#i love being presented with dilemmas like Getting new Shoes inside and what to do when the dirty side elevator is out of service

[cuddleswinchester]

Anyway forced compromises to the sterile field in MASH make me lose my absolute shit in a nerd way, that is my jam

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981 - the Body-Swap

The X-Men, those body-swapping mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(Uncanny X-Men 151 - 152) - by Chris Claremont and Josef Rubinstein

Emma Frost and her frenemy Ororo Munroe have not been getting along! One fateful evening, as the two quibble away, they mysteriously switch bodies and minds. Talk about your Freaky Friday! What lessons will they learn, walking a mile in one another’s shoes? And will they be able to switch back, or will they stay in each other’s bodies forever? Mutant Monday, coming soon to a cinema near you. Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett and Elliot Page. (PG-13)

For a moment, we’re in a proper period drama: a letter delivers ill tidings!

I love that Kitty’s parents are so self-involved that it took them A WHOLE YEAR to realize that it’s weird that Kitty is the only non-adult attending the Xavier Institute.

I can only assume the mailman interrupted a pool party of some kind? Or a communal shower? I get why Kurt would not swim a lot - all that fur - but did Scott wear that while they were splashing around? Was it a beach volleyball competition where one half got to wear swimsuits and the other half superhero costumes? Most importantly, was Scott’s costume always this tight?

Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

The awful thing is that Kitty’s parents are transferring her to the Massachusetts Academy, not realizing that headmistress Emma Frost is, in fact, a terrible human being. Charles, uncharacteristically, says that changing their minds telepathically is a line he does not cross (any more) and half the viewing audience bursts out in laughter. More importantly, last they saw Emma, she was kind of dead-by-Phoenix, so it might be better there this time? Kitty does a Classic Teenage Stomp-Off and Storm comes to comfort her. Kitty cries that life is unfair (“My parents are only doing this because they’re splitting up”) and Ororo tells her that yes, life is unfair. You just gotta roll with the punches as best you can.

To be fair, bald men are technically all cheek, so it doesn’t matter where you kiss them.

While I enjoy the relationship Kitty has with the other X-Men (Scott gave her a compliment! Logan told her his name!), especially the mother-daughter-bond she shares with Ororo, the whole Piotr-thing always gives me pause. Even if we’re being very generous with age, Kitty is, what? 14 going on 15? And Piotr is… 19? At best? I get why Kitty would have a crush on him: he’s a gentle hunky giant: at fifteen, my teenage ass would have felt the exact same viz-a-viz Colossus’ upper arms. The fact that Piotr reciprocates feels skeevy, though, especially because they’re always treated like star-crossed idiots these days.

Skee-vy.

Ororo drives Kitty to Massachusetts, where her young ward is greeted by someone named Muffy and whisked away for orientation. All seems well. Ororo stands in a parlour, surveying the grounds and considering that they should have fought harder for Kitty. Still, nothing seems too wrong just yet: this Academy just seems very preppy.

Not-at-all-dead Emma takes her cue and jumps out, saying (essentially): “Surprise motherfucker.”

There’s a flash of light, and then...

I’m willing to bet that Emma’s EVIL journal has the following to-do-list: - Steal Storm’s body. - Experiment with her powers. - See how good Storm looks in white. (Leather? Fur?! Both!??) - REWARD: Smoke break.

I wonder if Emma’s plan hinged on being able to body-swap with Storm, or whether any X-Man would have sufficed. Was her original target Xavier? Cyclops? What if one of Kitty’s parents had brought her to Massachusetts, would she have taken Kitty instead?

In a locked cell, Storm wakes up in Emma’s body and is horrified. I wonder why Emma didn’t take any more precautions. Couldn’t the guy who made the freaky friday-gizmo also make a power dampener to nullify not!Emma’s telepathic abilities? Or did Emma count on her victim being so utterly incapacitated by her mind-powers that they’d be driven mad? (This would actually tie in with some of Emma’s later-revealed history: when her powers first emerged, she also got locked away in a padded room because of her madness.)

Emma is not wrong, by the way: Storm can’t get a handle on Emma’s powers. What follows is possibly the sweetest moment in an arc filled with sweet moments:

This arc isn’t drawn by any of the regulars - not Byrne, not Cockrum - but Josef Rubinstein brings his own kind of panache to the pages. I love the way he draws women’s faces: in a story that’s all about women, their faces are actually distinguishable. Kudoz.

Emma, meanwhile, coordinates with Sebastian Shaw to execute the second part of their two-pronged attack on the X-Men. They both laugh evilly in their phones while the mansion is attacked by Sentinels! These androids take out Cyclops and Xavier with some sleeping gas and knock out Nightcrawler, but the rest of the X-Men manage to trounce these robots. Then ‘Storm’ appears! She zaps the rest of the X-Men (and Amanda Sefton), successfully finishing their master-plan.

It’s not entirely clear what the Hellfire Club wants with the X-Men this time, but I’m assuming it’s more experimentation to improve the sentinels? Eh, doesn’t matter! Nefarious Hellfire Club is nefarious.

The real Storm, meanwhile, comes to claim Kitty, forgetting that she looks like the one and only Emma Frost. Kitty spooks and Storm accidentally reaches out, knocking her out telepathically. Whoops! Storm takes Kitty and flees in a car, while Emma gives chase. (How dare Ororo run off with her body, which is absolutely the kind of hypocritical hilariousness we all love Emma for.)

Kitty awakens and jumps from the car, causing Storm to swerve and...

JETSTREAM!? Speaking of which, where are the Hellions in all of this?

Kitty sees that an unconscious ‘Emma’ is about to burn to a tender and moist little crisp and she is faced with the hero’s dilemma: would you save a villain that would never save you?

Emma, meanwhile, has realized the downside to body-swapping: somebody else gets to run around with your body too. Shaw, of all people, talks her down from her anger.

You can’t just introduce a persona exchange gun to the plot WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHERE THE FUCK YOU GOT IT FROM.

My favorite detail is that Emma keeps calling Kitty brat, like she’s some sort of Pokémon-villain.

Kitty, meanwhile, has saved ‘Emma’ and tied her up with a special knot. Storm tries to convince Kitty, going for the ��ask me something only Storm would know”, but Kitty’s all: “Duh, you’re a telepath.” Ororo insists, but the thing that clinches it is when she breaks free of her ties without breaking a sweat. That knot was taught to Kitty by Ororo and she’d be the only one who knew how to break out of it.

Storm and Kitty recruit Stevie Hunter to come pick them up and during the ride, Storm-being-angry-mother!Storm convinces Kitty more than anything else:

After all, Storm was voted most likely to say: “If you don’t stop this nonsense immediately, I will turn this Blackbird around, so help me God!”

Ororo and Kitty sneak inside. Ororo even uses Emma’s telepathy to help her pick a lock after phasing through a door. (Kind of funny: Kitty’s still such a neophyte that she can’t even phase with anyone else yet.) Emma, meanwhile, taunts the captured X-Men, presenting herself as the new white queen:

Anybody feel the inclination to point out that the Hellfire Club did this exact same thing last year, except then they tried it with a redhead?

I secretly suspect that the Hellfire Club’s plots always revolve around seducing X-Men to their side and dressing them up in sexy lingerie. (Which: fair.) There’s also a subplot where the guys Wolverine cut apart last year want to exact revenge on him for being made bionic, but eh. We’ll start paying attention to them when they become actual Reavers.

Kitty phases through the locks of the X-Men, freeing them, and a kerfuffle ensues. Emma starts using Storm’s powers, but they grow out of control. Colossus tosses Shaw out of the window - which should just be company policy, really: all Shaws should be defenestrated - where he’s promptly hit by a rogue thunderbolt.

When he doesn’t get up, Emma starts to lose it. The weather goes wild. Storm intervenes, using her telepathic power to help calm down Emma (and the raging storm), but she also manages to get a hold of the swap-gun. There’s a zap, and with a satisfied sigh, the status-quo is restored again.

My favorite implication is that, apparently, Emma decides which school Kitty attends and not her parents.

While this little arc is neither the most iconic nor the most profound of 1981 -- those would be Days of Future Past and I, Magneto, respectively -- I still love this for a couple of reasons.

As a lover of Freaky Friday, 17 Again and the new Jumanji-film, I just have a soft spot for body swap plots. (Hi Psylocke!)

It focuses on the Xavier Institute as a school, planting seeds for the upcoming New Mutants.

It is very female-driven without beating you over the head with it. (Looking at you, Birds of Prey.)

It has three definitive main characters, who all get fleshed out in fun and interesting ways. It starts the trend of robbing Ororo of some of her powers and tossing her into against-the-odds circumstances, only for her to come out on top.

It solidifies the Storm/Kitty mother/daughter (or older/younger sibling) dynamic. Kitty is a believable teenager when it comes to Storm - clever and kind, but also looking for answers and prone to rash decisions - and I love how much they care for each other.

Jean/Storm-friendship-callback, yay!

Emma gets fleshed out as a villain. Resourceful and petty, powerful and vain. It’s no wonder she’s one of the break-out antagonists of the X-Men, because, like Magneto, Claremont is not afraid of giving her depth. Arguably, she is the most three-dimensional of the Hellfire Club at this point.

Yay! And fuck completely sensible plots, if you don’t know what to do with your plot, just introduce a random persona exchange gun. Let’s use it on Xavier and Legion in Way of X next!

[taurusicorn2400]

Christmas Proposal:

Word count: 1010

Can also read on Ao3

One week before Christmas

"Minnieeeeeee! Tell me what you want for Christmas." 

Clementine and Minerva were in the mall doing some last minute Christmas shopping. And to also get those sweet sweet savings deals on those new video games. Clem still hasn't bought Minnie anything because yeah. Life be like that sometimes.

"I don't really want anything."

"Please just tell me. You know it's difficult for me to shop for you. You want everything and nothing at the same time."

The redhead thought about what she wanted. "I just want you to say yes to the question I'll ask later."

"You want me to say yes?"

"Mmhm."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Mmhm, yeah OK. Don't cry when you get nothing on Christmas then."

"I probably still will. Depends." The redhead chuckles.

"Yeah whatever. Let's just go get these shoes AJ wanted."

They make their way into footlocker to buy these dope ass shoes AJ wanted. They are dope trust me on that.

--------

Four days before Christmas

"I am once again asking, what do you want for Christmas." 

Clementine was on her laptop, scrolling through some online store, trying to find something to get the redhead. Listen, she's going to get her girlfriend something awesome, even if it kills her. If she has to murder someone for it, that's fine too.

Minerva takes a sip of her coffee, before answering. "And I'm once again telling you, I just want you to say yes to the question I'll ask in the future."

"That's fucking stupid. How am I supposed to know what question to say yes to?"

"Oh don't worry. You'll know."

The brunette stared at the redhead. "That sounded so fucking ominous."

Minerva just chuckles as she takes another sip of her coffee. Clem is terrified now.

-------

Two days before Christmas

"Alright, you giant redhead blob of hotness, I'm giving you one last chance to tell me what you want for Christmas."

The redhead in question just got out the shower, and is looking for clothes to put on. She's debating between a onesie or some grey sweatpants. The dilemma. Anyway, the redhead turns from her drawer to look at the brunette, with a smile.

"You think I'm hot?"

"......yes, but that's not the point. Tell me what you want.

Minnie walks to the bed where Clementine is laying on, getting beside her, missing her lips. "Just say yes."

"I'm getting real sick of you saying that. Reaaaaal sick."

"Good thing I'm here. Can be your nurse and bring you back to top notch health." Minnie rains down kisses on Clem's cheek

The brunette blushes, hiding her face in Minnie's chest. "......I hate you."

"I love you."

".....love you too."

--------

Christmas Day

Clem, Minnie, and all their friends were gathered in their living room, exchanging gifts and such. Just generally having a dope ass time. The redhead sat on the couch, watching as her girlfriend gets excited over opening present after present. Grand ole time. But now it's time for what she's been wanting to do for the past couple weeks.

"Clem, can I ask ya something."

The brunette in question looks up from her newly opened present. "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Oh shit is it time?" Ruby questioned

"Yeah it's time."

"Oh my lord." Ruby gets her phone out and starts recording. This is gonna be good.

"Time? Time for what." Clementine is a confused bean.

"Time for my possible Christmas present."

"Oh really? Hit me."

"Well, first I wanna say that I freaking love you. Like a lot. A crap ton. Like take the size of Jupiter, and multiply that by like eighteen, and that still won't show how much I love you." The redhead laughs in nerves. 

Clementine laughs along because the rambling do be kinda cute though.

"Anyway, I'm getting off track. Uh, you're pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me. You made my life , and me, better. You remember how shitty I was."

The brunette snorts, along with everyone else in the room because yeah, Minnie was a little shit.

"I was horrible, then you called me out on my bullshit. And that's how I fell for you. You were pointing out how I was being horrible to everyone, and I just couldn't stop thinking about how pretty you looked." Minnie grins at the brunette, who grinned in returned. "Then I realized you were right, and that I had to change. And you helped. You helped a crap ton. Kept me in check, that's for sure."

"I did do that, yeah." Clementine smirks.

"You did. And I fell for you more. Then, I asked you on a date, which you for some reason said yes to, god knows why, where I spilled all that lemonade on myself."

"God, it got everywhere. Looked like you peed."

"Yeah, yeah it did, and yet you still decided to date me this entire time. Anyway enough reminiscing. You made me a better person, and I love you. So, and this is where my present comes in," The redhead pulls out a ring box, while getting on one knee, causing the brunette to gasp. She opens the ring box to reveal a dope ass ring inside. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, wake up everyday with you b my side, and everything else. So, uh, will you marry me?" 

Clementine stood there, awestruck. She didn't know this was going to be happening. At all. The redhead just fucking got down on one knee and proposed to her. This was what Minnie wanted for Christmas, and she's going to give her that.

"Oh my god. Yes."

"Wait, really?"

"Mmhm. I'll marry you."

"Holy shit. Holy fucking shit, you said yes."

"I did."

The redhead tales the ring out of the box, and puts it on Clementine's finger before standing up and pulling the brunette into a kiss. Their friends were cheering, but all sound seemed to slip away. They were in their own little world. They're getting fucking married. Best Christmas present ever.

[blancheludis]

FINISHED!

Tagging: @tokky231

Fandom: Marvel, Avengers Characters: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers, James Rhodes, Pepper Potts, Bruce Barton, Steve Rogers Chapters: 34/34 Words: 188.535

Summary: Tony meets his soulmate under the worst possible circumstances. It is not just a kidnapping gone wrong. It turns out Steve and his gang picked him on purpose and they want some personal revenge. If only he had managed to say the words written on his soulmate’s arm before they threw him back out into the streets.

—

Tony is avoiding Steve. Worse, he is avoiding to deal with or even think of Steve. Which is made all the harder by the fact that Steve is currently living only a few floors down. JARVIS told him when Steve moved his things in. It was tempting to pull up a video feed and watch Steve make himself at home. Tony knew, though, that, if he did that, there would be no going back.

Meanwhile, it is easy to bury himself in work. Pepper has officially taken over as CEO, but that does not mean the internal battles are over or that the company is standing on solid legs again. He does not have to look long to find things to do, to keep himself from thinking about his own, looming future.

Strangely enough, things are already more harmonic than Tony can remember his life ever being. Rhodey has not yet gone back to work – officially he is negotiating with Stark Industries about what to do about the outstanding contracts with the US Military. Every evening, without fail, the three of them meet up for dinner. Sometimes, Thor and Bruce join them. It is nice, almost like a family. For the first time ever, it is also Tony who has to push Pepper into taking a break.

This night, Tony is distracted. He thought it would be easier, with Steve close and taking a break from the Avengers. The bond is quiet but still present, a constant itch that does not leave him alone without being too overwhelming.

Tony is in the middle of setting the table when Pepper comes in. Immediately, he leaves the cutlery in a heap and turns to her. No matter what situation he found himself in, Pepper has always had a solution for him.

“Pepper,” he greets, too bright to be natural, and deflates right afterwards when she stops, knowing something is wrong. “I don’t know what to do.”

One of these days, Pepper will throw her arms up and leave him to his misery, tired of cleaning up his messes. To Tony’s luck, today is not that day.

“What did you do now?” she asks as she kicks off her shoes and comes into the room.

“I don’t know what to do with Steve.”

When Tony told Pepper he let Steve move into the tower, she reacted surprisingly unfazed. Perhaps she, same as him, thought it wise to keep him close.

“That Steve?” She raises an eyebrow at him as she picks up the cutlery and finishes setting the table for him.

“Do you know any other Steve I’d get agitated over?” Tony counters, wondering why he thought she would make this easy on him.

The matter is rather simple to her. Either he throws Steve out and is done with it, or they talk it through and stay together. Tony has never been one for simple solutions, however.

“I heard there’s a Steve down in the labs who will either make you go prematurely grey or blow up the building,” Rhodey chimes in, appearing with a large bowl of salad.

The matter is rather simple to Rhodey too, who has been urging Tony to make a decision for days now instead of making life harder for all of them, Steve included. He has even offered to deal with Steve himself, with undisguised glee at that.

“You’re not helping,” Tony grumbles, seeing his hopes of dealing with this privately crumble. If Pepper were not so adamant on keeping all private business out of her office until the current crisis with the company is averted, he would have ambushed her there.

“I am so helping,” Rhodey says with a grin as he puts down the bowl on the table. Instead of going back to the kitchen, he stays, apparently waiting for Tony to continue.

“Then tell me what to do,” Tony says, annoyed by his own indecision.

Everything seemed so easy in the beginning. Now, more than anything, he remembers how safe he felt in Steve’s arms. He is just so afraid that is fake, created by the bond instead of his brain.

“Pepper will surely agree with me here, but you should talk to Steve,” Rhodey says, barely waiting for Pepper to nod. “That’s always a good beginning.”

Tony’s shoulders slump as he leans against the table, too tired to keep himself upright. “We already talked.”

They did, in a way. Tony told Steve to give up the Avengers so they could have a chance together. Actually taking that chance, however, turns out to be harder than he imagined. With everything that went wrong lately, he just does not want to make another mistake. Does not want to trust the wrong person again.

“The way I see it, you stowed him away down there, then told JARVIS to keep an eye on him and to make sure I don’t pay him a visit,” Rhodey says, crossing his arms in front of him. “And now you avoid acknowledging his existence because you’re afraid it won’t turn out to be what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want,” Tony argues instead of admitting that Rhodey is right. They all know it anyway.

If he waits long enough and Steve gets tired of sitting down there and leaves, his dilemma will solve itself. Then it cannot be his fault things did not work out. At least, that is what he is clinging to.

“You need to go down there and talk to him,” Pepper says in that same tone she uses when she is done listening to Tony’s excuses about not going to board meetings.

Perhaps that is exactly the reason he needed to talk to her. To be forced into making his move because he is too afraid of doing it on his own.

Staring down at the table, Tony rearranges the fork in front of him until it is perfectly aligned with the plate. Without looking up, he asks, “What if it doesn’t work out?”

The chances for that are much higher than Steve and him actually finding some semblance of peace together. Bad odds never kept Tony from doing something. This is not something he can build, though. It is not a machine he can fix.

“Then you go on with your life,” Pepper says, something forlorn in her tone that has Tony looking up at last.

He knows that Pepper has not given up hope of finding her soulmate. She is holding her left arm, probably without knowing that she is doing it. It does not seem fair that Tony would be burdened with his soulmate when other people would give so much to meet their own.

“What –” Tony begins, then interrupts himself. His friends look at him, waiting patiently. “What if it does work out?”

Only here can Tony admit that this is what he is more afraid of. If he gives in to this, the struggle of being right for Steve will begin, and Tony does not have a good track record with that.

If possible, Pepper’s face softens further. “Then life will become all the more interesting.”

Tony pulls his shoulders up. “You say that as if it is easy,” he says and fails to sound amused.

“It isn’t,” Pepper replies, a sigh escaping her. “I never promised you that anything would be easy.”

And nothing ever has been. Nothing but the way his mind understands numbers, and even that is infused with bad memories.

“But you make it look like it is,” he says nonetheless because he can count the times he has seen Pepper lose her composure on both hands. Most of them involved him.

Pepper lets go of her arm, straightens as she looks at him. “Tony, it really isn’t. Working here, working with you. It is not easy. But it is worth it. You’re a good man and I love you and that’s why I do this every single day.” She takes a deep breath, pausing long enough for Tony’s brain to catch up. “Go down there and talk to Steve. You owe it to yourself and him to do something about this. You’re not going to get any rest before you do.”

Tony’s eyes burn. Rhodey regularly tells him he loves him, and he knows that Pepper does too. Otherwise, she would not be here, would not have stayed for these endless years. That does not make hearing it any less wonderful or needed.

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, he inclines his head. “You’re right but – there’s no going back once I do.”

He is not feeling better by pushing the matter away, though. Pepper is right, he will not be able to go on before he clears this up.

“No, there isn’t,” Pepper agrees, a half-smile gracing her lips. “But every day brings new decisions with it, and this one is long overdue.”

“All right,” Tony says before he can change his mind again. If he puts it out here for them to hear, he cannot withdraw again so easily. “I promise I will.”

The tension Tony did not even notice hanging around them disperses, making it easier to breathe.

Rhodey pushes himself away from the table and, before he turns back to the kitchen, he says, “We’re here for you.”

That is the one reason why he is standing here, intact and even hopeful. “I know,” he says. Now he just hopes that Steve and he will be able to have something similar one day.

---

Steve does not know what to do with himself. The place is too large, the city too small outside the windows. A few days ago art supplies were delivered to him, but he has not yet unpacked them, knowing he will not be able to sit down and appreciate them. He is restless, pacing relentlessly in the space given to him by Tony.

Tony.

Just a few floors up is Tony’s workshop, his home. So close that Steve feels like he would only need to stretch out his hands to touch Tony. It is not that easy, of course, but the burning need still sits inside him.

Steve has made his decision and Tony believed him. Or so he thinks. He sent a text message that he intends to stay when Tony did not pick up his phone, and they agreed to meet up later. It is just taking them some time to get to that later. They have both made steps towards each other, but Steve still feels entirely out of depth. This is not his world. Up in the sky, the city sprawling beneath, surrounded by luxury.

For the past years, he has made it his business not to be seen. This now feels like he is being thrust right into the spotlight. His path has always been riddled with obstacles. His days have always been gritty. Letting go of the person he has become seems impossible.

Yet here he is. Without his team. Without a mission. Without anyone to protect or fight.

He is so close to something he thought he wanted, but now that it is within reach he is too afraid to close his fingers around it. What is he even doing here? He is a soldier. He fights. Never before has he stayed and harvested the fruits of his labour. It is hard to imagine he could have a place here.

He has nothing to offer to Tony. Nothing that Tony could not get for himself much easier and safer and better. All he has ever given Tony is grief. Their entire history is drenched in red.

Now, Steve is here, in Tony’s tower, and thinks about running because he cannot picture a way this is going to end happily. It seemed so easy before. Against all odds, they would turn their story into something happy. They would beat Stane, they would keep Tony safe and his company whole. They would work things out between them.

This is a hollow victory, although everything happened the way Steve hoped it would. Well, he did not want Tony to be taken captive again and to listen to his godfather monologue about the extent of his betrayal. But they won the fight, ended the war.

Now, Steve is less sure than ever what to do.

Tony has asked him to leave, before, and Steve remained stubborn, holding onto something that did not exist. Running appears to be a feasible option now. Much easier, in any case, than to stay and bear the consequences of their actions.

What if there is nothing between them? What if they do not fit? What if Tony will forever remain afraid of Steve? What if the words on their arms and the bond holding them together do not mean anything after all?

What if it does? What if this does work out?

Steve’s heartbeat echoes loudly in his ears as he admits to himself that he might be far more terrified of this thing working out between them than of Tony sending him away. He does not know how not to fight. He does not know how to live for himself. There has always been Bucky and the team and the faceless crowd of people they were standing up for. It was always easy to keep going for that.

Perhaps he does not deserve peace for himself. No happily ever after.

“Captain Rogers,” a voice speaks up in the empty air around him. “Sir is asking whether you want to have lunch with him.”

Steve stills, then looks around with sudden panic driving sweat onto his forehead. He has paced this place for hours, has been in every nook, keeps all the doors open and an eye on the entrance. Nobody but himself is here.

“My apologies,” the voice says. He sounds amused more than contrite. “I am organizing Mr. Stark’s appointments and was instructed to reach out to you.”

Through speakers Steve did not know exist, which leaves the question of what else he is unaware of about his new lodgings. Perhaps he should not grudge Tony that he wants to keep an eye on Steve but he feels immediately less comfortable here.

“I am part of the tower’s security, but I have not been actively monitoring you,” the voice says. “My name is JARVIS.”

It does not reassure Steve that the voice can apparently read his thoughts, too, but he nods nonetheless. He remembers the name. JARVIS was the one who found out Tony’s whereabouts after Stane kidnapped him. Even without knowing nothing else about him, Steve can be sure that he has Tony’s best interests at heart.

“Can you hear me, too?” Steve asks, squashing down all worries about being bugged.

“If called upon,” JARVIS answers, likely in an attempt to put Steve at ease.

It does not work, but Steve can admit that, from an outsider’s perspective, it is warranted to watch him to ensure Tony’s safety.

“Do you want me to tell sir that you are amenable to lunch?” JARVIS asks, allowing no hint at what he thinks about the matter, whether he would like to keep Steve away from Tony.

It is a simple question, and the answer burning inside him is yes. Maybe he is wrong about that, though. Maybe it would be easier to make a clean cut now before they both get even more entangled in this.

Huffing, Steve shakes his head. A clean cut has never been possible between them. Now less so than ever.

“Does he want me to come up?” Steve asks, almost laughing at the effort it takes to keep his voice steady.

“The table is already set,” JARVIS replies.

Either Tony was very optimistic that Steve would say yes, or he did not imagine that Steve saying no was a possibility.

“Thank you, JARVIS,” Steve says and looks down at himself, wondering whether he should change clothes.

JARVIS does not answer, which Steve interprets as deserved reluctance as to whether Steve is trustworthy. They will see soon enough.

Deciding that his shirt and jeans will have to do, Steve turns towards the door. There is no use in wasting any more time. He might still be afraid of what this meeting will bring, but at the same time, he is eager to get it over with. The waiting truly is the worst part.  

---

The penthouse looks exactly like Steve remembers and yet completely different at the same time. It is brightly lit, for once, and is calling for Steve to come in. He hesitates, glances over his shoulders when the elevator doors close behind him, almost as if JARVIS is cutting his exit off.

He wants to go in, he is just not sure whether he is ready for answers yet. As much as this constant indecision is eating at him, everything is still possible right now.

Only a moment later, Tony appears in the foyer, coming out of the door that leads to the kitchen. The very sight pushes the air out of Steve’s lungs.

Tony looks brilliant. No bruises, no dark rings under his eyes, no nervousness in his movements. He is wearing a well-loved band shirt, as casual as Steve has ever seen him.

“Tony,” Steve breathes. That is all he can manage, but it sums up his feelings quite well.

“Steve, how are you?” Tony replies. The words come out in a hasty stumble as he comes closer. “Do you like the place? We can get you something else if you want.”

So much for Tony not being nervous. It calms Steve that he is not the only one still out of his depth.

“It’s fine,” he says, trying for a reassuring tone. “It’s – more than enough.”

Too much really, considering where he comes from, where they stand with each other. That is an argument for another time, though. It is entirely possible that he will be without a place to sleep when this night is over.

“I have the space,” Tony says with a dismissive wave. He is close to Steve now but stops just an arm’s length away. “Thor and Bruce are on the floor beneath yours. Which you probably know.”

It stings a bit to hear Bruce’s name spoken so fondly in Tony’s voice, although Steve does not begrudge them their friendship. It just seems that he had to let go of his for it.

“I didn’t,” Steve says, taking care not to hint at his feelings. “We haven’t yet had a chance to talk.”

It is more that Bruce has been avoiding Steve, although it is not quite clear why. Steve would not hold it against Bruce that he sought something better for himself than to stay in hiding with the Avengers forever. Being allowed to work with Stark Industries must be like a dream come true after years of badly outfitted labs in hideouts.

A short silence falls in which Tony stares at his feet before he drags his eyes back up to Steve. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier,” he says. “Pepper dragged me from meeting to meeting.”

That is an excuse as Steve very well knows. It does not matter, though, because they are here now. It would have been stranger if Tony did not have any doubts.

“That’s all right,” Steve says and shrugs for good measure. He just hopes there are no cameras in his rooms after all, so that Tony will never find out about his endless pacing. “You need to take care of your company.”

For some reason, that was the wrong thing to say. Tony’s expression darkens. “It’s not all right,” he replies, his tone sharp, although it does not seem to be directed against Steve. “I didn’t ask you to stay here only to ignore you afterwards. That’s not – We’re not going to work out anything this way.”

“You should take your time,” Steve says, although he is a bit mollified. They will not give up without a fight, at least. “I don’t have anywhere to go at the moment.”

Tony leans slightly away from him, looking wide-eyed and vaguely regretful. “That’s not what I wanted,” he says, then looks down, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Steve, I – when I asked you to choose, I didn’t want you to throw your whole life away.”

Too late for that, Steve thinks. Everybody else seemed very glad for the opportunity.

“You didn’t. I’m not here against my will,” he intones firmly. Tony is not at fault for the Avengers falling out, no matter whether he had his hand in triggering it. They were already damaged. “You were right in that we were all so focused on our way that we didn’t even see all the things passing us by anymore. Perhaps we were out for revenge and not just to help people. And it left us lesser than we were.”

Steve always wanted to help people. Looking back, however, it seems like he was more interested in punishing those who did wrong instead of putting those who were hurt back together. It is easy to throw himself into fights. He was just never very good at handling the aftermath.

“That’s nonsense,” Tony argues with unexpected firmness. “You’re not lesser now. None of you are. I imagine it’s not easy to have your life upturned. I actually know it, considering,” he trails off uncomfortably, losing some of his fire. When he resumes talking, it is with the distant note of an apology in his tone. “I didn’t mean to dictate your life. I had JARVIS go through your files after we met. You did good. Not always, but often enough.”

This is wrong. Tony should not defend what they did, especially not since they hurt him so badly without ever stopping to think about what they were doing.  

“Often enough doesn’t cut it,” Steve says, feeling a wave of fatigue washing over him. He thought discussing the future would be bad enough, but the past will always haunt him. “You were right,” he then admits. “There has to be more to life. We were starting to question ourselves, and I guess it’s good we’ve gotten a push to go and see what else there is for us.”

Tony looks at him, seemingly on the verge of keeping up the argument, but then he nods and lets his drop.

They are still standing in the foyer of the penthouse. That seems to be a nice metaphor for them being unable to move on from the same old problems. Tony is glancing towards the kitchen door, perhaps pondering the same thing, but then he stays right where he is.

“I want to figure this out,” he then says, diving right into the issue at hand. Steve would be glad if he were not so nervous about it. “The bond is not as loud anymore, but it is still pushing us. I felt like the only victim in this at the beginning, but you didn’t choose this either.” Tony looks uncomfortable admitting that, almost guilty. “What you said when we met in that café – we don’t know each other, but I think I’d like to. I don’t want to reject you because of some mistakes we made. Not without knowing you first.”

This is all Steve wanted. To be allowed to make up for what he did. To be given a chance. Now that they are here, though, he thinks he owes Tony more than that.

“But are you feeling safe?” Steve asks, worried that Tony is doing this without thinking of himself first.

Tony narrows his eyes at Steve, not exactly displeased but wary. “I expect Obie to jump at me from every shadow. I dream of Thor dying in that parking lot. I see Barton bury arrows in people’s throats. It’s –” He shrugs, clearly not as unaffected as he pretends to be. “I’ve never felt safe. There was always someone to disappoint or someone angry at me. I’ve always handled that the same way: by building something.”

Steve’s heart goes out to Tony, more so than when they found out about Stane’s betrayal. All these years, Tony has been lonely, fighting his battles alone. And Steve, who should have been by his side, who should be the one person Tony can always trust, only added to that burden when he finally stepped into Tony’s life.

“What if there’s nothing to build? What if this is all we’ll ever be?” Steve asks, his voice nothing more than a whisper. The very thought is devastating, even though it is more than likely. “We – I might have messed this up already.”

He has. He hurts his soulmate, suspected and vilified him. Failed to keep him safe. Even if they were able to build something of that, their base will forever be flawed.

Tony nods as if he agrees, sending a stab of pain right into Steve’s heart. “Do you remember that night we met?” he then asks instead of cementing these accusations.

The warehouse, Bucky’s grim silence, Clint’s explosive anger. The burning realization of having made the worst mistake of his life when he heard his words whispered in that back alley, mixed in with the scent of blood and genuine desperation. The fire spreading through his arm.

“Of course, I do,” Steve says, staring at the ground between them, expecting a shadow of Tony’s broken body to appear between them. “Tony, I’m –”

“You were so cocky,” Tony interrupts him, obviously not done making his point. “I – I hated that. When I was back home, I thought about how you stood by utterly emotionless while I was beaten up, and the next moment you were touching me like I was precious to you. Like you already knew I was yours. I hated that you thought I was guaranteed to you.” He says all this in an almost dispassionate tone as if it happened to someone else. Then his expression changes into something warmer, almost wondrous. “But at that moment, you stood in front of your friends and told them I was your soulmate. You sounded so sure about it.”

Steve has always tended to lay claim to all kinds of things. Mostly, he adopted every fight, every issue as his. But people, too. All these lost souls he came across and felt responsible for, all these life stories he wanted to change for the better. He used to think that he could save everybody he came across.

“This is unforgivable,” Steve says as his shoulders drop. He has no right to Tony. “I should have never have touched you. I don’t know what came over me.” He does know, though. The bond settling in and making him forget all that was wrong with their situation as if that false warmth could erase all their differences, all of Tony’s hurt. “For a moment everything made sense and I couldn’t even see that I was only making everything worse.”

All his life it has been like that. He forges a path and then sees it as the only possible one.

“You’re not hearing me,” Tony interrupts Steve’s spiralling thoughts. His expression is intense but not angry, irritated by Steve’s answer instead of agreeing with it. “The concussion might be partly to blame, but I didn’t feel unsafe with you. That was the bond, yes, and as soon as my mind worked again, I was terrified. At that moment, I knew I was safe with you, though. I felt the same when you brought me home after – you know.”

Despite the awkwardness of even implicating the night Stane died, Tony means what he is saying. He is standing tall and proud as tries to make Steve see his point. Only that point might be faulty. Steve cannot see anything good about Tony’s body tricking him into believing that Steve could be good for him.

“I don’t think it’s a good sign if you only feel safe with me when you’re injured or drugged and you’re too out of it to think about it with common sense,” Steve argues, clinging to his calm with everything he has. He wants to turn around and run. Tony deserves to be safe. “The bond pushes us together, no matter whether we’re actually good for each other.”

A small smile tugs at Tony’s lips that has Steve’s stomach flipping. He longs to see it more often but not like this. Not while Tony tells him that the abuse heaped upon him does not matter as long as the bond makes them feel good when they are close to each other.

“It does,” Tony says and shrugs, although it does not look very nonchalant. “But I also have a habit of overthinking things. Of taking them apart and pushing them away from me.”

“And you were right to do that,” Steve agrees, wondering what he is even still doing here. He knows why, of course. He promised Tony not to run just because things are getting more difficult. They both wanted a chance to figure this out so they should take it.

“For the moment, yes. You’re no danger to me anymore, though,” Tony says, sounding so sure about it that Steve almost believes him. “I’m not saying we should forget what happened, but I’m willing to try again. We shouldn’t make an important decision like this blindly.”  

He is right. Of course, he is. They cannot want to try this without leaving the past where it belongs, even while they should not ignore it either. If they hold on to the uncertainty and the mistakes they made, they will never get anywhere. Still, Steve is so afraid of messing this up more that he cannot answer.

“Could you hug me?” Tony asks suddenly, the words blurring into each other. He does not quite meet Steve’s eyes as if he is ashamed of his request.

“I – what?” Steve asks, certain that he has heard wrong or missed a good part of this conversation.

All this time, Tony wanted Steve to leave, to keep his distance. And rightly so. Steve cannot explain where this sudden change is coming from.

“Not too long. Just – touch me,” Tony says, a hint of red colouring his cheeks. “For a moment. I need to see how it feels.”

To see whether Steve’s closeness is going to push him into a panic attack or make him feel afraid. To see whether they are doomed from the very beginning because Tony might not be able to stand Steve being anywhere near him. To see whether his nightmares and reality are actually different things.

Steve keeps staring at Tony for a long minute, afraid of the answer to all of these things. Then he takes a jerking step forward, awkwardly holding his arms out in front of him. He realizes that looks more like he is trying to keep Tony away from him than offering a hug.

He does not know what to feel, but perhaps Tony is right. All the thinking they have done over the past weeks has led them in circles. He wants to hold Tony. That is, perhaps, the most pressing need he has had since he heard about Tony having that car crash. Just to make sure that Tony is real, that he fits in Steve’s arms the way he dreams of at night when there is nothing between them, no distrust, no reluctance, no fear.

Steve inhales and gathers his courage before closing the distance between them. His hands settle on Tony’s shoulders, feeling the rigid tenseness, and wander to his back to pull him in. The first thing he realizes is that Tony is warm and fits perfectly against Steve. He also does not move, does not relax against Steve but keeps standing stiffly as if he has changed his mind about being touched by Steve.

Just as Steve wants to withdraw, shame burning hot in his face, Tony comes alive. His arms snake up around Steve’s waist, pulling him closer, and his head sinks against the hollow of Steve’s throat. Almost a lover’s embrace. Almost like coming home.

The bond roars for a moment, sending a burst of what feels like triumph through them both. Then it settles into a satisfied hum, coating them in another layer of warmth.

This is what Steve has been looking for, this deep-seated peace coming to life inside his chest. This is the place he belongs to. For once, he is sure that Tony feels the same. That might change again once they let go of each other, but for now, Steve is utterly certain that he is exactly where he is supposed to be.

Emboldened by the comforting weight of Tony in his arms, Steve leans down and presses a light kiss on the top of Tony’s head. Immediately afterwards, he is afraid that was too much, stepping over some boundary, but Tony stays right where he is, not offering any protest.

“You’re something else, you know that?” Steve says, full of wonder. With everything that happened over the past weeks, he never thought he would end up here, his soulmate in his arms and a happy ending in reach. They still have to make something of that, but this is the first time they have an actual chance for that.

“People usually say that in a much less flattering tone,” Tony mutters. His face is still buried against Steve so that his expression is hidden.

“Well, they’re wrong,” Steve says vehemently, fighting against the urge to go out right now and find everybody who made Tony feel less about himself. He knows right where to start, though, so he calms himself down. In a much softer tone, he adds, “I was wrong. But I’d love to get to know you as long as you tell me when you need me to leave.”

Tony withdraws from their embrace and Steve lets him go, although he wants nothing more than to hold on. He is glad when Tony does not go far. His arms are still settled on Steve’s waist, but he is now looking up at Steve.

“Only if you tell me if you want out too,” he says, serious despite the satisfied curl to his lips.

“I promise,” Steve replies with all the solemnity he can muster with how light he feels.

“We have a deal then?” Tony asks, his fingers tightening briefly against Steve, almost as if he is afraid of getting a negative response after all.

Steve hesitates only a moment, wondering whether he is not overstepping. Only one way to find out. So, he says, “Let’s do this.”

Tony smiles as he glances down at his arm. The bond hums in response to Steve’s words, stretching tentatively but golden between them. A warmth spreads through Steve’s chest that is full of opportunity. After weeks of seeing the world in greyscale, life is looking up again.

There are no guarantees here, but Steve feels confident about their decision. People call Tony a futurist, but when Steve looks at him, he sees the future in the most literal sense. His future. He is ready to take the first step towards it. Together.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 231: hey wHAT THE FUCK

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “lol what if the guy who can clone himself but is too afraid gets over his fears and makes like 200,000 of him,” and then he chuckled and did it. Re-Destro was all, “(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ...hey, Skeptic.” Skeptic was all, “!!!” and quickly faded himself out of existence like that kid in that one meme. The Legion of Twices rolled across the city leaving chaos in their wake, and helping Compress out of a jam in the process. Meanwhile King Cone continued to harass Dabi, who’s apparently starting to cook himself from the inside out, which I think we can all agree is probably not good. Then, over in the Ol’ Villain Laboratory, Ujiko abruptly decided to throw the LoV a bone and wake up Machia, because I guess Horikoshi was all “so anyway we should do that climax now I guess.” So on to the climax we go?

Today on BnHA: Machia awakens and starts zooming toward where the action is. We then cut to Osaka, where Hawks is apparently waiting for Dabi to show up (he’s late, wonder why that is) because he has a delivery for him. No idea what said delivery is, none whatsoever. Oh hey there, flashback of Best Jeanist -- OH NO. FLASHBACK OF BEST JEANIST, HAWKS IS COMING. OH MY GOD HE HAS AIRPODS ON HE CAN’T HEAR US ffffff. Anyway so we’re just going to ignore all of that, and back in the present Twice catches up with Spinner and Tomura who are both happy to see him and very pleased with his recent character development. The group of them have almost made it to Re-Destro’s tower, although both Spinner and Twice appear to be concerned about Tomura’s current exhausted state. The chapter ends with Twice (well, one of the Twices) arriving in the tower to rescue Princess Giran from Re-Destro’s clutches, which, fuck yeah.

(All comments are my 99% unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added a couple of ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

so if anyone tried to send me an ask in the last 24 hours or so, you may have noticed that my inbox was temporarily closed (I’ve reopened it now). this was due to a very polite anon ask I received yesterday morning which was nonetheless ominous as fuck

like, holy shit, lol. so of course my brain immediately panicked and came up with a whole list of things that this could possibly be referring to

Giran dies

someone else dies

Horikoshi kills another dog

Kacchan’s provisional license is revealed but his thumb is conveniently blocking out his hero name because Horikoshi is, in fact, evil

Re-Destro transforms into a big ugly spider-crab creature like Overhaul

RD transforms into something even worse, like a mushroom, or a centipede

worst-case scenario: “My Hero Academia will be on break next week.” or for two weeks. or, god forbid, an entire month. can you even fucking imagine holy shit

so anyway, as previously mentioned I immediately closed my asks so as to protect myself from any potential spoilers, and then I settled in to wait. and now I am finally reading the chapter, so I guess I should brace myself for whatever terrible things are about to unfold

and we’re opening with... what the fuck...

I guess it’s a nose lol

lmao oh my god

are you telling me he is going to track down Tomura by scent. Tomura just how rank are you after six weeks of nonstop battling in the woods. no wonder Machia hates you so much. was it really so simple this whole time

anyway, so now this is happening

I’m not even the one he’s hunting down and even I’m terrified. say a quick prayer for the Liberation Army of Assholes, everyone. they were, as the name implies, assholes, but I’m not sure anyone deserves what’s about to go down. Geneva Convention about to be violated something fierce

ASKDFJLWIREFJOAIJDLKLSDKFJSLDAKF

WELL IF IT ISN’T THE BIRB TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH HIS BOYFRIEND, WHO UNBEKNOWNST TO HIM IS CURRENTLY FIGHTING GOOD HUMOR WHILE TRYING TO COPE WITH HIS ORGANS BEING ON FIRE. HELLO THERE, HANDSOME

8. new worst-case scenario: Hawks fucking dies. oh my god. I’m about to go put this whole fucking chapter down right now and go take a walk while trying not to panic

so Hawks is crouching on that rooftop with a big ol’ bag. whatcha got there Hawks

(ETA: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻)

and he’s being smart and stuff

okay correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Various Bits Of Giran ominously turning up at all of the League’s Greatest Hits locations ought to count as an incident related to the League. eh?? sounds to me like the Hero Network has been slacking

-- NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. NEW NEW WORST-CASE SCENARIO BEST JEANIST FUCKING DIES WHAT THE FUCK

(ETA: and I also missed the part about the sidekicks the first time around! what the fuck!!)

BITCH I REALLY AM ABOUT TO GO OUT ON THAT WALK!?!? WHAT’S HORIKOSHI’S EMAIL I WANT TO WRITE HIM A VERY STRONGLY WORDED LETTER

shit. well look. if I just stop right here and don’t finish the chapter then it can’t hurt me. but on the other hand, if I quit BnHA right now and delete my tumblr then I’ll never find out Kacchan’s hero name. so anyway this is a really big dilemma for me as you can see guys, but I guess I’m just gonna have to suck it up and read on anyway because I apparently hate myself

ohhhhh shit

who’s he talking to?? that doesn’t sound like Dabi. and Tomura doesn’t know that Hawks exists. I’m thinking this must be Ujiko, then

lol he’s apparently out in public while taking this call, and his adoring fans are all “OMG WHO’S HE TALKING TO IS IT HIS GIRLFRIEND.” first of all, I think we all know Hawks doesn’t swing that way. and second of all, haha nope

anyway so now he’s flying off to go get some fucking privacy

okay now I’m absolutely positive this isn’t Dabi lol

because if that is Dabi being all “SPICY!!!” then I must say I’ve really failed to get the correct read on Dabi’s character up to this point. like, I could not have gotten that more wrong if I tried

wow Hawks is really going all in on his whole “secretly disgruntled traitor” act. if I didn’t know better I sure would be convinced

I love the juxtaposition between what he’s saying and what he’s actually thinking here. he’s so fucking smart, it’s ridiculous. constantly playing this dangerous game of chess in his head and judging what to say and how to act to best gain their trust

wow who is this?? maybe it really is Dabi

either that or someone new?? is the plot thickening?? jesus christ I was not prepared for any of this, I thought it was just gonna be a chapter of Gigantomachia fucking shit up. not all of this Intrigue

yep it is Dabi. wow Dabi. I’m gonna call you Spicy from now on you little freak

-- HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE

BACK THE FUCK UP. IS THIS IMPLYING THAT FUCKING HAWKS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR KIDNAPPING OR FUCKING MURDERING MOTHERFUCKING ULTIMATE FINEST JEANIST, BECAUSE I’M ABOUT TO LOSE MY SHIT OVER HERE WHAT THE FUCK

AND NOW WE’RE CUTTING TO ANOTHER BUILDING SOMEWHERE, STILL IN FLASHBACK MODE, AND IMMA KEEP THE CAPSLOCK ON JUST IN CASE BECAUSE I HAVE A FEELING THAT WE MAY JUST BE IN NEED OF IT

I CAN’T BELIEVE HORIKOSHI WENT FROM “HAHA LOOK AT ALL THESE TWICES” TO “HAWKS FUCKING MURDERS BEST JEANIST!!!” IN THE SPAN OF A SINGLE CHAPTER OH GOD

OH GOD!!!

BUT CAN YOU LIVE WITHOUT TWO LUNGS, BEST DEAD MAN WALKING???

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKFLSDKJ

MAYBE I DON’T REALLY NEED TO KNOW KACCHAN’S HERO NAME AFTER ALL SOB IT’S BEEN A GREAT MANGA EVERYONE, WONDERFUL GETTING TO KNOW YOU ALL BUT I CAN’T

... [CLICKS TO NEXT PAGE WHILE SOBBING!!!]

HEY WHAT THE FUCK WHAT IS THIS! WHERE DID THE FLASHBACK GO!!

HEY GUYS. OKAY LISTEN. IF BEST JEANIST’S HEAD IS IN THAT BAG, I’M ABOUT TO RAGE QUIT THIS WHOLE SCENE THOUGH

aaaaaaand now we’re cutting back to King Joffrey* VS Choco Taco. great

*this is a reference to Game of Thrones you guys. “bring me his head!” it’s not the best joke because I immediately realized it would probably require an explanation, hence me explaining it right now. but I’m not gonna go back and delete it though because, well. if the shoe fits, Spicy Boi

maybe it’s not Best Jeanist’s head. maybe I’m having an extreme overreaction to this whole thing. maybe the bag is filled with flowers. or letters to Santa that he’s delivering. or something else really good and wholesome and not-terrible

maybe they found someone with a cloning quirk like Twice’s, and they made a fake Jeanist and decapitated him? Hawks isn’t a fucking murderer though, like surely he wouldn’t go that far to gain the League’s trust even if it would save a lot of lives in the long run. right?? someone please reassure me here I feel like I’m on a boat slowly drifting out to sea with no way back sob help

oh hey look who finally decided to show up again!

and Spinner too! somehow I straight up forgot about him. maybe he’ll finally show us his quirk and we can forget all this Sopranos bullshit

wow, despite being completely fucking tanked from sleep deprivation Tomura is actually having a very reasonable conversation with Spinner and I’m fucking impressed actually

it’s really starting to seem that the lack of sleep is actually making him saner, which is extremely intriguing. it’s like whatever brainwashing/mental manipulation that Ujiko and AFO did is slowly losing its effect because of how tired he is. first the flashbacks, then the power upgrade, and now this uncanny single-minded focus that he’s developed. idk, just my theory, but I think we’re seeing a bit of his real personality starting to shine through here

anyway so I guess all these fuckers are about to die

place your bets everyone. will it be Tomura continuing on his rampage? Spinner finally revealing his quirk? Machia making his grand entrance? or a surprise entrance from Hawks wondering why his boyfriend didn’t show in Osaka like they agreed to retrieve his head in a bag sobbbbb

and maybe I should take back what I previously said about Tomura becoming saner, though. ...

though I mean, even if he’s saner in general he is still kooky from the no-sleep though

also it looks like the Twices have finally arrived! I didn’t even include them as an option to bet on. I’m really losing my touch here. it’s almost as if I’m distracted by something!!

okay, and now Twice is tackling Tomura to the ground for some reason while screaming “HIYAAAAH!” not how I was expecting you to deal with the situation Jin but okay

okay but not only is Tomura accepting this with more grace than some football quarterbacks, but he’s genuinely starting to remind me of Deku now holy shit. I take back my take-back. jesus christ when did he get so mellow?!

“I have no idea why you just fucking shoved me into the pavement for no reason but wow, you’ve really gotten stronger bro!” okay, things I was not expecting to happen in this chapter: Hawks going Full Evil while Tomura inches ever closer toward being a straight up nice dude

Twice is all “yeah!!” and says he hopes he can finally be useful to Tomura now. aww

meanwhile the Army of Dipshits is charging in again since they all want to die, apparently. I keep waiting for a few of them to have an epiphany in the background and be all “you know what, maybe I should get the fuck out of here and to hell with Re-Destro though.” but nope, they’re all idiots. it’s really something

Tomura is so fucking nice. his niceness is the balm I needed to soothe my anxiety over Best Deadest Jeanist

... [headpats]

he remembers from before that RD and Giran are supposedly up in the tower, and he’s more than ready to kill the former. quote unquote, “kill him reeeealll good.” that’s what I like to hear, Tomura

oh my god

motherfucking League of Softies right here. well except for Todoroki “Queen of Hearts” Touya. there, I worked in a more accessible chopped-off-heads reference for you guys. anyways he has issues, but the rest of the League of Angels is very sweet though

so Twice is shouting “just leave it to mes! hang on Giran, I’m coming for ya!” and I suddenly got scared all over again for Giran oh my god. please don’t hurt him, I was prepared for it before but now Best Jeanist is dead probably and I’m a fragile, vulnerable mess who’s trying to cope with humor and failing sob please

oh my GOD

SHIGARAKI TOMURA I KEEP JOKING ABOUT HOW NICE YOU ARE AND YOU KEEP ESCALATING YOUR LEVEL OF NICENESS TO MATCH MY FUCKING EXAGGERATIONS THOUGH, WHAT THE FUCK. “I WON’T FORGIVE YOU FOR TOYING WITH PEOPLE’S HEARTS LIKE THAT.” FOR REAL?!?! WHO EVEN ARE YOU

oh it’s this guy again

so did I honestly

you deserve to die a quick and brutal “Indiana Jones shooting the guy with the big sword” death, buddy. my fingers are crossed for Gigantomachia to just plow right through you as soon as I click to the next page. Horikoshi owes me, so

goddammit

wow this is almost verbatim Syndrome’s speech from the first Incredibles

also these guys just keep on getting more horrible. good job assholes

so Spinner’s thinking to himself that every time Hanabata gives a speech his lackeys get more fired up. and he’s wondering what to do because ‘I can’t let Shigaraki get any more exhausted!’

the love these guys have for each other though, I swear. like it genuinely is the sweetest thing. honestly the only real problem I have with this arc so far is that my disbelief is going to be crazy suspended if and when they go back to kidnapping kids and shit after this arc. there’s just no way I’ll be able to reconcile that in my head with the current League of Darlings here. I feel like it would be more consistent for their next scheme to be them angrily raising money for a charity or something

now what’s happening up in the tower

oh shit

that was fast Jin

and he continues to be hot. now he’s even doing it while still wearing the Deadpool mask! this is outrageous

gotta love that trash talk. “so you’re the asshole that kidnapped our broker and chopped off his hand and beat up my girlfriend! well guess what! YOU’RE BALD YOU BIG JERK”

Giran hotness status: still hot. this one basically goes without saying but it’s still worth a mention

bold fucking move bringing up your dead mouse secretary, Re-Jerko. sob. please don’t kill Giran or Twice. is that the real Twice?? -- no, because the real Twice is still sitting in that backyard with his arms broken, that’s right. but still, I’d prefer if you didn’t kill this one either though but whatever

where is Skeptic. you’d figure he’d have run into him on his way to the top of the tower. that’s unsettling, him still being out there somewhere

lastly, so long as Schrödinger’s Jeanist’s status remains unconfirmed I will go ahead and assume those really are letters to Santa in Hawks’s bag. that’s so sweet of you Hawks. you’ll fit right in with the League of Saints and I’m sure they’ll be pleased to welcome you

what a sweet and wholesome chapter where nothing bad happened and Best Jeanist is probably just off in Tahiti somewhere enjoying life with his one remaining lung well good night everyone

[royaltealovingkookiness]

ATLA fic rec master-list

A place to organize the ATLA fanfic I like.

I tend to like Zuko-centric stuff, and stories that focus not exclusively on romance (though I do read many different ships as well). As it will become apparent, my taste is rather eclectic, so there can be things in it for everyone. 

Most links are to AO3, I just prefer it that much to the layout of ffnet.  Also, if I haven’t tagged someone in Tumblr correctly, please give me a shout.

General AUs / Gaang/ adventure (various ships)

The Worst Prisoner  by @emletish-fish  (WIP) (Zutara) - in this AU starting already from S1, Zuko becomes friends with the Gaang much, much sooner, which means there is lots of amazing 

Zuko’s Tiny Dilemma by @botherkupo (slight Zutara) S1 Zuko agebending story featuring Iroh as a teapot!  Tiny, grumpy Zuko gets the Mumtara treatment and has great Gaang content. It sweet and funny. Now with an Azula-centric spin-off No Returns, No Refunds

The Undying Fire series by @botherkupo  -  (there are some ships, but the main focus is Gen) This is an epic Zuko is a firehealer, AU starting with The Blue Spirit, and spanning through each season. Extremely good, lots of Gaang focus, great Aang and Zuko friendship vibes and so much more. I don’t want to spoil it, other than, if you haven’t read it, go read it now!

Another Brother by @awesomeavocadolove    (Gen, WIP) Zuko is adopted by Hakoda, grows up as WaterTribe, as another sibling of Sokka and Katara. 

The Avatar Makes Three by @awesomeavocadolove (Gen, WIP) - Aang loses, but before he dies, he divides the Avatar spirit between Zuko, Katara and Toph.

Ozymandias, King of Kings by @Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought (WIP) - (Zuko/Sokka) This is a pretty dark AU, where instead of exile, Zuko was sent to a work camp before he’s freed by Aang and the others. The Zuko of this story is a pretty traumatized fellow, who is simply sick of everything. 

Southern Lights by @colourwhirled - (WIP, it’s Zutara, but it’s so much more). An AU world, where the Avatar has disappeared, the empire won the war. Iroh sets up a specialized unit with a chill airbender, a waterbending prodigy, a run away earth-bender and a banished prince.  There is politics, intrigue, adventure, cross-bending, and while the world is different the characters remain very recognizable.)  

In His Shoes by @awesomeavocadolove (Zuko/Sokka) It’s a bodyswap AU in Ba Sing Se. I love Ba Sing Se era Zuko and I love any AU where the Gaang sees this version of him. 

We Ourselves Must Walk the Path by @winterskywrites  (Gen) - short S3 AU where the Gaang really takes Zuko as prisoner in The Western Air Temple.

Fight by Electrons (Gen, WIP ) Zuko chooses differently in Ba Sing Se - now he’s the Gaang’s tour-guide to the Fire Nation. Lots of world-building around the Fire Nation. The story is on hiatus, but it’s still well-worth a read.

Unchained Melody by @awesomeavocadolove (WIP) (Zuko/Sokka), Sokka is stuck in spirit form, only Zuko can see him, S1 AU where Zuko and spirit-form Sokka are forced to hang out together. I mean how could it be wrong?

Little Zuko v the World by @muffinlance (Gen, WIP) Zuko finds Aang when they are both 12 in this S1 AU, which is written with a sweet humour. 

Fate Deferred by @catie-does-things  (WIP, Zutara) In this story Aang sleeps for another ten years before Zuko and Katara find him. It’s a story of Dadko and Momtara taking Aang to get his training in a world that ended up in a very different way after Sozin’s comet. It weaves together past and present masterfully and it’s as fun to follow the new adventures as it is to follow the past story of Zuko and Katara and see how things ended up as they are.

A Tale of Ice and Water by @soopersara (WIP) (pre-Zutara) - a canon-close AU featuring Avatar Katara, who still finds Aang in the ice. 

Zutara

Frozen @Aris Merquoni   - The ultimate Zuko gets captured at the North Pole fic. 

The Descent @chromeknickers  - S1 AU - Katara goes down to the spirit world to drag Zuko back to the living. A cranky waterbender, a pissed-off pony-tailed spirit and a very vivid spirit world. 

The Fifth Coloumn @chromeknickers (post-series Assassin AU) Katara is imprisoned by a secret society. A mysterious assassin infiltrates them. This has some dark / mature themes,  but a fantastic story overall.

Once Around the Sun  by Eleventy7 An amazing post-series eventual Zutara story, focused on Katara, Zuko and Azula. It’s a journey, both inside and out and it is amazing. Soul-searching, bonding, changing, adventure.

Mending Wounds by  FictionIsSocialInquiry  S2 AU, post-Chase. While lost in the Foggy Swamp, searching for her brother and her Avatar, Katara is haunted by visions of the Fire Nation's disgraced prince. Visions of peace after war, visions of honour and secrets...Katara has some interesting visions in the Swamp)

Stalking Zuko by @emletish-fish  Oldie but goldie, Zuko joins the Gaang, Katara takes up stalking. Sweet, funny Zutara fic from the Western Air Temple days.

I Don’t Speak Meow Language by @botherkupo   (Boogum)  Ba Sing Se-era, Zuko is a tea-server, Katara is a feisty cat AU - sweet, sweet silliness (I adore any fic where anyone from the Gaang gets to see up-close and personal, the sweet, awkward mess tea-shop Zuko is and you can’t get much closer than being a cat)

The Little Adentures of Katara (and One Giant Prince) by @botherkupo (WIP) An early S3 AU where a tiny Katara is stuck with her big princely saviour. I love this one because it gives a rare glimpse into Zuko’s palace life through Katara’s eyes, at the time when Zuko returns to the Fire Nation.  

so let us melt, and make no noise by littleloststar - a very moody AU, where Zuko is haunting for the last waterbender and Katara lives alone in an ice-palace. It feels like a Nordic myth with swirling snow and lots of darkness and ice. 

Fire Nation Royal Family

Lovable by LadyCharity (Zutara) A very emotional post-series Zuko & Azula story, which is also a Zutara story.

Azula’s Search by crowleyhouseplant (series) (slight TyZula)This story is just my absolute favourite post-series Azula-centric story, featuring an epic Azula/Mai/TyLee/Suki roadtrip to look for clues about Ursa. There is a little background Maiko and TyZula, but it is mostly about Azula’s road to redemption.

The Suns Inside of Us by @crowleyhouseplant   - (WIP) this is a sequel to Azula’s Search as she keeps searching her lost firebending, and perhaps her redemption, as she’s trying to figure out her place in the post-series reality, her relationship with Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee and others, but above all, herself.

Call “Uncle” by @jaggedcliffs  - (one-shot, Gen) The Gaang slowly adopts Iroh as everyone’s uncle.

Decorum by @sometimeswarrior (Gen) writes many good Iroh-centric one-shots. This one with Iroh & Ozai after the agni kai is my favourite.

stained in tea-colours by sangi - (one-shot, Gen) After the War, Azula eventually comes to live in Ba Sing Se with Iroh. A soulful story about Iroh, Azula and Zuko, and all the wounds they carry and the ties that bind them. It is a fantastic take on post-series Azula and her relationship with Iroh. Sangi has many great one-shots on the Fire Nation Royals, and they are really worth checking out.

There All the Honour Lies by @shastafirecracker (Gen) Iroh & Zuko oneshot, about the immediate aftermath of the Agni kai

our curse by @gaynasas and the last dragon by @runrundoyourstuff (Gen) OK, these are very dark, but very good takes on what would have happened if Ozai made a different decision about Iroh’s fate post S-2. Check out the tags before reading!

Choices by @catie-does-things  (Gen) Very interesting one-shot looking at Aang’s decision to spare Ozai’s life from the perspective of Zuko who now has to decide his fate.

Bloodline by monpetitpois (Gen) Multi-generation history of the Fire Nation Royals starting with Sozin to Izumi. It’s well written and in character and has a lovely forcus on Zuko’s and Izumi’s relationship. Character-focused, canon-compliant.

Zuko-centric (various ships & friendships)

the beginning of a new and brighter birth by  @captainkirkk (aloneintherain) (Gen) My favourite take on post-series Zuko becoming Fire-Lord. None of that comic nonsense. Very solid political plot, lots of heart and really it’s just the story that had to be told.

The Problem With Zuko by avocadolove (Gen) AU where Lu Ten didn’t die, and Zuko is just an overlooked lesser prince. He is put in charge of imprisoning Aang and his companions.

The Revenant by @achievement-bender (Gen) Zuko helps the Gaang, but in a very different way. A sad, but so good, Ghost!Zuko story. (check out the rest of their stuff - I also love Catch and Release, which is an AU where the Blue Spirit gets captured by Zhao

ribs by @gaynasas (oneshot) (Gen) There are simply not enough Zuko & Aang friendship stories in the world. This one is a great one about bonding over firebending and learning about Zuko’s scars. All of her stuff is very well written and worth reading.

a night at the theatre by @captainkirkk  (one-shot) (Gen) Fire Lord Zuko meets the Ember Island Players

A Candle to a Dragon by @achievement-bender  (WIP) (Gen) Non-bender Zuko AU. Wow, what a ride with a bookish, sweet, heartbroken Zuko, training with Piandao as he’s trying to figure out who he is without bending in a family of prodigies. 

Heartlines by @kuchee  (WIP) Zuko loves Katara. Katara loves Zuko. Aang loves Katara. Katara loves Aang. Aang loves Zuko. Zuko loves Aang. It doesn’t have to be a love triangle if everyone has two hands? A lovely Zuko/Katara/Aang OT3 with lots of pining set during a post-series Earth Kingdom natural disaster.

Antebellum by @veliseraptor (Gen) A Zuko & Aang friendship oneshot (did I mention I have a thing for these? Set during the Western Air Temple days.

Towards the Sun by @muffinlance - (Gen, WIP) Zuko is Fire Lord AU  - Zuko got imprisoned on the Day of the Black Sun, so never joined the Gaang. After Ozai’s defeat, he becomes Fire Lord by default. So when the Gaang and Iroh show up to hammer out peace, things get complicated. (WIP)

Home We’ll Go by themanofmanyhats - (Gen) This is a post-war take on Zuko’s path crossing again with Lee and his family from Zuko Alone. What can I say? Post-war Earth Kingdom reveals are my jam.

there is fire in me by @suzukiblu  - (Gen) - Firebender!Jet with Ba Sing Se era Zuko and Sokka makes for a very unlikely, but great bonding story

Modern AUs

Pulse by @isnt_it_pretty  I rarely read modern AUs, but this one caught my eye. It is set in a modern era, but the characters feel really on spot. Warning! it’s super angsty

Welcome Heat by @cowlicklesschick  - (Zutara, Sukka) firefighter Zuko and pre-med Katara, with a good side helping of sweet Sokka & Suki romance. It’s fluffy with just the right amount angst, and a reimagined modern world where all the characters fit right in.

---

[ranzuk-blog]

Gift ideas to make your loved ones smile

If you want some gift ideas to make, your friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, family or your special ones smile then YES you are in the right place. As we all know that during special occasions, we decide we need to gift for our loved ones. We get excited about some particular event for them as well. But then if we get into the most significant dilemma of what to gift!

For the first few times, we gift similar kind of items. But as we grow closer to someone, we start thinking of what to give them so that our gift stands out as a special. Here are a few gift ideas based on which you can choose what gifts can be given to your loved ones.

> Gift Ideas Based on Budget

Okay.. this is the first point you need to take into consideration before choosing any gift.

Maybe you can choose a single large gift or many small gifts to surprise your loved ones. But before that, you need to know how much money you are exactly going to spend on that gift. So that based on the budget you chose, you can think of various options within that range. By doing this you can draw most of the value out of the money that you are going to spend to buy a special gift.

> Based on Age

This is an important factor to consider when you are about to choose a gift. Suppose the person you are gifting is just a kid then you can think of giving something ranging from toys, drawing materials, chocolates, etc.

Now suppose you want to gift to an adult you can choose from things that can be useful for an adult.

So depending on what they may like for their age groups like mothers get happy whenever they get beautiful saris.

Teenagers or people in their 20’s are more into looks hence you can choose to gift them from a wide range of accessories. They are specially designed for youth considering latest fashion trends around. Accordingly, you should choose gifts based on which age group they belong to.

> Gift Ideas Based on Gender

Needless to say, you should obviously consider if you are gonna gift to a male friend or a female friend.

Of Course, considering this we have very limited options of what to gift for your male counterpart rather than female. As for them, there are a variety of options ranging from makeup, items of clothing and other kinds of stuff.

Most of the time for men typically we think of watches, ties, belts, wallets, etc. But there are quite a lot of things we can gift them not beautiful or cute ones but techie kind of things.

Besides nowadays, men too have different types of accessories depending on a traditional or modern look. Hence make sure to keep looking for the current trend in the market for accessories for both men and women.

So that you can choose accordingly what to gift and hence make it a special one.

> Based on Relationship

You should take into consideration who you are gifting to choose exactly what to be given depending on whether it is your friend, best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, parents, relatives, etc. Also, you can choose accordingly what gift you can give them.

You can choose something personalized gifts for people really close to you with their favorite snaps or maybe pics with you guys together.

Depending on how close relationship you have with that person you can choose gifts related to the closeness you share with that person based on the time you spent with them and how well you know them inside out.

> Based on Interests

Whomever you are gonna gift you need to consider what interests them. It will help you a lot to choose what kind of gift you can give them.

Depending on how long you’ve known the person or how expressive the person is you.

It will definitely have some idea regarding what interests them the most. You may notice that some girls have a love for shoes, bags, accessories, etc. Similarly, guys may have interest in some sports or tech related accessories.

For a book lover, you can gift books. For one who loves to bake cakes or make chocolates, you can gift some accessories for making those. Someone who loves painting you can give something related to that.

For someone who loves particular movies or series, you can gift merchandise gifts related to those series. This one is the most important thing to consider before gifting something to someone where you can show them that you pay attention to what they love and hence you make them feel special.

> Gift Ideas Based on Occasions

Being Indians all of us know we celebrate various occasions, the most traditional thing that my parents do is gift a sari and shirt along with pant piece for most of the family functions. But we youngsters nowadays feel that we can gift something based on the occasion. Consider a house warming ceremony you can gift something with which you can beautify their new home.

For a baby shower, something related to babies or to be parents as a baby diary kind of things. During marriages give something that will of some use for that newlyweds, for anniversaries you can gift couple gifts.

Just consider the occasion you are about to attend and later choose a gift which you think will be suitable considering the particular time

> Based on your Time

Firstly, by this first, I would like to suggest that if you truly wanna make someone feel very special make sure to spend some “TIME” with them. Be it their birthday, some function, some celebration.

If you can be with them during their happy time, make sure that you try to be present with them, surely that will make them feel extra special that you took your time out to be with them.

Now Secondly, most of us know that now DIY is kind of trending. It says “Do It Yourself” by which what I mean to say is that you can make something on your own so as to gift it to someone. Depending on what time you have if you get a chance to make something yourself for the gift. I would suggest you make one definitely.

The person who will receive will be so happy to receive a handmade gift. Trust me they will definitely love the fact that you took your time and efforts for them. I can surely tell that they will definitely love it.

Now the last point is really subjective to individual preferences, and it’s more like the suggestion that if you can do it, then surely do it. If you can’t then also it won’t make much difference.

If you truly share a special bond with them, whatever you are gonna gift will still be a gift.

Conclusion

At the end considering some such points as mentioned here you can choose a gift for your loved one. Taking into consideration of what they may love you can have a lot more gift ideas in your mind.

Surely they will love whatever you will choose after going through so much of research to choose a special gift. No matter small or large one in terms of size or monetary value, it will help the growth of special bond that you guys share with each other. A gift is just a token of love and appreciation that we want to express.

[girigiriboy]

HYPEBEAST - GIRIBOY SF ALBUM INTERVIEW [eng]

HYPEBEAST GIRIBOY INTERVIEW 180924

There’s so much that Giriboy wants to do. Various activities with the crew WYBH and SMTM777 producing, and his clothing brand I4P which was launch recently, Giriboy has been busy however, he says he wants to do more than the present, tougher than now. Science fiction album which was released last weekend and acrnm MV are just one of the many things he wants to do. Giriboy who wants to jump into the world of a sci-fi movie immediately. We met Giriboy who lives his day imagining himself using superhero powers everyday. Before he departs to a different space, a zero-dimensional space.

You seems busy with SMTM and lots of producing. How are you these days?

I’ve been releasing albums and making music. I’ve been making many music for SMTM and making clothes. Doing this and that really makes me flustered. During my promotions, there’s lots of times where I had to go out only after sleeping for 2 hours, or only 30 minutes.

Where did you get the inspiration for the acrnm MV?

Acrnm was made because I wanted to maximise the cool things I want to do. I used to buy a lot of branded clothings meaninglessly, and when I settled my accounts at the end of the year, I realised 80% of my money was spent on clothes. I don’t even drink or go out to play so I felt like it was a waste. I was sick of it so I stopped buying them. I was looking for clothes that I can wear for a long time and Park Sung-jin hyung came in to Just Music at the time. When I saw that hyung wearing a full set of acronym clothes, I started looking at overseas sites, ebay or grailed and bought acronym clothes whenever they release something new up on the sites. That’s why the featuring of this song was by Goretexx. Right when I made the song, I thought that the featuring has to be this hyung.

How about the inspiration for the title song Keyboard and Skyblue?

I wanted to do love songs with SF movie vibes like <Her> & <About Time>. I wrote lyrics like “After we bid farewell, I can only see you in the digital world. I want to see you in real life.” I wanted to do something unique to match the album concept.

The songs that you produced yourself seems so different. Do you have any songs you are more affectionate to?

I really like acrnm the most among all the songs made from my beats. I wanted to add some grandiosity to trap which is very trendy lately. Be why does that a lot in Korea. I sent the song to bewhy for feedbacks, and he said the song is right up his alley so I thought “okay it’s done. Let’s release it.” (laughs)

Describe the featurings in your album including bewhy with one sentence.

Yumdda: A tough hyung

The quiett: A cute hyung

Bewhy: Thumb

Goretexx: A wall. He’s really so cool he’s like a wall

Justhis: Just justhis.

Swings: Let’s skip this question. What should I say? A love hate relationship. It’s a love hate relationship.

In the last Hypebeast interview, swings said he is making a new label with Giriboy. So how is it going?

We took all the profile pictures and made album plans as well. It should be announced soon but we are all still waiting. It might even be announced tomorrow. People who already knew about it will know. There are lots of spoilers on instagram. We will announce it soon.

You have many songs about the space, and your crew is also named Space Flying (WYBH), is it because you want to escape from earth?

Yes, I totally want to get away from earth. I want to get away from this world even for just a second. I want to live in a world like <Lord Of the Rings> <Star Wars> <Alien> for just a month. I like zombies world too. I would like to have something special everyday. Like maybe I have a superpower or something. I want to go to a different world. A zero dimensional world.

Since when have you been interested in science fiction?

I liked dramas, movies, comics with unique plots when I was in high school. I love magic genres and fantasy genres. These days my favourite drama is Black Mirror. There are people who hate it because the story makes you feel bad afterwards but I really love it, I keep checking when the next season will be up. I also really really love <Her>.

Surprisingly it’s not action but it’s a romance genre. Doesn’t science fiction equals to action?

Romance can end with romance, however, in <Her> they didn’t use any special devices. In Star Wars, I even memorised the entire family tree. That’s how much I love it. (laughs)

What is WYBH crew to Giriboy?

My best friend. My closest friends in the entire world, my younger brothers. I don’t really talk much usually and I’m afraid of meeting people but even when I’m having a hard time, WYBH crew are my real friends who I can call and we can go out to have fun comfortably.

What is SMTM to Giriboy?

It’s very difficult. I didn’t have any opportunity to show myself as a producer, but this was an opportunity. I think of it as an opportunity to make someone cooler and a place I can prove myself.

What is the criteria to a good rapper, a good producer?

What’s important to a good musician is that one has to be able to get drunk in his own music. Being able to have fun while making music thinking “wow I can’t believe I made this”. And also being able to get what’s inside of you out and possessing the tools to express something same differently in your own way, that’s a good rapper.

Let’s go back to talking about fashion. When and how did you get interested in fashion?

I think it was in middle school when I saw the hyungs wearing Jordan shoes. It was when Big Bang was really popular and if Big Bang wore bape hoodies, I wanted to buy it. If you go to Apgujeong there’s lots of cool hyungs there. I didn’t have money so I only did eye shopping thinking “if I wear this with this it’ll be so cool” “I shall buy this next time”. I started doing part time jobs and earning money, so I bought Jordan and supreme once in a while. Lots of people misunderstood me when I said things about the fashion brands, but I like Gucci, Balenciaga and other brands. I just wrote it for laughs. I really wanted to own every season of vetements and raf simons, it gave me such a hard time. So badly. I am trying my best to be to be frugal. But I am in a dilemma, if I should buy two more pairs of acronym shoes. (laughs)

The brand that you launched last spring, and the first track of the album “I4P”, what does it mean?

It can be read as 148 or I four P, they are numbers appeared in my dream. The comic book #148 dropped and I woke up trying to pick it up. After that there was another incident which involves these numbers as well. I talked about this so much so if you just try to search it on internet you’ll find it. I thought of using the numbers which appeared in my dreams somewhere and when I decided to make a brand, it matched well. The slogan ‘Don’t save on sehtolc eht!’ is read as ‘don’t save on the clothes’. I wrote it spelling backwards like that so it looks cooler. (laughs) It was another phrase initially but it overlapped with Kid Milli’s Nondisclothes which was released earlier, so it was spelled backwards. It means “don’t save on the clothes”. Just wear it. There are people who wear their shoes really carefully. It makes me wonder if it is necessary to go to that extent. I want to show a culture, a movement where you can wear clothes comfortably.

What made you start this brand?

I wanted to make clothes that I can wear on a daily basis. When I made up my mind not to buy expensive brands, I thought it will be cool if I make clothes to wear myself. Also I don’t have any hobbies so I started making things. Making music and watching movies was my everything, but it was boring living life like that.

What do you think of Kid Milli’s Nondisclothes?

It’s really cool. It gives me motivation. Initially I wanted to make a brand with Milli early last year, but the middle person who was going to help us became really busy so we couldn’t proceed with it. Now we send each other clothes. The pros of doing it separately is that when we collaborate the next time, the synergy will be stronger. It will be nicer if we do well at our own things and then collaborate. And since our styles are different.

Which star did Giriboy come from?

I came from Earth’s Do Bonggu district Wang Shimri. But I want to go to a different place, a different star. To a zero dimensional space.

Is there anything else you want to say?

What I want to say to my fans is I’m really grateful to you all for liking me. I thought of quitting few years ago when it became boring to me. But because of you all who listen to my music, I gained confidence and I’m going to continue working, more consistently and even tougher than now. I think it’s only right to to show as much as how thankful I am to you all. Anyway I’m going to continue moving forward consistently so I hope you guys continue to watch over me too.

[silkkpopbonnet]

Dilemma

Yeon spent the next few months with Jay more, than she was with Jun Seo. They went to movies, out to eat, hung out at arcades, chilled at his place, and every once in awhile clubbed together. With Jun Seo she went out to dinner, he took her bowling, the amusement park. She tried to spend more of her nights with Jun Seo, because of school, but also she liked being with Jay in the day time more as well. When he wasn’t doing business for AOMG, looking for artists, and doing his own songs.

True to his word, her father rented out of her spot in Seoul, close to school but also home for her to live in. She had moved all her things to her new place and had bought more. Just as she was pulling her couch to a different wall, Jay knocked on her door. Yeon hurried over, licking her lips, adjusting her off shoulder sweater top, she opened the door.

“Happy..home warming?” He held out a vase full of orchids.

“Well aren’t you a sweetheart?” Yeon took the flowers from him, turning away from the door. “Can you lock it behind you?”

Jay looked around at her place. Spacious for one person living here, and he knee the neighborhood as well. “This place was pricey huh?” He took his shoes off, following her the rest of the way inside her home, to find her filling the vase with fresh water.

“I don’t know, didn’t pay for it.” She set the vase on the counter, coming from behind it, her arms open.

Jay grinned wrapping his arms around her, his lips lingered on her shoulder, kissing the warm skin he found there.

“Daddy’s girl, through and through.” He let her go, moving to sit down at the island bar. “So, what are you doing now?”

She smirked, hand on her hip. “I just moved the couch, and I have some boxes piled in that hall with things in them to set up. We can do my room first though. I got this idea from pintrest, and I had to do it.”

She motioned for him with a finger, and Jay followed her to her room. His eyes were on her hips, in her cotton shorts. She wasn’t wearing any underwear that much he could tell, and he suppressed a moan, as she bent over picking up a box.

“Can you get that box?” She pointed with her foot and turned left into a door.

He picked it up, half wondering how much manual labor he would have to do and what was going to be his present for doing so, when he turned into her room and she was sprawled across her bed.

“What do you think?” Yeon asked as he set the box down, taking in the view.

“Of the room, or the goddess on the bed?” He gave her his typical wink and crooked smile.

Yeon rolled her eyes, rolling off the bed. “Don’t even start. Gray and white, but it’s gonna be real girly, sequins and sparkle and glass.”

She kept on talking about her vision, as he helped her set up the room. Fake fur blanket on the foot of the bed, her white vanity, with crystals knobs installed. When they were finished, he laid down on her bed, hands over his eyes.

“I didn’t think you’d work me so hard. I’m tired.” Yeon straddled his waist, hands on his chest, rubbing in small circles.

Jay had put his hands down, putting them on her waist, moving her sweater to rub the skin under it. “Do I get a treat?”

“Like?” She leaned down, propping herself up on her elbows on his chest.

Jay winced in pain, moving her arms so they were around his head, he pulled her down, her lips were close to his. “Don’t play hard to get, you know what I’m looking for.”

Yeon rolled her hips on his body, earning a groan from him, she let her lips brush over his, then immediately backed off him and stood up walking out the door. “Just help me do the living room, and we can order food.”

Jay mumbled to himself about teasing females, and willed little Jay back down before he got up and walked to the living room ready to be her slave. As they were working, Yeon asked him to head back to her room, for some pillows in her closet. Jay walked past her vanity just as her phone let out a beep for a message. He knew he shouldn’t, but he was nosy, he could admit that. Looking down at her phone he saw a name. Jun Seo, the preview of the message, said:

Did you get your place set up jagi?

Jay made a face. Who was that? He took the pillows back to the living room, handing them to her full of questions, but was it his place? They had been talking, hanging out and together now for three months. To him, he considered that dating. He had seen no one else, talked to no other female. Yeon was his woman. Did she see it that way? Was he supposed to just ask her to be his girl? She asked him to grab something else from her room, and he went back again, hearing her phone beep two more times as he walked down the hall. Taking a peek at her phone it was the same name.

Jun Seo:  Jagi…

Jun Seo: You must be busy. I’ll..

The rest of the message was cut off, and he hurried back to the living room, handing her a lamp. Just as the living room was finished, she sat on the couch, patting the place next to her, an iPad in her hands.

“What do you want to eat?” She asked, throwing her leg over his thighs.

Jay bit his bottom lip, he wanted to ask her so bad. “What do you normally get?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “There’s a good Japanese place not too far from here, I’ll get us some teriyaki.” She began pushing buttons on the iPad.

“Do you have water?” She peeked over the top of her iPad.

“I’m sorry Jay, I’m a bad hostess. Yea, look in the fridge, there should be water bottles.” She went back to looking over the menu.

As he got up, Jay opened the fridge, choosing his words carefully. “So, have you made friends in class? Hanging out with some people here?”

She seemed to stiffen up, at his words. “What do you mean?”

He sighed. Mentally willing her not to lie to him. “Friends. Have you made any?”

She set the iPad down, coming over to the kitchen. “A few. Some of the girls are nice, I think they are just…looking at me like a foreigner. I like a few though.” She grabbed a water bottle as well, opening it.

He nodded at her, smiling. “I was just wondering. Making sure, you didn’t need more time with me or anything.”

Yeon wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Please, I see enough of you.” She said jokingly.

Jay nodded his head. “Go to dinner with me, tonight?”

Yeon stopped on her way back to the couch. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Why?” He didn’t want to get confrontational, but she was pushing him. “I feel like I really only see you during the day time. Someone else spends the nights with you?”

Ok, he was getting testy with her, he knew, but he couldn’t stand secrets. He didn’t like feeling like he could be a secret.

Yeon raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t it be the other way around? I would only see you at night if you were a secret. To answer your question, no. I have…family business at night, mostly.”

That was a hell of a convoluted answer if he ever heard one, but who was he to judge? He let it go for now. “Ok, dinner with me at my place, this Saturday. I won't take no for an answer.”

Yeon laid her head back against the sofa. “So thirsty for me.” She sat up smiling. “Yes, I’ll be there. Casual?”

“It’s always casual with me,” Jay replied, walking back towards her.

They ate lunch together, and watched a little bit of TV, towards the evening Jay had to go back to the office, a new artist was coming to perform for him, and he couldn’t be late. He spent an additional 15 minutes kissing her goodbye, and when he finally left, he forgot about ever seeing her phone. She was happy when she was with him, she gave him all of her attention, maybe it was just a friend. Maybe it was just someone, who thought he could be more. She was his though, he shouldn’t worry. Yeon had closed her door, touching her lips, and sighing. She wanted Jay and bad, but she couldn’t just let Jun Seo know that. Her father knew that. Or could she? He always pushed her too hard, the best grades, the best schools. She tried too hard to please him, and look where it got her now. She was expected once again, to drop anything she wanted and do what he told her to. She was tired of it. She wanted him to accept her, and love her for who she was. Not this makeshift person he was trying to make her be. She felt the tears come to her eyes and willed them away, she wasn’t going to cry over something so petty. What should she do? What could she do? She was falling hard for Jay, but her father wanted her to have Jun Seo, why was her world like this?

On the way to her parent’s home, Jun Seo called her.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you get my texts earlier?

“I did, I’m sorry, I was busy setting up my place, it’s done now. I’m on my way to my parents to eat dinner with them.” She turned into her parent's driveway, parking.

“Ah, what are you doing later tonight? Maybe, I could come to see you? Bring a bottle of wine?” If she said no, that would be rude, considering she went to his house.

At the same time, she didn’t hold her liquor well, and the last time, they were together and alone. No, she could control herself, that was something completely different. She just didn’t feel for Jun Seo like that, no matter how handsome he was, how deep his voice was, and how soft his hands were, or how good he could make her feel.

“I don’t know…I have a paper to write.”

He pleaded with her. “It’s not that late. I won't stay long then. Please, jagi?”

She hated that he felt like he was so familiar he could call her that. “Jun Seo…”

“I already know where you live. I won’t stay long, I promise. I’ll see you in two hours. Go eat with your parents, bye.” He hung up the phone before she could answer.

When she heard the dial tone, she sighed, bumping her head against her steering wheel. “Does no one fucking care, what I want?”

Inside her parents home, she was lectured once again by her father. Good grades, maintaining her new place, on the condition, she did very well in school. Don’t party so much. Her mother shot her an apologetic smile, before stopping her husband.

“Jesus, Yobo, you are going to talk her ear off. Yeon knows what to do. She is a grown woman, please give her some space.” Her mother winked at her, before continuing eating.

“You are my daughter. My only child. I want what is best for you.” He set his chopsticks down, looking at her.

Yeon put her head down. “Don’t I get to say what is best for me?”

Her father stopped his wine from coming towards his mouth. “Excuse me?”

Better late than never. Yeon sat her head up, facing her father. “I know what I want. I know what I like. I know what I have to do. You push me too much abeoji. Please, let me breathe. Let me be myself.”

Her father raised an eyebrow, setting his glass down. “You may be out of my house, but do not forget who provides for you, Park Yeon.”

She clenched her teeth, hands balling into fists. “That isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. Now I’m changing the subject. How are you and Jun Seo?” Her father drank his wine.

“He tells you everything, doesn’t he? You should know. I haven’t really seen him in awhile, I’ve been busy.” She drank her water, still angry.

“Yeon watch your tone.” Her mother replied.

“He did tell me that. He thinks you have been avoiding him. Enough of that, he is a good man. He will be a good husband. He wants to take you to Jeju Island this weekend. Go with him.” Yeon slapped her chopsticks down on her plate.

“No. No, I wont go, I have plans this weekend, and I won’t go with him. Why couldn’t he ask me that? Why does he have to go through you, like I don’t have my own brain? Like I don’t make my own decisions? I’m sick of this!” She stood up from the table, pointing at her father. “First, you take me from Atlanta, take me from the school I love and all my friends, and then you make me come back to Korea, and start over here. Why! To use me as your pawn? To force me into a relationship with some man, I don’t even know!”

“Yeon, please.” Her mother held a hand up, trying to calm her. “Sit down.”

“I won’t!” Yeon screamed. “I don’t love him, and I will never will.”

She ran from the dining room, into the foyer, grabbing her shoes and her keys. She could hear her mother, yelling for her to come back, as she left out the front door. In her car, angry tears fell down her face, she wanted to go to Jay. She dialed his number as she drive through the streets of Seoul to her house. His voicemail answered, and she didn’t leave a message. He was busy, he had no time to deal with her and her family drama. Once, she was home, Yeon pulled a blanket onto her light brown legs, laying down in the darkness.  

She was half asleep when her doorbell rang, she got up from her couch sleepily and looked at the video feed. It was Jun Seo, god not right now, and she pressed the button for the elevator, waiting for him to knock on her door. Once he did, she opened it.

“I fell asleep, look Jun Seo-”

He grabbed her waist, startling her as he turned her so he could close the door behind her. His mouth quickly descended over hers, as he pressed her body into the door. Yeon yelped, putting her hands up on his chest, trying to push him away, but Jun Seo held onto her hands with one of his, biting her lower lip roughly.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.” His lips moved to her neck.

“Stop, Jun Seo, stop,” She pushed at him, her eyes angry. “I am not in the mood, at all.”

He held up a wine bottle smiling at her. “I can get you there.”

Yeon rolled her eyes, her hair coming out of her messy top knot. “Were you drinking already?” He smelled like hard liquor.

Jun Seo grinned at her, before turning away deeper into her home. “Maybe, a little. Come drink with me, Jagi. Maybe, we can play like we did last time.”

He wagged his tongue out at her, and Yeon shivered, that was not attractive. “You are drunk, and youre being rough. I don’t like it. Please leave, Jun Seo. I won’t ask you again.”

He sighed, putting a hand on his face.”I haven’t seen you in what? Four days? Why are you being so mean to me? Is that the American in you? Be nice to Oppa.” He came towards her, hands making grabby motions.

For a minute, Yeon was legitimately afraid and she backed away from him. “If you touch me, I will scream. Go home now, and sleep it off.”

She moved towards her door, waiting for him to leave. Jun Seo grinned, walking towards her. “You play hard to get, but I know you want me. Remember how wet you were?” He reached a hand out, stroking her face. “Let’s play nice now, come inside, drink with me, and let me make you scream in Korean. You sound so cute, when you speak Korean. Let’s make your daddy happy.”

That set her off, Yeon grabbed his hand that was on her face, using her Ju JitSu skills to twist his hand, making him move out the door. “Go home and sleep Jun Seo, think about what you just said to me. Then fuck off.”

She slammed the door, walking back to her kitchen to pour the wine down the sink. She could hear him knocking on the door, then it got silent and she hoped he had left. As she lay in bed, Yeon closed her eyes, wondering when this roller coaster was going to end.

That Saturday proved to be a better day. She woke up to Jay, apologizing on voice messages and in text. Work ran longer than normal, he had too many things to do but tonight, they were still on. Jun Seo had called and left several voice messages, begging her forgiveness. He had even sent flowers to her house. She texted him back, telling him that she wasn’t going to put up with that, and that she wanted to cool it for awhile, he understood but; to her dismay kept asking to see her and apologize in person.

That night she just wanted to be with Jay and as she stood at his building waiting to be buzzed up, she fixed her hair. She let her curls hang loose, a silver headband on her head, she arranged the hair around it. Jay opened his door, giving her a kiss, pulling her inside. It smelled amazing.

“What are you making?” She took off her shoes, following him to his kitchen.

“Shish Kabobs, burgers, corn, and I grilled some chicken. My own marinades.” He was wearing black shorts that came to his knees, nike slides, and a V neck shirt with some designs on the front. His normally long hair, was freshly shaved on the sides, the top gelled and parted on one side of his face.

He was so attractive, pointing to where she could sit, as soft music came over the speakers located somewhere in her house. She recognized it as John Legend.

“I’m excited.” Yeon replied as he set a beer in front of her, drinking his own as he began to fix a plate for her.

“Well, you’re going to love my cooking, maybe so much you’ll fall in love with me.” He grinned at her winking.

Yeon toyed with the feathers on her long gold necklace. “You wouldn’t have to work that hard.”

Jay looked up at her, watching her lick her lips as she looked at him. “Don’t tease me, woman.”

“I’m not.” Just as a moment was beginning to happen, her phone rang, and she fished it out of her purse, looking at it, sighing.

“If it’s not family, not tonight, baby. I got too many plans.” He picked up two plates, carrying them to a table behind her.

“Get, your beer, but let me grab some waters.” He moved back towards the fridge, before sitting down across from her.

As they ate, Yeon had left her phone on his kitchen counter, but it buzzed two more times. She ignored it, but Jay couldn’t. He got up picking up her phone, looking down at the screen.

“You know, not even my friends call and text me, this much. Especially, if I tell them I’m on  date.” He held her phone up. “Who is Jun Seo?”

Yeon swallowed her saliva, her heart stopped in her chest. “A friend.”

“Friends. Don’t call this much, baby. See the thing is, he calls you jagi, that’s reserved for men who like you. Who want more, see you as a romantic partner.” Jay set her phone down on the counter, his hand covering it. “I’ve been dating you damn near three months now, and I’ve noticed his name on your phone before. So, why don’t you tell me the truth. I don’t share.”

“I don’t remember you asking me to be your girlfriend.” Yeon turned her face away from him.

“Ok.” Jay crossed the room, standing in front of her. “So, me seeing you exclusively, isn’t what that is? I won’t ask you again. Who is Jun Seo?”

Yeon sighed. “He works for my dad. My father wants me to date him, in the hopes that I marry him-but-.”

Jay held up a hand, he walked around the table, and pulled out a chair next to her. “Run that by me again. So, you’ve been seeing him? and me?”

“Yes and no. Let me finish, Jay.” She reached for his hand, which he promptly took from her.

“Finish.”

She explained to him, how her father made her move back here from Atlanta. How he sprung Jun Seo on her, and how she knew him before she knew Jay. That she needed to please her father, she would make no commitments because, she wanted to do her own thing. Then, she started to fall for him, she hung out with Jay more than she did Jun Seo, she didn’t have sex with him, she hadn’t seen him in about a week. She didn’t kiss him, she only did that with Jay. She knew who she wanted.

“I don’t share baby, I won’t do it.” Jay crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m not asking you too.” She answered, hands on her face.

“I want you, Yeon. I want you to want only me. Do you want me? Do you want to be my woman?” He turned her chair towards him, pulling her hands from her face. “I understand what’s going on, I understand the pressure that is on you, but no more. You will not see him again, I won’t have it. Now, answer me.”

Yeon picked her head up, looking into his eyes. He wasn’t hurt, by her actions, or at least he didn’t show it. He cupped her chin in his hand, as her fingers skated down his tattooed arm.

“Yes, I want you, and I’m yours.”

Chapter Five

[mangled-dreams]

Unique Ways.

This one is for @villain-friend, who has been waiting so patiently along with a few others...I’m so sorry I don’t have more to post right this moment. Prompts are from the Winter prompt list numbers 129. “We’re not going to spend the holidays alone and sad. i won’t allow that!” and 135.  “I know that people usually kiss under mistletoe but.. I had other things planned.” Anti was requested for this story and so I present to you all, and especially to Villain-Friend; Unique Ways.

(Cats have nothing to do with the story. I just liked this gif.)

"We're not going to spend the holidays alone and sad. I won't allow that!" Jacob had promised you not more than two weeks ago, but now you sit in your half empty apartment, with festive lights twinkling, and tears running down your cheeks. You curse Jacob's name, shouting to the heavens and whatever God or Goddess that'll listen to your sorrows. You hate how much time and effort and dreams you'd put into your relationship with Jacob; only to find out he's been unfaithful and two faced nearly your whole relationship. "Two fucking years down the goddamn drain!" you scream grabbing the pillow next to you and shove it against your face. You scream into the pillow, praying it'll muffle your cries of agony. Flopping forward on your bed you feel like kicking your feet up and down, smashing your fists into the mattress, but you refrain from doing so. You're bigger than that. You think..."I hate you so much! I hate you! I hate you!" You cry over and over and over again. You don't hate a lot of things, but you hate Jacob and his cheating ways. Your friends, and even your family had asked if you'd seen any kind of sign that Jacob had been seeing another woman--sorry, two other women, but you hadn't. You'd been to busy focusing on your job and paying for the Christmas gift of a lifetime; a three week all expenses paid for. You'd been planning on letting him know on Christmas day. Not anymore, you think bitterly. Rolling onto your back you notice a photo that you hadn't smashed just yet and sit up, the room spinning a little before settling. You stand up and grab the photo off the shelf and take it to the living room, removing the actual photograph and set the undisturbed frame on the coffee table. You pass into the kitchen and pull out a large kitchen knife and cutting board. You're pissed off and ready to slice up the photo, but you don't want to ruin your new counter tops. Laying the photograph on the cutting board face up, you aim your knife and jab it into the photo narrowly missing Jacob's face. You stab at the photo a few more times oblivious to your front door opening with the spare key you'd given Anti a few months back. Jacob had always accused you of cheating with Anti, going as far as to demand you cut all ties to your green clothed neighbor. You hadn't fallen for that dilemma. You'd straight out refused to play into that kind of thinking, shooting back that if you had to give up Anti then Jacob had to give up his friend Kayla. Jacob had refused and the subject had been dropped, then low and behold, two weeks later it comes out he's been seeing Kayla in a romantic nature. Screaming angrily you stab the knife directly into Jacob's chest. Despite your current actions you do not want Jacob to die. Part of you still loves and cares for his stupid cheating ass. "Feel better?" Anti asks as you swing around, the knife still in your hand. Upon seeing Anti the knife in your hands seems to just drop. It feels like you're being caught doing something heinous and unforgivable. Anti chuckles and kneels down, picking up the knife, then sets it on the counter. You feel your face heat up and look away from Anti in shame. "Wow... you have bad aim." Anti tells you, chuckling a little as he looks at the chopped up photo. You chew the inside of your lip, keeping your gaze away from Anti."Now's not the best of time, Anti." you tell him unintentionally wrapping your arms around your waist. "When is it after a nasty break up?" Anti asks sitting on your counter top. "I heard you screamin' and cryin', thought I'd come over and see if you need a shoulder to cry on." Anti adds smiling at you. You've always enjoyed Anti's odd sense of humor and his ability to cheer you up in the worst of times. You glance up at Anti. He's the last person you'd expect to judge you and yet you're worried he'd think less of you."I got throwing knives I can teach ya to use. We can find one of his profile photos and blow it up and use it for target practice." he adds with a chuckle you find endearing. You shake your head, trying not to laugh at him. As ridiculous as his suggestions are, you know he's being serious. Anti loves his knives and loves to try and get you to join in on his shenanigans. "Anti, please. I'm trying to...""Look, I get it. The slimy bastard broke yer heart and ya want revenge. How about teaming up and we'll go make his day a living hell?" Anti asks pouring his Irish accent on thick. You both know you'll agree to just about anything he says with that thick accent. You don't know what it is about his Irish accent but it makes you want to agree to just about anything; but... on the other hand, making Jacob's life a living hell, even for a day sounds amazing at this point. You do need something to lift your spirits. "What have you got in mind?" you ask sniffling as you wipe your eyes. Anti gives you that mischievous smile that makes you weak in the knees and hops down from the counter top. He doesn't say anything, simply grabs your hand and drags you out of your apartment, snatching up your shoes on the way out. Wrapped up in Anti jacket you find yourself standing outside Kayla's duplex as Anti pulls out a few bags from his trunk. Something about this whole situation tells you that Anti had this all planned out. You raise a brow, huddling into the oversized jacket, watching Anti set three bags filled with cylinder canisters. You hold your hand out when he lifts one out to you. You take the canister and look at the label and burst into laughter. "Are you serious?" you ask in the dying sun light. Anti stands up, both hands fisting a can of silly string, his arms shaking up the mixture inside the cans. He gives you the same mischievous smile and walks over to the duplex and begins to spray the cans with a pop of the lids. You laugh, but follow his lead. Anti is such a bad influence on you, but right now it doesn't matter. Anti wrote poorly executed crude words while you drew poorly shaped penises on the windows. You both laughed and traded off cans and when the lights flicked on quickly threw everything you could grab into the bags and bolted to Anti's car parked a few cars down the road. You could hear Jacob shouting, Kayla screaming after you as you both jumped into the vehicle and drove away in record time. It's at the stop light that you both glance at each other and burst into laughter, you're unable to believe you just vandalized Kayla's house with crudely drawn dicks and profanity. You'd always thought you'd be above needing revenge, but damn it feels good to get back at the cheating bastard. You turn up the heat in the car and hold your frozen finger to the vents to thaw them out again. Okay, so you didn't make his life, or even his day a living hell, but you got to blow of steam and create a mess that Jacob will have to clean up. In the freezing cold, and that's just as good. Plus, it's less punishable in the court of law. "You hungry?" Anti asks glancing at you as your rub your hands together then hold them in front of the vents again. Your cheeks are dusted a rose red color, your nose matching that of Rudolph's. "Starved. If we go back to the apartments I can whip up something hot and delicious." You say smiling at Anti. You've always admired his ability to be so free and uncaring of what others thing. He makes you feel like you can be like that too, to be happy. "Home cookin? I'm game." Anti tells you giving you a lopsided smile. You feel butterflies in your stomach. Anti's always had that effect on you, but you'd never given it much thought. You'd always remained faithful to Jacob...mostly. It doesn't count if you're asleep and dreaming, but damn if those dreams hadn't felt so real.Entering your apartment you slip your shoes off and head into your kitchen knowing Anti would remove his shoes too. Slipping out of the jacket Anti had let you borrow while out being deviants you turn slightly and toss it too him, letting him hand it up on the coat rack without having to ask. "Spaghetti and meatballs sound good?" you ask opening your ice box to pull out the pre-made meatballs you'd done a few days ago. Anti nods as he unravels the scarf you'd crocheted him at the beginning of the winter season. "Are you going to make those garlic mashed potatoes?" Anti asks taking a seat on the bar stool rather than your counter tops.You nod your head. "You wanna peel the potatoes for me?" you ask opening your pantry door and retrieve the 10 lbs bag of potatoes. Anti give you a look that says he's not amused but takes the bag none the less. You hand him a small paring knife and he sets to work. A comfortable silence falls over the pair of you as you work to get dinner done. Leaning back in his chair Anti pats his now full stomach and sighs happily. "Delicious. Can I hire you to be my personal chief?" Anti asks smirking at you. You roll your eyes at his question and stand up taking the plates with you. "You couldn't afford my services, Anti." You tease scrapping the leftovers into the trash and set the plates in the soapy water you'd mixed earlier. Anti laughs, his chair sliding across the linoleum as he stands up, stretching his back out. "Not to be that guy, but how are ya feelin?" Anti asks resting his upper half on your breakfast bar. You glance at him from the corner of your eye and shrug."Better, but it's still hurting. I just... what did I do wrong?" you ask softly. You set down the plate into the water and place the sponge in your hand on the counter top. "That's what I can't understand. I'm a faithful person, I never told him that he wasn't good enough, or nitpicked at things that irritated me. I encouraged him to talk to me when something upset him. I tried to compromise where it was needed, but I told him I wouldn't drop friends just because he didn't like them. I never asked him to stop being friends with people I didn't like." You continue as you look down at your hands. You never raised your voice, you rarely fought, opting out to find a resolution rather than leaving things unsaid..."It wan't anything you did. It was all him." Anti says not looking at you. "He wanted everything to be the way he wanted it, but you're just too good at sticking to your guns. He'd told me a few times that he didn't want me around you, once even said you'd told him you wouldn't see me again, but I didn't trust him. If I said anythin' he'd probably spin it to say I'm jealous of 'im and you." Anti tells you earning a confused and slightly appalled look that Jacob would go so far as to tell your friend you didn't' want to see him anymore. You frown. What had you seen in Jacob? A pretty face? Sweet words? A mixture of a multitude of things? "I told him I would never stop being friends with you because he felt insecure. I even told him if he wanted me to stop being friends with you, that he'd have to stop being friends with Kayla. It told him it was unfair to expect me to conform to his wants and needs without some kind of equal sacrifice in return. Declined and then... 'I've been seeing Kayla since we got together.' Fucking bastard." You tell Anti, clenching your fists at the memory. "I wasn't being serious! I'd never seriously ask anyone, much less the man I'm dating to drop anyone he finds important in his life. All I wanted to do was show him how rude and stupid his request was." you say feeling tears well up in your eyes again. "Hey, you're a strong woman, if he couldn't see that, then he's an idiot, a wanker that don't know a good thing when it's standing in front of him." Anti tells you, earning a small, sad smile from you. "Thanks, Anti." you whisper. "Go sit down on the couch, I'll be over in a few. Some of my pots still have to soak for a bit before I can clean them." You say turning back to your dishes and clean the dishes you can before rising your hands and dry them before heading over to the couch. Anti smirks as he meets you at the small arch way leading into the living room. Despite having an open concept there are a few arch ways in your apartment. You rise a brow at his smirk and follow the finger he's pointed to the ceiling. Tilting your head slightly you see what he's looking at. "Mistletoe?" you question not remembering putting up, or even noticing mistletoe hanging from the arch way. "When did...Anti, did you put that up?" you ask accusingly as you look at Anti's smug face."I know that people usually kiss under mistletoe but.. I had other things planned." Anti tells you. Like a deer in the headlights you stand still, staring up at Anti with slight confusion. There's always been a mutual attraction, but..."Anti, I...are you sure..." you can't get the words out."Don't think I'm gonna let some other idiot try to sweep you of yer feet. It's my turn. I ain't gonna make you forget about him, but I'm sure as hell gonna try." Anti tells you wrapping his arm around your waist and pulls you flush against his profile. "Let me make you feel better." Anti's always had a unique way to cheer you up. One you'll always be thankful for.

[portlandmainehomes]

21 Most Unusual Pet Encounters Realtors Are Still Reliving

If you thought cranky and quirky buyers and sellers presented one of the biggest challenges Realtors face, you may have forgotten about something even more unpredictable: their pets. Real estate industry experts shared the strangest encounters they've had with animals. Some are hilarious, while others are downright scary. All will make you think twice the next time you enter an open house. 1. Get off me, goat! via GIPHY "Was showing an acre of property to buyers. The sellers had some farm animals — chickens, goats, etc. One of the goats started following me around. Almost aggressively, harassment style, and this was not a small goat. Eventually, well, it tried to mount me. Horribly embarrassing, I ended up running inside while my buyers toured the rest of the backyard. For some reason, it was fixated on me. My clients could not stop laughing." -- Leah Bubb, Realtor® with HomeSmart 2. Dead or alive? "Came upon a mini schnauzer peacefully sleeping on a bedroom bed. As I got closer, I realized it was not only dead and stuffed but that it had a breathing apparatus in it to make it seem alive!" -- Amy Williamson, Realtor® with RE/MAX Integrity Actual footage above, no lie! 3. Realtor or dog sitter? "During an open house I was asked to hold a dog outside, but I needed to sing to the dog and rock it like a baby. I was like ‘…What?' But I did it." -- Pate Stevens, an agent with luxury real estate firm Nourmand & Associates. 4. A wee accident "I was getting ready to start the open house and the client was cleaning her things so I took the dog in my lap, and when he got back down I noticed it (he was tiny so it wasn't a lot, but still! Pee!)! Not a great way to start off! It showed visibly on my outfit and the tenant freaked out, she was so embarrassed. Luckily I have a pup at home so I knew that with a tide pen and a hair dryer I could get it out. The tenant was mortified but had both of those things so I got it out and moved on." -- Sam Lazar, an agent with Triplemint. 5. Oh, rats! via GIPHY "There was a time recently, where my buyer and I were traveling through the home. I am not a fan of unfinished basements. With flashlight in hand, (because in the unfinished ones, the lighting is always horrible) we walked down the long hallway. And we heard the oddest sound. A mixture of a squeak and scratching. At first I was really nervous because I thought there were mice. Then there it was! A big fat rat in a cage. We both let out a screech and got out of the basement real quick." -- Denise Supplee, Realtor®/Investor/Landlord Expert/co-founder and operations director of SparkRental.com / Educator at Snaplandlord.com. 6. These guys weren't so lucky...

"I had a listing appt and the main showcase of this hoarders home was in the basement. I'm glad I brought an "assistant" as I just knew he might be an odd duck when I got the call. He looked at us with a weird excitement and asked us to come see his most prized possession. (Yes we had a mag flashlight and pepper spray) Turns out it was a mouse museum. Dead mice in jars. He promised to name the next one after me!!!! 😳 I passed on the listing." -- Danielle Mahnken, Agent with Gloria Nilson & Co Real Estate 7. Dog day afternoon via GIPHY "My clients and I got locked inside an apartment because the door knob wasn't secure. After not being able to get out for awhile one of my clients climbed out the fire escape and starting banging on windows. He unknowingly knocked on a doggy daycare directly under the apartment and when the employee opened the door, at least 15 dogs ran out and started running around. Once the employee corralled all the dogs back inside, we were able to walk through their store to escape." -- Maggie Fanney, an agent with Triplemint. 8. Reptile Room "Showing Instructions: Locked door in basement is reptile room. Do not attempt to open, as they are uncaged. If buyer is interested, seller will open room for 2nd showing. Needless to say I didn't show the house." -- Jessica Thomas, Former Professional Development Chair at Kansas City Regional Association of REALTORS® and Realtor® at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Kansas City Homes 9. Horsing Around "Here I am, fresh off the licensing train at the ripe age of 18. Meeting a new potential client, I show up early open up the house. It's a cute little bungalow in a small 'historic' town. I walk around the corner and there is a horse in the living room! (vacant home) It's just chilling there! To be honest, I'm not sure how it even got in there. But you could tell it had been in there a while. I called the listing agent and he had no idea how it happened or who the horse belonged to. So, I called up a family member who runs a rescue and after doing some footwork, we got it home. Almost a decade later and it's still one of my favorite stories." -- Danyl Winderlin, Realtor® with Realtypath 10. Hogging all the attention via GIPHY "While I was showing a vacant home, a massive hog wandered up to the property and started eating grass. He stayed the whole time we were showing. When I told the listing agent about the hog, she stated that it was negotiable." -- Emily Isbell, Realtor® at The RealTeam Homes & Land 11.Table-sized turtle via GIPHY "I was photographing a home and the homeowners had left. I was on the third floor and heard a bunch of noise on the main level like furniture was being moved around. I thought they were back home, but when I came in the living room there was a GIANT turtle in the center of the room. I mean like the size of a big round coffee table. He was banging into the furniture and causing quite a ruckus! -- Angela Romano, Realtor®; at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach 12. Hamster mishap "During a showing, I was in the hallway turning on lights while my clients were checking out the hall bath. I stepped into a child's room to flip on the light at about the same time the pet hamster escaped from his plastic exercise ball,apparently the child had forgotten to take the hamster out of the ball and put the little guy back into his cage. Before I knew it, the hamster had rushed passed me, down the hall and into the hall bath, where my client proceeded to stomp on him! He did not die right away, so we gently placed him back into his cage but I cannot imagine that he lived much longer... That was an awkward phone call to the listing agent but I was sure glad that I wasn't in the listing agents shoes, having to tell the family before they came back home. My clients did not buy that home." -- Brenda Miller, REALTOR® at eXp Realty 13. Monkey business "We have a local lender in this area that has a pet Capuchin Monkey. He brings it to closings sometimes, always a hit!" -- Ed Cordle, Realtor® at Genesis Real Estate 14. Creepy Kitty via GIPHY "My partner and I were showing a precious little townhouse to a client. A beautiful solid white fluffy cat lived there. The cat had a pure evil expression the entire time and followed us around the house. When we got to the master bedroom, the cat jumped up onto the bed, looked us dead in the eyes and peed on the bed never breaking its glare at us. Pure evil!" -- Danyalle Friday, Realtor® at Montgomery Metro Realty 15. Just ducky via GIPHY "A garage full of ducks at the home inspection. Keep in mind, they weren't there before. And boy did it smell horrible!" -- Roberta Tynik Lejeune, Realtor® at Better Home and Gardens Real Estate 16. Just Batty via GIPHY "Walked down into the unfinished basement of an older home a few weeks ago... was only down there for about 10 seconds until a bat flew by my head. Bye Felicia." -- Ryan Ballard, REALTOR® at Key Realty 17. Butting heads via GIPHY "Chased by neighbor's goats all the way into the house, where they then began butting the door. A horse in the garage was a big surprise too." -- Jackie Merritt Realtor® The Danberry Co., Realtors 18. Polite Parrot via GIPHY "I was showing a house once, and I arrived before my buyers. I rang the doorbell just to be sure no one was home. When no one answered, I opened the door and heard, 'Hello?! Who's there?' Startled, I started to apologize and explain that I was a Realtor® who was there for a showing. I got cut off again with another, 'Hello?! Who's there?' About 30 seconds later, I finally realized it was a parrot and not a person." -- Kara Pagliarulo, Attorney at Law at Attorney Support Solutions, Kara Pagliarulo, Esq. 19. Squirrely showing "I came across a caged pet squirrel once. He didn't seem happy. -- Jamie Hering, Realtor® at Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate 20. Magic carpet via GIPHY "I was showing a home and the owner was there. There was an empty glass tank. I asked what used to be in the tank and he said it was a snake. When I asked where the snake was he said he wasn't sure but he knew it was around somewhere. When I looked in the corner there was a lump moving under the carpet." -- Heather Bennett, REALTOR® at Hunt Real Estate ERA 21. Pig contingency via GIPHY "The sellers had a pet pig, and for unknown reasons, they had decided to leave the pig roaming around inside the home when they left. Just as the buyers arrived, 'Stella' came swaggering out of a bedroom to greet everyone. She was a medium-sized pig, quite charismatic, and friendly, although noticeably aromatic if you catch my drift. That pig stayed right by my buyers' sides during the entire showing, walking from room to room, occasionally squeaking it's approval while looking up at the young couple. I could tell that these folks were becoming more attached to the pig than to the house itself. They had fallen in love! As we were departing the home, the buyers were non-committal. I thought to myself, 'They really love this pig, and I also knew that the sellers had a dilemma to solve that the buyers didn't know about. They couldn't bring their pig with them to the new apartment they were moving to. So just before entering our vehicles to leave, I said, 'You seem to have taken a real liking to 'Stella.' They nodded in agreement. 'If you decide to place an offer on this home I could write a contingency into the contract that the pig would go with the house. I think the sellers might just go along with that!' They smiled and said, 'You're kidding with us, right?' I said, 'No, I'm serious! I'll write it right into the deal if you want!' The young bride looked squarely at her husband and said, 'Hon, Let's do that!' Back at my office, I placed the contract/offer in front of Gene, my then manager, for him to peruse and approve. He smiled while staring down at the clause, 'The pig (Stella) conveys with the property.' The deal was made, and everyone was happy. Everyone at my office got a big kick out of this unique contingency which I included in the offer. We had lots of fun in those days at the office. All the agents were like family and friends. After the closing, one of my colleagues, Raylene, presented me with a little statue of a pig that really resembled Stella. I still cherish that statue to this day, and look at it when I need a smile." -- Tom Cirignano, author of The Constant Outsider I'll leave you with a viral video that's making its rounds on the internet (trust me, it's pet related — just wait for it). No word on whether the woman is a door-knocking agent or not. Let's just pretend she is. Read the full article

[blizzardfluffykpop]

Chanyeol X Reader

(This has to be the longest so far out of all the 37 days of Christmas) Summary:Pop pop's is the savior the one and only Skeleton of your need. And also Grandmother helps too, besides the point.

Oneshot

Please don’t read if you’re innocent, this is smut and mature content, please read other works if you like my fanfiction but, don’t read the smut. Just this is for mature readers and/or over 18 readers.

Prompt: 6. "You're wearing a fairy light Christmas sweater and let me just tell you it's brighter than my future." Soulmate, Highschool, and Vampire/Warlock (Mythical creatures and supernatural) AU (I'm feeling special today. I don't know about you, sweeties) You know everyone has an engraving they get when they are elven. I asked myself all the time when I turned eleven (1,100), and I got it. Why would someone ever say that? Why would someone ever say, "You're wearing a fairy light Christmas sweater and let me just tell you it's brighter than my future". When I turned thirteen (well... 1,300), things like that became more frequent social media started to really be a thing because everyone was getting a phone. I got one and my new saying had became, "Well if there is anyone out for me then, it's me." I don't know why, in honesty. I lost that saying thankfully after a year. I'm eighteen (1,867) and I'll be graduating in a few months. My close knit of friends all found their soul mates. You know how lonely that is. They always want to be with their lover and not you. They're always eating each others faces off. They're always canceling plans because all of the sudden, 'guess what'. They are doing something with their soulmate. Is it that terrible when someone is like that in your world, because if it is I'm dead. Well, yes I am dead physical, the undead. But--not my point here.

I go on social media to see a new meme, because memes are my life blood--well actually that I need blood to survive you see my dilemma here?--anymore. When you become dead inside, that's the only thing to bring a smile to your face. Even the ones that are just making me want to cry when not having a soulmate. I see this new meme and it says, 'Those shoes are brighter than my future'. You know what that reminds me of, my soulmate sentence, "You're wearing a fairy light Christmas sweater and let me just tell you it's brighter than my future". I have an odd feeling my engraving was like, 'Oh yes, I have a meme from the future, I will bless this child with'. Isn't that weird to tell your kids that. That my engraving is a meme from the now past when I have them? Weird. My grandmother who is a now a ghost, yeah she lives with us. Sort of annoying when she walks through you. I already am cold blooded, must you make the rest of my body feel that way? As I sucked on the blood bag in my hand, she comes up to me and says, "Oh!! I have just the idea for your Christmas gift. Let me get to working on it!" Without another word she runs like a little kid right through me. I'm gonna feel that chill for hours. And the fact that blood is cold doesn't help. I sort of wish my Grandmother realized she was freezing us to death. I still can't believe she's related to me. Then again, she was a human at one point and she was the soulmate to my grandfather. Adorable, but my Grandfather became a skeleton to be more like her. From a Warlock Mr. Park as he told me when I was just a little kid that I called him Olde Park. I sigh as I walk over to the dinner table wondering how and what my grandmother was doing as it sounded like she was using a drill and bringing down the garage. Wouldn't be the first time someone did. It really only takes the moving of a board in there. Let's just say Grandpa wasn't born a construction worker for a reason. I've made it fall by leaning for a prolonged amount of time.... Say a year and a half. My brothers and sisters, have made it fall as well. Most remarkable one was when my dad was piss drunk and giggling and walk with his arm around mom's shoulder. He fell into the garage side and like domino's one by one it came down. But anyways, I'll finish that up. Well that and my second blood bag, while we--as in I--were telling that story I picked up another one and started drinking. I figured out quickly enough that no one in my school, every single vampire. Is not the one. Because of our supernatural abilities they decided to put all 'normal' as in people like my grandmother into one school, well not really one school. They are half the population. (Everyone knows about us though). We as vampires have on school. Werewolves have one. Witches and Warlocks have one. And so on and so fourth. So when looking for a soulmate it really narrows it down, real fucking quick. You're defiantly not with a vampire after talking to everyone with one sentence. They do this thing where they force a kid to say the first thing that comes to mind to the person who just turned eleven. Our case 1,100. You know how shitty that is? No. Yeah. I definitely do. Now reason why my friends found theirs later is, a new pile of people that were once human were turned vampire by their own free will. They each said their first sentences to everyone. And it turned out to be my friends each and every single one of those fuckers found their soulmate. I was just sitting there like. No? None left? Like am I the epitome of hopelessness? There is only six of all the vampires who have had their engravings of our graduating class that will not have their soul mates in vampires. Want to know why there is another rule for engraving they have to be between for Vampires anyways 1,000-3,000 difference. Now, it just gets that much tricker when you have to convert your age into human because most everyone uses that age but us Vampires. Even the Werewolves figured out how to calculate it and and are using it. I'm still confused how you convert 1,867 into human years? Is that days? Because.... AHHHH! I really just wonder if there is a potion I can take to become soulmate-less because this pressure is too much. My grandfather sees me when I get home and I'm looking glum. He pats his bone-y legs and says, "Come here, sit on pop pop's lap and tells me what's wrong, my favorite little grand daughter" I give him a slight grin. I know I'm his favorite, I'm the only one that actually thinks he's stories are cool and I'm still fascinated. I start telling him about my dilemma and he starts telling about how he meet my grandmother--now resident ghost--at a party. That was hosted by his Grandpa. He was really feeling down that he still hadn't met grandma. And she came up to him out of the blue at the party when he was just drinking a mixture of blood and alcohol to sooth his troubles. And he doesn't suggest to me, it makes you puke it up the next morning. Nasty, I'll add to that. And she says, "Wow aren't you a handsome devil~" And he just says out of a whim, "Sweetie, I'm not a devil, I'm a vampire" That's when they both realized they were each others. I tell him how cute that is, and I smile at him. And then, he has a light bulb: "What if I invite everyone that I know from each world, and tell them to bring their kids?" "Are you implying that I have to meet new people? You know I really suck at that" "I know but your old pop pop gots a few tricks up his sleeves that will make you a pro. Ready for Introvert training!?" "Uh... Yeah?" "Let's do it." We spent the whole two weeks before the party and two days off of at my school. That we didn't exactly tell my parents about. It's a secret he called me off. I'm so thankful for him. And when we were through, I was actually excited to meet new people. The day of Christmas my grandmother wakes me up, only to hand me a present. I raise a brow at her, not questioning it and rip it open. I find it's an actually really cool sweater, it has lights in. I wonder what you call these lights... Hmm. And it had my favorite little bands in patches with it little up on each letter. And she says, "Do you like it?" You would of thought it looked gaudy, maybe it might to some people. But from her, I love it. I thought it was precious, sweet, and endearing she thought of me enough to make me one. I hug her sort of--she is a ghost--and just grin as she puts her cold arms right through me instead of around me. I slip it on, put on some skinny jeans. And make my way downstairs. I gave both my grandparents adorable little trinkets I know they would just love. And I made cards for the rest. I never could really get close to my parents or siblings. Maybe because I'm the only one able to get along with our grandparents with out being annoyed. Oh well, I'd rather hang with them that some people. The doorbell rings and my friends show up... My luck with their soul mates way to rub it in my face guys. Way to rub it in. I sigh and hug the nonetheless. After 30 minutes I would say, the party is grooving and moving along. I see my Grandpa and he waves me over, I hadn't seen him for a while and he says, "I'd like you to meet Olde Park, again." He chuckles at me and so does the guy and he says, "Hi, my son Chanyeol should be around here somewhere, good luck finding him I know I can never. Always pulling invisible spells when ever he can" All of the sudden appears out of nowhere, well re-iterates itself into air. He says, "Did you miss me that much father dearest?" His father shakes his head and he says, "I'd like you to meet my dear old friend, 'Charllington Maurice (L/n)' and his lovely granddaughter, '(Y/n) (M/n) (L/n)', Chanyeol." He bows to both of us we bow back. He grabs my hand a lays a kiss on it and looks me up down. My first thought is not, 'Oh he must think I'm pretty' not it's much rather, 'He must be thinking my shirts a little bright'. Oh well. "You're wearing a fairy light sweater and let me just tell you, it's brighter than my future." My jaw just drops but, I say without meaning to, "Is that what they're called? Fairy light? You got to be kidding me..." His jaw drops too and I pull up my sleeve as does he and we watch as our marks glow and become from print to cursive. In each other's cursive it was at first written in each other's print now it's written with each other's cursive." Our pop's look at us and high-five, "Damn I knew I was wrong, Charles the minute we placed that on a bet" "Wait you guys--" We both start to say, "I did, sweetie. He thought I was kidding saying it was just a coincidence how you both had something to do with fairy lights."

It was about a month later and we were over at my house, and we were in garage and I was talking about how easy to make it fall down was and he was laughing. Telling me he heard that his own father came over to help him with and they both ended up falling through it and laughing. He took me by the hand and we walked back into the back yard and I ask him about turning invisible and he says, "Oh that's my favorite thing, I mostly do it because my dad hates it. My grandfather gets amused by it." "Can... I don't know..." "You wanna be invisible with me?" I nod my head yes furiously. He grabs my hand and says, "Close your eyes" I do as I'm told and then he say open. I no longer see him but feel him and he says, "I'm invisible too. Don't worry, I'm right here." He spins me around and I see him, because he's holding me and he says, "Whenever we are touching when were invisible we can see each other, but no one else can."

My eyes shine with joy and happiness, this so cool. And he then says, "You know... I don't know if you thought about it but. If we were to have sex, no one would be able to find us if we were invisible." I grin and say, "Your right~" and it didn't take long before we both out of our clothes and he slammed me against the tree and I feel like that tree dented a little. Just because he isn't a werewolf doesn't mean he doesn't work out. I ask him if I can bite his neck and he says I'm aloud. And I slowly sink my teeth in not to let it hurt. And he lets out a throaty moan, I inwardly grin it sort of hurts when you grin while your teeth are buried into to someone's neck. I feel the his arousal pump through his veins. And I let out a moan, it taste so much better than those bags of blood. And as I was told it is ten times better when its your soulmate and they're aroused, they weren't kidding. I feel his tip tease my entrance, so I prepare for it. And I have to tell my self to let go of his neck or he would be drained. I slowly slip out of his neck and he lets out a moan as well as I. And I mumble, "Mine" and he says, "Forever and always, fairy lights" My nickname from him to me and me to him. I'm white fairy light where he is the colorful ones I told him and he said, no were both more like a mixture of both. And he starts pounding into me and I wrap my legs around his hips even tighter encouraging and begging him to go faster. I kiss him softly. And nip his bottom lip drawing blood a bit and I swipe it up with my tongue, greedily. He kisses my noise. And I feel him pick up his pace, and I feel his pulse quicken up. His orgasm must becoming closer, I feel his one hand move in between us and he starts rubbing my clit trying to get me off quicker. I feel my orgasm fast approaching as he thrust a few more times a few twitches and jolts of his cock and he shots his cum load up inside me. Bam, warlock and vampire children my mind thinks as he rubs it a few more times before my walls clench at his cock and I cum. And I start begging him to keep fucking me, I if we being true to myself I lived for over stimulation. And it's just so amazing feeling to me. My thighs shake around his body and he had enough time to calm down and start all over again with me. And he starts fucking me again. Let's just say we went on the whole night. Good thing I have finals tomorrow...

[shark-myths]

the mania singles

traveling through time

breaking news in Pete Wentz’s incredibly recursive, self-referential relationship with himself:

THE MANIA SINGLES ARE EXPLICITLY LINKED TO SPECIFIC BAND ERAS

CRYSTAL BALLS ALWAYS CLOUDY EXCEPT WHEN THEY LOOK INTO THE PAST AND CALLING YOU FROM THE FUTURE: the themes are laid out for us to infer that this album is a jumble, a retrospective, an out-of-order examination of the same thing from different times, angles, and selves

Is Mania is peterick retrospective album????? uh, probably

……let me explain……

The order of release is, I think, significant, so let’s proceed accordingly. Pete’s metaphors have always layered up and referenced back on themselves, with scraps from his 2005 lj appearing as recently as in AB/AP lyrics. so let’s do some tinhat digging…

 Young and Menace – as made obvious by the title/chorus of the track, this is about being young and out of control. Sure, Pete might feel that way now to some extent, but this is one of the most settled and clearly happy periods of his life that we’ve ever witnessed. it’s safe to assume from readings of their discography that he felt significantly more monstrous (ah, to be a young bisexual! is there a keener #monster feel that exists) in the past.

lyrical markers to prompt us to backdate this track:

I only wrote this down to make you press rewind

Britney Spears 2000 lyrics reference

I woke up in my shoes again links us to the line in grand theft autumn from 2003 my new fashion for waking up with pants on

probable era of reference for this track: 2001-2003

 Champion – once again, this track makes more sense if we place it at a time in his life when Pete and his bandmates were struggling with personal demons as well as the fickle abuse of public perception. its theme fits much better with prehiatus content from the boys’ lives, and the song opens with a prompt of exactly that:

I’m calling you from the future (to let you know we made a mistake --> and if you don’t think this ties in p e r f e c t l y to Tryst Theory we are living very different lives my friend)

there’s a fog in the past

I’m just young enough to still believe specifically, like y&m did, brings up youth as a theme; and they do seem to know what to believe in, now, personally. To me, this line is evocative of Believers Never Die and seems to place the song in that era; the lyrical content certainly addresses hiatus themes and the extremely rough time most of the boys had surviving it. (even andy told an interviewer he thought about suicide during the hiatus, and we all know how pete immolated)

specific references to pete’s rage and trying to blow out the light, like he’s trying to extinguish something in himself because of the pain it causes, and the way Patrick has always been linked up with light metaphors in pete’s writing

I got nothing but dreams inside conflicts directly with the TLOTRO lyric I’m here with having dreams. I mean we do have the omnipresent dialectic dilemma of bisexuality, and I am dicks-and-hearts-out for bi!Pete readings, but I think this specific contradiction is here to remind us, again, that these songs are dated for different eras. being full of dreams maps on really well to you are the dreamers, we are the dream; I dreamed about the afterlife but I never really lived; I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive, now I only waste it dreaming of you.

(I think there are lots of good indicators that we can read these dreams as being pete’s dreams of being with Patrick, and I should probably write a whole post about that at some point)

probable era of reference for this track: 2005-2009ish

 The Last of the Real Ones – this song, I think, is the only one anchored in the present day. (also can we talk about interviews where pete teases this song before its release and calls it their first real/only real love song????? augh)

I really specifically want to look at this bit: I’m here at the beginning of the end, oh the end of infinity with you—anyone who read my last meta post  knows how I feel about the infinity = gay love content of fob’s discography—I’m done with having dreams, the thing that I believe, oh you drain all the fear from me.

listen I think we have ample ground to read that line, I’m done with having dreams, and especially the fearlessness, to mean that pete’s not just dreaming of Patrick anymore—either as a message that he’s ready to start now, or perhaps evidence that active trysting ™ has resumed (and check out the y&m elvis duran interview if you want to imagine a version of pete who had to get so drunk on sake at a sushi place that he created an excuse for him and Patrick, sharing a hotel room in nyc, to MAKE SOME EXPENSIVE MISTAKES)

the thing that anchors this most firmly in present day for me is the idea of finding true gold, finally being fearless, and understanding the worth that can be uncovered under golden plating. it took pete a lot of years and suffering to get to the point where he could appreciate that truth about himself and the people around him. this is such a love song. this is such an insane peterick love song. oh my god, you guys.

openly talking about his therapist and mental health is also more reminiscent of the modern canon, although it did appear occasionally in folie era

probable era of reference: present day

 I’m seeing them play tonight in St Louis—hit me up if you are too!—and after I hear the new song I will update this with my thoughts on it. no spoilers yet—I want the first time I hear it to be live and in person with the people I love most in the world, because that is an experience that will probably never be replicated for me and wouldn’t have been possible without the album delay. thanks guys 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜

**to be continued**

[williammarshal-blog]

Just You & Me

Prompt: “GETTING MARRIED AND HONEYMOON. Finally, I remembered one of the things I'd always wanted done. (preferably canon)”

"Clarke? Clarke kom Skaikru?"

BAM. BAM. BAM.

Clarke groaned as she rolled over in bed. Her arm flopped out and realised Lexa wasn't on the other side, and the hammering on the door continued. It was a boy's voice—and after a few beats of "Clarke kom Skaikru", she recognised it as Aden's. Rolling her eyes, she decided she was not ready for whatever bullshit he was pulling today—yet, and she would smack herself later, she flung the door open, her messy hair resembling a lion's mane and her face resembling...thunder.

Aden, smartly dressed, nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh no," he said disapprovingly, shoving into the room. Offended, Clarke opened her mouth, and then Aden's entrance was followed by a group of maids. He spoke to them. "Will you please make her look presentable?" They muttered something in Trigedasleng and Clarke, folding her arms, waited. Aden tried to keep it quiet. "Well—at least make her look like a human!"

Shit-head.

"Is that possible?" Aden carried on, because clearly he hadn't been laid yet. "Yes? Alright—if possible, can you do it within the hour?"

They spoke as if Clarke was not there.

"Two hours?" Aden's gaze flickered from Clarke to the floor, and nodded. "I'll give you three."

"Wow," Clarke snapped, "Way to make a girl feel comfortable!"

"I was just trying—"

"Pass me my bra."

"Er—this—bra commodity you speak of, what does it look like?"

"Oh, God."

Clarke shucked off her tunic and Aden physically turned around in embarrassment, nearly tripping over his two feet as she slipped her bra on, quickly got changed into her everyday breeches and snatched a comb from one of the maids. "Let's go."

Aden looked aghast. "But—"

"Go."

Aden extended his arm for Clarke to take as they descended the never-ending staircase of the Polisian tower. A crap design, she liked to remind Lexa, who would roll her eyes every time.

Since the quashing of Ice Nation's rebellion, Lexa had welcomed Echo as the new Ice Queen, with her stepping into the previous Queen's shoes. It was unstable. Echo and Lexa's ethics regularly collided, but Echo was far more accommodating than her predecessor. What happened up North was far away from the worries of Polis, the clan leaders advised, but Lexa had been adamant that the civilians up North got the same privileges and rights as the Polisians, the Trikru...

Aden noted the blistering sunlight outside the windows as they traipsed downstairs. "We could get you better-dressed," Aden suggested.

"D'you think I look shabby as I am?" Clarke asked.

"...No..."

"Then I'll go dressed as this. I'm assuming Lexa wants to see me."

"Not yet!" Aden blabbed, mentally slapping himself. Think on your feet. Improvise. Anticipate and parry. Okay. Jab. "I need to do something first."

"I thought—"

"It isn't urgent. If you don't mind..." Aden played the sob-story in his head, and then he clasped his hands in front of him, bowing his head. "I need to do some shopping for my mother. The Commander is engaged for the time-being, hence why I asked for a few hours, but—my mother—she rarely sees the sunlight for she is cooped up inside for so long. Could you...?"

Clarke gripped his wrist, and squeezed lightly. "Aden, of course. Come on."

Lexa dismounted, wiping the sweat from her brow. It had been a hellish day (or night). As soon as Clarke had fallen asleep—and she fell deeply asleep—Lexa had slipped away from the bed, nodding towards Jona, her chief City Guard by the gate. Jona had already saddled her horse and wished her a nervous "good luck".

It seemed, as Lexa arrived by the gates to the Ark crowded by Abby, Kane, Raven, Octavia, Bellamy, Monty, Jasper and Harper—that judgement day had arrived.

"Uh," she had began, very un-Commander-ish of her. "I would like an audience with Abby Griffin alone, please, if I may."

"Intention?" Harper was the girl by the gates, Lexa assumed. She did not know all of Clarke's friends.

"Confidential."

"I can't let you in without—"

"It's fine," Abby said, stepping forward to unbolt the gate. It was 3am, and the Commander of the coalition didn't just ride here, alone, in the middle of the night, for no reason. If there was intent to harm, Lexa would've slain them all by now. "Commander, please step inside."

Abby had been calm and cordial in escorting Lexa to her personal chambers, ignoring Marcus Kane's concern. She'd brushed him off and Lexa respected that. She knew Abby Griffin as a trustworthy figure—she was a healer after all, and what were they except goodness? Kane was reasonable and fair, but he was also a politician. Lexa could empathise with him. But she knew that whatever Abby Griffin projected tonight, it would be straight from the heart—quite like her daughter.

Lexa made polite but short conversation as they walked, trying to recite the books she'd read on the topic. Their book-house was forged from stories told of the old Commanders, poetry written decades ago, and some books that had been foraged and found and returned to Polis as relics of the old earth.

Books could only get Lexa so far, though.

"You—you want to marry Clarke?" Abby repeated in disbelief, hanging her head in shock. Lexa's ears reddened, knowing Clarke's friends would be outside the door, their ears pressed to the solid surface. "Commander Lexa, I...just..."

"Please," Lexa said, "Let me explain."

Abby relented, waving her arms frantically. "Please do."

Lexa swallowed hard, and began pacing the room—which did not help Abby, who'd sat down on the edge of her bed as if she was about to collapse. She respected Abby's stance in this: she remembered Lexa as the heartless Commander who had left her daughter for death at Mount Weather. Despite Clarke's residence in Polis, Lexa could try and sympathise with a mother's dilemma. Empathy—maybe not. Clarke was happy. Clarke smiled and laughed and played with the kids in the Square. But Abby was not privy to this.

"I have been made aware that some customs of the old earth have stayed with the Sky people," Lexa started hesitantly, trying to remember Aden's five pages of scribbly notes. "I am also aware that when two people love each other, it is customary to gift your loved one and ask for their hand."

Abby nodded silently, her jaw still slack. Lexa angled her head for a verbal response, but she received nothing. Slightly exasperated, but in full knowledge that she had to appear courteous, not like she had a bad case of constipation, Lexa plucked courage from thin air.

"I was also made aware that it is etiquette one must approach their loved one's father—or in Clarke's case, mother—to permit such a big ask."

"Uh-huh," Abby said faintly. "Have you been reading Georgian novels?"

"Have I—excuse me?"

"Never mind," Abby hastened. "Are you asking me if it's okay to marry Clarke? Wait—" she said again, before Lexa could open her mouth. "You want to marry...Clarke?"

"She may not agree to take my hand," Lexa provided helpfully. "In such a case, my feelings for her will not fade. I will still love your daughter as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west."

Abby stared at her. The impossible answer would be "no". Clarke and Lexa would bench it anyway—but she didn't want to say no to this sparkly-eyed, hopeful Commander. Kane had been right. She was a revolutionary. And Abby's desire to throttle Lexa for what occurred at Mount Weather would never go away, but the fact that Lexa had ridden all the way here just to ask for permission was something Abby didn't want to let go. She had not seen Clarke's face in so long; she had not heard from Clarke at all. But if Lexa was here, she could feel Clarke's smile; her laugh...

"I will have a carriage arranged for her to discuss it with you if you wish," Lexa said quickly, and Abby snapped out of her thoughts. "I understand it's difficult without Clarke actually—"

"You know Clarke, Commander," Abby laughed. "Do you really think I'd have much sway in whether she says yes or no?"

Lexa smiled reluctantly. Abby had a point.

"Your ways," Abby murmured, "don't always agree with what I think is right. I think you know that. Maybe our ways aren't right either. But you rode all the way here, alone, just to ask me a question."

"In all fairness, Abby kom Skaikru, it is not just a—"

"I know. But you asked."

"I wanted to."

"She's barely an adult." Abby closed her eyes, and Lexa watched awkwardly as a solitary tear trickled down her cheek. She did not move to comfort her; that was too strange. And she could not empathise either. Her Nightbloods—the youngest being seven—could assume command at any given minute. Childhood did not mean weakness, and though Abby seemed to mentally cradle Clarke like a baby, Lexa would not forget the three hundred warriors this child had scorched to death. She would not forget Mount Weather. She would not forget the fury and then the anguish on Clarke's face as she tried to kill her with a concealed knife.

She would not forget. Yet here she was, because she loved.

"I'd be giving my daughter to you," Abby said heavily, and she was not ashamed of the tears flowing from her eyes. Lexa found she did not care. "Commander, I trust you with her life—but I don't know if I trust you with this. And this is her life."

When Lexa rode for Polis in the early hours of the morning, beckoning her horse to pound faster through the forest, she wondered how she would cope with her heart exploding tomorrow.

Aden, it turned it, was a rubbish liar. He'd brought a singular apple from the fruit market, a bottle of wine ("for my mother"), a swishy bracelet which he gifted Clarke with ("for the future!") and then double-backed to the fruit market only to spend over an hour asking what the odd-looking ones were, and then buying one.

As if Aden was controlled by some sort of switch, he decided they would take a walk. By now, Clarke was exasperated and tired enough to consider punching the boy's lights out, until they made it to the wall. Jona, a familiar face, grinned broadly at her.

"Mochof, Aden," Jona said.

"Good luck, Clarke kom Skaikru!" Aden said cheerily as he left, waving.

Clarke was completely lost, and Jona was of no help either. She spoke in riddles, and Clarke was baffled as to why everyone was being so goddamn cryptic around her all day. This was mainly Aden and his suspiciously suspicious gazes. Clarke noted the beautiful sunset, with the oranges and yellows merging with the lilacs and pinks of the sky. Another day fading, and another day on the brink tomorrow. Jona led her up the stairs to the wall-walk, and Clarke stopped in her tracks.

Lexa, dressed only in simple but smart black garb, swivelled on the spot to face her. Her hair was braided back neatly, her face slightly pale. In one hand, she held a braid of hair. The other was shoved inside a pocket. Jona left them, muttering under her breath. In the distance they both heard her yell for the guards to block passage to the wall-walk.

"Clarke," she greeted, too formally. Clarke nearly balked. What the fuck was going on? Was Lexa in on this weird ass trip too? "I...hope you are well?"

"What?" Clarke threw her arms up in the air. "Are you part of this too? Is someone gonna come and shove some mud in my face 'cause it's clearly prank Clarke day?"

"Excuse me? No!" Lexa's bafflement was genuine, and she hastily held out the familiar-looking braid of hair. Clarke stared at it, memories of water, memories of a muddy Anya—all crashing into her like a tidal wave. For some reason, Lexa had brought her up here again. "Do you remember this?"

"It's Anya's lock of hair," Clarke said quietly. "I kept it for you."

She wondered if it was Anya's name-day today, or if there was some particular reason—

"That was the first time I met you." Lexa's tone was soft, and hesitantly, she trudged over towards Clarke. Her words were not as smooth and confident as Clarke was accustomed to. "I remembered your flowing light hair and your sky-blue eyes, and I wondered if she'd fallen as a product of my wishes. A cruel lesson was when I realised that no, it was not. But I ask you here today because I asked your mother, who said yes—"

"You—saw my mom?"

"Yes. And I told her I loved you. I—love—you. Do you remember, when we were last here? When the sun slept and we watched over Polis—our city—swell with life?"

Clarke felt a lump grow in her throat. "Yes."

"I want to see that every day with you," Lexa said simply. "I want to wake in the morning with you by my side. I want to kiss you until I cannot, because I've fallen asleep. I want to remind you with every waking moment that I love you. Ai hod yu in, Klark kom Skaikru."

"Yes." Clarke didn't know what else to say, her eyes stinging with emotion. It was not sadness—no, it definitely was not. It was a sense of impossibility suddenly becoming possibility. They had always been inevitable together; they had never been possible—not without their duties blocking their ways. And Clarke knew despite this—whatever Lexa was going to ask, and whatever Aden had been clearly distracting her from today, that the rule would remain in place. Lexa was a lover of her people, but in her heart—which was bigger than she knew—she had carved a space for Clarke, too. "I love you too, Lexa."

"Then be mine, as I am yours," Lexa said. She moved closer, and then knelt on the gravelly ground. Clarke stared down at her, stunned. Her heart felt as if it had stopped. "I want my eternity to be intertwined with yours. I declare my heart as yours. I vow to treat your people as mine; I vow to caress your body and soul with nothing but love."

Holy shit... "Lexa, you don't need to do this—"

"I love you. As a storm may brew ahead for us one day, I will not let you fall away from me. My duty as the Commander is to my people; my duty as Lexa kom Trikru is to ask for your hand in betrothal, for I am utterly captivated by you. Every day I am more and more enamoured by your smile. Every day my hands smooth over your skin and I am entranced. Every day my heart swells when I think of you. Clarke kom Skaikru, would you do me the honour of joining your heart to mine?"

Abby's ring, gifted to her by Jake, was now on Clarke's finger. She glanced at it, and back at Lexa, who smiled at her.

That night, they made love. Clarke had never wished to be married, but here she was. And she kissed Lexa as she her lithe body crawled up Clarke's, tasting herself on Lexa's tongue. That night, they made love and that night, they worshipped each other.

"Where are we going?"

"A little patience," Lexa teased her as she tested her new horse. It was pitch-black, named Thunder, and they trotted at a leisurely pace. Clarke's arms wrapped around Lexa's waist, resting her chin against the crook of Lexa's neck as she rode. As they rode, Clarke took in the beauty of the Trikru territory—the plains just outside of the Polisian walls, the lake, and the forestry.

It was buried deep within the forest, but Lexa finally tsked at Thunder and dismounted easily, hoisting Clarke off the horse too. She quickly tied Thunder up, scruffing him by the neck, and Clarke studied the sight before her.

There was a very modest hut before her.

Clarke noticed how green the grass was, and how fresh the lake seemed to be. The hut was shoddily put together, as if it had been a single-man job. It lacked the grandiose of Polis—that was for sure. But in there were trees nearby that grew apples, and Lexa plucked one off said tree and chomped hungrily into it. Clarke didn't even have the time to warn her about sanitation before she picked one for herself, rubbed a little consciously at it, and then bit into it. It was crisp and juicy, and she let out a moan of appreciation. Lexa's head snapped back and she smiled lopsidedly at her.

"What is this place?" Clarke asked in wonder. If anyone wanted banishment, they should definitely come here—that was the thought running through Clarke's mind. It was nicely done-up, and it was surrounded by life—life that was charmingly silent, compared to the hustle and bustle of Polis' City Square.

"A reprieve," Lexa said. "Even the Commander needs one sometimes."

"How did you find it?"

"It found me." Lexa, even after her grand, dramatic proposal on the wall-work of Polis, had clearly not lost the knack for a cryptic word puzzle. "Now it has found us."

"Well, you rode towards it. So I'd argue otherwise."

Lexa was not amused.

Together, they cracked the door open and Clarke marvelled at how clean it was; she supposed Lexa must've ridden for this place and given it a good tidy before Clarke's arrival. There were fresh sheets and fur placed over the bed, with pastels and charcoal in a tin marked "KLARK" resting in the corner on top of a well-constructed desk. Other than that, everything else was basic. She assumed they would catch dinner in the woods or in the lake, and cook outside. The only other luxury Lexa had allowed was a fresh sketchbook, and far too many candles.

"It creates ambience," Lexa said when she saw the look on Clarke's face. "Sometimes there is a middle setting that is required between the bolstering sunlight and the pitch black darkness of the night."

"It's called sunset, Lexa."

"Yes, sunset. I like sunset."

Clarke wasn't quite sure how to argue that back. Instead, she flopped onto the bed, and revelled in some space to just sprawl over and spread her limbs. The journey from here to Polis had been long, and she closed her eyes momentarily.

Without really thinking, a small smile spread across her face. Lexa had effectively proposed on the wall-walk, requesting they join their lives together. In many ways, Clarke figured they had unofficially married months ago. But Lexa was a stickler for tradition. She did not even want to know how many books she'd leafed through trying to figure out what Skaikru tradition was. She still needed to ask Abby what had been said—or if her mother would start vomiting rainbows at the mention.

"Are you happy?"

Lexa's voice was gentle when she asked it, and when Clarke's eyes slowly opened, Lexa had cocked her head to gaze at her curiously. Clarke couldn't help but fiddle with her mom's old ring. If this was the only message Abby could get out to Clarke in a long time, then it had worked. She knew of the depth of love between their parents.

"I'm with you," Clarke answered.

"Does—does that make you happy?"

"It makes me think you're an idiot for asking."

"I won't touch your heart except only to caress it," Lexa promised her, just like she had on the walls of Polis, overlooking her city. "I brought you here to get away from it all. Soon we will have to return to being the Commander and Wanheda respectively. But here, no-one will find us; no-one will hear us. Here, it is safe to shuck off the skin of a Commander and wear one of Lexa kom Trikru. Likewise, it is the same with you."

Clarke indulged herself in the idea, her natural greed coming to the forefront as she wished this could be their eternity. Lexa being her eternity was more than enough...but Lexa was not always Lexa in Polis. Sometimes, she had to execute decisions as simply the Commander. Sometimes it was not Lexa, but rather the Commander, who argued fervently over ethical issues of a situation. The promise of an escape—where Lexa could always be that tentative young woman who'd dared to open the portcullis to her heart in her tent—was entrancing.

This, she realised, was their honeymoon.

Clarke grinned when she realised, her grin slowly fading at the thought. Their honeymoon was this: a stolen moment of blissful freedom, where there were no politics, no betrayals, and no fighting. Their honeymoon was a world where only two of them existed as who they really were. One: a delinquent fallen from the sky, her eyes the colour of the world she no longer belonged in. Two: a woman with the world on her shoulders; a child of the forest and a beacon of hope for all future generations. Here they could forget genocide; betrayal; assassination; wilderness...

Here, they could revel in something Clarke had wanted, solely: Lexa.

"I'm happy," Lexa mused. She was perching on the edge of a chair, watching as Clarke spread-eagled on the bed. "You make me happy."

"Do I?"

"You make me smile."

"That's a first."

"It's true. You make me happy when you are here; when you're not here I think of you and you make me happy once more. Your kiss makes me invincible. Your embrace renders me at your disposal. You, Clarke, I love. If you'll accept this twisted heart of mine."

Clarke shifted on the bed, shuffling to one side as she rested the side of her face on her palm, lying on one side. "Your heart's not twisted, Lexa."

"Beyond repair," Lexa disagreed. "I wish my love could be gentler. But you find me scarred and ruthless and sometimes cruel."

"I find you human," Clarke said honestly. "If you were anything but, I wouldn't love you the way I do."

"How do you love me?"

"Do you want me to show you?"

Wordlessly, Lexa crawled onto the bed, and all of a sudden she was a virgin again. Clarke encouraged her, wondering how the most confident speaker in all of the realm could be reduced to this—but she did not know what was racking through Lexa's mind. Knowing Lexa, that was probably everything.

"You needn't kiss me any differently," Clarke murmured, as Lexa's hand rested on her hip. "When you kiss me, I feel everything. I always have."

And so Lexa kissed her.

She kissed her, gently, tentatively—just like the very first kiss they'd shared. It was an exploration; a test. Lexa kissed her as if she'd never kissed her before, her lips brushing tenderly over Clarke's as her grip on Clarke's waist tightened ever so slightly. Clarke cupped both of Lexa's cheeks in her hand and returned passionately, coaxing Lexa's lip open.

"Trust me," Clarke whispered against her mouth, and slipped her tongue in, brushing their noses together as they drew apart. She nibbled on Lexa's bottom lip, giggling softly at Lexa's rakish grin, and knocked their foreheads together. "We're in this together."

"The sky always joins the earth; it was a matter of destiny," Lexa said hoarsely. "It is of luck you are of the sky. Together I believe we can take the world back."

"Us two?"

"Maybe they'll write stories of us. Not of how we fought for peace, but of how we loved. How we broke each other and pieced each other back together. How we ruled the world because you believed in me, and I believed in you, and that candle never blew out."

"Maybe," Clarke agreed, "but I don't give a fuck about stories right now."

"No?"

"No."

Clarke kissed her again, surging up to meet Lexa's lips as they kissed properly this time, all cover of shyness and tenderness vanishing in an instant. She yanked Lexa by the waist, causing her to grunt in surprise as she involuntarily rolled over Clarke's body, straddling her hips. Clarke's hands roamed her body greedily as they wriggled out of their clothes, laughing as they tossed them anywhere and everywhere. Wanton fingernails sunk into the soft flesh of Lexa's ass, and Lexa shuddered as she dipped her head down, her kiss full of bite and tongue.

"Someone's keen," Clarke panted between kisses as Lexa ravished her. Her lips flew everywhere, from licking their way down the length of Clarke's neck to clamping her teeth down by her collarbone. With every kiss and lick and suck and bite, Clarke's back arched in pleasure, her head thrown back against the pillows as Lexa feasted on her, cherishing every contour of her body.

"You're so beautiful," Lexa mumbled against her sternum, her hands deftly pushing Clarke's underwear out of the way.

"Come here," Clarke beckoned.

Lexa, placing soft kisses on Clarke's breasts, gently clamped down on her nipple, her tongue swirling. She smiled at the way Clarke groaned in response, but she did as she was told, encouraged by Clarke's hand.

"Grab onto the headboard," Clarke said firmly.

"Clarke—"

"Heda."

Lexa had very few weaknesses, but Clarke calling her Commander—even if it was out of jest or just to get her own way—was far too easy. The power-trip she had was so stupidly immense that Clarke had to mock her for it—and the way she fell for it every time. Lexa's hands gripped tightly onto the railing of the headboard, her arm muscles rippling as she did so. Clarke placed her hands either side of Lexa's thighs, clamping down to hold her in position.

"Say it." Clarke had her own ways. "Say 'fuck me'."

Lexa obliged. "Fuck me."

"Mm." Clarke dipped her tongue in, feeling Lexa's growing wetness as she pressed the flat of her tongue hard against Lexa's lips. Her hips immediately jerked, but Clarke held her steady, gently tracing her tongue against the outer lips of Lexa's cunt.

"Please." Lexa was breathless as Clarke teased her, her teeth grazing against her inner thigh, her tongue swirling over the skin she bit. "Fuck me, Clarke."

Clarke's hands held her down as she thrust her tongue inside of her, satisfied all the way to the bottom of her belly and the overbearing ache between her legs as Lexa cried out in pleasure, bucking her hips as Clarke lapped up Lexa's wetness. She did not have to do a thing. She sucked at Lexa's sensitive clit, her darkened eyes flicking up to watch Lexa's sweaty body rock above hers, her forehead glistening with sweat. Her fists clenched harder against the headboard, and Clarke raked her fingernails up Lexa's back, digging her nails in so they'd leave scratch marks all over. She knew how sexy Lexa found it; how badly she wanted to be marred by Clarke's lust and affection. Lexa rolled her hips, desperately trying to keep up with Clarke's rhythm but Clarke wasn't doing a thing: it was all Lexa.

And it was a magical sight; the stuff of fantasies. Lexa, a goddess in her own right, throwing her head back as she came loudly in Clarke's mouth, her body spasming in sheer bliss. A mortal's tongue had driven a goddess crazy; a mortal's tongue had robbed the legendary Commander, a myth in centuries to come, speechless and dry-mouthed and buzzing with ecstasy as she came hard. If Lexa was a goddess, then Clarke was drinking the honeyed nectar.

Oh, but they were so human. It was why they hid from the world upon such an occasion; they 'married' in-secret, officiated by Kane and proudly escorted by her mother. Clarke thought with a laugh what her mother would say if she walked in on them now.

Lexa rolled off her, utterly spent and exhausted. She breathed hard, lolling her head back. Jok.

"This is why Sky people wish to become betrothed," Lexa deduced. Clarke was so in awe of watching her that she didn't even bother correcting how utterly and hilariously wrong Lexa was.

"Sure..."

"Here, we are Clarke and Lexa," Lexa said, heavy-lidded eyes filled to the brim with dark desire. She turned to face Clarke. "It is noon. I do not want to stop ravishing your body until the birds caw in the morning."

Clarke smirked at her. "Yeah?"

"I will make love to you," Lexa said softly, and then she said: "then I will—" she tested the word on her lips, "—fuck you. I will do it  so hard you will scream my name so loud that the Polisians will wonder who is calling from the Trikru territory."

"You're all words," Clarke laughed, raking a hand through her sweaty hair. "If you could, you'd do it."

"I do not make promises I cannot keep."

It took them four days to ride back to Polis as they both complained of an ache down there as they rode Thunder.

So this was how a Grounder-Skaikru wedding would be like, then...

[ekakinomi-forgrownups]

Questioning Neverland--My Thoughts On the Michael Jackson Controversy And Idol Worship In General

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Warning!

The following post deals with a disturbing, but important social issue that I feel people should know about. If you’re not in the mood to read that, however, use that symbol as a reminder to back away from this post and read another one.

10 days ago, HBO released a documentary called “Leaving Neverland”, which out-lines the lives of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who explain they were sexually abused by pop mega-star Michael Jackson as young boys for years, in disturbing detail.

The documentary explains how Mr. Jackson used a friendly facade to “befriend” the then-super-fans Robson and Safechuck at different times, and used his super-star glamour to charm and enchant their mothers into letting their little boys stay with this man (who, in both cases, only knew him for a few hours) at his Neverland Ranch, a sort of indoor amusement park for kids…which served a much more devious purpose than just a fun getaway with their favorite pop idol.

Because Mr. Jackson’s favorite attraction at that “park” was, in fact, his bed–where he took the boys almost immediately after meeting them…so that he could start touching them inappropriately, on a regular basis, for years and years–as if these innocent children were just his play-things. And many witnesses report that there were a lot more where that came from–no girls, no men, no women–just little boys. He even went as far as to buy an engagement ring for James Safechuck! (*shudders!*) And to ensure that nobody knew about this “dirty little secret”, he lied to the boys’ parents, brain-washed the boys into thinking that this was how people “show love” to one another, and anybody who would dare tell on him would either get paid huge sums of money to be quiet or be threatened with anything from jail-time to death.

This documentary practically shook the world when it came out–America in particular. It seems everybody’s taking sides now– one side who absolutely won’t defend him after what he did to innocent children, and another side, mostly loyal followers and family members (the Jackson Estate tried to stop HBO from releasing this documentary at first) who say that these men are compulsive liars and/or just out for his money, and that Jackson was just an innocent, child-like weirdo.

And then you’ll find people like me, who don’t know the real truth, and are confused and completely conflicted as to whether it’s better to burn or hug their posters and record collections. Now, I’m not saying I’m a fan of his work myself–but I have experienced this dilemma many times over the course of my life. In a different way than most, however.

You see, it’s odd, but when an autistic person loves something (and that can be anything from a pop star to, say, a pretty color scheme on a fictional character), they feel this sense of true love for that particular thing, and like it could never do us wrong in any way. So when anything even remotely bad does happen (and that can be anything from the character changing designs and getting an ugly new color scheme to the pop star turning out to be an abusive scum-bag), it’s complete emotional turmoil, and we feel like the thing we love had just been ruined for us forever. And this happens for two reasons–1. Autistics tend to think of things only one way or the other, and it’s weird for us to think of something in a neutral way. And 2., we’re way too emotional. Neurotypical (“normal”) people tend to think that we’re not able to feel any complex emotions or empathy. The truth of it is, we actually feel too many–far more than we can express sometimes.

There was a point where I felt like everything I love has been “ruined” for me at some point. To name just a few examples: “The Amazing World Of Gumball” had its aesthetic changed to something I don’t like after its first season. “Pastel Yumi”, a magical girl anime I really liked when I watched the first episode, turned out to have loads of fan-service (meaning characters acting sexy to please the audience) of the 10-year old protagonist. The “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” toys only became better-built and actually accurate to the show after I stopped liking the show (I stopped watching it after Season 3). And speaking of My Little Pony, even though I think Nightmare Moon had the prettiest color scheme of any character on the show, I’d feel bad for liking her more than Princess Luna, because call me a goody-two-shoes, but I usually don’t root for evil characters. And, the same goes for the Once-Ler from “The Lorax”.

Since then I’ve changed a lot, and I’ve started finding ways to cope with most of these things and “un-ruin” them…but that’s because they’re all small things, mostly media of different types. I feel very differently on the matter of real people–which brings me back to empathy. While I’m all for #MeToo, it also devastated me. Not because a lot of my favorite creators and directors were being put out of jobs–but because they turned out to be horrible human beings that only think of women as helpless toys that they can stalk, grab and kiss whenever they want. I’ve never been in any of these situations (*knocks on wood*), but just hearing the fact that beautiful, innocent people are getting treated this badly just boils my blood and, at the same time, makes me want to cry for years.

Yet that still doesn’t stop me from watching the kids’ sit-coms created by Dan Schneider or the Disney/Pixar movies directed by John Lasseter, and it doesn’t stop me from wanting to check out The Loud House, which was created by Chris Savino.  All the men mentioned here were very talented, but all sexual predators themselves. Which brings me back to Michael Jackson.

He was a house-hold name when I was a kid, and my first knowledge of him came from both “The Simpsons” episode “Stark Raving Dad”, which featured his uncredited voice, and the Jackson 5 song “ABC”. But I got my first real exposure to his artistry and music during my Dad’s 50th birth-day party last October, where we all sat around, ate cake and watched music videos, and we played several of his hits in a row. I fell in love with the song “Remember The Time”. I also binge-watched that corny “Jackson 5ive” cartoon from the 70’s (which featured a huge portion of their early catalogue) the following November. So to be exposed to such amazing talent and good looks only to be compelled to forget about it all a few months later because he was a horrible person certainly boggled my mind a little. (Bad or confused reactions to sudden changes in plans are another casualty of autism which can be difficult to handle at times).

Suddenly, I begun to seriously ponder my own morals. If I’m a so-called “social justice warrior”, then how can I possibly still enjoy work made by awful people? If I care about minorities so much, then why do I still get joy out of art made by people who obviously don’t care about them? If I can’t bring myself to sympathize with people with such horrible attitudes, then why is it so hard to just ignore them completely? It’s going against my character, and it’s going against my own common sense. Yet if I push these things out of my life, my life will turn up-side-down. What’s a poor puzzled panuki like me to do?

Well, if there’s one up-side to this whole Michael Jackson thing, it’s that it gave the entire world a huge lesson in the dangers of idol worship. So naturally, everybody else is writing about the same types of issues I’m having with this, and how they choose to resolve them. I looked at some of the things they wrote for answers. After looking at the opinions of several different people, I finally found the one article that rang with me the most, and it was written by Constance Grady of Vox. It’s called “What do we do when the art we love was created by a monster?”. You can read it here, but to put it more shortly, this woman basically looked to 3 different literary professors for advice and reference, and they all explained different ways of separating art from artist through different types of methods, created by classical literature theorists. Ms. Grady presented each one in her article, and how it works, to show that there are many different ways of handling a situation like this. To quote Ms. Grady: “All these tools are there, just waiting for me, just as they are waiting for you. And the moment we start to question how we should think about any work of art, we can pick them up and wield them accordingly.”

Another helpful piece of advice came, believe it or not, from Pete Davidson of “Saturday Night Live”, who gave a surprisingly insightful lecture on the “Weekend Update” segment of the show that basically said, that it’s OK if it feels right to let some artists go. But if there’s another artist whose work resonates with you on a personal level so much that they’ve become a part of your heart, you shouldn’t put them out of your life completely. But you should acknowledge that these people did bad things each time you enjoy their work. Basically, that just because someone is talented doesn’t mean that they’re just as good on the inside, and you should acknowledge that. One of the things he said was very smart: “Any time any of us listen to a song or watch a movie made by an accused serial predator, you have to donate a dollar to a charity that helps sexual assault survivors.” After reading all these articles, I found my final, set-in-stone stance on the matter, that bridges the gap between my morals and my enjoyment of a piece of art. Here’s what I think:

If you really don’t like what an artist did in real life, then directly rooting that to their art will only give the real person power over your brain, your fun, your happiness. My mommy told me that no matter what the original artist intended, a piece of art stands alone, and is open to interpretation by anybody who looks at it. Anybody. It’s what she told me to help me understand the appeal of abstract art. And on top of helping me separate art from artist, it also helps me read (some) fan-fiction without cringing, watch modern adaptations of classic books without being to critical, and on top of it all, it also mirrors the Barthes and Livingstone theory mentioned in Constance Grady’s Vox article.

Besides, acknowledging or enjoying their work doesn’t necessarily mean I support the people behind it (as far as their companies are concerned, at least). To these famous people, money is one of the most important things in the world–a lot of times, more important than other people. So unless you have some money to throw out, you’re completely anonymous as far as they’re concerned, because you’re not rewarding them for their work, even if you enjoy it.

The only time I’ll completely make an exception with any artist is if the work they make is too similar to their real life. For example, the Cartoon Network show “Clarence” is about a boy…named Clarence…who has a positive attitude, but things and does things in very weird ways. An eerie mirroring of Skyler Page, the creator, who was fired from Cartoon Network for grabbing the breasts of a crew member for “Adventure Time”, and was later revealed to be a complete mental case…by one of his best friends, who turned out to be the inspiration for one of Clarence’s own friends! (*shudders again!*)

The same thing is very real for R. Kelly, an R&B singer who I never took interest in or even listened to, but who is said to have a catalogue full of highly sexual songs, a lot of which regard age differences and mutual consent. (*shudders one last time.*)

As for Michael Jackson…I don’t really associate his songs or performances with his real self because, if you really think about it, it’s pretty obvious that his pop persona was way different from that. a lot of his popular hits never mention hanging out with little boys. He mentions girls, a lot of which actually prey on him…he also never mentions any of his child-like interests that he had in real life…in fact, I think the only connection the artist Michael has with the real Michael are a few songs that are based on the good side of him (his humanitarian values) and those that are based on his awful childhood, where he himself was abused (not sexually, but still abused) as a boy…which could actually be one of his reasons behind his own abuse crimes. Almost as if he had this secret mentality, like “if I couldn’t have a childhood, then no boy will.” Or maybe he became overly obsessed with male children because he felt like he was getting back a piece of his life that was stolen from him, but expressed his love and sentimentality for it in the most disgusting way possible. I’m not excusing it at all, I think it was still horrible and completely uncalled for. These are just a few theories I had.

Yes, these are all just my personal opinions. And of course, you shouldn’t take that, or any of my personal opinions, as the gospel truth just because you’re reading my blog–everybody has their own individual opinions. And if you haven’t really formed your own, I suggest getting opinions from everyone and everything around you–your friends, your parents, other news sources, other blogs–and see what other people have to say on the matter, and let what you find help you form your own. It’s just like building a puzzle–it takes more than one piece of information to get the full picture.

As for my big picture, the real Michael Jackson doesn’t exist, as far as I’m concerned, and doesn’t deserve to. Just his character that he plays on the stage. And just like the rest of the male characters I’m attracted to, he’s someone I’d never want to be around in real life–just pretty, talented, and charismatic. And in a world where always thinking about the little things can drive you completely insane, sometimes that’s all that really matters.

[mbtizone]

Cosima Niehaus (Orphan Black): ENTP

Dominant Extroverted Intuition [Ne]: Cosima leaps from thought to thought, sometimes forgetting that she’s speaking with people who have no clue what she’s talking about (“Sorry, I got off on a tangent there…). She is gifted at generating possible answers to all of the questions that the clones come up with. She realizes that if the clones are part of a study, then they’re probably being observed by somebody close to them. Cosima is extremely adaptive in new situations (“This is the new normal”). Because Cosima is such an out-of-the-box thinker, she takes to the idea of being a clone much quicker and easier than Alison and Sarah do. Cosima remains open to ideas, keeping them all orbiting inside her brain. She can always come up explanations for things and tends to rapidly throw her thoughts at others. She doesn’t usually totally commit to the suggestions she makes, leaving herself open to spawn new proposals.

Auxiliary Introverted Thinking [Ti]: Intellectual challenges excite Cosima. She’s energized by discovery and enjoys solving puzzles. Cosima has a brilliant, analytical mind. She doesn’t mind making adjustments to her logical conclusions as she has new insights or gathers new information, and can easily change her theories and opinions in the moment. Cosima is extremely curious and has a lot of questions that she’s constantly pondering and wants to get answers to. Although she is a creative thinker, she’s also very practical. Sometimes, she looks at their situation with a sense of scientific detachment and, even though their predicament is scary, it’s also thrilling from an academic standpoint. Cosima has a good sense of humor and can be very quick-witted. She and Sarah (who share auxiliary Ti), are both able to “keep a sense of humor” about their situation, whereas Alison takes it all much more seriously than they do.

Tertiary Extroverted Feeling [Fe]: When Alison and Cosima first meet Sarah, Cosima is the one trying to mediate and keep the peace. When she speaks, she knows how to phrase things in a gentle way. She recognizes the importance of being diplomatic and trying to solve problems through discussion. When Sarah tells Cosima that she thinks Paul might be falling for her, Cosima can immediately see the potential (Ne-Fe). “That’s awesome! You can use that!” When Cosima realizes that Paul knows the truth about Sarah, she reminds Sarah that Paul covered for her with his boss and suggests she try communicating with him before doing anything rash. Cosima has an understanding of the importance of using human interaction as a tool (Ti-Fe). “Well, if we’re going to get past our monitors, we have to engage.” She knows how to get people to trust her. For a while after Sarah learns the truth about what she is, she remains reluctant to help. Cosima tends to pose things to her in more of a “we” sense that makes the clones part of a team. She’s good at adjusting her tone, as well as her approach, depending on her audience.

Inferior Introverted Sensing [Si]: As a scientist, Cosima has a great memory for facts and details, which she sometimes relies on to help form her theories. Research is second nature to Cosima and she’s good at recalling what she learns. Cosima doesn’t spend a lot of time discussing the past, nor does she outwardly appear to be traditional or sentimental. She tends to be less methodical and more scattered – particularly noticeable in the way she speaks when presenting information to others. Cosima isn’t a conformist and doesn’t let society dictate her life. However, she is highly responsible and dutiful when it comes to her obligations to Clone Club and is usually very reliable.

Enneagram: Cosima’s a bit of a mystery to me, but I’m leaning towards 5w4 Sx/So. As for her tritype, my best guess would be 549.

Quotes:

Sarah: How are we all related? Alison:: We’re not! Cosima: Well, we are, by nature. She’s referring to nurture. Alison:: Just give us the briefcase that you got from the German. Sarah: I’m not giving you shit ’til you give me some answers. Alison:: You don’t rate answers. Cosima: Alison! Alison:: [Alison responds agitated sounding] Fine! She wants in? We’re clones. We’re someone’s experiment and they’re killing us off! Is that helpful? Hmm?

[Sarah remains silent after finding out she could be a clone] Cosima: Sorry. I wanted to float that whole clone thing a lot softer.

[Sarah tells Cosima that Helena wants the names of the other clones] Sarah: Don’t worry. I won’t give you up. Cosima: You know, maybe you should. Not to Helena, but to Olivier. Sarah: What? You were the one who said, if your blind subject suddenly became aware, you’d terminate. Cosima: Right, well, I’m beginning to rethink that. Sarah: Great, she’s got a new hypothesis.

Sarah: Olivier called Paul in hours ago, and he’s not picking up. Cosima: Well, that isn’t out of the ordinary, is it? Sarah: How should I know? There’s nothing normal about any of this, is there? Cosima: Sarah, this is the new normal, okay? So, Paul’s a monitor. He reports to Olivier, his handler, right? As long as Paul is on our side, we can start to finally get some answers. Sarah: That’s my point, Cosima. What if he’s not on our side?

[Sarah tells Cosima to stay away from Delphine] Cosima: Well, if we’re going to get past our monitors, we have to engage.

Cosima: I think that Oliver guy, he runs Paul. It sounds like some kind of double blind. Sarah: What are you going on about? Cosima: They are keeping Paul in the dark too. Right? So that he can’t skew the results either. Sarah: [Sarah loads her pistol] You mean he may not even know he’s watching a clone? Cosima: Yes, right. But Olivier definitely knows. Okay? He’s the one that we need to get to. Sarah: You mind if I get through Paul first?

[Cosima and Sarah discuss the church-related mission of Helena] Cosima: So, the fish reads Christian and, and crafted onto a weapon? A personal crusade. Sarah: Great. Is that it? Cosima: You know, when I’m seeing this branded onto Maggie Chen, I’m thinking that she’s not a lone warrior. To extreme creationist types, we would be abominations. Like, not God’s children, but, but, Satan’s. Sarah: So they hate us and she’s killing us, even though she’s identical to us? Cosima: Well, but if you were a messed-up, abused loner whose faith compelled you to belong and somebody that you trusted told you that this was the way to redeem yourself in the eyes of God, I mean… Sarah: Yeah, I might become an angry angel, too.

[Sarah tells Cosima that Helena thinks her and Sarah have a connection] Cosima: So, the woman Beth shot and Helena are connected. Holy watershed. Okay, Beth probably shot Maggie Chen on purpose. She never told us anything about this.

Cosima: If she’s not dead, we need to find her, find out what she knows. Felix: Are you mad? She’s a homicidal maniac. Cosima: Yeah, but we need to find out who she is, Sarah. She’s… She’s… She found us. She’s got answers. Sarah: The only way I’m going to do that is go back to being a cop.

Cosima: So Beth used facial-recognition software to find driver’s licenses in North America. Two matches. Sarah: You and soccer bitch. Cosima: Yeah, right. But who is the original? Who’s created us? Who’s killing us? We need to know, but, we lost our cop, so, however you manage to get into her shoes, we really need you to stay there. Sarah: Stay a cop to help you? Cosima: To help us. Help us find out who’s killing us.

[Cosima tells Sarah that she might have a monitor dilemma] Cosima: I may have a monitor dilemma of my own. Um, I’m new here this semester. I didn’t bring anybody with me, but, uh, someone wants to be friends. Sarah: Just stay away from them, Cos. Stick to the science, yeah? Cosima: ‘Stick to the science?’ What am I, the geek monkey, now?

Sarah: I’m going to shoot Paul’s balls off. Cosima: Wait, just, um, just squeeze them, ok? He’s our way into this whole thing.

[Sarah sees her and Cosima in the mirror together behind the bar] Cosima: Don’t worry, you get used to it. Sarah: To clones? Yeah, I’m not buying that. Cosima: How many of us do you have to meet, Sarah?

Sarah: Just answer me one thing… Cosima: Anything, yes. Sarah: If we’re genetically identical, do you get that little patch of dry skin between your eyebrows? Cosima: [Cosima laughs] That’s good. Try to keep your sense of humor. Beth couldn’t.

Delphine:: It’s Dr. Leekie. Should we invite him? Cosima: You’re single now. Delphine:: Oh, no, no, no. He’s too old. Cosima: But his mind is sexy.

Cosima: I just want to make, like, crazy science with you.

Cosima: We’re gonna to do an experiment. I want you to try to push your favorite pencil through this paper. [she holds a piece of paper loosely] Cosima: OK see if you can do it. [Kira tries and fails] Cosima: Oops. How come that didn’t work, I wonder? ‘Cause, you know what? You need more… force. OK? [ask she explains, several brief cuts to Cosima and Scott building a device in their lab] Cosima: So force equals mass… times… acceleration. How can we get the pencil through this paper, do you think? Kira: We need to make it sharper? Cosima: That’s a really good idea. High five for that. What about trying speed? What about acceleration? Maybe give that a shot? [Kira pushes the pencil quickly and pierces the paper] Cosima: Nice one!

Delphine:: Cosima, it’s your life. Cosima: It’s not just that. It’s all of us. You have to love all of us. Delphine:: Then I love all of you. Cosima: Good. Because if you betray us again, I have enough dirt on you to destroy your career. And I love you, too.

Cosima Niehaus (Orphan Black): ENTP was originally published on MBTI Zone