#i forgot how much i love this epi

[starlost97]

— stubbornness.

summary: You just got home from the hospital, and are still learning how to walk properly again. You knew at the moment that you woke up from the surgery that Buck wouldn’t leave you alone. And you were right. He only went back to work when he couldn’t take any more days off, even though you insisted that he shouldn’t worry about you. The thing is, you are very stubborn, and it became even more obvious when you couldn’t do things on your own, but still wanted to.

tags: fluff, recovery, stubbornness, worried Evan Buckley, f!reader.

characters: Evan Buckley, Maddie Buckley.

warnings: allergic reaction, swearing, author’s medical knowledge is very very bad.

a/n: I got this idea after watching an episode of 911: Lone Star (no spoilers here, though), also searching epi-pen and paramedics aesthetic wasn't on my bingo card this year lol.

word count: 1,438.

requested?: no!

Once more, you opened your eyes and felt a sharp pain when trying to move. You always forgot about your legs.

“Oh, fuck.” You murmured, trying to be as quiet as possible. You didn’t want to alarm Buck even more on his first day back to work. “Buck?” You called, hearing noises of things being stumbled on and quick steps on the stairs soon after.

“Honey, hi!” He said, almost falling on the ground when rushing to the bedroom. “Here, let me help you.” Buck grabbed your waist and carefully got you out of bed. “Are you sure that’s ok for me to go back to work?”

“I promise, babe, it’s fine. I can take care of myself while you work.” You said, caressing his hair and cupping his face with your free hand. His blue eyes finding yours. You could tell that he was worried, but you knew how much he wanted to go back to work.

“You can call me anytime, ok? If I don’t pick up, someone will.” He hugged you and kissed your cheek, making you laugh.

“You’re going to be late, Buck.” You said as he trailed kisses down your neck.

“I love you, ok? See you tomorrow.” He said, kissing your lips and leaving the bedroom.

“Love you too!” You said, catching a glimpse of his smile as he went down the stairs. You waited until you heard the front door closing to start getting ready.

People always talked about how Buck was a workaholic, but they didn’t notice how you were just as bad as him. In the last weeks, you didn’t have the chance to leave the house and go to work, since Buck wouldn’t leave your side. But now, with your boyfriend going on a 24 hour shift, you had plenty of time.

You got ready as fast as you could and left the house, driving to the Los Angeles Service Center.

As soon as you arrived, you received a message from Buck asking if everything was ok. You smiled at your phone and answered, saying that there’s no need to worry.

You got to your floor, using a walking stick to get to your desk, which was right beside Maddie’s, so you knew she would see you there soon. But you were prepared to argue why she shouldn’t tell Buck you were there.

As soon as you sat down, you heard a familiar voice calling you by your full name, which would have startled you if you weren’t expecting it

“Maddie! You look so pretty today, you know that?” You said, smiling at her.

“You are unbelievable. Does Buck know you’re here?” She asked, crossing her arms.

“... No, and you’re not going to tell him.” Maddie opened her mouth to answer, but you were faster. “And you own me one, remember? I didn’t tell Chimney that you came in sick when he had specifically told you not to.”

“Well, it’s different. You are recovering from a surgery, when I was just a little constipated.” She said, putting her hands on her hips.

“You still said that you owned me one, so I’m claiming that favor now.”

Maddie looked at you up and down, trying to decide if you were being serious or not. Usually, you would hold onto a favor for dear life until you wanted something nearly impossible. Getting back to work was something that would happen eventually, so all you had to do was wait.

But you couldn’t wait anymore. At home, everytime you heard your phone ringing you got excited because it reminded you of work. It was pathetic. Before becoming a dispatcher, you always judged Buck for being so obsessed with being a firefighter. Being a nurse was good, and you loved helping people, but you got too overwhelmed at the end of the shifts with all those people around you.

“Look, I will be careful. It’s not like I will be moving much, right?” You could see Maddie holding her laugh.

“You do have a point.” She said as she sat right beside you, preparing for the first call of the shift.

Time passed, and you tried very hard to not talk on the radio when the 118 was attending the calls. Sometimes you heard Buck speaking and smiled, trying not to talk to him as you always did. You got used to having conversations while he did things that didn’t really require his full attention, and he loved doing that too. It was something that helped him a lot when he needed to relax.

As the day went by, you got more relaxed. You and Maddie shared lunch, and she helped you change your bandages.

“Everything looks great, honey.” She said as she finished, making sure that the medical tape was well put on your back. “Buck is doing a great job taking care of you.” You smiled at the comment.

“You know, the moment I woke up from the surgery, I knew that he wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“He was so scared, honey. He wouldn’t leave your side.” She said as she started to walk back to her desk with you.

“He is a sweetheart, Maddie.” You said, sitting on your chair. “Even though I missed working, he made sure to make those weeks enjoyab-” Before you could finish your sentence, you heard a loud bang, followed by screams. You looked around and found one of the new dispatchers unconscious on the floor.

You and Maddie went as quick as possible — considering you were using a walking stick — to the girl, who looked like was having an allergic reaction. You asked someone to bring the medical kit, hoping to find an epi-pen.

“Nothing here.” Maddie said, looking at you, worried.

“Look at her bag! She might have brought it with her.”

You soon started to hear sirens, but you didn't think anything about it. Your focus was on the girl.

“She's here!” You heard Sue say, hearing footsteps coming in your direction.

“We think it's an allergic reaction, but we don't have any epi-pen.” Maddie said, making space for the paramedics.

“You are right. Chimney, give her some epi.” Hen said, measuring her heart rate.

You got up, standing right beside Maddie and putting your hand on her shoulder for support. You both were worried about the girl. It took you a minute until you realized that Buck was in the same room as you.

You waited until the girl woke up, which didn't take long. Hen and Chimney explained to her what happened, and she agreed to go to the hospital to get checked. This was the perfect moment to try to hide from your boyfriend, but you weren't fast enough.

“Y/N?!” You heard your boyfriend say, just as you were trying to get away.

“Hi, Buck.” You said, turning to his direction. “How's your day going?”

“What the hell are you doing here? You should be at home!” He said, looking worriedly at you, holding your hands.

“I was just getting some things with Maddie!” You lied, looking at your friend, who agreed with her head.

“Why are you in uniform, then?” He asked, crossing his arms, staring at you. You could see Chimney and Eddie looking at Hen, who had a smug smile on her face.

“Pay up.” She said, looking as both of the firefighters picked up their wallets.

“Buck, I’m fine! I swear. And there’s lots of well trained people here to take care of me if something goes wrong. Maddie even helped me change my bandages!” You said, and your boyfriend looked at his sister, who gave him an awkward smile.

Buck looked at you hesitantly before tilting his head and biting the inside of his cheek.

“I guess I can’t make you go home, huh?” He said, smiling slightly and caressing your cheek with his thumb. “Look, please be careful, ok? Promise me that you will take any pain seriously. I don't want you getting any worse.” He smiled at you, kissing your lips.

“I promise, Buck.”

“And now that I know you're here, I want to hear your voice through the radio, ok?” You smiled, confirming with your head.

“I miss doing that.”

“Me too.”

“Ok, lovebirds, let's go. And I'm talking to you too, Chimney.” Hen said, startling Maddie and the firefighter.

“I gotta go, bae. I'll see you home.” Buck said, quickly kissing you before running through the door with the 118. “Love you!”

“Love you too!”

And just like that you spend the rest of your shift talking with your boyfriend through the radio.

Sometimes being stubborn pays off.

[winn-schott-throughtheheart]

For the headcanons thing (that you posted 6 months ago - sorry)

Winn Schott

If you’ve already done him (which is highly likely) give me another character you haven’t done and please tag me in the Winn one :)

I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THIS LMFAOOO thank you for reminding me that's so embarrassing

anyways, I'd had Winn and Lena requested but Kara is my second fav blorbo after Winn so I did her too <33

also, this is going off the premise that both Winn and Kara are autistic, it's canon because I said so I have lists you can fight me on this

Winn

Realistic: Winn is notably the only analyst (in the main cortex at least) that wears dress clothes instead of uniform. At the beginning he really did try to stand the uniform, but he ended up convincing J'onn to let him off because he just couldn't deal with the feeling of it on his skin.

Hilarious: Being the only human member of the Legion of Superheroes, Winn got asked A LOT about human culture. A blatant lie that originally stemmed from being asked the same ten questions a billion times, snowballed into a complicated lore about humanology and Gods and belief systems (because he was too embarrassed to admit to the original lie) and he ended up being the accidental cause of organised religion in the 31st century.

tldr: Winn Schott manages to shitpost his way through space and time

Also, he's asthmatic as fuck. He has to carry an inhaler in his bag and he hates it.

Awful: He hates the smell of teakwood and tobacco because it reminds him so viscerally of an abusive foster home that it genuinely makes him physically anxious and nauseous.

Unrealistic: He's actually really good at handling spicy food. He's even out-performed Alex a handful of times.

Lena

Realistic: Lena actually really hates chess. She hates how everything needs to be calculated properly, how everything needs to be thought out exactly, and it just reminds her too much of how she was brought up.

Hilarious: She has a peanut allergy. Similar to Winn, she has to carry an epi-pen in her bag. This is not public knowledge, of course, because that would probably bring her quarterly assassination attempts up to weekly.

Awful: Lena can only fall asleep with a nightlight- she isn't really sure why, all she knows is that her bed feels less like frigid, murky water when it's on.

Unrealistic: She doesn't know how to cook or how to drive. Her whole life she's had people cook for her and drive her places, so she never had to learn how to. She'd like to one day, though.

Kara

Realistic: Kara LOVES dinosaurs. She didn't have birds on Krypton, which implies either all the dinosaurs were wiped out, or there never were any in the first place, and she was immediately enthralled and fascinated by them when she first learned about them.

Hilarious: She's dyslexic. She relies on Grammarly like it's lifeblood.

Awful: She's insanely afraid of thunderstorms. It takes everything in her not to have a flashback or a panic attack or a meltdown, and she will point blank refuse to patrol if it's storming.

Unrealistic: After Red Daughter was killed, Kara's heat vision stayed permanently purple, and her eyes were purple too for a very long time afterwards.

maybe that first ones a bit of projection, i fucking love dinosaurs

[echowithpain]

Okay... That was... an episode. Damn, I forgot how much stuff they could put in these 😅

Okay um, well first, minus one point for inserting Tonsillitis in the Christopher birthday scene. Wtf, why was he there? It was so jarring. Also why make it seem like it was gonna be Christopher at home instead of over a video call? And then you make Eddie watch as his mom talks about how happy Christopher is without him and how she and his dad are thinking about getting a pool because Christopher loves the water so much, AND THEN KEEP THE CALL GOING BUT DONT BOTHER TO BRING THE CAMERA AS PEOPLE START TO SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY???? WTF GUYS??? WHY DID YOU MAKE HIM SIT THOUGH THAT??? They couldn't even have his mom "accidentally" hang up as she was rushing over? They had to make him SIT and WATCH as his son celebrated his birthday without him... Guys... Why...

Actually -2 points for temu and for the scene being unnecessarily cruel to Eddie

Um... I'm trying to remember cause I legit forgot how full these episodes can be lol.

OH!!! ATHENA PLOT!!!

Okay, I was confused about why she said yes to helping the guy who killed her fiance but as I was going through my notifs, an anon told me "She didn’t say yes, the feds forced her to since that was the only way he’d agree to testify". Which I remember hearing and then promptly forgot because I just kept thinking "what if she said no anyway?" I kept thinking that because they never really gave her a "do this or else" thing. There was no... threat? Like I get the guy said he wouldn't testify if Athena didn't help him, but what if she said "Well I guess he won't be testifying then. Not my problem, this has fuck all to do with me and I want no part in it" Then what? Am I the only one thinking like this? They never showed Athena having her arm twisted or her hands tied (figuratively). I'm genuinely curious about what would've happened if she said no. I get they want the dude to testify but if she really said "No, I'm too emotionally involved with this case, I can't help you"... then what? I'm just saying a line or two about her being on desk duty, or she'd be suspended for a while if she refused wouldn't have hurt.

-1 point

HOLY FUCK I JUST GOT AN AWESOME IDEA!!! THE EPISODE IS CALLED BUZZKILL RIGHT? WHAT IF ITS CALLED THAT BECAUSE YES THE BEES,

BUT WHAT IF IT'S ALSO BECAUSE THE BUZZSAW KILLED CAPTAIN DICKWEED??? 😃😃😃😃😃

Dude holy fuck, if that's the case I'm gonna laugh so hard and give this episode a point back 😂😂😂

OMG speaking of bees, MINUS ONE POINT FOR HOW STUPID THE KID WAS!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!

You're on the phone with 911 and they're telling you not to swat at the bees because it'll make them angry and you could get stung, AND AS THEY'RE SAYING THIS YOU CONTINUE TO SWAT AT THEM???? BRUH????

A L S O !!!

If you're allergic to bees, YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS???? The kid said she either got stung before or she's used her epi before, which would mean she would've had to have gotten stung or else she wouldn't have needed it. IF YOUVE BEEN STUNG BEFORE YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT NOT TO DO SO THE BEES DONT GET ANGRY AT YOU AND STING YOU CAUSE YOU'RE LITERALLY ALLERGIC???? If you're allergic to something, you usually research it to make sure you avoid the thing you're allergic to at all costs! Everyone knows, or should know, if a bee is flying near you, just leave it alone or try to stay still. It may land on you and crawl around a bit, but you shouldn't freak out cause that could upset it and make it sting you.

Bee fact!: Bees don't sting people for no reason. Mainly because when they sting, it kills them! When they leave behind their stingers it literally rips out their heart so it can keep pumping the bee venom into whatever they stung, and it releases chemicals that not only make you swell up, but alerts other bees that you are a threat that needs to be dealt with. Bees don't sting all willy-nilly like that, you're thinking of asshole wasps or hornets.

The fact that so far the bees were passive to the mom and the kid but the kid was freaking the fuck out and not listening and ended up slapping herself in the face to squish the bee instead of just closing her eyes and scrunching up tight is such bullshit. AND DONT TELL ME SHE WASNT THINKING CLEARLY BECAUSE OF ADRENALINE OR WHATEVER!!!! You're gonna tell me she wasn't thinking clearly enough to literally just close her eyes and hold still, but she could concentrate at a high enough level to inject her mom with the rest of her epi pen? Yeah, okay. Sure. I definitely believe you. This is my believing face 😑

-2 points cause writing all that down actually pissed me off with how absurd it was

At least the mom one was believable (lol bee-lievable) cause she's thinking "oh good, my daughter is fine now, she's breathing again, I can finally relax- what the heck is this thing crawling on my neck- oh crap that's right, we're in a car full of bees". They could've made it so someone outside bumped into the car and they rocked inside the car and the kid accidentally rocks onto a bee, squishing it a little. Not enough to kill it but enough to make it upset and sting her. That would've been better cause the bump or whatever could've been from Captain Dickweed's poor leadership.

... anything else???

Mmm... That's all I can think of for right now, I'd have to rewatch the episode to remember anything else. If I do think of something I'll post it later, but those are my thoughts!

5/10 for the first episode of season 8. Not good, but not bad either... Perfectly mid (unless I remember something else that changes my mind lol)

I forgot how fun this was! See y'all next week 😘✨

[musicoftheheart]

oh my gosh okay so I wanna ask about all ur wips honestly but that kind of defeats the purpose soooooooo

4,7,8,14

4 because it sounds really ominous, 7 because the title makes me think someone (probably james) freaks out every time someone else (probably regulus) speaks french and a third person (probably sirius) thinks hes having an allergic reaction, 8 because this sounds like a sequel to hold me tight (and never let me go)??? and I have been loving that fic so far and cant wait for you to finish it (but no pressure, take ur time of course), and 14 because thats funny as shit

also, I remember you saying a while ago you might write a snooker au? is that happening? (again no pressure, I just wondered if u forgot to list it since you mentioned having brain fog recently (which is a cool name for it btw and I will be using it in future))

hi!! thanks for asking! <33

so ive covered a couple of these in another ask, so ill only sum them up here (you still get rambled at though dw <3)

4. dont walk too close

so! as i said in another ask, this is a fic following sirius (and regulus, later) starting hogwarts as walburga’s obedient heir, only to end up in gryffindor and learning that life isnt quite the way he’d been taught. his revelations and his sorting end up causing tension at home in the yule holidays, and a series of events end up with regulus in gryffindor too. im sure we can all imagine how that one goes. i posted a snippet in the other ask here

7. french epi fic

HA okay i love your guess, but— well, actually, youre closer to the truth than you might’ve thought. sort of.

regulus has just escaped his parents’ clutches and moves across from france to the one place he hoped he might be welcome: sirius’ home in england. its set in yorkshire, because thats where i grew up before i had to move away, and i miss it :( regulus’ english is poor as it is, but meeting sirius’ ridiculously attractive housemate, james potter, muddles his brain enough where the few basic greetings he knew were gone

james has epilepsy (thats where the ‘epi’ in the title comes from), remus gets them all free donuts, and sirius refuses to flirt on behalf of either james or regulus with the other. its chaos, its fun, and im enjoying it so far despite only being a few thousand words in. here’s a snippet:

Regulus slowly set his eyes back on the house. “It’s so big.”

Seeming to finally catch up on Regulus’ surprise, Sirius explained, “Effie and Monty helped us get on our feet, but with what Alphard left…”

”Mon dieu,” he breathed. But this time, it wasn’t at the house. It was at the man stepping out of it.

Stood at the front door, one hand shielding his eyes from the sun that had emerged from behind the rain clouds, was the most beautiful man Regulus had ever laid his gaze upon. His dark brown hair was tussled in a mess of curls on his head, but almost like it was purposefully messy rather than just uncontrollable. Round golden glasses sat upon his bronze skin, framing his chocolatey eyes perfectly, and a wide grin pulled at his mouth and revealed a little dimple on his left cheek.

When Regulus was eventually able to tear his eyes from the man’s face, his breath caught again at the sight of the rest of him. He clearly worked out, if the muscles making his t-shit stretch were anything to go by, but he wasn’t tall — perhaps only a couple of inches larger than Regulus himself, and he reached only a measly 5’7. Something shining in the sun caught Regulus’ eye, and he saw a thin metal bracelet on one of the man’s wrists.

”Hey, James!” Sirius called, climbing out of the car and snapping Regulus out of his trance. He’d made it to the boot to pull Regulus’ suitcase out before Regulus had even managed to open the passenger door.

”Padfoot!” James called with just as much enthusiasm — that was, far too much considering they lived together and had presumably seen each other just a few hours ago before Sirius had left to pick Regulus up. “And mini Pads!” he added, spotting Regulus finally getting out of the car.

Regulus shot him a swift glare for that nickname. He may be cute, but looks could only get him so far.

8. the warmth of your arms rivals the sun (its burning out)

this is another ive covered in another ask but i love it so im still gonna talk about it. youre exactly right, by the way — it is a hmt sequel! i guess the naming conventions were similar enough ahaha. its very james-centric with background storylines, and focuses on much heavier themes than those in hmt. i wont go into what they are, but anyone who was around during chapter… four? five? i dont remember, but it was early on. i added some tags, then took them away once i decided id split it into two parts. if anyone remembers those tags, that’s what twoya will cover :))

14. sirius is actually helpful for once wtf

this is planned to be a shorter fic, but still multi chapter. its pretty much just sirius shipping jegulus and doing everything he can to get his two favourite people together :) not written yet, but ive got a fair bit planned so far

bonus: snooker au

okay so, i would love to say i’ve worked on this some more since then but… i haven’t :( i really want to, but i want to do it well, which i know will take a lot of time. but, the details i have so far:

its the snooker world championships. regulus black’s first, but james potter’s third. sirius black — former world champion — is the estranged brother of the newbie regulus black, and the mentor and best friend of james potter, who was second place two years ago, but couldnt compete last year due to an unrelated injury, though healed up now. james, of course, is head over heels for regulus. regulus, of course, pretends hes not pining madly for the boy who stole his brother. sirius, of course, pretends hes not offended or hurt that regulus wont even try to fix their relationship. he also just happens to be stealing glances at remus lupin, who came fourth last year and seemed rather close to regulus. theyre all hopeless, and determined to win.

thanks for your ask! <33

[darklinaforever]

"For Sylki is obvious: toxic, toxic and they're basically the same person"

Is it crazy how people can be so off base ? I don't know in what aspect Sylki, who actually bring out the best in each other is supposed to be toxic… ?!

This word is used so much today without people seeming to understand the definition, that's when same crazy…

Oh and the delusion of Sylki being the same person, is, I already explained, completely false.

The series and the creators have been very clear on this subject, yet people persist in saying the opposite which annoys me deeply.

Here is my post where I dismantle this idea of ​​Sylki being the same person :

In it there is even passages which roughly explains how Sylki is a good relationship :

Then I forgot to specify it in this post, but as much as Sylvie helps Loki to accept and love himself, the opposite is also true with Sylvie who opens up much more to the fact than her basic identity is that of a Loki when they are both facing death in episode 4 (while wondering what it really means to be a Loki). Essentially, she no longer internally denies this part of herself, without ceasing to be the person that she chose to be : Sylvie.

I would like to understand how this relationship is toxic ?! Once again, I'm tired of seeing people use this term loosely, simply because they don't like a fictional relationship. Is the Sylki relationship complicated ? Yes. Undeniably. But complicated doesn’t mean toxic.

It's like people who insist on saying that the Sylki romance is not the center / driving force of the plot… :

"I just wanna talk about the show without seeing 16379490405 posts about how “uwu he loves him/her so much, he/she is his new glorious purpose 🥹”. Like. That is SO NOT the point of the show, guys."

When it is in fact the case, the series shows it the contrary, and the creators confirm it.

Loki is in love with Sylvie and their romantic relationship is the fucking center / driving force of the plot, confirmed again by the creators themselves. The Sylki romance is the heart of the story, whether you like it or not. (Most of the interviews from season 1 and 2 will confirm this. Even if I am of the opinion that in season 2 they actually put this relationship aside, with the character of Sylvie... Probably because negative reviews about it in recent years)

Also... Sylvie was literally compared to Loki's new glorious purpose in season 1, in a fucking dialogue from episode 5, and yet the antis or the neutrals still make fun of the pro-Sylki for daring to say, that indeed, Sylvie was in some way Loki's new glorious purpose. As if films were being made when it was literally in a dialogue from season 1 ?!

I mean, Loki absolutely wants to return to the TVA, and we spectators know that it is to find Sylvie. (The last thing he did before ending up there, was literally trying to confess his feelings to Sylvie...) Much more than bringing down the Time-Keepers... Like he said later, he would go where she goes.

Even though the other Lokis don't know why our Loki want to return to the TVA so badly, when one of them asks if Loki wants to return in it because he left his glorious purpose there... and Loki replies that is something like that... What do you think that means ?!

Loki's glorious purpose in season 1 was simply Sylvie, whether you like it or not. Damn, once again it’s literally in the dialogue ! What ?! You think Loki just wants to return to the TVA to bring down the Time-Keepers and have his own time stream to control ? When Loki says that in truth he has no idea what he will do and that he and Sylvie could figure it out together ?!

This dialogue on Loki's glorious purpose is even essentially paralleled with the suggestion that Sylvie's only good memory is Loki... Personal questions that they are asked in the same episode to which they respond vaguely and to which only the viewer can understand the answer...

But no, I imagine that all these people who think they are more intelligent think that the only good memory of Sylvie is something off-screen never mentioned, and that Loki's glorious purpose is only to play the hero and become king...

Also, I don't see why I should moderate my comments and clarify that all of this is my interpretation to avoid offending people.

They do not hesitate to assert their opinion as the right one in a condescending and or downright rude manner.

I understand that everyone is free to have their opinion on a fictional story, but after a while, that doesn't mean that every opinion is really valid in the canon story, especially when there is nothing to support it. I'm tired of seeing antis and neutrals shaming people who really understand the story being told and its messages.

Because yes, once again whether you like it or not, Sylki is not the same person, incest / autocest / selfcest. Sylki is a romance, which is the very heart of the story of the series, and yes, in season 1, Sylvie was associated with Loki's glorious purpose. All this, I maintain, are facts, and not fucking interpretation.

And probably the thing that annoys me the most is everyone who dares to put their clearly denigrating opinions in the tag dedicated to Sylki, instead of the anti one. Honestly, don't you have anything else to do ?! Do you think you are mature ? Clever ? You are just pathetic.

[p-receh]

Ooo wait are your thoughts on the two boboiboy movies?

Wah, Nice one!

I've had nostalgic memories when I rewatched movie 1. Particularly because it was the last entry I followed before I went on hiatus. ... 8 years ago I think?

Whereas I watched the second one during my marathon session this year.

Due to 'my messed-up order of watching' this series, I ended up knowing big spoilers about The movie 2 and I forced to give up my 'anti-spoiler' act before I watched it. Kinda of a bummer for the general view, but you know what? It made the scene more fascinating to watch!

"Oh this is Retak'ka? THE Retak'ka?"

"No wonder why Adudu is so into martial arts now."

"So that's how Ice got his bow eh?"

"Oh Fu-Yes! The debut of Fusion Elementals!!!!"

ehem.

From a general technical standpoint, they stepped up their game drastically. Of course, it's for movies after all. They went bold for expanding the areas, improving the graphics, increasing action scenes, and also adding more music as well.

At the same time, they also upgrade Boboiboy and Kokotiam gang's power so it's making it a 'bit' op for the sake of spectacle. It's not that bad in a negative way, I understand that because the enemies themselves were hella strong as shit. (the first one used a black hole and the second one used all-in-one power hunger fest that could also destroy the galaxy. Logically the earth's supposed to be gone by now :/).

I loved what they did to the lighting and hue for both movies. it's like watching smash bros ultimate but in the movies(weird reference I know but hope you get the idea :/)

The details! Holy- IT'S SO PRETTY~~~

ehem.

Both of them were also establishing the expansion power of elementals and what they can do about it. The first one was the fight with all elementals showcased and the second one was the alternative way of fighting by combining two elementals.

Alsoooo both finally managed to properly introduce the one and only .... Boboiboy Hatless! :D

I'd say they had a fair share of hiding it perfectly well. Cleverly teasing the audience to grasp 'Why the hell do they keep hiding his hair with that particular angle?' Because... If I'm not wrong, Boboiboy was one of the characters that falls in the same category with Upin&Ipin: limiting the haircut for animation efficiency during the first production.

So when his hat does let off, It is always an impeccable scene to watch. That trick never fails to amaze me. (like Professor Layton's hat case :3)

Now I wonder how much screen time his hat is off for the movie 3? I'm sure it takes a lot more than the previous one since his 3rd tier is pure hat off(and dyed hair).

If I want to say from my opinion. Movie 1 has its standout over Movie 2 and vice versa. Both have ups & downs yet they are equivalent to each other. For instance: the timing to add their theme song was a bit out of place in movie 1 so the latter fixed that, whereas the Fang and Ying banter in their language was lacking in movie 2 when the former had this iconic scene (sound on recommend) :]

Oh speaking of Music, my god their theme songs are epi~~~c

I remember how hyped I was when one of my fav local band, D'masiv, created a credits song for Movie 1 AND Galaxy season 1. But heck all movie themes in order are wholesome af!!! 'Masih Disini' - 'Dibawah Langit yang Sama' - 'Fire & Water' are in my repeat playlist recently. So overwhelming that I actually cried? The montage during Fire & Water played was not a sad moment but heck I cried because it's soo touching for no reason.

Oh yeah, I forgot it's a family movie so they have rights to not make any deaths scene. I can understand why yet I'm still disappointed.

I cried. HARD when I saw Tok Kasa collapsed. It portrayed emphatically well and worked for new characters that was introduced a bit short.

Then, not long after that, we got this

(I guess they didn't want to do another httyd 2 moment. It's too painful for kids to watch)

So... There's my review. Honestly I don't know what goes on for movie 3. It could be anything after season 2. But if I may guess...

It's between father and son now...

[zeeposting]

tired eepy rambler wamring very long and not good spelling I'm tired how do I add this in why isn't it working :( YAY I DID IT :D I'm so tired.

eaipugapbjnlkwe43uo3thfqww; keyboard= asmh

im tired

typing feels weird like my fingers feel heavier or something idk how to explain It

oh my golly gosh every time I blink like. not manually it feels sliike the lights fligkcerd like huh why do my eyes do that

im so tired yet hardly tired at the same time

my typing is so bad (sign of eepy) Im tearing up a bit I think (either sign of eepy or I got an eyelash in my eye) but also I don't really feel all that tired. but I am tireed

i wanna go home but I KNOW my parents are gonna be talking for SO LONG so I'll probably go home at 10 or something

i wish more of m friends were open to talk I want to annoy multiple of my friends like I wanna talk

im rambling but ioh well

irihhherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr pok uhhh what happening idk

maybe its home time? no I don't think so :(

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I just wanna hold my finger on one key I'm eepy

dude I forgot to write. LAC is postponed again, sorry gator you and the actual characters are going back to the "I always forget them" side of my brain oh my golly I coulda written more camp of keys!! except I have no idea where I'm going with that. uhh think think thinks what is this Pepsi ad??? anyways uhh.... what could hppen that would make sense.... maybe uhh... maybe wait is Ella going with them?? I don't think so. yeah no. okay so maybe storme says something and Clarissa basically goes back to depression mode?? but what would bring her back there. maybe Leah just starts getting all sad. and that makes clarissa sad. dude what if like I had an eepy story that I wrote more of every time I was eepy. like. no typing corrections, no thinking about it in the day, just every night when I think "oh I'm kinda eepy" I continue the story suighs I don't like having praces

bee Kay have it your way. you rule!

i want to write scroll and Quill lore but I don't at the same time. like I want to write it all out but also I have like no idea how that would work I have like half of it figured out what happened on that day I dunn!!! i love scroll and Quill sm like dude I justwant to hold them and talk to them and idk I just love those little gay freaks so much I love them and their lore and everyone involved in their story

when someone tells me they like one of my characters I have to draw thme nore tlike especially one o y friends like ryu ryu likes floe and that's why I'm gdaing globe so much more fonten because I want to make ryu happy like I just want to make my friends happy I don't really care about myself I just want them to be happy. i tell my friend that she can spam me jer worries int he private chat of this ma and her because I want her to feel btert, I don't really care I just want her to feel better.

m yypung is so bad because I'm so tired I guess but I don't really feel like fixing it. sorry I can translate in the morning but no ones gonna read this because who actuallycareas

i mean maybe ryu but like.why idk. maybe Milly. man idk

this is gonna turn into an acicnela vent or something but idrc I'm just tired ok??

tbh I don't feel like a good friend lately. idk o don't feel like elaborating but I do

in science we got to play jeopardy and the team names were so stupid

Jackie Likes Pencils, TikTok Rizz Party, Skibidy Stephen, The Billy Bus, Team Chicken Leg

(yes all of those are spelt properly I made sure of it. yes it was spelt skiidy ask inki.)

guess what team was me, inki, Ezra and ratthew comet? haha. team chicken leg. SOWA CREWMA!!!!!

man I'm tired. like eepy. super epy.

i love rue so much shes just a cute lotel pony and like she sjst so cute and I love her so much shes oh my gosh I miss Chico he's so cute and silly and goofy and funnyand I miss him.

i love my friends sm thank you

friend I wont name #1, bubblez, inki, Ezra, ryu, Milly, kit (asktrianglesblog rn), Abb, rabbit, friend I wont name #2, sapp, Ollie, zoe/fishy (I don't remember sorry) I love you all so so much

i want to cry a bit. so lets yap about something happier

should I make another character. yes

im thinking TANA melatonin for some reason. no not them stop it. dude I love TANA so much especially mug and battery and valentine they're so cool I cant wait for the actual thing to come out. or for it to come across my path idk if its actually gonna be a thing okay hmm what objects are around.

what abotu a gouwer. no that's basic plus I already have night. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee why si this kids bday party football themed dude you don't like football at least uve never said anything about it at least around me???

what aib0ut uhh.. random object generator help

yk I don't have a lot of characters with names that end in uy! so. hmm jammy. like a jar of ja,. what jams are there I don't think iev ever had jam

plum han!! jammy!! !rhehe silly. any pronouns. just a silly guy.

look at her shes so silly and so funny I love her already I don't want to give her lore she's just a silly farmer that makes jam and she gets soopu eepy like me when she doesn't have his jam beucae I said so. he's my eepy character. my ltiel eepy friend. I love him already just a silly farmer wait should he have a love interest? NO. aroace jammy. #aroacejammyforpresident2024

im rambling so much but I don't want to put on a keep on reading because do I care no. read to learn about jammy. lol what if someone read it as jimmy. Jimmy jammy. hheh,o orphan in black?? tv what are you talking about who is that.

oh no someone approaching AAA!! haha other side of the couch they are. why is my batter on re dnoo oh yeah hour 54 left

dude I knew I was gonna leave at 10 its 941 nd I'm still here.

jammy is so cute I love them so much. I should draw them more

hegegehe happy jammy

i don't like that noise :( loud

dude in so tired I'm fighting the urge to say dude in every sentance

what is arm lasseration? dhters a guy and he's a police guy or something familyy friend and he just got a call thing on the walkie talkie II and uhh he said "ooh lovely!{" "what" "arm lasseratioin" what does that mean.

ohh its like a cut. it breaks the skin. okayyy!!!

im gonna draw sad jammy because I feel like it :(

i love drawing on my d=touch screen computer its so fun

i fee like jammy should be my comfort character like I love them somuhc they're just my eepy gal

jammy no your half filled with juice jammy you need more jam your gonna die!!1 of EEPYJNES!!

aww look eeping jammy I love them so much I keep saying that but I love jammy they are a part of me I drew eepy jammy because I want to go jhome and sleep and think about scroll and Quill I don't think I'm gonna read tonight because I'm so tired and its interesting but dude I'm so tired I wanna go to sleep :(

i know I'm talking way too much but I don't care I'm eepy. there you get your keep on reading because I guess its too much

jammy I love you

i just wanna hug jammy and go to sleep in a /p kinda way I love them so much

dude jammy is just so cute I love them they look so huggable

OMG YAY HOME TIME!! YAYAYAYYAAYYA CHCRPUHOSUBWH:OU SCREMASS GINALLY HOME HOME HOME TIME YAYAYAYAYYA I'm so tired I want to sleep yeah that's all for this.

pleas draw jammy guys I love them.

dude I'm gonna look a this tomorrow and be so concerned

honk mimiii honk mimiii goodnight

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Hello there!! OMG you don’t know how I just sped to read the Saturday date I think I’m actually in love with your writing. Also 7K WORDS?!?! Guys I’m being fed too well omg chefs kiss a million times over <3 Found another piece to burn into my brain and reread over and over again I was kicking my feet reading this THEYRE SUCH DORKS ITS SO CUTE AHHJDKSHD This has to be some witchcraft because I can’t even express in words how good this was!! Reading this made my week omg! The beach aspect incorporated his fear of water PERFECTLY he’s such a gentleman and a menace at the same time this is literal perfection!!!

And SAME we can be (blue) locked in together HAHA I seriously can’t wait for him to be animated!! Speaking of, you saw the Epi Nagi movie, correct? If so, what’d you think?? Just in case I won’t spill my thoughts quite yet hahahaha but would love to hear what you think

Also I LIVE for the hilarious interactions between Karasu and other characters too!! I completely forgot to mention before but I think I died laughing with the Hiori cameo you added in the first part of the Karasu piece - it was so on brand and so goofy of him I love how you added that! And the Hiori mention this time too was gold, you’ve captured the essence of their characters and relationships so well!!! Otoya interactions with Karasu are also a fav of mine so IM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE IN STORE!!!

On that note, I’m not sure if you’ve read the EpiNagi manga either but there’s some great interaction content in there if you’re looking!! Their dynamic is also so goofy and I love them too!!!!

You’re also a GENIUS I hadn’t even thought of Karasu interacting with Yukimiya for the first time that’d actually have me rolling omg I can imagine him just glaring at him and sizing him up all the time doing his analysis and just muttering insults like “he’s just an mediocre dude” etc LOL

Once again, thank you so so much for entertaining my thoughts and requests you didn’t just deliver you ATE and DEVOURED, above and beyond truly!!! If you’re ever lacking Karasu writing ideas or just thoughts generally I’ll always have some handy for you o7 HAVE A LOVELY DAY!!!! THANK YOU FOR FEEDING THE KARASU COMMUNITY HSHSHSH I have a feeling I’ll be in your inbox quite often LOL (esp when he finally gets fully animated!!!)

On my way to go reread that piece again orz

-Karasu anon :)

OMG YAYYY I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT!! hehehe smth abt karasu always gets me rambling…both times i’ve written for him the pieces have ended up being almost double the length i intended them to be 😭 I LOVEEEE HIS AND READER’S DYNAMIC they’re so stupid and they truly match each other’s freak so well LMAAOAO i think the whole “Why do you think he’s so interested in me? It’s because of the kindness that radiates off of me in waves!” ~ “That’s not kindness radiating off of you, that’s the scent of your hair gel.” exchange is one of the funniest things i’ve written in a WHILE i was giggling coming up with that whole convo 😫

i think his fear of water is so interesting!! since it was established in the first part that y/n loves swimming i thought this was the best way to include that without it feeling too random ����🏻 HAHA i really wanted to show that despite his snarkiness he truly is a green flag at heart!! him being a bit of a jerk is so integral to his character but at the same time i am 100% confident that he would be sooo down bad if he liked someone and he would absolutely treat his gf like a princess (even though he’d simultaneously be a jackass abt it)

YES i did watch the epinagi movie last thursday when it came out in the us!! ofc nagi is my fav so i liked it but i do think they cut out a lot from the manga which made it feel a teensy bit rushed. i almost wished they would’ve waited until the manga finished up w the second selection and then animated that too (biased because i want to see more karasu + barou) overall though it was good!! the tabieitaken + kurona cameo at the end was sweet if not a bit crunchily animated 💖 also i distinctly remember there’s a scene (i think at the end) where they show reo and nagi like standing next to one another and THEY DO THE FUCKING PRIDE AND PREJUDICE PINKIE THING LMAOAOAOA i hope you know what i’m referring to it had me dying 😭😭😭 i fear reonagi is not a ship i care much about (LOVE both characters, find them kinda boring together tbh) so it wasn’t emotionally impactful to me i just found it hilarious…like ok wyd here mr darcy ⁉️ but i’d love to know what you think!! i am caught up with everything blue lock so feel free to talk about anything related to it in my inbox 😤

I LOVE HIORI IN THIS SERIES TBH he’s like karasu x y/n’s biggest shipper (besides y/n’s bff) but also kind of their weird little freak child?? idk how to put it but karasu + y/n both feel like they are probably role models of some sort for hiori (which will be shown a bit more in the next continuation i hope) so he kinda just follows them around as he has been so far and at some point they just give up and pretty much adopt him. like yeah that’s their son what abt it (this is based on that one scene of karasu and hiori in the epinagi movie where karasu looks like he’s taking his child [hiori] to the doctor’s office for the first time because his wife [y/n] is busy 😭)

OTOYA AND KARASU ARE SUCH A FUNNY DUO I LOVE THEM TOGETHER!! i’m so excited to write otoya meeting y/n i think it’s going to be entertaining for sure!! and PLEASE karasu meeting yukimiya in blue lock has been on my mind since you requested him going into the program…he does his stupid little analysis for the first time and immediately has a breakdown because yukimiya is canonically 1cm taller than him 😭 otoya has to tell my man to stand tf up HAHAH i bet the trash talk after they won/after karasu got ranked third and yuki got ranked fifth for third selection was VILE (on karasu’s part. meanwhile yuki is like “great game 😄 you’re super talented bro 👍🏻” because he’s unproblematic and also has 0 idea why this random crow boy holds such a deep hatred for him)

i loveee the epinagi manga i wish it was updated weekly because i’m so impatient i need to know what happens next!! the current match going on is making me sooo happy because it has my top three bllk boys (nagi, karasu, and barou) in it…plus my bestie chigiri 💖 the art style of the manga is so pretty though so i don’t mind waiting longer for chapters…perfection takes time after all 🤩 the way karasu especially is drawn in epinagi is so hfdkskjs like bro is ASTOUNDING. the panel where he’s first introduced in it and his name is written and he’s all smirky…lives were changed dare i say!!

i have so much fun reading your thoughts!! and once again i’m glad you like the way i’m taking your requests 🫶🏻 i will hopefully get the next ones done soon too and you can lmk what you think of them!! always proud to serve the karasu fandom 🫡 i’m like that one video of justin bieber that goes “hey. just working. working hard so i can please you.” but it’s me writing for minor bllk characters instead of just the itoshi bros typical suspects.

come into my inbox whenever you want!! i will always be happy to read whatever you want to talk about (even if it’s not karasu related hehe)

[iviarellereads]

Harrow the Ninth, Bonus Content, Pronunciation Guide

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

Similar to the one in GtN, titled "Naming Systems", but for this book's new characters.

John Gaius GUY-us NOTE: He's just some guy, you know? NOTE II: Gaius was not the name John was born with. He picked it for himself circa Y100 of his reign.(1)

Augustine - AWG-us-tin, not awg-us-TEEN.

Alfred Quinque - KWIN-kway.

Augustine and Alfred share an arithmonym. The implications of this were present at the time, but not as developed as they were later on.

Cassiopeia - Cass-ee-oh-PAY-ah. Nothing like her namesake in Greek mythology, "as she was honestly just a universally beloved and clever human being who made beautiful meals with the occasional finger error."(2)

Cristabel - CRIS-ta-bell, not "crees".

Pyrrha Dve - PIRRA DVAY (one syllable). Pyrrha has many connotations, but Muir's favourite is the disguise Achilles took in that name.(3)

Nigella Shodash - NYE-jella SHOW-dash.

Valancy Trinit - VAL-an-see TRIN-it. Derived from "valens", the same root as "valiant", an incredible cavalier name. Valancy and Cyrus both supported each other's belief that they were the most attractive people ever born.

Titania Tetra - Ti-TAHN-iya TET-ra.(4)

Loveday Heptane - LOVE-day HEP-tane.

Anastasia - An-ass-TAYS-iya, rather than an-ass-TAHS-iya.

Samael Novenary - SAM-ay-el No-VEEN-ary

Mithraeum - Mith-RAY-em. From temples of Mithras,(5) of course.

Noniad - NO-nee-add.

Enneameter - enny-AM-eter.

NOTE: The metre of Ortus's epic, The Noniad (Matthias hight Nonius his Deeds and Accomplishments), is dactylic enneameter.(6) This is the traditional metre for serious Ninth House poetry (as opposed to light lyric Ninth House poetry, which is written in enneasyllables(7) and doesn't exist). As befits a Ninth House metre, enneameter is long, ponderous, clunky, and sucks. Ortus sticks grimly to some of its most archaic rules.

Apopneumatism - apo-NEW--mat-ism

Admiral Sarpedon - Admiral (as in the rank) Sar-PEE-don.(8)

Abella Trine - A-BELL-uh TRYNE (like "mine")

Epirhoic - EPPY-ro-ic (the end of which rhymes with "heroic"). Here Muir notes "Rhoic, from the Greek "rhoe," stream or flow; epi-, "on top of," so it's on top of the stream."(9)

Mesorhoic - MEE-so-ro-ic. "Meso" meaning middle.

Bathyrhoic - BATH-ee-ro-ic, with a short "a" which Muir says is in "psychopath". "Bathy" means "deep".

Barathron - ba-RA-thron. Greek for "a pit". "Criminals were classically thrown into one in ancient Athens."

=====

(1) So, what name WAS he born with, and where did "Gaius" come from? (2) How much do we believe this? How much of this should we question? Is Muir revealing truths, or red herrings? (3) Given that she's now a woman in a man's body, in a sort of way, that's a rather interesting choice to refer to in this, imo! (4) I suppose I'd have written out a "not tye-TAY-nya" to supplement this, but it's entirely possible Muir's never encountered that one in the wild. (5) Mithras is a complicated but popular god to reference in fiction. And it's true, real-life mithraea survive to modern day and can be visited. We don't actually know much about the Mithraists because they didn't write their religion down, but there's a lot of guesses of varying skeptical-eyebrow-raising quality available to research if you want to see how deep the parallels might go! Or someone's probably made a post about it somewhere on Tumblr, if you dare risk spoilers. (6) Recall that I explained enneameter before! I completely forgot that this was here! So, "enneameter" meant "poetry with nine feet/groupings". Dactylic means poetry in which each foot consists of one long/stressed syllable followed by two short ones, named for the resemblance to human finger bones. No, that's not just a Ninth House conceit, it's our-world. (7) Literally just nine syllables per line. (8) This certainly gives new light to the John/Sarpedon shippers and Muir's restraint in not saying "PEED-on" is admirable itself. (9) Once again I forgot this was in the guide back here, as it wasn't in the glossary part when I checked that. Still, I found it pretty difficult to track down the etymology, though part of that comes down to search engines getting actively worse over the last couple of years. (I have receipts. It's not just your imagination, if you noticed it too, but this isn't the place to rant about that.)

[badedramay]

I started watching Jannat se agey only because I saw it mentioned on your Twitter. Hadn’t heard of it before. Only two episodes so far but I’m truly loving it! I hope they can keep the focus off of romance and really hone in on this parasocial relationship. Finally a pak drama on a mainstream channel that’s getting good advertisement with a plot other than a love story!

it's the way i completely forgot to check it out :DDD but really, having quite a slump right now so I am finding no energy or inclination. i'll mayhaps binge some episodes together. but i am glad the show is 2 epis per week. i feel ab the usual one epi per week format jach nahin raha PakDramas ko considering how unnecessarily long they are becoming so the mid-way slump becomes way too much for me to handle and I end up dropping it. like Yunhi was supposed to be 25 episodes. what do you mean it's gonna air 28th epi with no finale in sight??? itni toh koi story hai bhi nahin.

anyhoo. thanks for sharing your opinion of JSA!!! i am really interested in the parasocial relationship anyway than whatever the men are doing there. like hush get away, gimme the ladies only.

[laurenxgerman]

kate beckett appreciation 8/? : 3x21 the dead pool

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Okie, I know I already sent one in, but it looks like you're still accepting prompts, and there's so many I like, but I picked only one more lol:

9. 🎈 and Magnulia + Angus? I just really love Magnus being Angus' parent lol <3

9. 🎈you're a single parent at this birthday party at my work and I cannot believe I have to keep up the shtick when I'd much rather be wooing you 

--

Things Magnus expected from this event were as followed: sugar-filled children with no sense of how to slow down. Getting hit literally anywhere on his body with a soccer ball. Sweating a lot, like an absurd amount. Potentially having to leave early because Angus got tired. Potentially having to leave early because Angus got hurt. Potentially having to leave early- y'know, a lot of things could cause them to leave early. The end of the story is that Magnus had come prepared with his first aid fit, Angus's epi-pen, a cooler full of water bottles, and several big hats.

A thing Magnus wasn't expecting from this event: The downright gorgeous woman at the snow cone truck parked outside the soccer field. It was half-time and, after showering Angus with enough praise to make him start looking embarrassed and squirm away, Magnus had taken a break to go stretch his legs. A few families with children who weren't on the team were lined up at the truck. Magnus glanced back at the field, where he could just about see Angus's team huddled up, and decided what Angus didn't know couldn't hurt him.

"What can I get for you?" she said and Magnus nearly forgot how to speak. He cleared his throat, glancing behind him. He was the last one in line. The game was probably going to start again soon.

"Uh, mango, please?" Magnus said.

"Comin' right up," she said. She stepped back into her truck, just enough to not be at the window anymore, and got a cup out for Magnus. "You here to support anyone?"

"Yes!" Magnus said because if there was anything he could talk about in the face of a pretty person, it was Angus. "My kid, Angus, he's midfield for this game. And, I mean, the odds aren't looking too hot right now but I know they're gonna step up their game in the second half. He's been working so hard for this."

"I'm sure," snow cone woman said, smiling.

They faded into silence as she scooped some more shaved ice into his cup. Magnus bounced against the heels of his feet.

"So, uh," he said. "You come here often?"

Fuck. That was a stupid thing to say. Does she come here often? God.

"I do," and she was still smiling. Magnus tried not to be too hard on himself for that. "It's a pretty good spot to sell in the summer. And game nights are pretty good for my revenue."

"I can imagine," Magnus said. She turned her back to him, pumping some mango syrup onto the shaved ice. When she turned back to him, she slid the cup towards him and said,

"One sixty, please."

Magnus fished his wallet out of his back pocket and the woman leaned against the counter, smiling down on him. He handed over the proper change and she took it, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Do you come here often?" she asked.

"Oh, y'know," Magnus said, taking the cup. "Game nights, mostly. We practice at a field closer to home. Uh, Roost Park, if you know the one."

"I'm right around Roost Park!" the woman said. "Maybe I'll check it out sometimes. With- with the truck, of course."

"Of course," Magnus said. Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush. Goddamnit. Magnus ducked his head. "I hope to see you around...?"

"Julia," she said. "And you're-?"

There was a whistle from the field. Magnus nearly dropped his snow cone in surprise. When he turned, the teams were heading back out onto the field.

"I gotta go," Magnus said. "I'll talk to you later!"

He started jogging off towards the field and heard Julia laugh from behind him. About halfway towards the gate, he turned and shouted back,

"The name's Magnus, by the way!"

Julia shot him a thumbs up, grinning brighter than the afternoon sun. Magnus had a pretty good feeling about the rest of the game as he made his way back to his seat.

[ilikekidsshows]

The Marinette and Kagami Sub Arc Breakdown

Okay, it's finally done, the big analysis, where I tackle a topic I've wanted to write for simply because it's a topic I personally find interesting and fun, AKA, The Best Sub Arc in the Entire Series So Far, AKA, How Marinette Proved Without a Shadow of a Doubt that She'd Never Be Like Chloé And We Stan.

One of the most interesting parts of the Marinette and Kagami rivals to friends sub arc is that it's one of the aspects of the show that directly connects to Marinette's past as a victim of bullying and is, in a way, about her overcoming that past. Not many things in the show remind us of the revelation in 'Origins' that Chloé had been bullying Marinette for years before the show's timeline, especially since Chloé became pretty declawed as a school level threat as the series went on to the degree where I think many people watching forgot that she used to hold a lot more power, and Marinette used to be wary of her.

But, the reason why Marinette being a bully victim is important in her arc with Kagami is this: people who have been victimized don't necessarily recognize it when they're victimizing others, and I believe that Marinette shows signs of this mentality in the show, particularly in season three. I'll illustrate how Marinette's ex-bully victim mindset informed the early stages of her relationship with Kagami and how Marinette overcame her internal biases when it comes to Kagami and her behavior towards Kagami.

In 'Origins', when Alya quotes Majestia's by now immortal line, she also says something that is very much what someone who has been victimized would identify with: "That girl over there is evil, while we are the good people." While Alya was very accurate that she and Marinette are good people, she didn't really know much about Marinette at this point, so she was actually pretty much guessing. The reason why this line is important is because it relies on an assumption that a moral binary exists on the bully-victim scale, instead of these roles being dynamic and socially formed. If you’re a victim of a bully, the bully is evil and you are a Good Person.

Some people who've been systematically victimized think on some level that them being victims means that they can never be instigators, that they're automatically morally pure because the person who victimizes them is the evil one. This is a very typical argument in social justice circles, where a person who is victimized for one thing might say bigoted things about another group and claim that they can't be a bigot because they suffer from bigotry. The simplest example I can give is white women refusing to accept that something they've said about black women could be offensive to black women specifically, because "how could a victim of sexism be racist". Now, what happens between Marinette and Kagami in the show is nowhere near this level of victimization switcheroo, but it still has that false binary in that Marinette thinks that her actions have more moral justification than they actually do.

The interesting thing about how Kagami is introduced is that her future role as a love rival was downplayed in ‘Riposte’. Her Akumatization was because of family issues and the idea that she might be attracted to Adrien came from Marinette's jealous grumblings while she was rescuing him from Riposte (I'm mostly referring to the "She doesn't deserve you" line). Outside of that little bit, 'Riposte' comes across as a pretty standard Victim of the Week episode, instead of setting up a romance sub arc. As such, Marinette already viewing Kagami's Riposte form as a romantic rival serves more as foreshadowing rather than it actually forming their relationship.

Then we get to 'Frozer'. Marinette doesn't really know much of anything about Kagami at the start of this episode, as we can see in her mental image of Kagami as a cackling mean girl. Because Marinette doesn't really know Kagami at this point, when Adrien tells her he's thinking of asking Kagami out, her mind gives a placeholder mental image of her, seemingly based off of Chloé, another rich girl with a (supposed) crush on Adrien. This is the episode that establishes Kagami as a romantic rival to both the audience and Marinette, and Marinette’s negative mental image of Kagami establishes the idea of this rivalry being antagonistic. However, because this setup happens in Marinette's headscape, it's actually a one-sided antagonism.

Kagami isn't actually antagonistic towards Marinette in 'Frozer', but there is a certain assertiveness and physical presence to her in the episode that Marinette, as a former bully victim, might find imposing. Kagami gets in her personal space, because she's telling Marinette something she's sure Marinette doesn't want the boys to hear, but to Marinette, the body language could have come across as threatening. The way Marinette stares at Kagami throughout the scene with a deer-in-headlights look can indicate more general startlement or a sense of foreboding. And the episode ends with Kagami kissing Adrien on the cheek, establishing her as a threat in Marinette's eyes. From Marinette's view, Kagami's behavior in 'Frozer' confirmed her fears about Kagami, that she was a rich bully.

This interpretation of Kagami informs a lot of Marinette's actions in 'Animaestro'. Here we see just how much Marinette has started to view Kagami as the new Chloé in her mind. Even when the actual Chloé shows up, Marinette is more ready to side with her than Kagami. And why this happens is because Chloé actually accidentally enforces the idea that, because Marinette is a Good Person, any person who works against her happiness is a bully and a Bad Person. While we could argue that Marinette has no reason to listen to anything Chloé says, we have to remember that Marinette has been lowkey hoping Chloé would become a better person in episodes like 'Antibug' and 'Zombizou'. When they both agree that Kagami has to go, Marinette could have taken it as another sign that Chloé's not all bad, or Marinette could have simply come to the conclusion that Kagami is actually worse than Chloé, and so teaming up with Chloé to take her down is justified.

It's important to note that 'Animaestro' chronologically takes place right after 'Chameleon', another episode where Marinette thinks she's morally justified in practically bullying someone because they're acting in a way she disagrees with. Because Lila was revealed to be able to dish back the same, if not even worse, that Marinette could unleash, Marinette never learned that her behavior at the start of the episode was bullying and therefore bad. Lila "justified" Marinette's actions after the fact because she was actually a bad person all along, so Marinette doesn't need to feel bad about basically harassing her. If Lila had just been someone who fibs for fun, with no malicious intentions, Marinette's behavior would have been completely out of proportion.

This is why the approach Chloé and, by extension, Marinette take against Kagami is so vital. With Chloé hatching a scheme that was so much like one Marinette would put together, the lines between Marinette and Chloé were blurred in this episode. Simply because it was such a convoluted plan might have also been why Marinette didn't seem to realize the implications of what she was trying to accomplish. I mentioned during my liveblog of this episode that Marinette doesn't seem to consider that, since the plan was to publicly humiliate Kagami, the plan working would have meant hurting Kagami really badly. I also pointed out that, because the trap triggered for the wrong target, this fact didn't really register with Marinette completely, since she merely noted that of course Chloé would have a bad plan. The plan was bad because it failed, not because it was morally wrong.

However, even though we didn't see it happen in the episode itself, what happened at the movie premiere did alter Marinette's perception of Kagami. Most likely it was contrasting Kagami to the actual Chloé and realizing that she had been mistakenly attributing Chloé's traits to Kagami. The change in Marinette's perception is clear in her panic spiral when she realizes Kagami is her partner for the game in 'Ikari Gozen': "She's brilliant, strong, cute!" Marinette would never spell out all of Chloé's better features in such a way, which means her stance on Kagami has moved away from seeing her as The New Chloé.

Even though Marinette doesn't see Kagami as a bad person at this point anymore, she does still consider her strictly opposition. She refuses to work with her, preferring instead to sabotage her and her chances with Adrien, just this time without the attempted humiliation. This is mostly because Marinette sees Kagami and thinks she has it all: looks, confidence, influence, a connection with Adrien. Marinette is absolutely convinced that if they won the contest, all attention would be on Kagami and she'd be sidelined in favor of her. It's easy to think that a little bit of sabotage is okay when Kagami seems to have such an unfair advantage.

Unfortunately for Marinette's peace of mind, the point of 'Ikari Gozen' is to dissuade her of the notion that Kagami is fortunate in every way possible. We can see that Marinette thought that sabotaging the game was fine because Kagami had so many advantages because, as soon as she discovers that Kagami is friendless and has no connection to Adrien outside of fencing, she feels very bad for what she was trying to do. Marinette didn't actually want to hurt or upset Kagami. In 'Animaestro', Marinette didn't think about Kagami's feelings at all in relation to how Chloé's scheme might make Kagami feel, but this time she is thinking about them, she simply misjudged them at the start. She thought her purposefully throwing the contest would be a minor setback to Kagami, not what it ended up being: a betrayal by someone she was hoping to befriend.

I noted during my liveblog of this episode that Marinette's relationship with Adrien also started with a misunderstanding where Marinette first saw Adrien in a more negative light before that impression was proven to be false and they became friends. The development in 'Ikari Gozen' mirrors what happens in 'Origins' in that Marinette first has a false impression of Kagami, but is ultimately proven wrong in her assumptions and becomes friends with her. Marinette nominating herself as Kagami's friend even in her phone call with Tomoe suggests that Marinette recognized a similar need for friends in Kagami that she's seen in Adrien.

Marinette has gotten over seeing Kagami as an opponent in 'Desperada', where we see how Marinette reacts to Kagami and Adrien enjoying an inside joke together: she is miserable. Marinette recognizes the similarity between Kagami and Adrien and, rather than making her mad with jealousy, it makes her feel defeated. While Marinette's perception that Kagami was put together and perfect was taken down in 'Ikari Gozen', 'Desperada' shows us that she still thinks she can't measure up against Kagami, although now it's for the reason that she can see the connection between Adrien and Kagami and doesn't think she has what it takes to compete with that.

'Love Hunter' is the episode where this new sense of insecurity comes to a head. When Marinette's hair falls out of its usual style, it signifies her letting down her guard and enjoying both Kagami and Adrien's company, because Adrien and Kagami are both her friends at this point. However, when Marinette is reminded that there are things that Kagami and Adrien experience that she can't relate to ("It's not every day we can escape from everything they expect from us"), she hastily ties her hair back into the usual twintails, her insecurity forcing her to put her walls back up again.

Marinette is in emotional turmoil throughout the episode, allowing Adrien and Kagami to have what could constitute as an ice cream date alone at first, only to interrupt Kagami's attempt to kiss Adrien a few minutes later by whisking Kagami away to help solve the Akuma situation. This is why Marinette wanted André to pick the ice cream blend, because she started to project her relationships with Adrien and Kagami onto the ice cream too much. Marinette values her friends' happiness very high, high enough to stand aside when Kagami refers to their similarity as the reason she and Adrien are made for each other. Marinette does respond to Kagami that choices can be hard, so her standing aside is also about Marinette simply not acting at all, either to allow Kagami to go for Adrien unchallenged or to pursue Adrien herself. The choice between Adrien and Kagami was too much for her. Marinette being indecisive is of course a major character flaw I've discussed on this blog repeatedly, so the idea that it might have played a role here too makes sense from my perspective.

So far the Marinette and Kagami arc has been about Marinette learning not to subject other people to the kind of treatment she gets from Chloé, overcoming the temptation to turn into a bully to protect herself, and also making friends along the way. But there is still more ground that can be covered with this immensely interesting relationship. This is actually why I feel we really need to see Kagami and Marinette interacting after Kagami and Adrien break up. Because Marinette still has unresolved feelings about Kagami and not just Adrien after the season three finale.

[writingwife-83]

Hi, how are you?

I finally got around to watching epi 4 and 5 of Kenobi!

I really like Reva's character. I don't care if she's a villain - she's cool and interesting to watch. I've got my fingers crossed for some redemption for her, as I love those kind of character arcs.

I also watched Epi 1 of She-Hulk and enjoyed more than I thought I was going to.

It was light and kooky and I thought it was fun.

The strangest part for me was accepting that Bruce has close family, even a cousin.

What did you think?

Apologies, because I almost forgot to answer this lol. And I’m good, thanks! How are you? 😊

Yay for watching more Obi Wan!! Yes, I really enjoyed Reva’s character as well. She was a little something new and different amongst a crowd of characters who there’s basically no mystery to. Everyone else you pretty much already know who they are and how things end up with them. No spoilers of course, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on how they wrap up Reva’s storyline!

Yep, so my husband and son and I watched the first ep of She Hulk a few days ago and then just watched ep 2 tonight. It’s fun! I’m enjoying it for what it is, and I think it helps that it’s a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Ep 2 had an interesting turn of events and I’m genuinely wondering where they’re going with it. We’ll definitely keep watching!

I’m also very excited about the upcoming show Andor, which is within the Star Wars universe. If you’re moving chronologically, that would actually be after Obi Wan. And then you could watch the movie Rogue One which leads directly into the original trilogy and adds quite a bit of depth to a plot line in the first of that trilogy, A New Hope. But I’m getting ahead of myself and I’ll stop now! 🤣

[javajunkieao3]

Never Have I Ever: Post-Series Fic

Ben Gross prided himself on being smart.  And falling in love with Devi Vishwakumar?  Well, that was just about the dumbest thing he could do.

           But, it happened anyway.

           He didn’t exactly know when, but somewhere between first grade and watching her dance with that tool, Paxton Hall-Yoshida, she had gone from the person he always wanted to beat to someone he genuinely hoped would win.  Because she deserved that.  After everything she went through with her dad and then everything after, she deserved a win.

           But, did that win have to be him?

           “Of course, it’s him,” Ben said, voice colored with defeat and just a hint of indignation.  He still hated losing.  Even if he technically wasn’t in this game.  Aneesa was waiting for him over by the punch.  “It’s always been him.”  

           Beside him, Eleanor said, “What?  No, it hasn’t.  After you took her to Malibu, she wanted to choose you.”

           Ben listened incredulously as Eleanor explained how she and Fabiana had talked Devi out of choosing him.  It was fucked up, and he was going to tell her as much, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Devi, imagining how different things would have been. It would have been him with her, not that glorified meat puppet.

           “So, just for the record, it hasn’t always been him.”

           Eleanor walked off after dropping her figurative bomb and he stayed rooted in place, not knowing what to do or think next.  He wasn’t used to this level of indecisiveness and he probably would have just stayed there, staring at Devi dance with another guy, if Aneesa hadn’t come over, sliding her hand over his shoulder.

           “Hey, I thought you were meeting me over by the punch,” she said, glancing over at where he had just been staring.  “Oh wow, good for Devi.”

           Aneesa looked up at Ben, noting the tense set of his jaw.  “But…you don’t think that.”

           “What?” he said immediately, finally looking away from the slow train wreck happening across the dance floor.  “I don’t care about them.  I mean, he’s a tool who, based on what I’ve seen, can barely read above an eighth grade level.  But, I don’t care.”

           “Uh, yeah, you do.”

           “Aneesa-“

           “Ben, I saw the way you were looking at them. At her.”

           He went to argue, but then realized he had no defense.  Aneesa ducked her chin to her chest.

           “Okay.  So, I guess I’m going to go now.”  She turned to leave, but then stopped, turning back.  “Don’t mess this up for her?”

           He didn’t know what he hated more, the implication that he would mess things up or the fact that Aneesa was maybe a little right. The song ended and he watched Paxton and Devi kiss before Paxton dipped his mouth to her ear.  Devi nodded at whatever he said, and then Paxton walked away, not letting go of her hand until the distance made it necessary.  Devi’s grin widened and Ben hated Paxton even more.

           Devi stood alone on the dance floor for a moment, seeming blissfully content, and then she caught his gaze.  Ben noticed that her grin dimmed slightly and then she walked over, clasping her hands nervously in front of her.

           “Look, I know what you’re going to say,” she began.

           “No, actually, you don’t.”

           She widened her eyes slightly.  “Okay.  Then, what are you going to say?”

           I know you wanted to choose me.

           “I’m happy for you, Devi.”

           It wasn’t what she expected, and not what he wanted, so they both felt out of sorts.  But then her shoulders slackened, a genuine smile spreading on her face, and Ben knew he did the right thing.  Because she deserved the win.  Even if it wasn’t him.

           “Thanks, Ben.”

           Paxton came over with two glasses of punch and handed Devi one, his now free arm going around her waist.  He gave Ben a lukewarm hello which, given their history, wasn’t entirely unfounded.

           “Anyway, I’ll see you around,” Devi said.

           “See you around, David.”

           Paxton looked at him strangely, but Devi only smiled wider.

-----

           There were only a few weeks left in the school year after the dance, and Ben did his best to keep his distance from Devi.  She hovered a bit after learning about his and Aneesa’s breakup, but then they all got busy with finals and then the schoolyear ended.  Ben was grateful for the time apart.  He didn’t know how long it took to fall out of love with someone, but he figured summer break’s three Devi-free-months should do the trick.

           That summer, he lined up a volunteer program to pad his college applications just like every other summer.  He was supposed to help out with pro bono work at his dad’s firm, but at the last minute his dad hired a law clerk instead so that he could bill out his time at a markup.  So, he was stuck with a retirement home.  Everyone volunteered at retirement homes, which meant it was the last thing Ben wanted to put on his resume.  But, there was nothing else left and it was better than nothing, so he grudgingly accepted a spot at one about fifteen minutes from his house and prepared himself for a summer of moth balls and stories about “the war”.

           Instead, he got Devi.

           “I thought you were working at your dad’s firm this summer,” Devi said.

           “Something came up.  Weren’t you supposed to do Habitat for Humanity?”

           Devi nodded.  “I had an incident with a hammer.  Apparently, you aren’t supposed to bedazzle it.”

           Ben smirked.  “You bedazzled your hammer?”

           “Oh, yeah.  I added feathers, too.  Honestly, it was an upgrade.”

           “I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to take you,” he mocked.

           Devi shrugged.  “Probably for the best.  I mean, would you want a house built by me?”

           “You make a fair point.”

           “So, here we are,” Devi said.  “Slumming it at the retirement home.”

           “You may want to say that a little louder.  I don’t think the guy in the back with the hearing aid heard you.”

           “But, you know what, if anyone can make the best out this, it’s you and me, Gross.”

           She flashed him a smile and he felt it all the way down to his toes.  This was going to be a long three months.

----

           It turned out, Ben was surprisingly adept at being around old people, and Devi was an immediate crowd pleaser.

           “Even Marvin likes me,” Devi said.  “And I’m pretty sure he’s a low-key racist.”

           “Not that low key.  He specifically asked me to help him fill out a banking form yesterday because, as he put it, your people are good at that.”

           “Damn.  Remind me to not give him an extra pudding cup.”

           One of the long-time residents, Gladys, rolled by with her walker and said, “Benjamin, don’t forget my granddaughter is visiting this afternoon.  I told her all about you.”

           “I won’t forget, Gladys.”

           “Look at you, Benjamin.”  He rolled his eyes.  “Using the residents to get a date.  Honestly, it’s sort of genius.  If I wasn’t dating Paxton, I would totally use these guys to pimp myself out.”

           “Slow down, David.  Gladys came to me about her granddaughter.  I’m not that desperate.  I have options.”

           “Sure, you do, Ben.”

           “But, um, you and Paxton?  That’s going well?”

           He didn’t know why he asked.  You don’t ask the girl you��re in love with how her relationship is going, but he asked, and now he had no choice but to hear the answer.

           “Yeah, it is,” Devi said.  She tucked her hair behind her ears as she smiled, and Ben wished he could sink directly down into the ground.

           “That’s great.”

           “Yeah.  It is.”

           That afternoon, he asked Gladys’ granddaughter out on a date.

----

           Ben could always tell when Devi and Paxton were fighting by her mood.  She had never been good at hiding her emotions, and while in a relationship, that hadn’t changed.  He noticed it a few weeks in.  She went back into the employees’ area and shoved her bag forcefully into the cubby hole.

           “Did the cubby hole do something to you?” he asked.

           “No,” she said stubbornly.  “The cubby hole is doing nothing.  Which is the problem.  The cubby hole just sits there playing video games all day.  Which, sure, I can play some Mario Kart here and there.  I’m a team player.  But, at a certain point, enough with the stupid video games.  I am not dating freaking Yoshi!”

           Ben was quiet for a moment and then said, “I didn’t know a cubby hole had apposable thumbs to play video games.”

           She shot him a look, but then couldn’t help but laugh.

           “The cubby hole was a metaphor.”

           “Yeah, I caught on to that.”

----

           Ben found it remarkably easy to be around her, even as his feelings stayed rooted to the core, and at a certain point he became resigned to it all.  Maybe Devi was just one of those people he would always have feelings for.  Isn’t that what they said about your first love?  You could move on, but you never really forgot it.  So, he would love her and just move on.

           He dated Gladys’ granddaughter, enjoying himself but never really feeling anything beneath surface level.  But, she was nice enough, and Gladys was delighted by the pairing, even as the volunteer coordinator was not.

           “Just don’t have sex anywhere on property,” she had said in a huff.

           “I, uh, won’t.  Thanks for the clarification.”

           He was dating someone else.  He and Devi were finally sort of back to how they were before.  And then he accidentally ate pecans.

           “Oh my God, Ben, your mouth is getting huge,” Devi said, eyes wide with concern.

           “I am so sorry,” Gladys’ granddaughter said. “I thought the muffin was banana-walnut, not banana-pecan.”

           “Do you have an Epi-Pen or something?”  Devi barked at the terrified looking volunteer coordinator.

           “No, and even if we did, I don’t think we can technically use it on a non-resident.”

           “Are you freaking kidding me right now?  Do you see him?”  She pointed at Ben, whose face was rapidly growing in size.  “You know what, I’ll just handle it myself.”

           Devi dragged him out to her car, which was concerning since he knew she only just got her license the week before, and he also knew based on what she told him that her passing was a total fluke.  

           “I think I’d rather go into anaphylactic shock in there,” he said, already turning back toward the retirement home.

           “Don’t be dumb, Ben,” she said, forcefully pulling him back to the car.  “You are not going into anaphylactic shock.  I’ll take you to my mom’s office and she can give you a shot or something. She’s only a few minutes away.”

           He reluctantly got into the car, and Devi started her car, forgetting to put it into reverse before she pressed on the gas. The car lurched forward, nearly hitting the one parked in front of them, and Ben said, “Please don’t let me die in this car.”

           “No one is dying today, Ben Gross.  So, calm down, okay?  I got this.”

           It was not exactly a smooth ride, but true to her word, five minutes later they pulled into a parking spot in front of Dr. Vishwakumar’s office.  They burst into the office, Ben now leaning a bit on Devi as it became harder to breath.

           “I’m pretty sure I’m going into anaphylactic shock,” he gasped.

           “No, you are not.  You are fine.”  Devi’s words were calm, but her tone was not.

           Nalini Vishwakumar walked out of her office and stopped short when she saw Devi and Ben.

           “What in the world – Benjamin, what happened to your face?”

           “He ate pecans which, turns out, he’s also allergic to,” Devi said quickly.  “Can you give him a shot or something?”

           “Devi, you should have taken him to the emergency room!” Nalini said, rushing over to her daughter and Ben and bringing them back to an examination room.

           “The hospital was farther away.”

           Ben became to gasp for breath and Nalini hissed, “He’s going into anaphylactic shock.”

           Ben could barely breathe, but he managed a, “Told you.”

           “Well, how was I supposed to know!”  Devi said loudly.

           One shot of epinephrine and an IV full of antihistamines and cortisone later, Ben could breathe again, but Nilani made him stay for a while longer so that she could observe him.  She put he and Devi in one of the unused examination rooms, and told them to let her know if he had any more trouble breathing.  Devi sat next to him, her knees pulled tight into her chest.

           “I’m sorry that I almost killed you.”

           “You’re not getting valedictorian that easily.”

           He was joking because, yeah, his throat had almost closed up and she probably should have taken him to the hospital and not her mom’s office, but it was fine now.  Except, when he looked over at Devi, she still looked scared.  After a beat, she launched herself toward him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.  

           “Hey, it’s okay,” he said, rubbing her back.  “I’m okay.”

           She pulled away and gave his arm a light punch. “You really scared me.”

           “Yeah, well, next time I’ll double check my banana-walnut muffin actually has walnuts.”

           “And I’ll believe you when you say your throat is closing up.”

           Devi’s phone rang and he saw Paxton’s name flash on the screen.  He asked her, “Do you need to get that?”

           He watched her hesitate before sending it to voicemail.

----

           Devi and Paxton broke up a week later.  He found out from one of the retirement home residents, who he overheard telling Devi, “You’re better off, Devi.  Take it from an old woman.  You have the rest of your life to be with one person.  Now is the time to be free.  Sow your wild oats, if you will.”

           “Um, I don’t really know what that last part means, but I feel you.  I mean, I’m too young and hot to be tied down, right?”

           “Exactly.  You know, I have a grandson you might be interested in.  He’s pre-med.”

           “I appreciate the offer, Beatrice.  And offering me your grandson after I just broke up with my boyfriend?  Savage. But, I think I need to take some time by myself.”

           That afternoon during bingo, Ben casually brought up the breakup after calling out B-27.

           “Are you okay?” he asked.

           “Yeah, I’m okay,” she said.  She ran the machine and picked out the next ball.  “B-13!”  She put the ball down and said in a regular volume voice, “We just didn’t have that much in common.”

           “Yeah, I bet,” Ben said automatically.

           “Wow, okay,” Devi said with a laugh that didn’t exactly sound reassuring.

           “I didn’t mean,..” he trailed off, because he kind of did.  “Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay.”  He paused and picked up the next ball.  “N-7!”

           “Bingo!”

----

           Summer was coming to a close, and so was their time at the retirement home.  For some reason, Ben felt an impending sense of dread.  Sure, he would still see Devi, but it would be different.  Everyone else would be added back to the mix, including Paxton.  

           Their last big event at the retirement home was a movie night.  They set up a projector in one of the recreation rooms and made it up like an old theater, complete with velvet ropes and individual little bags of popcorn. They even wore old-timey usher costumes they rented from a local costume shop.

           “Does yours also smell like nachos?”  Devi asked.

           “Yeah.  I’m trying not to think about it.”

           The movie was It Happened One Night, and Devi and Ben sat in the back, watching the movie along with the residents.  It was secretly one of Ben’s favorites.  He and his mom had spent little time together when he was growing up, but she shared with him her love of old movies.

           It was the Jericho scene, where Clark Gable’s character was setting up a sheet between him and Claudette Colbert in their motel room.  He stripped down to just his undershirt, and Devi mused, “Clark Gable was super bangable.”

           “Shh,” Ben said.  “This is my favorite part.”

           Devi looked over at him and grinned.  Feeling her gaze, he glanced over and felt his breath stop when their eyes met.  They were close, and in the darkness her eyes seemed to glow.  He always thought she had pretty eyes.  Even before, when he hated her more times than he liked her. He felt an urge to lean forward. It would be so easy.  Just the slightest lean and his mouth would be against hers.  But, that would just be a kiss in the back of a dark room.  He wanted more.

           “Eleanor told me that you wanted to choose me after Malibu.”

           She blinked rapidly.  “What?”

           “After you scattered your dad’s ashes.  She said you wanted to choose me, but they made you also consider Paxton.”

           “Okay.”

           “Is that true?”

           Devi didn’t answer, so he kept talking.

           “And she said that you started the rumor about Aneesa because you thought that we were dating and you were jealous.  And, you see, I’ve had it in my mind all this time that it was always Paxton.  And that I was, I don’t know, some detour on the way, but-“

           “You were not a detour,” Devi said immediately. “You were…you were perfect.  And I messed us up.”

           “So, Eleanor was telling the truth?”

           Devi nodded.  “Yeah, she was.”

           Ben took a deep breath.  “Devi.  I’m going to kiss you now.”

           She nodded, all business, but he could hear the nerves in her voice when she said, “Okay.  Thank you for the advanced warning.”

           He leaned in and captured her mouth with his.  The kiss was sweet and unhurried, like they had all the time in the world.  And in a way, they did.  There was a noise behind them, and they pulled apart abruptly.  Their supervisor stood over them and said, "Remember what I said about no sex on property?"

"Are you kidding me right now?"  Devi said.  "Who is having sex in these gross costumes?"

"You'd be surprised."

The supervisor walked away, and Devi looked at Ben.  "You don't think she meant..."

"I think she absolutely did."

"I need to take this off immediately."

[lyilouu]

Dear My Candy Love

I will start by apologising for the English language of my message. I am a French woman who writes very badly in English, so I use a translator. Again, I apologise if this is not very clear...

It's already been more than a month since Love Life ended and I must admit that I was really dreading this ending. To tell you the truth, My Candy Love has been part of my life for more than 10 years. I still remember that moment, sitting on my sofa, when suddenly the game's commercial came on the TV. In 2011, otomes were not as common as today and not as diverse. So I got interested and signed up...

I can't say that it was love at first sight with this game and these characters. That would be a lie. I found Ken too clingy, Castiel really boring and also surprising when you see the love I have for him today, Nathaniel uninteresting. Being in my late twenties, the universe was way too cheesy and really boring. But over the years, everything changed...

Of course I didn't like 3/4 of the characters and my LI was still not chosen. I really didn't know what to do. Armin was the good buddy for my Candy, Kentin didn't tell me about him I never liked him and Lysander... Such an airheaded character although endearing wouldn't have worked with my character.... As for Castiel, although he could be my type IRL, I was incompatible with him. So I turned to Nathaniel. The one on the side... A l'om with him always at the maximum and always the automatic illustrations so my first reflex was to review absolutely all his route and at episode 21 it happened the miracle I was waiting for. The butterflies in my stomach were revealed...

To tell you the truth, I never liked Nathaniel for his looks, his kindness; that he was the smart, clean boy, etc... I discovered a character who turned my brain upside down, who found flaws, suffering and depth. For me, he wasn't the sweet delegate. Of course he wasn't. I discovered that he was much more than that and believe me, his arc turned me upside down. I wouldn't say anything else except that Nath is my alter ego. He looks a lot like me. From his experience, his pain, his struggle. I had never felt that way and the part with his father made me reject the game for almost 2 years... Yet I went back. I needed it. I missed Nath too much. So I came back and lived the end of HSL happily much more serenely.

The arrival of CL and the delinquent Nath, made me smile. I am not one who was shocked to see him like that. For me, Nathaniel's pain was not gone. Such deep pain does not go away. You just learn to bear it and put it away quietly inside you, but it stays. Nath's aloofness did not scare me. I discovered with fascination a part of him that I had suspected since I started trying to understand him. I've only been talking about Nath for a while now, but that's how I lived my adventure. For me, there was only him. He was my therapy.

To finish with my adventure, Love Life was so sudden. I got really upset with Eric. I didn't like him either and seeing him always smiling, it made me so mad, I think the people I'm talking was bored at one point because I kept pouring my venom on him. Something was wrong. I wasn't seeing as much of Nath and it was putting me in a rage but I didn't want to be nice to him. It was too suspicious to be harmless and I was right. I ended my adventure at -100 with him...

Finally My Candy Love was an incredible adventure. I laughed, I cried, I got angry and at the same time I was happy, but for me even if Nath put a ring on my Candy's finger, this game leaves a bitter taste in my throat. For me, there were so many possibilities that it frustrated me. I may never see Lyilouu in a wedding dress and all my questions will remain unanswered. Still, I have to force myself to turn this page which is My Candy Love the first. I will never love it as much as I did with Nath because I lived it intensely until the end.

So here it is, I know I probably forgot a lot of things but I really needed to write down what's on my mind since this episode 15. Anyway, thank you all for reading this far (you have courage) and thank you to @chinomiko​ and Beemoov for creating a universe that helped me turn the page on what was haunting me.

Thank you....

"Finish the episode"