured from behind a spoonful that you could leave your cutlery as it was and he would take care of it. As he was speaking, you had finished and sprung to your feet, wanting to use your last bit of energy to propel you to the place where you did not need to consciously use energy. But when you heard what he said, you stepped over to him and gave him a long hug, bending down and closing your eyes. He closed his eyes and held you too.  You stood like that for a while, until you gently pushed him to look up at you.  He looked at you with those searching eyes, his gaze gentle and yet held so much power over you.

But it only lasted for a moment, because you closed your eyes and kissed him. He reciprocated, sweetly and meaningfully. When oxygen was needed, you pulled back and rested your forehead against his, breathing deeply. "Go to sleep, sweetheart," he murmured, stroking your hair. You gave him one last smile and a peck on the nose before moving fully away. You went and brushed your teeth, and then just collapsed on the bed, not caring how you slept. But later on, you found out that Philo had moved you into a more comfortable position, because when you woke up the next morning, you found yourself securely held by him, right by his side like always.

That day itself was also to be one of perfect happiness.  The three of you were fishing again.  It was just the four you and the fish.  Nobody was paying attention to anything that was going on in the world.

An unexpected, yet not unwelcome voice called out, "Room for one more?"

"JACK!"  you exclaimed, dropping your fishing rod and running to him. He was about to say something, but you pounced on him and hugged him. You loved giving hugs, whether it was to Philo, Clyde, Orville, or any other good friend. And Philo encouraged the good sportsmanship.

Jack was laughing as he held onto you.  "Hey.  Didn't know you'd be that excited to see me."

"We missed you when we parted," you confessed, stepping back to look at him, your hands on his shoulders.  You made way for Philo.

"Hey," your boyfriend greeted.  The fighters clasped hands. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"Am done fighting for a few weeks. Thought I'd look for you. Went to your place, ran into a senile old woman, barely understood that you were at a lake.  Had to go on a bit of a hunt.  But, here I am."

"Yeah...sorry about my mother..." Orville said forlornly.

"Oh, that's all right. I'm just glad to be here," Jack said as he and Orville shook hands.

"So, are you staying?" Philo asked him.

"Only if I'm permitted," he smiled. Before any of you could say anything, a hairy figure dropped down from the branch above Jack and hugged him. Jack held him up as easily as the rest of you did. "Okay. Now you can move in," Philo smiled.

"Great. I'll go get my stuff." He turned on his heel and walked off, presumably to his car.

"You two continue fishing. I'll give him a tour," Philo said, going to pick up his fishing rod and lean it against a tree.

"Okay," you acknowledged.  So Orville and you picked up your fishing rods too, but you actually used them.

After Philo showed Jack his room among other things, they came back out.  It seemed that the fighters had decided on something as they were talking, because they were indeed dressed for fighting.  Philo was wearing a white shirt- not the one that had been torn, and a pair of jeans.  Jack was in his light blue tank top and slacks.  "Thought you said you were retired, Philo!"  you teased.

"Yeah well," he smirked, looking at Jack and flexing his fist which he was already holding up, "nothing like catching up with a noble opponent."

"Thank you," Jack smiled, getting into a boxing stance and holding his fists up in front of him as well. They started bouncing on their feet, bobbing from side to side, and circling each other.

"Just don't break anything," you reminded them.

As always, Philo waited for his opponent to throw the first punch. He did, and that commenced the fighting. They fought without even coming close and accidentally harming Orville and you. You two caught more fish than usual, since Philo was. not fishing, and there was one more person to feed.

There was enough fish to last five people until dinner.  Lunch for five had already been prepared.  And the fighters were still going!  The three other people stood in the doorway and watched.  And finally,  finally, Philo knocked Jack back against a vertical beam supporting the roof of the porch.  They were drenched in sweat, heaving deep breaths.  "You wanna..."  Philo stopped to pant here, "stop here?"

Jack nodded, and caught his breath to give a, "Yeah."  This was how it almost had been six months ago.  The five of you went inside.  Now the once unoccupied chair has a purpose.  The tired gentlemen sank heavily onto the chairs.  Orville and you got to setting the table, and Clyde opened the refrigerator and took out two cans of beer.  He brought them over to Philo and Jack.  "Thanks," Philo said as he took his.  Jack petted his head.

After a slow, refreshing lunch, the five of you were just sprawled out on the couches. "So, you lift engine blocks," Jack spoke, "How'd you get the strength in the first place?"

"Well, I did start out by lifting lighter weights. I do do other strength work from time to time too."

"Like what?"

"Oh, pumping. I have (y/n) or Clyde on my back while I do it. Makes me push myself more."

"I gotta try that," Jack grinned. With that, he dropped down to his hands and toes. "Come on. Get down. And get Clyde or (y/n) on your back."

"Oh, I get my girl," Philo turned his head to grin at you from the floor. "Clyde." He used his head to motion to Jack. You each got on your respective sports man. You carefully lay on Philo's back, putting your hands on his shoulders and situating your toes on his calves. Orville just watched and but his lip, bemused at such a wholesome situation.

Later that night, you went into the kitchen to get yourself something light to eat and drink. Philo followed you. You were against the counter, and turned around only to come face-to chest with him. “Hey,” he said softly, smiling. You greeted him the exact same way. He leant in and kissed you, your arms wrapping around each other. He backed you up against the counter, so that you were halfway sitting on it. He lifted you up and seated you on the counter fully, then stepping forwards and pushing you to him so that your legs wrapped around his waist. You giggled into the kiss, making him do so too.