#i forgot i wanted to keep them all in one tag for convenience oops !

[as-thra]

GOLDENPAGE !! !!! ! ! !!!! !! hcs listed below bc i love my boys :]

they're childhood friends (to lovers .. eventually ...)!!!! aslan isn't the mc in my and my friends little hpma universe and instead he grew close to daniel through the little vacations his family goes on <3 cassandra's also a childhood friend of aslan's but this isn't about her...

aslan frequently wears daniel's clothes ! daniel's ravenclaw ones mostly because hes a slytherin and its just out of place enough and he swears they're more comfortable, the scarf aslan's wearing in the picture is daniels !!

ever since his parents were sent to prison he and esme have been staying with aslan's family over breaks and holidays, they both have their own rooms there too :]

potions genius boyfriend and spells genius boyfriend..... more on the spells when i eventually make an aureus post !

aslan meticulously takes inventory of daniel's potion ingredients, he makes sure to restock every time he notices the other being low on something!!

daniel introduced aslan to somerild's (mc !! @sunglow-fae's oc my beloved <3) group of friends during second year, would have done so sooner but he was making sure he actually Did Want to do that

aslan's shorter than daniel slightly until 5th year when he isn't anymore

contrary to popular belief the two aren't joined at the hip and are often just doing their own thing, they're both frequently asked where the other is though ! expected to see one with the other even when they aren't actually by each other's side as often as people think

daniel's mother taught aslan how to cook and now he makes him some of the recipes she gave whenever he misses her <3

aslan confesses at the end of 4th year but they don't actually get together until 6th year ! there's a very long explanation for this but ..!

[undercityrezident]

I posted 1,262 times in 2022

That's 562 more posts than 2021!

87 posts created (7%)

1,175 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@pkmncoordinators

@rat2rrj

@ranger-kellyn

@mousewich

@cascadena

I tagged 1,261 of my posts in 2022

#pokemon - 696 posts

#fanart - 642 posts

#pokeani - 246 posts

#the legend of zelda - 222 posts

#princess zelda - 130 posts

#link - 123 posts

#swsh - 107 posts

#legends - 104 posts

#breath of the wild - 96 posts

#zelink - 88 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i'm loving this new appreciation on the writers' end for his previous journeys after years and years and years of them kind of shunning it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I might’ve made Hisuian Clemont... Oops...

12 notes - Posted January 28, 2022

#4

Alright... that’s a lot to unpack... good grief... what an episode.

Ok, where are we? I guess the start is as good a place as any to begin.

So, here we are in part four of Leon vs. Ash. At least one of my predictions came true: Eternatus helped solve the problem that Ash and Leon’s Gigantamax and Z-move created. I’m glad that, in that sense, Eternatus didn’t interfere in the match so much as to have them call it off. I could’ve very easily seen the writers doing that as a cop-out not wanting to break Leon’s winning streak while not giving Ash another finals loss.

I do wonder what exactly changed such that Eternatus is now trying to actively keep away another occurrence of the Darkest Day, aside from just being a captured pokemon. Maybe that’s all it really takes. I might’ve appreciated more hints and scenes on this change in behaviour aside from the one we got the episode before the battle, but I can’t ask for too much more for such a one-off thing, I suppose.

Anyway, the lesson here we learn here is don’t mix your battle enhancements. Z-Moves and Gigantamax moves apparently have violent, explosive, world-altering chemistry.

I think the best thing we got out of that encounter was Team Rocket narrating the events to the same rhythm and rhyme as their motto. Considering I don’t really care for TR always butting into the match and eating up valuable screen time, that’s saying something.

That all aside, we can’t say that Eternatus didn’t do anything to influence the match. They apparently gave Leon and Ash another use of Gigantamax, which Leon elected to use on Cinderace this time while Ash could only use it with his lone contender, Pikachu. In retrospect, I should’ve expected something like this because we’d also been exposed to Gigantamax Pikachu far earlier in the series. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it, but I guess it’d been long enough that I forgot about the big round Pika-friend and his extra-long lightning-tail.

Strangely, we only got one move out of each of those Gigantamaxes with a cool pairing of move impacts that each tried to hold at bay. The announcer said the impacts forced them back to normal size, which seemed like a really conveniently mundane answer. I would’ve gone with something along the lines of the fact that Enternatus only provided so much power for their second Gigantamax, but that’s just me.

That said, the visuals in this face-off were pretty cool, and I love Cinderace trying to repeatedly kick the damn lightning bolt back up into the sky. That said, Cinderace must be quite frail since I’m reasonably certain it took little to no damage in its other appearances in the match. Meanwhile, Pikachu took that giant fire-soccer-ball like a champ and went on to stand up against Charizard.

I do appreciate that, in the end, after all those battle enhancements through the match we do come down to a classic pokemon battle. No Mega Evolution. No Z-moves, no Gigantamax or Dynamax. Just  Pikachu vs. Charizard.

And after all that, after we finally... finally... got some screens of Ash’s past travelling companions that we’ve been missing! Another shot of the ranch crowd; Misty; Brock, Cilan, and Alexa all in the same room, May and Serena in contest garb with Max and bonus Lisia! I’m not sure why we haven’t been able to get them until now, but thank god we finally got them in before it was all over.

Now, I’d be here all night if I were to narrate every move exchange between the pair of battlers because damn, there are a lot, and damn, some of them work great on screen. Pikachu using an electroweb to delay a fire blast long enough to dart away. Charizard taking an iron tail in the chest to be able to use a dragon pulse at point-blank range. Pikachu jumping from ancient power boulder to ancient power boulder like in his gym battle with Grant back in XY to get to the fucking ceiling of the arena. Dueling moves as the pair fall back to the ground. The raw displays of power between the two pokemon as they try and intimidate each other and show off their strength.

I won’t lie, I was captivated. This is the kind of battling I love to see. This is why I come back to this anime time and time again. For these moments. For these battles. I swear, for a few minutes there, I forgot about all the critiques I had for the rest of the battle in the previous three episodes leading up to this. I might’ve even forgotten my all-to-often-displayed annoyance for Leon’s character too.

This was just raw, high-octane, amazing battle and animation fueled by rad music and peak emotional investment from the trainers, the pokemon, and even me.

Then Pikachu took a nasty fire blast hit, beginning, for me, the most poignant and powerful part of the episode. All to the tune of Pikachu’s heaving breaths, we got to see the looks on everyone’s faces as we waited to see if the little yellow mouse would continue to stand:

Dawn and Chloe; Team Rocket; our favourite badass ladies, Cynthia and Diantha; Misty; May and Serena holding hands, and Max is there too; the two mentors in Cilan and Brock; Iris on her iPad; my precious lemon siblings, Clemont and Bonnie; the whole fucking Alola gang, and then the Alola adults too; the Oak Ranch crowd; and finally, Goh.

Then, from behind Pikachu’s own eyes, we saw the moment he fell over. This next part of the episode that made me actually choke up a bit.

For Pikachu, all in its own mind within presumably fractions of a second--though stretched out for us and him--a reunion with all his friends: Ash’s pokemon. All of them. From every region. Kanto. The Orange Islands. Johto. Hoenn. Sinnoh. Unova. Kalos. Alola. And the latest team too. And even pokemon Ash released, traded, or otherwise left with others: Butterfree, Pidgeot, Primeape, Ambipom, Goodra, and Nagandel.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia, I won’t even try to hide that. I love when the anime acknowledges the past sagas. And this was wonderful for me. The feelings that welled up for me had me clutching my chest.

And then finally, Ash comes up and tells him, “That’s right Pikachu! Everyone’s at our side!”

That’s when Pikachu gets up and lets out a frighteningly powerful thunderbolt that even has Charizard and Leon recoiling.

That’s when Ash turns his cap back when we know things are really hitting their peak.

That’s when Leon throws his cap off and does his goofy, though I suppose now quite appropriately timed, pose as the two contenders finally meet in their final clash of the match.

Pikachu meeting Charziard in the middle, shrouded in pure electric power contrasted against red-hot flame, was a powerful feat of animation...

...and made me wonder why we ever gave up Volt Tackle.

Cut to Pikachu on a bed in the local Pokemon Center, us as audience members supposedly clueless as to who won. It was a strange way to delay telling us who won, since they really didn’t make us wait long to show it anyway. But all said, the finale of Charizard getting domed on the head by Pikachu, letting out one last frustrated gout of flame before keeling over, was pretty neat.

Then, to my surprise, an actual moment of character development for Leon! We’d been teased, very lightly, with flashbacks to Leon as a kid. This culminates here in the completion of those scenes with us seeing none other than a young (and hella adorable) Sonia beating the young new trainer, Leon.

I actually really love the idea of the unbeatable champion having actually lost to someone before, and that someone being Sonia. Sorry Ash, you weren’t the first!

But that’s ok! Because you beat him when it counted, Ash! You got there, to that champion podium, with that damn trophy that’s almost as big as you (you really gotta grow up soon already Ash... you’re not going to be able to carry these home if they keep growing at the rate they are and you’re growing at the rate you are...).

We got another moment with the gang back at Oak Ranch, our phaesporia crumbs with Diantha and Cynthia pining for another match (so why not each other... heheh), cuts to Ash’s supporters in the crowd (aww why no cuts to our lovely companions watching from afar again? Aw... oh well...) and then, finally, to the next morning for the segue into Goh’s own finale to come next week.

See the full post

12 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

#3

Odd thought:

So it’s quite heavily implied that Clemont was the one to come up with the idea of integrating Rotoms into the Rotomdex, thus kickstarting the idea of having Rotoms become a common sight in frequently used electronic devices that benefit from having autonomous and mobile behaviour, such as phones and cameras in battle arenas.

Considering that the Rotomphone is a continued fixture of the upcoming Scarlet/Violet games, on top of having been popularized in Galar and with the Rotomdex getting a start in Alola, it seems like the idea of using Rotoms in convenient electrical devices has really taken off on a multi-regional, perhaps even international, scale.

So...

I hope Clemont is seeing some sort of royalty benefits of this if these products are being monetized. Given the very commercialized nature of the Galar League (or at least implied commercialization, given that it mimics soccer leagues in theming in that region, on top of the fact we see adverts on the boards of the stadium as well as even on Leon’s cape), I can’t imagine that the Galar league gets to make use of the Rotom drone cameras for free. Therefore, someone likely makes and sells them to the league or the individual stadiums, which are likely financed by the league in some manner. If the pokemon world parallels our world, aside from Rotomphones given to young trainers to ensure they can communicate for safety and convenience on the road, I imagine that Rotomphones are something one has to buy as well.

Now, I’ve always headcanoned Clemont and his family lived in rather modest conditions (perhaps not below the poverty line, but not too far above it either, perhaps in the lower end of middle class). I hoped that the young man’s brilliance and drive, even if it doesn’t always pan out, would eventually lead him to a life of means by which he could eventually help support his family, helping to give Bonnie a happy childhood leading up to her eventual pokemon journey (given that he often appears as one of her primary caretakers, perhaps even more so than her father). A success on the scale of the establishment of the Rotom-integration trend would definitely be the windfall Clemont needed after years of using his own funds (after numerous deductions for essentials) from his position as gym leader to fund his passion of invention to mixed results. Perhaps many of his invention failures were due to the use of sub-par materials and parts that came with a lower income and meagre financial assets.

In addition to being able to continue with new, bolstered confidence and motivation on the winds of his new success, I’m sure Clemont will dedicate a great deal of these potential royalties to further iteration and invention with resources that could lead to greater and more frequent successes and greater benefits to “help people and pokemon” as he has claimed and endeavoured to do since he first fell in love with the concepts of science and engineering at large. As well, considering the fact he’s a person who cares deeply for his family’s welfare, and Bonnie’s especially, I’m certain he’ll use his a good part of his newfound wealth to ensure Bonnie has the best chance she has of pursuing her dreams too.

13 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

#2

My Commentary on Legends Arceus

So, after some 86 hours of my life being consumed, I finally managed to complete Pokemon’s newest entry into the franchise. I know I kind of alluded to this being some sort of review in previous posts I’ve made, but the fact of the matter is, I’m neither a qualified or professional reviewer, nor am I someone expecting to convince others to play this game or assign it a score.

I’m writing this more as a way to purge my thoughts and feelings on this game in a way that makes me feel like the experience is complete. And, hot damn, I really want to talk about this game!

It goes without saying that there are massive spoilers for Pokemon Legends: Arceus beneath the cut.

Now, for full disclosure, for anyone that cares about where my opinion comes from on this game with references to my praises and critiques: I have completed the game in so far as that I have completed the main story, the post-game story, collected all the wisps, collected all the poetry, and gotten a research score of 10 to classify every pokedex entry as finished.

That said, I cannot bring myself to complete every single research entry for each pokemon’s shiny bonus, nor grind that last 2.5k points to get myself to a 10 star rank with Galaxy Team. As someone who doesn’t hunt shinies, and having looked up the 10 star reward, neither feels worth it to me.

That all said, I do think that I have a pretty broad scope with which to comment on this game. So here we go!

To start, let’s get around two big elephants in the room:

Firstly, let’s address game’s continuous comparisons to Breath of the Wild. Yes, in the very broadest and simplest sense, you could compare it to The Legend of Zelda’s open-world marvel. I had to actually dissuade myself from making this comparison in order to avoid the disappointment with the very first thing that I found annoying about this game: your base character cannot climb or mantle over small ledges.

See the full post

14 notes - Posted February 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Weird odd Volo theory with Legends: Arceus spoilers beneath the cut...

"Someday, I'll solve every riddle in the legends of Hisui's Pokémon. And on that day, I'll stand before Arceus at last—No, I will CONQUER it! No matter how many years, how many decades, how many centuries it takes me!" 

This is something Volo says after we defeat him and Giratina.

This just makes me wonder though:

Is it odd to anyone else that he says “centuries” there specifically?

I suppose this could be him being overly dramatic, but is the pursuit of a physical god not something that someone could fall into pursuing over a long-lived life?

Take another Volo quote: "I've devoted myself to Arceus beyond any other! I worshiped it as the creator of our entire world! I bent all of my passion and interest to its study! All the time I've spent poring over the legends... Everything that I've done—!" 

This sounds like an obsession that could be forged over a lifetime, though Volo does not appear all that old.

So I have to ask, in light of these quotes and Volo’s utterly fervent need to reach Arceus and his dedication to that goal: is Volo immortal?

Or at the very least, is he incredibly long-lived.

And that itself brings upon us another important question.

We’ve seen numerous ancestor characters to various Sinnoh characters (as well as ones from other regions). Naturally, we’d lend that assumption to Volo being an ancestor of Cynthia as well, right?

What if we were just meant to assume that?

What if Volo is long-lived, or even immortal, and the champion we all know and love in the modern Sinnoh era, is in fact the same person?

Appearance-wise, Volo could pass for Cynthia (given a new hairdo), and perhaps through clever feats of disguise; or if they’re, in fact, agender or genderfluid and able to pass as either of the two traditional binary genders; or if she’s transgender entirely, the chances are of Volo actually being Cynthia are not entirely remote. (I should make a disclaimer here, I’m not trans or non-binary, so if this seems like a misappropriation of these gender identities for this theory, I do apologize. I mean no offence or misuse.)

This doesn’t necessarily account for the changes in personality though. But you know what does change a person’s personality and perspective?

Time.

Legends: Arceus takes place at least 200 years before the Diamond and Pearl games, I believe. I know people whose entire personality and perspective have changed over just a decade. I know I’m a vastly different person than I was ten or even five years ago.

Assuming Legends is set in the same universe and timeline as the Sinnoh we all know, could the protagonist in this newest pokemon game set Volo on a new path by defeating him? Maybe Volo discovered a better path for himself all on his own during those centuries. Or maybe Cynthia is just very good at burying her Volo-esque impulses behind that champion facade in the Diamond and Pearl games...

We should also consider that Volo uses the same exact team as Cynthia, barring Milotic (which isn’t in Legends, so maybe that’s more technical reason than a lore one). Sure, we know that many ancestor characters use the same pokemon as their descendants. But most seem to use only one. Volo uses five of the same pokemon as Cynthia. As the old saying goes, once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is a pattern... and so on.

Wrong or right, the idea intrigues me, because I can’t just believe they’d throw in the word “centuries” for no good reason in that one line of dialogue.

33 notes - Posted February 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[allmysticwords]

You’re still the one I want.

Genre: Angst with slight fluff if you squint (non-idol AU)

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Summary: Can love overcome all even heartbreak?

Tags: Cheating; Non-Idol; Angst; Requested

Word Count: 2.1k (oops, I got carried away) 

Masterlist Requestlist

A/N : While I don’t support couples being together after one of them cheats on another, I tried to make this as realistic as I could. Hope you like it! Thanks for requesting :) 

For @yummypangpang

Picture not mine. All credits to the owner.

It was your and Taehyung 2-year anniversary. It had been blissful 2 years; they went by so fast you can’t even remember where the days have gone by. You were both really good friends in college always joined at the hip. People always assumed you were dating each other but you were both always too shy to admit your feelings to each other, not sure what the other felt you’d both just keep what you felt to yourself. Not wanting to destroy the friendship you both had you would make sure to keep all you felt hidden whenever you both hung out. Little did you know Taehyung did the same.

But as soon as college ended there was a sudden fear. What if you both drift apart, what if work comes between the two of you, so many what-ifs eating away at the both of you. Maybe this was the reason that Taehyung decided to take the matter into his hands. One day he took you to dinner at your favorite Thai restaurant and asked you out. You were ecstatic, over the moon elated and obviously said yes. Since then it’s been a rollercoaster ride. Being straight-out of college, you both have been working overtime to make as much money as you can and achieve your dreams the sooner you can. You work in journalism and Taehyung in a big architecture firm. Your weeks have always been busy but you both make sure that you always spend the weekends together no matter what. How else would you keep the spark alive?

Last year for your anniversary, you both went away for a weekend trip and stayed at a resort. It was absolutely perfect. Still now when you think of those 2 days you can't keep smiling.

This year however, you both have had more work than usual. This is why you’ve barely seen Taehyung in the last month and when you saw him, he’s been distracted, stressed and mostly ignoring whatever you’ve been telling him. You couldn’t figure out why he was being like this. He was usually always attentive. Always paid attention to you even if you were both meeting for coffee between work breaks and spoke to you as if you haven’t spoken in days, recounting all the office stories. You would do the same. You didn’t worry too much though, you knew how stressed he was because of a new project he had gotten, which could potentially lead to a promotion. You were happy he had this opportunity and that he had a great team of people helping him.

So, this year, you settled for a late-night dinner to celebrate your anniversary. You had texted Taehyung all the details of the restaurant and the reservation. It was a quite French restaurant. You figured that if you couldn’t go to France, the least you could do was bring France to you.

After work, you drove to the mall to pick up Tae’s gift that you had chosen a week ago. It was a silver band Skagen watch with a green dial. You had saved up to buy this. You were positive Tae would love it. He did have a thing for watches. You then made your way to your apartment. 

Unlocking the door, you entered inside and made your way to your bedroom to get dressed up for your date. You had bought a new emerald green dress which had a lowcut neckline and the dress came a little above your knees. You were sure Tae would love you in it. Hell, you loved yourself in it. It wasn’t often your confidence was this high, but the dress made you feel all sorts of good things. After doing some light makeup and putting on your heels, you texted Tae telling him that you were on your way to the restaurant. He didn’t get back to you. Maybe he was driving, you thought to yourself.

Once at the restaurant, you were led by a young waitress to your table, it was right beside the big window overlooking outside. Taehyung wasn’t there yet, maybe he was just late. 

You texted him that you’ve reached and were trying to pass time on your phone. He was 15 minutes late, no big deal. You tried calling him but there was no answer. You were getting a little anxious, but it wasn’t really out of the ordinary to be late. 

When Tae was about half an hour late and the waitress had walked by your table for the fourth time asking whether you would like to order, you started to feel worried and embarrassed. You kept calling Taehyung, but he wasn’t picking up. Finding this odd and slightly worrying you picked up your things and left the restaurant, not before shooting an apologetic look at the waitress and a little tip for holding up the table.

You decided that the best would be to go to Tae’s apartment and check whether he forgot about the date or whether he’s still held up at the office. So, you made your way to his apartment, it was a short 15 minute drive. On reaching you saw that his car was still in the driveway and the lights inside were switched on. Seeing this made you furious. While you were sure there was some logical explanation, you couldn’t help feeling angry and a little upset that there was something more important that your anniversary dinner. You understand he’s busy but the least he could do was let you know so that you don’t feel like a fool waiting at the restaurant.

You took the keys from your bag and unlocked the door and went in.

“Tae, babe?” You called out for him. But he didn’t answer. It was a small apartment, surely, he would’ve heard the front door open.

His bedroom door was closed so you moved forward to check if he was inside. You opened the door just a little to peek in and it was as if your entire world had come crashing down. Tae saw you and you saw him. His hands on her thigh, her lips on his neck and their clothes scattered across the room. Your eyes met. For a minute, the world stopped spinning. You couldn’t understand what was happening. All you could see was Tae looking at you with dread in his eyes and fear. Fear of what he was doing and fear of losing you. A single tear ran down your cheek and you suddenly were jolted from the shock of seeing your boyfriend fucking his one of his teammates.

“Shit” Taehyung mouthed while pushing the girl away and scramming to look for his clothes.

You closed the door with a thud. Not knowing what to do or where to go, you took out his watch from your bag and threw it at the living room floor. As Taehyung opened the bedroom door and came outside pulling on his t-shirt, you were racing towards the door and into your car.

“Y/n wait. Y/n listen to me please, I can explain.” Tae begged while tears ran down his cheeks. But you didn’t wait for his apologies. You couldn’t. You backed away from his driveway to drive. your house as you saw Taehyung from the rearview mirror trying to make you stop. You didn’t stop even when you saw him fall down on the road and break down in tears. You couldn’t even see the road properly through your tears.

You couldn’t believe your eyes. You couldn’t believe that the man you loved and who you thought loved you could break your trust so easily. After driving aimlessly for a while not knowing where to go, what to do and what to think you made your way to your home. You knew that Taehyung would be waiting at the door. You knew he would want to talk. You thought you could handle seeing him and telling him to go away. You thought you could be strong. You should’ve known though. He was your bestfriend, he could see right through you.

You saw him sitting on the steps with his head in his hands. You quietly got out of the car and walked towards him.

“How could you?” This was all you could say when you saw his face. You couldn’t deny that you loved him and seeing him after he was just fucking his colleague on the same bed he made love to you for 2 years was not easy. Hell, it was devastating. Your tears were streaming down your eyes. Taehyung moved his hand to wipe them away. “Don’t you dare touch me.” You flinched and moved away from him.

He knew he fucked up. “Y/n I’m so so sorry. There’s no excuse for what I did. I had a really bad day at the office….. and she was just there. She saw it all and then she took me out drinking and I guess I just lost control…” You cut him off.

“What do you mean she was just there and you lost control?” “What the fuck do you mean Taehyung?” 

“So have you been losing control on every bad day you’ve had?” 

“Do you even know what today is?” “Today Taehyung, is our 2nd anniversary, which you very conveniently forgot because you had a bad day. I had planned a date for us which you conveniently stood me up for because she was just there and today you just lost me. Your bestfriend and your girlfriend, conveniently because you lost control.”

Taehyung heard it all. Quietly at first and then through his uncontrollable sobs. He loved you, very much. You knew it. He knew it too. It was always you who got him through his bad days. He didn’t know what to say to make it better. He couldn’t lose you. Sex with her didn’t mean anything, it was just a way to get over the stress for losing his project to his rival. He couldn’t believe he made this mistake, a mistake that could cost him losing you. And he told you all of this, while he held your hand that you let him, reluctantly Ofcourse.

“Please y/n you have to believe me. It didn’t mean anything. It’s never happened before and I know I made a huge mistake but please don’t give up on us. Please just give me another chance. I can’t live without you. You know that. Y/n please.”

You didn’t know what to do. You couldn’t even look at his face right now because of the hurt. The scene flashing before your eyes again and again. But you also couldn’t give him up. You loved him too much. And he loved you. You kept reassuring yourself that he did. That this was a mistake and that maybe you can both get through this.

“Y/n please say something. I will make it up to you. I will make it all better. You’re the one I love and want and need. Please.” Tae kept holding your hand and looking into your eyes but he couldn’t see the light that he always did. He couldn’t help but feel that he lost you and the fact that he hurt you was killing him.

“Tae, maybe I need time to think. Maybe we both need some time apart.” You whispered.

Taehyung couldn’t believe his ears, ‘some time apart’ would take you away from him. He was certain. He knew that the more you were away the more he would break and the more you would realize that this is a mistake you both could not recover from.

“No y/n please, I think we need a lot of time together. Time apart would only break us, and I don’t want to break up with you. I understand you need time to think. I get it, trust me. But don’t break up with me please.” Tae held your face with both his hands and wiped away your tears with his thumb. Looking down he pleaded and tried to reason with you.

You saw the pain in his eyes. You saw that he realized his mistake. And while you were hurting and you couldn’t shake off the fact that he broke your trust. You couldn’t help in that moment hugging him. With all your might. He took you in his arms as you broke down. He kept apologizing and pleading. You didn’t know how long had it been since you were both standing on the steps holding on to each other.

You broke away from the hug and Tae looked at you questioningly. Not saying anything. Searching your eyes for some sort of answer.

“Let’s go inside. I can’t forgive you yet. Please know it’ll take some time, but I can’t give up on us either.” You walked towards the door and unlocked it.

“That is all I ask from you.” Taehyung said softly holding your hand, giving you a sad smile.

So, on your second anniversary, you both slept away from each other. Taehyung on the couch and you in the room. But at least, you both agree that you’re still together and ready to work on your relationship. Because he was your bestfriend and if it wasn’t with him, you didn’t know who or what you would be. So you couldn’t give him up. At Least not yet. 

----

- Pratz

Please let me know what you thought of this. :) 

[theosymphany]

The Canary

A short fic as Chris and Piers discusses more mundane matters as Piers settles in his team. One shot. Early days Nivanfield.

It was 1358. The new lieutenant to Alpha team had planned it to the minute. He had his lunch early, went over the notes he had made, reviewed the things he had on file and mentally went through every last conversation he’s had with the team and of course, his Captain. He checked over himself at the mirror too. Captain is relaxed on grooming standards, but his first lesson from meeting Chris was ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’

He took the longer route to the Captain’s office, not out of habit, but because there’s less chance he’ll be interrupted or run into someone. He wanted to be on time, and have his thoughts where he needed them.

He set off on a purposeful, brisk pace, folder of reports in hand, taking long, measured strides that pass off as confident and looking busy and important enough. Hazel eyes scanned around the perimeters for any unplanned incursions, but he knows deep down he needn’t worry. Staying hidden is his specialty he had mastered, in plain sight, if needed. That said though, he hadn’t been fully able to dodge the spotlight since his time at the BSAA. Being second to the legendary Chris Redfield, afterall, is a high profile role, and the Captain himself isn’t quite a man of subtlety.

He knew as he arrived that the clock had just ticked over to 1400. Captain’s door would usually be open, but he would give four unhurried but confident taps should it be closed. Has he got anything? Should he have brought a treat? Food can be an icebreaker, though the Captain must have a pretty strict diet regime to maintain his bulk…

Focus Piers. He told himself as he banished all irrelevant thoughts.

He could see now that the door was open, letting some rays of the afternoon sun into the otherwise slightly gloomy office. The captain sat at his desk, clawing his mouse, his thick brows furrowed just a little to bring out a few creases. This could be bad.

“Capt-“

“Ah Piers.” Relief fell off the Captain’s face, the five o’clock shadow that usually forms by lunchtime had made him look slightly broody, but the smile was genuine. “Come. Pull up a chair.” He cocked his head to the guest chair beside him.

Piers nodded lightly. All his others commanders usually sat him across the table where they’d have feet up and arms back, as if to silently scream how important they are. Their desks though, usually afforded such luxuries, and the space for it.

Captain Chris Redfield’s desk would be, as his mother would call it, ‘a perennially rueful mess’ bereft of military rigour, but Piers had learnt by day two on base that Captain Redfield sets the rules. Or rather, breaks them at convenience for himself. Piers may never have to worry about an inspection, but also means he’s in that uncomfortable position managing what the enlisted men would consider ‘double standards’.

Regardless, he sat, back straight and attentive, being more than a little pleased that he’s so close to the Captain he could feel the heat radiating off his body.

“It’s our catch up isn’t it. Sorry, I didn’t prepare anything. Uh, did you send- no you must have, I know you would, sorry I didn’t read it, I just…”

Piers nodded and shrugged. Yes, he’d written a short one-page update just in case and emailed through but yet again Chris hasn’t read it, but that’s OK because he’d practiced the verbal brief anyway and knew he preferred that.

“Did you want the two-minute version?”

“Yep, go on- uh wait, oh, that’s right, I was looking at this when you came in. Can I get your thoughts on this first?”

Chris pulled up the email. As he did Piers glanced at the (8709) unread tag and flinched, but told himself to focus.

It was one of those reports, cc’ed for comment by all the team leaders. There must be thousands of those going around.

“Hmm. May I skim the report?” Piers asked.

Chris alt-tabbed and Piers glanced at the page count. Less than fifty. He let out the breath he held in. Trying not to lean in too close to Chris, he scrolled through with the keyboard, looked at the summary and the body, and then the conclusion.

“I think it’s bad, but not quite sure how bad.” Chris said, scratching his head.

“This got drafted by some ivory tower academic who never had a semblance of normal life.”

“How did it get that far then, command can’t actually be that serious about this shit?”

“Well you see when you brand yourself a ‘consultant’, whatever BS they sprout will suddenly became great gems of transformative wisdom that’s it a crime against the state to realise such theoretical gains and crafted rhetoric into action. The good thing is, however, at least it doesn’t read like there’s someone’s self interests in the way…”

“You got a plan of attack?”

“Whatever you do don’t let it be a recommendation. I’m sure every commander out there is fuming about this stuff. I’ll work up some comments on the template in uh, your style and let you review them, but you should go chew the fat with others and draw out their views, and put in a coordinate effort.”

“Mmmh, I like that approach. I can chat to Crosby and K-face. It’s the same crap that keeps going round.”

“So, that brief of yours. Anything important? Do you need me to get money again?”

“No. Nothing of the sort. We could use all kinds of upgrades, but we can’t ask for them willy-nilly, it must be thought out, strategic, have the whole cost, risk benefit balance neatly summed up—”

Chris threw his hands up in defence. “OK, OK, I’m just asking. You work out the details and brief me on what to tell our accounts man. How’s the team?”

“Overall we’re going to be fine. Our teams are much smaller than we used to manage, I’m still getting to know them of course, but they’re willing, have a good attitude and there’s a lot we can cover.”

“I mean, they’re no special forces but miles above army grunts fresh from boot. They’re here because they want to be, and that counts more than anyone realises.”

“Just what I wanted to hear. And how are you?”

“Me? Oh, uh. I’m doing alright. I guess.”

Piers was caught off guard. He’d prepared the brief about everything Chris could ask him about and left out himself. He never thought about himself. As in what Chris would want him to say about himself. Is it like a job interview? Does he stay professional or let out snippets of truth and emotion? No. He never thought about the fact that Chris would ask him about himself. This is the military. No one is your care bear. They want you to get the job done and not cause any problems. Don’t be smart and don’t be stupid. Conform.

“Well you’re doing a damn fine job.” Chris said, clapping a big hand to Piers’ shoulder. “Knew I’d pick the right man.” He grinned a somewhat boyish grin and gave the shoulder a squeeze.

Pier grinned to himself. Chris was a touchy man and he’d be damned if he ever forgot a moment where they connected physically.

“Oh. Another thing.” The squeeze turned to a slap on his shoulder. “What is this writing comments in ‘my style’ that you spoke of?”

Piers blinked. Oops.

“Uh, have you ever hear of ghost writers, Captain?”

“Uh, like the movie with the team with gear battling paranormal lifeforms?” Chris said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Sounds a bit like us, really.”

“Almost, except they fight with words. A ghost writer is like someone who writes for someone else. Like a speech writer, official emails and all.”

Piers feels nervous as Chris stroked his 5’o clock shadow and appraised him intently with his warm brown eyes. He thought about the 8000 unread emails and swallowed.

“Uh, I’m kinda terrible at it, but given the timeframes of the response I might just jot some notes and you can review them so it sounds like it comes from a seasoned… captain and not some fresh-faced rookie from West Point?”

“Seasoned huh?” Chris chuckled. “Medium with a hint of garlic, salt and pepper.”

Piers licked his lips.

“Well, I’ll leave it to you. Forget the style. The key thing is to shoot this thing down before it ever gets off the ground.”

“Yes Sir!” Piers was already plotting in his head. He still needs to write like Chris would, but not as Chris would, but how command would want Chris to, striking that fine balance between authority, reason and a hint of the non-conformant leanings the Captain is known for.

“I know who I picked. You’re not a spring chicken Nivans, even if you look like you belong on a recruitment poster. I see a bright future in you, ghostbusting or zombie busting or writing or whatever else. You’ve got a good package. Of skills and, uh that word…. Aptitude, attitude? Those things. Keep it up.”

“I will, Captain. Thank you, Captain.”

“I’ll send you the docs, no hurry, but if you get it in before 1700 I know there’s a steakhouse you might like.”

Piers raised his eyebrows. Chris is more than his match.

“Right away sir.”

Chris’s eyes followed Piers out of his office, with the golden rays of the sun on his back. He sighed in relief, pressing send on the email. He looked at the other 8000 unread emails, and the pile of reports awaiting read through, and he grinned like a cat who ate the canary.

[aratilightwood]

If Kit lived the extravagant lifestyle

Tagging @kit-herondale-blackthorn for the ‘Cirenworth hall’ craze fest.

...

(1) *Kit and Ty prepare for patrolling near a restaurant.*

“Are you ready to leave?” Ty asked as he walked into Kit’s bedroom.

“Yeah, give me a minute, I just have to lace up my red bottoms,” Kit replied.

“Red bottoms? What kind of demons have red bottoms?” Ty said.

“No they’re -“ Kit began. “Nevermind.”

(2) *Kit and Tessa wash dishes in the kitchen.*

“Do I really have to clear away the dishes?” Kit questioned miserably.

“Well, I cooked, so it only seems fair that you clean,” Tessa replied.

“But I don’t want to scratch my Rolex watch, please help me take it off,” Kit said.

“Fine,” Tessa sighed.

(3) *Kit and Emma prepare for patrolling at a bar*

“Have you got all the weapons you need?” Emma asked as she walked into the weapon’s room.

“Erm, yeah,” Kit replied.

She eyed the golden chain around his neck, “why are you still wearing that?”

“It might work like an electrum whip,” Kit said.

“I doubt that,” Emma replied.

(4) *Kit is feeding baby Cordelia.*

“Have you finished feeding Cordelia?” Jem asked as he peered in the living room doorway.

“Almost done,” Kit said happily.

“It’s good you’re getting practice,” Jem said.

Before Kit could reply, Cordelia picked up the plate that was filled with mushy bananas and flung it in his direction.

“Oh God, not my tie. It’s from Prada!” He exclaimed as he ducked to avoid the hit.

(5) *Kit and Ty are reading after hours in the library.*

“It says here, that a Raum demon’s venom doesn’t work immediately, but kills you slowly,” Ty said while he read a passage from the book.

“How long does it take for the victim to die than?” Kit asked.

“Hold on, this is a very old book. The writing has faded over the years. Could you please bring out your witchlight?” Ty said.

Kit reached into his pocket and took something out, “would this help?”

Ty eyed the shining object in Kit’s hands, “what’s that?”

“A Swarovski crystal,” Kit replied.

(6) *Residents of the institute plan to go to the ‘Midnight theatre’.*

“We’re going to be late, if we don’t leave now,” Ty said while he sat at the edge of Kit’s bed.

“I can’t find my silver cuff links,” Kit replied as he rummaged through his drawers.

“Pick another one, you have loads to choose from,” Ty said.

“But the silver ones have your initials, please help me find them,” Kit pleaded.

Ty smiled slightly, got up from the bed and walked towards Kit.

(7) *Kit and Dru plan to visit the shadow market.*

“Have you found a way to disguise yourself while we’re there?” Drusilla asked as she approached Kit near the institute’s entrance.

“Yeah, Givenchy sunglasses,” Kit said while he put them one.

“That’s not going to help,” Drusilla said. “It’s not even sunny outside.”

“It’s more of a fashion accessory than a convenient hindrance against sunlight,” Kit said.

Drusilla rolled her eyes, but followed him out of the institute anyway.

(8) *Kit is giving baby Cordelia a bath.*

“God, your hair grows a lot quicker than mine,” Kit said as he washed off the shampoo.

The baby giggled at the statement and splashed around the small bath tub.

“Bath time is your favourite time of the day, isn’t it?” Kit asked.

Cordelia’s smile grew wider as she noticed a ring glittering on Kit’s finger. She reached out and tried to grab it.

“Uh uh, no way,” Kit began as he moved his hand away. “You’re not having anymore of my rings, especially after the last one fell down the drain.”

(9) *Kit and Ty prepare to go patrolling on Santa Monica pier.*

“Kit, I can’t find my ge-“ Ty began as he walked into the training room. “What are you wearing?”

Kit was standing beside a target board in a casual jumper and jeans.

“It’s quite cold outside. I thought my Burberry, wool jumper would keep me warm,” Kit said.

“We’re going on patrol, not a moonlight walk. It’s best you wear your gear instead,” Ty replied.

“Nope, I should be fine like this,” Kit said.

(10) *Kit and Helen argue over washing clothes.*

“Kit, do you have any clothes that need cleaning?” Helen asked.

“I don’t think so,” Kit said after some thought.

“What about your leather jacket?” Helen said.

“Nope, I’m not putting that in the washing machine with the rest of the clothes after what happened to my other jacket. Oh the horror!” Kit said dramatically.

(11) *Kit and Ty walk around the shopping centre and do window shopping.*

“I don’t know why you wanted to go shopping,” Ty said. “You seem to have a lot of things already.”

“Even I can’t resist sales,” Kit replied.

A few moments passed when Ty felt a tug on his arm. He looked down and noticed that his shirt had caught on Kit’s bracelet.

“Kit!” Ty exclaimed. “This is the third time today your Armani bracelet has done this.”

Kit looked down at both of their arms and attempted to unlink them, “sorry.”

“Maybe its best you take it off,” Ty suggested.

“Erm, absolutely not,” Kit said.

(12) *Kit finds Julian in the art studio on Friday morning.*

“Julian, are you in here? Everyone’s been looking for you,” Kit said as he opened the door to the studio slightly.

“Yeah, I’m just finishing an art work. Is everything ok?” Julian replied.

Julian was standing in front of a canvass. The small paint brush in his hand had a rich, golden colour.

“The children are getting restless because it’s Friday, and you haven’t cooked any pancakes yet,” Kit said.

“Damn,” Julian said as he walked towards Kit. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

Suddenly some paint from the brush fell to the floor, only two inches away from Kit’s Jimmy Choo shoes.

Kit flinched back.

“Oops, sorry,” Julian said.

(13) *Dru and Kit decide to investigate the convergence site.*

“Have you got anything to place your weapons in?” Drusilla asked as they made their way down the staircase.

“Yeah, my Ralph Lauren bag,” Kit replied.

Drusilla gave the bag a long look and than gave Kit a disapproving one, “a weapon’s belt would be best.”

“It’s fine,” Kit said.

“You can’t put knives in there, the bag will get ruined,” Drusilla said.

“Not if they’re sheathed,” Kit replied.

(14) *The New York institute is hosting a Christmas ball, and everyone’s invited.*

“The portal to New York is opened. It’s time to lea-“ Ty began as he approached Kit.

“What?” Kit questioned when he saw Ty’s surprised face.

“You’re not seriously wearing that, are you?” Ty asked.

Kit was dressed formally in a waistcoat, shirt, trousers and bow tie, but he had an Icon cap on his head.

“What’s wrong with it?” Kit said.

“You look like you should be going to a baseball game, not party,” Ty laughed.

“I do not!” Kit protested.

(15) *Kit and Ty are changing into gear.*

“Ty, doesn’t this look great?” Kit asked as he adjusted the cashmere scarf around his neck.

“I’m sure gear isn’t supposed to accommodate any fashionable accessories,” Ty replied.

“I think it’s about time things change than,” Kit said.

“I don’t think so,” Ty said.

“Please, just try the red one,” Kit said while he held out another scarf.

(16) *Dru and Kit are spending time together in her room.*

“What kind of perfumes do you wear?” Kit asked as he examined Drusilla’s dressing table.

“I just borrow Emma’s, and I don’t know their names half of the time,” Drusilla said.

“You should try ‘Daisy’ by Marc Jacobs, it’s supposed to be great,” Kit said.

“Who’s Marc Jacobs, some kind of warlock?” Drusilla asked.

“Yeah,” Kit said with amusement.

(17) *Kit and Mark argue before he goes on patrol.*

“Give it back to me!” Kit cried as he tugged at his Gucci trousers.

“No, you’re not wearing this, it’s too nice. You’ll ruin it,” Mark replied while he pulled gently in retaliation.

“I’ll be extra cautious! Nothing’s going to happen to the trousers,” Kit said.

“I don’t believe that,” Mark said.

(18) *Kit and Ty take a walk on the beach.*

“I thought you always preferred wearing shoes whenever we walked on sand,” Ty said while he examined Kit’s feet.

“I am prepared to make any sacrifice for my Versace trainers,” Kit replied as he held onto his shoes.

“Well at least now you understand how great sand feels under foot,” Ty said.

“It’s like a warm blanket,” Kit sighed.

(19) *Kit and Aline talk before he goes on patrol.*

“What’s that smell?” Aline asked as she approached Kit.

Kit held out a bottle of perfume, “Dolce and Gabbana, do you like it?”

“Are you mad? You’re going demon hunting, not to a fashion show,” Aline exclaimed.

“What’s your point?” Kit said.

“Demons are attracted to nice scents,” Aline said. “You’re a dead man.”

“Not before I kill them first,” Kit said with a grin.

(20) *Kit is attending a Clave meeting.*

“Now, does anyone have suggestions for changes that need to be made to the new government?” Consul Alec asked.

Kit pulled out a Swarovski pen from his pocket, “I think we need to change the way steles are made.”

Alec gave Kit a questioning look, “steles cannot be made without adamas.”

“I know,” Kit said. “Keep the adamas, but I think we should decorate them with valuable gems, like this pen.”

“Kit I don’t think-“ Alec began.

“Please, it will look good,” Kit said.

...

@tdanetwork mission 1: favourite character

An AU of Kit living a completely different lifestyle to the one he’s known.

[orpelia]

Air: “Endgame”

Eleven episodes and a two-week hiatus later (oops!)~~

My praise, my wishes, and my feelings of the season finale of Book I. 

[Heart eyes.]

Oh, Bo. What would we do without you.

As always, he gifted us with his silly and endearing humor,

but he also starred in some fantastic collabs.

Bolin x Naga

Bolin x General Iroh

Honestly, Bolin x Any Character <--- now that’s my kind of ship.

General Iroh is just as stupidly fearsome and heroic as his grandfather.

This is fact. 

His stunt with the planes?

Cray.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in the future, preferably in the same scene(s) as Zuko because that’s something I desperately need in my life.

My favorite Mako: protective and powerful.

Let’s not forget, he can break free of Noatak’s bloodbending!!!

Korra---the freakin’ Avatar---couldn’t even do that! At least, not at first.

Amon admits it himself: “I'm impressed. No one has ever gotten the better of me like that. It is almost a shame to take the bending of someone so talented.”

I hope Mako’s talents become focal points in the next books. Please, oh please don’t revert him back to a frustrating, lovesick puppy who can’t make up his damn mind. It really doesn’t do his character justice.

Speaking of lovesick puppies...

Without a doubt, Mako and Korra had the most compelling scenes of the entire episode (and not because they were fighting Noatak).

Canon couple or not, these two make a great team. They obviously care about each other, but they’re fiercely protective of one another as well, and that’s what makes their chemistry so palpable.

Although I wasn’t over the moon about dropping the love bombs, even I recognize how heartwarming their moments were.

Take, for example, the penultimate scene of the finale:

Recap: Mako tells Korra he loves her, Korra dramatically runs away with Naga, and Tenzin tells Mako they have to be patient with her, which is old people code for “give her some space.”

If you ask me, that’s shitty advice.

In real life, I want someone to go after me, even if I say I want to be alone or I tell people to go away. 

Yes, I am that person.

So you best believe my heart SOARED when the boy chased after the girl:

At first, Mako’s shocked.

No surprise there. 

He just witnessed Korra in the Avatar State, which means 1) her bending is back and 2) the Avatar State is no joke!! The glowing eyes!! The command of the four elements at your fingertips!! That’s hardcore, bro!!

But then he fondly smiles at her, which I wholeheartedly interpret as “Ah, yes. That’s my girl.”

And look at her face!!

These two aren’t endgame, so I’m allowing myself to savor in the swoon.

FYI: If there’s anything you should know about me, it’s that I’m a sucker for cheek caresses.

Twirling hugs also make me a lil weak in the knees.

Running to someone and barreling into their arms is just stupid cute.

[Heavy sigh.]

I was really rooting for Asami. 

After Chapter 7, I thought we were going to see how Asami was coping with the reveal of her father’s conspiring nature. Instead, her character seemed to revolve more around the love triangle (or whatever shape you want to call the ridiculous Asami x Mako x Korra situation). When Asami does mention her father, it’s only a sparse comment every other episode or so.

Thus, the showdown between father and daughter lacks an emotional weight, and it’s partly because we haven’t explored enough of their relationship to truly feel for these characters.

That isn’t to say their sequence doesn’t have powerful moments. 

I just want to take a moment to holla at ma boy @Jeremy Zuckerman, sole music composer. 

Your music is always stunning, but the accompanying track in Asami and Hiroshi’s showdown (plus the music in the boat scene and everything in the third act) is what carries the entire segment. 

Your melodies tugged at my heartstrings in ways the story couldn’t.

Their final fight, for instance:

Asami is so caught up in the battle---defending herself against her father, no less---that you think she might actually do it, she might actually hurt him. 

But then he’s looking at her like this, 

and she starts to hesitate (this is her father after all),

which is the exact moment Hiroshi strikes.

In the end, Asami captures her father, but not without remorse: “You really are a horrible father.”

Dear Creators, 

Please give your characters the emotional depth they deserve and explore the nuances of their relationships. 

Trust me: they can lift the weight of their stories just fine.

I am unbelievably disappointed in Noatak’s arc. 

I just---

I mean---

How?

How are you going to build the foundation of a character on a lie?

How are you going to develop that character’s arc for ten episodes, then discredit almost everything with deceit?? 

How are you going to completely undermine your character like that???

And to add insult to injury, Noatak keeps lying, going so far as to reveal a fake, painted scar: 

Here’s the thing: Zuko is my world. 

Of all the characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender, I found pieces of myself in his story the most. Scars, then, are sore subjects for me; sometimes, I feel like I’m as sensitive about his scar as he was.

Yes, I jumped in my seat upon first seeing Noatak’s “scar,” but make no mistake---I’d rip that lie off his face in a heartbeat.

Undermining your character with lies is bad enough, but this shit felt like mockery, and while I’m certain that wasn’t the creators’ intents, I’m taking it personally anyway.

However, attention should be paid to Noatak’s last scene:

Again, the music is so beautifully somber, but the dialogue here is probably some of the episode’s best.

From Noatak’s “I had almost forgotten the sound of my own name,” to Tarrlok’s "It will be just like the good old days.”

From the tear that rolls down Noatak’s cheek,

to Tarrlok's decision to sacrifice them both.  

It doesn’t make up for butchering Noatak’s arc, but this was, quite simply, a beautiful ending to a sad story.

Dear Creators, 

Please don’t make the same mistake twice.

You compromised the integrity of your character the moment you sacrificed a fleshed out plot for woaw!shock factor.

Villain or not, he deserved better.

Also, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU.

It was at this moment that I wanted to jump into the screen and rescue Tenzin and his beautiful children myself.

LOOK AT THEIR FACES.

I WAS SO MAD. 

LIKE:

HOW COULD YOU.

It should be said: I loved Korra in this episode.

I mean, she was pretty daft to think that hiding under a table would keep her safe from a bloodbender. A bloodbender (a psychic one at that) can feel your blood, Korra, of course he knows you’re under there.

So just for that:

Yeah, don’t you look all silly and fuzzy.

Aside from this idiotic little slip, she was pretty badass, unlocking her airbending and fighting against Noatak’s bloodbending:

What a crappy screenshot of her airbending, haha. Would you believe me if I said this was genuinely the best I could do?

And unlike Asami and her father, I actually felt for Korra. I was devastated when Katara couldn’t repair her severed connection to the other three elements.

Though I wonder if I felt more for Korra because she acted just as I would. That is, she’s clearly distraught over losing her bending, but she wants to spare her friends and family the trouble of making a scene:

So she waits until she’s alone to let it all go:

:’-(

As I said, I loved and felt for Korra in the finale, and I don’t have a problem with her...

I have a problem with the writing.

Korra’s airbending was very badass, but I completely forgot about her airbending struggles. 

The first four episodes show Korra’s conflict with the element (i.e., it’s literally the plot line of Chapter 2). If anything, these episodes have small moments that remind us of Korra’s airbending training---practicing in the temple’s courtyard or doing exercises with the kids, to name a few examples.

Then, in Chapter 8, Tarrlok insults her with the “half-baked Avatar” comment, snidely remarking on her less than satisfactory airbending. It’s in this same episode that Korra reminds Tenzin---and the audience---that she’s never been able to connect with her spiritual side. (More on this later!)

And... that’s it. 

After the eighth episode, she’s kidnapped by Tarrlok, who reveals himself as a bloodbender; she’s rescued but then Amon and Hiroshi attack Republic City, separating Korra and the teens from Tenzin, his family, and Lin; Korra decides to take Amon on her own (but not really because Mako decides to tag along) and the two of them bump into Tarrlok, who reveals that Amon is actually his long-lost, waterbending, psychic bloodbending brother, Noatak. 

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. If the creators were prioritizing awe! and shock! and woaw!, then unlocking Korra’s airbending this way definitely did the job. But it felt a little too... convenient? Plus, there was no explanation for why her airbending worked when it did. 

I mean, saving Mako obviously had something to do with it, and they didn’t have time to get into the details because, duh, they were trying to restore Korra’s bending. 

Still, the audience shouldn’t have to interpret everything.

(Or perhaps I’m just being petty, lol.)

For a book titled after the element, I guess I just expected more. 

Ultimately, I wish we saw Korra practicing more airbending; I wish we got an explanation for how and why she airbended when she did; I wish her success in unlocking her final element had not been overshadowed by the loss of her water-, earth-, and firebending.

Which brings me here, to this special moment:

I cried.

100%. 

And the gentle, yet all too familiar Avatar theme playing in the background? Yeah, I was a puddle of tears.

However, as nostalgic as this was, I wasn’t too pleased at how quickly Korra’s bending was restored because it felt like the creators were taking shortcuts again.

For the record, I like that Noatak took Korra’s bending away (though I would have liked a more epic battle?), as it debunked the whole “the Avatar is invincible” concept. But, really? A quick touch of Aang’s fingers and her bending is restored, just like that?

Maybe it’s just me, but I would’ve loved to see Korra struggling to get her bending back. Perhaps we could’ve seen her retraining and relearning the other elements, which is something I still feel we were robbed of. 

Furthermore, as much as I enjoyed seeing Aang and all the former Avatar reincarnations, I didn’t like that this was also the moment Korra connected with her spiritual side. Similar to her airbending moment, I forgot about her spiritual struggles; the issue is last mentioned in Chapter 8 and, before that, all the way back in Chapter 1. But, honestly, I think the ease and convenience of this moment lends to the problematic pacing of Book I as a whole.

Dear Creators, 

While I thank you for restoring Korra and Lin’s bending, please don’t resort to convenient endings. I recognize that you only had twelve episodes, but please, no more shortcuts.

Your story will suffer.

Your characters will suffer, too.

p.s., I’m sorry for being so mean to you. I have a lot of feelings, is all. 

Cheers to Book II, though!

Parting Thoughts

Before sitting down to write the finale’s review, I took a two-week break.

In that time, I rewatched (and re-rewatched) the entire first book.

I even had time to indulge in the fifth season of The Great British Baking Show.

Shameless Plug: 

I absolutely recommend this charming baking competition. 

You learn quite a lot about the science and precision of baking, endure (but also adore) countless baking puns, and witness what true competition looks like. That is, genuine camaraderie, rooting for your fellow bakers to succeed, and sometimes, lending them a hand if they’re pressed for time.

Warning: do not watch late at night. You will reach for a baguette. 

And yet, I still feel meh about Book I.

The season has its share of success: the music is as impeccable as ever and the technological and industrial components of the Avatar-Korra universe are developing and expanding nicely. 

However, it will always come down to the story, and the writing just wasn’t up to par. 

Truthfully, the real triumphs are the characters, who---after only twelve episodes---have built a home for themselves in my heart:

Although, our bright, blue-eyed Avatar still has much to learn.

(i.e., how to stop being an impatient little dumdum)

But take heart...

Her story’s only just begun.

From Beginning to End:

“Thanks for looking out for me, Aang.”

credits

[rvinsounds]

– shall we dance? in which seungyeon has to give advice. alternatively titled ‘four idiots who somehow all got the girl’

a/n: this is almost 5k words i don’t fucking know okay kill me now. also i’m sorry bc this was supposed to be Serious Shit and Cute but somehow halfway through it started to become crack and idk hdbfdsbhfjfd i hope y’all like it anyway lmfoaoa

The announcement for the annual Yule Ball had just gone up on all the bulletin boards in all the houses on the first of December. Which, of course, started a loud commotion among the entirety of the student body, everyone buzzing over who would ask who (mostly between the male populace) and who would be asked by who (among the female students). The professors could barely get the students to focus without interrupting big proposal ideas and endless gossiping. On top of all the homework they were receiving before Christmas, all the students in the fourth year and up were busy coming up with ways to ask out their desired partners.

Though, there was one student that was not concerned in the slightest. Chanuk was entirely unconcerned about the whole process of asking the person he was going with to the ball. Of course, he hadn’t actually asked yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“Hey, who are you going with to the ball?” Seungyeon asks him during study hall, nudging him gently with a smile. The Ravenclaw was usually more studious during study hall, but had seemed to succumb to the way the rest of the student body was reacting, unable to really focus on the History of Magic paper he had open in front of him.

“Arazely,” the Slytherin replies with ease, not even looking up from his Transfigurations paper, eyebrows furrowed together as he writes down the theory behind the Switching Spell they had learnt in class earlier that week. He flips through The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 to his required information, squinting at it. “Seungyeonie, what does – why are you looking at me like that?”

“You already asked her? The announcement went up yesterday!” The younger boy’s expression is one of complete awe, having been talking to their other friends and had experienced all of them freaking out about the respective girls they wanted to go with.

“Oh. That’s right …” Chanuk’s eyebrows furrow even more before he shakes silver bangs out of his face, straightening up and glancing around to look for his alleged date to the Yule Ball. He stands, clambering over the bench he was sitting on and he pats Seungyeon on the shoulder before heading down the row to where the Hufflepuff girl was seated. She jumps a bit at the rough tap to her shoulder, glancing up and around only to see a glowering Slytherin boy standing behind her.

“Chanuk? What do you want?” Her voice is soft, and even surprised to see him there. The people around her are whispering too, her friends curious and very obviously trying to eavesdrop on the coming up conversation. No one seems to be expecting what comes next though.

“We’re going to the ball together,” he says, patting her gently on the shoulder before he stalks back to where he had been sitting with Seungyeon, plopping back down next to him again and turning his attention back to his paper.

The Ravenclaw’s expression is one of awe again.

There’s a tap on his shoulder a moment later, Chanuk glowering at the person for a moment for daring to interrupt his paper again only for his expression to soften a moment later when he realizes who it is.

“Okay, we’re going to the ball together,” Arazely confirms with a smile, cheeks slightly pink before she also hurries back to her spot.

“I can’t wait to tell the other hyungs that you beat them all to asking out their dates!” Seungyeon exclaims, grinning widely after he’s had a moment to process what had just happened. “They’re gonna be pissed.”

–

Word goes around in their friendship circle that Chanuk had inadvertently asked his date to the Yule Ball already, and as Seungyeon predicted, the older students are pissed. Euncheol, for one, has been working on asking Nadine out for years and she had never said yes to him. Even after all the things he had tried, he had never once succeeded. Since the announcement for the ball, he’s been concocting many a plan in the safety of one of the more isolated corners of the library.

He’s surrounded by scrunched up balls of parchment, ink scribbles on each of them when Seungyeon finds him in the library.

“Is this another one of your master plans to ask Nadine nuna to the Yule Ball?” he asks the Gryffindor, picking up one of the paper balls on the floor and unraveling it, squinting at the handwriting. He makes out ‘giant squid’, ‘house-elves’ and 'confetti’ before the sheet is snatched out of his hands and crumpled up once again.

“I’m going to figure this out if it’s the last thing I do,” Euncheol promises, before shooing him away. “I need peace and quiet for my master plan – come back later.”

And Seungyeon is promptly kicked out of that corner of the library.

Not having anything else better to do – he had conveniently finished his homework during study hall and considering he wasn’t an OWL student yet, he was free to do whatever he wanted with his spare time – he tagged along to the Slytherin Quidditch practice, wanting to watch. Despite being a member of the Ravenclaw team, his relationship with the Slytherin Quidditch Captain meant that he was trusted not to say anything.

And honestly, he wouldn’t be able to reveal much anyway – though he treasured his relationship with Saebom enough that the Slytherin knew he didn’t have to worry about Seungyeon giving away team secrets to a rival house.

He’s seated in the bleachers as he half-watches the team practice, reading up on the next lesson in his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection for his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson tomorrow morning when he’s joined by someone sitting down next to him. Glancing up to see whose presence he had just been graced by, he smiles brightly when he recognizes who it is.

“Nuna, hello,” he greets the older Ravenclaw, waving a little bit as he bookmarks the page he was on. He can always catch up on his readings a little bit later. “Are you waiting for Jess nuna? She’s not done yet … Saebom hyung keeps making them redo their formations. She’s taunting him, I think …” He glances up at the players on their brooms, an amused smile on his lips.

He knows for a fact – actually, probably everyone in the entire school knows for a fact – that the Slytherin captain most definitely had the hots for the Slytherin seeker. And vice versa. Everyone seemed to know about it … besides the two themselves. It was amazingly obvious, even from this far away that the two were flirting once again in the air.

“Are you going to the ball, Seungyeonie?” Megan asks fondly, brushing his hair out of his eyes before frowning a little bit. “You need a haircut soon,” she murmurs, thumbing at the blond strands before she confirms that she is, indeed, waiting for the lavender-haired seeker to finish with the Quidditch practice.

The younger Ravenclaw shrugs in response to both things she had said. “I was going to tag along with Eddy hyung since he’s too lazy to ask someone to go. I don’t have anyone I want to ask so I’m just … going to chill.”

Megan laughs before she ruffles his hair, fixing it the moment right after.They both jump at the shrill shriek of a whistle, Saebom finally signalling for the practice to end. The two Ravenclaws watch with matching expressions of amusement as they watch him get bowled over once he’s close enough to the ground by Jessica, a grin on her face as she straightens up. Even from where they’re sitting, across the entire field almost, they can hear her exclaiming; “Sorry! Forgot to brake,” as she waves at the two of them, mischief written clearly across her face as Saebom lays there on the pitch, dramatically playing dead. “Suck it up you big baby.”

“I’m going to go make sure she doesn’t accidentally kill him,” Megan sighs, patting Seungyeon on the shoulder before getting up to leave and he grins to himself, too amused by the antics of the Slytherins. He watches the older girl head across the Quidditch Pitch before he packs up his stuff. Might as well head to dinner now, and hopefully find the rest of his friends – before he would have to check to make sure Saebom hadn’t ended up in the hospital wing.

He waves back at his friends, who had all stopped what they were doing to wave at him excitedly in hopes he would notice, before heading off and ticking one point off of his mental to-do list.

There was no way Saebom was dying if he was waving at him like that.

–

Usually he prefers to study with Chanuk, since they’re in the same year and share a lot of classes, but he was somehow roped into studying with the head boy and he’s unsure, really, of how this had happened. They were three years apart and the Hufflepuff was doing his NEWTs now – or he should be.

“Hyung?” Seungyeon inquires, glancing at the older male who’s writing furiously in a notebook instead of on parchment paper, copying something down from a textbook.

Sinhwa glances up from his notes, a genuine look of surprise on his face and immediately closes his notebook, and Seungyeon recognizes The Look and quickly backtracks. “It’s nothing important! Really, don’t – you’re doing your Ultimate Dad Thing right now, you know.”

That stops the older male in his tracks of trying to literally drill a hole into the younger’s brain, looking rightfully sheepish as he leans back with a soft laugh. “Oops, sorry.”

The Head Boy settles back in his chair, reopening his notebook and dipping his quill into the inkwell before he glances at the Ravenclaw expectantly, his quill poised to write. “I’m doing my work now, kiddo, please tell me what you were going to say before I accidentally went into Dad Mode.” Seungyeon can’t help but laugh at that, throwing his head back slightly and he has to stifle his laughter by covering his mouth with both hands in case Madame Pince heard him and kicked him out of the library for being too loud. It takes him a few moments to really contain himself before he calms down enough to think about what he had been about to say.

“I was wondering if you had asked Megan nuna to the ball yet,” he murmurs after a moment, knowing that it had been a few weeks already and out of their entire friend group, only Chanuk had really secured a date. He had assumed that Sinhwa and Megan would be going together – they had been dating for almost a year now, if he remembered correctly, so it wasn’t like they would be going with anyone else besides their significant other.

He just didn’t have faith in his most oblivious hyung – for good reason – to have asked his girlfriend to the ball. He was five hundred percent sure that Sinhwa would’ve just assumed that they would be going together. Which was fine and dandy, of course, but he also knew Megan pretty well that he was also five hundred percent sure that she, while not expecting it, would very much enjoy an invitation all the same. Even if she had also assumed that they would be going together.

“Was … Am I supposed to?” Sinhwa looks very surprised, as Seungyeon had fully expected him to if he were honest, and even a bit caught off guard. “She’s already – should I ask her then?”

“Hyung … would I be asking you this if that wasn’t what I was implying the whole time?” The younger points out, shaking his head and pretending to facepalm, sighing audibly before he glances around.

“This sounds bad, and I don’t been to stereotype or anything, but it’s a girl thing. Also, I know Mei nuna and she would definitely like for you to ask her. So you should do it. Now. Or, soon,” he says, an air of finality in his voice. Despite being the youngest of their group of friends, his words are often taken the most seriously out of everyone’s because … well, because he was the youngest. Also, probably because he was the shyest one and tended to not go out of his way to get noticed, and therefore was the one who noticed more things than everyone else.

He didn’t like to admit it, but being the baby of their friendship group did most definitely have its perks.

“Anyways hyung, I think you should ask her to the ball,” he says, turning his own attention back to his notes as he reads them over quietly, glancing up once just to make sure he could see the gears turning in the older’s head.

Merlin, he really hoped he wouldn’t have to intervene with everyone to get them to finally ask their specific persons to the Yule Ball. Matchmaker Seungyeon Kim did not have a nice ring to it. Really. It didn’t.

–

“Do you think Euncheol hyung will finally stop trying to come up with extravagant plans and ask Nadine nuna to the ball before Sinhwa hyung realizes that he still hasn’t asked Megan nuna to the ball?”

“I think Saebom hyung will forget to ask Jess nuna to the ball until the last minute.”

“But he’s been meaning to ask her since you asked Ara to the ball! I don’t think he’ll be the last one. I think Euncheol hyung will psyche himself out.”

“5 Sickles that Euncheol hyung will be next, Sinhwa hyung after and Saebom hyung will be last.”

“Okay, deal.”

–

There’s only a week and a half left before Christmas Day, and more importantly, the day of the Yule Ball and Euncheol is starting to panic. Seungyeon had found him in the library again, once more surrounded by crumpled up plans of asking Nadine to the Yule Ball, and not one good one in sight.

He was starting to become desperate.

The Ravenclaw had convinced him to literally just YOLO it – whatever that meant. He liked to think he kept up with Muggle slang enough that he could understand what Jessica and Seungyeon liked to yell at each other, and what Sinhwa would reference after a summer of being at home, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what 'Just you only live once it’ could possibly mean.

He had taken it to mean just go for it, and the Gryffindor honestly hoped that that was what Seungyeon had meant.

If not, he was probably going to embarrass himself. Not that that was something of a surprise to him anymore, since he tended to do that on his own just fine.

But, with Seungeon’s encouragement, he was finally planning to march straight up to his housemate and just ask her outright. To hell with all of his fancy plans, honestly. Hopefully, she would take it straight and not reject him with one of her stupid excuses of not 'dating Gryffindors because they were dumb’ since, that was technically a diss upon herself.

He was getting sidetracked.

Pacing quietly outside of the classroom he knew the sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were in for Transfiguration, he waits with a single rose in his hand. Of course, he had had to have something even if it wasn’t part of any of his great schemes. Operation Ask Nadine to the Yule Ball On The First Try had to be a success – so a rose it was.

(Also part of Seungyeon’s suggestions.)

When she finally steps out of the classroom, he rushes up to her before she realizes what’s happening. He’s prepared for rejection, honestly speaking, and his mind is whirring with things he can say to either play it off as a joke or to retort with to her usual excuse for saying no.

“Nadine,” he calls out, grabbing her hand and whirling her around before she can get her bearings together, smiling at her. Man, he’s been pining after her for years – fingers crossed, fingers crossed! “Go to the ball with me,” Euncheol murmurs, presenting her with the rose and he ducks his head slightly, different words on the tip of his tongue.

She’s quiet for a moment, and his heart leaps to his throat. The tension is too real, and the older Gryffindor feels like an eternity has passed before she finally opens her mouth to speak. His heart is pounding in his ears and he’s most definitely sure he had heard wrong when his brain processes her answer.

“… okay.”

“Fine! I didn’t want to go with you anyway! It was a –” he pauses, having blurted out his automated response without having really listened to what she had said. “Wait – sorry, I expected you to say no.”

There’s a smile on her face, one that will probably stay etched in his brain forever as the one that can always take his breath away, before she punches him hard in the arm and takes the rose from him.

“This doesn’t mean I’m taking back what I said about Gryffindors though,” she mutters at him, holding the rose carefully in her arms before she smiles again. “See you later?”

And all he can do is nod dumbly as the sixth year hurries off to her next class.

“Yes!”

–

“What’s Euncheol screaming about now?” Saebom asks, sidling up next to the younger and slinging an arm around his shoulders, both of them watching in amusement as their Gryffindor fistpumps his way around the hallway, randomly high-fiving people that they’re sure he doesn’t actually know. “I mean, he’s usually screaming. But this is a bit excessive, even for him.”

“Hey hyung,” Seungyeon glances up at the Slytherin, smiling in greeting before he turns his attention back to their overly happy friend. “Nadine nuna said yes to going to the ball with him, that’s what.”

There’s dead silence in answer to that statement and the Ravenclaw knows exactly what that entails, nudging the older male with his shoulder before turning to face him yet.

“Still haven’t figured out how to ask Jess nuna to the ball yet, hey?”

Saebom blanches slightly, shaking his head a moment after. “She’s not going with anyone yet, right?” He asks, his expression concerned and Seungyeon really wants to say yes just to see him sweat but he decides to take mercy on his friend, shaking his head in answer instead.

“I really think she’s waiting for you to ask her,” he points out, sighing and as much as he likes the older boy, he can’t help but think he might be incredibly dense sometimes. “She’s asked me a few times if you’re going with someone, too.”

The Slytherin seems to be lost in thought, fingers combing through his bangs in what Seungyeon is sure is a nervous habit, though Saebom does it all the damn time so he’s honestly not too sure if he’s just obsessed with how his hair looks. “Please ask her soon – I think Nadine nuna is planning to castrate you if you don’t.”

–

Honestly, Sinhwa had been fully planning on acting on Seungyeon’s words after he had heard them but between studying for his NEWTs, doing homework, spending time with his girlfriend and his Head Boy duties, it’s completely slipped his mind that he should’ve asked her to the ball properly. Especially during the time that he spends with her – he would much rather allow himself to enjoy her presence rather than have to worry about something like asking her to the ball.

But, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Seungyeon’s in the back of his head likes to remind him, she would be happy that you asked her even if she’s not expecting it.

He decides, in the end, when it startles him that there’s only a week left before Christmas, that he has to just hunker down and do it. It really shouldn’t be that hard – but why is he suddenly so nervous? They’re literally just meeting to have lunch together before they have to go off to their respective classes afterwards but his palms are feeling clammy and he has to rub them against his robes. It’s not like he thinks she’ll be mad at him, or God forbid, say no to his invite but his heart is thudding in his chest anyway.

It reminds him of when he had asked her out.

Now is not the time to think about that! The Head Boy scolds himself, smoothing down his shirt and he sighs softly to himself before he straightens his spine and heads into the Great Hall, glancing immediately at the Ravenclaw table to search the length of it for his girlfriend. She’s not hard for him to find, and he makes his way over immediately, plopping himself down next to her with a soft greeting.

They eat lunch quietly, just enjoying each other’s company in the few calm moments they could steal everyday before their hectic lives caught up with them again. This is the usual for them, and whereas some of their friends might call this boring, both of them just enjoyed it too much to really care about what other people said.

But, today, today is going to be a bit different.

Before they split, Sinhwa takes his girlfriend’s hand gently and presses his lips to the back of her hand, smiling up at her and his eyes crinkle into her favorite expression.

“Will you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball this coming Christmas?” he asks, his voice soft so that no one would really hear what the content of this conversation was, though it probably wasn’t too hard to guess. Being the Head Boy, and a rather popular one due to his genuine kindness that he showed to everyone and anyone, meant that there was a fair share of rumours floating about. Whether true or untrue, it didn’t matter, but he knew for a fact that there were a handful drifting about of his not having asked Megan to the ball yet.

The Ravenclaw’s expression is one of surprise for a moment before it dissolves into one of immeasurable fondness as she grasps his hand more tightly in her own, their promise rings to each other clinking together ever so gently.

“Of course,” she replies, in a voice that’s even softer, gentler than he thinks he deserves with how overdue this question is. “It would be an honour to be your date to the Yule Ball.”

He smiles, and he thinks he understands what Seungyeon means now. It might’ve been easy to assume that they were to be going to the ball together, but it’s much nicer now that’s he’s confirmed it.

–

“Have you asked her yet?”

“No.”

“And why in the name of Merlin’s underpants have you not?”

“Did you just use Merlin’s underpants in a question –”

“Yes? That’s not important though?”

“I mean, it kind of is –”

“It’s less than a week until the fucking Yule Ball, Oh Saebom you dweeb, if you don’t ask her soon, Merlin help me I will castrate you if it’s the last thing I do!”

–

“I still can’t believe you were the first person out of everyone to ask,” Seungyeon sighs, having been watching all of his friends slowly gain their dates as Chanuk just stared blankly at his textbook.

“And I also can’t believe Saebom hyung is the last! This doesn’t make sense,” he shakes his head, glancing down at his paper that he’s writing for his Charms class. The professors have been increasing their workload in order to prepare their year for their OWLs – which is totally unfair, considering Christmas is just around the corner.

Chanuk glances up from where he’s chewing on the end of his quill, expression blank as always and he just shrugs.

“Saebom hyung is useless, have you not figured that out already?”

–

After much hounding from a certain tiny Gryffindor girl, he’s finally got his bearings in check to finally, finally gather up the courage to ask a certain prickly housemate of his to the Yule Ball.

Of course, the Yule Ball being the next day had absolutely nothing to do with it. He would deny that much until the grave – no, Saebom would take that secret with him to beyond the damn grave. Nadine would never let him live this down.

It wasn’t like he was nervous or anything.

Except he was. More than he had ever been before.

He had no idea why this was so nerve-wracking for him. He had fought with the Giant Squid, for Merlin’s sake, and he was fully planning on leading his Quidditch team to victory. He had dealt with so many things scarier than this, yet he couldn’t stop fiddling with his hair as he waited for a lavender-haired girl to enter the Slytherin common room.

Though, when Jessica finally steps through the entrance of the common room, he’s lost his train of thought. Especially since she plops down next to him immediately upon seeing him, and things like that always get him to forget what he was planning beforehand. They had become closer as of late, probably because he was no longer the target of her and Nadine’s pranks that he was being included in them more. And all the long Quidditch practices had required them to spend more time alone than with their friends, so it was inevitable that their friendship would flourish under these circumstances.

“What color dress are you wearing to the Yule Ball?” Saebom ends up asking her absentmindedly as a lull comes into their conversation, nudging her gently where she’s sat on the couch, legs slung over his.

Her expression is a curious one, albeit a bit of a confused one as she glances up from her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions where she’s rereading the uses and properties of the moonstone. They had been in a deep discussion on Potions just before this, and he realizes a bit belatedly that it’s a bit of a random jump in conversation topics.

“It’s like a burgundy – my dad sent it to me last week,” she answers him, flipping the page of her textbook and smoothing it down before she raises an eyebrow at him. “Why?”

He just shrugs, playing with a loose thread he had found on her ripped jeans. “I mean, we have to match – do you think I could charm my tie to be the same color?”

There’s a pause as he continues to play with the thread, twisting it in his fingers, and he doesn’t realize that she hasn’t actually answered him before she speaks again, her tone entirely confused as she nudges him with her foot. He notices now that she’s closed her book, setting it aside and he realizes that this means Real Serious Conversation immediately.

“Since when were we going to go to the ball together?”

This question catches him off guard entirely and his jaw drops slightly before he quickly runs their past conversation through his mind. It’s completely silent where they’re sitting, the expression on the younger Slytherin’s face adorably confused, before he realizes where he had went wrong and his eyes widen.

“… Oh hell, I forgot to ask you first,” Saebom whispers, reaching up to facepalm extremely hard before he changes expressions so fast, no one could have caught when he had gone from exasperated to serious.

“Will you be my date to the Yule Ball, Miss Nguyen?” he asks, extending his hand to her with a somber expression on his face – only to promptly yelp as she kicks him hard, flailing and his expression is now bewildered, laughter on the verge of appearing.

“Fuck you so hard in the ass for asking me so goddamn late, you fucking asshole,” Jessica huffs, arms crossed over her chest, her Potions book having fallen to the floor with a thud when she had kicked him earlier.

“What if I had said yes to someone else, you jerk –”

“But you didn’t –”

The older Slytherin watches her with wide eyes as he listens to all the muffled profanities she’s mumbling under her breath, catching bits and pieces like “– should say no, this asshole –” and “– I can’t fucking believe –” and “literally on the goddamn night before –” before he has to intervene, purposely pouting at her, going the cute route because he knew that was her weakness when it came to him.

“Is that a no?”

Silence.

“I’ll charm your tie for you, asshole.”

–

“Pay up.”

Seungyeon decides – as he watches everyone dance with their dates at the Yule Ball, well, Sinhwa and Megan are swaying on the dance floor, completely absorbed in each other’s presences, Arazely is sitting next to Chanuk as they drink punch together to cool off after they had jammed out too hard to the last song, Nadine and Euncheol are doing some weird intimate sort of dancing that he doesn’t want to pay too much attention to, and Jessica is chasing Saebom around the Great Hall for some comment on her height – that he’s never going to have a bet with Chanuk ever again.

[dorksndisasters]

Session 5

[[<PREV]] | [[NEXT>]]

OOPS

 Sorry guys, I got caught up in stuff yesterday and forgot, my bad.

 But this! This was the first one I ever properly wrote! The style is massively different my bad

 Mostly because I just. I really like Setareh, ok

(reminder that it’s two eps further ahead on the patreon! @/scmalarky! can get these fortnightly on Fridays for £1 a month!)

##

Setareh hears footsteps on the stairs – that heavy tread can only be Haucey, and she’s escorting at least two others – and carefully arranges himself on the metal bench in his small cell. It’s important to make a good first impression.

So he lies on his back, one knee propped up, one arm artfully draped over his eyes.

They’re put in the cells next to him. He resists moving until he hears Haucey return below. Then he moves fluidly to sitting up, adjusting his shirt to lie properly.

There’s only two of them. He tries not to frown, but he’d expected more.

“Hello there,” he says, smiling his winning smile as he leans forward. “What brings you to such a sorry state?”

He listens as they tell him, his long ears twitching to catch the sounds from outside, from the ground floor. He commiserates, shares his own carefully constructed tale of woe, and focuses on the half-elf. She seems… not more naive, but friendlier. The elf is eyeing the guards like she wishes her eyes were daggers. (That’s Uriel, he learns later, and she’s the most dagger-happy one of the group)

Ophibwynn - “A lovely name” he says, when she offers it, bowing like he still has his cape when he gives his in return – asks if he can help.

Carefully, he pulls one of the lesser pins from his hair, rearranging it marginally so it still falls the way he wants it to, and passes it through the bars of the cell.

But first, she pulls out a golden flute, of all things – Setareh can’t help the way his eyes light upon it, for it is so very pretty – and sets the guards to lightly sleeping with a soft lullaby. Then she picks the lock of her cell, her companions, and his own.

Uriel (Setareh isn’t sure if he should feign recognition; there are not many elves outside of the Sanctuary) steals a sword from a sleeping guard, and takes his keys, arguing for freeing the other prisoners – not because they may be innocent, but because they could be a distraction. And maybe because they aren’t innocent, because that seems to delight her (he forgets, of course, that elves are rarely Lawful by the understandings of men).

It is a near thing, when the second guard wakes, that they only knock him out.

The other prisoners run; by the time Setareh follows them down, the guards are gone. (Convenient, he smiles to himself, but they are too busy retrieving their gear to notice).

They invite him to come along to find the others, and of course he accepts. He has helped them, now maybe they will help him.

But they are a law unto themselves, and as soon as they’ve found their other friends – tipsy, carousing in the pub like it isn’t late morning, like they haven’t just avoided jail (or maybe because they have avoided jail, for all that they broke into someone’s house the night before) – they return to Aewyth’s office to explain just why they’d done the break in.

Curious, he thinks, but amusing. This shall be fun.

Aewyth is still alone in the guard post; freeing the other prisoners must have made things difficult for her. (“Did you have to strip them naked?” she asks, tired and unimpressed. “Although at least it’s making it easy to identify them.”).

Setareh hops up to sit on the bench-that-isn’t-a-bench in her office, watching the explanations unfold.

Ophibwynn explains that they were coerced, that they still have the item they were to steal – she hands it back – but can’t remember who had them steal it, only that they realised after the fact and didn’t agree to give it over.

Aewyth, in turn, explains that Aeneth – whose seal it is they’ve stolen – is close to the top of the council and the loss and subsequent misuse of her seal could have had disastrous consequences.

(Setareh is crowing, telling Aewyth that he’d told her so, that he’d seen this coming, that she should have listened like Aszaccixl had. She ignores him, as she’s probably right to do. This must look strange (he wonders, briefly, if he should depart and find Aszaccixl, and explain things, but this – this is so much more interesting)).

It is Carric, at this point, who speaks up with Aelfswild’s name, and Setareh crows even more because he knew it, he told her-

Aewyth shoots him a glare and he quietens, still grinning. She offers them a squad of men, just as soon as they return from… damage control, to take to Aelfswild’s base of operations, but they persuade her that perhaps it would be best if they went alone, so they didn’t arouse suspicion.

Setareh thinks that maybe there is a further reason for not taking the guards, but that’s hardly his problem. He’s going to tag along, to keep an eye on them. He’s curious to see where this goes.

They lead him down into the blackmarket, by a route he hadn’t been aware of, and people seem pleased to see them. Not quite cheering them on, but admiring nods, smiles, largely directed at Ophibwynn and Uriel.

Marask pauses in an attempt to sell something – a chalice of some kind, Setareh thinks – but he isn’t given a price he likes, so he doesn’t.

They lead him on through the corridors to a dead end with two doors and a guard, at which point Marask becomes a crow and joins his companion in sitting on Ophibwynn’s shoulders.

Setareh isn’t sure why, but he doesn’t question it as the guard lets them in like Aelfswild is in there and waiting for them, though he isn’t.

They make a search of the room, and Uriel is the one to find the secret tunnel, though the door is locked.

Marask makes short work of it with his claws, and they find a tunnel stretching in two directions beyond it.

They pick a path – seemingly at random, and Setareh is surprised they didn’t just toss a coin – and walk it out to its exit in the woods, where they recognise their surroundings.

They’ve been here before, apparently, and there’s a camp beyond the trees, that they raided before. The camp that got them started in this whole business.

[manuelclapid]

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!)

Do you use a cleaning schedule? Having a set schedule of what gets cleaned each day, each week, and each month (like those in our free cleaning binder) can make keeping up on seasonal cleaning tasks so much more doable, and, in fact, make it feel like there is less cleaning to do when spring cleaning and fall cleaning times roll around. But… there are still a few tasks that often get forgotten amongst the baseboards and drain cleaning and daily clean-up tasks.  So today we’ve partnered with Filtrete to talk about 6 common cleaning tasks you probably forgot — and these easy jobs will help your home be both safer AND cleaner this year!

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You (Probably) Forgot

1: Clean Your Vacuum

Your vacuum certainly *does* plenty of cleaning, but when was the last time you cleaned your vacuum, like really cleaned it?  Am I right??

Can you imagine what kid of dust, dirt and little biological creatures are spewing from you vacuum?!  EWW!!  Clean your vacuum people and while  you are at it, make sure you have the best filters in it possible.

Did you know that a full vacuum bag OR a clogged filter can inhibit your vacuums’s power, reduce suction and leave allergens and dust behind?  Also, if you notice that your vacuum seems to be losing suction, you may not need to go buy a new one, simply replacing the bag and filters may restore the suction you have lost!

Filtrete is a leader in residential air filtration and the most trusted brand of indoor heating and cooling air filters on the market, and did you know they make vacuum filters, too?  In fact, to make this vacuum maintenance even easier, Clean & Cook Supply Website is an awesome new site for all the replacement parts you need for any brand of vacuum (so you can shop in your pajamas).  This is how we get things done!!

So what about timing?   How often you should change your vacuum bag, filter and belts?

VACUUM BAGS: Change every 1-2 months.  Obviously you need to be changing out vacuum bags frequently.  Replace them with Filtrete vacuum bags every 1-2 months; don’t wait til it is so full you lose suction. Why go to all the effort of vacuuming if you don’t have full suction power? The new Clean & Cook Supply Website makes it easy to order online so you always have replacement bags ready when you need them.

VACUUM FILTERS: Change every 3-6 months (so this is a good one to add to your spring and fall cleaning lists).  Filtrete filters help to improve the air quality of your home by trapping small particles of dust, pollen, and pet dander.  They can trap particles that are 75 times smaller than a human hair – including 99.97% of dust mite debris, animal dander, molds and pollen. Even if your vacuum has a washable filter, you should know that repeated washing can cause the fiber of the filter to break down over time  and not work as efficiently.  Let’s be honest – if I am going to go to the work of cleaning my house, then I want it to work as efficiently as possible, so using a replaceable, highly efficient Filtrete vacuum filter will help our house stay cleaner, by not just pushing that crap back out into the air, and that sounds like a good plan to me.

VACUUM BELTS:  Replace as needed. If your vacuum is making funny noises and not picking up debris, it may be a broken belt.  To see if a belt is broken, turn it on and look to see if the brush roll is spinning.  If it’s not, your belt is likely broken.  You can replace it on the Clean & Cook Supply website for a cost effective, quick fix.

Remember this care that you take with your vacuum is a budget-saver in the long run, as it will keep your vacuum running better and extend the life of your vacuum!

  2: Clean Your Dishwasher

Again, your dishwasher works hard every day (and sometimes twice a day) cleaning the dishes , but have you ever cleaned the dishwasher? Especially if you have hard water like we do, it’s really important to do an annual checkup and make sure everything is clean and running smoothly. Every dishwasher has different specific parts but in general you’ll want to follow these steps to rid your machine of grease, food debris, and soap scum:

Step 1: Clean the drain and seal.  Remove the bottom rack and clear the drain and filter at bottom of the dishwasher interior. (If your dishwasher has a removable filter, remove and clean it as well.) Inspect the dishwasher seal and clean any build-up.

Step 2: Clean with vinegar. Run an empty dishwasher cycle with a cup of vinegar, using hot water. You can dump the vinegar right into the dishwasher, but we suggest placing the cup of vinegar in a dishwasher safe cup or bowl on the top rack. As the water runs through the dishwasher cycle, the vinegar is dispersed and cleans the dishwasher interior.

We keep up this cleaning every cycle by adding vinegar to each load of dishes we wash. In addition to keeping the dishwasher clean, it keeps our dishes sparkling even with the hard water in our area.

Step 3: Deodorize. Sprinkle a cup of baking soda in the bottom of the dishwasher and run a short hot-water cycle. (Our dishwasher has a sanitize cycle that is perfect for this.) Baking soda will also help remove any stains from the dishwasher interior.

If you have stubborn dishwasher stains and grime, you might also try a cleaning additive like LemiShine.

Step 4: Clean the dishwasher exterior. Now that the interior is sparkling clean, shine up the outside as well!

  3: Clean Your Washing Machine

We recently had some washer maintenance done and the service tech told me that we should be cleaning our front-load washer once a month! Oops! Spring and fall cleaning is a great time to rectify those tasks that don’t get done often enough, at least at our house.

Our front loader has a specific sanitize setting, so that makes it easy. You should also be washing the gasket regularly to avoid that musty smell that a lot of front-loading washers get.

If your washing machine doesn’t have a sanitize cycle, the process is still pretty easy. Vinegar comes to the rescue, again! Run a hot water batch, with the water to the highest fill level. While the washer is filling, add 1 quart of vinegar and let the vinegar run through the wash and rinse cycle. For top-loading machines, you can open the lid and allow the vinegar water to soak if you’d like.

Be sure to also wash the soap dispenser and any other high-gunk places on the washer. This is also a good time to check the connections to the hoses at the back of the machine to make sure they are tight with no leaks or drips.

  4: Clean Your Dryer

You clean the lint filter every load of laundry (hopefully), but lint builds up other places in your dryer, too. At least twice a year, it’s good practice to vacuum the lint filter holder (we always find spare change, par-tay!) and use gentle soap and water to clean the lint filter, too. (Let it fully dry before you put it back in the machine, of course.)

The lint filter in the dryer vent can pose a major fire hazard, so fall and spring cleaning is a great time to clean around the dryer and clean out the vent and ducts, too. Disconnect the dryer vent hose and remove any visible lint from both the hose and the machine. A long flexible brush or a vacuum cleaning attachment are helpful.

  5: Check and Replace Batteries

I try to remember to do this every time Daylight Saving Time starts and ends, which also conveniently coincides with fall and spring cleaning, but anytime you remember to check, do it! Check the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and replace as needed.

6: Check the Fire Extinguisher

Most home fire extinguishers last 10-12 years, but check the expiration date on yours because you want it ready when you need it! If it is expired, missing an inspection tag, or shows signs of excessive wear (such as a cracked seal, broken nozzle, or missing pin) contact your local fire department to learn about your options for recharging or replacing it. Remember, a fire extinguisher needs inspected and recharged after each use.

None of these tasks take very long or cost much money, but they’ll help your home be cleaner AND safer in the coming year.

Thank you Filtrete and Clean & Cook Supply Website for partnering with us on this post.  We love your products and have been using them for years.  All opinions are our own.

You might also like our free printable cleaning binder: 

The post 6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!) appeared first on Remodelaholic.

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[williamccreynolds]

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!)

Do you use a cleaning schedule? Having a set schedule of what gets cleaned each day, each week, and each month (like those in our free cleaning binder) can make keeping up on seasonal cleaning tasks so much more doable, and, in fact, make it feel like there is less cleaning to do when spring cleaning and fall cleaning times roll around. But… there are still a few tasks that often get forgotten amongst the baseboards and drain cleaning and daily clean-up tasks.  So today we’ve partnered with Filtrete to talk about 6 common cleaning tasks you probably forgot — and these easy jobs will help your home be both safer AND cleaner this year!

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You (Probably) Forgot

1: Clean Your Vacuum

Your vacuum certainly *does* plenty of cleaning, but when was the last time you cleaned your vacuum, like really cleaned it?  Am I right??

Can you imagine what kid of dust, dirt and little biological creatures are spewing from you vacuum?!  EWW!!  Clean your vacuum people and while  you are at it, make sure you have the best filters in it possible.

Did you know that a full vacuum bag OR a clogged filter can inhibit your vacuums’s power, reduce suction and leave allergens and dust behind?  Also, if you notice that your vacuum seems to be losing suction, you may not need to go buy a new one, simply replacing the bag and filters may restore the suction you have lost!

Filtrete is a leader in residential air filtration and the most trusted brand of indoor heating and cooling air filters on the market, and did you know they make vacuum filters, too?  In fact, to make this vacuum maintenance even easier, Clean & Cook Supply Website is an awesome new site for all the replacement parts you need for any brand of vacuum (so you can shop in your pajamas).  This is how we get things done!!

So what about timing?   How often you should change your vacuum bag, filter and belts?

VACUUM BAGS: Change every 1-2 months.  Obviously you need to be changing out vacuum bags frequently.  Replace them with Filtrete vacuum bags every 1-2 months; don’t wait til it is so full you lose suction. Why go to all the effort of vacuuming if you don’t have full suction power? The new Clean & Cook Supply Website makes it easy to order online so you always have replacement bags ready when you need them.

VACUUM FILTERS: Change every 3-6 months (so this is a good one to add to your spring and fall cleaning lists).  Filtrete filters help to improve the air quality of your home by trapping small particles of dust, pollen, and pet dander.  They can trap particles that are 75 times smaller than a human hair – including 99.97% of dust mite debris, animal dander, molds and pollen. Even if your vacuum has a washable filter, you should know that repeated washing can cause the fiber of the filter to break down over time  and not work as efficiently.  Let’s be honest – if I am going to go to the work of cleaning my house, then I want it to work as efficiently as possible, so using a replaceable, highly efficient Filtrete vacuum filter will help our house stay cleaner, by not just pushing that crap back out into the air, and that sounds like a good plan to me.

VACUUM BELTS:  Replace as needed. If your vacuum is making funny noises and not picking up debris, it may be a broken belt.  To see if a belt is broken, turn it on and look to see if the brush roll is spinning.  If it’s not, your belt is likely broken.  You can replace it on the Clean & Cook Supply website for a cost effective, quick fix.

Remember this care that you take with your vacuum is a budget-saver in the long run, as it will keep your vacuum running better and extend the life of your vacuum!

  2: Clean Your Dishwasher

Again, your dishwasher works hard every day (and sometimes twice a day) cleaning the dishes , but have you ever cleaned the dishwasher? Especially if you have hard water like we do, it’s really important to do an annual checkup and make sure everything is clean and running smoothly. Every dishwasher has different specific parts but in general you’ll want to follow these steps to rid your machine of grease, food debris, and soap scum:

Step 1: Clean the drain and seal.  Remove the bottom rack and clear the drain and filter at bottom of the dishwasher interior. (If your dishwasher has a removable filter, remove and clean it as well.) Inspect the dishwasher seal and clean any build-up.

Step 2: Clean with vinegar. Run an empty dishwasher cycle with a cup of vinegar, using hot water. You can dump the vinegar right into the dishwasher, but we suggest placing the cup of vinegar in a dishwasher safe cup or bowl on the top rack. As the water runs through the dishwasher cycle, the vinegar is dispersed and cleans the dishwasher interior.

We keep up this cleaning every cycle by adding vinegar to each load of dishes we wash. In addition to keeping the dishwasher clean, it keeps our dishes sparkling even with the hard water in our area.

Step 3: Deodorize. Sprinkle a cup of baking soda in the bottom of the dishwasher and run a short hot-water cycle. (Our dishwasher has a sanitize cycle that is perfect for this.) Baking soda will also help remove any stains from the dishwasher interior.

If you have stubborn dishwasher stains and grime, you might also try a cleaning additive like LemiShine.

Step 4: Clean the dishwasher exterior. Now that the interior is sparkling clean, shine up the outside as well!

  3: Clean Your Washing Machine

We recently had some washer maintenance done and the service tech told me that we should be cleaning our front-load washer once a month! Oops! Spring and fall cleaning is a great time to rectify those tasks that don’t get done often enough, at least at our house.

Our front loader has a specific sanitize setting, so that makes it easy. You should also be washing the gasket regularly to avoid that musty smell that a lot of front-loading washers get.

If your washing machine doesn’t have a sanitize cycle, the process is still pretty easy. Vinegar comes to the rescue, again! Run a hot water batch, with the water to the highest fill level. While the washer is filling, add 1 quart of vinegar and let the vinegar run through the wash and rinse cycle. For top-loading machines, you can open the lid and allow the vinegar water to soak if you’d like.

Be sure to also wash the soap dispenser and any other high-gunk places on the washer. This is also a good time to check the connections to the hoses at the back of the machine to make sure they are tight with no leaks or drips.

  4: Clean Your Dryer

You clean the lint filter every load of laundry (hopefully), but lint builds up other places in your dryer, too. At least twice a year, it’s good practice to vacuum the lint filter holder (we always find spare change, par-tay!) and use gentle soap and water to clean the lint filter, too. (Let it fully dry before you put it back in the machine, of course.)

The lint filter in the dryer vent can pose a major fire hazard, so fall and spring cleaning is a great time to clean around the dryer and clean out the vent and ducts, too. Disconnect the dryer vent hose and remove any visible lint from both the hose and the machine. A long flexible brush or a vacuum cleaning attachment are helpful.

  5: Check and Replace Batteries

I try to remember to do this every time Daylight Saving Time starts and ends, which also conveniently coincides with fall and spring cleaning, but anytime you remember to check, do it! Check the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and replace as needed.

6: Check the Fire Extinguisher

Most home fire extinguishers last 10-12 years, but check the expiration date on yours because you want it ready when you need it! If it is expired, missing an inspection tag, or shows signs of excessive wear (such as a cracked seal, broken nozzle, or missing pin) contact your local fire department to learn about your options for recharging or replacing it. Remember, a fire extinguisher needs inspected and recharged after each use.

None of these tasks take very long or cost much money, but they’ll help your home be cleaner AND safer in the coming year.

Thank you Filtrete and Clean & Cook Supply Website for partnering with us on this post.  We love your products and have been using them for years.  All opinions are our own.

You might also like our free printable cleaning binder: 

The post 6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!) appeared first on Remodelaholic.

from Real Estate https://www.remodelaholic.com/6-common-cleaning-tasks-probably-forgot-will-make-home-cleaner-safer/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[thegregorybruce]

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!)

Do you use a cleaning schedule? Having a set schedule of what gets cleaned each day, each week, and each month (like those in our free cleaning binder) can make keeping up on seasonal cleaning tasks so much more doable, and, in fact, make it feel like there is less cleaning to do when spring cleaning and fall cleaning times roll around. But… there are still a few tasks that often get forgotten amongst the baseboards and drain cleaning and daily clean-up tasks.  So today we’ve partnered with Filtrete to talk about 6 common cleaning tasks you probably forgot — and these easy jobs will help your home be both safer AND cleaner this year!

6 Common Cleaning Tasks You (Probably) Forgot

1: Clean Your Vacuum

Your vacuum certainly *does* plenty of cleaning, but when was the last time you cleaned your vacuum, like really cleaned it?  Am I right??

Can you imagine what kid of dust, dirt and little biological creatures are spewing from you vacuum?!  EWW!!  Clean your vacuum people and while  you are at it, make sure you have the best filters in it possible.

Did you know that a full vacuum bag OR a clogged filter can inhibit your vacuums’s power, reduce suction and leave allergens and dust behind?  Also, if you notice that your vacuum seems to be losing suction, you may not need to go buy a new one, simply replacing the bag and filters may restore the suction you have lost!

Filtrete is a leader in residential air filtration and the most trusted brand of indoor heating and cooling air filters on the market, and did you know they make vacuum filters, too?  In fact, to make this vacuum maintenance even easier, Clean & Cook Supply Website is an awesome new site for all the replacement parts you need for any brand of vacuum (so you can shop in your pajamas).  This is how we get things done!!

So what about timing?   How often you should change your vacuum bag, filter and belts?

VACUUM BAGS: Change every 1-2 months.  Obviously you need to be changing out vacuum bags frequently.  Replace them with Filtrete vacuum bags every 1-2 months; don’t wait til it is so full you lose suction. Why go to all the effort of vacuuming if you don’t have full suction power? The new Clean & Cook Supply Website makes it easy to order online so you always have replacement bags ready when you need them.

VACUUM FILTERS: Change every 3-6 months (so this is a good one to add to your spring and fall cleaning lists).  Filtrete filters help to improve the air quality of your home by trapping small particles of dust, pollen, and pet dander.  They can trap particles that are 75 times smaller than a human hair – including 99.97% of dust mite debris, animal dander, molds and pollen. Even if your vacuum has a washable filter, you should know that repeated washing can cause the fiber of the filter to break down over time  and not work as efficiently.  Let’s be honest – if I am going to go to the work of cleaning my house, then I want it to work as efficiently as possible, so using a replaceable, highly efficient Filtrete vacuum filter will help our house stay cleaner, by not just pushing that crap back out into the air, and that sounds like a good plan to me.

VACUUM BELTS:  Replace as needed. If your vacuum is making funny noises and not picking up debris, it may be a broken belt.  To see if a belt is broken, turn it on and look to see if the brush roll is spinning.  If it’s not, your belt is likely broken.  You can replace it on the Clean & Cook Supply website for a cost effective, quick fix.

Remember this care that you take with your vacuum is a budget-saver in the long run, as it will keep your vacuum running better and extend the life of your vacuum!

  2: Clean Your Dishwasher

Again, your dishwasher works hard every day (and sometimes twice a day) cleaning the dishes , but have you ever cleaned the dishwasher? Especially if you have hard water like we do, it’s really important to do an annual checkup and make sure everything is clean and running smoothly. Every dishwasher has different specific parts but in general you’ll want to follow these steps to rid your machine of grease, food debris, and soap scum:

Step 1: Clean the drain and seal.  Remove the bottom rack and clear the drain and filter at bottom of the dishwasher interior. (If your dishwasher has a removable filter, remove and clean it as well.) Inspect the dishwasher seal and clean any build-up.

Step 2: Clean with vinegar. Run an empty dishwasher cycle with a cup of vinegar, using hot water. You can dump the vinegar right into the dishwasher, but we suggest placing the cup of vinegar in a dishwasher safe cup or bowl on the top rack. As the water runs through the dishwasher cycle, the vinegar is dispersed and cleans the dishwasher interior.

We keep up this cleaning every cycle by adding vinegar to each load of dishes we wash. In addition to keeping the dishwasher clean, it keeps our dishes sparkling even with the hard water in our area.

Step 3: Deodorize. Sprinkle a cup of baking soda in the bottom of the dishwasher and run a short hot-water cycle. (Our dishwasher has a sanitize cycle that is perfect for this.) Baking soda will also help remove any stains from the dishwasher interior.

If you have stubborn dishwasher stains and grime, you might also try a cleaning additive like LemiShine.

Step 4: Clean the dishwasher exterior. Now that the interior is sparkling clean, shine up the outside as well!

  3: Clean Your Washing Machine

We recently had some washer maintenance done and the service tech told me that we should be cleaning our front-load washer once a month! Oops! Spring and fall cleaning is a great time to rectify those tasks that don’t get done often enough, at least at our house.

Our front loader has a specific sanitize setting, so that makes it easy. You should also be washing the gasket regularly to avoid that musty smell that a lot of front-loading washers get.

If your washing machine doesn’t have a sanitize cycle, the process is still pretty easy. Vinegar comes to the rescue, again! Run a hot water batch, with the water to the highest fill level. While the washer is filling, add 1 quart of vinegar and let the vinegar run through the wash and rinse cycle. For top-loading machines, you can open the lid and allow the vinegar water to soak if you’d like.

Be sure to also wash the soap dispenser and any other high-gunk places on the washer. This is also a good time to check the connections to the hoses at the back of the machine to make sure they are tight with no leaks or drips.

  4: Clean Your Dryer

You clean the lint filter every load of laundry (hopefully), but lint builds up other places in your dryer, too. At least twice a year, it’s good practice to vacuum the lint filter holder (we always find spare change, par-tay!) and use gentle soap and water to clean the lint filter, too. (Let it fully dry before you put it back in the machine, of course.)

The lint filter in the dryer vent can pose a major fire hazard, so fall and spring cleaning is a great time to clean around the dryer and clean out the vent and ducts, too. Disconnect the dryer vent hose and remove any visible lint from both the hose and the machine. A long flexible brush or a vacuum cleaning attachment are helpful.

  5: Check and Replace Batteries

I try to remember to do this every time Daylight Saving Time starts and ends, which also conveniently coincides with fall and spring cleaning, but anytime you remember to check, do it! Check the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and replace as needed.

6: Check the Fire Extinguisher

Most home fire extinguishers last 10-12 years, but check the expiration date on yours because you want it ready when you need it! If it is expired, missing an inspection tag, or shows signs of excessive wear (such as a cracked seal, broken nozzle, or missing pin) contact your local fire department to learn about your options for recharging or replacing it. Remember, a fire extinguisher needs inspected and recharged after each use.

None of these tasks take very long or cost much money, but they’ll help your home be cleaner AND safer in the coming year.

Thank you Filtrete and Clean & Cook Supply Website for partnering with us on this post.  We love your products and have been using them for years.  All opinions are our own.

You might also like our free printable cleaning binder: 

The post 6 Common Cleaning Tasks You Probably Forgot (That Will Make Your Home Cleaner and Safer!) appeared first on Remodelaholic.

from Home https://www.remodelaholic.com/6-common-cleaning-tasks-probably-forgot-will-make-home-cleaner-safer/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[sunflowerstationary]

Dearest darlingest Ivy,

Finally replying to this, oops.

The new tag is "you are the reason that i'm smiling when there is nothing to smile about", because that line always makes me think of you (lyrics from the Front Bottoms song "Peach") Dw about it being long, it will pop up when you start typing it :L

I haven't typed anything huge and long on tumblr in a while and I guess with the new phone, since it barely ever crashes I got cocky. I forgot this app is just generally shit and not only because my old phone didn't have enough space to run it lol RIP me.

Oh well.

I know it's ok to bomb my first driving test but like... I just... want it to be done with ;_; I really do not want to have to repeat it, if only because it will be hell on my nerves.

Guess I just need to schedule it and then practice my face off until then. SIGH.

I feel for you so much about the kitties. I felt like the worst cat mom in the fucking world not seeing him every day, and now I get to spoil him with treats and bits of my buttery spaghetti and he has a nice fluffy bed to sleep on that's right next to my head in our bed. And re: having nowhere to sit, GOD OMG I KNOW. We don't really have anything to sit on here either. Idk if you noticed when you were in here but there's like no furniture except the two couches that were left here by the last people, and no carpet in any of the rooms.

For a while I was rolling out a yoga mat and just sprawling on that in the computer room while Steve played his game, but now I mostly just grab a blanket to cushion the chair.

The not knowing who's going to be home thing sounds like the story of my life :/ I'm glad I don't have to worry about that anymore, but I'm sorry you do. I wish that you could move out and say fuck it all. Is Kevin working still?

It's nice that there's three of them. Like you said, they can keep each other company... especially Cali and Sandstorm, since they're so close. I'm a little worried that Scrap is lonely here. I mean, he gets lots of attention, but he's used to having other animals around.

Steve has mentioned a few times moving his friend Abdel in with us, and while I like Abdel, I really do not think I can live with him. I'm a lot better than I used to be but I am NOT about living with strangers. That's one of the reasons I had so much trouble deciding where to go to college back when I was planning on it, because I wanted to be as far from home as physically possible but I didn't know how to do it without having to live with some random people in a dorm or something. I like having the freedom to walk around naked, yk? Plus - and maybe this is selfish but - I already have to compete with Steve's games for attention half the time, and I'm needy, and I just. Don't want to have to deal with that.

He's not the date type of guy, he's a hermit, so we spend most of our quality alone time at home. Is it bad that I don't want to give that up?

You know, I know you're busy but Duo is pretty relaxed. You can set it so that you only have to practice once daily for five minutes if you really want to, which is probably slow but definitely manageable. I do it on the highest practice setting there is and it's still pretty relaxed, it only takes 25 mins out of my day in 5 min increments.

Ughhhhhh god, homerow giving me war flashbacks to my keyboarding class in 10th grade. Good luck.

That sounds like the way I feel about Olivia... it's bittersweet, isn't it? Like the drama is all over now and you want to make something more out of it, and rebuild and maintain a friendship like you used to have, like you feel the potential still there but it's old and probably not worth it now that you've moved on. But.

You know? I barely think of Liv most of the time but she's still there in the background.

Idk. Maybe we'll get our second chance someday.

Rayzel always struck me as a cool but distant person, yeah. I'm glad you have someone to talk to though. I know I can't always be helpful when it comes to Kevin and I feel bad about that sometimes.

Defaulting to sleep rather than self destructing is my middle name. Seriously, I just conked out for two hours because I was feeling angsty about work and feeling like a failure because I haven't been as productive as I wanted to be this week.

Ffffff, why do they always do that to you? Wait to give you hours until you're back in school full time. The fuck.

Scrappy used to piss on everything, if you remember. He hasn't in years though. Since we fixed him I think. Is it normal for diabetic cats to do that? Or maybe it's because you've got a small herd... Trouble used to pee in my room for seemingly no reason and I always suspected it was a territorial thing.

I don't know how to advise you on the Kevin-monogamy situation, really... I don't know if there's necessarily a good way of going about it. It's very murky. Do you think that you'll marry him? I definitely know what it's like to be super codependent, and I know that's not necessarily a horrible thing... Idk. I mean Elizabeth really didn't like the nonmonogamy thing either, I guess the difference was that since she lived far away she didn't feel like she could tell me no, but if she had lived here I think she would have been more up front about that from the get-go. We never really resolved it. I fall for most people I get close to too, but I guess after everything with Nic and Chris and all that shit, I've just been.. totally exhausted. Like, I've pretty much accepted that I have a limited number of slots in my life in terms of people I can be close to and love properly, and between you and Steve and Elizabeth I'm probably near capacity.

I want you to have the options I did, but I dunno how to make that happen for you. It sounds like the conversation has just gotten tiring for both of you.

If you want to get high, I have weed. Lol. I don't know if I could get more but I definitely have enough to smoke you up and maybe me. The only thing is we'll have to do joints, because I don't have a pipe, but I have rolling papers and determination.

I used to be really uncomfrtable with high people too but I definitely have calmed down since I actually experienced it.

Not that I'm any better, but you shouldn't have to be like... conveniently accessible for people to enjoy your company. You deserve more than that. Don't your coworkers ever ask you about your life??? Maybe physical correspondence would help, yeah. It's a lot easier to be free with your thoughts when you're just writing them all down, although sometimes it's hard to send them afterward.

You're gonna have to remind me again to look up Kate Bush because I'm never going to remember. Sounds vaguely familiar though.

Team projects still give me nightmares and I don't think I've done one in four years D: Ugh, god. More reasons for me to procrastinate on College Stuff.

Did you end up under sharing or over sharing? I feel ur pain.

Man, between you and Elizabeth I'm so damn jealous, you're both taking the best classes... she was just telling me last night that her class was talking about the societal compulsory gendering of children.

Elaborate on "finger thingies".

Abnormal psych sounds like a phenomenal class and I'm double jealous now. Not of all your projects though. The way you describe that teacher reminds me of my English teacher in 9th grade, I can't remember her name but we used to call her Skeletor. Fourteen year olds are mean, in hindsight... she was a really nice lady. A little nervous.

I suppose Ed isn't the worst man in the world, but they don't all have to be raging dickwads like my father to be worth tossing out... I just hope your mom doesn't adjust to the wrong things about him, you know? It's one thing to get used to someone's annoying habits and another entirely to get used to being controlled bit by bit.

My dad is mad at me and I know because he hasn't texted me to coerce me into getting dinner in months. Lol. I think it's because I ditched him for a graduation party I said I'd go to, or maybe my brother has a big mouth and said something about me not wanting to hang out with him (or, also possible, my grandma has a big mouth and she told him that me and Steve aren't super impressed with him as a person... last time I visited her she was telling us about how my dad used to put a picture of my moms face on his punching bag, and we were both like "wow he's a dick" which she for some reason didn't seem to agree with. idk man.)

The cat tree thing sounds really great but I dunno if I feel okay letting you do all that for me for nothing... I would probably want to pay you guys, which might defeat the purpose. Free carpet tho that's so excellent???

TJ seems mostly ok at work. Not that how anyone acts at work is necessarily a good measure of how they're holding up emotionally.

Tell me all about the bondage, omg. I've always wanted to get into it but Elizabeth and I broke up just as we were starting to poke around it.

I'm really sorry about Steve. He's really out of line and I honestly still don't understand why, I've tried to talk to him about it a few times but either he acts like he doesn't mind you or he gets annoyed and doesn't want to talk about it. I dunno if it's a jealousy thing or what. He sometimes acts the same way about Elizabeth, so I'm leaning towards yes. I find myself in a similar situation to you where I don't know if I should keep pushing it or not, like I don't know what I should be tolerating... and sometimes I almost wish that he would tell me not to sleep with other people, because as nice as it is that he's always told me that he wants me to do what makes me happy, I wish he was a bit more jealous. Not in a horrible way, just, like. Idk. I'm committed to being with Just Him right now and I wish he was. I want him to be a tiny bit possessive just as like, reassurance that he wants me and just me, you know?

But I digress. He shouldn't have said that to you. You were just trying to be a good friend to me and protect me. Idk what the fuck is wrong with him sometimes.

It's not your fault, I'm also terrible at communication, especially this past year or two. Things have just fallen apart so much. I think I'm starting to get back on my feet though (fingers crossed). We'll see how it goes. Coming up on my attempt anniversary again and I hope it doesn't make me freak out like t did last year.

I'll post the link separately, I'm afraid to leave the app for two seconds to find it while I'm typing this :')

I love you too! I hope this wasn't a lackluster reply, but it's almost 5am and I need to be up very soon unfortunately, so I'm going to take a nap and hope for the best.

~Tonio