#i made them for halloween but i used them as a prop for a speech i did lmao

[skeleboy13]

sorry about inactivity i'm a father now 💕 (color version under cut)

[rantsintechnicolor]

I love music; the hozier concert at santa barbara bowl October 28. 

There are not many concerts I can report back on that really, really touch me. Things I really like to see:

The headlining artist thanks the opening artist

The headlining artist brings that artist back on stage to sing with them

The headlining artist introduces the band, stage hands, engineers, tour managers, etc.

The headliner gets personal with us, speaks from the heart, is authentically weird, talks about their inspirations. 

Audience interaction; the headliner singles out members and/or invites the audience to sing along

The headliner observes the encore ritual (there are only a few concerts that have not observed the ritual and when they don’t I find it devastating)

Oh sure. I appreciate good production value, too. Lighting and visuals and props are nice. It’s nice, but not required.

Who has done this for me in the last two years? Who has hit all the marks? Kishi Bashi. Not Muse and not LP, though I still love them. And Hozier. Oh my! Our husband delivered all the things, but I was also struck by how good a person he is. If not 1, 2, and 3, then number 4 is unlikely to happen. But, wow. Number 4 exceeded in expectations.

Other things. Half his band is women. There were nine musicians, and four were women. All musicians got a solo, but he called out the names of the women most often for their performances. I guess that makes sense; his stage name is his mother’s maiden name. 

Funny things. (a.) The women screaming and losing their minds when this musical god looking like a haggard Jesus, tall and lanky and graceful, walked out on the stage. Like he was Elvis or The Beatles. (b.) His dark humor. He introduced a song by saying: “I’m going to lighten the mood by singing a song inspired by seeing an animal get hit by a car.” W said, if he didn’t have dark humor he would not ,be her husband. I do like his sorrowful, melancholic, morbid whimsy, and I suppose I should have expected dark humor as well. 

Human things. (a.) He stopped the band mid song when he was alerted to one of the audience members that fell down in the pit. He held up his hand toward the band and very gently, he said, “guys if we could pause please. Let’s pause. Someone has just gone down in the audience and I want to make sure they are all right before we continue. A lot can happen when you hit the ground. We can’t be too careful. I want to thank our audience for their patience and compassion.” The lights came up, and it took a few minutes, but the audience became quiet. When Hozier got the signal all was well they all resumed mid song. (b.) Call to action for peace. Hozier is from Northern Ireland which has a history of all sorts of turmoil and violence. He asked us kindly and gently to consider contacting our representatives to support the UN’s call for a ceasefire in the middle east. Apparently, the US did not support this resolution. He reminded us how instrumental international assistance was to brokering peace in Northern Ireland, allowing him to grow up in a peaceful place. Though a few people were shouting at him to Play Music, he held up a hand, beseeching their patience, and finished his short speech. (c.) When he talked about his inspiration, he talked about Mavis Staples, who he was so pleased to have worked with on Nina Cried Power. Her music was the poetry of the Civil Rights Movement, he said. And it directly influenced a civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. (d.) He did tell us he appreciated those of us doing the Halloween thing. He said hello to and excellent version of Super Mario in the pit, pronouncing it mary-o. Should I ever get a chance to chat with Hozier, I might ask him if he likes Halloween and if his songs are inspired by zombies and witches and cults. 

Finally, I don’t cry at many concerts. But I absolutely did at this one. I won’t say what song made me lose it, nor why. But I’m sure I’m not the only one that got emotional there. I can’t be. That’s the power of music.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E32 - Beyond the Border - rewatch/”liveblog”

....so apparently I just wanted to watch this one without really saying anything.  It happens some time!  Plus real life is just exhausting me right now, so you know, watch for enjoyment.

Two points from Talks – one, Matt is tan as hell, and two, a LOT of the players now keep saying how much they absolutely love Caduceus. (wait also three, what is the mysterious oneshot that happens here? I don’t think it’s the hogwarts one, that was around halloween time I think….Oooooo, Song of the Lorelai!  ….Do I want to retwatch that after this episode?  It was a good episode!  I believe the instigator of my desire to have Sam with a deep voiced PC)

Such a lovely description of the beacon, and also with new knowledge seeing how, what is it – a level 14 dunamacy spell that lets you change the outcome of a roll?, how that works with the description of the beacon.

I have no clue if Fjord ever said “how do” before this episode, but it just hit me like a brick because I just rewatched the animated recaps earlier today XD

….Whelp, this is gonna be fuck all for a commentary.  Sorry, I’m just enjoying the ride!  BUT, with the knowledge of the wrap up in regards to Gustav, Caduceus’s speech hits really different.  In so far as the fact that it’s pretty much completely off base?  I wonder if we find out exactly what the whisper was.  It’s completely in character, and made tons of sense at the time, but with the wrap up confirming that Gustav knew what Kylrie was and still allowed it, in exchange for an awesome circus, the fact that he was in prison wasn’t so much that he was ‘hiding’ from anything, more of the fact that he felt like it was a step in paying his debt.  I kinda really like that Caduceus was off base here, even though it wasn’t intended, because it’s a step towards his own character growth by end of campaign.

Sam’s voice got SUPER deep after break.

Props to Matt for not telling them about their cart, because he already explained it to them multiple times and now it’s on them.

Hey there’s the compass on the map.  Guess they did keep using it!  It’s just so small that I guess I usually (read: almost always) miss it

Wisdom save fail number….three?  I have so lost track.

Hello Artagan.  And Nugget.  And Professor Thaddeus.

@suicidallyreckless (is it even worth the tag?  there’s like, nothing here XD)

[deadmanshandthecursed]

"Well, kid, you'da loved to see the assortment of folks at the farm yesterday.

sure I know you were with us, just not in the way so you could take more of your selfies with us all.

I tried to give you so many words over the years.

I guess these are my words for you.

Thank you to Tom for hosting us today,

Thank you to those friends he had at Fright Farm for welcoming the rest of his haunt family into your house.

And thank you to all his Real Life family for sharing him with us.

I am honored that people call me Steves mentor. But we would be remiss if we didnt mention another kid I mentored when I could, and who did the same for Steve, even before I got him.

His great friend and big brother in all this, Ethan Turon.

From his 1st day at 100 Acre Manor, till days before he left, Ethan was there for him.

Let’s start with a quote from an old black and white monster movie. One of the ones I forced Steve to watch for some horror roots and set design education.

The way you walked was thorny, through no fault of your own, but as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end."

Maleva the Gypsy

1940 The Wolfman,

I think there’s been plenty of tears in the last 2 weeks. And no doubt we all have some more ready to go.

But with someone like Steve, every time I feel myself getting upset, it’s so easy to bring up a good memory, something cool, sweet, funny, or just dumb and goofy, to bring me back. I’m sure

you can too. If not now, you will..

Because he was easy to like, to love and to get close to.

In my case, I didn’t choose him. He chose me. I had no say in the matter. He was gonna be my friend and bring his brand of haunt magic to Castle Blood whether I liked it or not.

He was like a 10 month old golden retriever, How could I not get taken in by him, become close to him, and end up with such a bond

He was Romantic about Halloween. The love, the magic, the escapeism, the fantasy. I would warn him about that. Don’t love something that can’t really love you back. And he would then read back a list in his head of all my stories, and things I’ve done in the name of Halloween, and the consistency it brought to my life.

And I would reply with the loses, the hardships, divorces, bankruptcies, missed chances and lost loved ones. And he’d ask, then why is it almost 40 years and you keep going.

I would answer, How can I not, and I’d smile, how can I not be romantic about Halloween. It’s given me everything, just like it has you.

And he’d laugh at me and I’d tell, him the controller on that animation still wasn’t working. Shut up and what do you want for lunch.

He collected friends in the industry like other kids collect baseball cards.

He wanted the old ones. to learn from, understand the industry history, and the how and what and especially the why of things. I told him always look for WHY people do what they do.

And he wanted the new ones, to get energy from youth, to bond with fresh ideas and new materials and new ways to do things. He got that from so many of you.

And in his head he tried to figure out how it all made sense and blend it together into how he wanted to see things.

It’s why he could collect and discuss cute Halloween decorations from 20 years before he was born, with the same enthusiasm as a new formula for blood, or what the latest big ass prop was at a haunt convention and how he could chop the poor thing to pieces and make it move.

Its why he would work on the Castle in a style that is meant for all us weirdos to want to live there, and the next morning be at his real gig doing a room that makes people stop and say, NNNNope I’m not going in there.

Duality. It’s a tough one to deal with. Sometimes we just say, well HE was a textbook gemini wasn’t he.

But we’re here today because it went deeper than that.

I believe we only honor him if we realize that.

When you take your love of Halloween and decide to go pro, and especially when you find work in as many haunts as he did, it’s a very tough thing.

He worked in no less than 6 different haunts in the past 2.5 years. Not counting all the haunts he just sold props to.

When you do that, you pick the owner. And he was only once in a while wrong in that. But you don’t often get to pick your surroundings or even your co workers. For someone that needs safe and trusted friends, that’s hard.

He did make great friends everywhere he went, but not everyone is gonna like the new slick hired gun that just came onto their turf. You just cant please everyone.

That 10 month old golden retriever we spoke of earlier, didn’t understand that.

We make Halloween everyday, for MONEY. why would anything need to be bad?

I don’t know kid.

This world we live in, surrounded by spoopy all day everyday, is not for everyone, not even close.

We are all on our own island of misfit toys. Every haunt, anywhere in the country.

We would all do well to realize and remember that. We come to this interest, whether livelihood or hobby, trying to find joy and happiness by latching on to the dark side of life.

That’s probably messed up, but I am as 100% guilty of it as we all are.

Should we be careful of the wierdos? Mister, we ARE the weirdos.

Do you know what they call an everyday average well adjusted person in a haunt?

They call them a customer.

As we remember Steve, we should remember all the good times and tell his stories and show his pictures, and crazy videos.

And honor him by realizing the next kid that walks into our lives wanting it all, Loving Halloween, may need help too.

Now lastly , I know, Lastly, thank god, I’d like to read you part of this coming seasons opening speech at Castle Blood. We hope you’ll come see it. None of you have any other commitments in October, do you?

I wrote it a week before he left, but he was obviously already in great distress. As I wrote this I didn’t realize how he was already affecting me.

The tour had already been named Labyrinth, and he was already working on effects for it.

We’re all travelers of one sort or another in this world.

Often wondering about the path we’ve chosen, the obstacles we find, the private battles we face, and what inside, drives us to continue.

We all make it to the other side one way or another.

It’s what happens along the way that matters.

We are all travelers.

And remember, we all get lost sometimes,

So there ya go. I miss you"

~ Ricky Dick's eulogy to Steve Guild

[king-maven-calore]

Cal’s birthday / Halloween special sneak peek:

Silvers are vampires and the Scarlet Guard is a rebel group with plans that include the crown prince 😏

(This hasn’t gone through edits yet. For any questions go to my ask. ily all <3)

The Mercy Trials were the great equalizer. They took place at the same time in every village and city from the Nortan empire, starting on the fall equinox and ending on the winter solstice. Participation was mandatory for every mortal ranging from 15 to 25 years old.  

Winning granted citizenship and comfortable life in the capital. Archeon, the safest place in all of the empire.  

Losing meant you could never participate in the trials again... or death. It was a risk the people of Norta were happy to accept.  

The crown prince had always looked forward to the Mercy Trials since he was a little kid. Being a warrior himself, he enjoyed dissecting the strategies that the red-blooded contestants crafted to win each instance until they made it to the arena. In the arena, the best fought on hand to hand combat until one remained. 

The king’s advisors would then handpick a few other winners, a celebratory feast would take place, and then the caravan would leave for Archeon.

This year it was different.  

This time, however wrong it may be, the prince had a favorite.

The warrior with the purple mask had impressed him from the first moment he had laid eyes upon them. Test after test, they had proved new, ingenious ways to overcome them until the prince could only look at them while the trials took place. There was something familiar, a tug at the back of his memory, about the way the warrior moved, or the shape of their body, barely insinuated behind the baggy gender-neutral clothing they wore.  

The royal houses sat silently at their luxurious boxes surrounding the arena, watching with bored eyes at the bloodbath taking place below them. On the other half of the circular arena, the spectator stands, brimming with common folk, were frantic chaos of shouting, chants, and bets as heavy rain punished their backs.  

Red mud splattered the dark stone of the high walls protecting the audience from the fighters' rage as alliances broke down into smaller groups that would inevitably dissolve as well. Twenty fighters in two opposing teams. Then ten. Then five; two against three.

The purple mask had allied themselves with a fierce, much taller warrior clad in red. Back to back, they took down their opponents.

“They must’ve trained together,” the crown prince leaned over to talk to his younger brother. He didn’t need to raise his voice. The boxes were separated from the arena by thick glass windows, so the sounds from the exterior barely reached them.

The younger prince was draped over his chair, propping his sharp chin on his fist, leaning his elbow on the armrest.

“What makes you say that?” he drawled just to indulge his brother.

“Same weapon choice.” Dual daggers. “Similar fighting techniques.” Astounding brutality, taking into account neither of the warriors were bulky. They were both lean and fast as vipers.

“What a tragedy,” the younger prince yawned. “They practiced together, they made an alliance to get this far, and now one of them will have to betray the other.”

“Uh, I didn’t think of that.” He leaned forward on his cushioned seat, paying attention when the purple mask got cornered by two others. “But it was inevitable. So, is it really a betrayal?”

“You could say it adds some drama to this otherwise barbaric display,” he answered under his breath.

“Maven,” the king’s booming voice startled them both. He twisted his head to the side, to look back at them and give the younger prince a reprimanding look. “You should show a little more respect for tradition. You know well how the Mercy Trials came to be. Or do you need Cal to refresh your memory?”

“We created the trials as an act of mercy for the mortals. The gods forgot about them, leaving them to their own devices in a world plagued by creatures capable of destroying them.” Cal said diligently, realizing too late how Maven must have felt at the unnecessary correction. “I’m sure Mavey knows the rest.”

“Yet we sheltered them. We give them a chance to take a seat at the table with us.” Maven finished the last part of the speech through gritted teeth.  

“That’s right, son.” King Tiberias didn’t acknowledge his youngest son's effort. “It is important to select the strongest among this-” his lips quirked down in a disgusted scowl “-this rotten kind, and give them the privilege to serve us.”

The purple masked warrior finally neutralized one of their opponents, shoving a dagger to the back to their knee, at the cost of turning their back to the second.

Cal held his breath when the opponent took advantage of that and put the purple mask on a chokehold. During the fight, they had both lost their weapons so now they had to rely on their physical strength. Bad news for Cal’s favorite, because they were short and scrawny while the other was a massive beast.

It all seemed lost, until purple mask tucked their chin down, elbowed the opponent on the ribs, ducked down out of the choke, and tripped them to the ground in a single fluid movement. The crowd went wild.  

Wait.

Cal rose from his seat, heart pounding in his ears. That maneuver.  

[skittles1229]

Community Fanfiction (self insert/x reader)

 "Personally I don't see the appeal" you say under your breathe as you pick at the disgusting slop in front of you. Greendale's lunch left much to be desired, but I don't think they got famous for their lunches. From what I've read Greendale has seen it all, from campus wide paintball wars to a Dean that thinks Halloween is all year round. It's no lie the Greendale's reputation has been questionable for a while but the one thing I can say is that I haven't met many stuck up assholes since I've been here, granted I try to stay clear of that side of the hall. As I pick away at my phone, that's resting on the corner of the table, someone sits in the chair in front of me and I look up with my usual nonchalant face. There was an older guy, about thirty or forty, and he was quiet unusual. He reeked of an over bearing cologne and his hair was long and black with kinky curls, thought his hair was too greasy to even begin to look puffy. He has two large stars shaved onto his cheeks that connect to his sideburns. "I noticed you from Subway's shop. I've never seen you here before. You must be the city college girl." City college girl? Do I already have a rep here, of course they said that nobody would know and OF COURSE they were lying. "Yes, I came from City college but how'd you know that?" He smiled sheepishly and looked away scratching the back of his neck, when he finally looked back his cheeks were a slighter red shade. "Sorry, got excited. I'm Alex." He holds his large hands out to me, after a moment of my continued silence he brought his hand back down and coughed nervously. I propped my hand up on my elbow that rested on the table, at this point I had abandoned picking at my food and focused on Alex. "Let me guess this is how it went. The Dean got excited and told everyone and you were all curious to meet me today because everyone expected me to be some stuck up dumb blonde right?" Alex seemed astounded which means I was right. There is no secrets kept in Greendale and frankly I was hoping I could go here with a new name, background, and maybe I could just make up some person I've always wanted to be but.. I guess since my past followed me here I might as well live with it. I look back at Alex who has been staring at me since I last spoke, I stick my hand out across the table and give him the brightest smile I can. "My name's (y/n)." I say taking his hand, they were twice the size of mine, grungy and rough.

Alex seemed like a pretty awesome guy and after lunch he walked with me down the hall to Mr. Chang's Spanish class. We talked on and on and yes, he is very weird. Never would have pegged him for a meth head because they are usually more aggressive and like to give out those opinions that nobody asked for but Alex? Alex was pretty great. We walk into the class room and it's only us and four other people in the class so far, then again we still had 30 minutes before class. I sat in front of Alex and met his friends Garrett, Viki, and Magnitude. We talked for a while about D&D and about all the teachers but Alex kept mentioning someone name Jeff and the Greendale seven. From the way he talks about them I'm beginning to wonder just how normal this school was. There were less seats open and the only ones left were seven seats centered towards the middle of the room. Chang had already made his big chaotic entrance and nothing he said made any sense. Greendale definitely should do better in picking their staff because putting a mentally ill Chinese man as a professor was a less then good idea. That's when the Greendale seven arrived, Alex grabbed my shoulder and pointed to the group giving me everyone's names as the waltz in. Tall dark and weirdly antisocial was Abed the movie guru. He'll draw connections to real life situations through pop culture and meta references gained after years of watching TV and movies. Short large and carrying a purse that could fit everything but the kitchen sink was Shirley, the divorced mother of two who loves to bake. Very tall, old, and wrinkled was the jackass name Pierce. Alex says that he is worse then Jeff and is relentlessly mean just because he thinks it makes him look 'rad', how old.is this guy like 90? Then the small brunette who wore a silly school girl outfit and she hugged her books close to her chest as if she was in high school, Annie or little Annie Adderall. Alex will have to give me the details behind that later. Then came the last three, Jeff, Troy, and Brita. Brita seemed to be a very big female activist, if the fliers and stickers in and on her binder said anything. Troy was taller then me and he seemed attached to the hip with Abed, he almost had the same demeanor and smile as Abed as well. Then there was the infamous Jeff, if his looks alone said anything, he was a stuck up, sweater wearing, pompous ass and from the look everyone was giving him as he walked into the class I'd say I was right. 

They all sat down pierce sitting closest to us, Jeff next to him and Abed on the other side of Jeff. Britta sat in front of Jeff and Troy sat in the farthest seat to the left on that row, with Sherly sitting in front of Britta and Annie sitting in the front like the good little wanna be Senpai that she is, but once Chang began his intro duction to the class i got a feeling she would start regretting not sitting in the back or at least out of chang’s monkey finger reach. “Every once in a while,” Chang began, “A student will come up to me and ask Senior Chang why do you teach Spanish?” He chuckles while bending down holding himself up by propping his hands on the front two student desk. He continues, “Why do you teach Spanish...” Suddenly his smile fades from his face and it turns into an ugly scowl. “Why You?..”  He then leans into the boy who sits in the desk on the left  “Why not Math?” He asks scrunching his face up making the boy recoil in fear.  Suddenly whipping his head around and removing his hand from the boy I presume is named Matt desk’s all together. Leaning even closer into Annie's face as he begins to speak again. “why not Photography?” Chang walks forward still slightly crouched so that he can remain in his students line of sight. He then puts both his hands on Sherly’s desk, The smile she gives him is kind but her eyes say she might smack him with her purse at any moment. He then speaks once more in the hushed emotionless tone as before, “Why not.. Martial Arts?” He leans up standing straight and tall, as he begins to gesture his words with his hands in the over dramatic way I’m sure I’ll come to learn as distinctly Chang. “I mean surely it must be in my nature to instruct you in something that ancient like, Oh like building a wall that you can see from outer space.” Everyone in the room begins to look at each other with quizzical looks as the monkey like man continued his odd irrelevant speech. “Well, I’ll tell you why i teach Spanish, it is none of your business. M’kay” At this point his hands are making the classic Italian hand gesture where your thumb is meeting the rest of your fingers and you shake your hands vigorously as he starts to walk backwards towards the front his voice gradually getting louder as he got further away. “Now I don't want to have ANY conversations about what a mysterious and inscrutable man I am.” He then proceeded to stroke long imaginary beard hair as he laughed light a little Irishman in a cereal commercial. As he starts to walk back towards the front he then looks to Sherly and yells “I AM A SPANISH GENIUS!” while pointing at his face with his long twig like fingers. Chang continues his rant while making odd hand gestures like he’s having some kind of a mild stroke, “In Spanish they call me El’ Tigre’ Chino!” Followed by raptor sounds and Chang as he pretend eats Sherly’s neck “Cause my knowledge will bite her face off.” He says as he backs up away from everyone still wearing the same disturbing face as before. Everyone nodded their heads scared to upset the monkey man in the middle of his rant. “so don't question senior Chang or you'll get bit.” He continues to yell ‘ya bit’ for the next few minutes. 

He stood in silence for a minute with his hands clamped together as he studied the room waiting for a response from anyone. it startles everyone when he claps his hands together speaking in Spanish gesturing towards the white board behind him. “We’ll be having conversations in Spanish using the phrases we learned this week and you’ll be partnering up for this project.” He smiles at the boy who was sitting to his left earlier caressing his face with the back of his hand making the boy physically pull away almost tumbling out of his chair. “Now if you’ll look under your desk at the card i placed there, it should either have a picture or a word on it.” He picks up Britta’s and holds it up to the class showing everyone a small white house on the card. “Now anyone with the card that says casa on it will be Britta’s partner.”  Alex seemed to shrink in his seat as Chang made eye contact with him. “Got it, Starburns.”  i turn to look at Alex with a smile mixed with a questionable glare. He looks at me begging for mercy as if those words stung him. “Starburns huh?” I whisper over to him. He slumps his shoulders in defeat and slides deeper into his seat wearing a silly pout on his face. I lay my hand on his desk getting his attention back on me, “Don’t worry Alex I think that name is dehumanizing.” His smile crawled back onto his face and his chipper spirit seemed to return just as soon as it left. Chang claps his hands loudly to get everyone's attention, "Okay! See you Friday, find your partners, and what do we say at the end of class?" Everyone around me very dully grumbles 'Hasta la wago' at Chang while he twirls his arms around like a conductor. "Oh come on hands! Hands Gestures are Ninety percent of Spanish!" This time everyone says it again with a little more pep and they all throw there arms around copying Professor Chang's movements. He tells the class that they did excellent and they all clap as everyone shifts in their seats grabbing cards and talking amongst themselves. I grab mine from under my seat pulling it out to see a horse on my card. "Horse SOOO..?

 "A/N: Hey guys hope you enjoyed this so far but this is where you guys as the fans have to help me out. I want for this character to spend some time with everyone from the show but I'm not sure who to start us off with? Who do you think we should be partners with?

[geekkatsblog]

Grey's Anatomy Season 16x17 review.

What a messed up episode it was. So starting from the most messed up and going down.

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Tom Koracick He gets a section tomhimself today because honestly, his life is starting to get really complicate as was expected seeing that he's at Grey Sloan. Him and Teddy, somehow or the other I feel he's going to have the worst part of this stick. Teddy has Been in love with Owen since she even arrived at the hospital in season 6 (or 5 can't remember too clearly), but after loving someone for so long, chances are she isn't going to leave him now. She was hurt and scared because Owen could possibly have another child and he drops her like a hot potato for anyone so, with all her feelings she went to Tom and he of course slept with her because, he loves her a surprising amount. I wish that he could find the strength to tell her no, because he's going to wind up hurt and with the way everyone treats him. He's going to really be in an emotional hole after it all. As for him and Mr Billionaire. I always used to imagine scenarios like the one he proposed to Tom, but probably in a spy movie I didn't actually expect Tom to do it. He's going to end up using the money for his lawyer bills because he's not even going to have a chance if he's found out. His licenses will be gone and so will his life. He'll end up in jail along with the  billionaire. Who is clearly one of the dumbest geniuses I've ever seen. All of that because he's made a mistake and could be arrested. If his plan is found out he'll be as ruined as Tom. I don't like where that case is going. I like Tom but I don't think he should risk anything for that man who clearly thinks he's the s**t and I can definitely see Tom's emotional Grey's spiral coming. I wish him the best of luck.

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Teddy I think we should check her for a tumor or a mental illness as well because I don't know what happened to her. I would have never expected Teddy to be like this. She was one of the most respectable women on Grey's. I know that she was emotional but she has been pinning for Owen for Years and years and she didn't even think to talk to him? Come on Teddy and she's using Tom, Maggie's speech was spot on she's sleeping with Tom who is madly in love with her when she knows she loves Owen, like leave Tom out of it sleep with someone else. And her reaction when she told Owen that Amelia's baby could be his and she asks him where does that leave them. He apparently took 5 seconds to long and she walked away, come on Teddy..... you just told the man that he could possibly be the father of a 3rd baby and with another woman all under the under the age of 3 and you're upset he took 5 seconds before answering, now I'm no Owen fan but Jeeze give the guy some time to process before making assumptions and what she said about Amelia, thank God for Maggie because her reasoning for being angry at Amelia was crap, especially because she did the exact same thing with Owen so the real loser here is Owen and Tom. She needs to pull it together soon because I'm sure this isn't over even though Owen isn't the Father.

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Owen Karma's a bitch I guess I almost feel sorry for him, this is the best he's been in any relationship. He's in yet another love triangle with the same woman but this time he's not the one being chased. I also want to talk about his old school way of life. Why the he'll should Teddy have to plan the wedding herself, it's like Christina not wanting to have kids all over again. She's a surgeon and a mom, both of those things are full time job. You still plan your wedding with the wedding planner except they do all of the running around for you.if he wants a planned wedding so much he should do it himself and Teddy needs to learn to say no she's going to stress herself planning a wedding the same way she did making Halloween costumes.

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Richard Yet another painful one, not only is he quitting surgery he's also pushing the people who care about him further and further away. He was so angry I almost thought that he would have had to be committed. I am praying that Webber is not leaving as well even if he's not doing surgery he should teach or something Bailey was right the hospital needs him and the show sure as he'll does as well. He wants to sell his paths pen, do you Webber but ,make sure you come back. Maybe he'll make enough money that Catherine doesn't feel like she can buy him anymore. Where the he'll Is Catherine anyway? She's doing everything behind the scenes and as usual Bailey has to take the fall.

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Link/Amelia Yay, I think we can safely take Amelia out of the Owen, Teddy, Koracick thing because her and Link are back together and even better Link is the father. While I still don't agree with how the whole thing was handled I'm just glad that they're together again and the whole Amelia, Owen thing isn't going to start again. No more children deserve to be involved in that mess. Not to mention now we get to see more daddy Link. I know that they're going to definitely have more struggles along the road I mean after all this is Grey's but I at least hope that no more of those problems will include Owen Hunt.

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Jo Didn't know which last name to call her anymore. She's in a bad mood understandably but not in her need to get committed mood, which I'm glad for. The actress in real life is pregnant and I'm just wondering how that's going to be played off. It can't be written in that wouldn't make any sense but I was wondering if they're going to make Jo take some time off. She would definitely deserve it. I'm glad that she's not spiralling too much at least not yet. She's in a funk but like she said she'll pick herself up because she knows she deserves love.

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Deluca Is talking to a shrink but doesn't really think he needs it and coming from experience that's never a good thing. I hope he realizes it soon before it ruins him and based on some spoilers I read its not seeming too likely.

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Meredith Isn't in the mood to talk about her feelings, she was hit on by a billionaire and rightfully angry at the world because the woman who had to ration her insulin because she couldn't afford was heartbreaking. I live in a country where most health care and medication is free or at a reasonable price unless you choose otherwise so I couldn't imagine how hard it is to be unable to get the health care you need so that was hard to watch. Meredith was also right to be pissed off that some billionaire just decided that he doesn't want to accept responsibility and cleared a whole hospital floor to do it. (Even if Catherine was the one to do it). She misses Alex and had yet another conversation with Bailey (this is the most I've seen them talk this whole series.) And they basically express how everyone is leaving or dying and it's lonely without them and nothing else have ever been more accurate. The amount of life and family togetherness that was in the beginning of the series definitely isn't there anymore.

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Bailey Was just there being concerned about Webber, I felt for her when Webber started freaking out and throwing stuff you could seen her internal struggle between staying with him or doing her job. I hope they aren't going to make her lose her work husband and basically the only person at Grey Sloan who would stand up for her. And she needs to stand up to Catherine that woman has been throwing her under the bus for too long.

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Jackson Broke up with his girlfriend Vic.............. I have no idea if to feel bad or happy. I don't really watch Station 19 unless if it has Bailey or is necessary to watch in order to understand what's going on in Grey's as well as the first 6 episodes of season one that I watched so I have no idea what was going on with them. I kind of picked up that she got kicked out of her home and moved into Jackson's place without telling him. But what's don't get is the reactions he was upset that she moved in and I understood because who moves into someone's place without asking but now she moves out and he's upset and for stupid reasons. Dean her new roommate/boatmate once hit on Maggie when they were together and he didn't know. She's going to help Dean raise a baby. The man's a new single father to a newborn I don't think he has time to steal someone's gf. But thank God I no longer have to hear the stupid argument again because they broke up well he broke up with her. Props to her to waiting around all day so he could do it though. Jackson is one of the characters who started off as one of my favorites but has now made his way to the bottom of the list.

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Maggie The usual cheerleader, when are they going to finally give her a plot that isn't cheering someone on, being annoying or a plot that lasts 5 seconds. It's almost like she isn't even there. Give the girl a good plot for God's sake, she shouldn't just be a cheerleader. That being said, she was spitting facts today with Teddy though and she's probably going to spill Teddy's secret because shes bad at keeping secrets thats a potential hot mess in the making.

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End notes and questions

What the Hell is Tom doing??? It's dumb and I hope someone talks some sense into him soon.

What's going to happen to Richard? Is he leaving the show as well? I hope not he's one of the only good things left.

Is Deluca going to be ok? He's got to admit he needs help soon.

And last but not least, What will happen to the hot mess that is Owen and Teddy?

[constantlyirksome]

Review: Euphoria’s First Season Finale was Aesthetically Stunning but Narratively Clunky.

Going into the Euphoria season one finale we had a lot of questions: Would Fezco get arrested? Would Maddy and Nate get back together, or would he finally get what was coming to him? Would #Rules make it? Unfortunately, due to the episode's reliance on non-linear storytelling, we left with more questions than answers.

The Halloween episode used a similar narrative structure, the party was the centre of it and all the other scenes were flashbacks, in the end coming together in a satisfying way. Unfortunately, it didn’t work well at all this episode, while the core of the episode is the school dance (a classic hotbed for teenage drama) it’s not clear when all the other scenes occurred in relation to it, end it ended on multiple cliff-hangers.

Let’s talk about Nate and Maddy first. I have praised Jacob Elordi in the past because getting people to like a character is one thing, but to create and act out a character as loathsome as Nate takes talent. His key scenes with his father, Rue, and Maddy all had an incredible intensity and heat, he’s so convincing as a brute you wish that Rue’s fantasy, lighting Nate on fire and shooting him, was real.

He continues a lot of his patterns; first, he bullies Rue in a tense faceoff. Elordi and Zendaya have incredible rival chemistry, and as Nate sowed the seeds of doubt for Rue and Jule’s relationship, Rue threatened to burn his whole family down. He abused Maddy verbally and physically. The question of his and his father's sexuality popped up and honestly, that’s a thread I’m a little tired of. Internalized homophobia on that level, if they are gay, isn’t something I as a gay man care to watch.

Nate singlehandedly wins a football match but his father still berates him for not doing enough as a captain. Nate does what he does best, gets in his dads face, but his dad doesn’t back down and when they get into an uncomfortable physical confrontation where Nate is overpowered and breaks down completely. Like a child in a supermarket, he cries and thrashes and then begins hurting himself in his rage. This is a man who has gone through some serious emotional abuse, repression coupled with a genetic inflated ego, arrogance and violent misogyny. He was bound to explode, and he does so in such huge way I just have to applaud Elordi again. But the question is, was the tantrum before or after the dance?

Maddy did a lot of growing after being covered in the human manure that is Nate and decides she’s had enough.

“You’re abusive, psychopathic, and I hate the way you make me feel…” she says as they slow dance. I love Maddy, and this is an aspiring thing to see, a girl in the grips of an abusive relationship, who until now knew how sick it was but couldn’t leave, make the decision to cut it off. And props to her for trying to assure Nate that It’s Okay to Be Gay and that sexuality is a spectrum while he was screaming in her face. What an icon.

Cassey deals with her decision to terminate her pregnancy, weirdly McKay isn’t in the episode at all. At the dance, she says she never wants to fall in love again (honestly what a mood,) meaning they split up after she had her abortion, meaning either he is as shitty as every other man on the show or the show just didn’t know what to do with him. During her procedure she tunes out and listens to music, imagining herself ice-skating instead. It’s a beautifully shot moment, her on a blacked-out ice rink, completely alone, no McKay cheering her on. She does have her sister though, and at the scenes, for the dance they sit and laugh at other people which is always fun.

Kat got probably the only “happy” end to her story arc, finding Ethan on the dance floor, she realizes she can be the bad ass, confident, empowered woman she wants to be without being cruel, or shutting herself off emotionally. She finds a good middle ground and it’s very sweet to see her open up after so many episodes of her being so stoic.

Ethan delivers possibly the most romantic speech ever: “This is high school, will we last forever? Probably not. Someone will probably get hurt, but I’ll do my best to make sure that person is me.” What a cutie!  Mazel Tov to the happy couple.

Fezco and Ashtray (just learned that’s what the little kid's name is) don’t get arrested, but he is still in trouble with drug dealer Mouse, whom he owns money to. His solution is to put on a ski mask and rob some guy, I’m unsure if this man is narratively relevant, or if he’s just rich. He’s got stacks of cash and prescription pills in a drawer so Fez gets lucky either way. When the guy pulls a gun, Fez proves how hard he really is, that Nate should be worried, and beats the guy in front of his kid. Fez has been toted as the best man on the show and it’s sad to say after that scene he probably still is. There’s something so likable about Fez and Angus Cloud that has you blaming the guy getting robbed for trying to be brave instead of blaming Fez for robbing him. Audiences perceptions around men these days are so warped, and standards are so low that characters like Fezco, who seems genuinely okay deep down, become the ones we’re drawn to. It’s weird, but I’m guilty of it too, because while he gives Mouse the money, Mouse spots blood on the bills and grabs his gun, leading the question, “does Fez get shot?” and I hoped to god he didn’t.

Finally our heroes Rue and Jules. Jules does Rue’s eye makeup, in a very similar way to how Anna did hers the last episode, and sings Anna’s praises, casually letting slip that she did sleep with the other girl. Later that night at the dance Rue finds her taking selfies and sending them to Anna. While Rue and Jules aren’t in a relationship, while Jules isn’t Rue's keeper, her sponsor, or her girlfriend it still came off kind of dickish. Jules deserves to be as free as she wants but she has never been good at communicating. She tells Rue that she loves her, and she wants to kiss her, (they do, it’s very steamy), and that she doesn’t want Rue to change… But when a sloppily planned escape to the city between the two of them falls through, Jules ends up leaving Rue behind, going back to Anna essentially.

Rue and Jules were connected and were in a lot of ways perfect for each other, outsiders with the same sick views of the world, but in so many ways they weren’t right for one another, between Rue's addiction/sobriety and Jule’s lifestyle there were few ways were you could see it working out but it was still sad to see, and the way it happened didn’t make a terrible amount of sense. Jules escapes with Rue, but ditches her even though it was Rue’s plan? And the worst part is that that’s what Nate predicted would happen when he was fighting with Rue.

We end on a mishmash of scenes with Rue, Jules and her family, good flashbacks, and a flashback to a fight with her mother that was so bad Rue was kicked out of home, but when did this all happen? One flashback clues us onto the fact that Rue’s red sweatshirt was actually her dads, but other than that the scenes are confusing. Back in the present Rue puts on her dad's hoodie and snorts a line of something, officially falling off the wagon. The question, made less clear after the coming scenes, is did she die? Many people believe she’s only able to know everyone’s business every episode because she dies. 

Then, bizarrely it turns into a music video of sorts, if not a trippy one. You think Rue is revisiting more memories as she stumbles in a drug-induced state (Zendaya’s physicality here was fantastic) as her family ignores her, but then her dad is there, and then suddenly she’s in a sea of dancers and she’s (Zendaya) singing Labrinth's All For Us. (I already have it saved on Spotify talk about a BOP.)

It’s beautifully shot, choreographed and performed. The whole episode was beautiful, from the girls dance outfits, to the makeup, Cassey’s skate scene, and then the end dance. But it speaks to one of the biggest issues I have with Euphoria, which is if you take away the cinematography, great acting, the costuming and the killer soundtrack, Euphoria is narratively up and down. This episode was confusing, highlighted by the absurd ending. With season two confirmed more focus needs to go into planning for the future and making sure everything lines up. Speculation is Rue might be dead, or near dead but she only did one line of something so I think she’s fine, but alive or not the finale might have been so much more satisfying if things were a tiny bit clearer.

[peterstanslizzie]

Re-watching Lizzie Mcguire: Episode 1.24 (Night of the Day of the Dead)

Skipping ahead to the Halloween special

- Matt and Lanny are devising a plan to collect the best candies and treats around town on Halloween Day. Lizzie interjects and suggests Matt should dress up as a troll. So, Lizzie likes to stir the pot too; I thought Matt was the only one.

- Matt asks his parents if he could borrow a wheelbarrow that he could use to collect candy but they tell him he’s not going Trick-o-treating this year. Instead, they want him to go to Lizzie’s school’s ‘Halloween Fright Night”. 

- Lizzie freaks out because she doesn’t want her little brother to ruin her night. What happened to all the progress made in their relationship before this, like in episode 1.15 (Sibling Bonds)? I guess that was just a one time thing. 

Planning Fright Night

- Kate, who is in-charge of planning ‘Halloween Fright Night’ is holding a meeting with her fellow classmates, including Lizzie, Miranda and Larry on what each person is going to be doing. Larry wants to do his ‘Darth Vader’ impression but Kate isn’t impressed.

I wish I was able to look this friendly when putting people down lol

- They move on to decorations and Miranda brings up her idea of displaying skeletons from ‘Dia de los Muertos’, which is a holiday celebrated in Mexico to remember friends and family members whom have died. This ‘Day of the Dead’ celebration begins around Halloween Day and ends a couple of days later. 

- Kate rejects her suggestion because she finds it to be lame. Lizzie backs Miranda up by saying it’s cool to bring in stuff from other countries/cultures. Everyone else in the meeting seem to agree with her as well. Kate has no other choice but to give in to the miniature skeletons. 

- Miranda also adds in a little warning to Kate to make sure she treats the skeletons well or else she will end up like that kid who made fun of spirits and was found in a coffin full of skeletons. I didn’t think it was necessary for Miranda to add that story in but go off sis. 

Kate is definitely spooked out from that story Miranda just told. 

- Lizzie wants to sign up to be ‘Vampire Mistress’ in the Dungeon of Terror. She’s been sick of wearing her mom’s old marching band uniform every year before this. Kate hesitantly co-signs with Lizzie on this but on the condition Lizzie cleans out the utility room where the dungeon will be located.  

No wonder she’s over wearing that costume. That wind instrument (Is that a tuba or a French horn?) looks like it weighs a ton. 

Kate is Not So Great

- After the meeting, Lizzie and Gordo head inside the utility room to clean it out. Lizzie thinks Gordo came in with her to lead a helping hand but he didn’t agree to such thing. She insists he should help her but he calls her out for always doing whatever Kate asks her to do. Ugh, here with go with Gordo and his anti-popularity speech again. 

- Strategically, Lizzie tells him that her cousin, Heather (I assume she’s attractive) is coming to town in the summer and she will be able to get him to go on a date with her. Who is Heather? Have we ever seen her on screen before? Anyways, I didn’t know Gordo was this girl-crazy because he suddenly wants to help Lizzie now. 

- We then get a montage of the two ‘cleaning’ the room and Lizzie goes over to Kate to inform her she’s finished. 

Now that’s a very condescending thing to do to someone

- Oh and despite doing what Kate told her to do, Kate changes her mind and tells Lizzie that she’s going to be the Vampire Mistress instead and Lizzie will now dress up as ‘Floppy the Clown’ and give out balloons. I would have popped Kate in the forehead at this point. 

- Back at the Mcguire home, Matt is doing some prep to make his own Halloween costume for the party. He wants to go as himself, but inside out like his organs and bones are exposed. If I was Jo, I wouldn’t give Matt anything from the fridge to be used as his prop/costume; She just gave him an entire bowl of perfectly delicious-looking sausages!!!

OMG, is this Sam and Jo’s first on-screen mouth-to-mouth kiss? They are honestly #couplegoals

Meet Miranda’s Parents

- The students of Hillridge Junior High are busy prepping for the upcoming party and we finally get to meet Miranda’s parents for the first time!

I love how Miranda isn’t afraid to call Kate out on her BS in front of her parents. I bet she tells them plenty of stories about Kate at home.

- Kate goes into her fake, ‘nice girl’ mode and greets them with her over-the-top innocent voice. Even when Miranda’s parents are talking to her about ‘Dia de Muertos’, she tries really hard to look interested. Side-note: this celebration sounds pretty much similar to how the Chinese pay tribute to their ancestors. We also leave out food in front of their tombstone or at least a prayer altar. 

- As soon as her parents dropped off the miniature skeletons and left, Kate demanded that Miranda take them away from the refreshments table. She even tossed them over to Miranda as if they were made of crap. Kate’s definitely being a little racist here. 

Miranda warns Kate again that messing with her ancestors will bring bad luck upon her.

- Well, it seems like Miranda’s ancestors are going to play a trick on Kate after all:

The supernatural have arrived

Time For Fright Night!

- We shift things over to the actual party and Lizzie, who is now dressed up as a clown is handing out lame un-twisted balloon animals to everyone. When it’s Matt’s turn to get a balloon, homegirl who has been mean to Matt all episode even popped his balloon right after she gave it to him. She should tone down the attitude with her brother, I’m just saying. 

That football player looks a lot older than an average middle schooler or even a high-schooler I’m just saying

- Side-note: When Lizzie said to her friends, “Can’t you guys believe Kate?!”, Gordo takes a glance at Kate and he seems to be taken aback by her beauty. He really is girl-crazy!  

- Matt is seen eating the tamale that was left as an offering to Miranda’s ancestors and this shocks Miranda. She should kinda have left a note telling people to not eat the tamale by explaining that it’s for her cultural celebration. And then it hit me; Miranda explaining to Matt about how him eating that tamale has angered her ancestors and they will be coming to wreck havoc on their world is all just an elaborate scheme to get back at Kate. 

- Plus, we all know how bad of an actress Miranda is ;)

I gotta say; Kate’s hair and make-up looks on-point. 

- Anyways, it seems like their scheme is working because Kate is believing that all the weird things happening around her is real from Matt’s lemonade changing colours to the miniature skeletons disappearing all of a sudden. On top of that, Lizzie and Miranda are definitely putting on a show in front of Kate when they are acting worried and questioning everything that has happened.  

- They even talked about Matt disappearing all of a sudden like it’s nothing. Lol, if Matt were really missing, Lizzie would freak out! But I guess Kate wasn’t wise enough to catch onto that. Gordo, on the other hand is playing the role of the level-headed guy who believes there’s a logical explanation to everything. 

Actually, this brief scene with Animated Lizzie already revealed to us that this is all just a plan. She literally said, “The truth is, if Matt did get spirited away to the realm of the dead, who’s going to be in trouble with mom and dad? Me.”

Jo and Sam’s Night In

- Since the kids are out of the house for the night, Sam and Jo are ready to spend some ‘quality time’ together after giving out candy to the neighbourhood kids. Suddenly, the doorbell rings and Sam opens the door to a kid who was just at their house getting candy like 10-15 minutes ago. 

- He demands for more candy from them but Jo gives him their chicken pot pie, which is better! But not if you are vegetarian like that kid. That little brat even threw the pie back into Sam’s face.

I would’ve wrecked that kid if it were up to me lol. 

Kate Gets Her Well-Deserved Karma But Was It Too Much?

- Things get worse (or even more fake, in my case) as they discover that Gordo is now ‘trapped’ inside a toy. Kate and Miranda argue about one bringing the skeletons to the party and the other dissing them, to the point where that toy Gordo’s trapped in falls to the ground and breaks. At this point, you’d have to be dumb to believe that Gordo was actually in that toy. 

Lizzie as a scary clown ready to bring Kate down. Hey, that rhymes.

- Lizzie bursts into the room, now all zombie-like and proceeds to walk towards Kate and call her name at the same time. Kate and Miranda is now running away from zombie-clown Lizzie and they both hide in the utility closet. Kate wants all of this to go away and so, Miranda recommends her to do a few things to get the spirits to forgive her. 

- First, she asks Kate to shower in dirt and blood but because they don’t have those at the moment, she tells her to improvise by heading over to the cafeteria to cover herself with chocolate cake and punch. We then get this iconic moment:

Lizzie and co. really likes getting Kate wet or dirty huh? 

- Without thinking, Kate’s just doing everything Miranda asks her to do and was even going to apologize to Lizzie. But finally, she finally realises what’s actually going on. Even Miranda’s parents were in on the prank. 

At this point, that’s just public humiliation. I feel so bad for Kate. Lizzie and Miranda really made an overkill this time around. I mean, what Kate did was bad but I don’t think this is the way to go about it. They are lucky she didn’t go Carrie on them.

- The episode ends with Sam and Jo about to play their own prank on the vegetarian kid but when the doorbell rings again, it is Miranda’s parents whom were on the other side of the door and unfortunately, they are sprayed with a water hose and tossed with oats. 

Jo says, “We thought you were trick-or-treaters!” and Mrs. Sanchez replies, “I see, we give them candy at our house”. That dialog is hilarious!

Overall Thoughts

- The highlights of this episode to me were two things; The costumes and the prank on Kate. Lizzie and Kate looked great in their costumes and the Skeleton bride and groom looked awesome as well. And it’s really smart for them to incorporate ‘Dia de los Meurtos’ into this episode, which lended a lot of background and meaning to this Halloween story. I just watched Coco last month and I was proud of myself for knowing how much this celebration means to Mexicans. 

- The message of this episode is also pretty strong, which is to respect other people’s cultures and traditions. Kate was pretty ignorant and closed-minded in this episode. And although I don’t agree with the public humiliation she’s experienced, I do hope that Kate or those cut from the same cloth as her would learn to think twice before being disrespectful.

- Jo and Sam’s storyline was short and sweet. I actually love seeing those two all lovey-dovey with one another. Overall, I really enjoyed this episode; It’s certainly re-watchable and a great 20 minutes to spend watching on Halloween. 

[kachuwritings]

Caught in the moment [Halloween Special: Changbin's ending part 2]

a/n: Finally it is here. Changbin's Halloween Special ending part 2!! Obviously if you haven't read the Halloween special and Changbin's ending this part will start randomly somewhere in the middle, so I advise you to read those first. Links are down below. I hope you like it~

Halloween Special: main part | Changbin's ending pt. 1

Word count: 2.2k+

Genre: fluff, some heated scenes

As you were heading back from the drop tower to meet the others again, Changbin suddenly pulled you aside right before you came into view with the other members already waiting at the place you decided to meet up altogether before exiting the park.

“Huh, what was that for?” You asked him with a confused look on your face.

“I just-, let's not immediately spill the beans to the other members, okay? I don't really know how they’d react to us, you know.”

“Oh...sure. Are you embarrassed?”

“No!! That's not it, believe me!” Changbin exclaimed quickly. “Quite the opposite actually, but I want to proudly declare the news at the right time, and heading back from an amusement park is not really a convenient time, don't you think?”

You laughed and nodded your head in response. “But, I almost forgot, you haven't even officially asked me to be your partner yet.”

Changbin had wanted to reply to that but upon seeing your pout, he decided otherwise.

“Okay, wait here. Don't move. I'll be back before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

“You, what-" You couldn't even finish your sentence before Changbin had already stormed off.

A few minutes passed in which you were taking in the scenery around yourself, the attractions were still crowded with people trying to have a fun night full of Halloween excitement and spooks. The air had become even chiller and the breeze was still dancing around you, luckily you had thought of packing a warm hoodie in order not to freeze. You looked up and noticed you couldn't even see the stars due to the light pollution in the park, it made you somewhat sad since you had always loved peering up at the sky to watch the stars sparkle in the vastness of the universe.

“Hey dreamer, I'm back if you haven't noticed.” Changbin's chuckle abrasively pulled you from your thoughts, making you jump at his words and protectively clutch your chest with your hand.

“Holy alien babies did you scare me just now- what were you even doing all this time?”

Not until you'd taken a closer look at Changbin did you realize he had been hiding something behind his back. He didn't say anything and just chuckled.

“What are you hiding there?” You asked suspiciously.

He just raised an eyebrow and smirked in response.

“Binnie this is not funny. Tell me now-"

“Okay, okay.” He finally gave in. “Close your eyes, dummy.”

O-okay. You did what he instructed you to do and waited.

“Open now.”

After hearing his command to open your eyes again, you first didn’t see him anymore. Huh? Oh, you realized he was crouching down in front of you, resting his weight on one knee while the other was propped up, as if he was going to propose to you.

“Uhh, Changb-"

“Shh,” he silenced you before you could even get his name out. Okay.

“Dear y/n. I'm not quite Prince charming when it comes to romanticism but for you, I will try my best.”

He made a short pause as if to organize the words in his head before saying them aloud, and you excitedly awaited his impromptu speech.

“We've been friends for such a long time now, we’ve laughed together, we've cried together. We shared our worries and dreams, we joked and argued, we had our insiders and even flicked each other’s heads at times. But in my eyes, or rather, in my heart, you had always been more than simply a friend.”

His gaze averted from the ground upwards until he was staring right into your eyes. Then he took a deep breath.

“I had felt myself falling slowly but fully for you, my heart started to ache whenever I wasn't near you and it was longing to hold you, touch you, be close to you, whenever you were over at the dorms. Whenever we talked about topics involving love I got so anxious because I was afraid I'd accidentally expose myself and have you reject me-"

“Anyway,” he stopped himself from rambling on. “I finally had the courage to make a move and it seems like my feelings are being reciprocated.”

He gave you a shy smile and searched your face with his eyes for a sign of reciprocation, as if to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

“And so, here I am, on my knees in front of you, asking you to accept my proposal and officially become my partner.”

He finally pulled his hands from behind his back and with them, he held out one simple, yet beautiful, red rose for you.

Overwhelmed by his dramatic antics and overly emotional, you quickly grabbed the rose and pulled him up by the hands to wrap your arms around his neck and hug him tightly.

“Yes, Changbin, you dork. Of course, I want to be yours, as long as you’ll be mine.” You snickered and pressed a short and sweet kiss to his lips.

“But in all seriousness, this was beautiful and heartfelt. You might not believe it but I felt the same throughout the whole time and that's why I’ve tried to talk to you about relationships and love, to find out whether you might reciprocate my feelings or not.”

The both of you started laughing upon realizing how much time you could’ve spared if only one of you had been a little braver and confessed.

“We're dummies, aren't we?” Changbin sighed with a smile.

“Yes, yes. That we are.” You agreed.

After a few moments of comfortable silence between the two of you, Changbin was the first to open his mouth again.

“But now, I think we should really head back. We're already late and who knows, Chan might believe I've eaten you alive if we don't show up in the next minute.”

“Oops, you're right. Let's get back and act as if nothing happened, just for the time being.”

-

On the way home everyone was excitedly talking about the attractions they'd been on and shared their experiences. Woojin aced the shooting gallery, while Minho and Jisung had a heart attack in the haunted house and on the dark ride. You giggled at the thought of those two scaredy cats running around in sheer darkness, searching for an exit. Chan was having a fun time on the roller coaster or so he told, whereas Hyunjin and Felix decided to take it easy and admire Seoul by night on the Ferris wheel and the gyro tower. Seungmin was still behaving like an excited puppy from his swing ride adventure while Jeongin sat next to him with a smile as vibrant and bright as ten suns combined due to the sweet time he had on the carousel.

“You're really the baby here,” you giggled into Jeongin's direction.

Upon hearing your teasing words he got defensive and pouty. “Adults can enjoy carousels as well.”

“You're not an adult though,” Changbin snickered.

Everyone joined in on teasing Jeongin until Chan swiftly changed the topic in order to save the maknae from an overdose of blushing.

“So, uh...Changbin, y/n, how was your evening?”

Everyone peeked up at Chan asking you two the question. You were taken aback and so was Changbin. The both of you exchanged a brief look before you started off.

“It was amazing. I think I got the biggest adrenalin rush ever.”

“Same here. It was definitely an eventful evening I'll surely never forget.”

You lightly and secretly smacked his thigh upon hearing his slight suggestive tone. There were ooh's and ah’s coming from the other members. Luckily they didn't ask any further and went on talking about something else.

“What was that for?” Changbin whispered after leaning in to be closer to your ear.

“Do you want them to find out now?”

“Oh come on, I wasn't that obvious,” he stated defensively.

“Well...” you trailed off, grimacing at him.

“Okay, okay.” He gave in and retrieved right after making sure to lightly brush your ear with his lips and plant a feather-light kiss to your lobe.

You flinched in response, head shooting to your left only to see Changbin looking at you with a smirk playing around his lips. What a little shit.

Before you could think any further, you suddenly felt warmth on your hand until you realized Changbin had enclosed yours with his in secret. So now you were cramped in a van with eight other rowdy guys, holding hands in disguise. You kinda liked it though, you were with all the people you loved and had your special someone right next to you.

For the rest of the ride, you felt Changbin lazily drawing patterns either on the back of your hand with his thumb or on your thigh with his fingertips. You drifted off into your thoughts, letting the evening repeat itself in your mind and softly smiling to yourself until you reached the point were Changbin had pushed you against the back of the booth. You visibly gulped. Thinking about it now, you remembered how soft yet powerful his kisses had felt and how his lips made all the butterflies in your stomach go crazy. You remembered how willing and hungry his lips latched onto yours and how he pressed his body so close against yours, you could feel all of him.

Getting hot from all the steamy memories, you quickly shook your head and took a few slow and deep breaths. Just stay calm and don’t think about the boy with his inviting and awaiting lips right next to you.

“What's gotten into you?” You suddenly felt Changbin’s hot breath on your neck. This. Is. Not. Helping.

“N-nothing...” You stuttered.

“I don't believe you,” he sighed. “spill.”

“I- I just remembered tonight...and I remembered our kiss.” You responded in a hushed whisper so the others wouldn't hear.

“Oh, and what about our kiss did you remember? Did you like it?”

You didn't say anything and just blushed. What were you supposed to answer to that.

“I'm waiting-"

Hnng. Alright.

“Everything. I remembered everything. And yes, I liked it. I liked it a lot.”

You heard Changbin's low chuckle. “Good, because so did I. And I can't wait to continue on from where we stopped.”

Your breath hitched in your throat. So the promise to continue at the dorms had been legit and not just empty words.

-

“Y/n, Changbin? Are you going to join us for watching Bohemian Rhapsody?” Minho asked the two of you as soon as everyone had settled in the living room of the dorms.

“As tempting as it sounds, we'll have to ditch you guys. I’ve promised y/n to let them listen to the latest tracks I produced.”

“Exactly. Maybe, we'll join you after-" you added to Changbin’s white lie even though you wouldn't mind having him show you his newly produced songs. Now you had something different in mind though.

Changbin took you by the hand and led you to his room. As soon as he closed the door after you, he gently but assertively pushed you up against it, leaving you no time to adapt until you could already feel his lips nipping on yours. His kisses were hungry and eager, even more so than back in the amusement park. His tongue grazed your bottom lip, asking you for entrance, which you willingly allowed.

You felt his hands grabbing on to your hips while you let yours make a mess out of his hair. You still couldn't believe this was really happening. Changbin's body felt so hot against yours, making you gasp for air as his lips left yours to trail kisses up and down your neck. His teeth lightly nibbled on your sensitive flesh, as if to tease a moan to come out of your swollen lips.

Suddenly he stopped and lifted you up only to throw you on top of his bed a second later with him following swiftly after you. He hovered right above you before slowly sinking down and connecting your bodies through intensifying the amount of skin contact. His lips reconnected to yours and danced in a heated battle for domination. Your heartbeat sped up at the intensity of his kisses and you could feel his excitement pressing up against you. A hot wave ran through your body as you let yourself get lost in his touch. You weren't thinking about anything besides Changbin and his kisses in that given moment until-

“Oh my god, Hyung!” A strangled scream pulled you and Changbin out of your heated make out session. There, in the doorway, stood Felix looking mortified, to say the least. He went pale and silent, the awkwardness of the situation hitting him and embarrassment causing his cheeks to flush.

“Uhm-, I might go-" he stuttered before turning on his heels and disappearing from your sight.

Changbin and you looked at each other in confusion before you burst out laughing. Something about the situation was just too comical or maybe you were simply laughing to hide your own embarrassment, whatever it may have been, it was working.

“Bet he's already telling the others what kind of scene he's just witnessed.” You murmured.

“Definitely.” Changbin agreed. “Come on, let's clear up the situation and continue later on when everyone is aware of us probably not listening to my music together.”

“So you decided now is a good time to spill the beans?” You grinned and raised your eyebrows questioningly.

“I mean, there could be better times but I think we have some explaining to do before Chan gets to kill us.”

“Well, let's hurry up then.” You exclaimed and together hand in hand you left the room and headed for the living room to face the others.

▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪

I've once seen a post that stated using comic sans to write increases creativity and makes for better writing. This is the first time I used comic sans in Word to write this and I feel like it's turned out better than my past works? I'm not quite sure but I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

- Kachu♡

[riotatthemovies]

Ohhhh fucking Shit watch Robowar right now.. originally title battle bots but the distributor changed the title so you would think it was other products but not to be mixed with the Reb Brown movie. .. buuut seriously Robowar is streaming now so fucking watch it now.. it is amazingly cutting every fucking corner.. soooo much passion made out of household items found in your kitchen. Soooo much intensity by actors who have no idea what acting is. A dollar store Robot jox and Fury Road done the way of Hardware Wars budget yet done dead seriously.   

A post apocalyptic world taken over by a silver man known as Cesar (played by Jeff Kirkendall one of the main stays of the recent Polonia universe) and his army of androids who are about to make a final strike against a rebel group low rent soldiers and mutants (very low rent). The rebels plan to take over one of the old giant mechs from the old war and use it to fight back, but Cesar is taking over one of the last giant robots as well. .... Sounds good right... well it is to me.. buuuuuuuut maybe just not good in the way you think, buuuut if you know me then you know where I am going with this. 

The giant mechs are guys in not terrible but definitely not good home made robot suits and they do not try very hard to make you feel that they are giant except to have them fight in a quarry like a Power ranger villian that only fights using the Captain Kirk double axe handle attack ... good enough folks.. good a fucking nuff.

Cheaper and weaker then most fan films. But for all the quality nerd effects and cosplayer costume magic Polonia backyard movies have more love to give.

Rocking full length which the snazzy polished fan films of the internet cant say and taking more chances with bozo ridiculous ideas then any snobby internet tech nerd ever would. 

Oh that halloween mask on the mutant Squirrel and those garage band sound effects that I used a lot in Personal Space Invader 2 haha.. good shit guys good shit. Big rubber novelty thumb up. 

Yes sometimes you are laughing at this more than with this but the insane dialogue and recognisable household products or Spirits of halloween items as props and costumes will bring a  wonderfully innocent laughter even if it is a bit mocking. Wait till Mark Polonia cameos and has a speech only to be followed up by a scene with the worlds worst super imposed fire.  Ohhh when the one guys mask is upside down in a scene you honestly can not tell if that is an inside joke or a mistake. That is the magical wonder of taking a shitty b movie dead seriously. I commend the crew so much for it.  

For my Bad movie Christmas party we watched the Polonia bros wonder known as Feeders 2 Slay Bells. Staring Mark Polonia himself and his family as their home is attacked by tiny vicious aliens (made out of styrofoam balls and pipe cleaners) and only Santa himself can save the family before Christmas is ruined. Filled in with a huge flash back to the first movie that has next to nothing to do with the sequel. I always loved that movie and was shocked how much my club members loved seeing it at the party. People were having so much fun laughing at it and yet cheering on the characters to keep doing what they were doing. Fun at the expense of the actors yet praising them so hard as well for trying so gosh darn hard... yes gosh darn.. i said it gosh fucking darn,

I really hope the club and all of you get to see RoboWar and Frozen Sasquatch as they are the movies Mark Polonia and his regular posse made in the last year. Cheaper and worse than an Asylum movie yet so much fucking better at the same time.  Here is a much quicker article I wrote on Frozen Sasquatch if you dare https://riotatthemovies.tumblr.com/post/179910556272/oh-shit-son-the-polonia-bros-movie-frozen

Thank you for still doing this Mark FN Polonia

[gingywritesimagines]

Mistakes and Decisions (Part 1)

Title: Mistakes and Decisions

Chapter: 1

Fandom: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda/ Love, Simon

Pairing: Leah Burke x fem!reader

Description: After a series of realizations, you break out of certain sticky situations in search of a new start… and definitely some new friends

Warnings: toxic friendships, cursing, Martin Addison (evil fucker is a warning on his own. Fuck you Martin Addison, go die Martin Addison), heartbreak, further evidence that Simon Spier deserves to be loved

A/N: As promised, my Love, Simon fic series. This is how we’re wrapping up 20gayteen folks. This is pretty much as much anti-M*rtin *ddison propaganda as it is a Leah fanfic (I’m angry and self-projecting, sorry). Also, this has some Suraj appreciation stuff because we know next to nothing about him but he seems like a chill dude who unfortunately got stuck being friends with M*rtin of all people. Anyway, I’m thinking of breaking this into five parts (one for each of the remaining months of the year), let me know what you think

You knew being friends with Martin Addison was a mistake.

Of course, it wasn’t all terrible; being friends with him almost guaranteed you a role in the school play, and you were introduced to Suraj, who was kind, funny, and actually a pretty good friend.

However, despite being friends since elementary school, the bad vastly outweighed the good. After years upon years of “friendship”, judgement became clouded, shadowing the fact that he was often manipulative and somewhat controlling, and just a douchebag in general. This unfortunately meant that it took you forever to realize these truths. When you did find out, it was because of the little things: his “brutally honest critiques” that became much more frequent, little comments and suggestions that seemed more about keeping you a certain way than being honest or helpful, the way he blatantly cast you aside with a hint of a holier-than-thou attitude whenever Abby Suso was around, and the sketchy way he acted around Simon Spier that made you all kinds of uncomfortable. However, there were some not-so-little things that helped you realize the truth too.

For example, Bram’s Halloween party...

You had lunch to yourself that day, since Suraj was working with Ms. Albright on instrumentals for the play, and While looking for a place to sit, you saw Simon, Abby, Bram Greenfeld, Leah Burke, Nick Eisner and Garrett Laughlin sitting at a table talking. They were all clearly very engaged in the conversation, and you were contemplating joining them, when you saw Garrett stand up.

“All right, hey, guys, Halloween party Friday night!” he hollered at passers-by, “Friday night, Halloween party, okay? Bram’s house!”

You giggled as you watched him point out a random freshman who you were pretty sure had never met Garrett before in his life, “Hey, little guy!”

“Me?”

“Halloween party. Friday night. Bram’s house. Be there.”

You laughed some more at the look on the freshman’s face, prompting Garrett to turn around when he heard you, “(Y/n)! Party at Bram’s house, Friday night, you in?”

“Sure, I’m in.” You chuckled, “If I can come sit with you guys.”

An instant chorus of “of course” and “hell yeah, come sit down” flooded your ears as Garrett led you to a seat across from Leah and Simon. The rest of lunch was fun, filled with joking and laughter, and plans for the coming party.

A couple days later, you got a call after school. You answered reluctantly, seeing as hardly anyone called you, but you weren’t sure why you were surprised when the first thing you heard was a butchered German accent on the other end of the line.

“Why hello there, Fraulien.”

You sighed immediately, pinching the bridge of your nose, “Hi, Martin.”

“What’s with the sigh?”

“Well, for starters, your German accent needs serious work.”

You heard Martin scoff, and then the faint sound of shuffling, like he was digging around for something, “My German accent is fantastic, grumpy pants, and that’s not why I’m calling.”

“Then why are you calling, exactly?”

“I have been invited to a party this Friday-”

“Bram’s Halloween party?”

There was a pause, and a noticeable change in Martin’s voice at his next sentence, “You already know about the party?”

“Yeah.” You said slowly, “Garrett invited me right after Bram told him about it. I was thinking about asking Suraj if he can drive me.”

There was another pause, and for a moment you thought the line had gone dead, “Martin? You still there?”

“I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

His voice was strained as he ended the call, as though he was talking through gritted teeth. You were confused but ignored it, choosing instead to focus on picking a costume.

When the day arrived, Suraj picked you up at 8:30, decked out in a clearly home-made Waldo outfit. 

“Nice costume.” He commented, gesturing to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent outfit you’d thrown together.

“Thanks! And thanks again for driving me.”

“Of course. What are besties for?” Smiling, Suraj pulled out of your driveway and headed for Bram’s house.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you? Not even for gas money?”

“(Y/N), the only reason I’d ever let you pay me is if you’re going to pay me in memes.”

You shook your head at that, laughing, “Of course. How ridiculous of me.” 

You spoke the last part in a German accent when you turned to see an unholy amount of props for the play in the back seat.

“Yeah, please don’t tell Ms. Albright I left those back there.” Your friend laughed, “Your accent is great though! Way better than Martin’s if I’m being honest.”

“Yeah, his needs work. What he doesn’t need is to know that I got that good from watching and re-watching the X-Men animated series over and over and over again until my accent was on par with Nightcrawler’s.”

“Nice!”

The two of you continued to laugh and joke until you made it to Bram’s street, parking a few houses away since you were certain there’d be no space any closer to the house. When you walked in, Garrett was wrapping up a karaoke performance of Megan Trainor’s No- jumping around to the beat in his Michael Phelps costume- and Simon was waving you into the kitchen with him. You bid farewell to Suraj and ran over to compliment Simon on his John Lennon outfit.

“Thank you, agent.” he smiled, “Bram was just about to pour us some drinks, do you want anything?”

“Not right now, thanks, I’m okay.” you turned to Bram, “Nice costume though! Tourist?”

“Um, excuse you, I’m post-presidency Barak Obama.” Bram corrected you, chuckling,

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Obama. I mean nothing but respect for my president.”

The boys laughed as you turned to Nick, “You didn’t dress up?”

Nick shook his head, turning around to show you the nametag taped across his shoulder blades, “I’m Cristiano Ronaldo, man.”

You cringed slightly, “Loving the effort you put in, Nick.”

“Shut up.” He grumbled, chuckling as Bram nudged him and handed the boys their drinks.

A large portion of the party went by in a blur. You spent some time chatting with the boys in the kitchen, then went to the backyard to find Leah and Abby (dressed as Yoko Ono and Wonder Woman, respectively) and dance with them for a while. Abby mostly just swayed, hiding from Martin who came up behind her, but Leah joked around with you as best she could.

“I can’t dance for the life of me, I’m warning you now.” She laughed.

“Come on.” You giggled, “I’m sure you’re fantastic.”

You gently took her hand, twirling her around and relishing in the small smile that etched across her face. You’d always liked Leah; she was kind and polite and undoubtedly pretty. She looked even prettier twirling, hand in hand with you, in the neon lights of the party and the glow of the illuminated swimming pool behind her-

Your moment was cut short as Abby was dragged away to play Beirut, and your stomach growling sent you inside for snacks. As you turned into the kitchen, you found Garrett there, poking his head into the fridge.

“Hey Garrett!” you greeted him cheerfully, but the second he heard your voice, he bolted.

“Garrett?” you called after him, confused as to why he was blatantly ignoring you, “Garrett! Stop!”

You grabbed his wrist, forcing him to turn and look at you, “What is going on? Why did you just run from me?”

He took a shaky breath, looking very reluctant to tell you anything, “Look, I’m sorry, (Y/N), I didn’t want to, but I had to.”

“You had to?”

“Look, Martin- he told me off. Yelled at me about inviting you here and gave some speech about how you’re off-limits to, like, everyone. I’m pretty sure he threatened me, and that’s not a big deal because there’s no way in hell I’m afraid of Martin, but I listened because I didn’t want anything to happen to you. You’re really nice and you’re super chill and we all love hanging out with you; I’d hate myself if something happened because of me-”

You saw Nick standing a little ways behind Garrett, looking between the two of you and nodding, as though confirming that Martin had told him the same thing.

“Wait, wait, wait.” You cut off Garrett’s rambling, practically seething with rage, “Martin did what?”

Garrett gulped, but before he could say anything, the devil himself turned the corner.

“Hey guys!” Martin greeted casually, throwing his arm across your shoulders and shooting daggers at Garrett in a not-so-subtle manner, “Garrett, what are you doin’, buddy?”

“Martin.” You began calmly, gripping his arm and quite literally throwing it back at him in anger and disgust, “Did you threaten Garrett to keep him away from me?���

The boy glared between you and Michael Phelps repeatedly, before feigning innocence with a scoff, “What? No, that’s ridiculous. Why would I do that?”

“Oh.” you turned to face him, “So you didn’t tell him off for inviting me to this party? And you didn’t tell everyone that I’m off limits?”

You saw his face change, but he slipped back into an innocent smile quickly, “No, no, of course not.”

Garrett looked between you and Martin with an expression that mixed both fear and curiosity, as you shook your head angrily.

“You lying son of a bitch!” You lunged at Martin, straining as Nick and Garrett held you back. Your anger grew as Martin’s face turned guilty and he ran for his life. You broke free from the boys’ grasp and chased after him, more than ready to give him a piece of your mind, when you saw him run into Simon. The poor kid looked annoyed too, but it got worse when Martin threw up all over him.

“Really?” You heard him cry, gesturing angrily to his shirt, “Really?”

Martin ran off again, and you went to follow him when a gentle hand held you back by your shoulder. You looked up to see Suraj gazing down at you, an almost regretful expression on his face, “Leave it. I’ll take him home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, “You just take care of yourself, okay?”

“Thank you, Suraj.” You hugged him one last time before he slipped out into the crowd. As he left, you turned your attention as far away from Martin as you could.

“Simon!” you called, racing up to him, “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

He went to answer you, but froze momentarily, “Why are you sorry?”

“What?”

“Why are you sorry? (Y/N), you did nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, but Martin just threw up all over you and-”

“So?” Simon asked, a small look of concern evident in his eyes, “That was Martin, not you. (Y/N)…. how long have you been apologizing for Martin? I don’t think I’ve noticed before, but every time Martin screws up, you’re always right behind him with an apology. (Y/N), I’m sure you mean well, but how long can you keep doing that before it messes you up inside? How long before you realize that no matter how badly it messes you up, Martin probably isn’t going to apologize for that?”

You sighed, realizing that he had a very good point, but you still didn’t say anything. Simon opened his mouth to say something else, but a small voice behind you cut him off.

“(Y/N)?”

You turned to see Leah behind you, holding her hat in her hands. She fidgeted with the brim a little before speaking up again, “I heard what happened, with Martin and Garrett.”

Your face fell at that. You hated that this drama had flared up and that it happened at such a public place. Leah sighed and cleared her throat.

“Look, after the party, I’m going to sleepover at Simon’s.” She paused, looking over your head at Simon for consent before continuing, “Do you wanna come with us, (Y/N)?”

You sniffled, picking your head back up and smiling at her weakly, “I’d love to.”

After getting Simon a change of clothes from Bram (on old t-shirt and his mom’s white cardigan), the three of you marched back to Simon’s. Spier, being very drunk, was draped between you and Leah, stumbling and slurring and making you both laugh at his antics. He even started murmuring songs from the play, trying to do the choreography as he walked and almost knocking you and Leah over in the process. As you got closer, Simon suddenly yelled.

“Oh my god!”

“What? What?”

“My parents are still up.” He cried, running a stressed hand through his hair.

“Okay, okay, um.” Leah racked her brain for a quick solution, while you focused on keeping Simon upright, “Okay, you know what? Here, come on. I need you to think of something really sad like the documentary about how all the whales hate living at SeaWorld.”

“Too sad!” You and Simon protested in unison.

“God, okay.” Leah chuckled, exasperated, “Then just don’t say anything at all, and we’ll ditch the barf shirt until tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Simon nodded and you watched as Leah chucked the bag with Simon’s trashed clothes straight over the roof of his car.

When Simon started to topple over, both you and Leah grabbed him, “Si?”

“Yeah.”

“Just, as little as possible.” Leah reiterated, “Say as little as possible.”

You tried to all sneak in, but Mrs. Spier called out before you all made it upstairs, “Hey, guys!”

Leah cringed before leaning into the den, “Hey!”

“Come talk to us! How was the party?”

“Oh, it was really fun! Yeah!”

“Aces!” Simon added, trying really hard to not look as drunk as he was, “Hey, uh, you guys remember (Y/N), right?”

You waved to them both and watched as Mr. Spier squinted at you, clearly trying to remember you. Mrs. Spier recognized you instantly.

“Oh, yeah, (Y/N)! I remember you from the fifth grade science field trip! You told me I was pretty.”

You giggled, “You remember that?”

“Of course! Are you sleeping over too?”

“Oh yeah, my ride backed out on me last minute and your house is a much closer walk than mine, so Simon invited me. I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh, no, of course, sweetie! Of course, you’re always welcome here.”

“Are you saying that because she’s Simon’s friend or are you saying that because she called you pretty?” Mr. Spier joked, resulting in a playful slap to the shoulder from his wife.

Leah chuckled awkwardly, grabbing Simon, “Well, thanks for letting us stay over!” 

“Oh, Leah, of course!” Mrs. Spier cried, oblivious to Leah shoving you and Simon up the stairs as discreetly as possible, “You’ve been staying over for 10 years, you don’t have to thank us.”

“Oh.” Leah laughed, inching her way towards the stairs, “Yeah, thanks.”

You all made your way up the stairs, very cautious of Simon’s stumbling and the fact that his sister was still asleep. After Simon sobered up a little, you all got comfortable in his room, figuring out sleeping arrangements and such. Simon was on his bed, Leah was on a bonus pull-out mattress, and you were on a blow-up camping mattress on the floor.

“Do you ever feel weird?” Leah asked suddenly.

Her and Simon launched into a conversation as you zoned out. The night’s events played out in your head, and the more they played, the more they made you sick. It seemed like the only good thing that came out of tonight was this, Simon and Leah, taking care of you as only Leah and (drunk) Simon can- with kind words and a soft distraction.  

“Hey.” Leah spoke gently, placing her hand over yours and drawing you back to reality, “You okay?”

“Yeah.” You reassured her, shaking your head, “Yeah, it’s just this whole Martin thing has been exhausting. I think I’m gonna go to sleep.”

They both looked at you sadly, nodding in understanding and watching you slip further under the blankets- not once letting go of Leah’s hand.

“Goodnight guys.” You offered them a small smile.

Simon returned it, “Goodnight, (Y/N).”

“Goodnight.” Leah whispered as she squeezed your hand before letting it go.

You smiled again, brighter this time, and fell asleep gazing in the direction of the two kind souls ahead of you. No matter what the future held for you in terms of friends, you knew these two seemed like a pretty good start.

Taglist: @mcoomcoo @fandomsneverdie14 @berry-kitten-paws @tina20213

[stageonmay]

                PERFORMANCE ROUND: MAY’S LAMENT

Pokemon:

Blaziken: Fire Spin, Sky Uppercut, Brave Bird, Blaze Kick

Beautifly: Silver Wind, Morning Sun, Psychic, Aerial Ace

Venusaur: Vine Whip, Petal Dance, Solar Beam

Shinx: Wild Charge, Double Team, Scary Face

Music:

Jack’s Lament – Vitamin String Quartet

Outfit Reference:

By Whitley ( @imbicilite​ )

Word Count:

Without Intro: 2205

With Intro: 2645

Notes:

Every use of/reference to a move is Bolded. The first time a move is referenced in a combo it is BOLDED AND ALL-CAPS. 

Click here to read on Google Docs.

Tagging: @allhalllows && @heartists

introduction

“I wanted you guys to know…”

May smiled, pausing in her speech as she focused on putting the last touches on Venusaur’s giant leaves. He was so tall to her; even on her tiptoes she was stretching, and for a second she almost forgot she was talking. “...There!” Dusting off her hands, May took a proud look at Venusaur. He really did look the part!

“Anyway, I wanted you guys to know that no matter what happens today? I’m really grateful I got to experience all of this with you!”

Her smile relaxed, a little bit contemplative and every bit sentimental. It was easy to get drawn into the big orange gourd Venusaur had been painted into. His leaves and plant were now entirely green--as close to a pumpkin as she’d probably ever see a Pokemon be without stitching. But as proud as she was at who seemed to be the star, May made sure to catch every one of their eyes. Blaziken stood firm, his body now greyed and looking so convincingly like stone after all of the speckling that she had surprised even herself. He was making a fantastic gargoyle, especially with the added wings. Shinx was just too cute for words--easily the simplest to paint, since he was pretty much just in all white except for the yellow tip of his tail that she had painted red. And Beautifly. Unlike their last performance, the detailed stitching and patches of blue, pink, and yellow May had filled in her natural pattern with made her definitely look like the counterpart to May’s skeletal outfit. She really was gorgeous with just a touch of creepy, and yeah--maybe she wouldn’t get more bonus points this time, but she was proud of their work. This performance, she was sure of it, would stand on its own.

“Seriously, it’s been so fun learning new things with you all. I know I’ve been distracted by all of the stuff going on backstage, but in a few minutes, it’ll be just us. Just like what we know and love best, right?”

The team, all four of them, clearly agreed--piping up vocally and even bouncing in excitement as they awaited their cue. So May couldn’t help but smile--couldn’t help allowing her insecurities to take a backseat for a little while. Besides, she couldn’t call herself the trainer if she was doing all of the freaking out--even if it was a little in-character for being sort of a girly Jack Skellington.

“Alright, then,” she breathed, pulling a smile onto her painted face. The backstage lights were flashing. It was finally their turn. “Let’s go have some fun!”

performance

To the audience, it may have seemed very much that May was reprising her first performance. The stage was dark, and were it not for the fact that white practically glowed anyway, all four of them would’ve been totally enveloped by the unlit stage. For now though, only the slight wagging of Shinx’s mostly-white body, the skeleton hands that seemed to float in the air, and bits of May’s white makeup could be made out. Everything else--the twelve piles of PETALS that circled most of the cast; the fact that Blaziken stood a few paces behind the rest of the team; even the iconic white pinstripes of May’s long-tailed crop top were hidden from the audience.

And so their stage was set, and the performers waited for their music to begin.

Although May had chosen an instrumental cover, she knew that the four opening notes of Jack’s Lament would be instantly recognizable to much of the crowd. And it was hardly her intent to keep the connection between piece in performance a massive secret. As measures began to pass them by, Blaziken took carefully practiced leaps between the piles of flowers that Venusaur had laid out prior to their performance.  With every BLAZE KICK inflamed step, a pile of stilled Petal Dance was set to flame, lighting up the stage and, with the assistance of the stage lighting itself, revealing the performers.

But May, her Zero, her pumpkin and her Sally would not begin to move until a silence fell onto the stage. As Beautifly took perch on May’s head, Venusaur, with practiced timing, lowered the vines from his VINE WHIP to May’s level, allowing her to hold each Vine as if they were a hand.

The motions were gentle, allowing May to flow right into the easy bowing of the first verse of the song. Venusaur may not have been moving much, but his Vine Whip was guiding May’s waltz as though he were any other lead dancer. Not that they were starting off with anything too fancy. Yes, May’s thick tulle skirt flared as she twirled, and the tails of her coat fluttered when they picked up speed, but if she were to move too quickly, Beautifly’s carefully timed flaps of her wings would go unnoticed, and May would never try to upstage her princess.

Of course, simplicity could only stay interesting for so long. Two plucks of the strings popped over the music, and Venusaur gently lifted May off of the ground; her Shinx, who had been faithfully following her along, jumping into the air as though to try to reach her and, in particular, the fluttering Beautifly who was now using the glow of her PSYCHIC attack to highlight the wings that adorned May’s head.

And so a rise and fall seemed to happen. As the music repeated itself, so did May and her Pokemon, starting off slow and low to the ground, picking up into the air when the music did the same.

This phrase, though, would not end on the exact same note. Shinx, excited for his turn in the spotlight, built up a spark around its body, soon becoming so encased in the yellow glow of WILD CHARGE that merely his silhouette remained visible to the naked eye. And yet he would only Charge upstage a few paces, stopping dead in his tracks to throw a SCARY FACE towards the crowd, instead. Blaziken too, who had waited patiently for another time to shine, charged forward alongside Shinx, blowing a controlled FIRE SPIN right at the Scary Face that Shinx had created.

On its own, the flame attack was plenty poised to disintegrate Scary Face and blow right into the crowd. But Beautifly would launch off of May’s head, catching both moves with PSYCHIC instead.

The power of the move spoke for itself. Scary Face and Fire Spin alike were both aglow in magenta, the mouth Shinx had created opening wider to make room for the fire Blaziken had provided to fill it. The face was no longer just Scary; it posed a warm threat to the front row and, seemingly, to May herself, who had become hidden (along with Shinx and Venusaur) behind the suspended display.

May, though, would be fine. With a wave of her hand, and Venusaur’s well-placed moan, she stepped through the now-parting flames, untouched on the strength of Beautifly’s control alone. Still though, Beautifly was only one Pokemon, and May hardly expected her to hold onto the two moves forever. Once she was safely through, May threw her gloved hand into the air, signifying to Beautifly that it was time to move forward. And it was clear, this time, that Beautifly was putting all of her might into the Psychic attack. Her fluttering cry could be heard over the music as teeth and flame alike crunched into each other; a somewhat crude display of the mouth eating the flames that was immediately compressed until the three moves exploded into harmless sparkles.

And with that first big display passed, May allowed herself to exhale. Blaziken would offer her a hand as Venusaur offered her a VINE, and she would gladly accept both, allowing the two to guide her up to the top of Venusaur’s head. (A display that might have been boring on its own had Shinx not been circling them with WILD CHARGE again. And although Beautifly would now perch on May’s head once more, she was far from done with her part in the performance.

Again, Beautifly was putting PSYCHIC to good use. This time though, it was clear the task was less work; her voice chanting in sing-song along to the music as she lifted the very electricity off of Shinx’s back and created a simple circle with it in the air behind May and Venusaur. And now that the stencil was set, Beautifly lifted off of May’s head to fill the circle with the light of MORNING SUN; perhaps an ironic choice for a Halloween-themed performance, but the perfect one to fill their shining moon with appropriately pale yellow light.

So now, May was perfectly poised to make her announcement--to sing along to the song that she was ‘The Pumpkin King’ in her native tongue, extending her arms on each exact beat. But, if she knew one thing about anything ever, it was never to boast for too long.

Ever trusting, May leaned back into Blaziken’s arms. He had been standing, spotting, ready to catch her; and now it was time to actually do so--to twirl her gently before setting her back onto solid ground. Soon, say for the butterfly hovering over May’s head, everyone was in a straight line again.

Now, finally, it was time to show the world that Beautifly was more than just the Pokemon that made things float. Shinx, whose voice began to echo several times across the auditorium, used DOUBLE TEAM to launch many copies of himself into the air. And Beautifly, not once losing focus of the prop she was responsible for, dodged each duplicate with seeming ease, careful not to destroy a single one.

No, destroying the duplicates was Venusaur’s job, and much like Beautifly, Venusaur was finally getting to show off what it could do with its VINE WHIP. Now he actually used it as an attack, skillfully popping duplicates without so much as grazing Beautifly.

Yet despite the more aggressive show above them, May and Blaziken simply waltzed. No fancy flaming steps, no throwing into the air or secondary attacks--just a waltz, May and her very first Pokemon, an appropriate moment for just the two of them even if no one else would get it.

Above them though, the duplicates were quickly dwindling. It was when they were down to the last few Shinx copies that May and Blaziken parted, allowing Blaziken to launch himself into the air, fist extended to SKY UPPERCUT the ring of electricity into nothing but fizzling pops. Shinx--the real Shinx--fell into May’s arms just as his attack disappeared into the air, an easy trust fall for a Pokemon as young and hyper as this one.

Although that drop was apparently easy, May was coming up in the most nerve-wracking parts of their performance. Arms hugging tightly around Shinx, May performed her own trust fall into Venusaur’s vines, the two VINE WHIPs showing surprising strength as they easily caught the pair. With the help of Beautifly’s shining SILVER WIND, Venusaur flipped the pair almost as high into the air as his vines (and the stage) would allow, ensuring the audience that the show was hardly over.

May, for as many times as she had practiced this, could feel her heart trying to burst out of her ribcage. If she didn’t have Shinx for this part, she wasn’t sure how she would’ve done it--she was up SO HIGH! But Shinx’s bubbly laughter helped May remember the fun things about this part of the performance, like dipping Shinx and seeing his wide, toothy smile, or hearing the way he chuckled his name when she tossed him even higher into the air. (Blaziken, once again, was ready to spot them, cleverly disguising his precaution by circling Venusaur with a simple display of his BRAVE BIRD attack that really showed off those wing-props of his.)

Finally, after having tossed and caught Shinx a couple of times, May hugged him close again; a quick goodbye before she threw him seemingly at nothing towards center stage.

If May didn’t one-thousand-percent trust that Beautifly was going to catch him with her PSYCHIC, she never could have done such a thing. But Shinx was hardly allowed to fall, and he pawed at the air in amusement as he cause caught by the purple light of Beautifly’s attack. Usually, someone would use Psychic to stop someone in their tracks and then throw them around a bit to do damage. But today, Beautifly and Shinx danced in the sky like partners, May taking the backseat by simply gesturing to the happy dancers. Who said Sally only got to dance with Jack, anyway?

But the more the two danced, the closer, May knew, she was getting to her stunt. Maybe people knew the song really well. Maybe they knew that around this time, Jack started singing about how no one could scream like he could, and so it made sense that Venusaur loosened his Vines and let May ‘free fall’ back towards earth--Maybe it made sense that May’s own scream shook the stage.

But if the audience didn’t know that--and there were probably plenty who didn’t--the girl probably seemed like she had lost her mind. Because the music briefly paused, allowing her scream to echo a bit over nothing and give people some time to process what they had just seen--to wonder if she was okay.

Of course May was okay, though. It may not have been her favorite stunt in the world, but Venusaur would never drop her, and the fact that she was draped across his head now was entirely for show.

But May couldn’t leave them in suspense for too long. She could barely leave herself in suspense. Her arms were still working, right? She hadn’t passed out or anything? No, the fact that she stood up (with a bit of Blaziken’s help) and managed to make her cue of drawing a smile in the air with her hands proved pretty definitively that she wasn’t harmed--she hoped.

At least, if nothing else, they were headed to the big finale. And May loved the big finale--everybody really started working together here. Venusaur, knowing it would take time, began to charge SOLAR BEAM. Shinx, ready to make a new show out of an old trick, began to charge up his WILD CHARGE. And as soon as Solar Beam was released, Blaziken and Beautifly would get the chance to show off their aerial skills. Beautifly, truly the master multi-tasker of this performance, took off with AERIAL ACE, using PSYCHIC to drag a trail of electricity along behind her. Opposing her, Blaziken launched another SKY UPPERCUT, this time lighting his feet with BLAZE KICK to leave a flaming trail of his own. Together, they wove around the pillar of light that Solar Beam had created, clearly headed for the same point as the original Beam of light began to fade out.

As the two reached the top, May picked up Shinx so they could enjoy the show together. Beautifly, making great use of the electricity she had borrowed from her partner, used Psychic to push the sparks into the air above her. And Blaziken, showing off what he did best, angled himself to Kick the ball of electricity dead in the center, capping off their piece with the kind of flashy display of faux-fireworks that were signature to these kinds of shows.

Finally, the music was starting to dwindle into the kind of whisper it had opened with. The two airborne Pokemon touched down, and as the music died out, May gestured to her team, effectively timing them for their bow.

That was it--they were done. Everything now was up to the judge and the audience. But May could safely say this about her performance: they really did have fun.

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

Can’t Touch This

So here I am, minding my own business, trying to figure out what I wanna write when @kelkat9 posts this.  What’s a girl to do but write it?

@doctorroseprompts for TenTooxRose and office romance; @timepetalscollective for office party hookup sex from the December prompt list (after like 20 minutes of searching).

TenTooxRose, smut/NSFW

“Doctor,” Rose hissed through smiling, gritted teeth.

“Yes, love?”  He thankfully spoke out of the corner of his mouth, having been scolded by Jackie enough times to have learned his lesson about speaking too loudly.

“Quit it.”

“Quit what?”  He spoke normally without thinking, earning him several ‘sush!’es and an evil glare from his mother-in-law and wife.

“Quit touchin’ my dress.”

“I’m not-” he instantly started to deny, only to look down and see that yes, in his boredom during the never-ending speeches, he’d begun to play with the free-hanging beaded fringe on Rose’s flapper dress.  “Sorry,” he muttered, laying his palm flat against her knee.

She gave him a stern look, turning back to Pete’s monologue.  Within thirty seconds, however, he started rubbing his hand up her thigh, smoothing over the sequins.  She did her best to ignore him, but he kept venturing quite high up her leg. She gave him another stern look, but before she could say anything the rest of the audience began to clap, and Pete walked down from the stage back to their table as music started.

“Rose!  Let’s dance!”  The Doctor jumped up, offering her his hand before whisking her off to the dance floor. The first song was a waltz, and he held her far closer than was proper for the dance.  She certainly didn’t mind, until his hand slid down her back to rest just above her bum and began to rub.

“Doctor,” she muttered.

“Yes, love?”  He moved her around the floor expertly, content to hold her in his arms.

“You’ve got to stop fiddlin’ with my dress.”

“Sorry, Rose,” he said sheepishly, stopping the motion for several turns around the floor, before returning to rub the fringe between his fingers.

Rose’s tenuous control snapped, and the next time they spun near the doors she pulled him through them, escaping into Torchwood proper.  For whatever reason, Pete had decided that a 1920’s themed Halloween party was the best way to improve employee relations, and that it had to be held in the office’s main banquet room.  His argument to Rose had been that at least if something came up, everyone was already at work.

She’d disagreed at the time, but now being able to drag her tactile husband to her office was a handy perk.

“Rose, what-” he started to protest as she pulled him into the express elevator to the executive offices.

“Shh,” she ordered, and her glare ensured he was silent for the twenty-second trip.  She marched him into her office, shutting and locking the door behind her.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor said, slightly pleadingly.  “I couldn’t help it – I just liked the way it felt…”

She stalked over to her desk, which was thankfully clear of all items on the visitor side.  (She’d never admit she may have planned on this happening one way or another.)

“You want to spend the night rubbing at something, I’ve got a much better suggestion,” she said, hopping up on the edge and spreading her knees.

When he only stood by the door and watched her with a blank look on his face, Rose rolled her eyes. Spreading her knees further, she inched her dress up and over her hips, leaving her bare arse resting against the glass desktop.

Still he watched befuddled, though his gaze was firmly centered on the glistening pink folds on display in the dim light.

“Doctor,” she called softly, crooking her finger at him.  As though attached to a string he came, standing inches away as he took her in.

Sliding back just a bit further on the desk, she propped her feet up, one on either chair in front of her. Leaning back on her left hand, she brought her right down to first make sure her dress was out of the way before it slid down between her thighs of its own accord.

Rose ran her gaze over her husband; his mouth was open and his eyes were glazed, and it seemed only the bit of him hidden behind his zipper had caught on to her plan, judging by the enthusiastic way it was straining for her.

“Do you want to just watch, or play yourself?” she asked, sliding one finger inside.

That spurred him into action, falling to his knees in front of and kissing her thighs above the stockings.

He whispered her name, gaze fixed on the digit penetrating her as his tongue drew circles on her thigh.

“If you want to do something, do it,” she told the top of his head.

Moving slowly as though in a daze, the Doctor guided her finger out of her opening and to his mouth, sucking the digit clean.  He brought her hand to his hair as he moved closer, eyes slipping shut as he breathed her in.

Before she could encourage him again, his eyes snapped open and he leaned forward, tongue darting out to lick at her entrance.

Rose let out a heavy breath, fingers tightening in his hair as he carefully lapped at her.

He pulled away for a moment to peer up at her in the semi-darkness.  “You realize if this is your punishment for when I misbehave, there’s no incentive to not.  More like positive reinforcement, really.”

“Just because I act like I follow the rules doesn’t mean I particularly care about them,” she murmured, using her hold on his head to guide him back to her.  “And contrary to what I promise Mum, I know perfectly well I can’t make you behave.  But she thinks I’ll at least sort it, and you get a reprieve from small talk, and I get that clever tongue on me.  Win-win-win, I say.”

He made a noise, but obediently kept moving his tongue over her; he loved the taste of her too much protest.

When he added a finger, pumping and crooking it inside her as his tongue moved up to her clit, she stretched out on her back across the desk.  Grabbing the pillow she’d left on her desk chair, she positioned it under her head as the Doctor moved one of her legs onto his shoulder so he could rub his fingers along her stocking.

The office was quiet; everyone was obviously at the party many floors lower, and the only sounds were their breathing, and Rose’s occasional moans or directives.

She didn’t miss how gently he was working her, and knew he knew perfectly well how long it would take her to come from such a light touch.  She didn’t let it bother her, however; the decadence of the moment, spread on her desk in a beautiful dress with her husband’s tongue between her thighs was incredible, and she wanted the moment to last forever.

No one knew better than Rose Tyler how short forever could really be, however, and eventually she could sense the Doctor tiring.  Using her grip on his hair she tugged him away, and he leaned back on his heels to wipe at his mouth.

“How’m I doing?”  He joked, eyes twinkling up at her.

“Excellent,” she replied, sitting up.  “However, if I could make one small suggestion…”

Her smirk clued him in, and he stood up straight already undoing his belt.

“I think I’ve got what you need,” he teased, not bothering to lower his tux trousers or pants and instead easing himself out through the slit.

“I suspect you do,” Rose licked her lips, watching as he slicked his hand in her juices before pumping himself.

“Are you ready for it?” he asked, stepping back to her and rubbing the tip through her folds.

“I’m always ready,” she grinned back, though her mouth fell open when he slid all the way in on a single thrust.  ”Oh, fuck me.”

“What do you think I’m doing,” the Doctor joked, easing most of the way out before pushing his way back in, starting a slow and steady rhythm.

“Ha ha,” Rose said dryly, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pressed closer to her.  “You’re a comedian.  If this whole ‘saving the universe’ thing doesn’t work out for you…”

“I’m here with you, it’s already worked out,” he replied cheekily, tucking his forearm under one of her thighs to adjust the angle.

“So cheesy, but so charming,” she replied fondly, running her fingers through his hair.

He rolled his eyes, before glancing down at her chest.  “Any chance…” he raised his eyebrows hopefully, and it took her a moment to realize what he wanted.

“Oh!  Yeah, hang on…” Rose regretfully pulled her fingers through his hair to tug down the spaghetti straps of her dress, and shove the whole thing down to her waist.  Reaching behind her, she undid the strapless bra and tossed it behind him, letting her breasts free.

“Hello!”  Pleased, the Doctor bent down to nuzzle at the flesh. “I simply remember my favorite things…” he hummed under his breath, sucking at first one nipple then the other, before straightening with a groan.  He continued watching them, however, smiling as they bounced with the force of his thrusts, picking up speed to exaggerate the effect.

Rose rolled her shoulders back, planting her hands on the desk right behind her to enhance the view. “For someone who claims he’s not a typical bloke…” she trailed off, amused at the awed look on his face as he kept glancing between her tits and where he was vanishing inside her.

“I have a fine appreciation for art,” he sniffed, rather dignified for a man shagging his wife on a desk during an office party with his pants not even down to his knees.

“Course you do,” Rose rolled her eyes again, moving one hand forward to rub at herself.

“Oi!  I spent three months learning from Michelangelo, remember?”

“Uh huh,” she grunted, now more interested in the pleasure building inside as she worked toward release.

“-are you listening to me?” the Doctor asked a minute later, and she realized he’d been rambling the whole time.

“No, I’m trying to come,” Rose stated bluntly, hitching her leg higher on his hip.

“Fine, be boring,” he sighed, hooking his other arm under her other thigh, and positioning them both so he hit the perfect spot inside her on every thrust.

“Ssshiiiiit,” she groaned, leaning back more firmly on her hand as her fingers moved frantically against her.  “Come on, come on, comeoncomeoncome- yes!” she sobbed, feeling the dam break as pleasure flooded through her.

“There we go,” he groaned, releasing inside her moments later.

He worked them down from the high, both panting for breath as aftershocks coursed through them.

“Love you,” he eventually mumbled, pressing a kiss to her breast where his head lay.

“Me or my breasts?” Rose asked lazily, combing her fingers through his hair.

The Doctor pulled back with a groan, grabbing some tissues in an attempt to contain the mess.  Once he’d cleaned them up and tucked himself away, he stepped back between her thighs to press a kiss to her lips.  “You, obviously.  I mean, them too, but mainly you.”

“Suuuuure,” she smirked, letting him help her off the desk.  “Remind me to come in early tomorrow and sanitize that.”

He shrugged, watching as she put her bra back on and fixed her dress.  “Wasn’t the first time, certainly won’t be the last.”

“That’s the plan!” Rose said cheerfully, heading for the door.  “Ready to return to the party?”

“Do we have to?” he whined, following her to the elevator.  “Can’t we just go?”

“Nope,” she popped the letter.  “Besides, nibbles should be out now.”

“Oooh, nibbles!”

[redditnosleep]

My Son Won’t Take Off His Halloween Costume

by IamHowardMoxley

Being poor is tough, but it hits especially hard during the holidays. Halloween is the first reminder that you don't have the disposable income for your kid's happiness.

 I took Austin down to a local thrift store we visited frequently. They had a rack of reject costumes from supermarkets, a few cheap latex masks, corny novelty party hats and one very well made green and yellow bellied dragon costume that looked like it could fit Austin and Austin only, sitting alone next to a golf bag full of hockey sticks.

 It was painstaking detailed- it had scales that actually shimmered, interlocked in tiny emerald shields, each with their own special symbol. Hard like crystal, lighter than glass or even plastic. It was cute enough to make adults smile and remarkable enough to finally make my poor son the envy of all the rich kids at his school.

 My son jumped into it without waiting. I appreciated the workmanship on the rubber-soled feet, individual fingers with claws and lifelike tail and jaw. No stitches, no tag. Custom hand-made. Austin took the head of the dragon and slid it over his own, his bright smile eclipsed by the black mesh inside the dragon's open mouth. He begged me to get it. It wasn't cheap, at least for us, but well worth it for Austin.

 Austin wore the costume all day from then on. That was the...27th, when he went to his first friend's costume party of many. He was the hit of every one, so it was no wonder why he loved the dragon so much that he wanted to sleep in it. Seeing as how it was one giant plush and armored sleeping bag, we agreed. It seemed like we kinda had to- the kid did all his chores and homework in that costume as if he was trying to buy a favor with us BEFORE he asked if he could keep the costume on. We said yes, even at school he could wear it until Halloween.

 Austin's school is very open minded. The students loved the costume as much as everybody else; even the teacher was fine with letting Austin keep it on during school hours. It was the first week were Austin the Dragon didn't get in trouble; Austin even even got a rare "A" on his spelling test during the week before Halloween. He ate his veggies and brushed his teeth through a slot in the mesh that was hard to see at times, and it sounded like he was showering every night without us needing to tell him to. Why not let the kid have some fun?

 Austin's last Halloween is my bet for the best Halloween nights any kid has ever had. Every house was its own little amusement park of treats and decorations, almost all of them for Austin the Dragon, a legend that every kid spread at school. It seemed that every adult played along as knights or maidens or queens and even some of the other kids copied his costume, leading a band of dragons to terrorize the neighborhoods looking for chocolate late into the weekday night.

 What we feared would happen came true on the 1st of November- Austin refused to get out of the costume.

 He was never a shrieker or a kicker before, but he was when my wife or I tried to unzip the back or reach for the head of the dragon. After an hour of arguing and tears, we finally caved and sent our kid out to school looking like a fool.

 When my wife called me that afternoon saying it was the school and that it was an emergency, all I could imagine was a group of bullies beating up my son in his costume. I rushed all the way to the school nurse’s room, where I saw my son on his stomach, laying on the reclined bed, still in the dragon. The nurse told us that a kickball had flown over the fence and bounced off a truck's bumper, launching the ball onto a lamp post and then to the back on my son's head as he was walking out of lunch. A strange event, a stroke of back luck. Path of the storm and all that. The nurse did have good news- said the helmet inside the costume may have saved his life, as she could still feel a pulse even with the costume on. Austin was unconscious and may have been hemorrhaging. We needed to get it off of him.

 The helmet was stuck tight. So were the side and bottom zippers. The nurse had to ask a custodian for a pair of pliers to get a better grip on the zipper tabs. The nurse clamped onto it and tugged. My wife helped her. I should have left it alone, but I helped the two of them. With all three of us straining, the zipper peeled down slowly like an embedded knife drawing through a torso with sound that reminded me of wet wood splitting. The space above the zipper split open to a deep crimson gash flashing bones, muscles and organs. My wife screamed as the nurse yanked up the zipper up alone, closing the oozing, bleeding zippers as best she could as we picked him up.

 We followed our son in the facility school van / emergency ambulance to the nearest E.R and waited until dark, until 2 women and 2 men entered our son's E.R wearing medical medical scrubs that were bright white while the others wore powder green. They each carried an off, official kind of walk, kind of a march with matching bright blue soled nurses shoes. They looked...odd. Like actors in a play. But as out of place as they seemed, this new crew gave my wife and I new hope. 10 minutes later, two of them walked out, one carrying the costume of the dragon, the other the head. One said to the other “Just a little more time and his meal would have been done. Shame. Still, I can't believe they let one of us get all the way to a thrift store...” as they walked off down the hall, ignoring us. My wife followed them while I waited by the door for the other two. When the 3 of them left, a man exited the E.R in a hurry. The last women spoke in a strange accent to the man that left, like she learned English from a speech-bot.

 “You can't. Do that. Here.” The man's voice was quick and sleek.

 “Rules don't apply here, maneater. This is just the cattle pen.” I physically stopped the man with my arm. His brown eyes ruffled and shot down at me in indignant fury as I asked “Do you know anything about my son Austin..?”

 “Why would I know anything about your son?” The “doctor” wore one of those metal reflective disks on his head and a stethoscope that belonged on a TV set. His mask hid everything but those angry eyes. He smelled like gasoline made out of limes. I asked him what he was doing in the E.R with that group, and who he was.

 “Do you think I wear this mask just to advertise who I am?” he broke the contact with my hand and walked out of sight. I was so pissed I almost followed him before my wife running came back to me, breathless. She said those “doctors” stole the costume by walking out of the hospital, getting into a parked car and driving away. We came back to E.R and found the group standing outside, waiting for us. The doctors tried to explain that they didn't know what to do, as the costume appeared to be fused with Austin's skin, and no matter where they cut, they cut into Austin. Nobody knew who the group of strange 4 were or how they got the costume off. My wife and I pushed our way in past the barricade of bodies to see the half-digested bloody mess from Hell all over the operating table and room. In the mess was Austin's watch, pickled and shriveled, like it had been sitting in stomach for nearly a week.

 I ran from the E.R so quickly that my shoes slipped off halfway through the sprint. The first thing my eyes landed on was the blue bathroom symbol, and I bolted there to throw up and have my breakdown.

 The men's room door was propped open, and I had no shoes left to make a sound. That's why the arrogant doctor who blew past me didn't stop pissing- he didn't hear me or see me. He was was standing at one of the toilet stalls with his bright blue soled shoes at one of the stalls, standing half in and out between an open door, the front of his head out of view. I saw what looked like his deflated face and neck resting on his shoulders like a coat hood not in use. He then grabbed his own face with fake lips and empty eye holes and pulled it out of view into the stall as he put it on. I heard what might have been a zipper closing up, and I swore I saw his body jerk up a bit, like he just noticed I was standing there, watching everything. I bolted out, back to the arms of my crying wife. We called the staff and we waited for the man in the men's room to exit. When no one did, we searched the place and found nothing but the toilet he was using, filled with blood and half-digested chunks of bone.

[theprinceregent]

Help a fellow broke historian out, how do you act like a dandy *cough* Beau Brummell *cough* for Halloween

Anon, our shared plight has only ceased to bring us closer as men who are slaves to the past. This message made me smile, so I thank you for that. Beau Brummell is also one of my historical faves, so going as him for Halloween is definitely something which I would do too.When you say “act” I am presuming you are referring to mannerisms and terms of speech, body language etc? If you don’t already have your outfit sorted - charity shops are your best bet, vintage shops are your friends too and it’s also worth asking at theatres, playhouses and college and/or university art campuses if their drama/theatre/performing arts department has any props which are not being used at present for you to borrow for purchase for them in return for money, goods or services. This legit worked for a colleague of mine at Blenheim.“Acting” like a dandy? Imo it’s about confidence, subtle yet head turning, Be theatrical, pose, charm and flirt and laugh with everybody (including your own gender), make reference to the clothing that both you and others wear, have witty retorts constantly at the back of your mind to fire off in response to a question or statement at any given moment, get drunk, drop controversial comments into conversation (preferably about an event rather than a person). Stand tall with your back straight, if you have purchased a cane, use this to your advantage. Overexaggerate certain movements like wiping your brow, turning corners or climbing stairs - the party is just one big stage for you. Laugh and give off an easy demeanour, make references to art and poetry, play with the accessories of your outfit, chin up and shoulders back, hair free of powder and face shaven please. If you feel up for it, I would absolutely love to see photos of you all dressed up. Bon chánce!P.s. let’s hope money, in whatever quantity, comes our way soon eh?