#i think my non es followers already know this game is Like This but even so. i hope this post makes someone wonder what the hell enstars is

[mihai-florescu]

I really am glad it was akatsuki in the battle of the sea monster, not only because it reinforces that the war Wasnt just an Eichi Thing, but i really like the implications of the son of a buddhist temple taking down a local cult god

[penguintransporter]

Winning the Game Called Love (Hector Bellerin ) Part III

Hello, lovely people of Tumblr. This is the third part, two more to go. Despite no one really reading this, I still post it, for my sake. I still hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. If you like it, please share your thoughts or at least reblog because maybe someone else will enjoy it. I haven’t gotten a simple kudo since I started posting it. Oh well.. 

Part I 

Part II

____

Aida definitely wasn’t the shyest person out there, or the quietest – that’s for sure, but she seemed to turn into a tiniest mouse when she was in the company of someone she fancied, unless she had couple of shots of tequila, which she didn’t. Even if Héctor’s car was warm and comfortable, it still didn’t help her relax as they drove through the streets of London that seemed to be just a passing pictures of distorted lights and raindrops on the wind-shield.

She clasped her hands on her shoulder bag that rested on her lap.

“Where are we going?” she asked, shifting a little as she glanced at Héctor when they stopped at the red traffic light. She wasn’t sure she knew the area, but it certainly didn’t look as if they are going to some cafe or similar – they passed many of them on their way.

Héctor looked at her from the corner of his eye – corner of his lips lifting just for a slightest. “You don’t know it yet,” he started as he took a turn to right, and they entered a fancy residential area – houses lined up perfectly along the long lane, “but I make a killing cup of hot cocoa.”

It took her exactly thirty seconds to realise what his answer meant, and another few for Héctor to slow down in front of a house with a hidden garage driveway. Aida’s heart sped up as the doors the very same garage slowly opened and closed automatically once Héctor drove inside with ease.

I should have accepted a glass of two of that champagne that kept going around at the party.

Héctor killed off the engine – the soundless car becoming completely silent before he unbuckled his belt with ease and Aida wanted to say something; anything. She wanted to break the silence as they sat in the dark, illuminated by the tiny light above their heads.

“Is this your house?” she asked at last – her voice barely a whisper, and she groaned internally.

Of course it is his house, Aida. He didn’t bring you here to meet the Pope.

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear – letting the silence fill the car yet again. Waiting for his answer, she decided to nervously pick on the small tear on her sheers, well aware that she could break them any second.

“Yes,” Héctor finally answered, taking a moment to look at her with an amused expression. “You seem nervous.” he stated jokingly and Aida glanced back at him – her heart making a flip inside her ribcage. Was it so obvious? Despite not saying anything back, she knew that her silence answered his question. “I won’t do you any harm, if that’s what you’re nervous about?”

“I wasn’t implying—,” Aida started off awkwardly, finally making enough courage to look at him. “I am just surprised, I was thinking, maybe Costa’s or something.”

Héctor gave her a wink, getting out of his car, letting Aida’s rambles hang in the air awkwardly. “Come on, unicorn,” he spoke, straightening his back before looking down at her with a dorky smile, “as much as I love this baby, I rather go inside.”

Unicorn.

Aida bit down at her lip, releasing herself from the seatbelt as she tried to get out of the car as quickly as possible, but while she was scrambling her way out, Héctor was already walking around and entering the house through the large doors. She hastily placed her bag over her shoulder as she straightened her dress, and with a small intake of breath, Aida followed after him.

The moment she entered the house, she stopped for a moment – confusion overcoming her nervousness. Héctor was nowhere to be seen, and the only light illuminating the entryway was coming through the glass panels of the entrance doors.

Her stomach made a gymnast-worthy flip as she looked up and saw the glimmer of light upstairs.

“Héctor?!” she called out nervously, taking a step towards the stairs, almost tripping on the slippery floor. Her voice echoed ever so slightly, appearing to be louder than it actually was.

“Upstairs!” he called out. Aida felt a shiver spread down her back as she took a nervous step towards the stairs, but quickly backed off when Héctor spoke again. “Down the hallway is the sitting room. I’ll join you in a second.”

Embarrassed at her own thoughts, Aida shook her head as she blindly made her way through the short and dark corridor before stepping inside of an open and sparsely furnished sitting room with adjacent dining area. Aida opened her mouth in surprise, scanning the room. There was a big TV mounted on the white wall, even bigger sofa facing it and a mess of cables on the floor where it was connected to the gaming console. She looked towards the dining area, recognising the designer dining table and a slim laptop resting on top of it, in front of one of the equally expensive-looking chairs.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Héctor knew just how lucky he was.

“Mi casa es tu casa,” Héctor spoke suddenly from behind her, making her jump in the place – the sound of his voice in his native Spanish sending chills down her spine. His voice sounded husky; more mature. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he apologised after few seconds, stepping next her, “didn’t meant to scare you.”

Aida could feel the warmth radiating off of him, and her heartbeat accelerated.

Swaying on her feet lightly, she stole a glance at Héctor. “You have a lovely house,” she complimented.

“Thanks,” he answered smoothly as if he expected her to say that. “Shame you cannot see the garden because of the dark, but it’s one of the best things about this house,” he added. Maybe one day – Aida bit back a wishful sigh as Héctor stepped away from her. “Here,” he changed the subject nonchalantly, and Aida curiously peered at his hands, noticing that he was holding out a hoodie and pair of men’s socks. She gave him a quizzical look, and he gave her a toothy smile in return. “If you want to put something warmer on. This house is usually cold for non-Spanish people. Just ask Kieran,” Héctor smiled, “poor lad puts seven layers before coming over.”

***

After Héctor’s apologetic smile and “I am so sorry, but I only have oat milk left,” Aida finally got the chance to curl her hands around the mug of steaming hot cocoa that he fixed for her. Wearing in the old Arsenal merch over her dress – hoodie that has been washed more than few times and those woolly socks, Aida watched Héctor pour warm liquid in his own mug – look of pure concentration painted on his face.

“Not a word to the manager, okay? This is not the healthiest hot cocoa out there,” he told her as he placed the pot in the sink, turning around to look at her and Aida smiled in her mug, taking a sip.

“I have no intentions on creating drama on my last few days at work, don’t worry” she responded with a grin, licking the corner of her lip to pick up any leftovers that might have stuck on it.

Héctor finally sat down with his own mug, letting the silence fall upon them, but despite of the slight awkwardness, both of them were mentally present, smiling at each other as they sat opposite sides of the kitchen island. Aida let out a small breath, watching him as he looked towards the sitting room. She enjoyed the view more than she should – probably, but she couldn’t help but appreciate him. His hair wasn’t in a perfect bun anymore, but rather messily tucked behind his ears, and the crisp white shirt that used to be neatly tucked in at the party was now falling over his trousers – edges wrinkled and sleeves rolled up, showing his tattoos.

She really, really fancied him.

“Okay,” she started, “I need to ask you something.” She placed her mug on the marble counter-top in front of her and Héctor looked at her, nodding. Aida nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, suddenly tongue-tied as she pulled on the sleeves of his hoodie. “Sorry,” she breathed out nervously, “I just don’t know how to phrase the question.”

“I didn’t think that your friendliness was sincere. That’s all,” he answered her unspoken question as he shrugged once, setting the mug in front of him.

“No?” Aida curiously looked at him – confused. He didn’t seem like he wanted to elaborate on what he just said, and Aida lifted her mug before setting it down again – curiosity filling her brain. “I am confused now,” she honestly replied, “If you thought that I was faking my friendliness the entire time, why make such an effort with hot cocoa?”

Héctor shrugged again but didn’t say anything for a while and Aida could feel the anticipation build inside of her.

“I just felt like it,” he finally answered as he leaned on his elbows, inching closer to her and Aida felt slight blush creep up on her cheeks, “and anyway, if I can recall, it was you who asked for it. I was just being nice.” Still blushing, Aida gasped jokingly, raising both of her eyebrows at him, ready to take on the banter he was starting, but he beat her to it. “You can keep it if you want?”

He was still close to her, and she knew that he could see the redness on her cheeks which made her want to look away, but a sudden burst of confidence mixed with a strange adrenaline made her stomach do a one-eighty.

“What? The mug of hot cocoa?”

Héctor rolled his eyes at her response, leaning back in his chair. “Hilarious,” he mused.

“Why, thank you?” she grinned, feeling her cheeks cooling down. “Thanks on the offer, but I don’t want your girlfriend to get mad at you. I bet she’s got an Excel sheet, keeping a tab on all of your clothes.”

Aida are you flirting? Maybe you should stop because you are not doing yourself a favour.

Héctor grinned, running his fingers along his moustache before placing both of his hands behind his head, and Aida wasn’t sure if she wanted to stare at his full lips or his physique. “You can just ask if I have a girlfriend, y’know?”

Aida almost chocked on her sip of cocoa and her heart went into an overdrive.

“Wh...what—” she stuttered, “what makes you think that I am interested in knowing that?” she corrected herself clumsily – the very same blush painting her cheeks red.

“You tell me,” Héctor winked, and Aida looked down at her cup, wanting to disappear inside of the murky beverage.

***

“So, what are your plans now?” Héctor asked as he gazed at Aida with something resembling a concern in his eyes.

Aida shrugged. “I did intern at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy for a bit, here in London, but I took a break from uni last year. It was disgracefully expensive,” she finished, looking down at her bare nails, “I might go back, we’ll see.”

After all the silly banter and the disastrous try at flirting from Aida’s side, their conversation steered towards more serious matters. Héctor told her about his move to the UK when he was still very young, his environmental work and she opened up about her struggles with uni and life in London, and how she was afraid to disappoint her parents who didn’t know she took a break from her education as she tried to collect money to continue it.

“Would have never guessed you are into it.” Héctor said, watching her with a keen interest as she shyly smiled. She wasn’t used on people showing actual interest in what she really wanted to do with her life. “You must know sing language then?”

Aida nodded proudly – her excitement mixing with confidence. “Of course. I can teach you some if you want?”

Héctor nodded excitedly, brushing a stray of hair that fell over his eyes back in place. Aida stopped for a second, taking a sharp intake of breath – he was ridiculously good-looking. “Can you teach me how to say, my name is Héctor—“he grinned mischievously at her, getting his face closer to her, “but you can call me papi?”

It took her few seconds to realise what he had said before she burst out laughing, shaking her head. Aida was about to tell him to sod off because his joke was stupid when his phone light up next to him with a new message and Aida couldn’t help but lock her eyes with the time on his screen – a sudden wave of panic washing over her.

“Shit, it’s already so late?!” she half-asked, half-cried out.

“You mean early?” Héctor grinned, dismissing the text with a flick of his tattooed finger.

Aida rubbed both of her hands across her face in frustration. “I need to get back to the training centre to pick up my car.” She slid off the chair as she spoke, pulling the hoodie over her head at the same time. Aida stopped when the hoodie was halfway off, looking at Héctor who was still calmly seated, watching her with his head tilted to one side. “They already locked the gates, no?”

He nodded calmly. “It’s almost three in the morning, and even if that party was a banger, which it wasn’t, it’s a charity dinner. Two thirds of the attendees are already fast asleep.”

Aida grumbled her response, folding the hoodie before placing it on the counter-top. She proceeded to take off the socks – not welcoming the cold that seeped through her barely clad feet as they touched the floor.

“I think I’ll get an Uber.”

“I could give you a lift home,” Héctor offered, watching her with an amused glint in his eyes as he slid off the chair, “but first I need to ask my girlfriend if I can do that. Excel and that shit.”

Aida wanted to roll her eyes at him, but instead she bit her smile back as she made her way through the dining area and into the sitting room where she left her bag upon arrival. It rested on the big sofa cushion, next to Héctor’s suit jacket, wallet and car keys.

As she was picking up her bag, a different kind of panic entered her body when she realised that she wasn’t sure if she had her flat keys with her. She has never been very organised person and more than often she would put her belongings in random places – change in her pocket instead of wallet, underwear in her drawers with socks and house keys on the seat of the car instead of her bag. Scrambling to open the bag, she unzipped the small pocket at the back of her bag and huffed out a sigh of relief, seeing the key resting inside.

“At least I have my fla—,” Aida started, turning around to face Héctor, but stopped quickly – thoughts and words vanishing from her brain. “Shit,” she whispered.

Héctor stood in front of her, closer then ever before.

Not counting that time when they slammed into each other in the corridor at work.

He was so close that if either one of them made a slight move forward, their bodies would be touching. She was losing her composure and in order to avoid doing something stupid, she looked down, trying to quiet her heart that was beating so loud that she could hear it in her ears.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of her looking at their shoes, she seized enough of courage to meet his eye, only to find him grinning at her as if he just proved that the earth was in fact round. Her cheeks turned a very deep red, making him smile wider, and Aida wanted to crawl under a rock and hide there for the rest of her life.

Why was he so close?

Mortified, she sucked in a deep breath as Héctor started closing in on the distance between them. Aida opened and closer her mouth, unsure what to do, but he just moved around her – brushing gently against her arm as he leaned over the sofa’s backrest.

“My car keys,” he whispered when he was close to her ear, and Aida swallowed the invisible knot in her throat.

“Car keys, yes...” she trailed off – her voice cracking slightly.

Héctor took a step back, sliding his wallet in the back pocket of his trousers, giving her an amused but pleased look.

“Let’s go, unicorn,” he said in his normal voice before turning around and making his way towards the doors. 

Part IV

[tarlosprompts]

could you do something like tk is learning Spanish and carlos is helping him and just dying over how cute tk and his lil accent is

Learning Español

Claimed by Red💋

*FEEL FREE TO CORRECT MY SPANISH-I took French all throughout High School and part of College...I know some basic phrases/words in Spanish, but the rest I’m using Google Translate for*

Warnings: cursing, teasing, a smudging of implied sexual themes

All TK wanted to do was be able to communicate better with the Hispanic population of Texas. Considering the amount of times they’ve been called to kitchen fires or other emergencies revolving around the Hispanic population, he needed to learn how to communicate with them because they wouldn’t be able to always rely on Mateo to be there to translate...plus he thinks that Mateo probably doesn’t always tell them everything that the callers say. But the point is that he was not learning Spanish because of his boyfriend-it wasn’t because he wanted to be able to surprise his boyfriend by being able to communicate with his family in two months when they went to his cousin’s baby shower.

TK also refused to tell the team that he was learning Spanish, he was absolutely not asking for help. He’d rather die than feel the embarrassment of stumbling through his totally true excuse of wanting to communicate with the people they were called to help. So he had Duo Lingo...and he swears that he’d be haunted by that little Owl by the time two months-he means when he finishes learning what he needs to learn to communicate with the Spanish speaking population of Austin. 

Logically, TK knew he would eventually be caught in the act...he just thought it’d be closer to the deadline-he means closer to the time he was more fluent in Spanish...for the population of Austin that spoke primarily Spanish. 

TK had been practicing with his headphones in. Since he’d finished his chores early and everyone else still had a while to go, he thought he’d be safe in practicing verbally on his bunk. Listening to the audio, he repeated the sentences quietly, “Buenos dias. ¿Cómo estás?*” He cringed at his obvious northern accent with the words. 

He passed the audio, having to type out a few sentences on his phone before the next audio appeared. TK rolled his eyes at the sentence. He’d known that one from the amount of people they got coming into the station having an emergency regarding not being able to hold their bladders. “¿Dónde está el baño?**”

“¿Seriamente? Sabes dónde está el baño, TK,***” Mateo called as he and Marjan entered the room. 

TK will forever deny the fact that he shouted in surprise. He shut his phone screen off, stuffing it, and his headphones, into his pocket. He could feel the blush rising up his neck. “I-I know where the bathroom is,” TK stuttered.

Marjan raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to learn Spanish from an app on your phone, TK?” He could already see the teasing glint in her eyes.

“What? No. What makes you think that?”

She smirked, “Creo que es lindo que estés aprendiendo español para Carlos.^”

TK didn’t know exactly what that meant, but he could make a few guesses based on the words he’d already learned. “I’m not-it’s not for Carlos. It is definitely not for Carlos. Like, over 50% of the population in-in Texas is Hispanic. I want to-I want to be able to communicate with them in case-in case Mateo isn't here...hey, I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” he tried desperately to try to force the focus off of himself...but that was a no go. 

“That’s sweet...but we know you’re learning for Carlos.”

“What’s TK learning for Carlos,” Judd asked as he walked in, followed by Paul. 

“Nothing,” TK answered quickly.

“Él quiere poder hablar español a su amante,^^” Mateo smiled widely.

“For the non fluent Spanish speakers in the room,” Paul asked. 

“TK wants to be able to talk to Carlos in Spanish...Mateo and I think it’s cute.”

“Oh my God, I didn’t even know a person’s face could get that red,” Paul chuckled as he looked at TK. 

In a fit to get out of the room and hopefully throw them off their game, TK growled out, “Cállate, pendejos^^^.” Thankfully, the alarm sounded. Soon enough they would have to work and they wouldn’t be able to think about the fact that TK was learning Spanish. 

___________

Shift couldn’t end soon enough. He had dealt with the team teasing him all day. His dad had stepped in at one point, wanting to know what had the crew in stitches. To say his dad was amused would be an understatement. He could blame it on the embarrassment for forgetting to beg the crew not to mention it to Carlos...and God was he beating himself up about that slip of the mind. 

“~Mierda,” TK groaned to himself as Carlos beamed at him from where he was standing with Mateo and Marjan. TK had decided that if he was going to be teased by his crew, he might as well learn the important Spanish words: the swear words. “I hate all of you,” he growled as he walked past Marjan, Mateo, and Carlos.

The way to Carlos’s place was quiet. TK could tell that Carlos had many questions, but he was respecting TK’s privacy. TK knew that he would come clean once they got home, but he let himself have this moment to prepare for Carlos’s reaction later. “/Tan estúpido,” he muttered to himself, “should have just kept it on written and matching.”

“How long have you been studying Spanish? You seem to be switching between Spanish and English easily,” Carlos quietly spoke, as if afraid to broach the subject because he thought he might scare TK off. 

“Not long enough,” was the response. 

That raised many questions but Carlos kept his mouth closed. He bit his lip, trying hard not to continue on the subject...but it was just so cute. It was clear that TK had a good ability at learning quickly and being able to remember the vocabulary. But the best thing about the whole experience of TK speaking Spanish was his accent. The little lilt in his words from growing up in New York absolutely had Carlos’s heart beating faster. “I could teach you,” it slipped out before Carlos had the chance to stop it.

TK went even more tense than he had been. “I’m not in the mood to be made fun of by my own boyfriend,” he bit out.

“Amor, that’s not what this is. I want to help you learn...hearing the words fall from your lips...it’s cute and sexy as hell,” Carlos chanced a look over at TK as they pulled into the driveway. 

TK was biting his lip, seeming to think over the idea. “¿Seriamente?,” he finally asked. “You’re not going to make fun of me when I can’t pronounce the words right...or when the accent isn’t right?”

“//Soy tan serio como puede ser. The accent is cute, Querido.”

TK’s eyes narrowed at Carlos as if looking for a lie. “///Lo que digas Papi.”

Carlos felt the arousal course through his body. From the look on TK’s face, he could see just what he was doing to Carlos. If the smirk was anything to go by, he had already planned out the night. “Say it again,” Carlos whispered. 

“Lo que digas,” the smirk widened. 

Carlos growled, “you know that’s not what I meant.”

“I think you’ll have to be more specific next time, Papi…”

____________

*Good morning. How are you?

**Where is the bathroom?

***Seriously? You know where the bathroom is, TK.

^I think it’s cute that you’re learning Spanish for Carlos

^^He wants to speak Spanish for his lover

^^^Shut up, jackasses

~Shit

/So stupid

//I’m as serious as can be

///whatever you say daddy

[jojolightningfingers]

Viera and Gender

Canon (and a few supplementary materials) tells us three key things about viera that I’ve taken as playing into the way their gender works. Lots of headcanons below the cut!!

       1. Physically, they cannot be sexed until adolescence. There’s no way of knowing if a viera is capable of childbirth or insemination until they reach a certain age. Hell, it could even be that an individual is capable of both for all we know, but I’m working off the assumption that, like humans, there are viera whose bodies make one type of gamete and viera whose bodies make another kind of gamete which, when combined, make a viable zygote that eventually results in a baby viera.

       2. With only a few exceptions (i.e. the viera that abandon the Wood as Fran did), the viera as a people are completely isolated from the rest of Ivalice outside of Golmore Jungle. Once you leave the Wood, you’re not technically allowed to return, so ideologies from outside of viera society are slow to spread, if they really do at all. An argument can be made that the viera can hear of various ideologies through their commune with the Wood but even so, they’re intractable in their attitude and slow to change the way they think. (I personally have headcanons surrounding Eruyt in that regard, but it’s a little lengthy to go into here).

       3. Within viera society, the genders live in segregated communities and contact between the two groups is rare and on an as-necessary basis. This is arguably the most important fact here, and the basis on what most of the following meta is built around.

So, what does this say about what gender could look like for the viera?

       1. Gender as humans do it (assigning it at birth, typically based on the gonads) seems to be right out. Viera do the fantasy thing where they grow and develop at the same rate that humans do and then stop aging when they reach adulthood, because they live three times as long as a human on average. I’ve never liked that, and for the purposes of the fic this lore is attached to I’ve altered it so that they age proportionally rather than parallel to each other, but even within strict canon, that’s around 12 to 14 years of nobody knowing or being able to know any given viera’s physical sex. That’s enough time to start figuring out your own identity and what you want out of life.

       2. Due to their isolation, viera have little to no concept of or interest in gender outside of the way that viera do it. They simply don’t understand it, they have no idea about any human gender squabbles, or whatever the bangaa or seeq have going on.

Here’s my theory. All of the in-game ‘the male viera live with the male viera and the female viera live with the female viera’ gender segregation that the game tells you about? It’s inaccurate and arises from a fundamental cross-culture misunderstanding. Because we are all fallible and dumb as hell.

Bear with me, we’re getting to the part where I start making some stuff up to try and explain. (Feel free to use the terms I made up below, or just ignore them and call them by their definition if you don’t like the words lmao.) I posit that the viera don’t divide their genders up as ‘male’ and ‘female’ like they’re said to be in canon. Instead of working off of a sex-characteristic-based binary, viera operate on a location-and-motion-based ternary. The three viera genders are:

- naf’tjl (nahf-TEEL) – Stillness. These are the viera that live most of their lives in settlements like Eruyt, stockpiling surplus food and medicine for all viera to fall back on in the times when the Mist interferes with natural process and their way of life. Most likely, a lot of their more intensive or immobile industry (small-scale agriculture and most textiles, for a start) would be run by naf’tjl viera as well.

- thjrm (THYURM) – Motion. Thjrm viera live most of their lives in nomadic bands, acting as the primary defenders of the Wood. They patrol the width and breadth of Golmore, eliminating immediate and powerful threats to their people (mainly the aggressive local wildlife), monitoring the ebb and flow of the Mist and locating and securing untapped sources of food, water, lumber, ore, and land for building more settlements that can be used for the benefit of all viera.

- norvi (NOR-vee) – Peregrination. Originally this was a term used exclusively to refer to a prepubescent viera that had not gone through their coming-of-age ceremony to become a full adult (the process of ‘child’ to ‘adult’ is, after all, a journey in and of itself). Some adults however prefer to be called such even after they come of age, even if they live almost exclusively with one type of viera or another. This is a practice common enough that es norvi is now a subdistinction that refers specifically to prepubescent viera, while norvi encompasses them as well as the adults who choose to call themselves such. Norvi adults live in both naf’tjl and thjrm communities, and make up a majority of the wood-warder profession.

‘Why did we get the idea that the viera are divided by male and female, then?’ Because humans like to try and make foreign concepts more understandable by drawing lines between it and what they already know. The way I see it going down is some human got into a viera settlement—or more likely, a viera got out of the Wood and shared the information with some curious human. “I see,” says the human, nodding to themselves and looking around. “So you have one group of people who stay home and focus on caretaking and resource management. And you have another group of people who go out and hunt and keep you safe. So you have women and men, just like us!”

The viera, who either doesn’t understand that ‘man’ and ‘woman’ has an additional attached meaning of ‘a person who can impregnate’ and ‘a person who can bear children’, or who has already tried to explain the distinction and their third gender several times and has written it off as a lost cause, says, “Sure, we’ll roll with that.”

TL;DR: Viera gender has pretty much no basis whatsoever in their actual physical sex. Humans assume (incorrectly) that all the viera in the villages that they call female will be capable of bearing children, and all the viera nomads that they call male will be capable of impregnating the females. Viera assume (also incorrectly) that ‘female’ and ‘male’ are direct translations of naf’tjl and thjrm and label themselves accordingly when talking with non-viera races, regardless of whether or not they would actually be considered such.

COROLLARY HEADCANONS

       - Viera language is gendered as well. Most inanimate objects such as rocks, buildings, food, weapons, MOST body parts, and so on and so forth are naf’tjl. Most events (such as a storm), animals, as well as specifically the heart, are thjrm. Things with aspects of both—air, water, plants (especially trees), the Mist, magicite, and intangible things such as ideas, are norvi.

[pastelbatfandoms]

...Like one of your French girls

A/N: A side story for My OC Renee West Wells and Sherloque Wells from The Flash. Takes place during season 5. A little back story since I haven’t written that part yet. Thanks to Nora,Renee finds out her long lost love Eobard Thawne aka Reverse Flash is alive in the future but locked up and goes to see him,Eobard manipulates her to his side again,along with Nora,they keep it a secret until Sherloque (who Renee is currently dating) uses his Detective skills and is not too happy with what he finds out,leaving things with Renee up in the air....

Warnings: Smut because it’s a Wells and I can’t help it ♥ Also Sherloque will not stop trying to persuade me to write about him. Slow burn a bit of Cat & Mouse. 

~~~~~~

Renee should have known Sherloque would find out,he was a Detective after all. What she hadn’t planned on was him saying something in front of Barry,Iris and the rest of Team Flash. Who,known for being a bit judgemental,didn’t take it well. 

If Renee was honest with herself she could understand why Sherloque had made that descion,he felt hurt and betrayed and wanted Renee to feel some of that as well. While Renee hadn’t at first,ultimately leading to Obsidian Storm taking over and joining up with her niece XS,as well as Weather Witch,Bug Eyed Bandit and Rag Doll as The Young Rogues. Eventually after what happened with Nora and Eobard leaving once again,Renee saw the error of her ways and re joined Team Flash.

It was their that Sherloque told them he was leaving back to his Earth,he didn’t look at Renee when he said it but Renee looked at him.Upset but not surprised,if her lover had treated her the way she had treated Sherloque,she would leave too. 

But she wasn’t going to let him leave without at least explaining herself or letting him know that she had cared or does really care for him. 

Biting her lip,Renee works up the nerve then finally clears her throat to get Sherloque’s attention. Sherloque squints up at her in question,as Renee makes a gesture with her head for them to talk in private. Sherloque at first appears to not want too,then eyeing her up and down,excuses himself and follows Renee out of the room. 

Once in the lounge part of Star Labs,Sherloque turns,his hands in his pockets as he regards Renee. “So what iz it you want to talk about?” He asks cooly. 

Renee drops her guard then,hating how distant Sherloque is with her now. “Sherloque I...I am so sorry.” She looks up at him,hoping he can read the sincerity behind her eyes. 

As a so called master detective,Sherloque obviously can but chooses to ignore it,as he looks away with a tsk. “ Iz that all?’ The Frenchman asks. 

“No...” Renee lets out a breath in exasperation,not at him but herself and the situation she had put them in. “Of course not. Look I know you’re mad and hurt and probably hate me,I would too if I were you. But I didn’t mean to hurt you,not intentionally,I do care about you. Honestly I wasn’t expecting to see you again after our one night encounter,then after I left Earth 2,left Harry,I was just lost and you were there but then I started to have feelings for you and then Eobard showed back up and mixed those all up,which I should hate him for but...” The words came spilling out,one after another,unable to contain them or even make sense of them,just wanting Sherloque to know everything she felt in that moment. “I’m sorry you don’t need someone like me,I mean technically you’ve already dealt with me 6 times,why make it a 7th? In fact this was probably a bad idea,I should go.” Seeming to change her mind Renee starts to walk away,when Sherloque,who had been quiet the entire time,grabbed her by the wrist to stop her. “Renee halte’. “

 Pulling her towards him,Renee didn’t have time to react before Sherloque’s lips were on hers,kissing her as if he never wanted to let go. When he did,it was to say. “ I forgive you,you `are not something I have to,how you say,deal with. You are ‘Mon indispensable to me. Mon amour.” 

Renee gazed up at him,studying Sherloque almost like he did with everyone else,but there was no apprehension on Sherloque’s face only sincerity and love.Renee smiled then, “You’re special to me too Sherloque.” 

Sherloque kissed her again,this time slower,as Renee murmured breathlessly between kisses. “Don’t leave Sherloque,I need you,please.” 

“Non. I won’t. Mon avenir “ Sherloque promised,placing his forehead close to Renee’s as they held one another.  

The Following Day... Sherloque POV

Sherloque had been looking for Renee everywhere, at Star Labs,they had just made up and now she had disappeared without a trace. “Where have you gone Ma Tigresse...” Sherloque wondered,muttering the pet name he had for her. Sherloque knew she hadn’t actually left,it was a game she liked,playing hard to get...Sherloque will admit being a Detective he enjoyed it as well,But he was still perplexed as to where Renee had hid off too. So perplexed he even asked Cisco. 

Cisco looked up from the computers and shook his head frowning. “No sorry Sherli I haven’t seen her.”

Sherloque frowned back at the hated nickname but chose to ignore it for the moment.

Cisco stood up then. “I could help you look for her.” 

Sherloque hesitated,making a warding off gesture,shaking his head. “Non,that iz not ne’ssacary.” 

But Cisco insisted following Sherloque,who was heading down to the lounge. 

Sherloque looked back,”Yet you are’ coming anywayz.” He muttered under his breath. 

Once they had reached the lounge and opened the door,Sherloque’s eyes immediately fell onto Renee. Ah there she was. ((Here she iz indeed...)) Sherloque thought,trailing his eyes up and down taking in her,very naked,form as she lay across the couches. Then he noticed Cisco catching up with him and immediately rushed into the room,closing the door so only Sherloque’s face was shown as he shouted. “Ah I found Renee!”

Cisco stopped. “Is she okay?” He asked.

“She iz fine!” Sherloque reassured him trying not to appear nervous. “Very fine indeed...” He murmured,glancing back again at her. Then snapping out of it turned back to Cisco. “I can take it from here.” 

Cisco frowned,”If you’re sure...” Probably thinking Sherloque was just being weird and secretive again.

Sherloque shook his head waving Cisco off. “Oui,very sure!” Sherloque insisted. Waiting until Cisco had left to fully close the door behind him. 

Closing his eyes and Letting out a breath in relief that Cisco hadn’t caught his best friend,and Ex,laying naked in the lounge,all for Sherloque,he forgot for a moment that HIS girlfriend was indeed laying naked waiting for him. Until she spoke up. 

“Sherloque...paint me like one of your french girls...” Renee said softly,quoting that very famous scene from Titanic. 

But Sherloque knew it wasn’t just a euphemism. As he opened his eyes and let out under his breath. “ Oh Tu es toute simplement ravissante’”  Sherloque did paint in his free time and knew Renee was curious about body painting.

“ One moment mon amour.” Putting up a finger,Sherloque looked around then spotted his paints he kept stashed in the lounge,letting out a pleased “Ah!” upon finding it. Once he had retrieved his body paints,Sherloque turned back to Renee,with a wicked grin. “Let uz begin.” 

Renee’s POV

Renee had been waiting for almost half an hour,wondering when Sherloque was going to find her. And was relieved when he finally did,glancing at his hungry look now as he held the paints,his eyes roaming over her body,she was glad she had waited. 

Renee suppressed a shiver,not out of being cold,as Sherloque advanced towards her. 

Then he stopped,setting his paints down as he removed his long coat and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt,slowly because he knew Renee was watching. And she was. 

Renee watched every gesture and nuance her boyfriend made,admiring his toned arms but also his ability to size her up as much as she was sizing him up,seeming to appear cool yet interested all the same time,damn did the French go to school for Seduction 101? or was it because he was also a Detective and knew by her eyes,everything Renee was wanting in that moment. 

Renee surmised it was both. She followed Sherloque with her eyes as he knelt in front of her. “Sit up Tigresse.” Sherloque instructed her with a nod of his head. Renee did as she was told gazing up at Sherloque’s intense expression,who was frowning in concentration already in artist mode,Renee openly shivered this time as Sherloque started painting her chest,brushing alongside her nipple. 

“A little excited My pet?” Sherloque smirked already knowing the answer. 

Renee cleared her throat,looking away. “No,I’m fine.” She lied. 

Sherloque gave a disbelieving sound but continued. “Relaxe’...” He told her. “Close your eyez.”

Renee did,feeling instead of seeing every stroke he made with the brush against her skin,swirling it around her nipples and down her stomach. Talk about four play...

In what seemed like forever,but wasn’t nearly long enough,Sherloque told her to open her eyes,she did looking down and seeing awash of colors in blue,black and streaks of yellow over the front of her body. It took her a moment to realize he had painted a Thunderstorm. 

“Sherloque it’s beautiful...” Renee whispered. 

Sherloque gave a small smile but he wasn’t done yet,as he ran a hand up Renee’s legs. “Open.” 

Renee did,slowly at first until she felt Sherloque’s hands grip her thighs,telling her without words,to open wider. Renee’s eyes closed once again as she felt Sherloque’s paint brush glide up her leg closer to more while intimate parts as he gently pushed her thighs open. 

Stopping to admire the view appreciatively. “Perfection...” He murmured under his breath. As he started to paint her inner thighs,then letting out a “Mmmm” of feigned annoyance,rubbed at the spot he had just painted. “Looks like I missed a spot. Don’t worry Mon Cheri I clean it.” 

Renee opened her eyes long enough to look down into Sherloque’s own,dark with lust as he trailed kisses up her thighs,every touch was slow and sensual,making Renee moan and drop her head back once Sherloque’s mouth went where she really needed it to go. 

Slowly,languidly he licked up her,seeming to devour every taste and savor every moan that came from her lips,as she came with a shudder. 

Sherloque let up then,raising to meet her as she said breathlessly,eyes closed. “Make me forget Sherloque.” 

“Forget what Mi Amour?” Sherloque asked,though he knew for the most part what she meant. 

Renee’s eyes opened then,dark with lust,as she stared into Sherloque’s own lust filled eyes. “Everything.” She murmured. 

Sherloque’s lips were on hers then,kissing her passionately,she wrapped her arms around Sherloque as he picked her up and carried her to his makeshift bed. 

Once on the bed Sherloque positioned himself above her,giving her a long kiss as he slowly stroked her,Renee was more then ready when Sherloque thrust inside her with a low moan. 

The feeling of his cock inside her,made Renee want to come right then as they held each other close. “Eager are we Mon cher?” Sherloque asked in a teasing manner. But stopped moving when he felt Renee clench around him. Sherloque tskd,putting a finger to Renee’s lips. “Non My pet don’t cum yet,I want it to last.” Sherloque whispered seductively into her ear.

At his command Renee willed the feeling to pass,opening her mouth to suck on Sherloque’s finger as he slowly moved inside her again. 

He cupped her face then,kissing her slowly as they made love,then gripped her breast to lick her nipple,she shuddered and then those two words low in her ear. “Cum for me Ma Tigresse’” as he slowly fucked her into submission, “Ah yes My love that’s it.” Renee felt every inch as him as she came with a low cry “Sherloque!” and felt him cum inside right along with her. 

Afterwards they lay in each others arms,reveling in the after glow. When suddenly they hear a door open,Renee sits up grateful the blanket is covering them. Then her eyes widen as she realizes who was standing there. Harrison Wells,her husband. 

“Harry I...” Renee’s words die on her lips,at a loss. True they were estranged but she had never told him about Sherloque. 

Harry seems to be at a loss for words as well as he simply stares at them both then turns and walks out. 

Renee gets up quickly dressing. “I’m sorry Sherloque,I didn’t know Harry was going to be here. I need to go.” Renee says hastily. 

“Of course I understandz.” Sherloque answers with a gesture. “Go.” As Renee quickly walks out the door. 

“Harry wait!” Renee yelled,Once she had caught up with Harry in the hall of the cortex. Harry turns around but still says nothing. Thinking he is angry or in shock,Renee tries to apologize. “Harry I’m sorry I know we were apart but I should have told you about Sherloque.” 

“No need. I already knew.” Harry finally spoke,but his voice was different some how,raspier. 

“How?” Renee asked frowning but then her expression turned to one of realization as she studied him. “You’re not Harry...”

Harrison,or who she thought was,let out a dark chuckle and smirked. “No I’m not.” 

“Eobard...” Renee whispered. Not sure how to feel seeing him standing there once again looking like Harrison Wells.

“ I know you have a thing for this detective,he is a Wells after all...” Eobard Thawne said,leaning closer into her. “But just remember YOU belong to ME.” Eobard whispered in her ear then eyes flashing red,he zips away. 

Leaving Renee shaken,not sure if that was a promise or a threat and if she really wanted to find out....

To be continued...

[ybelovva]

the basics;

NAME: Yelena Belova

ALIAS(ES): Black Widow, Pale Little Spider, Rooskaya, too many to count...

AGE: Twenty-four

BIRTHDAY & ZODIAC: August 31st, Virgo

MBTI: ISTJ Inspector

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: She/Her

FACECLAIM: Florence Pugh

tw:mentions of deviant behavior (not yelena)

a deeper look;

FAMILY: Unnamed mother, Olga (Aunt)

AFFILIATION: Russia, Black Widow Ops Program, Red Room

THREE FAVORITE THINGS: Her country, Her job, Vodka

THREE HATED THINGS: Failure, Being Lesser than Natasha, New Gotham

EDUCATION: Some high school, Graduate of the Red Room espionage unit

SKILLS: Master Martial Artist, Gymnast, Espionage, Adept with all kinds of weapons, Highly Intelligent (to a degree), Trained operative

WEAPONS: ElectroShock Bracelets (Widow’s Bite) and Various Guns

ABILITIES: N/A

the questionnaire;

question: WHAT IS SOMETHING YOUR CHARACTER LIKES ABOUT NEW GOTHAM? SOMETHING THEY DISLIKE? DO THEY MISS THE WAY THINGS WERE - OR DO THE LIKE HOW THE WORLD IS NOW?

There isn’t much Yelena likes about New Gotham, but she does like that crowded streets mean she can blend in and disappear, whenever she wants. Allows her to watch her back, while following another’s. Yelena dislikes everything else. New York city, the creatures, the smell ---- but she especially detests the crime rate in New Gotham city. Moscow wasn’t nearly as dirty as this. At least they had principles and real punishment, where she came from. Here? Criminals run rampant, cocky, it disgust her, especially now that some of them have wings and fangs. It surprised her, all these new types of people and creatures, but it isn’t the first time she’s fought something non-human. She’s just not used to it being normal, but she’s getting used to it. Yelena misses the way things were, before the collision. She wants to go back to her universe, and fufill her duties as the Black Widow. At least there, she was the only one.

question: WHERE WAS YOUR CHARACTER WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED? ARE THEY SUSPICIOUS OF EVERYONE OR ARE THEY TRYING TO REMAIN UNDER THE RADAR? HAVE THEY REUNITED WITH THEIR FRIENDS OR ARE THEY LOST?

Yelena was in the middle of a mission. Well, more like a post lesson. When everything changed, she was on her way to her next mission when she was taken out of her universe and dropped into this one. Yelena is both suspicious of everyone and under the radar. She doesn’t know who or what brought her here, and why? New Gotham is constantly changing, and with it bring more people, and more questions. Under the radar, because she doesn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to herself. Give them just enough to ease them in conversation, that’s it. They wouldn’t want to know who the real Yelena Belova was. Yelena doesn’t have friends. Period. She’s lost and on her own, but she has a plan. She plans to scout out the area and people, as many as she can, gather information and figure out how to get outta here: that is her mission. Her skin crawls, the longer she stays in this place, but meanwhile, she’s going to use her skill set to save herself.

question: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: ANYTHING YOU WANT US TO KNOW? ANY HEADCANONS? Hi! I’m Sessho! And Yelena needs a lil bit of an explanation to the group. Since we don’t know how Yelena will be played in the upcoming Black Widow movie, I’m basing her more on her comic counterpart who’s a little more evil than ya think (I have already discussed this with one of the admins). So, following, is a bio I made for her ages ago based on her in the comics. I hope it makes sense and you all enjoy!

     Yelena’s life before the Widow Program, was all but forgotten by the time she was fifteen. When Yelena was fifteen years old, she was recruited by the Red Room to be the next potential Black Widow. The same academy that the Soviet’s trained the first Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. Once it’d become clear that their beloved Widow had defected, the Soviets knew they had a lot of work to do with Belova. And so that is where her story, begins.

     She was originally spotted for her exceptional physical condition, high marks on her IQ tests, and her talent in gymnastics. The KGB meant for her to succeed her predecessor. Despite the program’s success, their perfect spy failed them. So, for years Yelena was trained under a strict regimen by the trainers of the program. During her training, Yelena scored incredibly high on her tests. But instead of being proud about it, she stated Romanoff had scored better, under the same tests. She hated to be lesser than a traitor who deserted her country.

     The Red Room was her home, the pale little spider trained under for a decade. They fed her, clothed her. They played their vicious mind games on her, brainwashed her. Taught her how to fight, how to bleed. How to kill, and how to blend as a spy. She’d all but forgotten her life, before. One particular trainer she came to view, as a father figure. Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, a Lieutenant Colonel who taught Yelena hand-to-hand combat, weapon use, and knife work for over a decade. A trained hand in hand combatant, he was her main instructor. She’d become close to him, and Starkovsky too considered her like his daughter. Though Starkovsky became obsessed. Yelena never thought anything of it. She was starting to feel inferior and inadequate to her predecessor, but as much as wanted to defeat her, Yelena undoubtedly idolized her. Even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself.

      While Starkovsky’s deviant behavior found a substitute in a brothel with a woman named Petra, a look-alike of Yelena. What happened next, Yelena doesn’t exactly know. Starkovsky was dead, killed by Petra. Belova was shattered by the news, and confused by the loss of her father figure. She’d been told Starkovsky had been stealing secrets from the Black Widow program, and Yelena decided to investigate, on her own. In the end, Yelena killed Petra, and proceeded to accept the role as the new Black Widow. Belova would go on to never know that the entire ordeal, and the brothel’s owner, and the other woman in the room, Nikki, was an exercise. And part of her graduation test.

     Her time as the Black Widow was short, but not without making it’s bite on the various people who mattered. For years, she’d completed intelligence missions for the KGB under the moniker Black Widow. Though her efforts, and partially the name, were overshadowed by the scarlet Widow. The real Black Widow. Yelena worked in the dark. The only people who learned that there was a second Widow, were her targets, and others who kept tabs on her. But the world knew of the Black Widow as a superhero. Natasha Romanoff, the Avenger. Yelena watched the movements of Natasha and the rest of the Avengers, through the years. And she waited. Shadowed by her predecessor once more. Seeing her face on the screen, fueled her obsession and drive to beat her, and be the only Widow that still represented mother Russia.

     Yelena and Natasha had crossed paths, at least once, before Yelena successfully killed her. Natasha had always been far more experienced than the younger Widow, superior, but Yelena turned Natasha’s “mind games” on her. Wishing to teach Yelena a lesson, Natasha and Nick Fury, created Operation: Validate. The operation had Belova captured and surgically altered to be Natasha Romanoff and vice verse. To be her duplicate, and Natasha became Yelena Belova. Belova mentally held it together and played along, believing this had to be a mission that’d gone wrong. In the end, Natasha explained to Yelena that she’d orchestrated the whole thing in order to tell her the truth. Yelena was just a pawn for the people who trained. An instrument in war, not some heroine for her country. And that espionage was not a game, but Yelena didn’t want to hear it, and she shot Natasha and killed her. Yelena escaped with her life before Fury and his operatives could get there, and their mission was deemed a failure.

     After much convincing, Yelena used the doctors provided by the Red Room to reverse the effects of the surgery. Yelena looked like herself again, and now, in this new world, she was the one and only Black Widow. She achieved her greatest desire, to beat her predecessor, but Yelena felt no differently. Her passion disappeared after that, but she continued onto her next mission....

plots: So basically, plot-wise, Yelena’s universe is mostly comic based since the Black Widow movie hasn’t come out yet, and I’ve taken some liberties here and there with her bio. In her universe, she killed Nat, but after she feels lost, until she ends up in New Gotham. She’ll slowly become an Anti-Hero, here, in New Gotham, through interactions and plots and whatnot. That’s where I can blend in some of the MCU for her, because I’m also really excited about what they’ll do for Yelena in the MCU !!!

      Connections! Honestly, I’ll take them all, no bias here, especially since I’d like to see her become somewhat of a hero. I wanna put Yelena through the ringer tho too, so come at me, bruh.

     The only other thing I was gonna put here was, my laptop can’t make text smaller (it’s already small) so all my text will look regular-sized for tumblr posts. Sorry!

[sweetgcreature]

400 FOLLOWERS! 🎉

Okay, so first of all WOW!  I would have never imagined to reach such a number of people in such a short period of time! So, a general, big-fat-ass THANK YOU to all of you! Love you all 💞🌸💖

But, I also would like to take a moment to thank some, few people that are special to me 🌟🌻

@deakyswhitequeen you’re obviously the first person that comes to my mind, since I’m so lucky to have you as a real friend in my life; you’re my darling and, yes in these months I’ve said that many, many times, but who cares, I love you so much, as much as I love how our bond has become stronger than before! ❤

@its-nxt-living I LOVE YOU A LOT! Like, you’re always so kind and you’re always there in my notifications and, yeah, even if we basically never talked lmfao, I consider you one of those people I really care about on this platform! 💖

@39fahrenheit you’re a sweetheart and I love how we always tag and interact with each other! Everytime I see your  name in my notifications I smile because I really think you’re cute and kind and yeah, we should talk more! 💗

@bohemiandelilah what can I say? You’re the cutest! You’re always there in my notifications and I also want to thank you for supporting the ff me and my friend are publishing on our side blog!! Love you bby 💘

@toviatoris you’re a pure and kind soul! Really! You’re always so sweet and never fail to make me smile; also thanks for the sweet messages you send me! I adore people who spread love! 💜

@isitstraightvodka you already know I love the fact we both have the same interests and love Queen and Harry Styles! You’re always blessing my dashboard with your posts and reblogs and I think that Harry would be proud of you, because you really treat people with kindness 🧡

@imwaytooobsessed you’re always so sweet and you always tag me and I appreciate you a lot!! I love how it all started because we tagged each other in a tag game or something and now you’re one of my lovliest mutuals! Love you 💚

@gunpwdergelatin Sarah! You’re sooo sweet girl and I love you! I adore interacting with you and you never fail to make me smile thanks to your kindness! I’m so happy I met you girl 💙

@friends-then-lovers you’re literally the first person I met here! And I’m so grateful that you decided to message me and I’m proud of the long way we’ve come. Even if we didn’t talk for a while, I’m so happy to have you back into my life. Love you girl  💛

@godknowsimtaylored carissima!! Prima di tutto sei una delle poche italiane che conosco qui su Tumblr e seconda cosa sei sempre carinissima e dolcissima! Sono stra contenta di averti incontrata e di aver la possibilità di interagire con te! Love you girl 💞

@loki-lover095 you’re one of the first people that ever interacted with me and tagged me on something here on tumblr, so I have to tag you into this post becaue you deserve it! Thank you darling 🥰

@misshystericalqueen again you’ve been one of the first blogs that ever followed me and tagged me here on this platform, so I feel the need to tag you in this list! Also to remind you I love you and I love seeing your name in my notifications 💋

@miss-rogerina you are a sweetheart and I love how we keep tagging each other into stuff and things! Thank you lovie for being always so sweet, love you ❣

@theappleofmybri girl! YOU ARE SO ADORABLE and I’m so grateful I had and still have the chance to interact with you! I love you so so much, like a lot 💜 and thank you again for tagging me when you reached 500 followers darling 

@gottabecool-relax I miss talking with you darling! You’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and I hope to have the chance to talk with you again very soon! 💛

@deakysgurl thank you for your sweet and lovely messagges and asks! I really appreciate them and I love seeing you in my notifications! Thank you for being always so kind 😘

@onevisionliz anche se è da un po’ che non ci sentiamo, ci tenevo ad includerti nella lista delle persone a cui tengo di più qui su Tumblr, per la tua simpatia, la tua gentilezza e perchè sei stata una delle primissime persone che hanno sostenuto la storia che io e la mia amica stiamo scrivendo! 💕 love you 

And finally a shoutout to other sweet and lovely people that inspire me and never fail to put a smile on my face when I see their names appear in my notifications. I see you and love you all so much: @itsalreadybroken @the-bronte-angel @blessedbyhardy @bensrhapsody @queen-puppycophine @deakydeacy @inthelapofthe39 @littledarlingwellaway @ladystrombwick @silverofthunder @winterschild1982 @natromanxoff  @winedine39  @inthedayswhenlandswerefew @callmesweet @babygotblueeyes @rogerinahardzzello @sweeet-cheese @radiob-l-a-hblah @whothefuckisrogertaylorr @colsons-crue @starlight-glimmer-may @i-make-great-grilled-cheeses 💚🌹 I hope I didn’t forget someone, if I did I’m sorry and I love you a lot  

AND OBVIOUSLY A GENERAL THANK YOU TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND MUTUALS

I LOVE YOUUU ♥️🌈🌼🎊

[scarlettlawyer]

Part 7 of my reaction/commentary to the Phantoms & Mirages fanfic series by @renegadewangs

(Chasing Phantoms): Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 

(Haunted Specters): Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Going into Vanquishing Mirages, I’d first like to comment on the title. To the uninitiated, those unfamiliar with the story and the characters, the title can seem pretty vague. Indeed, I’d taken the title to be akin to referring to/describing an abstract concept at first glance when I was not in-the-know, and it’s only upon getting up to the fic that it’s suddenly like “Oh. It’s literal. It’s meant to be taken literally.” The same can be said for the title of the overall series, “Phantoms and Mirages”, which I have already commented on. I’d always thought it was a nice play wherein there are two similar words, but one is referring to a concrete, actual character whereas the other is only for the abstract concept. Only to find out, no, they’re BOTH words that refer to concrete, actual characters. It feels kinda cool how suddenly the title fully “reveals” itself like this and takes shape, but only once you’re far enough into the story.

The transition from Chasing Phantoms to Haunted Specters is one wherein it absolutely feels like you’re starting a brand new story in a series after finishing the first one, not least because of the timeskip. Things are also mostly wrapped up by the end of Chasing Phantoms except for some loose ends. But they stand out as two very separate stories, or separated stories, albeit of course still existing within the same series with many running threads between the two. But as I finished Haunted Specters and began Vanquishing Mirages, I barely took note that I was finishing one fic and starting a new one, as the transition and connection from one to the next felt so seamless. It simply felt like I was continuing to read an ongoing story. This is also aided by how well and truly hooked and onboard I was at that point – I barely took note that the transition was one fic to another as opposed to one chapter to another, because my primary priority was just clicking through to keep on reading! I don’t think I really paused reading at all. I just headed straight from one into the next.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 1

Oh, it’s already so good. It’s already so good. Hitting the ground running.

The way you connect/contrast flashbacks/scenes taking place at different points is. Masterful. For some reason, I hadn’t actually remembered the first two scenes of the fic as being shown one after the other. More phantom hypocrisy, more phantom hypocrisy! Augh. I feel bad for Mirage.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 2

“Hey… Will you still recognize me? After they change my face? After they change it a hundred times over and we run into each other in the street, but you won’t know what I look like… Will you still know it’s me?”

HER SAYING THIS ACTUALLY MAKES ME SO SAD IN A SENTIMENTAL WAY.

Okay, I also love the narrative noting how Mirage’s laugh ALSO stirs Gumshoe somewhat. Because of COURSE it would. Aaaaah.

His mission as Bobby Fulbright was on a need to know basis and the only one who needed to know was he himself.

HMMM! Interesting. I hate that Dual Destinies is kinda… A little unclear on this front. Also. It was so great to see a flashback to the phantom as Bobby in the Dual Destinies timeframe, too.

Okay. Okay. And the thing about these flashbacks is just. The phantom making Mirage laugh. As a consistent running thread. He can always make her laugh. And that’s a consistent running thread that’s shown for good reason! I mean, granted, making Mirage laugh is really, really easy, so it’s no surprise that she basically laughs in pretty much every scene she’s shown in – and these are phantom flashbacks. But STILLLL

PHOENIX’S REACTION TO KNOWING FRANZISKA IS PROSECUTING IS SO GREAT

“You know what’ll help? Running a quick lap around the block!” An excited grin washed over Athena’s face. She slammed a hand down on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “Here, I’ll come with you for support! Vámonos!”

“Hang on, what about dinner?” Phoenix asked. “How long do we have until it’s done?” “Three, maybe four minutes.” “That’s plenty of time! C’mon, Bobby! I’ll race you!”

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH BECAUSE THIS IS JUST, PEAK ATHENA. How is this not a canon exchange. PLUS I just love the mental image of Bobby and Athena racing around the block together because it just feels so them? I never knew I needed this before!! But yesss just let them run together ahaah! The image of it just makes me so inexplicably happy.

HOHOHO PHOENIX PICKING UP LOCKS ON THE MAGATAMA IS SO SO GOOD AHAAAA. GOTTEM

And this scene was intriguing for me simply because the narrative, as it has done so very consistently throughout the course of the series, follows Simon’s POV perspective. Of COURSE it does. Phoenix is a marginal character at best in this series. But it’s just really cool to read because Phoenix is just about the most central character in the ace attorney series, the one whose perspective we see from the most. And yet here, in this scene where the magatama reacts, we are seeing it – him – from the outside. Simon, naturally, is sceptical of the magatama whereas we, the readers, already know that it’s dead-on. As I read through the exchange that Simon and Phoenix have with each other over it… it was so easy to imagine myself holding the DS in my hands, playing through this scene in an ace attorney game AS Phoenix, being on the other side of the exchange and watching Simon deny it and say that the magatama was faulty, and knowing just as much as Phoenix does that he’s wrong. Things like this almost feel like a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead type deal, where the “plot” and the “main characters” – at least if you are going from how the main games classify it – casually wander in on and interact with the “other characters” every now and then before wandering out of the picture again and leaving them to it – the “other characters” being, in this series, the ones whose perspectives we have been sticking with the entire time, when it almost feels like Phoenix should still be at the centre simply because of how normalised that is in the game series.

It makes me think that if you were to construct an Ace Attorney game (or rather, case?) around the plot of Vanquishing Mirages, it would – obviously – just look so dramatically different, even if the exact same stuff is happening, we’d be Phoenix interacting with the others. Instead of actually getting Simon’s POV as the narrative gives us, the player would have to rely on Phoenix’s interactions with characters like Bobby and Simon to piece together what is going on with them. You could still set up the main kind of plot and demonstrate the, for example, internal conflicts Simon is having, but you’d be getting the information much more “secondhand” – through Phoenix, as is usually the case in the games. It goes to show that you can tell the same story from so many different perspectives, and even in main ace attorney games there is so much else going on that the player obviously never gets to see. You can take a marginal character and just show how much is going on behind the scenes when Phoenix’s plot isn’t intersecting with theirs. But yes, this scene truly made me feel like we were in the midst of an ongoing Ace Attorney game, yet as an outsider – only getting the “side-character” POV through Simon.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 3

yet he was willing to put that paranoia aside for the sake of Bobby’s emotional health. Why was that not the same as caring?

I’m STILL thinking real deep about this whole scene, daaaaamn. You really have the ability to inspire – to make someone really think with your writing.

THE ENTIRE SCENE WHERE SIMON AND FRANZISKA MEET IS

Perfection.

AND I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S… WE’RE ONLY ON CHAPTER THREE??? WE’RE ONLY ON CHAPTER 3 AND EVERY CHAPTER SO FAR ALREADY FEELS ICONIC IN ITS OWN RIGHT. I guess this is a result of me not paying too much attention that this was a separate fic because SOMEHOW this scene just felt like it came later on. Probably because it’s just so damn good it feels like it gets “built up” to or we have to “wait” a bit for it, but no, no, we are only on chapter 3 and already the blessed readers get to receive such an absolute TREAT.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 4

“Ahh, Fräulein von Karma. How nice to see you again. Or perhaps I should say… Es tut mir gut Ihren süsses lächeln wieder zu sehen.” “Halt deine freche schnauze!” Von Karma barked. There was another loud whip crack and a cry of pain before she stormed off.

I love this exchange very, very much because it still works and adds something to the moment regardless of whether the reader understands German or not.

For those who don’t understand German like myself, the brevity of the exchange and the contextual clues are enough to give a clear picture of the gist of what the exchange contained even though we don’t know exactly what it was, so the overall understanding of the scene is not impacted in any way – and it’s not difficult to make use of the internet to find out an exact translation if we want to.

However, this exchange also kinda feels like it says, “if you don’t know German, stuff you. Get good. Deal with it.” And like… as a non-German speaker I 100% respect that. German speakers can read through this seamlessly. But if I want to know the exact translation, I need to interrupt the reading experience however briefly to look it up for myself. Otherwise, it’s just like standing in the scene in reality, wherein whether or not you understand exactly what gets said depends on the reader, personally. It feels so natural that this – language switch/exchange would happen as it does.

There’s many details I enjoy of the Prosecutor Lobby scene that I won’t go into them all. But wow, everything, with the introduction of Franziska and all these other characters brought into the margins of the narrative, makes the narrative feel like it’s seriously ramped up a notch in build-up to the trial.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 5

The brunet looked irritable and kept sending frowns towards his two colleagues, who were both stubbornly ignoring him. Simon suspected it had to do with them being unable to tell Apollo about the true nature of the trial, leaving him to believe that they would genuinely wish to defend the Phantom.

I can’t imagine how the conversation would have gone when Apollo initially found out…

“Anyway…” The judge slammed his gavel down once to call for everyone’s attention. “Court is now in session for the trial of the international spy known as the Ghost.”

AHAHAHA LOVE THIS. A+ Judge. He Would

“Objection!” called a hoarse voice.

PHANTOM OBJECTING PHANTOM OBJECTING PHANTOM OBJ

Okay. In all honesty. I absolutely love the phantom’s objection just getting steamrolled over. Him being so very patronised. By EVERYONE. Yesssss.

It was Lang who interjected next. Lang, who placed a firm hand on the defendant’s shoulder to shove him back into his seat. “I’m afraid so, Your Honor. Like a starving, dehydrated mutt, he could almost be called delirious at this point. Why, just earlier this morning, he attempted to take responsibility for the death of Mr. Presley, also known as The King. He claimed it was a political assassination.” “That is a lie,” the Phantom snarled loudly. He was ignored.

THIS is so unbelievably fun/funny to me, I’m sorry. I don’t know how much we’re SUPPOSED to be amused by it, but I just take way too much enjoyment from the phantom’s situation in this particular scene ahahaha.

Prior to this, through Bobby, the narrative sets up the whole “it’s not right to use the phantom against his will like this.” He had given his consent for it previously. That consent has clearly been revoked. And there is that sense of “:/” about the situation prior to this that Bobby is feeling. BUT. That’s isn’t the primary lens I viewed this particular scene through. I was instead moreso inclined to just cackle evilly at my fave. THE ELECTROCUTION THAT HAPPENS AFTER IS SUPER HARSH THOUGH.

Lang’s words and behaviour just refuse to take him seriously – intentionally set up to strip the phantom from the ability to be taken seriously by anyone else. ROBBING him further of any power he could possibly still have at this point.

Haunted Specters essentially saying “the phantom = Bobby and Simon’s child” is patronising in the best way. This is also patronising, in-universe this time! And it’s just the best!!! Yes!!!!

The phantom just being shut down at every opportunity is something I love way too much. get rekt

The phantom: I AM A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL I AM GUILTY-

Just about everyone else/the narrative to an extent: aww sure you are, sure you are hon. How cute. Little darling simply doesn’t know what he’s saying. Must be a little cranky. You know how little ones can be sometimes.

It’s a sucky and harsh situation but. I guess I’m kinda awful in just wanting to see him suffer up to a certain point.

Apollo Justice looked almost satisfied.

YES YES YEEEEES I LOVED THIS LITTLE LINE, this detail thrown in. HAHA YES. AND THE CONTRAST OF HIS REACTION WITH EVERYONE ELSE’S TOO.

Because there’s actually at least one more line to this effect: love all the references to Apollo NOT being happy with this situation.

By her side, Ambassador Palaeno looked shaken. He kept wringing his hands in a nervous manner. Even more behavior that struck Simon as odd. Why did this turn of events bother the man so?

OKAY FIRST OF ALL, the CONSTANT references to Palaeno’s suspiciousness through Simon’s POV were SO great, and I was like, “Hahahah Simon it’s ok, he’s just Like That. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

BUT THEN THE NARRATIVE SEEMED TO FOCUS ON HIM SO MUCH??? To a suspicious extent. More than necessary beyond merely highlighting “haha he’s so unnecessarily suspicious to Simon.” And YES it’s because it’s Simon’s POV and Simon would be taking note a lot of this Very Odd Fellow but the constant references back to Palaeno’s shiftiness had me narrowing my eyes and going, “Okay, okay, hold up. WHAT’S going on here. There might actually be something to this. Simon possibly might be onto something.”

The suggestion that Palaeno is perhaps “stricken by guilt over something” made me think that, obviously he is not TRULY guilty of anything serious, and is obviously a nice and well-meaning man, but perhaps through his well-meaningness he might have had a hand in accidentally causing something bad and it’s just beginning to fully dawn on him. I was thinking perhaps the narrative wanted to pull a deliberate doubletwist on us – Simon thinks the man is obviously suspicious and perhaps guilty of something. The reader knows that Simon’s suspicions aren’t true, and knowing Palaeno better see him as completely innocent and as Simon just misreading him. But the narrative could totally dupe the audience very effectively, if it wanted, if Simon on some level turned out to be right. But in such a manner that still manages to preserve Palaeno’s true character. Or hey. It’s fanfiction. If it really wanted there could be a sudden “LOL Palaeno turns out to actually be bad” twist snkldsnlsdlnj

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 6

“Yes! Yes, that is exactly what happened!” the Phantom called, seemingly awakened from his stupor. Lang silenced him with another electric jolt- if one could call that silencing. It caused another hoarse cry of pain, after which the Phantom fell from his chair with a bang that resounded through the courtroom.

BOOOI U DESPERATE…

“No!” The spy jumped to his feet, slamming his hands down on the wooden rail before him. His eyes were wide, but even so, they twitched. He looked absolutely frantic. Whatever was inside that envelope, it was enough to rouse him from his state of defeat and send him hurtling into alarm. “As you can see, the defendant recognizes this piece of evidence. I ask that the court keeps this in consideration,” Selestia remarked. “I… No, I…” The Phantom seemed disoriented for a moment. As if he wasn’t sure what to say or do. It didn’t matter. He’d already betrayed himself by raising his voice.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU PLAYED YOURSELF PHANTOM

Lang and Fulbright both grabbed him to push him back into his seat, but he continued to stare up at Belvedere with wide eyes.

AAAAAAH MIRAGE… LOOK AT HIM JUST LOOK… YOU’RE REALLY ABOUT TO DO THIS TO HIM HUH

“You’re in no position to offer any sort of advice, Phantom. You’re in no position to do anything but follow the orders I give you. Now be a good boy and stand still for a moment.”

NOW BE A GOOD BOY AND- AAAAH

“You need to understand your place in this world. You aren’t a human being, you’re a heartless monster who needs to be locked away for everyone’s good.”

AAAAAAAAAH. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. SO NEEDLESS TO SAY – AS THIS IS JUST PRIOR TO THE REVEAL – I DIDN’T PICK UP ON THE DOUBLEMEANING OF THIS THE FIRST TIME AROUND?

The Phantom leaned forward, once again placing both hands on the rail before him. His head was bowed, a curtain of jagged blond hiding part of his face. “Don’t. If you have even the slightest shred of decency… The slightest shred of honor… Don’t give that to them.” “Please let it also be noted that the defendant is pleading for me not to show this piece of evidence, adding further truth to the notion that the results indeed involve him, thereby further increasing their relevancy,” Selestia remarked in a rather dry tone of voice.

KINDA HATE MIRAGE. KINDA HATE MIRAGE. WHICH IS, WHEW. I LOVED HER SO MUCH I THOUGHT SHE WAS SO GREAT AND THEN SHE JUST.

AND THE DSKJHF PHANTOM APPEALING TO DECENCY AND HONOUR I just. He’s got nothing left he’s desperately appealing to senses that he does not possess. That everyone knows he does not possess. That he KNOWS everyone knows he does not possess. BUT HE’S DOING IT ANYWAY.

“I will repeat my earlier warning. Once you divulge the information regarding this sociopath’s DNA results, he will attempt to silence you, as well as everyone else who hears it,” Selestia said. She brushed her hair aside one last time and this time, Simon could see it. The trace of a smile, hidden just behind her hand.

MIRAGE WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME KINDA HATE YOU RIGHT NOW. I KNOW it’s fun to watch & make the phantom squirm but aaaaaaaa

All eyes were on him, now. Even Franziska leaned sideways to glance over his shoulder as he tore the envelope open. He could hear the Phantom calling out to him. His voice was desperate, almost hysterical, leaving no doubt that these DNA results were genuine.

Wh- h-

Simon: ok cool [just casually rips it open like this]

“… As per your request, I can hereby confirm it without a doubt. The DNA of the sample provided was proven to be a match with that of Alexander Luster and the late Zerene Luster-Palaeno.”

The characters:

Me, for the most part:

HONIN’ IN ON THAT LITTLE DETAIL LIKE HELLO WHAT

Amazing. Amazing. The – Palaeno and the phantom both have blonde hair. And… And…

Palaeno seems incredibly guilty, but is innocent. The phantom IS incredibly guilty, but in Dual Destinies, “Bobby” is just about the last person you’d suspect.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 7

“You gave me your WORD, Simon Blackquill! You gave me your word that you would DESTROY IT! I’ll get you for this! I’ll make you PAY!”

Buddy. If I were Simon Blackquill in this moment. Chains, interpol agents detaining him, EVERYTHING aside. I would fear for my life to some extent.

Six degrees of separation. A theory that any two individuals could be connected through at most five acquaintances. That everyone was intertwined in one way or another. After all that’d occurred, Simon found that theory must have some basis of truth in it.

Love this phrasing, of bringing the “six degrees of separation” into this… Despite how far-out any of this seemed, this, through the prose and Simon processing it like this, once again just made it feel so grounded.

I was reeling so much… ya made the phantom related to Palaeno… A minor ace attorney character in a totally separate game… You did it… You did that.

Oh gosh, and as the paragraphs outline just how interconnected everyone is… it’s beautiful. I adore it. Well and truly demonstrating the delicately intertwined nature of everyone. Combining both the canon of the games and the canon of this fic series wonderfully to form these intricate webs.

I feel that it was a bold choice to make the phantom’s real name “Lex Luster”. The very same name that we’ve already been applying to the other character. You could have easily given the phantom a distinct name to keep some kind of a distinction there, but you decided to stick to the same one. This “bold choice” aspect moreso comes into play for me during Lifting Spirits, as at first it caused quite a bit of whiplash for me to start associating the name “Lex Luster” with this newly EXTREMELY emotional man as opposed to the super dislikable villain Lex Luster Sr that got killed off. We’re not up to there in the story yet though hahaha.

LANG’S COMMENT WITH THE VOUCHERS IS SO AWESOMELY CRUDE AHAHA. The reactions of the others just absolutely make it.

Indeed, after what happened in the courtroom, Simon was sure their presence would be quite unwanted. Unwanted, yet unavoidable. It was time to see him again and hear his side of the story.

I GUESS I’M JUST MUCH MORE OF A COWARD THAN SIMON IS but once again, if I were Simon, those death threats would still be fresh on my mind and I just. Would not want to be anywhere near the phantom, no matter how securely he was being contained. D:

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 8

Okay can I just, I love it. I love everything. The level of uncooperativeness and defeat. The phantom clinging to denial. Just. All of the little things and details.

Palaeno shifted in his seat and wrung his hands together in his lap. He looked rather disheartened. “… Lex…”

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. PALAENO, NO. NO. I WOULDN’T IF I WERE YOU. I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST IT GOOD SIR. AHAHAHA oh my goodness. Oh my GOODNESS. The level of… THE SHEER LEVEL OF MISGUIDEDNESS HERE. I’m choking.

“What did you just say?” the Phantom demanded in response.

HE DOESN’T LIKE THAT HE DOESN’T LIKE THAT AT AAAAAALL AHAHAAA SUFFER.

I ALMOST KIND OF??? EXPECTED THE PHANTOM TO JUST BREAK AGAIN OVER THIS. Someone actually applying a NAME to him. LABELLING him with a REAL, ACTUAL, PROPER NAME, with a connection to a past, a history, it’s HUGE. He hates it. He hates it. It’s everything he’s fought against. The sheer size of the breakdown he had in court over the revelation – and now – now an alleged relative using it in this context is just - !!! I expected this to be way too much for him to take and he’d just lose again it in anger/denial or what have you, but he did more than enough in court. Aww, little baby tired himself out. Kudos to him for not losing it once again.

I’d also expected the phantom to react in immediate anger & semi-lose it when he saw Simon BUT! Once again, more than enough of that happened in court. There’s only so much that someone – especially a guy with limited emotions like him – can keep that up before basically becoming despondent. Seems he’s basically fallen back into a state of SOMEWHAT calm and the emotions have subsided enough for him to chat and return to his more “normal” state. Even though he’s clearly not fully returned to normal and constantly on the edge like you don’t wanna push this guy ahahaha. SUFFERRR, PHANTOM. Just BARELY keeping it together.

“Leave it to foolishly foolish fools to pretend that everything revolves around their own foolishly foolish problems.” Franziska wagged a dismissive finger at the Phantom.

THIS SENTENCE IS SUCH A BLESSING, YES FRANZISKA PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE. Haaaah! “Franziska wagged a dismissive finger at the Phantom” is such a good sentence. Patronise to him. Condescend. DISMISS. Yeah, yeah!

They made their way to the door. However, just before passing through it, Palaeno stopped in his tracks. He turned and flashed one last grin at the Phantom. One last desperate attempt to make peace. “We’ll see you at the trial tomorrow, Lex.”

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP THIS POOR MISGUIDED MAN… Palaeno buddy… I understand but… you’re not gonna win this one.

Bobby paused for a moment, then replied with a suggestive hand gesture of his own. Simon immediately made a grab for his wrists to lower them. “Don’t indulge him!”

BOBBY I LOVE YOU.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 9

Simon headed back out the front door, Fulbright by his side, to see that Wright and his two assistants were attempting to get to the steps. Luster’s followers were blocking their path, shouting and spitting at the ground. Some of them were uttering their insults in Cohdopian, others managed to speak English.

This is SO unfair on Apollo to also cop flack like this, considering. Apollo must be so, so done with everything.

“Go back to retirement, Wright!”

OUCH.

“Court will now reconvene for the trial of the international spy known as…” the judge hesitated for a moment and cast a quick glance down at his papers. “The Phantom.”

SDFKBJSDFNLSDKJN that moment of hesitation and needing to confirm for sure is THE BEST

They couldn’t bear the thought that the spy shared his name with the great Lex Luster.

!

All her emotions were exactly as they should be if she were the real Selestia Belvedere. She was tricking the Mood Matrix. Many years ago, the Phantom had trained Mirage to control her emotions. He’d trained her a bit too well.

I really like this? I really liked this on the first readthrough because whoa, roadblock! They finally, after struggling so hard, got her right where they needed her and it doesn’t work. I’d expected her to slip up slightly but for it to still be an uphill battle to expose her. But not so, not so at all. She’s covered her tracks. I hadn’t been expecting the cast to just run straight into a “dead end” like this! :D And it makes you so keen to read on because HOW are they going to make it out of this one?!

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 10

He’d suffered through quite a few ‘jokes’ at her hand already. He’d seen her supposed humor in action. From worms in his sandwich to having his shoelaces tied together, he’d witnessed it all.

WORMS IN HIS S- Okay Mirage you are the best. Thank you. Thank you so much for putting the spy boi thru so many pranks in your youth. What a blessing.

The next day, they were involved in a raid. One unfortunate sap had gotten his hands on the prank gun and as a result, two members of the smuggling ring had died. Nobody had laughed. He’d decided it was in his best interest not to confess to the prank. He’d also decided not to make another attempt at comedy- Not in the way he currently was.

THIS IS. A REVERSE-ENGINEERED JOKE. By that I mean, this would be the snappy, short & seemingly humorous statement that you would extract from this paragraph, or rather, that this paragraph could stem from:

“The phantom tried to pull a prank once.

Two people died.”

Those two sentences put together have a comedic effect about them on the reader.

It’s as if the story instead took the above two statements – a throwaway joke - and spun them into an actual, serious incident that happened and PUT IT INTO THE STORY. THAT’S WHAT IT IS IT’S A REAL THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE STORY I--- Oh my gosh. This is a reverse-engineered joke taken seriously I can’t believe it. I love it.

Okay, so we have a demonstration that the young phantom takes things in a painfully literal manner (consistent with other young phantom flashbacks) and that he flatly lacks a sense of humour…

It makes me wonder… Would a lack of emotions be inherently linked to being very literal? Would it mean one was not able to understand jokes? Even if one would not laugh or truly enjoy jokes, couldn’t one still be able to understand them on some level or learn to understand? The same goes for literal vs being able to understand rhetorical questions and figure of speech. Obviously this phantom had trouble with all of that when young, but I am unsure if there would necessarily be an inherent link among these things. Interesting to ponder.

Also… For all his struggles to understand jokes and humour in his youth, I certainly think that the phantom manages to develop his own sense of humour over time, and that there is evidence of them possessing a sense of humour both in Dual Destinies itself and earlier on in your fic series.

It is albeit a very dry sense of humour. Kind of twisted. BARELY there. But there nonetheless.

I think that the phantom, even if they cannot appreciate jokes, needs to know how to at the very least fake a sense of humour in order to properly impersonate people. Does being able to fake a sense of humour not mean that one would be required to at least possess some sliver of one themselves? The same goes for being able to understand figures of speech. Certainly something that can be picked up and learned, and is a necessity for the phantom to have a firm grasp on to impersonate properly. And of course, he must have become adept at both, given the amount of time he’s had to do so, the sheer amount of people he has impersonated, and how deep into the roles he tends to get.

OKAY THEN WE GET TH

THE PHANTOM TELLING JOKES AND I

I tell you what. On the first readthrough I just… yes, I lost it and I… really loved it. Too much? To the extent that, my “willing suspension of disbelief” wavered purely because of how great it was and how much I enjoyed it. “S-so good… So… fanservicey…!” The issues were not “believability” or “how this fits in the context of this story” but rather, “oh, this is SO good that it feels too good to be true” and my WSOD threatened to crack under the sheer weight of it alone. BECAUSE IT’S AS IF I FEEL LIKE I CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS I GUESS?

When reading a fanfic I suppose Willing Suspension of Disbelief, or what’s deemed “canon” or “out of character" is mapped onto two fronts: the canon of the source material and the canon of the fanfic itself. Some fanfictions of course, readily wave the source material’s canon aside in favour of setting up its own canon, wherein everyone acknowledges the canon of the source material in such cases is secondary and/or does not matter. Other fanfics, such as your fic series, map directly onto the source material (as well as having its own consistent canon) and therefore must appease “canon”, “willing suspension of disbelief”, etc. on both fronts, sometimes/usually keeping the two completely aligned.

And for me it wavered in both realms, which is preposterous. There is no basis whatsoever on which to consider this “OOC” because I cannot claim to know more than the author who wrote it, and I knew this. And besides, I wanted this anyway. I wanted to take this and add it to the canon of the series but because it was just SO good… Too good…! I couldn’t help questioning it like, “can I… can I really have this? Can I take this? This super awesome moment it’s… Can I really? There must be some kind of mistake, it’s way too good, I…!”

And then I pulled myself in line and told myself, You Know What? This is an awesome moment and I refuse to question it. I refuse to ruin my own fun. I’m taking it. I’m taking it because it’s fun. I’m taking it and running with it BECAUSE it’s so good and I love it and I shall not let it be cast aside. And I Shall relax and enjoy this for all it’s worth. Crush Thy Inner Killjoy.

I’M JUST. Not used to letting myself accept & enjoy things like this to this extent I guess, and that’s why…!

Sometimes I think about this scene and just lose it and oh my gosh. The phantom really did that. Awesome. Thank you.

Me: [regains composure after typing all that, continues reading when…]

TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HIM STICKING HIS TONGUE OUT OK I’M GONE AGAIN BYE AHAH

I’ve written up some stuff already for the next chapters too, but I’ll leave em for the next post~!

[gleekto]

Fic: Cupid In A Bottle

Summary: During Spin the Bottle at The Rachel Berry Trainwreck House Party Extravaganza, Sam’s spin lands on Kurt...and then on Blaine. Kurt thinks it’s a pretty evil trick that cupid is playing.

Canon compliant up to the party...Then a different ‘There you are...’

Kurt POV, then Blaine POV

Words: 2008

Cupid In A Bottle

“Ummmm.” Sam looks down sheepishly at the green glass Perrier bottle that has unambiguously stopped to point at him.

“Ummm,” Kurt mirrors back, cheeks pinkening as he sighs and starts with the inevitable, “You don’t have to,” and “I’m sure Rachel beside me has been waiting for the bottle to land on her.” 

It’s not that he doesn’t want to kiss Sam. Sam is a hot guy, a nice guy, and his friend. But he’s let go of the idea that Sam might play for his team (strike out) and has committed his valiant if unsuccessful efforts elsewhere. So if the bottle wants to play cupid tonight, its efforts would be better used on Blaine. 

So why put Sam through this when there’s - 

“No dude. It’s cool. I’m kind of curious, anyways,” Sam shrugs. “Just don’t think that it means I’m-”

“Yes, Sam. We all know you’re not gay,” Santana rolls her eyes and adds, “Well, I sure do,” and winks to make sure she’s being understood. Kurt is tempted to add that Yes, Santana, we all know you’ve slept with Sam, when she adds. “So get on with it, already. This is getting boring.”

So apparently this is happening. Kurt hears Blaine, sitting on his other side, breathe in as Sam approaches Kurt. Blaine whispers, “Oh my god, Kurt,” as Sam leans over and yup, kisses him. 

Sam has big lips - everyone knows that. And he must actually be curious because he doesn’t just plant a mandatory peck on Kurt’s mouth and back quickly away. Instead he lets his lips linger and soften and pull at Kurt’s top lip before letting go. Oh man.

“That was cool, dude!” Kurt is a bit dazed but he thinks he hears Sam utter some positive affirmation as he moves to sit back in his seat.  “Still prefer the chicks, though.” And the room groans around him as Kurt crawls into the middle, lips tingling and adrenaline buzzing. He kissed a boy. And he liked it. Even though he didn’t really want to kiss Sam. It was cool...dude.

Mercifully or mercilessly, Kurt’s bottle lands on Brittany and it’s over before he even thinks about it. Brittany then kisses Santana who somehow gets the bottle to stop on Sam again, determined to show the rest of them how it’s done. Puck and Finn ‘woop’ and Mercedes rolls her eyes at the over the top make out display. 

“I thought it was hotter when he kissed you, frankly.” Kurt turns sharply to Blaine whispering in his ear and it makes him hot all over. Kurt huffs. Blaine knows he has a crush on him. He knows.

“I guess that makes you gay, Blaine.” Sarcasm is the best defense.

“Did it-,” Blaine tries, “Did it, you know, feel nice?” Blaine looks at him - earnestly curious  - but also, something that turns his eyes darker. Alcohol, Kurt reminds himself.

“I guess,” Kurt tries for non-chalance and a beat goes by as Sam crawls back into the middle of the circle. But they’ve always been honest with each other, he’s his only gay friend, and why shouldn’t he tell the truth. So Kurt turns to him, “Yeah, actually,” and a smile involuntarily spreads across his face. “It felt really nice. Stubble,” Kurt giggles and whispers into Blaine’s ear and Blaine matches his smile but there’s a flash of what Kurt instinctively feels is jealousy. About Sam? Blaine barely knows him. Though he is hot.

You have got to be kidding me. Kurt’s jaw drops as Sam’s bottle spin stops right by him again. Only this time it is clearly not pointing at him but at his neighbour. Blaine. 

“I guess you’ll be able  to judge for yourself,” Kurt manages before turning to look at Rachel. Or Santana. Or literally anywhere but where Sam is kissing Blaine. He’s hot all over. And he is definitely raging with jealousy. You struck out, cupid.

“Oh my god, that’s hot,” Santana howls from across the circle and Kurt can’t resist despite himself. He looks. Like with him, Sam’s lips are pressed firmly to Blaine’s, Sam’s hand around Blaine’s neck. Blaine’s eyes are closed and he thinks he hears a little hum. Kurt is biting his lower lip hard enough to almost draw blood when Blaine’s eyes open and stare directly at him. Sam is still there, pressed to his mouth but Blaine’s eyes don’t move. It feels like a challenge. 

And then Sam pops up, claps his hands, high fives Blaine and sits back down. Blaine kisses Rachel and the game wraps up when the two of them can’t resist  singing a duet. Of course. While the music is blaring and Blaine is bopping on Rachel’s make shift stage, Kurt lies down on the floor and closes his eyes, images of Sam kissing him, Sam kissing Blaine, and Blaine’s eyes boring through him making him feel drunk like the rest of them.

...

“So?” Kurt knocks into Blaine’s shoulder as he plops down beside him on the couch as Blaine hands him a coke, performance itch sufficiently scratched for the evening. Blaine looks at him blankly. “Come on, Blaine.” More confusion. “Are you going to make me spell it out for you? Sam? The kiss?”

Blaine nods and smiles sheepishly. “You kissed him too. You know.”

“Know what? How Sam kisses?”

“Yeah,” Blaine nods. “You know, it’s good.” 

Well, this is turning out to be very unexciting. What is even the point of a gay friend whom you can’t have except for as a friend who won’t even talk to you about the obvious. It’s probably no big deal to Blaine, anyways. One of his many. “Doesn’t measure up to your others, Mr. Casanova?” The sarcasm drips out of him. It’s like his porcupine quills. 

“What? No.” Blaine looks confused. “You know I’ve never been with anyone, Kurt.” No, he didn’t. 

“Not even a hook up?”

“With all the hot teenaged gay boys hanging around Dalton?” Blaine waves his hand dismissively. Kurt closes his eyes, willing them not to give his heart away. 

“Yeah. Guess not.” Kurt says flatly and walks over to refill his coke.

...

Blaine feels the absence of warm, too close Kurt as he watches him walk over to the drinks. Blaine had just brought him a drink. Why did he leave just when they were starting to talk about things? The truth is that kissing Sam was nice, but not that nice. He was about to tell Kurt that he imagines it might be more exciting to kiss a gay guy when Kurt mistakenly took him for a casanova? Kurt witnessed his great failure of a Gap Attack. What gay guys does Kurt think he even has access to at Dalton?

Oh. Ohhhh. Oh shit. Blaine has been told that he can sometimes be clueless. Like accidentally saying literally the opposite of what he wanted to say. Kurt must want to kill him.

He’s been thinking about it since Valentine’s Day. I mean - who wouldn’t? Kurt actually is gay, and smart, and cute, but also his best friend. And he was sticking to his guns not to screw things up between them. Until about ten minutes ago - when literally every permutation of the New Directions were hooking up with each other, he’s had a beer, and he watched Kurt kiss Sam. Not him. Sam. And he couldn’t take his eyes off of the way Kurt’s chin jutted out and Kurt’s cheeks got pink and hot and he felt like he wanted to touch the heat. Then it was his turn and Sam was hot and willing and kissing back (at least for the requisite 10 seconds) but all he could think about, even after that kiss, was why am I sitting with this ridiculous group of drunk people, kissing a straight guy, watching Kurt kiss a straight guy, when Kurt is right here. God, he is clueless.

“Kurt.” Kurt doesn’t turn around. “Kurt,” Blaine says louder in his ear. Kurt turns now, eyes icy. “Can you come here for a sec?” Blaine motions to the quiet corner under the stairs, away from staring eyes and drinking games. Kurt huffs and follows him.

Kurt crosses his arms, puts his weight on his left hip, and rolls his eyes. And Blaine can’t help it, he laughs at the irony of what is actually happening versus what Kurt thinks is happening. Of course this causes Kurt to pivot on his heel and start walking away but not before he catches him.

Blaine grabs his arm, turns him back around and pulls Kurt as close to him as Kurt will allow. “Don’t go, Kurt. I’m sorry. I think you misunderstood something I said.”

“What that kissing Sam was hot?”

Blaine shakes his head. “It was nice. But Sam is straight, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Though sometimes I think you forget.”

“That Sam is straight?”

“No. That I’m gay.”

“That’s what I think you misunderstood.”

“Oh I understood. You made it perfectly clear on Valentine’s Day-” 

“I was wrong.” Blaine cuts Kurt off and reaches for him, using Kurt’s momentary surprise to take a deep breath and just go for it. Blaine shivers as he kisses Kurt with all the built up feelings let out of the bottle Blaine closed so tightly months ago. He thinks he hears Kurt mumble something like oompf and tense up but Blaine kisses him softly and openly, like Sam did, and the tension fades and then Kurt is kissing him too. Blaine puts the palm of his hand on the pink of Kurt’s cheek. Kurt mirrors him. They’re kissing. Really kissing. And he doesn’t want this to end after the requisite ten seconds so he tries to make Kurt want to stay. By putting his tongue, slowly and teasingly, into Kurt’s mouth. It feels so soft, and good, and tastes like a mint coke - 

Kurt pulls away. Shit. Blaine looks down and shudders. “That was too much, wasn’t it?”

“No,” Kurt says quickly. Blaine looks up and Kurt looks so hot. In both ways. And stunned. I just-”

“It’s just that you told me you liked me- You do still like me, right? I mean I hope-”

“Yes, Blaine. I still like you. But you just told me that I don’t even register as a gay guy at Dalton fit for-”

“That’s what I think you misunderstood,” Blaine blushes and he feels like they must match perfectly. “I haven’t kissed anyone before, Kurt. This is Lima. And Dalton. And there aren’t people for us to “hook up with” everywhere,” Blaine reminds. “And I guess I was waiting for a little romance? Not a hook up. Not a drinking game with a straight guy. Even a hot one.”

“So why now?” Kurt is still suspicious as he touches his own lips and Blaine can’t resist. He puts his hand over top of Kurt’s and traces them with him. It’s romantic. And hot.

“Other than just having the clueless knocked out of me?”

“Yes. What exactly knocked the clueless out of you at Rachel Berry’s drunken New Directions party?”

“You’re going to laugh.” Blaine can’t really believe it himself.

“Try me.”

“You’re going to think I’m shallow.”

“I doubt that.”

“When you kissed Sam,” Blaine pauses and chuckles at himself,  “I was jealous.”

“Me too. I mean when you kissed him. Obviously.” Kurt is shaking his head.

“I’d never kissed anyone before,” Blaine reiterates.

“Me neither. At least not one that counted.”

“Does Sam count?” Blaine flirts as he steps back into Kurt’s orbit, bodies close enough to alternate legs, arms on each other’s arms.

“I’m not sure,” Kurt says. “He wasn’t bad. I’m just not sure if it counts as a real kiss.” Blaine may be clueless but he’s pretty sure that Kurt is being coy. It’s new. He likes it.

“So what counts as a real kiss?” Blaine asks, inches from where he wants to be kissing Kurt again.

There is an awkward pause in the conversation as Kurt bites his lower lip, looking like he’s trying to find the right words. Blaine waits.

“Put your tongue back in my mouth, and I’ll show you.” 

Blaine doesn’t need to be asked again.

[brothersbeaumont]

Choices Fan Interview

I was tagged by @rileyanddrake! Thank you so much!!

Favorite book(s) and why: 1. The Royal Romance: I just love everything about the book. The characters are really fun, and I’m such a loser for princess stories. I just want to be a princess lol

2. Endless Summer: I just started Endless Summer like two weeks ago, but I am so hooked. I couldn’t stop playing it. It’s just really interesting, and I think it’s one of the better written ones out of all of them. 

3. High School Story: There’s some things I didn’t like about how the story was done, but it made me so emo for the original Surviving High School and High School Story games. I played SHS back when I was a freshman in high school so talk about nostalgia. Plus I just think they’re all precious little babies that I will protect forever. 

Your Mc’s LI for each story you’re playing: The Royal Romance: King Liam forever and always.   LoveHacks: Ben  Endless Summer: Jake Rules of Engagement: Leo The Freshman: James, but in the 3rd book I got so butthurt when he was in LA that I restarted it not dating him so I could go for Zig.  The Sophomore: Zig Hero: I started playing Hero, but haven’t really made any movements romantically.  High School Story: Michael  The Crown and the Flames: Raydan 

Favorite MC ship: MC x King Liam Least favorite MC ship: MC x Drake. I’m not a fan of Drake’s character at all. Although, I see other people shipping their MC with them and I can see it. With how I envision my MC it’s impossible for me to imagine them together.  Favorite non-MC ship: Craig x Zahra Least Favorite Non-MC ship: Elena x Alex Favorite character and why: Liam. Yes, I know I am way too into trr. I can’t even sum up into words how much I love his character. He’s just so thoughtful, and I’m such a sap for how much he puts MC before anything in his life. @lizzybeth1986 has some beautiful essays that really dissect his character, and just pain me with how wonderful they are. I’d really recommend to check them out!  Least favorite character and why: Aunt Mallory. I just don’t understand what her damage is. As much a roe can be so ridiculous at times I get really upset every time the cousin talks about all the horrible things she did to her growing up. It’s horrible that a parent would do that to their child.  Character you like but most people don’t: Olivia!!!! I love my prickly cactus.  Character you don’t like that most people do: Drake. Don’t hate me!! I don’t know what it is that makes me not like him. I see other people who ship him and MC and can see why they like him, but when I’m playing my game I’m like just step off Drake. I think I just get bothered by how much he would try and put MC down saying she didn’t know these people like he did. I know he was just trying to warn/protect her because of his sister, but it bothered me. I know he cares a lot about Liam, but he has such a huge issue with all these people at the royal court then I just don’t understand why he wouldn’t just leave too.  Which character are you most like in real life: That’s kind of hard for me. I think a mixture of trr MC and hss MC. I relate to trr MC because I’m definitely the type of person who would be okay with sweeping up my life like that and basically starting a new life. She has a lot of sense of adventure that I relate too. 

My hss MC reminds me so much of me when I was in high school though. She kind of is just making the most of her time there, and is occasionally kind of a badass.  If you could be in any choices story, what would you choose: Take a wild guess. The Royal Romance! Again, I want to be a princess so bad, and even though it’d be so hard to just get thrust into courtly life I’d be having so much fun. I want to wear ballgowns and feel like Cinderella .

I’m tagging the following people to do the interview: @lizzybeth1986 @violetflipflops @rr-roe-es I tried to look if you had gotten tagged already! I’m sorry if you have! 

[auburnfamilynews]

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Join in and let us know your predictions as well!

Unlike Week 1 (with Auburn-Oregon), and Week 2 (LSU-Texas, Clemson-Texas A&M), Week 3 doesn’t have any big marquee games. College Gameday is going to El Assico for crying out loud. That doesn’t mean we take a week off, though! Here are some of the other matchups on a rather bleak slate...

***IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE PICKS YOURSELF, JUST PUT THEM IN THE COMMENTS AND RYAN STERRITT WILL KEEP SCORE. MAKE SURE YOU PUT AN ACTUAL SCORE IN YOUR PICK AS WELL SINCE WE KEEP TRACK OF THE LINE AND THE OVER/UNDER***

UCF (-7) vs Stanford (O/U 58.5)

Stanford travels across the county to take on UCF. Stanford doesn’t look the same without their starting quarterback, and it’ll show. The UCF chants will continue to grow louder. UCF 31, Stanford 7 - Josh Dub

Did not see Stanford getting walloped by USC coming at all... Now they take on the 2017 national champs & you have to think the Golden Knights are pissed the Cardinal aren’t ranked anymore. Stanford is down their starting QB & both starting tackles. I think this one is all UCF. UCF 38 Stanford 17 - AU Nerd

My 2017 national champs are going to beat the Cardinal fairly soundly. Knights 35, tree 20 - Son of Crow

I’d love to pick the nerds in this one, but UCF takes a P5 win and we have to hear about them for a while longer. UCF 34 Stanford 27 - Josh Black

Lifelong Stanford fan here. It would be quite satisfying to see the Cardinal go into Orlando and stop this nonsense from UCF. Stanford gets KJ Costello back at QB this week after missing the USC game. Still, the Knights always seem to find a way to win and I’m afraid they’ll do the same this week. UCF 38 Stanford 34 - Will McLaughlin

KJ Costello has been cleared, so I thought that would help keep things close, but Stanford is also missing both of their tackles. That could be a problem against an athletic DL While I’m not impressed by Stanford’s defense, I think they slow this one down enough to hit the under. SP+ likes UCF by as much as 16, and this line has already moved up to UCF -8.5. I don’t love following the money, but I’ll take the extra 1.5 points. Central Florida 31, Stanford 19 (UNDER, UCF Wins and covers) - James Jones

Admittedly, I haven’t watched a whole lot of the Cardinal and I only saw one series of the UCF-FAMU game to start the season. That said, I know defense has started to not be a thing Stanford believes in and that plays directly into the Knights hands. I do think Stanford still has enough to go with the under but they don’t have the offense to stay close. 28-17 UCF - Drew Mac

If that USC team with a freshman backup quarterback can boat race Stanford, UCF should be able to do the same. I’m not familiar enough with either roster this year, but UCF is a sizable favorite in most projections. With the Knights being at home, give me UCF 34-21. - Ryan Sterritt

This is a weird match-up. Stanford in Orlando? What is this world coming to? That’s a long trip for the Cardinal to travel to play a non P5 school. Maybe that affects them a little. 2017-18 National Champions 24-10 - AU Chief

For some reason it always like Stanford is wearing over-large shoulder pads to me and it makes me not like them. That and their triple tight end offense and the fact that their win over Oregon in 2012 was one of the key cogs that put Bama into the title game that year. I hope UCF beats them bad. Knights 38, Stanford 21 - Jack Condon

South Carolina vs Alabama (-25) (O/U 60)

This is the CBS game of the week? Yikes. This one will be over by the 5th Alabama offensive play. South Carolina’s back-up quarterback, Ryan Hilinski, won’t have any success against this defense. Alabama 49, South Carolina 10 - Josh Dub

Remember when folks thought South Carolina would be a threat in the east last year? Welp... New freshman QB Ryan Hillinski looked good against Charleston Southern but I suspect he looks terrible this week. Gary will have all afternoon to fawn over Tua. Alabama 56 South Carolina 10 - AU Nerd

Yucky. As much as I want to see a replay of st. Stephen Garcia’s magnum opus, I don’t think the gamecocks have the horses to get it done this time. Plus I’ve met Steve spurrier and will muschamp is no Steve spurrier. (I haven’t met Steve spurrier) Tide 39, Scar 14 - Son of Crow

‘Member when Stephen Garcia had an out of body experience in 2010 against Alabama? I ‘MEMBER! But this Bama sleepwalking tour through the first 2 months of the season is not getting derailed in Columbia. Though someone will be very mad about winning a road conference game because he secretly hates his current state of affairs. I JUST WANT YOU TO GO FIND SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY, NICK! Bama 48 South Carolina 21 - Josh Black

Let me remind you that Auburn faces Georgia and Florida from the East this year. Alabama faces South Carolina and Tennessee from the East this year. Perhaps balancing the schedules would put more butts in the seats... oh wait, this games actually in Columbia, not Tuscaloosa. Never mind, Alabama rolls, ho hum. Alabama 52 South Carolina 10 - Will McLaughlin

The Gamecocks showed plenty of life on offense last week, even if it was Charleston Southern. I don’t usually like taking a road favorite with this big of a number, but I don’t think this is close. Alabama 41, South Carolina 14 (UNDER, Alabama wins and covers)

This is the toughest play on the board. Not the Bama covering part, but the O/U. I will go that this is a Saban Special. You know, the one where he wins but makes sure he keeps it close enough so you don’t think you should fire your coach because you kept it close with them. If you are thinking, “Drew, that’s dumb. No one thinks that way.” How much time do you have to go over the history of the state of South Carolina? 42-10 UAT - Drew Mac

No Head Ball Coach. No Stephen Garcia. No chance. Plus, former assistants never beat Saban, or ever come close really. Alabama 48-13. - Ryan Sterritt

The Fighting Coach Booms don’t stand a chance here. I feel bad for any Cock fan that has to sit outside in the raging heat and fetid humidity of this 2:30 CDST kickoff to watch this blood letting. Tide 55-6 - AU Chief

Nick Saban will keep it somewhat close by barely playing his starters into the third quarter, and when the third string gives up 10 points late, he’ll go thermonuclear and strangle a reporter or something. He also won’t run up the score on Muschamp too badly, for fear that he’ll get fired and Stephen Garcia may actually come run the offense or something. Bama 48, South Carolina 17 - Jack Condon

Iowa State vs Iowa (-1.5) (O/U 45.5)

Iowa’s quarterback, Nate Stanley, has been the star of the Hawkeyes so far. That’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge here. Iowa 21, Iowa State 14 - Josh Dub

This is actually a fascinating matchup. Iowa has come out strong to start 2019. Iowa State had a lot of preseason buzz then struggled to get by Northern Iowa. All the rankings that use fancy math like the Hawkeyes. Gotta trust math. Iowa 24 Iowa State 13 - AU Nerd

Ohhhhh the greatest tradition of all.....el assico. Iowa state might not be that good...even though they are ranked 26. Iowa? Who knows. This game is always weird and bad and I’m not gonna lie, I probably won’t be watching it. Cy wins 21-14 - Son of Crow

¡EL ASSICO! La batalla de los productores de maíz será una para las edades. Dos equipos que luchan por la supremacía para finalmente demostrar de una vez por todas quién es el mejor maíz. ¿El ganador? Iowa 23 Iowa State 14 - Josh Black

I’ll go out on a limb here since most folks are picking Iowa and take Iowa State. I know the opener against Northern Iowa was UGLY for the Cyclones but at home, they’ll be much more prepared for this one. Iowa State 20 Iowa 17 - Will McLaughlin

EL ASSICOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We’re robbed of this one being our only ranked game of the weekend by one spot (ISU is “26th”). I think this one will be the best game of the day. Give me the home dog and the over in an Instant Classic. Iowa State 34, Iowa 31 (OVER, ISU wins and covers)

EL ASSICOOOOO!! One of my favorite games for absolutely no reason! If I had to be a B14 fan, I think I would be an Iowa fan, so of course the Hawkeyes win! No reason, but yeah. I think this will happen. 17-14 Iowa - Drew Mac

This game is always dumb and unpredictable, which is the best kind of college football there is. I’m going to be rooting for our farm bros in Ames, but Iowa usually steals this game. Iowa QB Nathan Stanley has been pretty solid through two games, and I’m not sure I trust the Cyclone defense to slow him down. Iowa 27-17. - Ryan Sterritt

I guess this is interesting since it’s the two Iowa teams. I guess. BigXII vs B1G. And not one of the rare fun teams from either conference. Hawkeyes 28-27 - AU Chief

Iowa’s gonna win this and end up being a random team in the top five late at like 11-1 somehow, even though everyone knows they’ll have no chance to get into the playoff. I guess the Hawkeyes win, 23-21 - Jack Condon

Michigan State (-13) vs Arizona State (O/U 44.5)

Herm Edwards! Arizona State 30, Michigan 28 - Josh Dub

This is Michigan State in its purest form. Elite defense, dreadful offense. Herm Edwards has the Sun Devils off to a fast start behind true freshman QB but Sparty’s defense is a different beast. Given Michigan State’s hatred of offense they are always a team that can be upset if their defense gives up some cheap ones but I don’t think that happens here. Sparty gets it done. Michigan State 27 Arizona State 13 - AU Nerd

Jack. Gross. Devils 33-20 - Son of Crow

At the end of this I’m sure we’re all going to say what we’ve been saying for years…we should’ve considered Arizona State. Michigan State 24 Arizona State 10 - Josh Black

Sparty looks to avenge last year’s loss in Tempe. Arizona State struggled to put away Sacramento State last Friday night. Gotta feeling Sparty rolls in this one. Michigan State 34 Arizona State 17 - Will McLaughlin

Ew, really? This is the opposite of El Assico. I hope this game is on the Pac12 network so that I don’t accidentally start watching it. That’s a hilariously low total, but I’m still hammering the under. MSU 17, ASU 6 (UNDER, MSU wins, ASU covers)

Sparty’s offense has looked better for the first time in a decade so there’s that. Herm Edwards still coaches ASU so that’s another thing. I think that’s all we need here. 28-14 Victory for M-S-U - Drew Mac

Michigan State has a really good defense, and they should be able to smother the Sun Devil offense most of the night. Sparty’s offense isn’t too great, though, so I suspect this will be another super low scoring punt fest that East Lansing is so well known for. Give me Herm to win an upset, though. 19-13 Sun Devils. - Ryan Sterritt

Look, I’m a noted Arizona State uniform enthusiast. That’s the only thing that will is getting me to respond to this SECOND MATCHUP OF THE WEEK CONTAINING A B1G TEAM, COME ON JACK. I’m also a noted Herm Edwards skeptic. I’m seeing some places saying to take the over, but I just don’t see that myself. Michigan State isn’t exactly exciting on offense. Sparty 21-13 - AU Chief

Here’s the other team that’ll end up randomly being ranked in the top five late even though they’re no good. Michigan State’s not gonna lose to Herm again, are they? Not this time. Sparty 27, Sun Devils 13 - Jack Condon

BONUS: The best game Saturday to me and it’s not on here is Florida/Kentucky. Kentucky lost its starting QB for the year but Troy transfer Sawyer Smith will take over and I think he’ll be a suitable replacement. Kentucky beat Florida for the first time in my life last year in Gainesville. I think this is a close one but the Gators get the close win. Florida 27 Kentucky 24 - Will McLaughlin

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/9/12/20863250/staff-picks-college-football-week-3

[hoonface]

TAGGY GAMES #2

TAGGED BY @s-lay-ing thank you so much!! I had fun doing this <3 <3 Will tag... @healinghoshi (vicky pls dont tell me youre stressing too much TT-TT) @wonuthewhale (i will still tag you in these even though you dont do them >:D) @jisoosmeoli (CARMENNN) @vitaminniedk (vivienne!!) @jisoominghao JELLY WHERE ARE YOU TT-TT PLEASE TELL ME YOURE DOING OKAY <3 

Alright then, here we go: 

8 questions tag 😈

So you have to answer the questions that the person who tagged you made & then you have to come up with your own questions, as simple as that 😁

I ACTUALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHICH QUESTIONS I’M MEANT TO DO AND WHAT I’M NOT MEANT TO SO… YOLO (I’m so cringey I apologise)

1. what’s your favorite bridge in a song? (i know this is so difficult but i thought narrowing it to the bridge might help?? but back 2 u’s is honestly so good)

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT A BRIDGE IS EDUCATE ME

2. how many spoons can you balance on your face? (photo evidence is optional)

Nothing is tearing me away from the computer and this music that is coming from my headphones which is connected to my computer.

3. the ingredients you would put in your ideal smoothie are….

…the basics? Strawberry, milk, honey and such?

4. what was the defining moment that made your ult bias your bias?

Jihoon? It just kind of happened. It felt like he kind of just biased wrecked me way too much… I still have bias wreckers, definitely, but at the end of the day its always Jihoon that I love the most, and I think that’s the defining moment.

5. would you change your eye color if you could? if so what color? (it can be natural or not have fun w it lol)

…tbh I think I’m fine with this, I can’t imagine myself with anything else.

6. what are your favorite physical and personality traits of your top bias(es)? (alternatively just your fave picture of our bias if you can’t pick actually just include your fave picture bc why not)

JIHOON

Physical? His arms? Like what? No? What? Happened? Why? Is he suddenly?

Personality? He is kinda like tsundere but you can really tell he loves his members. He’s always so humble, despite being so amazing and I just love him. A tough exterior covering a soft and caring Jihoon <3

Choi Seungcheol

Physical: …his body in general? I mean like if you watch him dance in Mansae, his legs move in a really satisfying way (why do I feel like I’m saying something wrong) but like his arms are really nice too?

Personality: I just. This boy. He’s so incredibly hardworking and he clearly loves his members and takes care of them like he’s their father, he’s always so humble and selfless. Always thinks of others before himself <3

7. do you have a go-to video to make you laugh/cheer you up?

Honestly, just SVT in general. Their videos always make me feel better <3

8. end w your favorite quote/emoji/emoticon(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

Loving you is a blessing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AGAIN, DO I DO THESE? I’m sorry if I’m not meant to but here goes nothing:

1. If you could have any idols hairstyle past or present whose would you choose?

…isn’t it like a no brainer? YoON JEONGHAN’S LONG HAIR.

2. If you could take your bias group or just your bias and put them into another universe i.e. wizarding world or similar what world would you but them in? And why?

………………………………………………………………………………………?

3. Fave idol outfit? doesn’t have to be your bias just any outfit you’ve liked! Provide pictures if you want!

The time SEVENTEEN WAS AT SBS GAYO DAEJUKCHAE? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS CALLED BUT THE PRINCE OUTFITS WERE SO DAMN NICE OH MY GOD  

4. Favorite fancam? Im a fancam ho I need recs plx.

Oooooh, I had a whole google document of this and now I have no idea where it went…uhhh… there are definitely some that I love….. . . … … . .THE FANCAM OF CHEOL AND HOSH TALKING TO THE KID I AM D E A D

5. What are your favorite girl group non title songs, if you don’t have any what are your favorite gg mvs?

I don’t listen to girl groups that much? Please don’t take offense, I promise I have nothing against girl groups, but when I do listen to them they’re mostly title tracks.

Favorite video: … no idea

6. If you could create your own group drawing from all other groups regardless of companies who would you choose and what would there concept be?

…the disadvantages of being only SVT biased, you have no idea how to answer this question XD

7. so you are going to a music festival and in this dream world you get to decide all the ppl/groups that are going to be there, who would you choose? It doesn’t just have to be Kpop!

LOL I CAN’T ANSWER THIS EITHER I’M NOT MULTIFANDOM XDD

8. If you could have any talent in the world what would you want it to be? I would want to be in anyway musically inclined rip me tbh.

The talent to be good at everything :DDDD

———————————–

Now, my questions:

1_ Thoughts on paying for a hitouch?

I’m not that sure tbh, what exactly is a hitouch? Do I get to talk to them?

2_ Now, if your favorite group/artist (kpop or not) chooses you to go on stage to perform with them…do you think you could do a great job?

Hell no. I have no performing skills whatsoever.

3_ (CHOREOGRAPHY WISE) Adore u or Shining Diamond? Mansae or Rock? Pretty u or Chuck? Boom Boom or Smile Flower doesn’t have a choreo so Highlight? Don’t wanna cry or Crazy In Love?

Adore U, Mansae, Pretty U, Smile Flower, Don’t Wanna Cry.

4_ Is there a song you absolutely adore from an artist/group you don’t really stan/like?

EXO CBX’S HEY MAMA OH MY GODDDD I’M STILL ADDICTED

5_ Name your Top 10 non title kpop songs 🎶 (songs that aren’t the main single nor the second song they tend to promote along the main one)

I have no idea.

6_ if you’ve had your first job already: what’s the very first thing you bought with your first paycheck? If you haven’t had a job yet, what’s the most meaningful item you own?

I can’t exactly say I own my family and friends, but that’s what I’m saying.

7_ Have you ever tried to do something you’ve seen on social media? (Recipes, make up tutorials, a viral challenge, a DIY etc) if so, what have you attempted to do?

No XD

8_ Right now at this very exact moment the three leaders of Seventeen go to wherever you are w/ a camera crew and all that jazz to say you were chosen to participate with them and one friend of your choice in a new edition of OFD (in your country obvi). Now: where did they find you? Which friend would you pick (can be from anywhere)? and if you had to pick between the three units, which one would you join? (😜😜😜)

Where did they find me? …at my house? Is that strange? I would pick my best friend probably, she loves Seventeen too. What IS THAT LAST QUESTION OH MY GODDDD ……………………………………… .       . . . bu-buT TT-TT vocal unit it is~

Bonus question bc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: is there a movie you consider is beyond underrated? I need movie recommendations 😁

I don’t watch movies a lot XD but I personally think Pitch Perfect 1 didn’t really meet my expectations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Questions game:

I’ve done this before but I’ll leave this here for the people I’ve tagged~

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag some blogs you would like to get to know better!

• Name:

• Height:

• Ultimate bias:

• Nicknames:

• Zodiac sign:

• Favourite fruit:

• Favourite season:

• Favourite colour:

• Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?:

• Favourite animals:

• Last TV show I watched:

• Dream trip:

• Last movie I watched:

• Number of blankets you sleep with:

• Song stuck in my head:

• What kind of stuff do you post?:

• Last thing you googled:  

• Side-blog:

• Following:

• When did you make this blog: main blog?

• Do you get asks regularly:

• Why did you choose your URL:

• Average hours of sleep:

[marcoshassanlevy]

Marcos Hassan

With the proliferation of the music festival economy, there’s hardly any need for fanfare when a festival reaches its 10-year anniversary. However, in the case of Mexico’s NRMAL, 10 years marks a milestone that few events of its scale are capable of. Considering that NRMAL’s story includes bands that made their debut in Mexico 40 years after their inception to collateral violence from the war on drugs, it’s a miracle NRMAL has reached this watershed moment, let alone established itself as one of the most beloved festivals in Latin America. To say it’s worth celebrating is an understatement.

NRMAL has become one of the most important festivals in Mexico, without attracting massive crowds or relying on excessive corporate branding. Over the course of its 10 editions, the festival has booked artists from across the globe, including alternative legends like Slowdive, Psychic TV, and Brujería, to early appearances of soon-to-be game-changers like Grimes, Twin Shadow, and Omar Souleyman. And of course, its Latin American and Latinx talent has included current favorites like Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, Las Robertas, Alex Anwandter, Dávila 666, Javiera Mena, Los Mundos, Meridian Brothers, Föllakzoid, and many others. NRMAL is also an effort to build bridges between different communities, forging transnational alliances within the musical community, especially in Latin America. It’s a festival for the music-obsessed and a gathering that feels more like an annual reunion of family and friends. Rather than paying attention to trends or unachievable economic growth, NRMAL has chosen to evolve along with its listeners.

“It’s still a small festival,” director Moni Saldaña says during an interview at NRMAL’s headquarters. “It’s been very difficult to keep this going so we’re really happy that we’re still doing it, that we’re still here and most importantly, that we’re still doing it our way. It’s the type of festival we want to do and we keep booking the types of bands we want, so it’s a great feeling.”

Festival NRMAL 2011. Courtesy of NRMAL

The festival organizers’ main priority has always been to host the event without compromising any major part of their eclectic, independent vision, and they manage to achieve this through some careful planning. Unlike most major fests, NRMAL comes to life thanks to a team of just five people. They have shut down most of their other enterprises – among them hosting smaller events, running venues, an agency, and a blog – to focus on the festival itself. As a result, NRMAL provides a more honest experience for fans, without making attendees feel like every inch of of the grounds is occupied by brand logos. “Nobody involved is a businessperson and that makes me happy,” Saldaña shares. “We don’t do it for the money, we do it because we’re music fans. Every time we have to make a decision we say, ‘if we were the audience, would we like this?’ I don’t think we’re the perfect festival or the ideal festival experience, but I believe we make a difference, we try to be honest with fans and artists. They know when something is bullshit. They feel close to us because we have been upfront about our mistakes and stuff.”

NRMAL also has a rare sense of transparency when it comes to the visibility of its staff. Moni regularly grants interviews leading up to the festival, and in past editions, the team has hosted keynotes and workshops about the independent music business through NODO, a platform founded by Alfonso Muriedas, who is one of the five members of the NRMAL team. Even founder Pablo Martínez, who has maintained some anonymity, granted an interview with The Creative Independent in 2017. Saldaña thinks this openness has benefited the festival. Her role as a director has made a difference as well, resulting in invitations to speak at roundtables and conferences supporting women’s empowerment initiatives.

Festival NRMAL 2013. Courtesy of NRMAL

“It’s not my intention to become the face of the festival,” says Saldaña. “But I’m aware of my position and I have something that maybe some people need to hear. When I was younger, I used to say shit like, ‘if I was a boy, maybe I could join a band’ and that’s how I grew up. Now, most men who run festivals have a right-hand woman who gets things done and kicks ass. Believe me, I know them. All of them. But there’s no visibility for these women. In this age, and especially in this country, it’s important to me as a woman to have that visibility. It’s important to let women know there’s another way.”

Well before conversations about the representation of marginalized artists at major festivals, NRMAL demonstrated a commitment to diversity, whether it was about sound, geography, or gender. Currently, NRMAL is the festival with the most women and non-binary performers in Mexico; 70 percent of these artists were featured in its 2019 edition. This eclecticism is inherent to the festival’s origins; organizers would initially invite bands to Monterrey from SXSW to play in Mexico. Ever since, it has remained a priority to book artists that otherwise would not be able to visit the country.

NRMAL began a few years before the first edition of the festival in 2010. Pablo Martínez and Lucas Cantú set out to build a local scene through shows and parties (Cantú has since left NRMAL, but Martínez remains the fest’s CEO). At the time, Moni Saldaña – a lifelong music fan who would drag her friends to shows from an early age – was a college student who was switching career paths and working part-time at a magazine. Having fallen in love with their events, she wrote an email to the NRMAL blog, offering to write concert reviews. When the first festival was coming together, Saldaña volunteered and ended up contributing to every aspect of the festival without any prior experience.”I almost flunked an exam because of NRMAL!” she says. After that, Martínez asked her to formally join the team.

Girl Ultra performing at NRMAL 2017. Courtesy of NRMAL

Prior to NRMAL, music festivals were not the most common live music experiences in Mexico. After the legendary Avandaro Festival in 1971, which resulted in significant government censorship, no major music festivals took place in the country until the first edition of Vive Latino in 1998. In the 2000s, heavily sponsored festivals featuring international acts like Manifest, Mx Beat, and Sonorama, as well as a Mexican version of the electronic Mutek festival, began yearly traditions before the bubble burst around 2009, when most of these were canceled for good. Only Mutek survived. Coinciding with the first NRMAL, OCESA – the world’s third biggest international promoter and entertainment agency – launched their own alternative music festival, Corona Capital, marking a new era of music festivals in the country.

Before NRMAL could really get off the ground, violence had already presented itself as a challenge. The week following the first edition, two students were killed by soldiers who mistook them for an armed group that had fired at them earlier on March 19. On August 29, 2011, members of the Zetas cartel stormed and set fire to the Royale casino in Monterrey. The war on drugs escalated violence in the city to unprecedented heights. In 2010, another festival, MtyMx, had most international acts canceling their appearances at the last minute due to security concerns. “All the local people were like ‘what the fuck is happening?’” remembers Saldaña.

However, the second edition of NRMAL continued as planned, with just Las Robertas, Thee Oh Sees, and Silje Nes making the trip abroad. “[That edition] was a statement about not letting the flame burn out. We couldn’t let the situation kill us so we said ‘fuck it’ and did the fest. We had some advantage because La Alianza Francesa [the festival venue] is located in San Pedro and allegedly was agreed to be off-limits by the local government and narcos.”

Thankfully, violence in Monterrey subsided in the following years, allowing NRMAL to march on. By 2013, NRMAL leveled up and booked more than 100 acts to perform between the main event and various showcases, something that Saldaña says nearly broke her. “On Sunday, I called Pablo crying, told him I was quitting, and he told me that everything was going to be okay, and that was that. From then on, we could do no wrong.”

Jesse Baez performing at NRMAL 2017. Courtesy of NRMAL

In 2014, to celebrate five tumultuous and successful years, NRMAL decided to throw two festivals, one in Monterrey and another in Mexico City, an ambitious endeavor that the team pulled off. However, the following edition came with the biggest change in their history: a permanent move to Mexico City. Struggling with adequate venues and elusive permits from the local government, the team found a more inviting environment in the nation’s capital, but that didn’t make it an easy choice. “We tried to keep the two festivals,” says Moni. “We wanted the best for NRMAL and it made sense to move to Mexico City. It was a tough decision because most of us are from Monterrey, but it was necessary to keep running the festival as best as we could.”

“NRMAL wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t born in Monterrey,” Saldaña continues. “We didn’t have access to many things; there was no scene. We built something we wanted to see, made a festival so we could see bands that we couldn’t otherwise. I’m not sure if it could have started anywhere else.”

For the 10th edition of NRMAL, a typically eclectic selection of artists – from Spiritualized to Canalón de Timbiquí to Death Grips to Michelle Blades & Los Machetes – took over the grounds of Deportivo Lomas Altas, in Mexico City. Judging by this year’s installment, one thing remains clear: the festival’s commitment to forging bonds within the musical communities of Latin America and the world, but especially within the Mexican scene. Crowds showed up early to witness local underground legends-in-the-making El Shirota and Vyctoria, and grew larger by the time Latin American dream pop messengers Rubio and Sexores took the stage. There has been a continuous boost in attendance, and the 2019 edition was no exception, without any of the troubles that come with crowded festivals. This is no coincidence; Saldaña tells us that their idea of expansion doesn’t mean attracting more people to the festival, but rather creating a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved. “It’s horizontal growth rather than vertical growth,” she says.

Next year, there will be another edition of NRMAL and with it, more chances of experiencing something otherworldly within the reaches of music fans all over. But for now, there’s the matter of celebrating 10 years of a day for every kind of music fan to enjoy as much as they can. As for the team behind this, it’s a source of happiness. “For me, it’s like, ‘fuck! Has it really been 10 years?’” says Saldaña. “I feel privileged. It’s a dream come true that I do this for a living, something I love so much.” When there’s so much passion for music gathered in one place, the product can only be something very special and memorable. As ubiquitous as festivals have become, it’s refreshing to find a true celebration of music.

Monday, March 4, 2019 at 1:30 PM EDT

[shamelesssoulkidvoid-blog]

Lesson #41 PURE CHEMISTRY

We all know love in one way or another, that wonderful feeling that puts you in the clouds, that makes everything more beautiful and colorful, that fills your soul with peace and joy ...

Okay, that's not what you have with him. What you have is a chemistry of the reconshasumare # ForgivingFrench. Because you were quite ready for the prince charming, you already had an idea of ​​whether the wedding would be day or night, what last name would sound nice with yours and if it would be ideal to have 3 children a little followed so that they can keep company. Yes, we are all a little crazy in that sense #LaPuntaDelIceberg. For what you were not ready and you were not properly prepared by the romantic comedies, it is for this character that has you on, unarmed, with the blood made lava and the head on strike. That, to which you have a desire to fuck.

We all know that love at first sight are pure hoaxes. It was probably invented by the gringos to boost the actions of Disney. Love requires time, trust and intimacy. Nobody falls in love with a look. Unless this look is:

I leave my spirit in your hands

But if you have ever felt electrified at the first contact with someone, strangely idiotic by this person without even knowing it well, then undo the belt buckle because it is likely that you are facing a case of explosive chemistry and that is a trip of no return .

Suddenly you see yourself more anxious than a student who is handed your final exam # I hope that NoHome has begun for the Most High Note. You think of him followed obsessively, it's like having opened a bag of fried dads, you just can not stop. Your imagination is not busy designing the wedding dress, but going over the wedding night. You start to set a record of "more time spent thinking about someone's mouth" # MommyIt'sElGuiness. You get surprised giving yourself a series of negation speeches like "no es pa 'tanto" "are my ideas" "I have to stop reading 50 shades of gray" until you get back in touch with him and fuck this shit, it's true, you want to throw yourself over like a jaguar. Then you go to the second stage, that of the asshole attempt to control the situation. Try to start the game of always, to impose your rules, make yourself a little at first, "see what happens" without hurry .... #ControlFreakBitchPlease so useless your action as trying to contemplate the landscape driving in a Formula 1 race. Get ready to enjoy the show of how it sets all your resolutions on fire by just touching you # This Body Can Auto Destroy In 2..2.1, how it stops to watch you, pack of matches in hand and you bathed in gasoline. Discover yourself laughing alone, like crazy, reviewing all those delicious unmentionable things you want to do with it.

Yes, that's the chemistry, so lethal that you feel it so they're not face to face, go through screens and travel kilometers if necessary. It is so strong because it is not just attraction, it is connection. Intellectual chemistry You want to bite her neck and you want to talk. You want a little of everything that is he, like someone who has to feed a new vice.

Does it become romance? Not always, however illogical it sounds #LifeIsABitch. Chemistry generates a bubble that can be easily broken by reality, by the discovery of non-negotiable incompatibilities.

Chemistry is irrevocably a matter of two. One active element to the other. Therefore the good news is that he is in the same # Dehydrating For Seconds, the bad, have entered a whirlpool that may well prove to be extremely fun as well as exhausting and it is a thin line that separates the spark from the absolute combustion.