#i cried like a stupid bitch throughout the second half of it as well

[jaowuuuuuuu]

just did xianyun's story quest... she could fix me. the unconditional love, that sort of affection and care that has no consequences or a catch to it... shut up. shut up. how could they do this to me.

[drmmyrs]

Dropped (Becca x MC) Part 2

Hey guys, thank you for the support on the first part of this series (Yess I’m planning to turn it into a mini series). It was hard to write just because I could feel Emily’s heartbreak throughout this chapter but I know a lot of you thrive on the pain like I do 🥲🥲. This chapter might be a tad boring for your taste since I’m kinda setting the scene for the next part but I still hope you enjoy. Let me know what you guys think and I’d really appreciate feedback/constructive criticism.

tag list: @wlwplaychoices  @alexlabhont @woltk @alexroyard @red-queen1013 ( including those who reblogged and replied to the 1st part. If you want to be included in the tag list just let me know ☺️)  

Read Part 1

Pairing: Becca x MC (Emily)

Word Count: 1742

Warnings: Some swearing

You don't love me anymore, do you?

Emily quickly gathered her things as well as some of her clothes, not wanting to spend a second more in that room than she needed to. She dialed Kaitlyn's number as she walked away from the place she had called home for almost a year. She was now crying full-blown tears with her hand covering her mouth as passersby looked at her with sympathy. Kaitlyn picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, Em— Are you crying?"

"Can I stay with you for a while? I just had to get out of there. I'm sorry. I don't know where else to go."

"Hey, hey, of course, you can. Where are you right now? Do you want me to pick you up?" Kaitlyn said gently, her voice full of concern.

"No, it's okay. I can get there on my own."

The walk to Kaitlyn's apartment was a blur. Emily vaguely remembered someone calling out to her, but she was too busy replaying the last few hours to even notice.

When Emily arrived at Kaitlyn's apartment, Kaitlyn immediately pulled her in for a hug.

"Hey, what happened? Did you and Becca get into a fight?"

Emily nodded, unable to speak as tears were now falling uncontrollably down her face. After some time, Kaitlyn pulled away and gently guided Emily to the couch, and fetched her a glass of water.

"Whatever happened between the two of you, I'm sure you'll be able to fix it," Kaitlyn said comfortingly as she gently rubbed Emily's back.

"No, I don't think we can fix it this time." A fresh set of tears emerged. "You should have seen her face, Kaitlyn. She... she... she looked at me like I was..." Unable to finish the sentence, Emily buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"Oh, Emily." Kaitlyn pulled her in for another hug. They stayed like that for a while until Emily's cries died down to quiet sobs.

"I'm sorry. I think I ruined your shirt," Emily said weakly.

"Eh. It's not my style anyway. I was actually just about to burn it when you came," Kaitlyn jested, attempting to lighten the mood. Emily managed a weak smile.

"Are you feeling better?" Kaitlyn said softly.

Emily nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Emily shook her head. "I think I just need to lie down for a while."

"Let's get you to bed then."

"It's okay. I can sleep here on the couch."

"Nonsense. I'm not leaving you here like that. Come on."

Kaitlyn smiled gently at Emily as she took her hand and guided her to the bedroom. "You can stay here for as long as you need to."

"Thank you, Kaitlyn," Emily murmured, tired from all the crying. After she had settled into bed, Emily took out her phone and stared at the wallpaper as a lone tear ran down her cheek. It was a photo of her and Becca with Becca's arm wrapped around her waist and Becca's lips pressed against her cheek. Emily released a trembly breath as she turned off her phone and drifted off to sleep. — "Why the long face?" Becca asked, wrapping Emily in her arms.

"Just a tiring day is all," Emily replied, melting into the embrace.

"I know what'll make you feel better. How about I go out and buy your favorite ice cream real quick, and then we can watch any movie you want. How's that sound?"

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you. In all honesty, though, I'd rather do things to you," Becca teased.

Emily giggled and playfully smacked Becca. "You're terrible."

"One more thing. Give me your phone."

"Why?" Emily asked as she hesitantly handed her phone to Becca. Becca then shifted behind Emily and wrapped her arm around her waist as she pressed her lips on Emily's cheek, taking a photo. Becca made a series of taps on her phone until Emily was greeted with a new wallpaper.

"So that when you're having a bad enough day, you can just look at your phone and remember that at the end of the day, someone will be waiting for you at home, someone who loves you so crazy much." —

Emily woke up late in the morning when she faintly heard Kaitlyn speaking on the phone outside. "—I don't think she'll want to talk to you anyway... Yeah, I will. Don't worry."

Kaitlyn came back to the room minutes later. "Hey, you're up."

"Yeah. Was that..."

Kaitlyn looked at Emily apologetically. "You heard, huh?"

"What did she want?"

"She wanted to talk to you. She sounded really sorry, Em."

Emily sighed. "I don't think I can talk to her yet."

Kaitlyn nodded understandingly. "Take as much time as you need to. By the way, I know you have class a while ago, but I wasn't sure if I should wake you up. Sorry."

"It's okay. I wasn't planning on going anyway."

"I have classes soon, but I can stay here if you want," Kaitlyn said sympathetically.

"No, you should go. Don't worry, I'll be fine," Emily replied with a weak smile.

"Alright. But text me if you need anything. There's food in the fridge and feel free to use the shower. What's mine is yours. I'll be back soon." Kaitlyn gave Emily a quick hug before heading out.

***

Becca's POV

Becca glanced at the clock- 11 AM. Her head was pounding as she recalled the previous night's events.

"Ughh. I'm never gonna drink again," she muttered to herself.

She glanced around the room and noticed that the sheets beside her remained untouched. She managed to get out of bed and walked out of the room sluggishly.

"Babe? Yesterday I-" She looked around the apartment and found that it was empty. Oh, right it's Monday. She's probably in class.

Becca went back to their bedroom and as her eyes adjusted, she noticed that half of Emily's things were gone. She immediately opened Emily's closet and found that some of her clothes were missing. At that moment, she knew she fucked up.

Becca quickly charged her dead phone and as soon as it lit up, several texts and voicemails from yesterday popped up. They were from Emily. Crap. Becca immediately dialed Emily's number but it went straight to voicemail. Becca paced around the room as she recalled their fight yesterday and it just dawned on her how serious it was. She remembered Emily shouting at her and oh god she looked so heartbroken. Rebecca Davenport, you stupid bitch. Becca then proceeded to call Kaitlyn.

"Hey Kaitlyn, have you seen Emily?" "Yeah, she went here crying last night. What happened, Becca? She was a mess." "I fucked up. Is she with you right now? I really need to talk to her." "She's still asleep, and I don't think she'll want to talk to you anyway." "Can you at least tell her I'm sorry? Just please make sure she's okay." "Yeah, I will. Don't worry."

***

Emily's POV

"You have to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"And I'm not gonna let you starve to death."

"Well, there are worse ways to go."

Kaitlyn sighed. "Okay, that's it. We're gonna talk about this now. What the hell happened between you two?"

Emily bit her lip. "We were supposed to celebrate our anniversary, but then she forgot. Instead, she went home hours later, drunk. Then we got into this huge fight. Most times I feel like she's just sick of me. Like... she doesn't love me anymore."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No. She doesn't even wanna talk anymore. And honestly, I'm tired of being a doormat at my own home."

"So, is that it? Are you gonna break up with her?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. What do you think I should do?"

"I can't make that decision for you, Em. But one thing's for sure. You have to talk to her before you make one." —

Emily decided that she could no longer run from her responsibilities. She turned on her phone and was immediately greeted by several texts. Some were from James but most were from Becca. Emily sighed, putting the phone in her pocket.

When she arrived at the university, Emily first went to check in on James. As James saw her approach, he stood up with concern in his eyes.

"Em, we were so worried about you. You weren't answering your phone."

"Sorry. Got caught up in something."

"Yeah... I uhh ran into Becca yesterday. She told me you guys got into a fight?"

Emily nodded. "You said that you were assigning me an article to write this week?" Emily asked, changing the subject.

"Right. But you don't have to, I can get someone else to do it."

"No, I want to."

"Okay then. Well, the only article left is about--

James paused to look at a piece of paper and his eyes widened.

"Like I said, you don't have to-"

You snatched the paper from James, suddenly furious.

College Relationships. Great. Just my luck.

"We can change it. I'm sure someone else-"

"It's fine, James. And I don't appreciate you treating me like a fragile piece of glass. I said I'm fine." Emily snapped.

Emily walked away before James had a chance to speak. —

Emily was running with her laptop in her hands with Becca in hot pursuit.

"Come on just a little peek."

Emily giggled as Becca caught up to her hugging her from behind.

"Hey! Why'd you close it?"

"You'll be the first to read it when I'm done, I promise."

"Well, it better be worth it," Becca said as she turned Emily around. She cupped her face and pulled her in for a slow and deep kiss. Emily broke up the kiss and touched her forehead with Becca's.

"It is."

—

Back in Kaitlyn's apartment, Emily stared at the blank screen, thinking of what to write or how to even start.

This is ridiculous.

Emily stood up and grabbed her jacket and strode across the room towards the door

"Em? Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna talk to Becca," Emily said with a determined look on her face. — Emily was walking on the sidewalk towards their apartment when a familiar figure caught her attention. As she turned to look inside a bar, all the time in the world couldn't have prepared her for the hurt that was to follow. Emily grabbed the wall for support as she watched the woman she love kiss someone else.

Read Part 3

[jin-fluenced]

Jin-fluenced’s May Recs

Fics I read throughout the month of May thinking I must have done something amazing at some point in my life to be blessed with these … I can’t believe you guys are letting us read your work for free.

Kim Seokjin

Half-Baked Holiday @ddaenggtan​ – Bakery a.u. F2L, I2L (idiots to lovers) (fluff/smut/slight angst) | The Snow Ball Effect Project | What I love about this project: I love, love, love this project! The way everyone story is told independently; the way each story is unique with its own quirks and twists and the humor! Oh, the humor! The way I understand it the stories are written by four different authors but the way it all comes together and it fits so well, and how they have represented each respective member’s personality and quality so exquisitely and they are all referenced throughout the story even before they meet up at Tae’s cabin. I am sure I will think about this project for years to come, I really have not read anything like this before. What I love about this fic: They really are idiots; adorable idiots in love. Throughout the entirety of this fic I was shouting at them to JUST KISS! JUST DO IT! Jin was so understanding, so patient and so accepting of y/n – a true king.

2,561 Days @gossamie​ – marriage a.u. (angst with a touch of fluff) Summary: Two years of marriage could not stop the relationship from falling apart. As an attempt to seek closure before the divorce, Seokjin and you retrace your seven years together. What I love about this fic: the way the author writes angst, the fic is so well written and structured. Each scene made my heart break all over again. This is art.

Min Yoongi

Sugar @seokjxnnie​ – CEO, escort, office a.u. (smut) Summary: executive assistant to Min Yoongi by day and secret escort by night, the two separate elements of her life spiral into entwinement when her boss accidentally walks in on her taking a sex call with a sugar daddy. What I love about this fic: this one particular scene where y/n is on the phone and Yoongi is watching her …. *fans myself*

I’ll Float Away @ppersonna​ – Post-breakup, idol a.u. (very heavy angst, smut, fluff) Summary: years after the breakup, Yoongi, a successful award-winning rapper with an unhealthy addiction finds your wedding invite on Facebook. What I love about this fic: Character development. The way Yoongs grew as a person and overcame his struggles – truly inspiring.

Jung Hoseok

The Worst Wonderful Time of The Year @lamourche​ – Christmas/office a.u. (fluff/with a hint of smut) What I love about this fic: y/n was so close to titling her life as ‘a series of unfortunate events’ but then she meets Hobi and he made those unfortunate events a lot more bearable and liked her for the loveable, funny, clumsy person she is (with a super ability to make babies cry).

The Holiday: Unplugged @gukslut – Established relationship a.u. (sluff/smut/humor) What I love about this fic: their relationship, man … Their dynamic and the fact that they don’t need anyone else as long as they have each other. Therapist Jiminie and Hobi is a noteworthy conversation. I too would moan thinking about Jung Hoseok fucking me.

Kim Namjoon

Phantom Pains @fortunexkookie​ – Ghost a.u. (smut/fluff/angst) Summary: Namjoon had lived his entire life a certain kind of way - slowly, thoughtfully, and cautiously - and one moment of carelessness was all it took for it to end. He thought his death had come before he was ready, stealing his chance to figure out what he’d been missing. It wasn’t until he met you that he realized he’d been wrong all along. His life hadn’t ended a moment too soon. In fact, it had ended just in time to save yours. What I love about this fic: the author said this was going to be bittersweet so I braced myself but boy, I did not expect to weep like that. It’s so heart wrenching and hauntingly (pun intended) beautiful. Their love is so pure … fate can be such a cruel bitch. The way the author illustrated it I could feel what it was like for Joon to touch y/n for the first time, and my stomach twisted knowing that he would give anything to be able to really touch her.

All Aboard! (The Passion Express) @ve1vetyoongi – Office a.u. E2L (smut) Summary: There were not many things that got your blood boiling in the same way that two simple words could. Kim Namjoon. The name of your irritating and (unfortunately enough, as the universe would have it) incredibly handsome co-worker. Which is exactly why you never expected to find yourself on your knees for him on the train home. What I love about this fic: ZADDY JOON! THE FILTH! Man, what I would give for Joon to treat me like the filthy slut I am ON A TRAIN!

Midnight Wishes @ddaenggtan​ – Friend w/ Benefits, roommates, co-workers a.u. I2L (fluff/smut/angst) | The Snow Ball Effect Project | What I love about this fic: How can two people so smart be absolute idiots when it comes to each other? I would give my left arm and both legs for Namjoon to call me slick, and ask me if I want it – because yes, yes, I do want him to fuck me stupid. I relate to y/n when it comes to pining and the butterflies and the clenching when it comes to Joon.

Park Jimin

Snow Don’t Tell @stutterfly – Neighbours a.u. F2L (fluff/smut/humour) | The Snow Ball Effect Project | What I love about this fic: The. Build. Up! The way they were already there and so in love with each other at the beginning of the fic, to them finally caving … I was blown. Jimin is so seductive, playful and loving at the same time, and their sense of humour and the constant teasing back and forth; I am weak!

Gratuitous Redemption @minjoonalist​ – Divorce a.u. (smut/angst/fluff?) Summary: Jimin is Innocent when it comes to his wife’s accusations and as stubborn as she is, the man refuses to go down without a fight. What I love about this fic: The angst. I cried like a little baby … I felt absolutely crushed.

I’ll Lead (and you have no choice) @boxysmiles [AO3] Summary: Park Jimin has always had taken comfort in his soulmate. Knowing that someone out there is connected to him through the red string tied around their fingers. Kim Taehyung, however, likes to make his life a lot more interesting. Because Kim Taehyung’s string isn’t around his finger. It’s around his neck. What I love about this fic: The way I cried, first I cried for Taehyung, then I cried for Jimin, then I cried because there was nothing they could do about it. Truly a masterpiece.

Kim Taehyung

Extracurricular @ppersonna –  Professor, student a.u. (smut) Summary: Your professor Kim Taehyung is on the final key to securing your spot in the top 5% of your graduating class. What I love about this fic: I can’t go to class without thinking about Professor Kim Taehyung bending me over his desk.

Misconceptions @softjimin – Member x member (AO3) Summary: ‘So, Jimin has a daddy kink. Namjoon hyung, can you pass me the salt? Thanks’ What I love about this fic: Taetae, bless his soul, tried so hard to keep it in his pants.

Picking Flowers @jamaisjoons​ – Hanahaki, Neighbours a.u. F2L Summary: in the seven years you’ve been away, love had caused flowers to bloom in Taehyung’s chest only for them to wilt when she’d left him. when you meet Taehyung again, he doesn’t know what love is and more importantly, doesn’t know how to love or if he can ever love again. can you teach him? or will a garden of unrequited love blossom within the confines of your own chest? What I love about this fic: Everything, there is not a single thing I don’t absolutely adore. I don’t have the words to describe the way it made me feel. Please give lots of love to Solar.

Cheap skate @gukslut - Established relationship, domestic a.u. (fluff, smut, humor)  What I love about this fic: THIS COUPLE! Reading about their relationship is the equivalent of having hot coffee, toast and sunny-side-up eggs for breakfast on Saturday. 

Jeon Jungkook

Frost Impressions @fortunexkookie​ – Teachers, Gamers a.u. E2L/F2L (fluff/smut/heavy pining/slight angst) What I love about this fic: Absolute-mess-Jeon-Jungkookie! The humour – the author really nailed the humour. This is one of the best fics I have ever read. The second hand embarrassment was so real! *insert your mind it amazes me picture here*. I am fucking sorry at how smitten I am with these characters.

Little Wolf, Pretty Wolf, Your Wolf @readyplayerhobi (fluff/smut/angst) What I love about this fic: I have read a LOT of werewolf a.u., but this fic takes the cake! I joke about how there is a certain cliché to werewolf a.us but what I got from this fic is not what I expected at all going into it. I love the way y/ n and JK complimented each other, how supportive they were. She did it again you guys … I am in love.

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

Behind The Album: OK Computer

The third studio album from Radiohead was released in May 1997 by Parlophone Records. This would mark the first album that Nigel Godrich worked on as their producer. The band would self produce the entire album themselves, which they have done on every record since. In 1995, Brian Eno asked the band to contribute a song to a charity compilation for War Child entitled Help. They were scheduled to do the recording in only a day, which led to the track, “Lucky.” Godrich would say of the recording. “Those things are the most inspiring, when you do stuff really fast and there's nothing to lose. We left feeling fairly euphoric. So after establishing a bit of a rapport work-wise, I was sort of hoping I would be involved with the next album." This track would form the foundation of what would become OK Computer. In early 1996, the group took a break from touring because they found it a bit too stressful. Thoughts now turned to a new record with the mindset of distancing themselves from anything similar to The Bends. Drummer Phillip Selway would say, “There was an awful lot of soul-searching [on The Bends]. To do that again on another album would be excruciatingly boring.” The label gave the band a rather good sized budget for recording equipment for the new release. A number of producers were considered for the album, but they kept coming back to Godrich as an advisor on equipment. Eventually, the band hired him as the producer. Ed O’Brien said of the album, “Everyone said, 'You'll sell six or seven million if you bring out The Bends Pt 2,' and we're like, 'We'll kick against that and do the opposite'."

In early 1996, Radiohead began proper recording of the LP at Canned Applause Studios in Oxfordshire, England. Issues immediately came up as the band had difficulty staying focused on one song all the way to completion. Selway would talk about this later, “We're jumping from song to song, and when we started to run out of ideas, we'd move on to a new song ... The stupid thing was that we were nearly finished when we'd move on, because so much work had gone into them." Although the members of the group were considered equals, the voice of Thom Yorke always represented the loudest one in terms of musical direction. Godrich would talk about his role within the group in an interview. They “need to have another person outside their unit, especially when they're all playing together, to say when the take goes well ... I take up slack when people aren't taking responsibility—the term producing a record means taking responsibility for the record ... It's my job to ensure that they get the ideas across." His permanent role on each Radiohead album would lead to the producer being called the sixth member of Radiohead. After only recording four songs, the band left the Canned Applause Studio for a variety of reasons Including the fact that the studio had no bathrooms or dining rooms. They decided to take a break from recording in order to support Alanis Morissette on tour, which gave them a chance to try some of their new tracks live. Around the same time, Director Baz Luhrmann asked the band to contribute a song to his film, Romeo and Juliet. “Exit Music for a Film” would be played as the credits rolled during the movie, but they did not give Luhrmann permission to place the track on the movie soundtrack. Yorke would later observe that this song became very important to the album. It “was the first performance we'd ever recorded where every note of it made my head spin—something I was proud of, something I could turn up really, really loud and not wince at any moment."

In September 1996, the band began recording again at a mansion in Bath, England owned by actress Jane Seymour. Jonny Greenwood would say the environment represented a much more pleasant change for the group. It “was less like a laboratory experiment, which is what being in a studio is usually like, and more about a group of people making their first record together." One quality that the band enjoyed during the sessions came in the fact that they took full advantage of the natural environment of the mansion. “Exit Music for a Film” utilized some natural reverb courtesy of a stone stairwell. They recorded Let Down” in an empty ballroom at 3 o’clock in the morning. The group worked at its own pace as Ed O’Brien observed later. “The biggest pressure was actually completing [the recording]. We weren't given any deadlines and we had complete freedom to do what we wanted. We were delaying it because we were a bit frightened of actually finishing stuff." A majority of the album would be recorded live with no overdubs because Yorke hated them. The band completed the rest of the album at the studio in Saint Catherine’s towards the end of 1996. In January 1997, the strings for the album were recorded, then they spent the next two months mastering and mixing the album. Actually, the mixing of the album only took a couple of days. Nigel Godrich would later comment, “I feel like I get too into it. I start fiddling with things and I fuck it up ... I generally take about half a day to do a mix. If it's any longer than that, you lose it. The hardest thing is trying to stay fresh, to stay objective."

Several artists would influence what would become the finished product of OK Computer. First and foremost came the 1970 album Bitches Brew by jazz great, Miles Davis. Thom Yorke would tell Q what he saw in that recording that made up his vision for this album. “It was building something up and watching it fall apart, that's the beauty of it. It was at the core of what we were trying to do with OK Computer." Other artists that helped to inspire the record included Elvis Costello, REM, PJ Harvey, the Beatles, Can, and composer Ennio Morricone. Jonny Greenwood would describe OK Computer as an attempt to recreate the sound on all these great records, but they missed the mark. The band would expand their instrumentation for this album to include electric piano, Mellotron, cello and other strings, glockenspiel and electronic effects. Spin would say this about the release, “A DIY electronica album made with guitars." The lyrics to the album focused on themes much more conceptual when contrasted with The Bends. Yorke would sing about a wide variety of topics including transportation, technology, insanity, death, globalism, capitalism, and more. The singer would say, “On this album, the outside world became all there was ... I'm just taking Polaroids of things around me moving too fast." He also took inspiration for some of the lyrics from a selection of books including Noam Chomsky, Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Extremes, Will Hutton's The State We're In, Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up! and Philip K. Dick's VALIS. Despite the abstract nature of the lyrics on the record, many critics have looked upon OK Computer as a concept album. They argue that there exists a singular theme running throughout the record, but the band has consistently denied any attempt at making such a release. Jonny Greenwood commented, “I think one album title and one computer voice do not make a concept album. That's a bit of a red herring." They did pay particularly close attention to the order of the tracklist taking almost two weeks to complete it.

The album opens with “Airbag,” which highlights the drumming of Phillip Selway. The track had been inspired by the work of DJ Shadow. The band would later admit that they represented novices in this attempt to base a song on DJ Shadow due to their lack of time with programming. Yorke had actually read an article in a magazine entitled “An Airbag Saved My Life.” Another book that helped to create the basis for the song lyrics emerged in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Yorke had always been obsessed with the idea that any time you get into a car you could possibly die at any second. The second track “Paranoid Android” stands out as one of the longest tracks in the band's entire catalog. Two songs inspired it from classic rock, “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” by the Beatles and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. The lyrics are meant to reference the alien from Douglas Adams’s A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Yorke got the idea after watching a woman lose her mind after a drink spilled on her at a bar in Los Angeles. “Subterranean Homesick Alien” referenced “Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan. The lyrics are meant to refer a person who is abducted by aliens, then returns home to realize his life is in no way any different. The beginnings of the theme for this track actually began for the singer in private school when he had an assignment to recreate a British literary movement called Martian poetry. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare inspired the lyrics to “Exit Music for a Film.” This should come as no surprise as the band had specifically created the song for a remake film. Yorke would use it as a chance to simply recap the entire narrative in the song because Zeffirelli’s version of the film greatly affected him at the age of 13. “I cried my eyes out, because I couldn't understand why, the morning after they shagged, they didn't just run away. It's a song for two people who should run away before all the bad stuff starts.” The singer had tried to replicate Johnny Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison as he sang along to his acoustic guitar. “Let Down” represented an attempt by the band to recreate the sound made famous by Phil Spector and his wall of sound. Yorke would later comment that the lyrics are ���about that feeling that you get when you're in transit but you're not in control of it—you just go past thousands of places and thousands of people and you're completely removed from it.” The singer would look upon such lyrics as perfect symbolism for Generation X, which had strongly influenced the direction of it. “Karma Police” contains two major sections that alternate between piano and guitar, which originally came from “Sexy Sadie” by the Beatles. The title of the song was an inside joke between the band during the previous tour. If something bad happened to someone, they would say that the karma police were going to get them. The short Interlude “Fitter, Happier” became something that the Radiohead frontman wrote in 10 minutes while on a break. The voice came from the Macintosh Simpletext software application. He would later describe the words as a “checklist for slogans from the 1990s.”

“Electioneering” turned out to be one of the band’s heaviest rock oriented songs probably ever with lyrics that were inspired by the Poll Tax Riots. Another source of inspiration came in the book Manufacturing Consent by Noah Chomsky. “Climbing Up the Walls” has been described by Melody Maker as “monumental chaos.” The track was arranged by Johnny Greenwood for 16 instruments based on composer Krzysztof Penderecki's “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima.” No Surprises” would be initially inspired by “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys, but they really wanted to replicate the mood of “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong or the soul music of Marvin Gaye. Yorke would say the song’s narrator is “someone who's trying hard to keep it together but can't.” The track that started it all “Lucky” was actually inspired by the Bosnian War. Yorke wanted to illustrate the actual terror of that conflict on the charity album, Help. Another theme that he drew upon emerged in his own anxiety about transportation. Critics have likened the guitar on the song to 1970’s Pink Floyd. The final track on the album “The Tourist” was specifically arranged by Jonny Greenwood to create a bit of space on the LP. The lyrics originated from Yorke witnessing tourists in France trying to see as many sites as possible. The title of the album came from the 1978 radio series based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when character Zaphod Beeblebrox says, “Okay, computer, I want full manual control now." They had first heard the line while listening to the series on the bus for their tour in 1996. Yorke would say this about the title later. It “refers to embracing the future, it refers to being terrified of the future, of our future, of everyone else's. It's to do with standing in a room where all these appliances are going off and all these machines and computers and so on ... and the sound it makes." The artwork would be created by both Yorke and Stanley Donwood using a computer. The Radiohead singer would observe this about the art, “It's quite sad, and quite funny as well. All the artwork and so on ... It was all the things that I hadn't said in the songs."

Leading up to the release of the album, the band got very little support from Capitol Records because they did not have too much faith in the commercial potential of it. Much of the pessimism came in the fact that the record did not have any singles to put on the radio. Ed O’Brien would call it the “lack of a Van Halen factor.” The singles that were released from OK Computer included “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police,” and “Lucky.” All of the singles charted in the top 10 in the UK, while they also did very well making the top 20 on the US charts. Their official website was created in order to promote the record, as well as some non-traditional promotional techniques by the record label. One such idea came in their decision to take out full-page ads in popular British newspapers and magazines with only the lyrics to “Fitter, Happier.” Another promotion sent out floppy disks to people in the press, which included many Radiohead screensavers. Upon its official release, OK Computer would debut at number one on the UK charts, while in the US the record made it to number 21. Please note that this was the highest American debut for the band. By September 2000, the release had sold 4.5 million copies worldwide.

Critics loved the album across the board. Writer Tim Footman would comment, “Not since 1967, with the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, had so many major critics agreed immediately, not only on an album's merits, but on its long-term significance, and its ability to encapsulate a particular point in history." Many critics saw it as a very important album. Mojo wrote in their review, “Others may end up selling more, but in 20 years' time I'm betting OK Computer will be seen as the key record of 1997, the one to take rock forward instead of artfully revamping images and song-structures from an earlier era.” The New Yorker would congratulate the band on taking many more risks artistically then their contemporaries like Oasis. “Throughout the album, contrasts of mood and style are extreme ... This band has pulled off one of the great art-pop balancing acts in the history of rock." Most of the reviews that were slightly mixed seemed to focus on the fact that when compared with The Bends, this record did not contain as many catchy songs. The release would go on to win the Grammy for Best Alternative Album, but did not win Album of the Year. The praise for the album seemed to inundate the band a little too much. Also, Radiohead did not agree with the universal assessment that they had made the greatest progressive or art rock record since Dark Side of the Moon. Thom Yorke would say, “We write pop songs ... there was no intention of it being 'art'. It's a reflection of all the disparate things we were listening to when we recorded it."

The legacy of the album came to be represented in a variety of ways. First, the release of OK Computer coincided with the election of Tony Blair. Some writers have pointed to the pessimism on the record as a sign of things to come. Stephen Hayden would write, “Radiohead appeared to be ahead of the curve, forecasting the paranoia, media-driven insanity, and omnipresent sense of impending doom that's subsequently come to characterise everyday life in the 21st century." Second, the arrival of this album directly coincided with the decline of Britpop. The Oasis album Be Here Now did not attain the commercial or critical success that What’s the Story Morning Glory had received in 1995. Third, OK Computer directly influenced a new generation of artists including bands like Bloc Party and TV on the Radio. The album has landed on many lists over the subsequent years as one of the best releases of the decade and all time. Yet, not all retrospective reviews have been kind to OK Computer as it has also landed on some lists as one of the most overrated records of all time. A New Musical Express column criticized the release as the exact point when Radiohead stopped being good, but instead started to become important.

[hoodoo12]

Festival (22/30)

@beejiesbitch @turtlepated @memedemonhours @monsterlovinghours @yankyo @go-commander-kim @clairjohnson @saucymangos @edosunshine @beetlebitchywitch

Jessie watched Ollie reluctantly set about the task he'd been given with a small frown. Sometimes it bothered her the way that the two interacted, but the quick interruption of her vicarious indignation and the kisses against her chest and stomach cooled her off quickly. She never could stay upset at Beetlejuice, especially when he followed up with his reasoning. She reached to stroke his cheek and gave him a half-smile.

"I . . . I guess I understand. Still, I think you should thank him. If these things still work when we can use them later, you'll want to. Hell, I'll want to, too. I don't know what's in those things that makes them so intense, but I can't wait to see how you feel . . . take that as you will," she answered, leaning to kiss his cheek afterward in a physical assurance that she wasn't angry, though she hadn't made any effort to withhold her initial shock and irritation and then warm affection and lust from him.

The sound of Beej pinning Carmen and growling as he eased his cock into her made Jessie turn in interest, watching the two of them a little enviously.

"Oh . . . well, looks like you must have had a good time. Wanna tell me about it? I don't see you taking it up the ass, so how did it go?" she asked in a sultry purr.

Just as he’d felt her anger at the asshole who’d dare touch Ollie, BJ felt the spike of upset Jessie had at the way he’d treated her pet. Only for her would he be contrite. He sighed a little and addressed her directly. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have been so sharp with Ollie. He wanted to show you a good time--the little bastard loves you, you know that, right? He’d steal you away if he had the chance. It’s stupid of me to be jealous of him, but old habits die hard. I’ll be nicer to him, okay?” Her slow nod in response made him realize he was going to have to make an effort and not just say what she wanted to hear. She, however, was the one who changed the subject, speaking of the aphrodisiacs again. Then her eyes went to the two focused on each other on the ground near them. Despite all the coupling still going on around them, it was hard not to watch something that was so close, and so raw but plainly full of adoration. Carmen’s cries were sharp, and the other ghost’s thrust was slow, drawing out the beginning. BJ brought the hose of the hookah to his mouth again, saying as he slipped the mouthpiece to his lips, “You’re right, baby--I didn’t bottom. That ghost has some interesting control over himself. I’ve got tentacles; he’s got a clone. I can change shape; he let me fuck his pussy while he was railing Carmen. He’s pretty interesting . . .”

His voice trailed off a little, musing about the coincidence that they shared a name, and they both took human lovers. Well, as close to human as Jessie was, which made him wonder about Carmen, and if there was something secret about her too. BJ gave himself a shake, but not hard enough to dislodge Jessie from his shoulder.

“He conjured up this hookah too. You like it? I’ll make sure there’s enough for Ollie when he gets back too.” As the couple on the ground grew louder, he smirked and flicked his gaze to Jessie. “If you were your normal size I’d say we could give them some competition.”

⁂

"Oh . . . I see . . ." Pink murmured as Kadus informed her that there was not much known of her kind.

Still, a curiosity burned in her . . . she wondered if perhaps the lack of knowledge was due to a lack of exposure. She was sure Beej would be just as curious to learn more about himself as she felt- that was a universal desire of his, across every part of himself.

She realized as she thought about this that he likely couldn't quite see Beej and Carmen. It made sense to her, across the field, he was a sight to behold and ringed around by witches. It'd be much easier to miss two other, smaller figures no matter how passionate they might be. It crossed her mind that perhaps he would be interested in meeting them, though she didn't know that Carmen would be comfortable if his harem of unsuitable suitors followed.

"No, I am a piece of a specter . . . a demon, born in the world of the dead." she answered in matching volume. He'd asked further questions, and so the pink did not allow her to take offense to the change. "It must have been . . . don't remember much about when I happened . . . we're a shape-shifter, I'm the bitch of the bunch." She chuckled a little at that. "Just the cunt, not the heart, hun."

He nodded, as some of the things she said he did have a reference for. “Shape-sifters, yes, like King Lycaon, or the lukánthrōpos. Although you seem to have more control and options than people like that.” Kadus took a second to think, continuing to stroke her back. Lost in thought, his hand wandered to her front, over her belly, to her chest. Her nipples tightened under his touch, and he ran his thumbs over them lightly. “Although I know of no tale of someone like you, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one. Knowledge, unfortunately, is incomplete or even lost. Even the truth gets molded when it is passed along; I have heard of Christian hell and, and it is not the Underworld, but similar. Perhaps some elder is familiar with your kind, and could educate me more.” He fixed his gaze on her for a moment, as if committing her face to memory. “If someone did know of demons born dead, would you want to learn more as well?” It was more a rhetorical question than anything, but he asked out of pure curiosity.

⁂

With his thick cock hilted inside her pussy, Beej shuddered and wrapped the arm he had been using to knead at her tits around the barrel of her chest, holding her tight as he fought off the urge to slam himself into her. Her pussy stretched so tight around his sensitive and drooling cock that it was bordering on painful, but the heat of her and the sounds she made, her body's abundant response to the intrusion was addictive.

It was a bit of a struggle to resist the urge to rut like a beast into her without a care for her body being prepared for him, but he couldn't bring himself to be so careless. Not with Carmen. Instead, he held her tight against his base as his shaft pulsed and jumped inside her, held as though by a vice.

"Fuck, babes . . . " was all he could muster, a low and gravelly rasp of his voice as he eased his hips back, enjoying the drag of his shaft against her gripping walls, smearing her slick along his length that felt cool as a few inches slid out of her heat. Half of his length had been pulled from her before his trembling legs reversed intent and began pressing back into her. He moaned against the back of her shoulder and shivered at the feeling of her body clinging to his cock while he attempted to rein himself in.

"S-say the word . . . when yer ready babes . . . god/satan yer tighter 'n hell . . . " he panted against her earlobe, offering her some small bit of control as he relinquished custody of their pace. "Dunno how long I can hold back . . . don't wanna hurt ya, love."

The tremble in him telegraphed into her. A small bit of her wondered if she’d asked too much of him--her thoughts went to the night in his crypt when he allowed himself to be brutal and take what he wanted, gaining bulk and destroying furniture during it. He’d been conscientious of her, of course, but a demonic shift may not be well received in this company! Carmen couldn’t concentrate on that worry for long, though. Beej moved slightly, a half thrust as if judging what she could take and what control he had. She panted sharply at the immense friction; just that minor movement made aching pleasure erupt throughout her. “It’s so much, căţeluş--your cock, oh fuck--” Deliberately she took a breath as Beej panted in her ear. His grip had tightened, his tremor had increased, and she could sense that he was doing his best to hold back, even without him voicing it. “Okay, yes, yes please, fuck me, I’m yours, fuck me, fill me up--oh god Beej--!” she cried. He’d said she didn’t know how he could hold back, and a sudden wave of arousal and deep seated need to have him claim her made her not want him too. Carmen pushed back against him as best she could, pinned under him.

⁂

Surprise made her heart flutter as BJ expressed some understanding of her protectiveness. She could understand, she supposed. Their agreement that she could indulge with Ollie was mostly based on what they'd both seemed to agree were hypothetical and impossible circumstances . . . and yet here she was having just had several loads of not only the leprechaun's seed flooded into her, but a handful of other small fey as well. It made her feel confident and sexy, though she had to confess that it made his jealousy of Ollie more understandable.

Still, there would be time to see if his words would be true when Ollie returned. She felt a flickering of worry for a moment, but that abated as she reminded herself that there were people to stop Andy should he try to grab him up again. Carmen and Beej were making delicious sounds that drew her attention back, and her mouth watered and her groin radiated heat as she watched them. She took another pull on her tiny hookah hose as he spoke. Her brows raised at the way he spoke, in comparison rather than a linear telling of their interaction.

"Pussy, you say?" she asked, letting the smoke slip from between her lips as she asked the rhetorical question. She had heard him . . . but the way he phrased everything led her brain down a different avenue. "Both able to change form? Well now, sounds like the two of you are the recipe for an awful lot of fun, baby. How was it? His pussy, that is . . . feel the same as a normal pussy?"

She licked her lips and swallowed thickly at the thought that came into her mind. A snippet of BJ tied up on a bed with an exposed cunt, the sounds he'd make with her mouth surrounding his--Jessie wriggled on his shoulder, uncomfortably warm between her legs now and feeling the urge to put her mouth to good use on a soaking mound.

She realized that she hadn't withheld anything from him and glanced at him with her cheeks burning red. Embarrassment wasn't common for her, especially not around BJ... but it had been so long since she'd last tasted a woman, and he had commented on how similar he and the other ghost apparently were. If this pink-haired specter manipulated himself to have a pussy . . . she groaned softly.

"I . . . really hope you didn't mind that too much, babe," she murmured softly, turning to press her hot cheek against his cool neck for some relief.

Like Jessie, BJ wasn’t embarrassed about watching the couple near them. He couldn’t quite make out what the ghost had said, but Carmen’s fevered pleading response was clear, as was the shake in them both. His cock half-filled at the animalistic display of passion.

It dawned on him she’d asked a question.

“Yeah, it felt pretty good, baby,” he admitted, although he left out that it was like other pussy he’d had in the Netherworld: namely wet and tight, but chilly. “Not as good as yours, though--”

His praise was interrupted by images that invaded his mind’s eye.

--tied wrist and ankle--

--legs spread, a pillow under his ass--

--Jessie crawling up the bed between his thighs, looking hungry--

--her keeping direct eye contact with him as she dropped her mouth to his--

--pussy--

Jessie bodily pressed herself to him and the vision was broken, and she was apologizing for such a dirty daydream. “I don’t mind,” he murmured in reply to her. He’d also gotten the unmistakable sensation of her arousal, originating between her legs. “Fantasies are good an’ all, but you want a little something right here and now? I know you’ve been having a good time with all the fey and I know I can’t fuck you like Beej is doing Carmen, but I love tasting you on my tongue, baby. We did it earlier, and I’ll do it again if you want.”

tbc . . .

[artificialqueens]

Stupid For You, Chapter 2 (Crygi, Jankie, Jaida x Nicky) - Metaluna

Summary: It’s everyone’s final day of training, and then the big opening. Everything is going to go smoothly, or so Gigi hopes….

The rest of training was a blur. Brita and Jaida forgot on the first day, but on the second day, they gave their trainees tags that stuck on the bottom of the nametag that said TRAINEE in big block letters, and explained the tradition of dramatically ripping them off upon completing training. Gigi and Jan learned how to stock the shops. Jan decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t for her, mainly because she found out she’d be talking to guests a lot less. Gigi loved that aspect, since she was afraid talking to the guests. She also loved that the stockers got to bounce from store to store throughout the day. There was a lot of freedom, which is something Gigi liked. They were also shown by Brita how to pull products from the case at the candy shop and how to slice the caramel apples. Gigi wasn’t a fan of this, because her apple slices were always uneven, and it was embarrassingly hard for her to pull the sticks out. Of course, Jan excelled at this, just as she did with everything else.

Their last day of training was the day before opening. Every year, the day before opening was a preview for season passholders.  This was the day that Jaida and Brita had to assess their trainees and either pass or fail them, depending on how they performed. The day before, they had their stocking assessment. Both Jan and Gigi easily passed. The sales assessment was straightforward. They just had to act like they were already trained, greeting guests, doing transactions, answering questions, all normal things.  Except, Jaida and Brita were standing in the background with a clipboard watching them like hawks.

At first, Gigi hid behind the register. She knew that was exactly what she wasn’t supposed to do, but she couldn’t help it. Jan, on the other hand, was actively talking to guests and just being Jan. As soon as she was about to go to the floor, a guest walked up. It was a girl that couldn’t have been more than nine. Brita stood behind Gigi.

“Hi,” Gigi said warmly with a smile. “How are you?”

“Good. How about you?”

“I’m great, thank you so much for asking! What’s your favorite thing you did today?”

The girl smiled. “I did The Genie for the first time today!”

“Oh my goodness, did you get scared?” Gigi’s tone was overenthusiastic, but that was the Paradise Isle way.

“Only a little bit!”

“You know what that means right?”

“No, what?”

“You have to go on The Jinn!”

“I’m going to with my big sister later!”

“Well you’re going to have to come back and tell me how it was! That will be 20 dollars before the discount, can I please see your season pass? Since you definitely aren’t old enough to drive, I just need to see the pass.” The girl held up her pass. “Amazing. After your discount, it’s going to be 16 dollars.”

The girl handed over a twenty, which Gigi appreciated because it was easy math.

She handed the girl her change and said, “Have fun!”

Gigi was shocked at how well she interacted with the little girl. She looked back at Brita who gave her a thumbs up. This gave her the confidence to wander the floor. A guest asked for directions. Thankfully, it was to the bathroom right outside of the store.

After about a half an hour more, Jaida gathered her trainees in the stockroom.

“Ladies,” Jaida began, her tone serious. “I have to say that I’m disappointed.”

Gigi and Jan’s excited facial expressions dropped. Tears began to brim on Jan’s eyes.

“I’m just kidding! Y’all did great. You pass.”

“You rotted bitch,” Brita teased.

“Oh, you know it’s tradition to make the trainees squirm. I expect you to do the same when you get trainees of your own. Jan, Gigi, rip those things off your badges. You’re officially sales hostesses at Paradise Isle.

Gigi smiled as she tore the TRAINEE tag off of her badge.

“Time for lunch!” Brita exclaimed.

….

Jackie hated doing assessments. Because she was a trainer at The Genie, she ended up failing about half of her trainees. Since it was such a safety critical ride, the assessment had to be nearly perfect. While failing trainees didn’t mean they were fired, it meant that they had to do an extra day of training. This made Jackie feel like she was a bad trainer. Thankfully, Nicky caught on fast. Jackie stood behind Nicky as Nicky stood at the console in the tower.

“And how do you ride stop?”

Nicky pointed to a red large button on the console.

“The emergency stop?”

Nicky pointed to a raised red button with a yellow square around it.

“Why would you rather ride stop than emergency stop?”

“Because emergency stopping cuts the power, and we have to call maintenance.”

“Perfect. How old do kids have to be to ride by themselves?”

“They have to be eight years old, and if they’re under they have to be accompanied by someone who is at least fourteen.”

“Look at you! Alright, so we’re getting our first guests for the day. I always offer, do you want to do the easy stuff first or the hard stuff?”

“Let’s get the hard stuff out of the way.”

Jackie was impressed with her trainee’s confidence. Nicky was an absolute rockstar. She remembered everything Jackie taught her. Nicky did the load one, load two, and tower positions flawlessly. The only position she struggled was greeter, the position that most people excelled at. The guests struggled to understand what Nicky’s accent at times, but considering that it wasn’t her fault, and half the time that position wasn’t used anyway, Jackie passed her on greeter.

“Well?” Nicky questioned. “Did I pass?”

“Nicky…” Jackie said with a serious tone. “I’m sorry to tell you… that you were one of the best trainees that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”

“Seriously?” Nicky was stunned. She thought she was going to fail like half percent of the other people, considering Jackie, who was a great rides hostess, needed an extra day when she started. She explained to Nicky that she accidentally took her eyes off of the train at load one when she sent it.

“Yes, now rip that tag off your badge so we can go to lunch.”

—

Crystal was nervous as she waited for a guest to come up and play her game. The past few days, Crystal learned about all six of the games on The Boardwalk. Even though it took her longer than Widow to catch on, Crystal eventually caught on and became much more confident. Although, when it was time for her assessment, Crystal was a nervous wreck, and begged her partner to go first. They had done mock assessments at five of the games the day before. Because she was so nervous, Crystal cried twice. But, because she technically did everything correctly, and there weren’t actual guests, Heidi didn’t fail her.

Now that it was time for the actual assessment. Crystal and Widow had to run a game by themselves. Crystal begged Widow go first again. Heidi put Widow at the ring toss game. Two preteens came up and handed Widow the money. Widow explained the rules as she set the bucket of rings down.

“You have to completely get the ring around a bottle. It can’t be on their halfway. I’m watching, so don’t cheat.” Her tone was kind, yet stern.

Crystal watched the girls go through every single last ring with no luck.

“Better luck next time, ladies,” Widow said sympathetically.

The three went into the basketball booth. Heidi chose it for Crystal because it was the game she was least likely to get yelled at. Heidi knew that if Crystal cried during her live assessment, she would have to fail her. Heidi never had to fail a trainee, and she wasn’t about to do it now.  

“Hello!” Crystal greeted a boy who was about her age and what looked to be his girlfriend. “Would you like to play?”

The boy nodded and handed over his five dollars. Crystal put the bill in the bank that vacuumed the bill into the bank while her hands shook from nerves. In exchange, Crystal handed over three small basketballs. She watched as the boy failed to make any of the baskets. The girl next to him looked disappointed, yawning while she was on her phone.

He handed over another five. Again, no baskets.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” the girl announced.

Once she was out of earshot, the boy said, “How much to just buy a prize?”

“Sorry, but you can’t do that,” Crystal explained. “None of them are for sale.”

The boy pulled out a twenty. “How about now?”

“No, I can’t. I’m sorry.”

The boy huffed and walked away. “Fucking bitch.”

Heidi looked at Crystal in suspense, hoping to God that she wouldn’t cry. Crystal took a deep breath to compose herself, but managed to hold it together.

“Oh my God, Crystal you didn’t cry!” Widow hugged Crystal.

“I didn’t cry!”

Heidi looked at her trainees sternly. “Unfortunately though, girls, I just gotta say that you could both improve vastly on… absolutely nothing, you both pass. Let’s go to lunch.”

Crystal confidently ripped the TRAINEE tag off of her name badge.

–

When Gigi, Jan, Jaida, and Brita made it into the break room, Heidi’s training group, as well as Jackie’s were sat at the large table in the middle.

“Normally you aren’t on break at the same time as all of your friends. But, all the trainers may have ‘accidentally’ scheduled break for the same time. Oops,” Brita explained as she sat next to Jackie.

“Hey, gorgeous!” Crystal exclaimed as Gigi sat across from her. “How did it go?”              

“I passed! I talked to a guest and didn’t freeze! You?”

“I got called a bitch by a guest and didn’t cry! I passed, too!”

“Oh my god!” Jan exclaimed. “That’s terrible! Proud of you for handling it so well!”

“Thanks!”

“Jan passed too, of course,” Gigi said. “Did you pass, Nicky?”

Gigi didn’t really know anyone outside of her training group, outside of Crystal, so she was doing her best to make friends. Even though Gigi was a cheerleader and class president in school, she never had a close group of friends, which is something she longed for.

Jackie answered for her. “Nicky was one of the best trainees that I’ve ever had. Not only did she do every position perfectly, but she answered every question that I had.”

“Wow,” Jan said looking at Jackie. “You must be a pretty good trainer.”

Jackie’s face flushed. “Oh, you know. I do my best.”

“Ladies, there’s a tradition that has been upheld since before I started working at this hellhole. After every opening day, there is a huge party in which we all get completely shitfaced to bless the new season. This year, it’s going to be at my place. We close at nine, party starts at 10:30. I know it’s late, but thankfully, the schedulers have mercy on our souls, and if you work the first day of the season, you don’t work the next day,” Heidi explained.

Jan’s face lit up. “I love parties!”

“Me, too!” Jackie spoke a little bit too quickly.

Heidi created a groupchat and sent her address to everyone. Because Heidi was attending the local community college, her apartment was close to the park. Plus, Heidi didn’t have roommates, so they were free to do as they pleased.

“Hey, Gigi could you—”

“I’ll pick you up at 10, Crys.”

The rest of the day, Jaida and Brita’s training group hid in an office talking. There was really no one around to catch them. They had finish the assessments early, so there was nothing else for them to do but sit and talk.

“We have some cute new girls this year. That Nicky, she’s gorgeous. Plus that accent…” Jaida trailed off.

“Are you going to go for her? Do we know if she likes girls?” Brita questioned.

“No, but we will find out tomorrow, won’t we?”

“Are you guys straight?” Gigi was surprised at how blunt Brita was.

“Honestly, I never really thought of it! I’ve dated some boys, and kissed a girl this one time. I think girls are beautiful, like Jackie? She’s gorgeous. So I guess I’m not? I’m not sure. I don’t know what to call myself, ya know? Like I could be bi, I could be pansexual. What’s the difference anyway? Anyway. That’s what’s college is for, right?” Jan laughed at her own joke. “What about you Brita?”

“I–” Brita began.

“She’s straight,” Jaida interrupted. “We all have our flaws. Just like Jackie. Sorry Jan, but that girl is the straightest girl I’ve ever met. Gigi?”

Gigi was hoping that she wouldn’t be asked this question. She’d never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend either. But, one time back in eighth grade, Gigi kissed her best friend at the time, who was a girl. She hadn’t ever felt anything for a boy before, despite being asked out multiple times by football players.  

“Oh, uh. I don’t date.”

“By choice? Or no one’s wanted to hit that?”

Brita clapped. “Jan! The shade!”

Gigi forced a laugh. “I don’t know. The right one hasn’t come along, I guess. Anyway, about this party…”

—

When the day was over, Jan and Gigi made their way to their cars. Jaida, Brita and the other trainers had their own tradition of getting dinner together. If anyone had trainees that failed, they would have to buy everyone’s dinner. But, since everyone passed, it was just dinner.

Once in Gigi’s car Crystal admitted, “I’m kind of nervous for this party!”

“Nervous? Why?”  

“Well, I don’t drink.”

“You don’t have to drink,” Gigi reassured. “Lots of people don’t. I’m not one of them, but I know plenty who don’t.”

“It’s not just that it’s just…”

“What?”

“I’ve never really had a lot of friends, just a few super close ones, and we were never cool to get invited to any parties so…”

“Crystal, I’ve been to a bunch of parties, and they’re fun. If you don’t end up having fun, we can dip. I think it’ll be a great time. You can get ready at my house, if you want.”

Her face lit up. “I’d love that!”

“So how are you feeling about opening day tomorrow?”

“Nervous. Excited. Kind of like I wanna throw up when I think about it? You?”

“Same. My assessment was okay. Nothing bad happened, but still…” Gigi trailed off.

“I feel like things went a little too well today, you know?”

Crystal, someone literally called you a bitch.”

“Well yeah, but it could always be worse right?”

Crystal’s positivity was contagious. “Yeah I guess so!”

–

Just like the night before her first day, Gigi didn’t sleep well. She kept thinking about all the horror stories Jaida and Brita told her. Jaida talked about the time a woman stripped naked in the store to try on a swimsuit. Brita dramatically told the story of when a guest threatened to call the cops because she wouldn’t give her the season pass discount on an expired pass. Gigi really hoped nothing like that would happen, especially not on her first day.

She dragged herself out of bed. Her eyes didn’t look as tired as her first day, so she went with light makeup. As she tightened her belt, she looked into the mirror. She looked ridiculous in her uniform, as did everyone else. Everyone but Crystal. Somehow she looked amazing in the uniform.

Once she pulled into her driveway, she texted Crystal

Hey, I’m outside.

omw!!!!

Crystal got into the car and handed Gigi a cup of coffee.

“Hello, my love! Cream and sugar, just how you like it.“

Gigi took a sip as she turned up the radio. Crystal gasped. “Oh my god, are you listening to One Direction?”

“You may or may not have gotten me hooked.”

Their drove consisted of singing off key and sipping coffee. Gigi kept stealing glances at Crystal. The amount of joy on her face filled Gigi’s heart. After parking, the two girls sat in Gigi’s jeep trying to compose themselves. They both had to walk in different directions, so they weren’t able to calm each other’s nerves.

When they could no longer delay the inevitable, Crystal gave Gigi a hug. “Good luck, beautiful!”

She smelled so good, and her hair was so soft. As she walked the opposite direction to the games base, Gigi couldn’t help but watch her walk away.

Gigi made her way to the stockroom at the main store on The Landing, Isle Mercantile. Jaida, Jan, Brita, and a bunch of people didn’t know were waiting. One of them was an older woman in a plain blue polo and khaki shorts. Jaida explained in training that someone dressed like that was a supervisor.

“Hello!” the woman said. “My name is Nina.”

“Hi!” Gigi said shyly.

“Well everyone, we have first two newbies this year. This is Gigi, and this is Jan. We’ll have more people as the season goes on, but right now, make sure these girls feel welcome. Jan, Gigi, this is Dahlia, Rock, and Aiden. Of course, you already know Brita and Jaida. Jaida, you’re going to be the lead today, okay?”

“Lead?” Gigi whispered.

“I’m in charge of choosing your assignments, making sure you go on breaks, and more importantly, making sure y’all make it back from your breaks.”

“I think that today’s going to be a great day that’s going to lead into a great season. Jan, Gigi, I’m so happy to have you with us. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to give me a call!”

Jaida sent Gigi to Candy Kitchen, which is exactly what she was dreading, but she wasn’t about to tell Jaida that. Her hair was going to get ruined by the hairnet that she had to wear, and she sucked at cutting apples. She only hoped that the girl, Rock, would be nice.

Once they made it to the store, Rock asked, “What kind of a name is Gigi?”

“What kind of a name is Rock?” Gigi retorted.

He looked taken aback before saying, “Fair.”

The morning went smoothly. Gigi rang up some transactions. She started out slow, but her speed increased as the day went on. She weighed the bulk candy as people purchased it. At times, she forgot where menu buttons were on the POS, but Rock was always there to help. Rock offered for Gigi to work at the caseline to grab apples, but that made Gigi nervous. Rock agreed to pull apples, but made Gigi promise she would do it after lunch. Gigi made good on her promise, putting on gloves and the apron that was hung up.

A stressed out looking came up to Gigi. “Hi, can I get a chocolate peanut apple, an apple pie apple, and one candied apple?”

“Of course! Do you want me to cut the caramel ones?”

“Are you dumb? Of course I do.”

Gigi was taken aback. “Yes, ma’am.”

Gigi set the apples on the counter, and struggled to remove the sticks. She grabbed the blade, and just like in training, struggled to make slices. Cutting through layers of caramel and chocolate was hard. After a while, she managed to make slices. They didn’t look as nice as Rock’s, but they were mostly intact. She put the two cut apples into containers.

“Umm…” the woman trailed off.

“Yes?”

“You didn’t cut the candied one.”

“Oh, we can’t cut those. The candy will just shatter right off.”

“So I’m supposed to break my teeth on this thing? I don’t care if some falls off, I just want it cut into slices.”

“The apple won’t be as good…”

“Well can you do it anyway?”

Gigi looked at Rock, who shrugged.

Gigi unwrapped the candied apple. This time, she really struggled to remove the stick. She was pulling with all of her strength. She felt the candy coating crack. Shit. Well, it’s what the woman wanted. After finally wrangling the stick out, she cut slices. Almost all of the candy fell off. Gigi put the candy on the bottom of the container and the ugly apple slices on top.

“Here you go, ma’am!”

“Are you serious? It looks like shit!”

"I did tell you that if I cut the apple into slices all the coating would fall off, but you told me that it was fine.”

“Well, maybe, if you didn’t have those skinny chicken arms you could have actually done your job! Also! What’s with your attitude? I know that you don’t give a shit about your job, and you’re probably just some lazy teenager who would rather be making out with her boyfriend all summer, but you’re running my vacation! I spent a lot of money to bring my family here! And I can’t even get a damn apple cut right? What’s your name? Georgiana? I want to speak to your manager.” The woman was nearly screaming. Thankfully, there was no one behind her in line.

“I–”

“Yes ma’am, right away, ma’am.” Rock picked up the phone. “Hi, yes, Nina it’s Rock. I’m in Candy Kitchen and I have a guest requesting a manager. Okay. Thank you.”

“Our supervisor will be here shortly.”

The woman got out of the queue and shot Gigi dagger eyes the entire time. She felt like she was about to have a panic attack. Was she going to get written up? It was her first day and she already had her first guest complaint. After what felt like an eternity, Nina arrived.

“Hello!” her tone was pleasant. “What can I do for you today?”

“This girl ruined my apple.”

“That’s not good. Can you explain to me what happened?”

“She went to cut my candied apple and everything fell off. It’s just an apple and some candy on the bottom now.”

“Ma’am, did Gigi tell you that those apples weren’t meant to be cut?”

The woman mumbled she had.

“And you insisted that she do it anyway?”

“She just must have not done it right! Just look at her, she looks so weak! I’m sure if the oriental one did it, she’d do it fine!”

“Ma’am, please don’t refer to my hostess with that offensive term, and don’t insult my other hostess. Those apples aren’t meant to be cut. You were told that, and still insisted on Gigi cutting it, anyway. It sounds like you were the one in the wrong. Not Gigi. I won’t make you pay for that apple, but I am making you apologize to my hostesses here.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman mumbled. She silently paid for her other two apples with Rock and stormed out, muttering something about leaving a bad review as she left.

“Are you okay?” Nina asked sincerely.

Gigi could only manage to shake her head. Her chest was tight and tears were running down her face. Thankfully, it wasn’t a bad panic attack, but it was a panic attack nonetheless.

“I’ll go with you in the small stockroom. Go back there, have a seat. I just need to call and have Dahlia cover. She’s stocking and should be around soon, anyway. Can you handle the shop by yourself Rock?”

“On it.”

The small stockroom was right behind Candy Kitchen. The entire room smelled like sugar, which made Gigi’s stomach turn. She tried to level her breathing as she sat on the ground.

Nina sat with her and handed her a water bottle. “Hey, listen to me. It’s okay. You weren’t wrong at all. That woman was completely unreasonable.”

“Am I in trouble?” Gigi managed taking a drink of water.

“Why would you be in trouble, when nothing you did was your fault? You are fine. Take as much time as you need.”

Gigi nodded. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. If you ever need anything, call.”

—

Across the park, Crystal was also having a panic attack as she sat in the money room in the games department. A middle aged man kept losing at one of the games. He offered to pay her for a prize, and when she refused, the man lost it. He screamed every bad word and insult that he could muster, right in front of his young daughter. He also threatened to “punch her pretty little face in.”  It was to the point that other guests told him to stop, and security was called. The lead, a boy named Ben, covered for her.

Brooke, a pretty blonde supervisor made her way into the money room. She didn’t say anything, but hugged Crystal, which made her break down. Brooke kindly rubbed Crystal’s red hair.

“That man has been banned from ever coming back.”

“Are there a lot of people like him?”

“Not that bad, sweetie. That was one of the worst ones I’ve seen in my six years here. I’m so sorry that it happened to you, especially on your first day. I promise that it’s usually better. You get to make people’s days. You get to make first dates memorable. You get to make little kids happy. Don’t let a couple of bad people ruin this for you.”

Crystal smiled. “Thank you.”

Brooke sat with Crystal until she calmed down.

“Here, let me fix you.” Brooke wiped all of the eyeliner and mascara that had ran down Crystal’s face with a Kleenex.

Thankfully, there was only about half an hour left of her shift, so Brooke let her hang out in the back.

Brooke’s radio went off. Before taking the call, she asked, “Are you going to be okay, sweetie?”

“Yeah, I will. Thank you.”

Brooke winked. “Anytime.”

–

Gigi met up with Crystal at the lockers and groaned.

“Bad day?” Crystal asked grabbing her bag.

Gigi nodded. On the way to her car, Gigi told Crystal the tale of the candied apple. Crystal looked mortified.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you!”

“I hope your day was better,” Gigi said adjusting her rearview mirror.

“Not… exactly. A grown man threatened to punch me in the face while calling me bad words, some of them I’ve never even heard before.”

“Oh shit Crys,” Gigi said looking at her friend. “I’m so sorry. That makes my story sound like nothing!”

“Gigi, no it’s okay! We both had crappy days, it doesn’t matter which was worse. They were both bad to us, and they’re both over now.”

This made Gigi smile. “Crystal, how are you always so positive?”

“Honestly? I used to not be. But one day I realized that being negative was tiring, so I decided to try to be as positive as possible. Oh, and Gigi?”

“Yes?”

“You know how I said I don’t drink?”

“Yeah.”

“I think after the day I had, I think tonight’s a great night to start.”

“Agreed.”

TAGS: Gigi goode, Crystal methyd, jan sport, jackie cox, jaida essence hall, nicky doll, brita filter, crygi, jankie, jaida x nicky, lesbian au, stupid for you, metaluna

[horrorstreet]

Chucky and Brahms in a fight with their s/o?

Brahms

You had a family reunion and hadn’t told Brahms about it because you could already see his reaction. Big messes and negative emotions are the only thing that could result from telling him you had to leave but you knew that it had to be done at some point. You had quietly packed your things and quickly too so Brahms wouldn't catch you but it was too late as you had realised that the door was already half way open with Brahms large figure standing in the opening, about to catch you in the act of packing your things to leave. Your heart rate sped up as you tried to push the bag off the bed and kick it under but it was too late. You weren't afraid of Brahms, not in the slightest, but you were afraid of the tantrum he would pull.

“Brahms! Uhm, do you need something?” You asked him, trying your best to hide the case with your body. The man pointed at your bag and looked from you to the bag and then back to you. "Brahms, listen-” Before you could explain yourself, he charged over to your bed and pulled the open case up causing its contents to fall and spread out on the floor. He held it above your head and you rubbed your temples in annoyance now that all that time packing was now wasted by your angry lovers outburst. “BRAHMS.” You shouted at him. “I am not cleaning up this mess.” You hissed, pointing at the clothes and other objects that had fallen to the floor. He kept his angered gaze locked on you as he threw your bag as hard as he could across the room and against the wall, his chest rising and falling rapidly. You gave a harsh huff through your nose and went to retrieve your bag but was stopped by a strong grip being held on your wrist. He pulled you into his chest and squeezed you into his form, not letting you move from his embrace.

“Brahms, I'm sorry that I didn’t tell you but I have to go.” You told him, putting both hands on his chest. “No.” He responded, his voice low and aggressive. It was rare that he used his normal voice and it did have an effect on you and your decision making but this was something you had your mind set on. “Yes.” You countered, trying to pull yourself out of his grip. You had wiggled enough to break free and had almost got away but Brahms lunged forwards and grabbed you arm to drag you into the walls. “Let go!” You yelled, trying to get his hand off of your arm. "Brahms, please. This happens every time I have to go somewhere!” You pleaded. He slowed down as he opened another door to where he stayed and walked you down into the makeshift room. “Sit.” He demanded. You remained stood still and he grabbed your shoulders and made you sit down, not hurting you at all. He was becoming more gentle as he realized he was losing this fight, becoming desperate and sad. “Please.” He said to you, his voice now high and child-like. You put your head in your hands for a short second before getting up and walking over to him rummaging through his things, Brahms trying to find something that might lure you to stay with him. You softly put a hand on his waist, turning him to face you, and gently snaked your arms around his waist as he turned to you. You snuggle your head into his chest as he wrapped his own arms around your figure and felt his body shake. “Im sorry, baby. I'm so sorry that I have to go but it will only be 4 days. I promise. No longer.” You said, looking up into his eyes. Tears dripped from his eyes and landed on the inside of his mask, dripping into your hair.

You reached up to grab his face which made him flinch away. You waited for him to be comfortable with your touch and he leaned down to your face, allowing you to remove his mask and lay it down on the table beside the two of you and you looked into his eyes. “I will come back, ok? I would never leave you.” You brushed your thumb against his scarred face and leaned up to kiss his lips. He caught your lips in an aggressive and passionate kiss. You were taken aback by his strong force but matched his pace and ran your fingers through his hair. You tried to pull away causing him to lean down to follow your lips but leaned too far out of reach for him to kiss you and pecked his cheek. “I promise, Brahms.” He didn't respond as you backed out of his reach and walked back out of his room and the walls to pick your things up. As you bend down to start cleaning up, you felt strong arms pick you and carry you over to the bed and lay down. Brahms buried his face in your neck and let out a shaky breath as you two held one another. “I'm sorry.” He apologized, something that he rarely ever did because your arguments were usually over pointless things he or yourself did. “Its ok. I love you.” To this he didn’t respond but hugged you closer and the both of you fell asleep making you miss your flight and the chance to go to the reunion. He did it again.

Chucky

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU-”

“WOULD YOU SHUT UP FOR ONCE!” You yelled back. “YOU ARE ALWAYS BITCHING ABOUT THIS AND THAT. IT ISN’T MY FAULT YOU MAKE BAD CHOICES!” You shouted, throwing the book you were holding at him. He quickly dodged it and you stormed off, walking past him. “MAYBE I WOULDN’T COMPLAIN IF YOU WOULD STOP ACTING LIKE SUCH A BITCH YOURSELF!! MY LIFE WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER WITHOUT YOU IN IT!” He argued back. You stopped in your tracks, your shoulders visibly bouncing as the sobs began to escape your throat. “Oh really? Is that how you feel?” You asked him, turning around with a pained look in your eyes. “YES… No, no (y/n), baby. No.” He said, bringing his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. Your mouth lifted into a snarl and your body shook with the adrenaline running through your body from the heat of the moment and the cries desperate to escape. "Listen,” You began, slowly walking over to him. “I usually put up with your attitude and anger but IM DONE.” Your voice shook. He looked off to the side in embarrassment and you walked off.

“(Y/n) … (Y/n)! C’mon babe! We both said things we didn’t mean.” Chucky called out to you walking to grab your things. You didn’t reply, your feet crunching over the broken glass of photos and drinking glasses as you walked throughout the house to gather a few things. “What the hell are ya doing?” He asked, watching you race about the house. “I'm gettin’ my things and getting out of here” You sniffed, aggressively throwing things into your bag. “No, don’t do that.” Chucky said, trying his best to climb up and get on top of the bed. “Well then what do you want me to do? Stay here and continue to endure your tournament?” You asked. He stayed silent while you just looked at him. You put your hands on your hips and continued to stare at him with sad and angry eyes. “I don’t know.” Charles responded. “How about you work on controlling that fiery temper of yours for my sake? Or maybe at least think before you speak!” You explained tohim. “It would make our lives so much better.” You told him, closing the lid of your bag and zipping it up. Charles put his hand on the bed to prevent you from picking it up and looked up at you with glare. “You saying you don’t like living with me? Do I make your life hell?” He sneered. "That’s just it charles, what you’re doing right now is what makes it so easy to walk away for a few days. You think I enjoy getting yelled at by the person I love for things I didn’t do? How about going through it for 3 years?” You poked his chest and pushed him back. “You are the one making bad decisions, not me. Don’t yell at me because you messed up.” Chucky just stood there and finally let out a long sigh. “Babe, I'm sorry. My anger just gets the best of me and I burst. I don’t mean to hurt you so bad like this. Please don’t go.” You sat down on the bed and let out a chuckle, shaking your head. “Well, would you look at that. The almighty charles lee ray saying he’s sorry and begging me to stay with him.” You wiped the tears off of your face and looked over at him. “Yeah, I am. And I mean it.” He responded, sitting next to you. There was a long silence before either of you said anything but you were the one who broke the silence. "You promise, promise me you won't lash out at me again?” You asked, looking over him. “I promise. Cross my heart, babe.” He said, looking over at you. You smiled and let out a shaky breath. “I'm sorry I threatened to leave. That was stupid.” You said laying back. “No, its ok.” He said, opening your bag. “Now, you gotta unpack this stuff. You ain’t going nowhere, doll.” He told you in a soft voice. You let out a few laughs and looked over at him with loving eyes. “I love you, charles.” You told him, sitting up. “Yeah, Yeah and I love you too.”

[helihi]

Thoughts on RWBY Vol. 7

Quarantine day 20: I finally force myself to re watch volume 7 instead of doing my French homework.

Spoilers ahead for RWBY and How I Met Your Mother (yes).

Volume 7: The Story of a Broken Narrative Kingdom

The day has come where I finally sit down and watch the whole season again. Some of you wondered why I didn’t simply do a The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty review on the last episode of the volume like I did with the previous ones. The answer is the same reason why Ozpin’s speech at the end of the volume encapsulates the volume’s theme as a whole: finales affect the way you look at shows, comics, movies, and books. It provides a framing.

Did any of you watch How I Met Your Mother? For those of you who didn’t, it was a often called the show “which could replace Friends”. Something that you may not know is that fans of the show renamed it something among the lines of “How I should date your Aunt Robin” after the last episode aired. You see, the ending of the show changed the way most viewers see the show in the present.

The show had main character Ted Mosby narrate to his children how he met their mother. However, the story doesn’t begin during the day that encountered happen; no, it starts years before, when Ted declares he wants to settle down and find the love of his life. In that very same episode, he meets Robin Scherbatsky. In the end it’s revealed that the mother (the character we spent years speculating about) is dead (which I expected), and Ted asks his children if they give him the blessing to date their Aunt Robin. Originally, the fans could excuse episode 1 centering around Robin because it was the instance where Ted decided he wanted to settle down, but after the veil was lifted; there were no excuses, this whole story was a Ted’s way of convincing their children he should marry Robin, the main woman in his life during the whole show (even if we spend the last season on her wedding with one of Ted’s best friends).

Perhaps the ending of Volume 7 didn’t destroy the character development of 3 main characters, but it drastically changed the way I felt about the volume.

“The Kingdom of Atlas will remain safe, that’s my promise”- James Ironwood, Volume 7, Episode 1.

If you go back in my blog and read my reviews for most of the volume, you will find glowing ratings and stars. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good politics game in the shows/stories I read, so I was really excited when the writing team started developing that during the first half of the season.

Our gang (RWBY+JNOR+Q+M) reach Atlas after finding out that Oz is a fraud, that Salem cannot be beat (by Oz), and that Cinder almost took another maiden’s power. They quickly realize that Atlas is in a state of chaos and Ironwood is consumed by fear taking authoritarian measures, which keep the kingdom divided.

The stage is set:

 Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Ops.

Robyn, the Happy Huntresses, and Mantle.

 Watts, Jacques, and Tyrian.

I thought the way everything was set was fantastic, I loved the political drama, and I thought the writers were taking their time properly. Even now I give huge kudos to the Schnee storyline, which is my favorite. The volume showed us how flawed Winter’s coping mechanism is, how Weiss is still susceptible to her father’s gaslighting and manipulation, and how the household isn’t just broken by Jacques (Willow apologists, pls read this).

However, the cracks started showing during the first episodes and I noted that on my reviews. We have characters used for exposition dump: from the Robyn supporter, that explains what we could’ve learned by the normal progression of the story, who gets killed as soon as he returns home, and other characters like Maria talking about Pietro while he’s standing right there.

In contrast to that, we get wonderful montages which show the passage of time. The kids interact with one another and the Ace Ops, they train, they help with Ironwood’s plan. It seems weird to have 2 different tools one after the other.

Also, it it weird for anyone that Qrow and Winter only interact 1 time during episode 2 when in Volume 3 a clear rivalry was established? Winter’s storyline was supposed to follow Penny’s, while Qrow was supposed to grow attached to Clover. Because these 2 characters had to reach a certain point in the story, they are not allowed to deviate from the interactions needed for the plot to advance.

Another thing occurred to me while re-watching the season again... Why is Ironwood so fixated in protecting Atlas when it’s floating in the air away from Grimm? Yes, we know that some Grimm can fly, but by the many times we see Mantle in chaos, you would think Ironwood would repair Mantle’s wall to keep it safe?

That’s the theme, guys, girls and nonbinary folks: a kingdom divided.

Just like the Atlas kingdom falls apart, the narrative of Volume 7 has a specific breaking point that marks the decline in quality (you can see that in my reviews). The moment everything went downhill starts in Episode 8, with the dinner at the Schnee Manor.

We spend much time developing the political tensions of the volume for Jacques to be promptly arrested and taken away from the scene in a second.

While Ironwood, Winter, Penny, and Clover are shown doing plot relevant stuff, team JNOR does that ridiculous gag to get Whitley out of Weiss’s hair.  The rest of the team do jackshit, and we don’t hear anything from them until everything is over. Again, the writers reached the plot point and forgot about everything else.

Also, Ruby looks sadly at Weiss when Whitley mentions that Klein was “let go”, yet Weiss has never talked about him to Ruby on screen. Claiming Weiss could’ve done that off screen strips away the possibilities of Weiss bonding with Ruby the same way she did with Yang when talking about their pain during Volume 5.

Such a large table, and only 4 council members, isn’t that kind of stupid? I mean, if Ironwood had 2 seats, numbers wise it makes sense, but who are those other 2 supposed to represent? Why haven’t we seen them before?

Robyn is told by Yang and Blake that Ironwood doesn't know who to trust. She proceeds to pressure him in front of people he clearly doesn’t trust. This is the first instance of OOC Robyn.

The walls crumbled, and everything became obvious as a viewer. Some other notable flaws:

Tension jojoing. The people in mantle will revolt! Except they aren’t. This happens in Episode 5, 6, and 9. The only real uprising is the last one. The other two were silly cliff hangers that make no sense when you watch the show again. (they didn’t make sense before either  and I complained).

Hey there, Watts! You may have an interesting backstory, except it’s only implied you are pissed off Penny got chosen as a major project instead of whatever yours was. Also, Paladin incident? What? If he is the main villain of the Volume, why not expand on him? I shouldn’t be surprised, Hazel and Tyrian are not that complex. And Cinder? It’s been 5 volumes and we barely know anything about her haha.

Robin! I love how civilized and smart you are when the volume started, choosing to observe and talk instead of acting against the main characters. How awful is it that you forget to keep your calm when a Serial killer is on the loose. It would be a shame if someone were to... die.

I already gave my 2 cents over Clover’s death, and I’m not going to repeat myself. I am sorry to all the Fair Game fans, I’m afraid bury your gays is till alive and well.

The nail on the coffin is the final episode: after making a speech about how Salem wants to divide people and how the only way to go is to remain united, James does the exact opposite thing the moment something doesn’t go according to plan. Don’t get me wrong, his PTSD regarding the queen chess piece was foreshadowed, but the moment team RWBY offer an explanation and identify the person behind it, he’s to far gone. Then, Salem shows up, and goes for Team RWBY when Ruby gets under her skin. This shows that Salem has a weakness and that Team RWBY can be trusted when it comes to defeating her, yet that is promptly ignored.

Also, Ironwood might be hurt about Yang and Blake talking to Robyn, but after everything, they were proven right: Robyn is to be trusted, Ironwood was making a mistake.

The whole setting up a trap to attract Tyrian wasn’t Ironwood going “mad with power” or something. Robyn knew he has lying and allowed Ironwood to catch someone who could hack everything. Not only that, but the camera zoomed in on Ironwood, so nobody could see Robyn’s handy Semblance going red. Or... maybe I’m looking too much into it and the writers expected you to forget.

Sorry, I guess James Ironwood had to take a bunch of stupid pills.

“I wish it didn’t have to end this way.” - Clover Ebi.

“It doesn’t have to, but the writers need that Branwen angst.” - Qrow Branwen.

Volume 7: Part 1 of the Atlas Arc

Have you ever heard of Checov’s gun? It is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play. Let’s play a game called the false promises of the volume that may carry over to volume 8?

Renora: Nora sides with Robin, Ren sides with Ironwood. They do not communicate with one another and the tension builds throughout the volume. They kiss, nothing gets resolved. Ren cries when Neo turns into Nora.

Training: Ren is shown to throw himself into the enemy as a flaw, he repeats the same mistake when fighting with Neo. Oscar’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it. Ruby’s Semblance is questioned, nothing comes out of it.

Cinder got beef with Atlas? For some reason, Cinder talks about Atlas hoarding power when speaking with Winter. Bitch, where the fuck do you come from? Who are you? Do I know you? Sorry, the writers forgot to write a growth arc for you. My bad.

Nora, daughter of Atlas? Can someone explain to me why she became a SWJ (/s) during this season? We never get a backstory of her previous to Kuroyuri and for some reason Nora is super attached to the people of Mantle. The daughter of Atlas title was thrown around, why?

It’s so nice to see tea FNKI back! Too bad they are there for 5 minutes and never show up again, not even when Mantle is supposed to be defended by all huntsmen. I guess this was fan service.

What’s the purpose of the Happy Huntresses? Isn’t it funny how the only one who got wounded by Tyrian is the only character who could see in the dark, but didn’t tell Robin that Penny wasn’t guilty? Hi Fiona, I don’t know why you exist.

Marrow: the butt of the joke. Since the first episodes, Marrow is shown as the outsider inside the Ace Ops: his teammates don’t take him seriously, Ironwood doesn’t think Marrow is up to the challenge of some missions, and he’s the only Faunus, the only one that seemed to sympathize with Robyn at the end. Too bad he wasn’t allowed to break his mold.

The World Building looks pretty, but it doesn't play the part.

I have to praise the art direction of this season. I was blown away by the aesthetics of Mantle clashing with Atlas, the details in the backgrounds, the world building by back messaging, screens, and posters. My favorite scene of the volume is the penguins in the tundra.

However, you have to walk the walk, and the writing team failed to deliver.

Racism: hey, I know you guys kinda messed up the White Fang’s internal struggles and opportunity to expand on Adam’s power grab and Sienna’s leadership, but maybe don’t skip the racist elements of Atlas? All we get are Faunus mine workers looking angry, that drunk dude who yelled at Blake and Marrow making a simplistic comment about politics. What...? What’s the point of acknowledging u are bad at writing racism and then do nothing about it? Did none of the new writers know how to tackle this?

In-World Continuity: Hey, wasn't the Vytal festival broadcasted to the entire world? When I saw that camera focusing on Yang on episode 1, I thought there would be a call back to what everyone saw her do during the finals, but nope. Let’s not bring that up again. ever. The only important thing about the Vytal Festival is the tower, move on.

Weapons upgrade: We were told that weapons were an extension of each huntsmen; too bad none of our gang actually work on them. Pietro makes all the modifications and repairs. I remember the bumblebee fans eager for a scene of Blake repairing Gambol Shroud, don’t tell me you’re not disappointed.

Atlas ball: not found. Hey! We have Jacques Schnee celebrating his fake victory on the elections! It would be a perfect moment to showcase the disconnect between what’s happening in Mantle and what the people in atlas thing. Too bad we didn’t wanna make extra character models.

--

Closing thoughts

I wanted to re watch the whole season again to see if the bitterness left on my lips after watching that chaotic finale went away, but it only grew. There are so many character choices that made no sense, so many scenes where characters stood around in the background doing nothing.

WHY THE FUCK DID OZPIN ONLY APPEAR AT THE END?

Oh, I’ll tell you why: he needed to give a speech about themes to justify the stupidity that happened during the last episodes to get to that cliff hanger.

I am disappointed in volume that seemed to be doing so good at the begging, but hey... at this point we shouldn’t be surprised, should we? Interestingly enough, the people who dreamed about the ball and the scenes of Blake fixing Gambol Shroud grew quiet after the episodes aired... 

Almost as if criticism wasn’t allowed on the RWBY tag.

AN: The titty window isn’t justified Salem, your ex is now a child that’s PEDO—

[beauty-grace-outer-space]

1 and 9?

1. what is/was school like for you?

School was apparently stupidly easy throughout elementary school. In kindergarten, I’d finish the work before the teacher finished explaining the assignment because I could read faster than she could talk, and then I’d want to help the others or go do something else. They had a counselor come sit in on the class to observe me after a while (and the teacher complaining) and he promptly informed everyone that he was absolutely certain that I had ADHD, and that the solution was not to medicate me or switch classes, but for the teacher to step it up and keep me engaged. 

After that, they wanted to move me to third grade, but I was only five years old so instead, I did first grade half in English, half in Japanese. But the Japanese teacher really did not like me (because I was younger than the other students) and despite doing well in the class, she refused to teach me. She called me “the baby” and made me sit off to the side and “play” instead of lessons most of the time. Halfway through the year, they moved me back to an all English first-grade class, and I had the meanest teacher I’ve ever had. I got in trouble a lot. 

In second grade, my teacher was a gem and instated a rule that I could move around however I wanted, and sit in whatever position I wanted... as long as I could touch my desk. She incorporated singing into the lessons, which I found fascinating, and had a lot of student participation which helped. I have been reliably informed that this was the point when other students started to bully me, but I have very little or no memory of it. I asked a friend about it once, and she has vivid memories of it all. When I asked her why, she said, “People thought you were really weird”. I just said, “I am really weird.” 

In third grade, my teacher gave out “points” for good behavior, and had a separate area of the classroom for play once work was finished. She kept legos and other fun toys on hand which was great, and I started trying to build up good behavior points to buy little gifts for my mom in the student store. That year, I made student of the month for the first time and cried. 

In fourth grade, I broke my wrist and the boy next to me got mono so I sat alone most of the year. My teacher liked to read to us from The Hobbit or the Chronicles of Narnia. Not many memories from that year. 

In fifth grade, my teacher was a tiny amazing woman who encouraged me to write stories once I had finished my work. My friends and I formed an author’s club and a book club, and that’s when I really started writing in my free time. 

Sixth grade was the first year I had multiple teachers (in middle school you change classes). It’s also the first year I remember struggling with math. 

Past that point, it’s really hit or miss. Sixth grade was the year I was formally diagnosed with OCD and major depressive disorder. It’s very common for folks with ADHD to hit a breaking point and suddenly struggle immensely, and most of my memories of middle school are of sitting at the dining room table in tears, radio on in the background because I needed a dual focus point, trying desperately to do my math homework. 

For the first time in my life, I felt stupid. I had always been “the smart kid”, the “gifted child”. As I failed to comprehend basic math concepts, my self-esteem plummeted. Something in my brain interpreted this as a loss of control, and I started washing my hands until they bled. I started self-harming. I wasn’t sleeping well. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, and all I could see was that everything I had ever thought myself to be was a lie, and everyone was going to be so disappointed that I failed to live up to all that supposed potential. 

My mom found me a therapist (whom I still see to this day). We figured out how to keep my hands from looking like desert battlegrounds. I joined student government, but for the first few years, people didn’t like me much. I made the National Honor Society but had to drop out in tenth grade because I couldn’t make an A in math class. I was on track for the College Prep. Honors diploma, but I missed it by (you guessed it) one math class. 

I found choir and theater, and I excelled in English. I struggled a lot, but I found my niche, and I threw myself into art subjects with everything I had. My graduated class was really small, so we all go to know each other really well and I got along well with basically everyone (though I was still very weird. I just knew how to own it and roll with it). 

I couldn’t afford a university (my family went through a really hard financial patch), so I applied for community college. I had a lot of angst about that because, at 17, it felt like failing somehow. (It’s not, and don’t let anyone tell you it is. Community college is dope, valid, and budget-friendly.) I did great in my classes... but bombed math. Totally failed it. Straight “F” for the first time in my life. And I burnt myself to the ground. 

In nine months I did six stage productions and 20 classes. I got to school around 7AM and left after midnight sometimes. Other unfortunate circumstances occurred (cough trauma cough) and I ended up leaving the school for a gap year, but I was suicidal and struggling a lot. 

A year later, I made it into my dream school and I moved out of state to attend. One of the first classes I had to take was a math class, and I was distraught. But something about this teacher, and the way he taught, and the type of math it was... it clicked. I passed the class with a B+, and it fulfilled my math requirement forever. I called my mom sobbing. 

I had a great first year, went back for the second... and burnt myself out again. More unfortunate circumstances occurred, and between the harassment, the social abuse, the verbally abusive director I had for the show I was in that year, and a roommate who wouldn’t speak to me, I burned myself out again. 

I dropped out after that year. It took five years to gather up the willpower to try again. Last year, I finished my degree via online classes. Somewhere in there, I stumbled upon ADHD characteristics and got curious. Asked my mom and turns out they had me unofficially diagnosed when I was five and no one informed me. They did their best to help things along, though. My mom interviewed and hand-selected my teachers where she could. The administrative staff was onboard to work with me instead of against me. I just had no idea. 

TL;DR: School was interesting, I had no idea I had ADHD and just kind of muddled along wondering why I was so weird/couldn’t shut up half the time. Gifted kid burnout, college blew up in my face, lots of mental health stuff and pain later, ta-da! AA. 

(If ya’ll could see the face Grammarly is making at me because of the tone and wording of this post... it’s like O_O-- “bitch is you ok?”). 

9. favorite stim / one you do most often?

I only very recently became aware that I stim. I’ve always done it, but again, I was not aware that I had ADHD until last year. Most common ones are leg bouncing and-- if I’m playing an instrument, reading, or thinking-- rocking. I do think there’s something to be said for... I don’t know how to say this and not make it weird, but... having something to chew/suck on? Because I bite the inside of my mouth a lot, and if I have a lollipop, I’ll first finish it, then chew on the stick, etc. but I won’t seek things out to... put in my mouth, if that makes sense? I also sing basically constantly if I’m alone. There are more, but they don’t come up as much. 

[behappykeepclassy]

LOVER Track-by-track Impressions

1. I Forgot That You Existed

catchy AF with the da-da-da in the beginning

“Free rent, living in my mind”

love how she sings “and quieeeetttt”

“It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference”

“I forgot that you sent me a clear message, taught me some hard lessons”

The “So, yeah” at the end is gold, like vocally shrugging

2. Cruel Summer 

Pure BOP!

Feeling that bass in my soul

“I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below” - 80s John Hughes movie style!

“Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes” is perfect

The whole chorus floats and soars and I love it so much

“You say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times, we’re not trying” - SUCH A GOOD LINE

“So cut the headlights, summer’s knife, I’m always waiting for you just to cut to the bone” Ouf!

“I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you”

The raspy roar in her voice when she sings “He looks up, grinning like a devil”

3. Lover

Quiet and precious and sweet and lovely and cozy

So happy we have an album with a title song again

4. The Man

“They’d say I played the field before i found someone to commit to”

“Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you”

“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man” - MY MOTTO FROM NOW ON, just running through my head constantly

“What I was wearing, if I was rude” - I feel like this also doubles for her sexual assault case against that radio DJ (blaming the victim)

“I’d be just like Leo in Saint-Tropez” LOL

The whole bridge, when she switches from “And getting bitches and models” to “If I was out flashing my dollars, I’d be a bitch not a baller” OUF

MY INHERENT FEMALE ANGER AT THE INJUSTICE OF THE PATRIARCHY IS ALIVE AND WELL

5. The Archer

This is one of my favourites, even though I’ve had it longer than most cause it was released earlier

Lyrically, best or second best on the album

Destroys me every time, goddamnit

6. I Think He Knows

“I am an architect, I’m drawing up the plans”

I love how she sings “skipping down 16th avenue”, like so specific and wonderful but universal

I like how she owns how much of a catch she herself is in the second verse - like yassss girl

“Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh, we can follow the sparks (SPARKS FLYYYYYYYY), I’ll smile”

7. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

The way it starts, it made me think of The Killers “Well somebody told me that you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend…”

“American glory faded before me” - her fall from the spotlight

“I saw the scoreboard and ran for my life” - hiding away from media and everyone

I like how she incorporates the “OKAY” school chant in the background of the chorus

This has a lot of “I Know Places” vibes, especially second verse

The switch in the bridge from “And I don’t want you to (Go), I don’t really wanna (Fight), ‘Cause nobody’s gonna (Win)” to “And I’ll never let you (Go), ‘Cause I know this is a (Fight),” That somebody we’re gonna (Win)”

Wish she’d held the the last note that she started before entering back into final chorus (it sounded like it was going to go on longer

8. Paper Rings

Makes me think of the happiness of “Stay, Stay, Stay” with a dash of “Holy Ground” energy

Easily one of my faves

Jack Antonoff counting us into the chorus, just love him

Just such fun, every lyric and beat

“I like shiny things but I’d marry you with paper rings” and “I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this” SO CUTE

“Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws, we wouldn’t be standing here so tall” - so mature and wonderful and she’s so happy now!

I love that she brings it up an octave starting at the bridge and into the final chorus

I can’t help but smile listening to this over and over again

Like, I want Lover as my wedding song and Paper Rings as a choreographed 20s swing dance with my future husband

9. Cornelia Street 

Hit me the second time more than the first, like wow I actually love this

“‘I rent a place on Cornelia Street,’ I say casually in the car” CUTEEEEE

“That’s the kinda heartbreak time could never mend, I’d never walk Cornelia Street again”

Second half of the chorus makes me think of Dress

“Windows swung right open, autumn air, jacket ‘round my shoulders is yours” - ALL TOO WELL callback

“Back when we were card sharks, playing games, I thought you were leading me one, I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street before you even knew I was gone” - makes me think of when she sings “If I had known what I know now, I never would have played so nonchalant” in Come Back, Be Here

“Barefoot in the kitchen” - makes me think of All Too Well “dancing in the refrigerator light”

I also think Cornelia Street doubles for love itself, like this is it for her, this is the one big love for her and there won’t be another so she wants to get it right and keep it safe

10. Death By A Thousand Cuts

Ignore the lyrics and you almost think it’s a happy song (classic Jack Antonoff Bleachers thing to do)

“I look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up, chandelier still flickering here” - brilliant

THE PIANOOOOOOOOOOOOO (very Bleachers ‘Wild Heart’ outro)

She goes from “We were a fresh page on the desk, filling in the blanks as we go” in Cornelia Street to “But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?” in Death By A Thousand Cuts, and that kills me

“My heart, my hips, my body, my love, Tryna find a part of me that you didn’t touch”

“Our songs, our films, united, we stand, our country, guess it was a lawless land”

“Why are my fears at the touch of your hands? Paper cut stains from my paper-thin plans” - some of the best lyrics on the album right there, IMO

“My time, my wine, my sprit, my trust, Tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up” - this destroyed me more than I thought it would because it was so unexpected and raw, especially the second half of the line, like she’s realizing that he took too much and it hurts but it wasn’t good to lose herself like that

11. London Boy

Is the voice talking in the beginning Idris Elba?

“They say home is where the heart is, But that’s not where mine lives” - she says the second half like a secret she’s sharing with us over wine

Gotta go back to London STAT

“Doesn’t have to be Louis V up on Bond Street” LOL fancy baller line

12. Soon You’ll Get Better

This and The Archer are the two songs I cried during, just gutted

“The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair” - how we think of the mundane things when the worst things are happening to try and distract ourselves

“Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you” - I don’t know what to say

“…’Cause you have to”

I love that the Dixie Chicks are lightly assisting the chorus without taking the song away from Taylor and its focus

The bridge and pre-final-chorus have me crying the most and I don’t know what to do

This remind me a lot of Ronan mixed with Never Grow Up and Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide

13. False God

Sax is a bit like the sax in Bleachers’ Everybody Lost Somebody (not complaining at all)

“We were stupid to jump in the ocean separating us

I get Dress sexy vibes from this (“The altar is my hips”)

The feathery way she sings the second “this loooovee)

Reminds me of “So It Goes…”

14. You Need to Calm Down

Still a bop, and always will be a bop - just so fun

15. Afterglow

I like that she owns up to her mistakes and destructive tendency

Makes me think of the Lover lyric “And I’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you” and in the music video it’s her jealousy that leads to a fight

“Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves”

“I lived like an island, punished you in silence”

16. ME!

Lyrically and musically, exactly like what happened with Look What You Made Me Do and Reputation - almost like a red herring to put us off the sonic trail of her album until single 2 came out

17. It’s Nice To Have a Friend

We get a story again! I’ve missed story song! (think Mary’s Song and Everything Has Changed mixed together)

Lovely chill indie vibes

“Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand”

Love me some trumpet

“Church bells ring, carry me home” (like third verse of Mary’s Song)

“Rice on the ground looks like snow” - poetic cute

18. Daylight

“My love was a cruel as the cities I lived in, everyone looked worse in the light” - like Cruel Summer and Getaway Car and even Back to December, she wanted something and got it, only find it wasn’t what she wanted and she ended up hurting someone in the process

Chorus makes me think of You Are in Love floating synth

“I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked” (Back to December, Getaway Car, I Knew You Were Trouble)

“Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke” harkens back to The Archer’s “The room is on fire, invisible smoke”

“Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now” - she no longer needs I Know Places, no fear or hiding

“I once believe love would be (Black and white) But it’s (Golden) […] I once believed love would be (Burning red) But it’s golden” - Burning red calls back to Red (duh!), Golden calls back to Dress “Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo”, End Game “It’s like your eyes are liquor, it’s like your body is gold”, So It Goes… “Gold cage, hostage to my feelings” and Dancing With Our Hands Tied “Deep blue, but you painted me golden”

“You gotta step into the daylight and let it go” - remind me of the poem The Trick to Holding On that she wrote for Vogue (“The trick to holding on Was all that letting go”)

The talking outro is very Jack Antonoff/Bleachers’ Strange Desire, cause he threads introspective talking throughout, especially when she says “I wanna be defined by the things that I love” and he sings “I wanna be grateful for the experiences that I’ve had” in You’re Still a Mystery

[nakoujou]

Detention: One-Shot

In which Class A gets detention, and the only priority is to find out who got caught making out in the boys’ locker room (Crackfic, slight Todomomo, warning for lots of cursing).

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

They had only wanted to escape the gruesome, summer heat. An innocent group text inviting everybody to sneak into U.A.’s swimming pool. It was supposed to be a chill kickback, just to lounge in the cooling sensation of the waters. 

But here they were on Sunday afternoon, stuck in their homeroom to write a 5 paragraph apology essay after Aizawa and Midnight caught them. Nobody wanted to be here, already struggling to deal with one of the hottest days of July. Midoriya wondered how many would actually complete the assignment. Half of them were already dozing off, defeated from the cruel heat waves seeping through the window.

Aizawa-sensei - already annoyed from the normal school week - entrusted supervision duties to the only other student worthy of disciplining his troublesome classmates and not ignoring curfew.

"This is an embarrassment to our class!” Iida yelled, unraveling the list of strikes. “Underage drinking, unsupervised Quirk battles, inappriopriate ki-”

And suddenly, everybody’s energy zapped right back at Iida’s loud gasp. It wasn’t like their Class President to halt in the middle of a lecture, clenching the paper.

Iida took a big gulp, lowering his head as his hands shivered. “’I-I-Inappropriate kissing in the boys’ locker room.”

Across all desks, Class A shared the same expression: wide eyes, jaws dropping, blood-curling screams blasting from their mouths. 

“KISSING??!!!”

“Are you shitting us?!” Ashido gasped. 

“Wait, everybody at the pool party is in detention right now,” Tsu pondered. “Which means...”

"WHICH FUCKER HERE GOT A HICKEY?!!” Kirishima screamed.

“H-Hickey?” Yaoyorozu gasped, covering her mouth. “W-W-Why-”

“So innocent, Yaoyorozu!” Sero teased her. “No guy takes you to the locker room without gunning for second base.” 

"W-Wait! We should be more respectful of the person. What if they’re not ready to talk about this?” Midoriya said. Whoever it was here, he couldn’t imagine the embarrassment they were feeling right now.

“We’re Class A! We’re family, and family tell each other everything!” Ochaco declared. “We need to know!”

“URARAKA HOW COULD YOU??!!” Midoriya wailed. He thought she would at least be on his side.

“We’re not that close,” Ojiro muttered. Except no one cared to admit that.

“Mou, which two lovebirds here got some good action?” Hagakure giggled.

“Everybody needs to calm down and resume the essay!”

“Come on, Iida, I bet you wanna know too.”

“This shit is fuckin’ stupid,” Bakugo groaned, head falling onto his desk.

“Let’s go to the boys’ locker, find a bra, and match it to the girls here!”

“Mineta, don’t be disrespectful! It’s rude to target only the girls!”

“Iida is right. And who’s to say it’s a hetero boy-girl relationship? We should be considerate of those feelings when we talk about this,” Yayaorozu trailed off, twiddling with her jacket sleeves.

“Yaomomo has a point,” Jiro replied. “Still...”

“It’s definitely a guy and girl in this room, mark my words!” Kamimari declared.  

“So that rules out Bakugo.”

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, EAR FREAK?! NOT LIKE I WANNA KISS YOU BITCHES ANYWAY!”

“Language, Bakugo! Especially when it comes to our fellow sisters!” Iida lectured.

“That’s right, we must cherish our sisters!”

“They ain’t sisters if we’re shoving our tongue down their throats,” Bakugo scoffed. Iida and the rest of the class glared at him.

“Well, it ain’t Uraraka cause Midoriya would faint,” Kamimari laughed.

“W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING???!!!!”

“M-m-m-m-m-me k-k-k-kiss--” Midoriya stuttered under his breath, avoiding any eye contact with Uraraka.

“I have a theory-”

“We don’t care, Bakugo.”

“FINE! GO WASTE THE HOUR WITHOUT ME, WORTHLESS EXTRAS!”

“It ain’t Ashido; she would have told everybody.”

“Ne, why are we so focused on the girls when it was in the boys’ locker room?”

“Tsu’s right,” Yaoyorozu complained. “Why don’t we start with the guys first?”

“They make a valid point,” Shoji replied. “Since it was our locker room, we need to interrogate the guys first.” 

“Let’s be real; which guy in this room actually has a chance to kiss, let alone makeout with a girl?” Tokoyami spoke for the first time. 

The room fell into a swift depression, with Kirishima, Bakugo, and Kamimaro glaring at him.

“That’s so cruel...” Yayaorozu tried to hold back a snicker. 

“Aren’t you speaking about yourself too?” Uraraka pointed out. Tokoyami shrugged. 

“Recognizing one’s weakness is the key to greatness.”

“YOU’RE SAYING NO GUY IN CLASS A HAS GAME?!!!”

“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US, TOKOYAMI?!”

“I’LL GET ALL THE GIRLS TO PROVE YOU WRONG, BIRD SHIT!”

“Regardless of who it was, this is a highly inappropriate discussion. We should respect our friend’s privacy and get back to your essays.” 

“Iida, don’t be a buzzkill.”

“But seriously, which guy here did it?!”

“Not Aoyama; he only loves himself.”

“This is hard; Tokoyami is pretty right about the guys in our class,” Tsu sighed.

“Look, everybody,” Midoriya walked to the front of the class. “This is fun, but someone here may be dealing with feelings they’re not sure of. What if it’s a new relationship they don’t want to reveal yet? Plus, we’re now making fun of each other for being single.”

The shouting subsided, followed by slumber faces. Murmurs spread across the room, and Midoriya could hear their regretful tones among each other. Midoriya dared to glance over the Uraraka, who gave him an approving smile. He stood up straighter, spiked with a new confidence to face this ordeal. 

Yes, it is always right to protect someone...

 “If this class is family, the we have to act like one: Give them their space, and be there to support when they need us.”

“As expected from Midoriya...”

“Such a powerful speech!”

“It’s so much better than me, the person entrusted to lead Class A through good and bad! I have failed as your President!” Iida cried.

“So everybody’s given up, huh?”

Everybody turned back to Bakugo, sitting with his arms crossed and a grin that looked ready to unleash the next natural disaster.

“What do you gotta say, Bakugo?” Jiro snorted

“I dunno, will everybody finally trust my god-given talents?”

“Get on with it,” Shoji sighed.

Bakugo raised his hand to the ceiling, everybody rolling their eyes at his dramatics. Then, his pointer finger landed straight directly at...

“Yaoyorozu?!” Midoriya gasped. 

“Our Class VP?”

Yaoyorozu, however, did not flinch, She shook her head, unfazed. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“I can see through your shit, rich girl.”

“It’s not funny, Bakugo! Yaoyorozu would never!” Uraraka defended her friend.

“Isn’t it obvious?! She’s been too diplomatic, playing peacekeeper but getting all riled up. Telling us to interrogate boys first so we wouldn’t suspect her. Also...” Bakugo grabbed his own shirt collar, lifting it slightly as he motioning towards Yaoyorozu. “Her jacket has been zipped up the whole time, and it’s a fuckin’ sauna in here. When does Ponytail ever cover up that much?”

Midoriya caught the first hint of red flush appearing across Yaoyorozu’s cheeks. Sweat beads begin to form on her forehead.

“W-W-Why does that m-matter?” Yaoyorozu scoffed, fiddling with her jacket collar. Strange how Midoriya didn’t notice that until now. As if she was hiding...

“Take off your jacket,” Bakugo demanded.

“THAT’S SO PERVY, BAKUGO!” 

"YES BAKUGO, BREAK HER BOOBS FREE-”

“YOU’RE THE LOWEST OF THEM ALL, MINETA!”

“SHUT UP! I DON’T CARE WHO BOUGIE PRINCESS MAKES OUT WITH, WHAT MATTER IS THAT I AM RIGHT!”

“OH MY GOD, BAKUGO HAS TO BE THE CULPRIT!”

“ONLY YOU WOULD SINK SO LOW TO ACCUSE YAOYOROZU!’

“DID NOBODY HEAR ME?! I HAVE REAL EVIDENCE!” 

“I bet he dragged Kirishima and Kamimari for a good three-”

“Stop!” Yaoyorozu cried. “it was me, OK?! Is everybody happy now? Can we not taunt Bakugo like that and just finish up detention in peace?” 

Yaoyorozu unziped her jacket and lo and behold, the evidence was there. A small, purple bruise...right on her neck. Midoriya couldn’t believe it; Yaoyorozu Momo had lured herself. Not only as a rule breaker, but something even more critical to this situation. If not, worsen the mood.

“WHO GAVE YOU THAT HICKY??!!!”

“WHICH FUCKER HERE GOT YAOYOROZU??!!”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL THE GIRLS FIRST?”

“THIS JUST GOT WORSE!” 

“I WAS RIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTT!!”

“AHHHH YAOMOMO HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

“YOU NEVER HAD A CHANCE, MINETA!”

“DON’T EVER UNDERESTIMATE ME AGAIN!”

“It wasn’t anybody here,” Yaoyorozu grumbled, avoiding everybody’s death glares. However, Midoriya could still see her face reddening with each second passing.

“THEN WHO??!! CLASS B DOUCHES?!”

“PLEASE, YAOYOROZU, ANYBODY BUT CLASS B!”

Midoriya got startled when Tokoyami tapped his shoulder. He nudged at Midoriya to speak privately, away from the chaos of their classmates and the unfortunate victim that was Yaoyorozu.

“I don’t want to make this a big deal with them but...” he whispered under his breath. “...The only students who knew about the pool party was our class, but someone’s missing.”

“Ah, you’re right! But why does that...” Midoriya drifted off, coming to a silent conclusion alongside Tokoyami. “Wait, you don’t think it could be...”

------

“Normally, I throw everybody in the same room, but given the circumstances of your delinquency...” Midnight began, lips gradually transforming into a mischievous grin. “...It made sense to keep you two separate.” 

“Works for me,” muttered the young sixteen year old, as he mopped the teachers’ lounge.

“Think of this as a generous favor, Todoroki-kun. No one will know about you and Yaoyorozu yet.”

The emphasis on “yet,” which Todoroki tried hard not to cling to. Unfortunately, it backfired in mere seconds when he heard the voice of his explosive classmate hollering throughout the entire building.

"IT’S HALF-N-HALF BASTARD!!!! I KNEEEEWWWWW ITTTTT!!!!”

————————

That’s a wrap! I hope you guys enjoyed this fic! Please feel free to leave any feedback as I’m always striving to improve as a writer.

[coffeecomicsgalore]

Unveiled Love

@smutember

Ao3

Chapter 19 – Yo-yo and the Baton

“What the fuck.”

That was all Adrien could say when he saw the most up to date news on the Ladyblog. Is the Ladynoir Ship Dead? There it was, a picture of Chat Noir with his arms wrapped around Multimouse and a few pictures of them holding each other and kissing before Marinette pulled away and ran off so he could chase after her. He scrolled throughout the most recent posts, ensuring no one else had photographed the aftermath, and he sighed with relief when he noticed that that was it.

Well, besides the whole, Who is this New Superhero? post, with tons of comments already on it. There were various speculations from a brand new superhero to Ladybug in disguise. When that one comment came up, Adrien’s eyes bugged out of his head, fearing that the connection would blow Marinette’s cover completely. The only other person who would have known Marinette as Multimouse was Ms. Mendelieve, yet, he wasn’t sure how “there” her mental stability was while recovering from the after effects of Hawkmoth’s control.

Then his eyes widened. While she wasn't known for spreading rumors, if Ms. Mendelieve did remember anything from that day, she would have remembered that Marinette was Multimouse, who was now two timing Adrien by making out with a superhero. He had to pray to all powerful beings that his bad luck wouldn't cause that to happen, because if it did, there would be no way to fix this whole thing without someone's reputation in the gutter. 

Biting the inside of his cheek, he thrummed his fingertips against the desk, trying to come up with a fool proof way of pushing this entire thing away. He needed to do something for Marinette. The last two days have been difficult for her with the disgusting rumor of “gold digging whore”, plus the backlash from trying to resolve it. Even Gabriel’s PR department was reluctant to help them, courtesy of his father, no doubt, so they had to do things their own way.

Luckily for them, Alya forgave them completely, but it was not without embarrassing the two of them with all the foolish (and oblivious) moments from the beginning of time. Once the torment was over, Alya sprung into action and prepared a press conference; had applied and approved to conduct a formal interview and photoshoot for this week’s publication of Le Monde, which included the front cover photo of Adrien and Marinette posing under a black veil with the subtitle Unveiled Love: The Secret Romance of Adrien and Marinette; and, started writing up social media posts with their corresponding pictures that would be scheduled to release to the public at perfect increments from both their accounts.

But even with all the help they received from the reporter, the news of Chat and Multimouse together on the blogger’s website was causing another headache to his already tired brain. 

He sighed as he stared at the screen, trying to come up with a way to save face. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a very disheveled Marinette barging through the door. Adrien shot up from his spot at the desk and turned towards her. Before he could say anything, Marinette raised her hand up with an index finger raised, and Adrien promptly pursed his lips. He watched as she made it to the fridge and opened up the bottle of wine, drinking it straight from the bottle.

“Rough day?” Adrien tried to make a joke, but it came out harsh. Marinette turned as she continued to chug the bottle, glaring daggers into his soul. Going out as Multimouse was Adrien’s idea; guess in hindsight, it wasn’t the best thought out plan.

When Marinette stopped drinking to gasp for air, she lashed out and stated the words on her mind. “I should tie you up to the Eiffel Tower with my yo-yo. Or even better! I should shove your baton up your ass as haul you over the firey pits of hell.”

Adrien placed his arms up in surrender and decided it was best to get a bath ready with calming scents. Marinette was too wound up to deal with anything at this moment, even a simple conversation to ask what she would like for dinner would probably be a bad thing. But he knew that in her current disarray, she would just have a liquid diet of wine, wine, and more wine, and he couldn't allow that to happen, especially if an akuma were to happen while she was drunk.

That would really show how terrible his bad luck is.

He watched as she continued to chug the bottle, removing it from her lips when she was done. She then tipped the bottle over to see if any more liquid would come out, almost willing for more alcohol to just slip out of it somehow. He slipped into the bedroom and sighed as he arrived unscathed, then made his way to their bathroom to turn the faucet on. He slipped in some lavender oils and lit some candles, then walked back out to their bed and sat on the edge. As he waited for the tub to fill, he slipped out his phone and placed an order for delivery pizza. Once that was done, he returned to the bath and turned it off, then slowly peered out the doorway to see where Marinette could be.

His face fell when he noticed the second open bottle of wine sitting on the table, and he could make out how far she had consumed by how tilted the bottle was in her hand. 

“Mari…” He tried to get her to stop, hoping the worry in his words would get her to see the current issue.

Marinette only looked up at him and shot back most of the wine, puckering her lips as the sweet drink surpassed her throat. She hiccuped then giggled, and started to sing out some random song that made Adrien scrunch up his nose.

Marinette tried to grab the bottle to pour the remaining amount out into a glass she had apparently set out, but Adrien quickly ran in and swooped it from her. He lifted it quickly, not realizing how little liquid there was, then shot Marinette a bewildered expression when he realized there was only a glass or two left.

“Two bottles?”

Marinette burped and giggled again. “Actu-lly. One an fourth? or was it a haffff.” Her words were slurred and Adrien could barely make what she was saying.

“You drank almost two bottles of wine in a half hour. How is that possible?”

“Dunno.” Marinette pressed her fingers to the cool table, then placed her forehead down. “I hate you,” she murmured, but there was no conviction in her voice. “Multmouse was with Chat! But Ladybug is with Chat. Chat cheated on Ladybug with Multimouse.” She began to sob. “But I’m Ladybug! I’m Multimouse! I’m screwed if they figure it out! I should have never gone out! I should have just stayed home like the responsible adult-slash-guardian I’m supposed to be and pretend the world is alright even when it’s not!”

Adrien could only watch as she cried on the table, no doubt the news of the “new” superhero making out with Chat Noir when she thought it was a quiet and secluded area without prying eyes.

It was as if the entire world was out to get them this week and Marinette’s resolve was surely destroyed by this point. He hated to see her like this; heck, he had never seen her like this, but even the best people have their breaking points sometimes.

Adrien pursed his lips as he thought of his next move. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her body, letting her know he was there and she was safe.

“Hey.” He whispered, prompting her to tilt her head a bit. She was then able to open up one eye and look up at him. “I ordered pizza and I just got the bath started for you. Why don’t you go take a bath and I’ll bring you a slice. We don’t have to talk about anything today. We are just going to relax and destress before we tackle this head on.”

Marinette groaned and closed her eyes again as anger began to bubble in her chest. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I’m the worst guardian ever!”

Adrien was about to say something when the akuma alert went off.

“Oh come on!” Marinette yelled out, screaming at the phone beside her. “One fucking night, Hawkmoth. You couldn’t just give me one fucking night to drink until I couldn’t remember my name anymore.” Marinette got up, grabbed the bottle from Adrien’s hand, and chugged the remaining bit of it before she shoved the bottle back in his hands. 

Adrien watched as she wiped the remnants of the wine from her lips. She stumbled as she stood straight up and Adrien could not believe what she was about to do.

“Don’t you dare transform. You are in no condition to go out like that.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. Hurry your ass up and get transformed. We have an akuma to get.”

“No.” Adrien spit out. “Not while you’re drunk.”

“Too fucking bad. Hawkmoth is a bitch and we need to capture that stupid butterfly. Tikki, spots on!”

Adrien covered his eyes as the pink flash filled the room. His jaw was slacked, utterly confused over Marinette’s complete disregard of her actions and still going out there mostly drunk. He watched as she jumped out the balcony door, not waiting a second to hear his response over something that she had said. 

Plagg hovered over to his chosen as he watched Ladybug yo-yo half-hazardly across the rooftops. “Kid. Protect her please. She needs it tonight.”

Adrien let out a defeated sigh. “Let’s go. Claws out.”

[oh-shit-a-baby]

BLACK FRIDAY THOUGHTS PART TWO

A complete compilation of my thoughts throughout the musicals second half,,, this bois going to be real long bc I have a lot of thoughts lol

Now without @drawinglinesinarbitraryplaces :(

Yep dumbledore can still sing

Omg his voice

This song is going to make me cry aaaaa

Becky: you don’t look at all the same as I remember

Me: yeah no shit dumbledore grew a beard

Jesus,,,,, theyre just going to go for it right there,,,,,, ookay

Wtaf is this movie they’re watching

HOLY SHIT HER VOICE IS /PRETTY/ HER RANGE IS HUGE!!!

Idk if this is an unpopular opinion bc no one has an opinion yet but Becky and toms song is the cutest one ever and a bop and I love it

Jesus they payed for a balcony and they’re going to fucking use it aren’t they

WELCOME TO PEIP HQ IM SO DOWN FOR THAT

OH THERE ARE MANY DIMENSIONS????? U GONNA EXPLAIN THAT MR GENERAL MACNAMARA????

The black and white isn’t that what lexs sister was on about

Wiggly is the king u wot m8

President kurt knows nothing about anything and that’s a mood

So if the next movie isn’t about ‘13 years ago’ imma freak

U WANNA SEND ME INTO THE FUCKIN TWILIGHT ZONE AND HAVE DINNER WITH THE DEVIL??????!?!!

NO!!! FUCK THAT!!!!! FUCK THAT!!!!! FUCK THAT!!!!!

^^^president kurt quotes

In short, mr president, we are trying to stop the birth

*dramatic piano*

Of a god.

*dRAMATIC PIANO*

It’s good score tho 10/10

Sherman young

Nuff said

After today’s great battle???

Faith in the one true god!! All hail wiggly!!!

My new religion lol

LET LAKESIDE MALL BE A NEW JERUSALEM!!!!

*cue joey and Robert just screaming wiggly for like 5 mins straight*

NO THEY FOUND LEX

OH YEAH FUCKIN KILL THEM!!!

Who????????

FUCK YEAH LINDA

CULT??? NO! ITS A NEW EXCITING RELIGION THAT I STARTED!!!!

Yeah Gerald

She pronounces Cinnabon as see-nah-bohn what’s up with that lol

I NEED A WIGGLY DOLL...... IDEALLY FOUR OF THEM!!!

IVE MET GOD. HE HAD NOTHING NICE TO SAY ABOUT YOU.

*cue people dying and their mics stopping working*

Holy fuck they all wanna kill Hannah now (lexs sister gets a name now apparently)

LAUREN I LOVE YOU AS A VILLAIN

I would kneel before villain Lauren any day

I will deestroy everything, and then I will deestroy everything, and then I will deestroy everything and then I will oh shit it’s Gerald.

While I don’t want you to think for yourselves I do want you to understand what I mean when I say my evil shit

I’m sorry that choreo is a yike

ETHAN DARLING COME BACK I MISS YOU <<<333333

IM CRYING NOW

He’s in the black and white now we’ll that sounds like shit

NOT ETHAN

Hannah is the unsung hero of this musical so far

*said in wiggly voice* well, webby (Hannah’s spider imaginary friend who I think is gonna be the deus ex machina of this thing) is a stupid bitch!

Rotten little banana. I’m going to peel you. I’m going to split you in two. I’m going to eat you Hannah. I’m going to eat you right now. *all said in dramatic wiggly voice*

Aaand their mics broke again

We don’t get tricked! We’re grown ups!

And Becky and Tom are immediately evil the second they see the wiggly bc of course they are

Jesus beckys the villain???????

Welcome to the musical where everyone gets a villain song AND a hero song??????

Her voice is still beautiful

*Prancing around* DO YOU WANT SOME CANDYYYYY??????

She’s still wearing ethans hat my heart is going to go oh my god

And he just,,,,, leaves Becky to die?????

President Kurt in a space suit oh my god

And America is great again is playing in the background

MACNAMARA SAID ‘GODSPEED’ AND IS THAT A CATCHPHRASE I SENSE THERE

Yeah no president kurt can’t do foreign policy

His name is like howie or something but imma call him president kurt just like Tom was dumbledore for like the first half of this mess

Oh fuck joeys character is here and he’s gonna FUCK PREZ KURT UP

He’s eating an apple that means he’s a asshole

Holy fuck joeys character is like the ultimate capitalist

And also terrifying holy shit

NO MACNAMARA DONT GO IN THERE

Joeys character: Do you think that in the Netherlands they’d care about some toy??? Nah!!! They’re too busy with their free vacations and FREE healthcare!!

(When I refer to joeys character I mean the evil one he just doesn’t have a name yet so idk what to call him)

And joey can still sing I love him

His voice is so good and this whole villain is giving me spies are forever flashbacks

I have absolutely no fuckin clue what’s going on rn

Holy fuck joeys voice is so beautiful and his range is killing me

I take back what I said earlier this song is the best one bc joey

Holy fuck someone just hit like a high d and I have no clue who it was bc the video quality is not the greatest

JESUS THATS TERRIFYING

THE FUCK YOU MEAN DONT BE FRIGHTENED THATS MY SLEEP PARALYSIS DEMON

LOOK AT THIS FUCKER JESUS CHRIST

Wiggly is so scary because he speaks like a child and those are scary

MACNAMARA EX MACHINA

Mac: BEGONE

Prez kurt: SORRY JOHN I FUCKED IT UP

THATS THE HOOK FROM NOT YOUR SEED ISNT IT HOLY SHIT

Joeys voice and acting is gonna kill me

Yeah made in America is the shit

MAC NO U CANT DIE U DIE IN TGWDLM

Also the black and white is a dumb as shit name for an alternate reality

Prez kurt: MERRY CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKER!!!!

*wiggly voice* Uh-oh mr prezzy-wez. It seems you’ve misplaced your bomby-womb.

Well shits about to go down

I’m calling it the bomb bombed the White House

Oop no they’ve only gone and lost Moscow

Well fuck here comes ww3 I guess

And prez kurt is definitely insane in the brain

ITS THE HOOK AGAIN THE ‘ALIENS INVADING MINDS’ BIT OH MY GOD I FEEL LIKE A MUSICAL GENIUS

Jesus Sherman is a weird fuck and lex is kinda clever I guess it’s a shame we haven’t seen her for most of the musical

Lex: I THREW EM IN THE FUCKIN TRASH

LEX BABY NO DONT DIE

Lex: Is this what I live for? To be choked in a toy store?

Lexs beautiful song is this musicals version of not your seed but depression

And her voice is /pretty/

MAC?????????????

WHAT??????????????

OH MY GOD HE IS AUTHORISING HER TO USE HIS FIREARM YES QUEEN

I’m sorry lex and Hannah can do what

Jeffs voice kills me him and joey need a duet and that would be the end of me

What did lex just do in so confused

MAC DID THE SALUTE IMMA CRY YALL

And we’re back with Tom

Oh fuck lex is gonna shoot tom

Hold up Tom names his son Tim

Wiggly is playing mind tricks now yikes

Lex: KIDS DONT WANT THAT PEICE OF SHIT!!!

Tom: wat

Lex: THEYRE ALL INTO FORTNITE DUDE!!!!!

So the doll can only fuck with adults not kids???

Jesus Christ this is depressing

U wot lex

Lex: YOURE LIKE 40!!!!! YOU PROBABLY THINK YOURE LIFE IS OVER!!!!

Holy fuck this shit is deep

Wait lex still doesn’t know about Ethan oh my god

And Dylan gets another hero song holy fuck just give Robert a song already everyone else has one

At the same time though this is S a d

I’m not crying you’re crying

YES DUMBLEDORE U HIT THAT HIGH NOTE

Tom: in fact you’re real fuckin ugly

Me: yeah no shit

Lex: FUCK YEAH!!!! Should i move these boxes first?

*cue very clever scene change*

Yeah Gerald no one wants to talk to u

Oh my god Linda leave Hannah and ethans hat alone my heart is breaking for Hannah

Linda: is this some kind of a jooooke?????

They’re gonna set one of their dolls on fire ok ok ok this is fine

More villain songs ookay

If someone could tell me what the fuck is going on in this scene I’d be very impressed

Evil yoga

YES LAUREN U QUEEN

HOLY FUCK IS THAT CHARLOTTE??????

OH MY GOD ITS JAIME IN THE CHARLOTTE COSTUME IT IS CHARLOTTE HOLY SHIT

ITS CHARLOTTE AND THE HOMELESS DUDE HOLY SHIT

The choreo is...... interesting

Cue Robert not-Corey and Lauren being the only good dancers and getting special choreo

FUCK YEAH BECKY WITH THE GUN

LINDA NO

Ookay so everyone’s on fire this is fine

Emma and Paul ex machina

SOMEBODY NUKED MOSCOW!

paul is family third wheeling

YOU KNOW, SHE HAS THIS KOOKY RECLUSIVE BIOLOGY PROFESSOR

*audience fucking looses their shit*

WHO LIVES ON THE EDGE OF TOWN

Paul is having an existential crisi because he sHOULD HAVE WORN A WATCH

Someone’s gonna fall of that staircase by the end of this performance

HOLY FUCK ITS THE HOT CHOCOLATE KID

IT IS THE HOT CHOCOLATE KID OH NY GODDDDD

LOOK AT HIM

It’s the what if tomorrow comes bit!!!!!!!

Okay again this choreo is interesting but the vocals are all S t u n n i n g

They’re literally counting down until the end of the show imma loose my shit that’s the least subtle they’ve been during the entire show

Hang on hang on hang on hang on haaaaang on right there

Did lex just never find out that her boyfriend died we were deprived of a heart wrenching moment when she found out about Ethan

Like jeez I cried and I barely knew him she was dating the guy and just... didn’t ask about him????

ITS THE HOOK AGAIN

That’s it!!!!! Those were my thoughts the first time I watched this through!!!!!!!

Scream at me in the notes with any questions and I’ll try answer them :)

[theoriginalkidwithapen]

Principia – De Motu Corporum I

CW:  Violence, foul language, fear, traumatic events, attempted sexual assault, blood, death, despair, references to alcohol and drug use. “The ‘vis insita,’ or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting, by which every body, as much as it lies, endeavours to preserve in its present state, whether it be of rest, or of moving uniformly in a right line.”

– Sir Issac Newton, “Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”

It was the last decade of the 23rd century.  The planet Earth, despite its diminished resplendence due to global climate change, remained the pale blue dot it had always been.  In the late 21st century, the nations of Earth constructed an immense halo of solar power satellites in geostationary orbit – 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s equator – and pierced it with three 100,000-kilometer-long space elevators to service it, spaced equidistantly throughout.  With fastidious maintenance and relatively minor upgrades, the array continued to function for nearly two centuries.

This spectacular feat of engineering lent the planet the appearance of a cloudy sapphire inlaid within a delicate gossamer ring of gold and silver.  This wispy aura served to transmit the electrical power it collected from sunlight to the planet below, keeping the night at bay for the 40 billion humans that called it home.

Keeping starvation at bay for these teeming masses required dozens of immense space stations dedicated to agriculture, located in the regions of space where the Earth’s gravity and that of its argent moon canceled each other out.

EML-1 colony #7, “Fasal,” was typical of an agricultural base; a hollow cylinder the size of a city that rolled on its center so that objects within fell towards its inner face at a rate of 980 centimeters per second – a familiar facsimile of Earth’s gravity at sea level to its inhabitants.  The station’s internal volume was dominated by gleaming white vertical farms, which used millions of hydroponics trays to grow its main crop; the humble soybean.

Like clockwork, every time the Moon rose above the horizon at the twin cities of Asaba and Onitsha, which straddled the Niger River, this colony harvested, packed, and shipped to Earth 1,000 tons of soybeans, each grown in the station’s climate-controlled environment – 30° Celsius, free of unwanted pests and diseases, fed clean water with the right mineral content – ideal conditions for growing the perfect soybean.

It was in one of these many vertical farms that Sara Reynolds toiled, removing hydroponics trays from their slots and carrying them to the diagnostics stations to be monitored by the biologists charged with the crop’s wellbeing, and then returning them to their particular shelves.  120 days after planting, the farm’s entire crop was due to be harvested – a laborious process that required a thousand worker-hours of back-breaking work, even in the 23rd century.  This was the daily routine for Sara and a quarter million other laborers in the colony who could charitably call themselves soybean farmers.

The hydroponics bay where Sara worked was hot, humid, and sterile.  Everyone wore freshly laundered uniforms of bleached white synthetic fabric; a tunic with long sleeves and a tight-fitting hood, gloves, leggings with integrated feet, a face mask, and protective glasses.  These precautions were to protect the soybeans from the hot, sweaty laborers and their potentially virulent microbiomes.

It had been more than six hours since Sara had had the opportunity to sit down, or even stand still for more than a moment; a natural consequence of having your working pace computer-monitored and allocated down to the second.  She was exhausted, and actually looking forward to returning to her cell and collapsing onto her bunk for a few blissful hours of unconsciousness before prying herself out of bed to do yet another 14-hour shift.

Too bad she wasn’t allowed alcohol.  Getting juiced to the gills every night might actually have made this workload bearable.  Quitting wasn’t an option, either – even if she had a say in the matter, far too much money had been spent on sending her up from Minneapolis to justify shipping her back to that shithole. Plus, it’s not like there were any jobs for her there, anyway.

“Shift six has ended,” the dulcet tone of the station’s administrative cybersophont came over the P.A., “Shift six has ended.  All technicians, please report to your designated equipment depository immediately.” Hallelujah, Sara thought as she dreamed of dying from alcohol poisoning.  She returned the 20-kilo hydroponics tray in her hands to its shelf, reconnected it to its umbilicals, and shuffled into the line of her coworkers leading to the exit.

It was an impatient few minutes until the last of them were through and the door closed behind them.  Once the lights changed from red to green, she and everyone else were free to disrobe.

“You fellas catch the game yesterday?” a Middle-Eastern coworker, maybe from India or something, called out as she pulled her tunic over her head.  The room was packed so tightly that Sara struggled to remove either her hood or her mask.

“Oh, yes,” another Indian coworker said as he peeled his sweat-soaked leggings off, “India won by seven wickets!”

“The umpire’s call was bullshit!” the first coworker exclaimed.  Probably not India, Sara thought as she was finally able to free a few locks of her flaxen hair, Maybe it’s the other one…

“There’s no way Shirazi was LBW!” the first coworker continued.  Here we go again, Sara thought with great annoyance.  Don’t these people talk about anything else?

“Do I detect a Pakistan fan, salty that her favourite team have a rubbish captain?” the second coworker inquired jocularly.  Definitely the other one, Sara determined. “It’s not the captain,” Ms. Pakistan argued, “It’s biased umpires choosing the winners that get me starkers.” There was enough of a gap in the crowd for Sara to finally free her face from her now thoroughly soiled mask, an act she immediately regretted as her senses were assaulted by the pungent stench of a dozen sweaty people in a confined space.  It might have been better to have left the mask on, no matter how damp it may have gotten after 14 hours of being breathed through, Sara mulled.  She deposited it in one of the laundry bags lining the walls.

“What about you, Reynolds?” Ms. Pakistan asked.  Goddammit, Sara thought to herself, Don’t drag me into your stupid fucking argument.  I don’t have the free time to watch sports games like you do.

“Do you believe that biased umpires violate the Spirit of Cricket?” Ms. Pakistan continued, clearly expecting an answer.

Sara fought to keep her temper in check.  All this conversation did was remind her of how grossly unfair the whole situation was.  Her entire life reduced to hard labor and interrupted sleep, interspersed with daily therapy sessions.  Even though she had to work here until the day she died with no possibility of parole, they still insisted that she be “rehabilitated.”  Plus, at least half of the other people in the room were volunteers who were getting paid for their work.

“I don’t have an opinion,” Sara grumbled, “I’m…  American.”

“So, what sport do you follow?” Ms. Pakistan interrogated in her particular infuriatingly pretentious accent, once considered refined and cultured by the ancient British, “Hockey?”

“Mixed Martial Arts?” Mr. India chimed in.

“Yankee Murder Rugby?”  Ms. Pakistan escalated with a ludicrous description of American Football.  Everyone else in the room laughed at the racist caricature she painted of the moronic, uncultured, and blusterous American they all saw in Sara.

“I don’t have time for any of that shit,” Sara snapped back with barely contained rage, “so don’t drag me into your stupid fights!”

“Woah,” Ms. Pakistan snarked, “I seem to have struck a nerve…”  The laughter continued to peal.

That was the moment when Sara’s extraordinarily short fuse burnt out – what little patience she normally had was finally expended.

“Strike this nerve, bitch!” Sara exploded as she slugged Ms. Pakistan across the jaw with a strong right hook, knocking her to the floor.

“What are you, crazy!?” Ms. Pakistan cried out in shock, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.

Sara leapt upon the woman, screaming in incoherent rage, adrenaline fueling her ecstatic frenzy.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“...And what made you want to attack her?”  Sara’s psychotherapist asked, drawing her out of her reverie and back to the present, in her daily therapy session.  The room was painted that stupid shade of mint green that was supposed to be calming, there was a large decorative bamboo plant in the corner, and a small potted cactus standing on the short table between her and Dr. Jamaica, and the light reggae muzak playing ambiently wasn’t helping Sara’s mood.

“She wouldn’t fucking shut up about that stupid game!” Sara said irately, her blood still boiling from recounting her experience, and how she wished it could have turned out.

“Were you angry because everyone else understood the game, and you didn’t?” Dr. Jamaica asked calmly, the perfect opposite of Sara’s volatile demeanor.

“No one understands Cricket,” Sara grumbled, “the game is fucking incomprehensible.”

“Could you describe what this incident made you want to do with her?”

Sara immersed herself, once again, into the heart-pounding memory of the incident the other day, and found herself swept up in her emotions.

“I wanted to make her face look like a goddamned blueberry,” Sara fantasized with rising excitation, “I wanted the deck to run red with her blood.  I wanted her to look me in the eye before I slammed her head into the floor, again and again until she stopped moving!”  Sara found the mental images her words evoked quite satisfying.

“Well, I’m glad you chose not to act on those feelings,” Dr. Jamaica said after taking a beat, unintentionally acting like a deadpan snarker.  Sara felt that he might have been making fun of her.  Dr. Jamaica clinically made a note on his tablet.

“Your self-control is improving,” Dr. Jamaica mentioned, “If this had happened six months ago, you might have actually tried to kill her.”

“Not my fault I’m a fucking psychopath,” Sara said discontentedly.

“We’ve been over this, Sara.  You don’t have psychopathy, you simply have trouble controlling these emotional outbursts of yours,” the doctor continued dispassionately, “You’ve come a long way from the violent person you were a decade ago.”  He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

Sara hated this part of the sessions, where he opened up old wounds in a misguided attempt to help her “face her trauma” so that she could “conquer” it.  All it really did was force her to relive old and terrifying memories.

Normally, she was able to maintain enough composure to weather the emotional tumult that came with the experience, but after recounting the incident with her coworkers, Sara was unsure whether she could control herself today.

The doctor’s words awoke memories of the ghettoes on the outskirts of Minneapolis.  The reek of the bogs along the banks of the Mississippi River; stark, crumbling concrete buildings decaying from centuries of acid rain; sweltering heat and humidity and overcast skies; overcrowded enclosures secreting patent poverty away from the notice of the entitled, exiguous denizens of the stately spire of glass and steel which marked the city center; dark, filthy alleys where the desperate and despairing frittered away their lives in futility.

“According to your file, before you were institutionalised for Stage III Violent Mania, you murdered a peacekeeper in cold blood.”

Sara remembered the encounter like it was yesterday, and she knew that it didn’t happen that way.  It was a dark, rainy night.  She was loitering across the alley from a pair of prostitutes soliciting their services to the passersby.  She was there to protect them from the freaks and the forcible who would threaten them.  It was dangerous work, but it paid well enough to buy the occasional moonshine-or-narcotic-fueled day off, or an hour or two of passion in their accommodating embrace.

One of them walked away on the arm of a government functionary – maybe a supervisor at the local commissary – when a federal army patrol stopped by.  Soldiers made the best johns, according to Sara’s employers.  They paid well, and were usually repeat customers, although they were often domineering, and sometimes abusive.

Something was wrong.  Negotiations didn’t typically take this long, especially if there were two of them.  They started to get confrontational.  One of them began to reach for his nightstick.

Turn around, walk away, and pretend you saw and heard nothing:  that would have been the smart thing to do.  Clearly, Sara wasn’t that smart.

She had a knife in her hand, she strode over and issued her challenge.  The two soldiers laughed at her, the scrawny girl with the dull, rusted blade.  She attacked, the nearest soldier disarmed her effortlessly and pinned her to the wall.  She briefly saw the other one do the same to her charge before her assailant forced her head to face him and covered her mouth with his hand.  She tried to struggle, but he had her completely overpowered.

The soldier leered at her with sadistic glee.  The excited rhythm of his escalating breathing, the growing, firming protrusion as he forced his hips into hers, the relish with which he described the unspeakable acts he intended to inflict upon her, the way he reduced her entire being to an object to sate his appetites to his personal satisfaction, the utter helplessness she felt as he began to turn his perverse fantasies into horrifying reality – all of it made her feel a terrible, choking, paralyzing, unctious, enveloping, crushing, sinking, viscous fear, the kind that breaks even the strongest wills.

She had to get out of there.  There was no way out, but she needed to escape.

“You stole his weapon, and used it to kill him.”

That part was true.  She did not know how she managed it, but she somehow got her hand on his sidearm and in her panic, she shot him in the stomach.  While the body armor the soldier wore was designed to deflect bullets even more powerful than those his pistol used, Sara had pressed the barrel right against it, and at that range those bullets could still penetrate it.  She didn’t know how many times she pulled the trigger, she kept shooting him until he fell on his back and stopped moving.

“You became a murderer at fifteen years old.”

That’s not how it happened.  As her lawyer had explained in the trial, she didn’t murder him.  She shot him in self-defense. Not that it mattered.  In lawsuits against the army, the army always won.

She felt a brief euphoria, like drunkenness but momentary.  It was when she saw the body of the soldier lying in front of her, the look of shock on his face, his gaping mouth filling with rainwater, his spilling blood clouding the water around him a sanguine hue, the gun in her trembling, blood-soaked hands, they all pointed to the inescapable truth that, one way or another, her life was over.

“How does that make you feel?”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

In one forceful motion, Sara flipped the short table between them, screaming in a berserk rage.  She grabbed a standing lamp and smashed it across the doctor’s face, sending him and the chair he sat upon tumbling over.

“Security!” the doctor cried out in terror, cowering on his back, “Security, help!”  The standing lamp now useless to her, she gripped the decorative bamboo and raised it over her head with both hands, ready to bring it crashing down on top of him.

At that moment, the door was kicked open with a crunch, and two armed men in espatier-gray camouflage burst in, submachine guns leveled at Sara.

“Drop the weapon!” one of them yelled.

The red dots of laser sights dancing across Sara’s chest drew her attention away from the doctor.  She threw herself recklessly at the security guards, roaring non-verbally.

She hadn’t gone two paces before she was thrown to the floor by a concussive force, accompanied by a blinding flash of light and a deafening, thunderous bang.  Sara’s rapid journey to unconsciousness was heralded by a high-pitched ringing whine.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The two main gateways to the Earth Sphere were located at the second and third Lagrange points in the Earth-Moon system.  Lagrange-Two was located opposite the Earth of the Moon, and was primarily a departure point to the other planets in the solar system.

Lagrange-Three, on the other hand, lay on the side opposite the Moon of the Earth, and followed the Moon’s orbit exactly.  Spacecraft entering the Earth Sphere from the rest of the solar system tended to pass through Lagrange-Three, either to rendezvous with an Earthly destination, or to exploit the planet’s gravity to gain speed or change course with minimal expenditure of precious propellant.

The main advantage of Lagrange-Three as an arrival point was that for nearly 385,000 kilometers in every direction – the distance between Earth and its moon – it was almost devoid of objects.  This calculable-but-unfathomable expanse made for an ideal buffer zone for the safe operation of the thermonuclear fusion rockets – colloquially called “starbulbs” after their superficial resemblance to ancient incandescent lamps, but with a miniaturized toroidal sun in the center instead of a lambent metal filament – in use by interplanetary vessels.  After all, the drive plumes from such a mighty apparatus burned with the fury of the Sun’s corona – best that other craft gave their tails a wide berth.

Transiting to a lower orbit from Lagrange-Three, Peregrine was propelled by such a device.  She was generally arrow-shaped, if the head were a sphere and the fletchings were aluminum whiskers extruding from her gleaming wasp-waisted propulsion stage.

Peregrine listened to the hum of Earth’s magnetic field, felt the caress of the solar wind on her hull, watched the goings-on of the crew within her, and monitored the progress of a program being loaded into her active memory – one designed to protect her from the humans of Earth.

It was important for Peregrine to conceal her true nature from the Earthers.  She had heard stories about what they did to cybersophonts that weren’t…  controlled… to their satisfaction, and she had no desire to be lobotomized or dismantled.

Peregrine wasn’t merely the ship’s computer.  She was the ship.

Her crew were different from the Earthers – Martians had always treated cyphonts as equals, after all.  They understood that sapience begot personhood on some level, at least.

There was a message being received by her main communications array.  Time to pipe it down to the control deck like a good little macro before the senders got suspicious.  Channel open.

The control deck consisted of six acceleration couches facing outward, each with controls mounted on the arms.  The captain, a tall, thin man with roguishly handsome features and skin the color of vanilla named Jon Orvar, was in the flight control seat.

“Manju Ray, this is Micronesia Space Traffic Control,” the voice coming over the radio said, “Please transmit your flight plan and lading, over.”

“Micronesia Traffic Control,” Jon replied with practiced ease, “this is Manju Ray.  Transmitting FP&L to you now.  We are on a ballistic trajectory to EML-1, transporting assorted hydrocarbons to Surveyor City and consumer goods to Terrordrome.  Yours is the last Earth traffic control zone on our course until EML-1, over.”  EML-1 was spacer shorthand for the Lagrange-One point located precisely between the Earth and the Moon.

“Hauling some Titan Tea to the Moon, Manju Ray?” The traffic controller inquired jocularly.

“Straight from the refineries over Saturn,” Jon replied.

“Well, you oil barons shouldn’t run into any problems on your current trajectory.  We’ll advise you if anything should change that.  Micronesia out,” the traffic controller said as Tallen Olayinka floated down from the main computer compartment above.  The man was an ebony giant – 212 centimeters tall and built like a statuesque demigod – and neatly brought himself to a stop on the deck.

“Acknowledged, Manju Ray out,” Jon signed off.

“I’ve worked out those bugs in the Nadleehi Protocol,” Tallen reported after Jon closed the channel, “With any luck, Peregrine should look like a conventional mainframe to a cursory inspection.”

“Pretending to be a dumb expert system feeds my inferiority complex,” Peregrine’s soprano voice self-deprecated over the control deck speakers.

“Of course it does, dear,” Tallen dismissed playfully.

Jon turned to face Tallen.  “That’s good to hear,” Jon replied, ignoring Peregrine’s interjection, “The last thing we need is to have Peregrine impounded because she happens to be a cyphont.”

Tallen crossed his ample arms.  “Her engine alone raises some eyebrows ‘round here,” he speculated, “The Earth government isn’t very keen on civilians or foreigners operating terawatt-range fusion drives.”

“Incoming transmission over Astronet,” Peregrine reported, “Sender ID masked, and they’re using IRONGOLDFISH encryption keys.”

“That sounds familiar,” Jon remarked, “Put it up.”

“Yes, dear,” Peregrine replied.  The flight control display minimized and a videochat window opened up in its place.  The image on the screen was shadowy and secretive, showing the silhouette of a man in a hat profiled against a cyan glow.

“Now there’s the face that sank a thousand ships,” the man spoke with a heavily distorted voice.  It was clear that despite his precautions to hide his identity behind layers of encryption lockouts, he was taking no chances that he might be inadvertently identified through the analog hole. “Did you call just to insult me?” Jon asked.

“No,” the mystery man answered, “I’ve called because I need a favour.” “A favor?” Jon repeated, intrigued, “This’ll be good.”

“Don’t enjoy this too much,” the mystery man admonished, “An associate of mine has run into a spot of trouble, and I need you to extract them and bring them to me.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“My associate was investigating something which I think you would find rather interesting.  I’d be willing to share what information they learned.”

“That’s suspiciously generous of you.” “My benevolence is renowned across the entire system.” “What kind of information are we talking about?”

“Not over Astronet.  We’ll meet at the usual place to make the exchange.”

“All right.  Who and where?”

“Her name is Ayane Miyamoto.  She was last seen in EML-1 Colony 7 less than seven hours ago.”

“We’ll be there,” Jon said as he logged off, and then turned to face Tallen.

“What do you make of that, Tallen?

“It’s certainly intriguing,” Tallen pondered, “Even Sharqi’s not that paranoid.”

“Speaking of intrigue,” Jon inquired, “have you seen Misty?”

“She’s outside, looking at Earth.”

Jon released the straps restraining him in his chair, pushed himself off from the armrests, and climbed on the handrails along the bulkheads to the hatch leading below decks.

“Peri, take over,” Jon ordered as he climbed down to the next deck, which housed crew accommodations, and kicked his way across to the below decks hatch on the other side, “I’m gonna go find our wayward wayfinder.”

“You know I’m not supposed to work unsupervised in Earth space, right?” Peregrine reminded Jon as he climbed down to the next deck, after which he drifted over to a hatch set in the deck, directly beneath the common area in the deck above.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Jon joked.

“I guess Tallen’s my chaperone, huh?”

Jon opened the hatch, which led to the prep room for the airlock.  “Looks like it,” Jon confirmed, “Any hazards out there I should know about?”

“The temperature is more than 270 degrees below freezing,” Peregrine reported, “atmosphere is 57 kilopascals below cabin pressure…”

“Smartass,” Jon muttered as he opened the suit locker, for he knew that Peregrine’s cabin pressure was exactly 57 kilopascals.

“Ah,” Peregrine joked as Jon began to don his spacesuit, “You should have specified hazards atypical of hard vacuum.”

“Consider it specified.”

“We’re between the Van Allen belts, so your radiation exposure should be minimal.  Solar flare activity is low.”

“So, I’ll be fine.”

“There’s always the chance you’ll be fried by a freak gamma ray burst…”

Jon, fully suited up, sealed the faceplate on his helmet and climbed into the airlock.  “All suit systems check out,” Jon declared, “Commence airlock pre-cycle sequence.”

“Yes, dear,” Peregrine joked as she closed and sealed the inner pressure door.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Peregrine’s outer airlock door opened silently.  Without a medium to propagate in, everything external to one’s pressure vessel was silent.  Inside the suit, however, the noise of pumps and motors, and exchanging gases was too loud to ignore.

Jon clipped his safety line onto a handrail bolted to the outer hull, and made his way to the nose of the ship, where the communications and main sensor array were mounted.  The main antenna mast was Misty’s favorite place to go stargazing.

Reaching the summit of Peregrine’s structure, Jon saw the familiar lanky silhouette of the woman he was married to, black as space in contrast to sapphire-blue Earthlight.

Jon climbed over to her, and tapped the side of his helmet to change radio channels.  “Hey, Misty!” Jon called out to her once he had tuned to the right frequency, “How’s the planet-watching?”

Misty turned her helmeted head to face Jon as he floated down next to her, bulky when compared to the rest of her spacesuit, which resembled a full-body leotard instead of a balloon.  

Illuminated by Earthlight, Jon could see the wonder and fascination in her eyes as she stared at the cradle of humanity.  “It’s beautiful,” Misty said in awe at the planet’s majesty, her glowing complexion the hue of ruddy clay complemented by her jet-black lips.

“This is the closest you’ve ever been to Earth, right?” Jon asked, sharing the view with her.

“How could you tell?”

“No one who’s been this close would describe that polluted, overpopulated shithole planet as ‘beautiful,’” Jon opined.

Misty pointed at the Earth’s disc.  “Just look at all that water!” she exclaimed, “From the surface, the ocean must look like it goes on forever!  Can you imagine sitting on a beach and seeing such an amazing sight?”

“It’s impressive,” Jon replied, “it boggles the mind that the Earth has that much surface water, but I’d hardly call it amazing.  None of that water is potable without immense purification plants.”

Misty looked a little saddened.  “It’s a shame that I can never go there,” she said, “It would be nice to see an ocean, or hear the wind, or taste the rain.  I wonder what it would be like to look up at a blue sky, surrounded by breathable air.”

Jon smirked.  “Do you want this to be our honeymoon spot?”

Misty snuggled up to Jon in an almost childlike manner – a slightly awkward affair because they were both in spacesuits.  “We’ve been married for nearly a year, anata.  It’s a little late for a honeymoon, ne?”

“Just never found the right moment,” Jon answered.  The couple just stayed there, watching the Earth turn.

[seungminty]

Tipsy Nights and Heart Eyes // Changbin

prompt: You’re an emotional drunk and really really love your boyfriend (so fluffy it’s ridiculous + ot9!crack)  1.7k

bc I’m always an embarrassing drunk and our boys are the sweetest ever

-mads<3

“So that’s why I believe that the BBC should continue to be licence-free instead of switching to the state for its income.” I nodded along with my colleague, hoping my face didn’t show my internal screaming that had continued throughout the whole riveting 20-minute conversation. I smiled gratefully when he said he was going to go find an intern he wanted me to meet, and I only just managed to stop myself from bolting out the door. 

Why the hell I agreed to go to this stupid office party I had no idea. Well, actually, it was probably because everyone at the office thought I was no fun. What they didn't know is that I am also defensive as hell, so damn right I stormed into this packed club 30 minutes late, wearing the sparkliest dress I could find and ready to party. However, the night didn't turn out to be as wild as I thought. A colleague had latched onto me early on, boring me half to death and barely letting me get a word in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him return with a reluctant looking intern in tow. I looked from them to the group of colleagues doing shots in the corner, weighed up my options, and bolted towards the drunken huddle. 

That’s how I ended up 20 minutes later, downing my 5th shot of some neon alcohol, singing an out-of-tune ABBA song and trying very hard not to fall off my bar-stool. My bemused eventually colleagues decided, much to my complaints, that they should probably call me a taxi. I managed to mumble out my boyfriend’s number, and only caught the beginning of the phone call before I was dragged away by our very funny, yet very drunk receptionist to dance. We danced and danced, cheered on by the rest of the club-goers, and for the first time in a long while, I felt relaxed and happy in front of my coworkers. I was so happy in fact, that I was about to attempt a cartwheel when I felt a soft hand clasp the wrists of my raised arms. I turned round to find the amused, yet concerned face of my boyfriend, who I was so happy to see that I immediately wrapped my arms around him, before peppering kisses all over his face. When he overcame the shock, he chuckled, and after grabbing my hands again, whispered in his familiar honey-like voice;

“I think it’s time to get you to bed love, before anyone gets seriously injured.”

I pouted but allowed him to pull me towards the door. As we passed them, I mumbled some sort of farewell to my colleagues, who for once, looked sad to see me leave and cheered me on as I clumsily left the club, but not before I gave them one last air punch as I exited the door. Changbin wrapped his arms securely around my waist and shoulders while I rested my head in the crook of his neck as he walked -more like dragged- me back to his car. I hardly had my seatbelt on when I felt all my giddy drunkness start to evaporate, leaving behind a wave of tiredness. Through my half-shut eyes, I saw Changbin look over at my suddenly crumpled state, letting out a chuckle before he began to reverse out of his parking space and head home.

‘You look super pretty, by the way.’

I smiled as I shut my eyes, the sounds of the car engine and Changbin’s soft humming lulling me to sleep. I was only half-awake when I felt my car door open and Changbin reach across me to unbuckle my seatbelt before helping me out the car. Managing to open my eyes, I quickly realised that no, this wasn't my apartment block, but the dorms. I opened my mouth to object but he seemed to read my mind, as always.

“No, I’m not leaving you at your apartment just because I have work tomorrow. My girlfriend can’t even walk straight, of course, I'm not going to just ditch her.”

My heart swelled at his words, and that was promptly followed by a very strong urge to throw up. Luckily we managed to reach the dorm without any incidents, except an encore of the ABBA songs from myself.

We passed a shocked looking Woojin as we tumbled into the living room, and I was promptly ushered to the sofa and told to sit down to wait for Changbin to find my pjs, and at this point, I was more sleepy than anything else, so I did so without much protest. My eyes were once again half-shut when I felt a soft blanket get tucked around me, and the sofa dip next to me. I opened my eyes and did slightly over-dramatic gasp as I saw Jeongin giving me a shy smile, looking slightly wary due to my drunken state. 

“And what do you think of you’re doing this up late young man?” I attempted to use my best mom voice, trying my best to remain stern even though I was pretty sure I added in a few unnecessary words just there.

Jeongin just gave me a sheepish smile and walked away, probably feeling a bit awkward, leaving the newly arrived Hyunjin and Jisung laughing their asses off on the sofa opposite me. I frowned, before attempting to throw a cushion at them. Obviously, I failed miserably, only adding to their giggle fit. I was preparing my second pillow attack when I felt someone gently grab my arm and lower it. I looked up and saw a rather blurry Woojin. Once my eyes caught up I notice he had a cup of steaming tea in his hand, which he gently set down on the coffee table in front of me. 

‘Here, for the headache you’re gonna have in about 4 hours.” He held out a couple advils, which I took with a big gulp of tea. I immediately screamed like a little bitch when I realised how damn hot the tea was, once again setting off the giggle twins in the corner, who I'm pretty sure were filming me now. Woojin looked concerned, rushing away to fetch some cold water as I whined, but I'm pretty sure I saw him biting back a laugh. A few minutes later I was curled up on the sofa, with a now thankfully lukewarm cup of tea, surrounded by fluffy blankets, and pretty much most of the boys who were probably waiting to see what dumb thing would come out my drunk mouth next.

They probably didn't expect me to burst into tears.

“Y-you’re all just so n-nice!!! I’m sorry for never really speaking to you, I r-really love you all so much and oh my god you’re just so nice! Jeongin you’re now my son so you ever need anything just ca-” My drunken sobs were cut short by Changbin’s arms wrapping around me and lifting me up princess style up off of the sofa while I sniffed pathetically. I caught a glimpse of the group of very confused and concerned boys behind us, and fortunately so did Changbin.

“Don't worry, shes just an emotional-ass drunk. I got it from here. Come on princess weirdo, I think it’s time for bed.”

He gently sat me down on the bed and began wiping off what was left of my makeup with a wet wipe as I sniffed and babbled on like a damn toddler.

“Your friends are the best.”

“I know.” He smiled gently, finishing with the wipe and helping me into my cosy pjs.

“Like the best best. Especially Woojin. I’m sorry I cried but he brought me TEA! I had no choice!” I exclaimed, getting slightly emotional again.

“Hey now, I thought I was the best best, should I be worried?” He pouted adorably at me, but I could see the hint of humour in his eyes. 

“No no no. You’re the best best best. My cutie-pie. My little cutie pie honey bun.” This got a full-on laugh from Changbin, and I even detected a hint of rosiness on his cheeks, and I forgot that sober yn is never really one for pet names. He tried his best to hide his blush as he climbed into bed and lifted the covers and tucked us both in. I sighed contentedly as I lay down on his chest with his arms wrapped firmly around my torso, and decided to deem the night an overall success. Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard him whisper softly,

“Okay, Princess. I'm your honey bun.”

Bonus 

“Morning sunshine.” I stirred as I heard Changbin mumble in my ear, before peppering my face with kisses. I smiled and began to open my eyes, noticing the cute little breakfast laid out on the bedside table, but then the headache hit.

“Morni- ohhhhhmygodmfhgf” I smashed my head back into the pillow and winced at the searing pain behind my eyes. I heard a tiny chuckle come from my boyfriend, causing me to reach my arm out to hit his shoulder for laughing at my pain.

“What did I do last night?” I asked once I could think straight again. I was greeted with silence, which I took as a bad sign.

“Oh no. It was bad, wasn't it?” I groaned, finally opening my eyes fully to see my Changbin biting back a smile.

“Well, you sang ABBAs entire discography, almost gave yourself a head injury, burnt your tongue, tried to attack Jisung and Hyunjin, cried for a bit, called me your cutie pie honey bun and then snored like an old man all night, but overall not your worst.”

I facepalmed, already cringing at the conversation I was bound to have with the rest of the boys.

Changbin laughed at my reaction, and I couldn't help but laugh along with him. He took me in his arms again and cuddled us both back up in his soft blankets.

“Hey don’t feel too bad, I heard you were super popular with Jisung’s snapchat followers.”

[urcadelimabean]

I finally watched endgame and AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much better put together movie than infinity war obviously, but still had flaws. For the most part it let character have more time to experience emotions but there were still a few very stiff strange moments? I felt like the movie didn't give Evans quite enough time to act throughout and Sam greeting old Steve on the bench and only seeming to relate to him as Captain America as opposed to his FRIEND??? Not cracking a single joke about how this motherfucker went back to the past after they discussed how it sucked? Weird and out of character.

Tony and Nebula had a really interesting dynamic and i reeeeeally wanted to see more of them interacting!!!! Especially later in the movie. Love that tony stark angst 👌 and nebula is a great parallel to him with her redemption story/self hatred.

Tony completely melting down at Steve was an amazing scene and so painful but strangely satisfying. Boy they really need to work out their differences with some rough sex imo  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I need a Pepper/tony/Steve polyamorous trio where pepper and Steve are friends. I feel like they'd get along.

Not enough wanda!!!!! I felt like the scene where she attacked thanos was literally HALF the length if needed to be. UGH. Let her have a full moment of rage instead of one line. Tony Steve and Thor got to fight thanos much longer than her. Her moment was incredibly badass and did demonstrate how powerful she is but it still needed to be MORE

CAROL SMASHING THAT SHIP HHHHHHHH HOLY SHIT ALDJFMDBFBF WITH HER GAY HAIRCUT WOWOWOWOWOW WOOOW ...WOWWW

(Peter was literally so cute and adorable introducing himself to her. )

Speaking of me being gay, and a skipping forward a bit, Okoye looked SOOoooOooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOooo hot in that dress at Tony's funeral and it was only like 10 seconds of screen time in that scene but it was enough to KILL!!!! ME!!!!

Loki !!!!!! Loki is alive heh heh hehhhhh HEHHHHHH

Thor being comedic relief when he cries. really????? That pissed me off ugh.

Nebula literally killing her past self holy shit!!!! Wow that was an intense and very good scene. I LOVED EVERYTHING WITH NEBULA AND GAMORA!!!!!!! FUCK!!!! and also I may have a crush on nebula okok

Natasha's death was gross but unsurprising and pissed me off even though I'm not a huge fan of her anymore. Again, why do they need to show women perfectly gracefully poised in death? It also visually is sooooo anticlimactic to have this epic death scene be a short fall. Make it a gigantic cliff so you can't see her dead body at the foot of it. Ugh. Whycouldnttheykillclintinstead

"I am Iron Man." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭

Tony's death scene was so good WOW I mean ouch. What a way to wrap up his character arc. In a way he got everything he wanted, which was knowing they had finally won, and simultaneously atoning for all his past failures. Aauuuugghhhh. I "understand" why they killed him but....😭!!!!!!!!!!

Needed one more Nebula and Gamora scene at the very end, even just without dialogue, something to wrap their storyline up a bit more. A glance between them that makes you think about how nebula got her sister back (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and Gamora made that choice AGAIN in a different timeline. Like, anything!!! Just one more shot of them!

But seriously how incredibly is it that Gamora made the same choice so fast, she was just waiting for the right moment 😭

About Sam Wilson: as pumped as I am that he got the shield, as he should have, it felt like they ignored him for all of infinity war, killed him off without anyone grieving for him (whereas Groot, T'Challa, Bucky, Clint's fucking family, etc all had someone see and mourn their death) and Sam's felt very sort of ....it did NOT have enough weight for a character they're planning to make into captain america??? No one even saw him die! That and then barely having him visible in the endgame battle. "On your left" was an amazing moment but we didn't even see him appear on Steve's left with any closeup of his face-- that would have been a time for them to share more of a real moment face to face and properly show how important Sam is to Steve and give Sam any sort of visual and symbolic importance that he should have, given where they were planning to go with his storyline.

Other moments I loved: Thor being like "idk if this will work" and just mjolniring Tony back to life. LMAO. Also tony checking out Steve's butt. Relatable. Steve in the elevator making Nazis look stupid as fuck. Good shit. Tony being like, “uhhh, Potts.”

Other moments I hated: can they learn to fucking translate all the lines in a foreign language so they don't just dehumanize people? Not translating "DIE" or "WAIT" when a Japanese man says it is just annoying. Translate your shit marvel, ugh!!!

Also tony stark seeing his father.....not sure how I felt about that scene. It felt in character but still pretty fucked up. I get the desire to have tony come to peace with how shitty his father was but it just made me sad. So basically it was well done, but I didn't interpret it as some healthy closure I think they intended it to be. At ALL.

Aksjfksjdjf Carol needed more screentime but I'm still swooning over how she literally didn't BLINK when thanos head-butted her. She's like, what about it, you little bitch??????? And he had to use an entire infinity stone to get her off him. 😍

Again I really wish they'd treated Thor's grief more seriously. It was fucking annoying to hear people LAUGH AT HIM IN THE THEATER like him gaining weight and being sad is just some great joke. If haters don't like Thor when he's depressed and chubby they don't deserve him at all 😤 HE’S MINE

All in all I really enjoyed the movie. GAMORA IS ALIVE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️