#i thought some party denny brought her to ??

[mysticfallsresidents]

@duquete sent from dennison duquette jr to katherine pierce : "i thought you promised to behave."

⚰️   ――――        KATHERINE  NEVER  PLAYED  BY  THE  RULES,  SHE  WASN'T  A  FAN  OF  BEING  TIED  DOWN  TO  SUCH  SIMPLE  TASKS.  what  was  the  fun  of  life  if  it  wasn't  for  the  surprises  and  unexpecting  twists?  of  course,  she  had  promised  denny  that  she'd  behave  for  him  but  she  was  growing  bored  at  this  party.  it  was  full  of  dull,  old  people  who  wanted  to  talk  about  stocks  and  their  daughter  making  the  honor  roll;  shit  that  doesn't  matter  in  the  grand  scheme  of  things.  they  don't  know  what  the  truth  of  life  was  and  that  was  to  take  it  by  its  balls  and  run  with  it.  katherine,  in  all  katherine  fashion,  had  taken  it  upon  herself  to  liven  up  the  party  purely  for  her  own  entertainment. 

KATHERINE  HAD  BEEN  STUCK  IN  A  DREADFUL  CONVERSATION  WITH  A  MUNDANE  WOMAN.  she  was  going  on  and  on  about  the  expensive  things  she  had  in  her  little  mansion  and  it  was  beginning  to  grow  tiresome.  she  sighed  deeply  in  frustration  before  grabbing  the  woman's  hand  and  staring  deeply  into  her  eyes,        ❛      why  don't  you  go  be  interesting  for  once  in  your  boring  life  and  find  someone  that  isn't  your  old  husband  and  make  out  with  them     ?     cause  a  scene,  make  this  night  something  people  wouldn't  rather  kill  themselves  instead  of  getting  through  it      ❜     she  compelled,  her  eyes  dilating  as  she  did  so  and  the  woman  didn't  waste  another  moment  in  getting  up  and  proceeding  with  katherine's  wishes.  a  giddy  grin  stretches  her  lips  but  it  quickly  fades  when  she  hears  denny's  voice  from  behind  her,  scolding  her,      ❛      oh  come  on,  i  was  bored       ❜     she  groaned,  spinning  in  her  stool  and  looking  up  at  him  with  innocent  doe  eyes.  she  reaches  up  to  grab  the  collar  of  his  shirt,  bringing  him  down  to  her  level  so  their  lips  almost  meet,        ❛       what  did  you  expect  when  you  brought  me  to  this  party,  denny     ?     this  is  no  fun.  besides,  you  always  liked  it  when  i  misbehave   —   gives  you  a  chance  to  scold  me       ❜     she  slyly  smirks,  biting  down  on  her  bottom  lip.

[megantheestallion-ismypresident]

"Drunk n Nasty"

Duke Dennis x Black!fem reader

Summary: You got drunk at a party, and your boyfriend brings you home, but you couldn't keep his hands off him so you and your boyfriend get.... nasty.

Duke carried Y/n bridal style to get inside the house, Y/n was so drunk she couldn't even walk straight in her heels, they were at a party that her and her boyfriend were invited to. Y/N was having fun dancing with her boyfriend, but she had one drink, which led her to another after another.

"Baby, I'm tired. Are we home?" Y/n said lazily.

"Yeah, we home baby, let me get you to bed." Duke said as he carried Y/n to their room.

"I'm boutta go get you some water, to sober you up." Duke peck Y/n on the lips.

Duke leaves the room going to get a glass of water for Y/n. Y/n was drunk but horny as well. But she only was drunk and acting out because Duke stopped having sex with her, since he was busy with streaming, and Y/n didn't want him to stop doing what he loves, so she she didn't say anything.

Y/n gets out of her silky black dress, leaving her in her bra and underwear.

"I got you some water." Duke said as he brought a glass of water, but he was awestruck looking at Y/n's body.

"Damn." Duke thought to himself.

"Thanks, baby." Y/n said as she took the glass of water from his hand,drinking it seductively, looking at Duke with her doe eyes.

Y/n places the glass of water on the nightstand, coming closer to Duke, wrapping her hands around his neck.

"I want you to fuck me right now, bae." Y/n whispers in Duke ears as she takes of his shirt leaving him shirtless as Y/n caresses his chest looking at his tattos

" I was thinking bout you at the party, I was so wet for you, I was thinking about you deep insi-" Y/n was cut off ass Duke passionately kisses Y/n making her sit down on the bed.

"Lay down on the bed, baby." Duke said demandingly.

Y/n lays on the bed her legs wide open, Duke slowly takes off Y/n's underwear. Duke slowly comes closer in between Y/n's thighs, kissing and licking her thighs to her core, making Y/n moan.

"I know how badly you love this pussy, baby." Y/n smirks.

" Oh, you know baby." Duke kisses Y/n clit as he eats Y/n out, Y/n moans as Duke eats her out like a starved man, Y/n hasn't been eaten out in so long she forgot how good it was.

"Don't stop, baby, I love you." Y/n says as Duke was eating her out, she was playing with her tits.

"Imm bouttta cum baby." Y/n said as she feels herself about to cum.

" Cum for me, baby." Duke said.

Y/n cums as she lets out the most loud pornagraphic moan, which turn on Duke even more.

" I wanna be on top, baby." Y/n says as grinding her ass on Duke teasingly.

"Anything for you." Duke said, looking down at Y/n's ass slapping it, making Y/n smile as she looked back at him.

Duke unbuckle his pants, leaving him completely naked, making Y/n turned on. Duke makes it in the bed with Y/n as Y/n gets on top of Duke. Duke inserts himself inside of Y/n, making her moan.

" Duke, baby, you're so big. I can't take it." Y/n says as she rides duke, it was very painful but so pleasurable she couldn't stop.

"Cmon, I know you can take it. You've been begging for this." Duke says teasingly at Y/n. Y/n could never get mad at Duke he was too fine.

All you heard was skin slapping, Y/n was now bouncing on duke's dick, as she moans in pleasure, Duke groans as he stares at Y/n's tits, Y/n's hair was getting in her face, Duke moves the hair out of her face but she takes his fingers and sucks them seductively as she moans.

Duke cums as he stares at Y/n licking and sucking his fingers making him cum quick.

"Looks like you cum first, baby. What you couldn't take me?" Y/n says teasingly at Duke.

" Shut yo fine ass up." Duke said to Y/n kissing her as Y/n smiles to the kiss.

"I love you, bae. I'm sorry I haven't paid much attention or given you the needs you want." Duke said seriously, looking at Y/n.

"It's okay,baby. I don't want you to feel bad about yourself, ion like seeing you upset." Y/n pecks duke's lips as she got down from being on top of him, hugging him.

"You wanna do a round two in the shower?" Duke says, smiling down at Y/n.

" You are such a horny ass nigga." Y/n softly laughs, looking at duke with so much love in her eyes.

" But that offer sounds like something I tempt on doing." Y/n says seductively, getting out of bed walking to the bathroom.

" You coming?" Y/n says, looking back at Duken

"Oh, I'm coming." Duke said as he quickly came over to Y/n, as Y/n laughs at Duke's eagerness.

[universecorp]

Hearbeat pt.2 Teaser

Summary: After starting a situationship with your best friend from high school, things start to become complicated. Especially when you start to catch feelings.

Jaehyun x Reader Haechan x Reader (In pt2 and 3 )

w.c.: 2.3k

Genre: Comedy, smut, and angst

Warnings: Sexual themes, small argument

PLAYLIST: ♡

Sitting in a Dennys at 2:00 AM is not how you expected your night to end. You and Donghyuck had spent the better part of an hour talking and getting to know each other. He was easy to talk to, and funny, you didn’t feel like you were forcing any of your reactions which made you feel a lot more at ease than usual.

“Wait, you're Haechan? The streamer?” Donghyuck nodded, shoveling a scoop of hash browns into his mouth. “That’s so fucking crazy, my best friend loves your streams. We used to fuck and I remember one time he got the notification for your stream and stopped mid fuck to watch you.” Donghyuck nearly choked on the strip of bacon he was munching on.

“Please tell me you’re joking.” You shook your head. “That’s so sick, did he at least like pick up where he left off while watching?” Another shake. 

“I had to push him on his back and ride him.” Donghyuck laughed loudly, catching the attention of most of the other late night eaters, but it was clear he didn’t care. 

“Now that I think about it, there was this one time I read a comment and it deadass said ‘I was fucking my girl and stopped to watch.’ I thought it was probably a troll, but that might’ve been him.”

You scoffed, shaking your head once again. “There’s no way that was him, he would never refer to me as ‘his girl’ it would be kind of funny if that was him though.” Donghyuck hummed in agreement, it was all he could do since he didn’t even know Jaehyun. 

There was a small awkward silence filled only with the sounds of plates clinking and light chatter from the other patrons. Donghyuck looked like he was having a debate with himself befofe hr finally opened his mouth. “Look, uhm, I don’t usually do this, I honestly don’t usually take my hookups to pre-breakfast either, but I was wondering if I could get your number?” 

You were a bit shocked. You thought maybe this was normal and Donghyuck was just one of those nice guys who treated his fucks to post coiatal meals. Hearing otherwise brought a bit of heat to your cheeks. 

“So uh… is that a no? Don’t leave me hanging here.”

“Oh no, wait no, I mean yes! Yes… you can have my number.” 

“You’ve been smiling at your phone a lot lately. You and big head aren’t fucking again right?” Minjeong was doing your nails on the floor of your dorm, and you were definitely making it hard since you were texting Donghyuck with the hand she was trying to get you to dry. 

“Of course not. I’m texting a new guy, I met him at that party me and Jae went to.” Minjeong perked up at the mention of a new guy. Talks like these reminded you of being a teenager, but they were always relaxing. You seriously owed Minjeong some girl time anyway with how far up Jaehyun’s ass you had been for the past year.

“So what’s his name?”

“Donghyuck, he goes here obviously, also get this, ” Minjeong leaned in “he’s that streamer that Jae likes a lot.”

“No way!?” Minjeong gasped, she accidentally swiped a little polish on your finger, but you didn’t mind.

You nodded, smiling basically ear to ear. “Yes way, and he’s so cute. He’s telling me how he wants to take me on a date this weekend!” You closed your phone to give Minjeong your undivided attention while she swiped acetone over her previous mistake.

“I’m happy for you, I know I was kind of an ass with all the ‘I told you so’, but I really just wanted you to be with  someone who treats you for what you’re worth.” You knew that, but hearing it felt really good. You always knew Minjeong was just looking out for you, but she also knew that whatever you felt for Jaehyun wasn’t going away like magic. Even now you sometimes felt a twinge of what you used to when he did certain things, but it wasn’t as strong as it was a month ago. 

“It’s ok Minnie, I know you only had my best interest.” You brought your nails hand up to blow on the wet polish. “Look on the bright side though, I went through all that and now I've learned my lesson. No more wasting time or energy on people who don’t deserve it.” 

Minjeong jostled your shoulder, “That’s my girl.”

 A week later you were with Donghyuck in his apartment, playing a co-op game called “it takes two” that he specifically bought for the date. He turned on his twitch to stream, but he left his mic off to enjoy the moment with you. He was ticking so many boxes and even Minjeong gave him the stamp of approval when he met her a couple hours ago. Everything today was perfect, he bought you flowers, ordered from your favorite takeout place and even surprised you with slippers for you to wear around the apartment. You had been seeing each other for about a month now so you figured he would be asking you to be his girlfriend soon, but you were in no rush. His gestures meant the world to you and even then just his presence was enough for you to feel satisfied. 

Now the two of you were snuggled up side by side, controllers in hand and your head on his shoulder. Nothing could ruin this moment, nothing except your phone which had been buzzing on the nightstand for a good two minutes. “Hey babe, I can pause if you wanna get that?” You looked up at Donghyuck with a small pout before shaking your head. You felt bad that whoever was calling you clearly didn’t get the memo that you were busy. 

“We can keep playing, I’ll talk and play, m’sorry.” Donghyuck waved it off as he waited for you to answer your phone. You rolled your eyes slightly when you saw Jaehyun’s photo, but still answered the facetime call. “What’s up loser?” You sounded less than enthused, but he should’ve expected that since you ignored his calls for two minutes. 

“God what crawled up your ass and died weirdo and why aren’t you showing your face?” Jaehyun scoffed as if his facetime screen wasn’t paused.

“Just the fact that you’ve been calling me for two minutes. What the fuck did you want? I’m kinda busy.” You cursed under your breath since you and Donghyuck failed the game stage for the fifth time. 

“First of all, I wanted to see if you wanted to grab dinner and come watch a movie, I’ll buy obviously. Second of all, if you’re gonna lie about being busy at least make it believable, I can hear you playing a game in the background.” Jaehyun had some fucking nerve assuming you would lie to him about being busy, but you weren’t gonna fight about it. You were gonna be civil. Even though Donghyuck had heard the way you and Jaehyun talked to each other before, he was a little annoyed that the other man was accusing you of lying. 

“Jae, I’m on a date and we’re playing a game, so I actually am very busy. 

“Wait… are you playing ‘it takes two’?” Jaehyun didn’t know about Donghyuck. He knew you had been on dates, but since he didn’t ask who with, you didn’t bother telling him it was Donghyuck A.K.A. his favorite streamer. 

“Yeah, with my date.” You knew you sounded like a bitch, but you didn’t care. Jaehyun had barely been hanging out with you and even then it seemed like he only wanted to when he was bored. You were trying to follow Minjeong’s and your own advice and stop wasting time on people that don’t deserve it.

“If you’re actually playing a game with your date, show your face and his, then show the tv.” You were so close to hanging up on Jaehyun, but when you saw the screen pause and suddenly your phone was being held up by Donghyuck. 

Donghyuck didn’t look happy. All of the irritation must have been building up to a point where even Jaehyun looked concerned. “Look, Jaehyun, I get it, you’re bored. I’m sure you miss having Y/N at your beck and call because you knew she would drop anything for you before.” Jaehyun opened his mouth to speak, but one glare from Donghyuck had him closing it immediately. “Those times are past and whatever sick game you’re playing at needs to stop. Got it?” The silence on the line was loud, Donghyuck knew he made his point. “Good. Now I’m going to go back to playing games with my girlfriend, enjoy the stream Jaehyun.” With that he pressed the end call button with a sigh and immediately after you were straddling the man.

“Girlfriend huh?” 

Donghyuck set his controller down and placed his hands on your hips, it was all he could do to look cool despite the blush rushing his face. “Yeah uhm… I was going to ask you later during pillow talk after some earth shattering sex, but this is cool too I guess.” 

You giggled, placing a kiss on his cheek. “This is cool too, don’t worry. We can still have earth shattering sex but now as boyfriend and girlfriend.” It was Donghyuck’s turn to giggle now. “Do you want to keep playing, we could even turn on the mic?” 

Haechan shook his head, “No I think it’s time for that earth shattering sex we were talking about.” You bit your lip trying to suppress a laugh, he was so goofy and hot at the same time, you didn’t understand how anyone could be capable of that. 

“I think that can be arranged…boyfriend.”

“He told you off?” Mark nearly yelled, catching the attention of several of the other students in the library. 

“Dude keep it down, we’re in a library.” Johnny reminded before focusing back on his music theory assignment. 

“Sorry, he told you off?” Mark asked again this time in a more suitable whisper.

“Yes, and she didn’t say shit bro, she just let him.” Jaehyun grumbled, taking a chip from the bag Johnny had managed to smuggle in. 

Johnny was pretty unamused with the entire situation, given that he asked if the two men wanted to study in the library, but had basically been talking the whole time. “Have you ever thought that maybe she’s over how you treat her. I know you think you’re like bestie of the year, but you literally evaded her feelings for at least 6 months just so you would have an easy fuck.” 

Jaehyun scoffed, “Remind me to stop telling you about my problems.” Johnny simply rolled his eyes before training them back on the score in front of him. 

“I mean he has a point. You knew she caught feelings a while ago, and your agreement was to break it off, but you kept everything up. Plus you were the one who kept fucking with her and being all domestic, she’s probably traumatized.” Jaehyun shot a glare at Mark; he did not come here to be ganged up on.

“She can’t be but so traumatized since she spends all her time with Haechan, or Donghyuck, whatever the fuck his name is.” Mark and Johnny looked ready to hit their heads against the table, but clearly this was a delicate situation that needed to be nurtured and cared for so that Jaehyun would actually get some sense.

“Jae, buddy, pal, old friend if you will.”

“Get to the point Johnathan.” 

Johnny sighed, “See the point is, she’s in a relationship now. You had your 15 minutes of fame where she basically avoided getting into something because she was holding out hope for you. Now, she’s tired of waiting. She wants something that makes her feel loved and worth it and frankly, your bare minimum effort of taking her back to your place to watch a movie and then fuck, isn’t cutting it.”

“Bars.” Mark fist bumped Johnny, adding an explosion sound effect at the end.

“You guys are losers. She didn’t seem to be complaining about the movie and fuck a couple months ago.” Mark cringed and Johnny simply shook his head at the way their friend could so shamelessly talk about you like that.

“Jaehyun, listen to yourself, you sound delusional. She may not have been complaining, but that’s also because if she did you would’ve had to break all of that off. You’re acting like she broke up with you when the two of you weren’t even together in the first place.” Johnny’s volume was starting to increase, but he couldn’t help it, he wasn’t the closest to you, but he refused to let Jaehyun disrespect you like this. “Also you literally only text or call her now when we can’t hang out. Do you think that makes her feel good?” Jaehyun opened his mouth, but Johnny cut him off. “Don’t answer that because I know you’re about to say some bullshit. You need to get with the program and stop treating her like some play thing that you decide to pick up everytime your other toys are broken!” Johnny finished closing his laptop and packing up his belongings. 

“Dude, where are you going?” Jaehyun groaned before looking at Mark who was following in Johnny’s actions. “You too? Come on!”

Mark just shook his head, slinging his backpack over his shoulder before speaking again. “Dude, you have some serious soul searching to do. We don’t mind if you vent, but the way you talk about and treat her is sick.” Jaehyun just clicked his teeth in response to the younger man. 

“Whatever.” Jaehyun stood up from the table and stormed out of the library.

“He needs to get laid.” 

“Totally.” Mark agreed.

Taglist: @snapcracklen, @peachesmilk

[kindergrrl]

Courtney Love at the Hollywood Palladium for a Hole show.

November 9th, 1994.

Hollywood, CA.

In the first photo, Courtney is backstage. The 2nd photo is from the after party.

Hole performed here in front of some notable names such as Ringo Starr, Danny Devito, and Juliette Lewis just to name a few.

According to a show review, Courtney had brought Frances Bean out on stage and said that she didn’t care if anyone thought she was exploiting her, Frances Bean was the most successful thing she’d ever done in her life.

The After Party story is quite a trip. Mary Lou Lord who Kurt was going out with right before he got with Courtney made the grave mistake of showing up to this after party.

From Mary Lou Lord herself, here is the story -

“Well, in retrospect, it was quite a night. I was there because we had the same booking agent and I was invited by the entire William Morris people. I liked Hole. I thought it would be ok. I never did anything to her. If anything, I should have been the one pissed off….but yea, the night proceeded in her chasing me down Sunset. Her dress straps fell down, so at that point in the chase….barefoot with a blue thing around her waist. I had torn myself away from a security dude at the gate and in the process my shirt, bra, hat…all that came off. I was running down sunset topless with her essentially topless and barefoot chasing me. I hid behind a big lamp post behind the denny’s and sort of had to crouch and circle around it when she got close. I pissed my pants I was so scared….ugh.”

“She chased me down the entire side of the Palladium on the fire escape in her bare feet screaming the whole way “I’m gonna k!ll you!” the guard guy at the fence thought I stole a guitar or a mic or something and was trying to keep me in the gated area. I pulled away leaving him with my clothes. shit, I never ran so fast in my life. The funny thing, is that many of the people from the remains of the party also followed down that long fire escape to watch the action….I distinctly remember a person with a movie quality camera catching this whole thing running behind us.”

Credits:

1st review used cited from lonesomebeehive .com

Mary Lou's story cited from rocknyc .live

Live shots by Kevin Estrada.

[fuesch]

Trying not to write down every Agatha thought, otherwise I'd sit here forever. So instead have a small selection: Never mind, pretty much full review:

"She's dead though, isn't she, Herb?" - "Oh, she's really most sincerely dead." - "You never know. wink" Hee.

"Get samples from both." Agnes says about the lone body. She must be refering to herself too, I thought. And right after that Agnes find's the brooch - ha, that was fast!

Aw, look at all those Westview citizens getting full names (except for Mrs. Hart) in that opening sequence. While on one hand I'm offended that Agnes's last name isn't Bohner (I just need my boy acknowledged - yeah, I know there should be a moment coming later, but surviving on crumbs is hard, okay?!), on the hand hand I'm glad, because not even "Ralph"'s name is Bohner and I'm still pretty sure that Wanda was the one who gave him that.

Fascinating how Agatha knows/learns all this stuff while still under Wanda's spell. I can imagine that she really learned some of it from Westviewers (I'm so amused that they played along with her true-crime trip), but I can't imagine that "Dennis" or anyone else of them were aware that the Darkhold was destroyed all across the multiverse.

"That witch is gone… and all the copies of the Darkhold with her, leaving you trapped in her distorted spell. But you don't have to stay there, do you?" Well, I guess that confirms that Wanda's death/being gone in some way was needed for Agatha to break free. But what does the Darkhold have to do with it? Or was that just to sum up what Agnes has learned?

I love how Agatha is peeling off her Agnes outfits. And the Halloween ep is still her prettiest WandaVision era. This show's styles (so including episode 2) aren't bad either. I think my favorite is the Alanis Morrisette - Thank U cosplay XD. My only complaint is that her crotch is too light. Justice for the pubes!

Wow, for 3 years Agatha really got to live in that house that she had occupied when she crashed Wanda's Hex party (which from a Bohner standpoint is okay, because it wasn't his anyway). And Wanda has now been gone for, what (cba to look up MoM info), 2 years?

Is this Herb's house or is he just doing gardening for the neighbor who in the Hex was constantly mowing his lawn? Although it's of course possible that this used to be mowing guy's house and now it's Herb's or that they own it together.

Aw, we finally get to see Sarah's daughter, who should be 11 now. Love how amused she is by Agatha being butt naked.

"You can't kill me. It's not allowed." Sounds so meta, because it's Agatha's show, so of course she has plot armor. But I wonder if there's an actual in-universe reason (other than that Agatha thinks highly of herself).

I like that they brought back that magical stiff way of standing up.

Can't wait to find out what Rio's beef with Agatha is. What if Nicholas was Rio's son too and it was Agatha's fault that he is gone? Or did Agatha kill Rio's coven?

Oooh, Rio licked Agatha's hand and now the cut is gone. That power will probably come in handy later.

[genocidalfetus]

Wicked Game

Wrote this because the sad from losing my cat had to be turned into something else. It's a lead-in to my Post-Sun-Ending fic I'll be posting once it's complete. I'll also be posting this to ao3 at some point but figured I'd let y'all read it first.

Kerry didn't even want to go to the party at Bess' place. A strange thing, considering Kerry's profession and his normal need to be social, to mingle. Or maybe that was his 'old normal'. These days, Kerry was more content with staying at home, either writing more music or laying down new tracks for the album. Or just sitting on the couch watching some shitty sitcom, wishing the empty spot next to him wasn't so damn empty.

Kerry put on his favorite vest, then checked himself out in the mirror. His eyeliner was on point, his hair flawlessly styled as usual. He sighed and shook his head though.

"Why am I doing this again?" He asked himself out loud.

He could almost hear Vince's reply.

Because you know as well as I do that moping here ain't gonna do you any good, Vince would have told him, if he were there and not somewhere in space.

"But going to a party and getting loaded is gonna do me good?"

He once again could imagine how Vince would reply to such a question. The two of them so close, so in-tune with one another.

You know you ain't gonna get loaded. You probably won't even stay that long. But you need a distraction. So go, enjoy yourself. Don't shut yourself off from people again, Ker. Don't need you regressing back to the state of mind I found you in. You've come so far. I'll be home before you miss me.

Kerry sighed and rolled his eyes, smirking at himself in the mirror. "Fine. I'll go. For you. K?"

The party was pretty low-key. A bunch of Bess' journalist friends, but Denny was there too, as were some other musicians. Kerry found himself mingling among his fellow music makers, as he found most journalists to be boring and he was suspicious of their intentions when talking to him. The musicians hung out in the living room, on the leather couch. Kerry talked shop with them and gave a little insight into his latest album, but mostly he listened. Or at least tried to. Found his mind wandering here and there. And it always wandered to the same place. The same man, the one who was billions of miles away, up in orbit about to do something for some shady guy who may not even be trustworthy, to begin with. Fuck.

An elbow in his rib from Denny brought Kerry away from his thoughts and back to the party. She motioned him to look ahead with her neck. He saw Bess standing there with a guitar in her hands. It was an acoustic guitar and one that Kerry remembered all too well. One of his old ones from back in Samurai's earlier days. He never played with it on the stage, but he used it for writing songs here and there. He recalled selling it to some collector a few years after they got bigger. Bess handed it off to him. "Look familiar?" Bess mused with a smirk.

Kerry was wearing a grin as he looked the instrument over, turning it about in his hands. He looked up at Bess. "Where'd you find this relic?" He asked.

Bess shrugged. "Some collector died and it was among his things at an estate sale. Figured I'd bring it back to its original owner."

Kerry raised an eyebrow. "For real?"

She nodded. "This relic helped you get to where you are today. Deserves to be displayed with your other axes, don't you think?"

Kerry positioned the guitar on his lap. He gave it a strum, frowned, and then tuned the strings individually, his hearing cyberware helping tremendously. The guitar was now perfectly tuned. Kerry looked around at the musicians with a smirk. "Any requests?"

"Still remember Wicked Game?" Bess piped up.

Kerry chuckled and rolled his eyes. He learned how to play that song for Bess back when she went by Nance, after she hounded him for a whole month to do it. She tried to get Johnny to do it, but he was far more stubborn than Kerry and she knew it. Why she loved that song so much, Kerry would never know, but Bess had some very odd taste in music. He thought for a moment, then reached over to the coffee table and picked up the drink he'd been nursing, finishing it off with a big gulp, wincing as the whiskey warmed his throat up good. He put his fingers on the frets, then started strumming, the intro to Chris Isaak's song echoing off the walls, causing lingering conversations to pause. And Kerry now realized that he had an audience, and he smiled and started to croon the lyrics.

World was on fire and no one could save me but you. Strange what desire can make foolish people do….

And Kerry began to see flames dancing all around them and he was back in Kovachek's yacht. Vince was in front of him, legs spread as he sat up on the top of one of the couches. Kerry standing on top of the couch, fucking him, his hand on the back of Vince's neck. The other man's expression that of elation, desire before a playful slap stung Kerry's face.

And I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you, and I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you…

Seeing Vince for the first time, in control of his body. Kerry recalled the kid's eyes. When Johnny had been in control, Vince's eyes were dull and darker. When he woke up after collapsing on the floor, his eyes were bright and young, the emerald green emitting a friendlier aura within them. Those emerald eyes showing confidence but a little sadness when Kerry looked into them before Vince got into the Del cab and went off to do what he needed to do.

And I don't wanna fall in love….And I don't wanna fall in love….with you…

Too fucking late for that, Kerry thought as he played. He was in love. And he was worried about Vince, even though he knew Vince was resourceful and smart and tough as all hell. He kept strumming and then went into the next verse.

What a wicked game you play, to make me feel this way. What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you…

His drive home from the Samurai concert, thinking about Vince and how he might have done the wrong thing just leaving him there like that. Their first official coffee date, where they talked until closing at Caliente's. Kerry realizing that these feelings were not going away anytime soon. Going for the kiss at his place after breaking the kid's nose. An emotional mess began to stir within Kerry. He was feeling everything. Happiness at being able to move on from Johnny, but the bitterness of knowing Vince was still sick, and he wasn't within reach, and the fear of him not coming back at all due to some unforseen circumstances. His throat felt like it was getting smaller, but his hands never faltered on the instrument and he didn't miss a note. As he sang, his voice became louder, more full of emotion.

What a wicked thing to say, you never felt that way. What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you…

Sitting with Vince after their first time together, after Vince's first time with anyone. Hands interlaced, Vince's head on his shoulder. Then and there, Kerry knew he had found someone worth staying around for and someone who was different, someone who just made him want to do better and be better. Kerry's voice got a little softer as he sang the chorus. He could feel so many eyes on him and as much as he loved performing, he almost wished they would stop paying attention to him. And yet, the show must go on and so it did. He repeated the first verse again, feeling his throat becoming more restricted but that only made him sing with more ferocity. He needed to finish the song, to conclude the performance, even if his heart was feeling heavier by the second. All he wanted was for Vince to be home again, back in his arms again. Safe and unharmed. His fingers were aching from pressing on the strings so hard, but he kept playing. Then he felt the tingling sensation before tears start to form in your eyes. He was at the end of the song.

Nobody. Loves No one.

The journalists and the musicians all clapped as the final notes of the guitar echoed through the living room. Kerry nodded, feeling the tears begin to climb into his eyes. He handed the guitar off to Denny and excused himself from the couch. He walked quickly and found the sliding door that led to the balcony, pulled it open, and stepped outside. The air outdoors was no better than the air inside, but it was less constricting. He took a breath and approached the railing, leaning against his elbows as he looked up at the stars, his eyesight briefly blurred by tears that he blinked away and freed. They slithered down his cheeks. His heart felt like it was about to drop from his body, feeling heavier than the densest material known to man. He was really missing Vince this evening. He lowered his head and heard the sliding door open and then close, a pair of soft footsteps coming towards him. Bess settled next to him. She looked up at the stars.

"You miss him don't you," Bess asked, then looked over at Kerry. "That merc of yours?"

Kerry nodded, fresh tears falling down his face. He sniffled. "He ain't been gone that long and yet it feels like it's been a month. Pretty fucking pathetic, right? An old man like me pining for his younger mainline like this?"

Bess lit up a cigarette and blew out a plume of smoke. "Well, at least you're no longer holding a candle for some gonk who was never going to return your feelings. Thought you would never get over Johnny. I'm glad you have, and I'm glad you found someone who's just as crazy about you as you are about him."

Kerry sighed as he wiped his face on his forearm. "Just want him back home. Been trying to keep busy, but during those times when there's a lul…sucks. Badly."

Bess sighed and nodded as she rubbed her shoulder against Kerry's. "V will be fine. He's one of the best mercs in all of Night City. At least that's what I've been told by countless people as of late."

"He's Night City's bad boy," Kerry mused with a smirk. "And he's all mine."

"Come on back to the party."

Kerry yawned and shook his head. "Actually, think I'll delta. Kind of feeling wiped out."

Bess smirked. "You really have gotten old, haven't ya?"

"Fuck off Bess," Kerry growled, but then laughed. "Can still keep up with the twenty-somethings in this city."

Bess shook her head, but gave Kerry a hug and a kiss on his cheek before returning to the party. Kerry lingered for a moment longer on the balcony. He took another glance up at the sky and smiled. Vince always told him that star-gazing was something they ought to do more often together. Perhaps once he gets home, they will. The stars were more visible at Kerry's villa, which would mean weekend trips back there. And maybe, just maybe, Kerry would endure the badlands for a whole weekend. Fuck, he definitely would if Vince asked.

Kerry left the party quietly grabbing his re-acquired guitar, and drove home. He got into the big and quiet penthouse and placed his acoustic guitar in the studio, then stripped down and got into the shower. He just stood there, under the hot steamy water, letting his mind wander. He really despised showering alone, especially now. He sighed with annoyance at his predicament and washed, then turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the rack, drying himself off and getting into bed naked, the blanket on top of his lower body. He closed his eyes, but sleep did not claim him. He rolled onto his side and tried again with diminishing results. The other side was less successful. Kerry balled his hands into fists and slammed them on the mattress, growling in frustration. He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, and grabbed his phone from the nightstand, checking the time. Three in the morning. Fuck. He sadly grinned at the lock screen on his phone. Vince, giving him a smirk and laying on his stomach on their bed, very much naked. One of the many sexy pics Kerry had of him that he rotated for his lock screen every couple of weeks. He unlocked his phone and pressed the icon for Vince's phone and waited. It rang. And rang. And rang again. Kerry's heart lurched as it went to voicemail. But he decided he needed to get things off his chest, so he started talking.

"Hey Vince," He said, trying to keep his voice steady. "It's three in the goddamn morning and I can't sleep so thought I'd…thought I'd give you a call, even if I have to ramble to your fuckin voicemail."

Kerry could feel the emotional lump in his throat begining to rise. He sighed and tried to swallow it down. "I know you said you'd be home before I could miss you," Kerry uttered a weak chuckle. "Well, I think you failed in your mission cuz…Fuck…Babe, this is hard as shit right now…I can't--"

He stopped himself for a moment as his voice began to tremble and large tears fell down his face. He wiped them away and cleared his throat.

"Just…just get back here in one piece..please," Kerry begged as a few sobs slipped out of his throat. "I…I love you…Never forget that…fuck…I'm gonna hang up now. I love you Vince."

With a shaking hand, Kerry ended the call. And wept.

[winterapocalypse]

Winter Apocalypse 54

The Potion

The footsteps of a gigantic beast answered her. Appearing from who knows where, an enormous creature resembling a huge turkey nine meters long entered the garden, with a huge cauldron in its beak. It was Pallina the Gigantoraptor of the Jogos Nai steppe, the pet of Aston and Dennis' equally enormous older brother, Ken, who followed her around. Ken was wearing his usual gray cap that had belonged to his grandfather from Lys, and one of his many jackets which, worn by him, seemed of normal size, and then abandoned on a chair where he often left them they looked like the size of circus tents . He wore shorts even in the harsh Northern winter weather, and sneakers even in the snow, but he didn't even seem to notice the cold. Perhaps he was too big even for the cold of the True Winter.

"Hi guys, Aston told me you need me!" Ken said brightly, with a pair of cups in his big arms, the ones fixed with Aston cup cement.

Pallina - so called because, Ken says, when she hatched from the egg she was just a little ball of feathers, but that had been at least twenty years earlier, when Ken was a baby and Aston and Dennis hadn't even been born yet. The Ravenclaw Quidditch coach placed the large cauldron on the ground, and Cesaro and Emily, who loved magical potions, did their utmost to help Ken prepare that mysterious potion.

"It's called 'prodigious tears of the Goddess of Lys', it's a potion widely used in Lys, where our mother comes from." Ken explained, as he explained to Cesaro the order of the ingredients, and to Emily the dose of them to put in the pot, and he calmly mixed. "This potion helps a lot with headaches and hangovers, and I think after yesterday's evening it will help you! You drank a lot, eh? But it was fun."

"Why, were you there too?" muttered one of the Hardy brothers, the one who could at least talk.

"Yes, I crashed. It's my specialty."

"How do you sneak in and not be noticed, big as you are?"

Ken shrugged.

Aston passed Dennis's hair to her older brother and he threw it into the mixture which was bubbling on its own, without fire, from the strength of the ingredients within it. After a few minutes of mixing, instead of the slop there was now a nice light blue transparent liquid, with the inviting scent of deodorant.

With the three cups that he had brought with him, he filled the cups and passed them to the boys, but not before taking a sip of his own from the first cup. "Just one sip!"

Rhea, who came from Ulthos like Riddle, helped him take a sip, because the poor boy couldn't even lift his head. As soon as his lips touched the rim of the cup and he sipped the inside of his mouth, he jumped up fresh as a daisy and tossed his slippers, laughing happily and energetically as ever.

Theon did without. "We in the Iron Islands are used to drinking so much, we don't need these potions." he said, all proud of himself. Chavo took two sips, though he had been told to take only one, and belched so loudly that blue smoke came out of his mouth and everyone laughed, much louder this time.

Chavo passed Eddie the cup, but he didn't take it. He was staring into space, his gaze very strangely worried and focused on some thought of his. Since when Eddie thought about anything serious???

"For bad thoughts, better if you take two sips." the kind Ken advised him, patting him on the back - but his hand was so big that it almost made Eddie fall down the stairs where he was sitting. Ken passed him a cup, and Eddie drank. He felt much, much better after that blueberry gatorade-like stuff, except it didn't taste like blueberry but like sweet deodorant. It was good, but strange. Thoughts about Rey and what was written in the Red Witch's book slowly dissipated, replaced by how beautiful Emily's birthday party had been, and how exciting the thought of witnessing the Intercontinental Team's battle and match was!

Now all the Slytherin and Ravenclaw boys were lively and noisy again, and some of them started throwing snowballs at each other.

Dennis, still aching for his precious hair, tried to throw a large magical snowball at his sister, but not only did Aston, with impressive speed, draw her magical sword and cut the snowball in half, but she also succeeded to throw a bigger one right in his face, making Dennis' makeup drip everywhere. Aegon and Rhea laughed at him.

There was no snow in Sothoryos and Ulthos, so Chavo and Riddle enjoyed building impressive snowmen in the shape of monsters that inhabited the forest of Sothoryos and the desert hinterland of Ulthos.

"We should give Randy some too." Sheamus said as he looked at the liquid left in the cup he had just drunk. "He's been very ill lately, no one understands what's wrong with him, and he doesn't even want to tell us anything…"

[dollarbin]

World Party Week meets

Sandy Saturday's: Full Moon

I'm surprised that this week's Dollar Bin hero, Karl Wallinger, never covered Sandy Denny. He recorded plenty of the Beatles catalog before his untimely passing this week, always offering his own respectful (or perhaps I should say reverential) takes on everything from Happiness is a Warm Gun to McCartney's tossed off Man We Was Lonely.

But Wallinger never tossed anything off in the studio; like a later day Jeff Lynne, he assembled his textures with care and plenty of gloss.

And so we are left wishing on this Sandy Saturday that he'd had the chance to recreate one of Denny's perfect songs. Indeed, it'd be lovely to hear more covers of Sandy Denny beyond the many takes of Who Knows Where the Time Goes. I've heard very few other song of her's attempted (which makes sense: people cover Dylan because they're convinced they can sing it better than Bob, and who out there thinks they can sing better than Sandy?).

Even so, there are two Denny covers that come to mind as essential.

First, there's Linda Thompson's take on I'm a Dreamer. As Sandy's occasional singing partner and long time friend, Linda had every right to record such a track - and she clearly knew exactly what she was doing. She even let her husband Richard play some guitar behind her:

Not bad, huh? Check out my recent piece on Linda to hear more of this incredible voice, so frank and soaring at once.

The only other essential Denny cover that comes to mind is Yo La Tengo's humble take on By The Time It Gets Dark. Ira Kaplan understands that, unless you're Linda Thompson, the best approach is to simply pay homage (and not compete) with Sandy.

But if I had my choice for a World Party Denny cover I'd choose Full Moon, a track Denny's bumbling husband didn't even include on her final LP Rendezvous.

Take a listen; passing on this track makes Dylan's decision to put The Disease of Conceit on Oh Mercy instead of Dignity or Series of Dreams, or Neil Young's decision to leave Give Me Strength and Everybody's Alone unreleased for 50 years, look savvy.

Unlike just about everything else on Rendezvous, every effort in this piece works together: the strings rise and fall with a simple plan; the bass lingers and nimbly sways; Denny sings and strikes her piano without being bullied by the silly men in the room.

And the clarinet! Oh my good bananas, name me another piece of popular modern music that successfully employs a clarinet (my famous brother, red faced and ashamed for me, is likely assembling a list of 68 clarinet-riddled classics as we speak, alongside the list of great Sandy Denny covers that I failed to mention; and I guess I just thought of one clarinet track: Feist's The Circle Married the Line probably has an entire clarinet consortium playing in it, and that song is mighty fine).

Just imagine what Wallinger could have done with a song like Full Moon. He would have followed Kaplan's lead and sang it simply; his piano and guitar would trade off the solos and everything would be note perfect. The pace would be stately; maybe he'd even have brought in some of his own backing vocals. The full moon would be rising so high above the skies.

Wikipedia tells me that Wallinger had 20 years of unreleased new music in the can when he died. Let's get busy hoping his version of Full Moon is in that horde.

Imagine Karl right now in whatever afterlife suits your fancy. John Lennon's there, gleefully ranting and thoughtful all at once. But Karl knows what's up; he fist bumps John and passes him by, hunting for Sandy's certain glow in the heavens.

[00katrinka00]

Landcaster Legacy Gen 6 Update #23

The following morning Ethan spent time getting ready while Mads made breakfast. Meanwhile three boys approached their home.

"Who are you?" Mads asked answering the door.

"Uh..." one of the boys stuttered. "We must have the wrong house."

"Looking for someone?" Mads questioned.

"Just a friend of ours from high school, Ethan Hope. You probably wouldn't know him."

"That's my boyfriend."

"Who's at the door?" Ethan called as he came down the stairs.

"Friends of yours apparently," Mads told him. She went inside to finish breakfast and Ethan went outside to check thing out.

"What're you guys doing here?" he asked.

Ethan brought his old friends inside. "We ran into your mother in Windenburg yesterday, and she said that you had moved to Sulani with your girlfriend, and we wanted to stop by" his friend Lucas began to explain.

"Yeah, and because you rarely talk to us," Carter added.

"Sorry about that," Ethan apologized.

"How'd you managed to get such a hot girlfriend anyways?" Lucas asked. "She's hotter than Lilian Wheeler and she rejected you, hard."

"Please don't bring that up," Ethan scolded his friend.

"Sorry," Lucas held his hands up in defense.

"Breakfast is done, feel free to eat whatever," Mads said walking out into the living room. "I do have to meet Jackie and Mikayla at the bridal boutique, they're picking wedding dresses today."

"Have fun," Ethan told her.

"Love you," Mads smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Ethan and his friends ended up deciding to go to the arcade to have some fun and hang out for a while. It was nice, because the owner still recognized them even though it'd been several years.

"How did you and Mads start dating?" Carter asked during a game of foosball.

"We met at a party during her freshman my sophomore year of college. We were friends for a few years before dating," Ethan explained.

"Just be friends with them," Dennis muttered turning to Lucas.

Ethan and his friends spent most of the day at the arcade, it was nice to catch up with them. He even managed to tell them about his plans to propose to Mads soon and they seemed happy for him.

Meanwhile Jackie and Mads patiently waited in one bridal room to see the first dress Jackie picked out, while Rhea and Lexi, two of Mikaylla's friends, waited in the other bridal room to see Mikayla's first dress.

"I'm not a fan of this one," Jackie said stepping out. "It covers my tattoos, and I don't like that."

"Too Grandma," Parker agreed.

Mads made a face in disgust. "I agree, not you at all."

"It's too white," Mikayla said as she showcased her first pick.

"Agreed," Lexi quickly said. Rhea thought about it for a while. "Yeah," she finally said. "Too white, although it would look prettier if it was off white."

"This is better, a bit untraditional but better," Jackie said in her second dress.

"You look hot," Mads quickly told her.

"Agreed," Parker said. "I'm just not sure how bridal it is, maybe that's what you're going for though."

"Let's try the next one," Jackie said.

"I like the color on this one more," Mikayla said. "It's just-"

"Plain," Rhea said quickly.

"Needs more sparkle," Lexi added.

"This is the one," Jackie said as she showed off her third dress.

"You look amazing!" Mads exclaimed. "I love it!"

"I'm speechless, absolutely," Parker agreed.

"Perfect!" Mikayla exclaimed showing off her third dress.

"The perfect amount of sparkle," Rhea added.

"Truly the prettiest bride," Lexi told her.

"Well," Mikayla said. "I'm sure Jackie will be prettier."

After both brides had purchased their dressed everyone gathered in just one of the bridal rooms so all the sims of honor could try on their own outfits. It'd been decided that Parker would let Mads, Rhea and Lexi try on outfits first and then Parker would pick out a matching tux

"Ta-da!" The girls announced as they came out.

"I don't like them," Jackie said quickly.

"Agreed," Mikayla added. "Beautiful dresses but too pastel."

"Next!" Jackie exclaimed.

"How about this?" Rhea asked as everyone came out of the changing room.

"Better," Mikayla said. "But not the best."

"Yeah," Jackie agreed. "One more."

"How about these?" Mads asked.

"Ah!" Jackie exclaimed. "I think these are the ones!"

"Agreed!" Mikayla exclaimed. "Red is my color, so maybe I'm a little bias, but I love them."

They went to pick out a tux in a matching color for Parker and the four sims posed for a picture.

[quacka-quacka]

Why was Linda so jealous of Jane? I have already heard several people say this

First and foremost, I must say Linda was a dedicated person who devoted her whole life to Paul after getting married. We shouldn't obliterate her devotion. Not to mention she had some admirable qualities. (I post it here.) However, she's not perfect. For instance, in some occasions, though by no means all, she could be narrow-minded, especially towards those women who have had a relationship with Paul. And Jane seemed to the one she hated most. I would rather believe none of these are true.

Barry Miles, the author of Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, said on his official website that before writing this biography, he wasn't sure if he could reach Paul because as the one who was close to Jane, he was excluded from Paul's life by Linda:

I wasn’t sure I could even reach Paul. I hadn’t seen him for at least ten years; when Linda came on the scene she made sure that all his old pals that knew and liked Jane were excluded, so I didn’t know how he would react to the idea of a biography.

— Barry Miles [x]

Alistair Taylor also revealed something about Linda's hatred of Jane. I'm sure Taylor's dislike for Linda would affect his judgement, but there are some similarities between his description and Miles's: she wanted to obliterate Jane from Paul's life as much as possible.

One of the first things Linda did at Cavendish when she managed to move in was to have the entire ground floor redecorated. Jane had decorated Cavendish Avenue in exquisite taste. Linda, however, wanted to remove every last trace of Jane from Paul’s life. She didn’t want to hear her name. She didn’t want to see pictures Paul and Jane had chosen remaining around the place. It was like a new regime taking over and wanting to wipe the slate a completely clean.

— Alistair Taylor, With The Beatles

Also, Denny Laine's ex-wife JoJo Laine said that Linda once asked her if she knew Jane Asher. She didn't get along with Linda, though. But Peter Cox, the one who seems to care about Linda, said Linda was quite negative about Jane, although he thought it wasn't in a jealous way. During the writing process of Linda's cooking book, Cox always carried Jane's book to keep Linda's attention:

Linda had spoken to me about Jane Asher, Paul's former fiancee, and while it wasn't in a jealous way, she was quite negative about her. "So I got her book, Jane Asher's Party Cakes, and always carried it with me when I went to Peasmarsh. If she was a bit down, I'd slam it on the kitchen table and it acted as a spur, like a red rag to a bull. In fact, Linda would say, 'Right, let's get going'."

— Peter Cox

Years later, a journalist brought up this story to Paul, Mary and Stella. Instead of getting annoyed, they were quite joyful to hear that. Did Linda often behave like this at home? I don't know.

I say the other thing Peter Cox said is that, throughout the writing process, he kept a copy of Jane Asher’s bestselling book on cakes to hand, so that whenever Linda’s attention flagged, as it was wont to do, he’d take it out and start flicking through it with great interest, and that brought her back into the room. Paul laughs and claps, while Stella says, “That is very funny … Would bring her back into the room!”

— Deborah Ross, The Times: My Date with the McCartneys. (May 06, 2017)

Apart from Jane, Maggie McGivern, the girl who had three years courtship with Paul wasn't welcomed by Linda either. According to Maggie, her relationship with Linda was very intense.

In the early seventies, Maggie began a relationship with another musician, Denny Laine, and after Denny joined Paul’s group Wings she came into contact with Paul again. 

“It was a very emotional meeting and we had a great big hug. We were standing there gripping each other when their was a tap on his shoulder. We turned round and it was Linda. Paul told her who I was and she said she had heard about me. Ther was, of course, an unfriendly atmosphere and we didn’t get a chance to have a real conversation.”

[...]

“He’s a different person when he’s with her. But, to give Linda credit, although we were still uneasy we chatted amiably about horses and things like that. I suppose after years of marriage and several children, there was no need for any nastiness.”

— Maggie McGivern

Although Linda never seemed to directly attack Paul’s ex-girlfriends in the public, (at least I haven't found, yet) she did reveal her attitude towards them. After Denny wrote something unpleasant, Linda said he behaved like Paul’s ex-chauffeur. Well, she certainly thought those girls were inferior.

I thought Denny came off badly. I could see some girlfriend or an ex-chauffeur writing such rubbish, but a musician?

— Linda McCartney, interview with Joan Goodman for Playboy, 1984

It’s understandable that Linda would be hostile to Maggie because her presence maybe a threat to her. But why Jane? She has never appeared beside Paul after since the breakup and she has never revealed her story to public. Let alone Jane was the one who broke up with Paul, she has never showed any intention to get Paul back.

I don’t understand it. I really don’t.

[kristalpepsi]

Temptation Stairway Thoughts™ + Theory Discussion

TW: blood + Death mentions, Implied (forced/pushed) integration (systems), racism (against asians), unreality stuff bc the show is Like That, Trauma causd by therapy

TL;DR = I mainly talk about implied integration, n as some1 in a system tht! mkes me uncomfy! I mainly will talk abt wht I’m calling the multi-ena theory (n anothr theory ill call the Multiple/Multi-Enaverse Theory) thts been popping up n disccng how thts kind of the bggst thng keepng me on board! I won’t LIE I might b a little biased bc I rlly do like thise show b I am NOT blind so I will try 2 address som things. I also talk alot abt the Shepard n Phindol bc I love themb so much they make me very heart Big.

DISCLAIMERS:

Obviously Joel G Highkey/definitely/most probbly did not intend 4 any of thise, but media is very complic8d so u cn end up accidntlly making problmtc things or implyng not great things

I hav a typing quirkkkk so if u cant understand my post I rlly dont blame u! I’m sorry how I type is Incomprehensible™

Not an angry post, more like my brain is holding me host-ge until i talk abt everyth dskfjhd!!

DO NOT Send anyone in thise post hate or angry asks/messages or perish by my sword

OK so this recnt episde has me w vry vry mixd feelngs!!! I’m both happy n exctd! b litrlly 2 things is whts bothrng me. While I CLD jst say :I Am Lookng Away: i rlly do need 2 write it down. Under a Read-more bc im secure SKSJ

Part 0: I’m uncomfortable help

The Section wher i tlk abt n bring up othr ppl’s concerns

So fr most if nt all the frnds I hav who also wtch Ena ALSO has a vry “vr vry mixd feelngs now tht I’ve seen the episde!!” mood twrds Temptation Stairway! It’s 4 a bunch of rsns, like thise post (tw racism) mde by a frnd whch brings up a good point

Part 1: The Actual Intro

Episode 1 = Auction day (AD) Episode 2 = Extinction Party (EP) Episode 3 = Tempation Stairway (TS)

Who is Ena

Ena can b describd as an "abstract girl split in half, w 1 blue side n the other is her yellow side!" Each side (emotion/mood, 2 b specific) seems 2 hav their own voic actor credited along with seper8 credits 4 each mood! So far the canon sides r Ena (happy), Ena (sad), n Ena (drunk)! They seem 2 act accordingly: Happy acts happy n optimistc, Sad acts sad n especlly depressd, n Drunk acts confused n dizzy [In the Credits, it would look like thise: Ena (happy) by Gabe V., Ena (sad) by Lizzie Freeman, (drunk) Ena by Sam Meza

4 Episodes 1-2, thy follow thise pattern exctly! So we cn expect wht 2 see from them, n each voice actor is creditd accordngly as seper8 b all a part of Ena

On epside 3, Ena is seen as actng diffrnt!! She's suddnly less predictabl! I say thise bc Suddenly, her voic Actors r not stuck 2 Only their sides. Thise is also emphasized when looking at the credit list! No longer is it "Ena (happy) by Gabe V., Ena (sad) by Lizzie Freeman" it's now jst "ENA by Gabe V. and Lizzie Freeman"

Happy's voic can sound STRESSED n sad, Happy can tlk w Blue's side in mor control n Sad's voic can sound Really happy n optimistic. Somth's Diffrnt n Not The Same

Temptation Stairway Summary

Skipping 2 my point, The summary of the episode Temptation stairway is tht Moony and Ena have a bet 2 race 2 the Great Runas! The Great Runas, can grnt u any wish accordng 2 Moony n som of those Ena passes by on the wy. The wager, is tht "whoever reaches the top of the Great Runas n makes their wish 1st, has 2 pay the debts of the loser" (yes it’s phrased like that) As Ena journeys thru, The DIFFERENCES between Ena Temptation Stairway and Ena Extinction Party n Below, is mor obvious as the epsde progrsses, even 2 wher Happy's voic actor is the 1 screamng in agony 2 jst get murdered already. The Episode ends w Moony beatng Ena (but it's 100% possibl it can be the other way arnd, that ENA Beat Moony, b thats somth I'll discuss in a bit L8r). Moony splits in half, revealing that according 2 her, "she wished 2 be skinny" n a humanoid coms out of her previous form. As 4 Ena, Her blue side slowly dispprs n its not answrd why.

Theories so far, are:

Moony wished 4 Ena 2 b happy (or 4 her sad/blu side 2 go awy. 4 wht reason can b eithr wholsom or 2 Moony's advntge [like so she "doesnt have 2 deal w Sad Ena"]) - b if Moony wished 4 Ena 2 b happy/b rid of her sad side, tht wld mean perhaps she lied about wishing 2 be skinny (her new humanoid form may be how she is "paying her debt 2 the loser"). Unless the Runas can grant u more than 1 wish.

Ena ws the 1 who wished her blu side awy, whch is a little depressng tbh

If both the above r tru, it may b possibl bc it wsnt clarified (afaik) tht the great runas can only grant ONE person a wish (or more). I think we only get tht implica8ion bc we see 1 (open) door while in the distance, ther r more doors tht look like their eyes r closed. We hav 2 remembr Moony said "whoever makes their wish 1st whch means Ena n Moony can totlly mke wishes @ the sme time

Somhow, turning pure yellow/only happy is how Moony is payng her debt 2 Ena(??) (opposite 2 the 1st theory)

OR If Ena won the race, it can even b possibl 2 consider tht Ena did not make ANY wish, n her debt 2 pay 2 Moony is her sad/blue side removed (I do not subscribe 2 thise) 

This info that was brought up 2 me is high evidenc that Moony won the race, n it explains how Moony surprises Ena whn Ena arrives. “I’m The Best and you’re the worst! I wonder who got the hair chest?” said by Ena, is a direct reference 2 a phrase usd by kids when they lose that goes “First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest.”

“Whoever reaches the top of the Great Runas n makes their wish 1st, has 2 pay the debts of the loser.“ Might be phrased tht way as a weird way 2 pay 4 ur greed? (Last minute addition from me since some people wld think this is quoted wrong in and outside of the youtube comments)

i'm p sure ther may even b mor theories b i dont rmmbr them OOPS

Part 2: The Implied Integration Part AKA: How the System!Ena theory is affected by this episode

TW: Final fusion discussion, medical trauma (Is that the right word)

Disclaimer: This is 100% unintended by Joel G. That’s y the Alternative title 2 thise part is “How the System!Ena theory is affected by this episode”

2 GET IN2 the whole Implied Integr8ion part of my Essay™ I hav a theory calld system ena or sys!ena! (Check out my #system ena tag. This is in chronologicl order!) While thers no canon explan8ion 4 how Ena herslf is how she is, she mkes very intrstng n almst good accdntl Sys Represent8ion 2 me! They even show cofronting rlly well! I headcanon Ena as a system bc of the accidentl system!rep, but it explains 2 me y n how she switches! she has triggers 4 when she switchs 2 a diffrnt side, etc!

Ther hav been theories about Temptation Stairway in the past (before the episode cme out) wher ppl try 2 explain y the trailer Looks Like Tht. Besides theorizing abt the introduction of a new forme (I'm ok w just calling it Scared/Anxiety 4 now until 4rthr notic), 1 of the theories ive seen is tht Temptation Stairway's new introduced forme is due 2 being something akin 2 being "integr8d" (probably by force, accordin 2 the OP) (in other words, all her sides merge in2 one) n Ena being devast8td abt it

While tht theory is now DEBUNKED, bc the new forme clearly did not come out bc of being One Single Mind now, the "integr8ion" part of tht theory is unfortun8ly a littl tru

What is Integr8ion?

Integr8ion is not inherently a bad thing. In systems, ther are 2 definitions: "the breaking down of barriers 2 form healthy multiplicity, n then healthy communic8ion n less amnesiac barriers" and the othr, n mor FAMOUS definition bc its the oldest 1, is "final fusion"

Fnal Fusion is when all the members "fuse/merge" 2gether until ther is 1 single mind left. While not necssrlly a bad thng, final fusion n ther4 "integr8ion" is a scry thing 4 a lot of systems 2 talk abt, because in the history of Treatment, Final fusion is uslly somthng forcd on2 systems 4 the longest time :^(

Very valid 2 hav final fusion as a goal, b showng it as a desire n end goal is uslly seen as a sad n even scry thing 2 promote accdntly or not in media, bc of the previous traumas in the medicl/therapy world of system treatment etc

What's Worse. is tht if we apply the Ending 2 Temptation Stairway to the System!Ena Theory, thts wht hurts!!!

Scrolling back up 2 the possibl theories of who won the race and wht happened aftr, Either Moony or Ena wishing 4 the blue side/Sad Ena 2 go awy is rlly painful!

B I'll be honest, thts a RLLY biased n personal opinion i hav!! I've seen ppl think its rlly wholsom altho a bit Sad, tht the blue side disappears. I've seen ppl think its rlly sweet esp if it was Moony who mde tht wish

BSCLLY If I were to hold on2 the System!Ena headcanon while watchng the Temptation Stairway episode, its Hurtful, not rlly bc of the implied Integr8ion of Sides, but bc most top theories r that the blue side disappeard on Purpose either from Moony or Ena wishing her away or involvng the debt! It's like asking 4 ur sibling irl 2 Disappear and cease 2 exist. it's scary n rlly sad esp whn the audienc can c tht Sad, Happy, n Drunk cn almst b seen as their own persons n mite even b abl 2 interact w each othr (as seen by the many fanart of Happy n Sad having their own seper8 forms)

  Ok so Now tht ive described my intro n Main Beef w the Episode, here's a theory I cn rlly get behind tht dsnt mke me wnna cry behind a Denny's. Prsnlly it's a rlly relievng theory even if it mite b hard 2 take in

Ther's no name 4 it, som call it the Enaverse, b just so it dsnt get confusd w other definitions (like, u wldnt call it the Marvel Cinematic Universe theory, the MCU is jst wht it is) I'm gnna call it the Multi-Ena theory! Bsclly, there's mor than 1 Ena in thise universe. But I'll get in2 a sub/partner theory tht is also possibl: ther is mor than 1 enaverse n somhow u may or may not b abl 2 travel between them

Part 3: The Multi-Ena theory

Something interesting I noticed was that the shepherds says “another ENA troublemaker?” Which definitely means more than one ENA/person has been there before.

(I blockd out the rest of the commnt not bc it ws bad, b i wantd 2 focus on this part of the commnt, but thise commnt will come up again L8r)

Not connected 2 System!Ena or the integr8ion issue I mentioned earlier, the multi-ena theory seems 2 b 1 of the top suggstd theories bc of many thngs! Bsclly n in short, thise theory believs tht in the series (or Enaverse), ther is multipl ena's! So fr i havent seen a post tht RLLY went in2 depth on thise so here is my attempt!

Evidence:

(See: above explanation on how the voic actors r credited 4 their roles individlly 2 explain my system!ena theory/intro) In episodes 1-2, Ena's diffrnt emotions/sides r creditd individually! In Temptation Stairway, Gabe n Lizzie Freeman r all creditd undr the sme nme, just as "Ena" (mening thise is a completely different Ena from the past)

Again, as said in my summry 4 Tempt8ion Stairway, thise Ena acts compltly diffrnt n is not follwng the sme "pattern" or rules as Ena did in Episodes 1-2! (Read above in my summary section) Either ther r stuff we've missd between Extinction Party n Temptation Stairway, or thise is a diffrnt Ena entirely.  I'd hav 2 sy prsnlly tht I'm leanng 2wrds the latter bc of how the VA's are crdtd. but if ur not convinced, let me continu:

When we meet the Shepard in 7:52 of the episode, they say (verbatim) "Arghh... Another ENA trouble maker." which implies there r more than 1 Ena's

9:08 - 9:19 when Ena jumps in2 the "Holy Code" where we head undrwtr in2 a sea of diffrnt doors, we see floating Ena models (n the comment section seems 2 gravit8 2 callng them "dead bodies") (Honorary mention: You'll notic they glitch in2 Mannequins if u pay attention 2 them). This piec of info is Direct Evidence 2 the multi-ena theory, bc ther r Explicitly mor thn 1 ena's on screen! wht's concernng n unanswrd tho, is y do they glitch in2 mannequins? Does tht mean all the mannequins we sw on screen in the begnng of the video (n onwards) were all previously an Ena? Is it only an Ena tht can transform in2 a mannequin or cn othr chrctrs also become mannequins?

Not the strongst evidenc b i'll input it anywy: Ena's Action boxes (Like when she receivs or gives items) spell her nme her as ƎNA (with a backwrds E). The thing abt thise 1 is tht we can't compare it with Auction Day n Extinction Part bc they don't have any action boxes. BUT What we CAN compare is how she is spelled in the dialogue boxes of those speakng in diffrnt languages AND in the Credits! In Episodes 1-2, She's Spelled as Ena with this captialis8ion. In Temptation Stairway the dialogue and credits consitntly spell her as ENA in all caps. May or may not allude 2 her being diffrnt, b i will admit this is the most Strechiest piec of evidnc. Tru or not, I'd like 2 refer 2 Tempt8ion Stairway ena as TS!Ena or ƎNA, prsnlly 2 differenti8 her frm the othr episodes

Pronounci8ion: BUT 2 build on the above evidence, In the beginning of the episode, Moony DOES pronounc Ena's name in different wys a lot, startng w I-NA (ai-na), ENA (ehna), n finally JENA. And this isnt new! She’s been doing it sinc Auction Day (ee-nah/ii-na) n Extinction Party (ay-nah). Thise may or my not sggst that perhaps Moony's inconsistancy is bc these othr pronunci8ions or names cld b of other ena's she's met in the past w similr or diffrnt preferences! I’d say because of her constant switchng in the beginning of Temptation Stairway, it would lean 2wards that she may know different Ena’s @ once. Otherwise, c the Multi-Enaverse theory below

Note: Every othr charctr besides Moony (So far; Merci and the Shepard) Pronounces Ena as ehna (or ehna) so it might be that perhaps Eh-na is the universal way of pronouncng Ena?

Conlusions/thghts on this theory: I prsnlly like thise a lot!! It makes Enasonas Very Possible, b also tht any interpret8ion of Ena cn b corrct or possibl! It knda saddens me tho bc im not rlly sure if we'll ever return 2 the Ena we're used 2, I wldnt rlly want 2 b stuck w/o Sad bc I thnk her role is rlly neat n can b importnt, b im biasd. I also rlly subscribe 2 thise theory bc it means whtvr happend 2 TS!Ena ds not hav 2 be permanent in the long run; Again litrlly the only thng keepng me from gettng supr upset abt the ending of Temptation Stairway, is tht the prev ena’s r not the sme n wld possibly not do thise, or tht ther r othr ena’s out ther besides THISE episod 1, who wld nvr do tht, etc

Part 4: The Multiple Enaverses/Multi-Enaverse Theory AKA The Alternative In Defense of Moony Mispronouncing Ena’s name over and over

An alterntve 2 the Multi-Ena theory, is tht there is MORE thn 1 Enaverse! So bsclly, a multiverse theory. Primarily thise my explain Not jst Ena's sudden Shift in how diffrnt she is in thise episode b may also explain how Diffrnt Moony is actng in thise episode 2. While thise isnt the top theory i prsnlly subscribe 2 (sinc ther isnt explicit evidence besides it bein an explan8ion 4 Moony n Ena's weird/diffrnt behavior), it DOES open a lot of doors 2 intrstng things 2 thnk abt!

Bsclly Moony keeps mispronouncing Ena’s name a lot (in Tempation Stairway) n its Really Rude, esp consdrng she’s always said it properly (As in @ least 1nce in an episode n not switchng multiple times) b4! so 2 Explain her Sudden change in behavior, this is actlly a Different Moony, besides a different Ena. this is a whole different universe/timeline!

LIKE If not multiple Ena's, The different Loca8ions in Ena cn probbly b traversible across dimensions! The Holy Code may b the door 2 diffrnt enaverses. The Shepard's garden cld b an interdimensionl place tht is singular n deals w diffrnt beings passing thru! While i dnt hav mch 2 sy on thise, its RLLY Interestng 2 thnk abt

Like the Multi-Ena theory, thise also opens the doors 2 enasonas being vry possibl :^) Som ppl's evidences r all involvng Moony besides how Ena's rlly diffrnt

Moony can skateboard??

Moony's square shape hole can shrink 2 hold an item

while not strong ATM or frm wht i cn see, its still very inch restng!!! Tho I would sy it is VERY on par w the Multi-Ena theory anyway

Part 5: Honorary Mentions: Mini Theories

The Great Runas is actlly a play on the "Run As" Command! I'm not very Smart engh 2 break thise down vry well, b bsclly w all the allusion 2 "codes" n the Blood ID looking like a Chip, The Great Runas being abl 2 grant u wishes makes a lot of sense! This ws brought up 2 me from a friend (@ambercard​)!

like its a command line. so then the great runas being able to grant wishes makes sense if its digital world like all the code stuff says Allows a user to run specific tools and programs with different permissions than the user's current logon provides.

Runas is a command-line tool that is built into Windows Vista. To use runas at the command line, open a command prompt, type runas with the appropriate parameters, and then press ENTER.

In the user interface for Windows Vista, the Run as… command has been changed to Run as administrator. However, you should rarely have to use the Run as administrator command because Windows Vista will automatically prompt you for an administrator password when it is needed.

and my friend who i was talking to said that probably explains what the password was for and the blood id being a login or something?

its possible using the blood id akin to using the run as administrator command since idk their name but one of the people ena met said the blood id didnt seem like her which is like. if she isnt administrator then it would make sense that using that command wouldnt match who she is

My response:

man do u realiz Ena uslly does not hav the corrct passwrd/admin privileges all the tme? Bc the guardian entity in extinction party askd her 4 1 b i guess it ws so Low Game tht it wsnt supr necsrry in the end

The Enaverse is all a computer code of some sort- most probbaly a game! AKA: This is a digital world

... If we were too treat this world as a video game this would make more sense since different play through bus and all that. Oh god this feels like a fnaf situation, taking a video that just wants to be a video and turning it into a big serious thing

Going with the whole ‘there are multiple enas representing the player’ theory, perhaps this ENA realized that she’s in a video game and isn’t taking it too well? But the game is kind of glitching out because of it.

Honorable Mentions: Random Info + Unanswered Questions

Ena seems self-aware of smth! (10:24 Ena screams "YOU'RE ALL LIVING A LIE!") May help the Run as command idea n the video game/digital reality idea! If not a video gme, they sure r Somewhere

What does the Great Runas look like?? is it the door? is ther mor thn 1 Runas?

What is Mariya n Gabo's Job? R they just like the Guardian Entity in Extinction Party but are assignd 2 this part/location of where they are?

In 6:30, wht does Ulysses mean by "Desires r never fulfilled nor quenched"? "You Will fail like the rest of them" Is he referring 2 the other Ena's that's passed by? who else have come n failed?

This Post Also brings up som good points I hvnt noticd yet!

Thise comment pretty much says everythng:

Standout things from this animation:

-This Ena switches between a male & female voice at seemingly random instead Happy speaking with a male voice and Sad speaking with a Sad voice. The text boxes noticeably refer to this Ena with a reversed E, and The Shepard says "Another Ena troublemaker", implying that there are multiple Enas. We also see some Ena corpses flickering into the mannequin bodies at one point. Third, at the end we see Ena's sad half turn from blue to yellow over the course of Ena & Moony's conversation. My personal theory is that this Ena is possibly 'broken' in some manner. -Moony either doesn't care or dosen't realize that Ena's voices aren't matching the personalities anymore. -The grey personality appears to come out when Ena gets too stressed out. Notably the transformation involves the happy half turning into static and exploding out, erasing Ena's face in the process. It also appears that some physical trauma (in this case, Brick Frog kicking Ena) is necessary to exit the grey personality, unlike the previously seen 'blackout' personalities which can possibly be switched by the other personality exerting themselves (in the auction episode, Ena enters her sad blackout/depressed personality, then switches to Happy!Ena, who apologizes to Moony about her depressed outburst). -Moony's hole is capable of closing to hold things, and she also knows how to skateboard. -Judging by Ena's reaction, Moony's transformation at the end is weird even by this universe's standards.

aaaand thats all 4 now! I really hope thats all my brain can think of skjsdhfsdfkh

Feel free 2 send me asks abt Ena theories n stuff! While this is a Comprehensiv post, it’s definitely mor focused on the Multi-Ena theory n my thghts on the episode whn it comes 2 how it affects the System Ena theory. I’m open 2 questions!!

Last Edit: Feb 19 2021 (GMT +8)

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched (and books I read) this week - 35

As I wait for season 3 of Succession, I thought I’ll re-watch the pilot of Season 1, directed by Adam McKay. Absolutely a great start for the week.

The opening credit theme is a killer!

✴️               

George Méliès X 2:

✳��✳️✳️  The Méliès Mystery, a fascinating biography of magician, toy-maker, pioneer director, impresario and THE inventor of the cinema. Gave me a whole new appreciation for his work. 9/10

✳️✳️✳️ And of course, Scorsese’s Hugo, which recreates the 7 years in Méliès life, when in desperation he burnt the negatives of all his 700 films, and as he operated a small toy booth at the Gare Montparnasse, penniless and forgotten, (Photo above). This is the setting for the story, transformed into a children fairy tale about an orphan looking for his dead father. A technical tour de force and an ode to early cinema, which eventually turns into a history lesson.

✴️          

In a similar vain, Sylvain Chomet’s animated story of Jacques Tati’s 1957 unproduced script The illusionist, which was written in an attempt to reconcile with his daughter whom he had abandoned when she was a baby. 

Lyrical, sentimental and melancholy. 

"Magicians are not real"

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“Do you want the world to end in Your lifetime?”

Scenes from an Empty Church, an unexpected Covid “Dinner with Andre” from an independent filmmaker Onur Tukel! 

Never heard of it, didn’t know what to expect, watched it for over an hour ... and suddenly it grabbed me, and grabbed hard. It starts as a talkative, philosophical tract with 2 priests trying to deal with the very unusual pandemic that shut down their NYC church. They talk about it, and talk about it, and some of their parishioners enter the conversation and talk about it, but at the end, the anguish and desperation that they feel is being transcended. A bit, at least - 8/10

✴️      

First watch - Stanley Kubrick’s very first film, the short self-financed boxing documentary Day of the fight (1951)! Done when he was 23, fully cinematic and well-composed, with distinct narration The Killing-style.

Happy Find of the week!

✴️      

Bernadette Peters X 2:

✳️✳️✳️ Mel (“Fun”) Brooks’ slapstick film-about-filming Silent movie, a blatant Product Placement vehicle for Coca Cola. Bernadette Peters played the Madeline Kahn role, the very voluptuous Vilma Kaplan, “A bundle of lust”.

“You brought me papers?”

My father would have loved it!

✳️✳️✳️ First watch: Woody Allen’s 1990 Alice, a rework of Fellini’s Juliet of the spirits. With cameos of Thelonious Monk and Mother Teresa, and scenes of Mia Farrow smoking opium. Bernadette Peters was “The Muse” who had to wear reading glasses.

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So I also re-visited Fellini’s baroque Juliet of the spirits, with the delightful Giulietta Masina. Both Fellini and Allen cast their middle-age wives / girlfriends in the same role. Also, I didn’t realize that Fellini was gay, and his marriage to Masina was partly pro-forma.

Long Live Nino Rota!

✴️      

Gérard Depardieu X 3:

✳️✳️✳️ I have to see all of Truffaut‘s films again! His straight-forward, sweet, simple story telling style. First: The Woman Next Door, where the new neighbor is the old, tragic lover. L'amour Toujours.

And always with Georges Delerue‘s score.

✳️✳️✳️ "When are you coming, Cherie?" 

30 years ago I used to love Green Card, because 1. Romance with Andie MacDowell and 2. Similarities of my marriage of convenience of the same time.

It was actually a rarity, a comedy about immigration policy. I also used to like Peter Weir‘s films.

✳️✳️✳️ La Vie En Rose (2007), a standard French bio of Édith Piaf’s very hard life, full of Marion Cotillard, accordions, and endless grief.

Her music though was better. 3/10

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As if there was a pandemic, and you can’t get out of the house. Buñuel’s absurdist The Exterminating Angel, about a party of upper class socialites slowly descending into anarchy after getting stuck in a mansion and not able to leave. Uncomfortably claustrophobic and eerily nihilist. Re-watch.

✴️        

White, part 2 of Kieślowski’s ‘Trois couleurs’ trilogy. A disappointing revenge fantasy, whereby a hapless Polish hairdresser suffers a humiliating divorce and somehow manages to gain ‘equality’ by implicating his ex-wife in his fake death.

I loved ‘Blue’, but not this ‘Anti-comedy’.

✴️      

Shirley Jackson X 2:

✳️✳️✳️ Shirley, a “Woman’s film”, made by (nearly all) women, about “brilliant, tortured” writer Shirley Jackson, the author of ‘The Lottery’. Reminiscent of ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolf’, but this younger couple are dull and uninspired. I didn’t find it compelling, except of the final cathartic scene at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the dive below.

‘Let’s pray for a boy. The world is too cruel for girls”.

✳️✳️✳️ Shirley Jackson’s horrifying short story The Lottery (full text here), published in The New Yorker, and featured at the opening scene of ‘Shirley’ above. A story about a small town in New England which follows a long-held tradition of stoning one member of the community every year in a ritual that is accepted by all.

✴️        

Al Pacino in William Friedkin’s Cruising, a commentary on the S&M leather scene at the end of 70′s NYC. Gay sex & open hustling were normalized, but within a story of a serial killer. Not homophobic, but unconvincing and disappointing. With Paul Sorvino and Joe Spinell. 

✴️ Documentaries X 3:       

✳️✳️✳️ Inside Deep Throat, a prurient 2005 documentary Produced by Brian Glazer and narrated by Dennis Hopper. With the typical HBO horrendous quick editing, it claims that Deep Throat is the one event that mainstreamed blow jobs.

America’s reactionary obsession with sex and porn and the politics of religion and morals which fucked it all up. Despicable Alan Dershowitz does his Talking Head shtick.

✳️✳️✳️ First watch: The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris‘s breakthrough doc, which was faulted (justifyingly) for using reenactments in telling a real story. 

America is filled with so much miscarriages of justice, gun violence, police abuse, and crime, that it’s hopeless to navigate it.

✳️✳️✳️ Fox and the Big Lie, Australian Broadcasting Corp's doc - How Fox News promoted trump’s propaganda and helped destabilize democracy in the USA. Part 2.

✴️         

Why I quit Netflix (It’s true)

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

[dherzogblog]

The Birth of The Daily Show: 25 Years of Fake News and Moments of Zen

It was July of 1995 and I had left MTV to become President of Comedy Central. It was the basic cable equivalent of going from the NY Yankees to an expansion team. I was on the job just two weeks when I received a call from Brillstein Grey the high powered managers of Bill Maher, host of one of the networks few original programs, "Politically Incorrect". We were informed Bill and his show would leave the network when his contract expired in 12 months. It was a done deal. Bill wanted to take his show to the "big leagues" at ABC where he would follow Night Line. Comedy Central was left jilted. Terrible news for a network still trying to establish itself. We had a year to figure out how to replace him and the clock was ticking. So began the path to The Daily Show.

It was very much a fledgling Comedy Central I joined, available in barely 35 million homes, desperately seeking an identity and an audience. It was just over three years old, born into a shot gun wedding that joined two struggling and competing comedy networks, HBO’s Comedy Channel and Viacom’s HA!, Watching them both stumble out of the gate, the cable operators forced them to merge, telling them: "We only need one comedy channel, you guys figure it out”. After some contentious negotiations the new channel was born and the red headed step child of MTV and HBO set out to find the pop culture zeitgeist its parents had already expertly navigated. The network had yet to define itself. The programming consisted mainly of old stand up specials from the likes of Gallagher (never underestimate the appeal of a man smashing watermelons), a hodgepodge of licensed movies (“The God’s Must be Crazy and The Cheech and Chong trilogy were mainstays) and Benny Hill reruns. The networks biggest hit by far was the UK import “Absolutely Fabulous”, better know as “AbFab”. Comedy Central boasted a handful of original shows, including the wonderfully sublime "SquiggleVision" of “Dr. Katz”, the sketch comedy "Exit 57" (starring the then unknown Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert) and of course Maher’s "Politically Incorrect". In retrospect I don’t think Bill got enough credit for pioneering the idea of political comedy on mainstream TV. Back then he was the only one doing it.

Politically Incorrect performed just fine, but got more critical attention than ratings. It was a panel show, and I had something a bit different in mind to replace it. I knew we needed a flagship, a network home base, something akin to ESPN's Sports Center where viewers could go at the end of a the day for our comedic take on everything that happened in the last 24 hours….."a daily show". I had broad idea for it in my head. I would describe it as part "Weekend Update", part Howard Stern, with a dash of "The Today Show" on drugs complete with a bare boned format to keep costs low so we could actually afford to produce it. We could open with the headlines covering the day's events (our version of a monologue), followed by a guest segment (we wouldn't need to write jokes...only questions!), and finish with a taped piece. Simple, right? We just needed someone to help flesh out our vision.

Comedy Central was a a second tier cable channel then and considered a bit of a joke (no pun intended). It had minuscule ratings, no heat and even less money to spend. Producers were not lining up to work with there. Eileen Katz ran programming for the channel and the two of us began pitching this idea to every producer who would listen. One of the first people we approached was Madeleine Smithberg, an ex Letterman producer and had overseen "The Jon Stewart Show" for us at MTV. We thought she was perfect for the role. “You can’t do this, you can’t afford this, you don't have the stomach for this, it will never work ” Madeliene said when we met with her. We could not convince her to take the gig. Ok then....we moved on. The problem was we heard that same refrain from everybody. No one wanted the job. So after weeks being turned down by literally EVERYONE, I said to Eileen: “We have to go back to Madeleine and convince her to do this with us"!

Part our pitch to her was we would go directly to series. There would be no pilot. The show was guaranteed to go on air. We had decided this show was our to be our destiny and we had to figure it out come hell or high water. As a 24 hour comedy channel, if we couldn't figure out a way to be funny and fresh every day...what good were we? We told Madeliene we were committed to putting the show on the air and keeping it there till we got it right (for at least a year anyway). That, plus some gentle arm twisting got her to sign on. Shortly after that, Lizz Winstead did too.

Madleiene and Lizz very quickly landed on their inspired notion of developing the show and format as a news parody. It brought an immediate focus and a point of view to the process . All of the sudden things started to take shape and coming to life. Great ideas started flowing fast and furious while an amazing collection of funny and talented began to come on board. Madeliene and Lizz were off to the races. Now all we needed was a host.

The prime time version of ESPN's Sports Center was hosted by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann back then and it was must see cable TV. But I had recently started to notice another guy hosting the show's late night edition. He was funny, with a snarky delivery reminiscent of Dennis Miller. His name was Craig Kilborn. On the phone with CAA agent Jeff Jacobs one day, I asked if he knew happened to know who repped him? “I do" he said. "We just signed him”. Within days he was in my office along with Madeleine, Lizz, and Eileen who were all a bit skeptical about the tall blond guy with the frat boy vibes sitting across from them. After opening the meeting with a few off color comments that would probably get him cancelled today (an early warning sign fo sure), Craig ultimately won them over and we had our host.

FUN FAC#1: Minutes after the news of Craig's hiring went public, Keith Olberman's agent called me directly to ask why we hadn't considered hiring him?

Ok, we had a host and producers...but what to call it? After sifting through dozens of ideas for a title, Madeleine called me one day and said, "I think we should just call it what we've been calling it all along...."The Daily Show". As we approached our launch date we taped practice shows and took them out to focus groups to get real life feedback. The groups hated it.... I mean with a red hot hate. They hated Craig, the format, the jokes, everything. We were crushed and dejectedly looked around at the room at one another. "Now what?" “Either they’re wrong, or we are". I said I think they are...but it doesn’t matter, we're doing this!" We never looked back.

The show took off quickly garnering some quick buzz and attention, we felt like we had crashed the party. Well, sort of. We had no shortage of fun, growing pains and drama along the way. The Daily Show version 1.0 was about to unravel. In a December 1997 magazine interview Craig made some truly offensive and inappropriate remarks about Lizz and female members of the staff. Whether it was poor attempt at humor or just plain misogynist (or both) is beyond the point. It was all wrong, very wrong. Craig was suspended for a week without pay. Lizz left the show. In the moment I chose to protect the show and its talent more so than Lizz. That was wrong too. It's more than cringe worthy looking back now, and I regret not making some better decisions then. My loyalty to our host was later "rewarded" when in the Spring of 1998 Kilborn's team, a la Bill Maher, unceremoniously informed us he had signed a deal to follow Letterman on CBS when his contract expired at the end of the year. No discussion, a done deal. Comedy Central jilted again. Like Maher, Kilborn wanted his shot at the network big leagues and we had a little over six months to figure out how to replace him. We all know how that chapter ended. That search would eventually reunite us with Jon Stewart who along with The Daily Show took Comedy Central and basic cable to the "the big leagues" on their own terms, redefining late night comedy in the process The rest, as they say, is "Fake News" history.

Fun Fact #2: before approaching Jon (who I did not originally think would be interested) I initially offered the job to a chunkier, largely unknown Jimmy Kimmel, fresh off his co hosting duties on "Win Ben Stein's Money" ...only to have him turn us down.

My fascination with late night began as a kid. I remember how exciting it was to stay up to sneak a peek at the Carson monologue and watch him do spit takes with his chummy Hollywood guests. Later on I also loved the heady adult conversation Dick Cavett would have with everyone from Sly Stone to Groucho Marx. But it was the comedic revolution of Saturday night Live in 1975, followed by Letterman's game changing show in 1981 that truly established late night as the coolest place on the television landscape. I could only dream of one day being part of it.

25 years on, I couldn’t be more proud of The Daily Show and its legacy. Those days helping build it alongside Madeleine, Lizz, Eileen and the team were among the most satisfying (and fun) experiences I have ever had. It was thrilling to take a shot at the late night landscape and try and make our mark, especially when no one thought we could.

I am prouder still of what Trevor Noah and his staff have achieved since they took the hand off from Jon, evolving and growing the show through a new voice and lens. I think my personal "Moment Of Zen" will last as long as Trevor remains behind the desk, allowing me to selfishly boast of having hired every host this award winning and culture defining franchise has ever had.

25 years later. it remains as relevant as ever, a bona fide late night institution, standing shoulder to shoulder with all the great shows that inspired us to start.

[jan31]

Rambling Review Episode 29

I have been trying to write this review since Monday and I would like to think my thoughts are more organised now, but if you are looking for a logical, analytical and insightful review this wont be it, my brain is still jumbled after that episode!! 

Lets start at the cabin....seriously Serkan Bolat, hypochondriac who takes his pulse after coughing at the flower shop is going to stay in a remote cabin, with no obvious means of transport and communication?  He should be in the city near medical facilities after his serious crash and head injury. This is where you realise he has been isolated for a reason, so no one can visit or call him and put thoughts in his head.  Selin has created a perfect hideaway where he only hears her side of the story about Eda, and so the brainwashing begins.  Its unclear how long they have been there, i assume a few weeks, but this is long enough to get inside someone’s head and create a scenario, particularly when there are no other conflicting opinions and you have no memories of the person.  Selin is not happy about his decision to go back to Istanbul as she knows his friends may tell a different story to hers about Eda.

Engin is grieving for his best friend, so i loved their reunion, Serkan had a huge grin on his face and was also happy to see him. Serkan told Efe i have only got 3 friends, Engin Pryll and Sirius, and those were the ones that got the biggest welcome.

 When they all looked behind him as Eda appeared they honestly thought they were going to see a beautiful reunion and were all smiling 

This was an iconic scene, (yeah i cried), Eda walking slowly towards Serkan and the nod from Selin confirming this was Eda.  Touching his face as she does so often, making sure he is real and then as expected fainting, I am sure i heard Serkans heartbeat as he caught her.  What was more heartbreaking was that Selin, who has her phone glued to her hand most of the time, never bothered to show him a photo of Eda while they were in that cabin.  Ugh i hate this woman so badly.  I noticed that Serkan did not have a phone during this episode, so obviously lost at sea??  So how did he call Selin, this is something i still don’t understand, even if he used someone elses phone, he would not know her number by heart i am sure. 

Serkan telling her ”” Today is the first day i have seen your face”” and “”you are a stranger to me”” was harsh words to hear, and Handes acting here was superb, we really felt her pain.  There has been alot of complaints about Serkan and the way he treated Eda here, but we never really knew robot bolat, we saw him the day he met Eda, and things started changing in him soon after that.  We know Leyla called him her executioner, and we saw how he took care of Kaan when he took one of the projects from them.  he is ruthless, emotionless and logical in business.  And Eda as far as he is concerned is business, she owns 45% of her company, and he thinks he has been manipulated and blinded by her in order for her to get the shares. She made him look like a fool in front of his family and friends and he wont let her do it again.  We really have no idea at this stage what lies Selin has told

Loved the handcuff scene, Serkan driving Edas car was a sight i never expected to see!

Eda coming to his house showing him photos was heartbreaking, he refused to even look at them and just kept saying it wasn’t him, he really has put a wall up and wont listen to anything she says.  I was glad to see Engin supporting Eda to him, reminding him he also loved her and she had a right to be angry after what she has gone through in the last 2 months. I did feel sorry for Serkan here, he really has got information overload from everyone and he keeps saying he cant remember.  “Does Selin mean something to you?’, and all he can say is she is the only one in his life that hasn’t changed and therefore represents a safe place for him while he is recovering.  He has never loved Selin, he has made that very clear to her in the past, so nothing has changed.  She does a good job at work, doesn’t put demands on him and it is basically a business relationship.  There is no affection between them or chemistry, his heart belongs to Eda

I think Eda coming to his house has stirred up something and i am sure we saw flashbacks in the fragman of him sitting there among the photos looking sad. The next day at Aydan house, he keeps looking at her and looking away, He is drawn to her and is fighting the feelings.

As @lizacstuff reminded us in her brilliant review, Serkan said “If I lived a hundred times I would fall in love with you a hundred times”, he does not have to remember Eda in order to fall in love with her, and frankly makes for a beautiful story if this is what they are going to show us

I really cant wrap my head around Selin and her evil mind.  Surely she realises Serkan will get some memories back and when he does she is out of the door.  But she seems to think he will still choose her!  This is not just about Serkan its also about her getting revenge on Eda, she does not want her to be happy, and at the moment she is firmly in control of Serkan while his memories are still gone.  Its interesting that Serkan has made no mention to her of the images he is getting of a woman in a yellow dress, as I am sure this would panic Selin as she knows exactly what he is talking about.

I liked that Ferit warned her not to get too used to the situation, and she was swimming in dangerous waters, and in typical Selin bitch style she saw Ceren coming and asked him if he was jealous of her.  This woman is manipulating everyone who she thinks has wronged her and the worse she becomes the better her downfall will be and please can Eda be there for this one.

The final scene of Eda walking in to the cafe was perfect.  She knows the effect she has on Serkan and she made sure she was late so everyone would notice  Of course his circuits started smoking and he got some flashbacks, unfortunately he never see the face of the woman in them so does not know if it is Eda. When she went to him and his heart starting aching she knew then that his heart remembered their love.  The kiss completely confused him as he definitely felt something, and in his panic  he did the logical thing in his mind and proposed to Selin.  And what an awkward speech that was, he stumbled through it and said Selins name while looking at Eda.  Yes it was cruel, but in his mind, he wanted to shut everything down and make sure he was clear about not having any feelings for her.  He didn’t fool any of us!

Aydan....i am shocked that she hid the news of Serkan being alive from Eda, and also shocked that she did not bring him home, it makes no sense and just shows the depth of Selins manipulation, she is controlling everyone at he moment. 

Dennis is lovely, has been such a support to Eda, and will definitely cause some jealous scenes with Serkan

The acting this week from the lead characters was amazing, they never disappoint.  The long hours they put in day after day to bring us this brilliant show makes me in awe of them 

What i want to see in Episode 30

Small details, big difference - this is going to the the theme

We know we are getting the yellow dress, and i have the feeling that this will not be Edas idea.  Maybe she decides at the last minute to go to the party and asks Melo to bring her an outfit to the office for her.  Or if it is her idea, I hope she leaves her coat on until she is in front of Serkan, for maximum effect.  Dancing with Dennis in that dress will definitely being back jealous robot.

The colour changing mug needs to come back, I am hoping Seyfi has brought it to the house, or they go to the Art Life apartment and use it there.

Sirius going for walks with both of them

We know Serkan has some injury to his right hand, but i think they will leave that for 31 perhaps

I want to see Eda change tactics and become distant, this will intrigue Serkan more

We have seen Engin asking Serkan is he not a bit curious about Eda, and here i am hoping that he does look into her life more

Aydan......wow you are going to have to work hard to get any kind of redemption, but she is someone Serkan listens to and trusts, so lets hope she steps up her game and we know Seyfi will always be helping push Serkan and Eda together again.

The girls have been a great support to Eda, and will continue to be, but with Serkan not knowing them it is hard for them to get him to see the real eda.

Sorry this turned out far longer that expected....congratulations if you got to the end!

[ffakc]

A Midwest Christmas - a Jeffrey Dean Morgan fanfiction

Again, I’m aware I’m late posting this. I know it’s no longer Christmas, don’t yell at me. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I LOVE writing stories that are based around Christmas.

Jeff crushed out his cigarette and breathed hot air into his hands to warm them. He shrugged his shoulders a few times, almost as if he was psyching himself up.

“You okay, babe?” I ask and kiss his cheek, shutting the car off.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t know why I’m so nervous! I’m a grown ass man, damn it,” my boyfriend chuckles.

“They’ll love you, Jeff. You know my mom and dad love you already, you have nothing to worry about, baby” I give his thigh a squeeze and kiss his neck deeply. Jeff moans and tilts his head to the side.

“Please don’t give me a boner before meeting your female relatives,” Jeff chuckles. “I don’t know, babe. Dad might not love me after I walk through the door,” he gestures to his Seattle Seahawks beanie.

“He’ll get over it,” I laugh and open the car door. Jeff grabs the box of gifts from the trunk and holds my hand as we walk to the front door.

“Merry Christmas Eve!” I holler from the foyer. Jeff kicks off his boots.

“Hey sweetie! Hey Jeff, what’s up, brother?” my dad calls from the den.

“Hey, Mr. C,” Jeff smiles warmly.

“Oh no, oh no. You take that hat off! You’re in Bear country!” my dad laughs. “Just when I thought I liked you!”

“I knew you’d say something! GO HAWKS!” Jeff chuckles and tosses it onto the bench. My dad jokingly makes a fist. I roll my eyes playfully and ruffle his hair as we head upstairs. Men and their sports, I’ll never understand it.

“You can just set the gifts under the tree,” I whisper to Jeff and give his arm a squeeze. He waves at my female relatives at the table.

“Hiiiii! Merry Christmas! I’ve missed you!” my cousin Amy hugs me. “How’s New York?”

“Absolutely incredible. Every day feels like a new adventure with this one,” I gesture to my man standing behind me. “This is my boyfriend, Jeff!”

“Hi there, you must be Amy? I’ve heard so much about you!” Jeff shakes her hand and kisses her cheek.

“All good things I hope!” Amy laughs.

“Yes ma’am. I’ve heard y’all are super close, and I love that. Family togetherness recharges the batteries.”

“I’m glad to hear it! I can’t think of a single holiday we didn’t spend together,” Amy gestures around the table.

“Have a seat!” my mom says. “Can I get you anything to drink? We have wine, beer, Coke Zero...”

“I’ll have a Coke,” Jeff replies and sits next to me at the long dinner table. I pull a small bottle of Crown Royal out of my bag.

“I’ll take a Coke as well,” I laugh.

“You came to party! I’ll take some too,” Jeff wraps his arm around me and kisses my cheek as I add the liquor to his glass of ice, “It smells amazing in here, Ma,” Jeff says to my mom.

“Thanks, Jeff! It’s a tradition on Christmas that we have Grandma, my mom’s, tacos. The shells are from a tiny little Mexican kitchen downtown, that’s how my mom always did it. I think we’re just waiting on Jessica and then we’ll be ready to eat!”

“Sounds delicious,” Jeff sips his drink.

“How’d you guys meet? You look super familiar, Jeff,” my aunt Janine remarks. I rest my head on Jeff’s shoulder.

“It all started when I began frequenting this coffee shop that opened near my, well, OUR farm while on hiatus from work. I couldn’t take my eyes off this brown eyed manager with the messy bun in her hair who would always ring me up and make my drink. Golly, she looked cute in that apron,” Jeff nudges me and everyone laughs as I blush. “I finally had to ask this pretty young thing out. I invited her over for dinner and the rest is history. One year and some change later and I can’t imagine my life with anyone else but my baby gal,” he kisses me softly. “Oh! I’m an actor, by the way. I’m currently on a show called The Walking Dead, I play the bad guy named Negan. A lot of people still recognize me as Denny from Grey’s Anatomy and John Winchester from Supernatural though,” Jeff smiles warmly.

“I knew those eyes looked familiar!” my aunt exclaims. “Wow, girl, a famous actor? Check you out!”

“He’s pretty great. I thought the concept of soulmates was cheesy til this man came along. I mean, nobody’s perfect, but Jeffrey comes pretty darn close,” I rub his thigh under the table.

“How old are you anyway? That gray beard says you’re old,” my 13 year old cousin Alyssa asks.

“Lys! You can’t just say that!” her mom quiets her.

“It’s okay, hon! I’m not offended at all! I AM old, real old. I’m 54,” Jeff laughs.

“And how old are you?” Alyssa turns her attention to me.

“24,” I link my arm with my man’s and nuzzle his shoulder.

“Sooo, you were 30 when she was born?” Alyssa makes a sassy face.

“Don’t push it, little girl,” Jeff teases and we all laugh.

*Jeff’s POV*

“So, this is the man cave, huh?” I glance around at the fishing poles adorning the chocolate brown wall and Chicago sports gear.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice! It gets cold down here, but the fireplace helps!” my girlfriend’s dad Tim tosses some kindling on the fire.

“Super cozy,” I remark. I haven’t been this nervous in a long time. I had something I desperately wanted to ask him, but I didn’t want to just get right to it.

“How you doin’, bud?” my girlfriend’s grandfather Ray asks.

“Good, Ray! I’m really good, fantastic actually. It feels so nice to be off work for the holidays! Thank you guys so much for welcoming me into your home. Dinner was delicious and the Midwest hospitality is much appreciated.”

“You’re always welcome here,” Tim says.

“This is for you,” Ray reaches into his coat pocket. He passes a CD my way with small writing on the jacket, “To: Jeff. Love, Grampa.”

“Aww, what’s this?” I say, pushing my glasses up.

“Elvis Christmas songs. Something for you and your girl to dance to. You better treat her good,” he smiles his adorable old man smile.

“Thank you so much, Grandpa,” I get up and give him a hug. “You didn’t have to get me anything. So, um,” I clear my throat as I settle into the couch. “There’s something we should talk about. I mean, something I need to ask you. I don’t know, I’m shaky as hell. So, how do I put this?” I pull a small velvet box out of my pocket. “I brought this with me.”

“You want to marry me? Let me go get my dress!” Tim teases. Whew, a joke to break the tension.

“Yeah, totally! I, wow, I’m going to cry. Pull yourself together, Jeff. I wanted to know if I can ask your daughter to be my wife. She’s got me wrapped, man. When I look into her eyes, I just fall in love over and over again. I know it’s old fashioned of me to ask, but I thought I’d do the right thing and ask for your blessing. I love your girl so damn much, you have no idea,” I wipe tears away.

“I had a feeling this would be happening. You kept staring at me all through dinner with this lost puppy look in your eye, like I was going to yell at you or something! Jeff, I see the way she looks at you and it warms her dad’s heart. Every time you speak, she stops immediately what she’s doing and stares at you with hearts in her eyes. I’ve never seen my daughter so happy. Of course you have my blessing.” My heart begins hammering in my chest as my soon to be fiancée’s dad pulls me into a hug.

“Thank you so much, sir! Oh my god, I’m freaking out. Thank you, thank you! So, next question, where’s the best place to propose around these parts?”

“Well, downtown near your hotel on 5th Avenue, it’s all decked out in Christmas lights. Maybe you guys could take a walk down there?”

***

“What a great dinner, your family is so kind and welcoming!” Jeff says as we climb into the warm car. “I love you so much, doll.”

“I’m so glad you had a good time, honey. I knew you would! I love you too, Jeff. I’m so looking forward to the hot tub when we get back to the room, I don’t know about you.” Jeff slides his hand over my upper thigh seductively as I drive through the city in the direction of the hotel. I glance over at my boyfriend and he gives me the sexiest bedroom eyes. I could have just stopped the car and taken him right there. We jam out to our favorite Christmas songs and giggle like kids.

“Fifth Avenue,” Jeff mutters. “Pull over, babe.” I pull into a parking spot and Jeff grabs my face and kisses me deeply, “Let’s go walkin’ in a winter wonderland.” I smile and shut the car off and follow behind him. Jeff’s adorable spontaneity was one of his best qualities. He takes me by the hand as we look at the twinkling lights. There’s no cars on the road and the snow dampens all the sound.

“Hey, sweetheart?” Jeff places his hands on my hips.

“Yes?” I wrap my arms around his neck. We hold each other close.

“You’re so damn perfect,” he pecks my lips, I run my fingers through his soft gray hair. “I tried to come up with a long romantic speech, but words are failing me. You’re everything I’ve hoped and dreamed for. You’re the reason I wake up in the morning. You’re the reason I can’t wipe this smile off my face. Every time I look into those gentle brown eyes, I’m reminded of why I fell in love with you all over again. A life without you is a life I don’t want to live. You’re my entire world, sweet girl.” Jeff pulls away and reaches into his pocket.

“Oh my god,” I sigh, “Jeffrey, I-I-“ I’m utterly speechless. Jeff brushes away the snow on the sidewalk with his gloved hand and gets on one knee.

“Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?” Jeff smiles widely, opening the velvet box and revealing a simple, shimmering band. That man knew me so well, it was exactly the

“Oh god, Daddy! Yes! Yes, Jeffrey, yes I’ll marry you!” I jump up and down excitedly. Jeff’s hands shake as he slides the ring on my finger. I gasp with delight, “I love you. Oh baby, it’s beautiful!” Jeff gets to his feet and rests his forehead against mine as we both cry tears of joy. My breath quavers from excitement and the biting cold as Jeff kisses me over and over again.

“I want you to be mine forever,” he whispers against my lips.

“Forever and ever. Oh my god, my heart is racing! You’re so amazing, I love you so much.”

“I love you the most, baby gal.”

***

Jeff and I could hardly keep our hands off each other as we hustled to the elevator.

“Merry Christmas!” the front desk agent calls out.

“You too!” Jeff replies with a friendly wave. I untie my coat as the door to the elevator shuts. I tangle my fingers in my silver fox’s thick hair and moan as he kisses my neck and pulls down my sweater, brushing his scruffy beard against my chest as he kisses and sucks gently.

“Jeffrey, you naughty boy,” I gasp. His large, slender hand find its way between my thighs. “Please, Daddy,” I whine. Jeff slides his fingers down the front of my leggings. He pulls them out just as the elevator chimes, my face goes red as I readjust my Christmas sweater and Jeff fixes his hair as if nothing ever happened.

“Merry Christmas!” an innocent, elderly Mrs. Claus looking woman greets us.

“Merry Christmas to you too!” I reply, the cool air of the hallway hitting Jeff’s saliva on my chest, causing me to shiver with delight. We laugh to ourselves as Jeff opens the door to our suite. Oh, that poor old lady, I hope she didn’t hear too much.

“Let’s see, how about we celebrate with a drink!” Jeff says with a wide smile, slinging his coat over a chair.

“Hmm, how about something sweet? I kind of want dessert after all those tacos,” I wrap my arms around my now fiancé’s waist as he kisses me, his large hands squeeze me closer.

“Your sweater reminds me, how about a White Russian?”

“I am, in fact, the Dude. One of my favorites,” I reply with a laugh.

“Hmm. Vodka, check. Coffee liqueur, got it. Cream, hmm. Cream, cream, cream,” Jeff taps his chin. “Got it!” he grabs some half and half packets from the coffee station.

“Ah, resourceful! I like that!” I kiss him and sit on the bed, “I’ll get the bath ready.”

I draw the bath and Jeff hands me a drink, setting his on the rim of the tub. He unbuttons his shirt revealing his hairy chest and stomach. He kisses me.

“I love you so much,” he says. “Nice ring you’ve got there.”

“Thanks!” I run my fingers down his chest, “My handsome fiancé gave it to me.”

“He must be a lucky guy,” Jeff’s pants come off and he slides into the tub with a loud groan.

“Jesus, that feels so fucking good,” he runs his fingers through his hair. “Come on in, baby gal, the water’s fine.” Jeff bites his lip eagerly as I take my clothes off. “You’re so sexy, you know that?”

“I could say the same about you, darlin’,” I reply, tossing my bra on the floor. I tie my hair up as my fiancé looks me up and down. I climb in the tub, opposite of the rugged older man that I was so lucky to call mine. Jeff grabs my leg and begins kissing the length of my calf.

“When and where do you want to get married?” he asked with a sly smile, kneading my legs.

“Honestly, I’ve always dreamed of a fall or winter wedding. You know how I feel about hot weather,” I take a sip of my White Russian.

“Babe, it’s too hot! This is stupid! Ninety degrees? Ew, fuck that!” Jeff imitates my whining. I laugh.

“You know me so well!”

“Daddy, I have a headache!” Jeff cackles.

“Will you shut the fuck up?” I playfully splash water in his face with my foot. Jeff sputters.

“I give you shit because I love you!” he wipes his face.

“I know, and I give it right back to you, asshole! What were we talking about again?” I giggle.

“Wedding plans?”

“Oh, right. So, definitely a fall wedding. What about on the farm? Ballrooms have never really struck my fancy. That little area off beyond the pastures would be beautiful, don’t you think?”

“I agree, I don’t need a big gala with a stuffy tuxedo to show everyone how much I love you. Ooh! How about under that big tree where we had a picnic and carved our names?” Jeff places my legs on his shoulders.

“J hearts K, yeah, I remember,” I sigh longingly. “That’s where you first told me you loved me.”

“Aw, it was, wasn’t it? You packed us a picnic and everything! You’re just a regular Ina Garten, aren’t you? Remember me yelling at the dogs to stay away from the alpacas? ‘Guys, those aren’t puppies, they’ll kick the shit out of you!’” Jeff laughs.

“Well, if I’m Ina, you’re Jeffrey! Hey, look at that! It works!” I tap my glass against his. “Those dogs are so cute, but they’re little shits sometimes.”

“Oh, absolutely they are,” Jeff agrees. “Wow, that cute barista who I was scared to ask out is going to be my wife? How did I get so damn lucky?”

“You were scared to ask me out? Why? We would always chit-chat back and forth.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why. I think it’s because I didn’t want to be THAT guy. You know, the guy who thinks the food service worker is flirting with him just because she’s being nice,” Jeff rolls his eyes.

“I didn’t get that impression from you at all! I think you’re sexy as fuck, and have since the day I first met you. If I thought you were a scumbag, I wouldn’t have flirted back. And I wouldn’t have had sex with you on the first date, would I?” I tease.

“You’re right. Man, that was a wild night, eh? My heart still beats fast when I think about it,” Jeff grins. “You looked so damn good in my shirt too. Come here,” he holds out his arms and I make my way to his side of the tub, sitting on his lap. He runs his manly hands all over my body and buries his face in my neck, kissing and moaning, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Mrs. Morgan.”

“I love the sound of that. I get to be your wife and I’ve never been happier in my entire life. I love you so much, Jeffrey.”

“I love you too.”

We eventually climb out of the tub, after kissing and laughing and talking til the water turns our toes to raisins. I wrap myself in a fuzzy bathrobe and Jeff quickly does the same. I climb in the big, fluffy bed and Jeff snuggles next to me. He wraps his slender arms around me and I immediately drift off to sleep.

***

“Merry Christmas, gorgeous,” Jeff’s croaky, sultry morning voice rings in my ears like church bells. He kisses my forehead, his scruff brushing against my skin. I squint my eyes at the bright sun bouncing off the snow and flooding our suite.

“Merry Christmas, Daddy,” I curl up closer to his warm body. I close my eyes and bury my face in his chest, “Has anyone told you that you look like Santa Claus with your beard?” I laugh and kiss his collarbones.

“Every damn day on social media,” Jeff chuckles. He moans softly at my touch. I stop and hold out my left hand, my vintage gold band shimmering in the light.

“Just had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming,” I smile.

“You ain’t dreamin’, sweet girl. You’re going to be my wife,” Jeff kisses me and strokes my hair. He climbs on top of me, our naked bodies still cloaked in the beige comforter. He buries his face in my neck, leaving sloppy kisses.

“Daddy,” I whimper.

“Yeah, baby?” I hold his face in my hands.

“Nothing, I just like looking at you. You sure are pretty. What do you say we have a little fun before going back to Mom and Dad’s?”

“I would want nothing more,” I reply as Jeff pulls the blanket over his head and begins kissing down my body. I giggle with delight as his beard tickles me. Best. Christmas. Ever.

Tag list: @negans-attagirl @jdmbbycakes @iluvneganandjamie

[obxparadise]

Cop Car

JJ Maybank x Reader 

Word count: 1,354

~A fic based on the song Cop Car by Keith Urban/Sam Hunt~ 

A/N: If you like this, leave a comment! 

*GIF is not mine. Credit goes to the owner*

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Man, they weren't playin They sure put those cuffs on quick You tried to sweet talk 'em They didn't fall for it, but I did

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Regret was the only word that wasn’t apart of JJ’s vocabulary. Whatever he did, he did with purpose. With reason. With pride. And he never regretted a damn thing, even after some Kook had called the cops on him for pulling a gun on Topper at the Boneyard.

JJ didn’t even have the chance to run as he’d been surrounded by three different police vehicles. Trying to fight law enforcement wasn’t the brightest idea either, as he now was sporting a busted lip, bruised ribs, and a torn white shirt.

In the back of the cop car, JJ sat with his head against the driver’s seat headrest, his blonde hair sticking out in every which way. The cops had done a number on him, and every time the car drove over a bump in the road, the pain in JJ’s ribs would start up again. Biting his lip, he tried to redirect his thoughts away from the pain.

“Where’d you get the gun, son?” asked Officer Shoupe. Chuckling softly to himself, JJ shook his head. There was no way in hell he would open his mouth. The cops in the OBX couldn’t be trusted. JJ learned that the hard way. “I said, where did you get the gun?”

“I have the right to remain silent,” JJ reminded, lips pulling into a smirk as Shoupe and his partner, Deputy Thomas shared an irritated look. “Ain’t that what you told me?”

“You keep actin’ out, you’ll end up just like your daddy,” Thomas remarked, hoping to rile up the sixteen-year-old boy. It didn’t though. After enduring years of abuse from his father, JJ became desensitized to comments about his dad. Letting things roll off his shoulders was better than dwelling on feelings and trying to make sense of them, at least in JJ’s mind.

“Hold on, Thomas,” Shoupe said, quieting his partner as he turned up the volume on the radio. Leaning forward, JJ could only hear bits of the dispatcher.

Robbery at Denny’s…unarmed female…seventeen…black tank top, white shorts…

Shoupe and Thomas eyed each other momentarily before pulling into the Denny’s parking lot which they had been conveniently driving by. Shoupe put the car in park before turning around, “This ain’t gonna take long. Don’t try anything stupid.”

JJ snickered as the two officers stepped out of the vehicle. “No promises, buddy.”

Not even five minutes later, JJ’s head perked up at the commotion out front of Denny’s. Almost instantly, his cheeks flushed a deep red as Deputy Thomas pushed you into the car, slamming the door behind him. JJ happily drank in the sight of you, slightly embarrassed that his cargo shorts had constricted. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? What’s your name, baby?”

Clenching your jaw, you eyed the smirking blonde beside you. JJ Maybank. The devilishly handsome Pogue with anger management problems and daddy issues. He was notorious for smoking weed, fishing, and stealing. What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into this time?

“Y/N,” Not wanting to make small talk with a known criminal, you leaned forward toward Deputy Thomas. “Officer, is this really necessary?”

“You stole from the store,” Thomas answered.

“It was a candy bar,” you retorted, wriggling your wrists in the handcuffs. “And I said I was going to pay for it, I just didn’t have enough cash.”

“Then you shouldn’t have taken it,” JJ piped up, flashing a bright smile. “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, princess.”

“It was for a child,” you said, teeth gritted together. “I was waiting for my brother to bring me a dollar.” As both officers ignored you, you leaned in closer, softening your voice. “Look, I really am sorry, okay? The little girl was upset and I just wanted to see her smile. This is all just one big misunderstanding.”

JJ eyed you curiously when you shot a wink his way. For a brief moment, his pulse quickened. Were they actually going to let you go?

“Sorry, kid,” Shoupe replied. Groaning, you sat back against the seat, your attempt at sweet-talking the officers one big failure.

“I’ll be damned,” JJ laughed, causing you to let out your own. “You had me fooled.”

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But there was somethin' bout the way The blue lights were shinin' Bringing out the freedom in your eyes

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JJ was captivated. The whole way to the station, his eyes stayed glued to your face, which was solemnly pressed up against the window. The black bandana around your head kept the curls away from your cheeks, giving JJ the chance to appreciate your beauty. You were stunning, no doubt about that, but there was something about the way the bright blue cop lights brought out a twinkle in your eyes that kept JJ staring. He could almost see through you, into your free-spirited soul. You weren’t a Pogue, but your personality didn’t scream Kook either. You were somewhere in the middle, and JJ was overcome with a sudden itch to get to know you.

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We talked, we laughed We sat real close By the time they let us go I was already gone

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“Wait, you brought a gun to a party?” You asked, rolling your eyes as JJ gave you a proud nod. “Are you insane?”

“Insane is my middle name,” JJ gloated. “And besides, the douche had it coming. He tried to drown my best friend. That shit won’t fly with me. And apparently,” JJ nodded toward the two officers, “Bringing a gun to a party doesn’t exactly fly with asshole 1 and 2 up front either or else I wouldn’t be here.”

You giggled as Shoupe and Thomas exchanged irritated glances, clearly fed up with JJ’s antics. Turning back to JJ, you noticed he wasn’t trying to hide his staring. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Not my lips, sadly,” Warmth crept up your neck as JJ laughed, running his tongue along his lower lip. “Sorry, it’s just…I can’t help but think you and I come from two different worlds. Here I am being arrested for possession of a weapon, and you’re being arrested for having a heart of gold.”

Your heart skipped a beat as JJ offered a shy smile. Boldly, you scooted closer to him, resting your head on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind though, as his cheek lay against the top of your head, staying in that position until you arrived at the police district.

You were let go almost immediately, but JJ had a harder time of convincing the officers to let him go. After twenty minutes, JJ was able to talk himself out of jail time. How he did it, he was clueless, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. Instead, he ran out of the district as fast as he could, almost colliding with you.

“They let you go?” Grinning, JJ grabbed you in a hug. “How in the hell did you pull that off?”

JJ set you down before massaging his wrists. “Don’t ask questions, baby, just be glad I did.”

“Well,” you said, hands slapping against your thighs, “It’s been quite an adventure, but it looks like it’s the end for us.”

Pushing his hands deep in his pockets, JJ stepped forward, a gleam in his eyes. “It doesn’t have to be.”

“What?” your brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“I want to see you again,” JJ admitted. He was smitten with you, and if he were being honest, he didn’t want the night to end. Your smile was beautiful, your laugh was contagious, and you had a sense of freedom that drew JJ closer to you. “What do you say?”

With a new sense of confidence, you grabbed JJ’s hand, pressing a quick kiss to his bruised cheek. Smirking, you looked at the troubled boy who, if you learned anything about him that night, was a sweetheart under all the rough layers. “What kind of trouble are we getting into next?”