#instead we got... that travesty of an ending.

[herefortheships]

I just watched the Supernatural pilot episode for the first time in around ten years and I have to say that it's so surreal seeing where this show started vs how it ended.

[inbabylontheywept]

bad dating stories time: the shoe incident

so in highschool, my best friend wasnt allowed to go on dates unless there was another couple there to keep an eye on him. part of this was his parents being insane, but also, part of it was him being insane. in a problem with no reasonable parties, there are no reasonable solutions.

at some point in my junior year, my sorta-gf broke up with me, and i just wasnt feeling dating, which was bad for my friend, because he had a good thing going with a girl he met in court.

he kind of hounded me about it. kept pushing me to just put me feet back in the dating pool and i wasnt real thrilled about it, because i knew he was pushing me for his own benefit, not mine, so i kept telling him to fuck off, and after a few weeks of being told that i would date when i was damn well ready, he eventually said: okay. what if i paid for the date AND found you a blind date AND all you had to do was show up?

and i shouldve said no, i know, but i let him wear me down, and i will own my fault in that. a date starting on such a stupid premise could never have gone well.

but he still managed to find a way to make it worse.

i dont know how long he tried to set a blind date up. it couldve been multiple attempts. he couldve stooped to this immediately. but what happened in the end was that he called a girl from the ward he attended - a girl that he knew had a giant, mushy crush on him - and he said: hey! how would you feel about going on a date this weekend?

(you know, implying it was with him, but never actually saying it.)

and she said YES WOW I WOULD LOVE TO and he said great! and then he called me up and said he found me a date.

i did not learn about his crimes until several weeks later. i will die swearing before god almighty that i would never have allowed this travesty to happen if i had known.

that was on a monday. the date of the date rolled around that friday evening, and im sorry to confess, i really phoned the whole thing in. i showed up in my favorite comfy outfit, which was also a fashion crime: basketball shorts and flipflops and a baja hoodie. it was super comfy but it made me look kind of crazy. i picked him up first, and then i picked up his date next, and then we went to pick up my date, and thats where you're gonna get the play by play.

i arrived, walked across the yard, and knocked on the front door. she opened it almost immediately, like shed been waiting right by it, and i could see her expression go from OMG IM SO EXCITED to super disappointed, then disgusted and finally pissed. and because i didn't know about my friends sins, i thought it was from my outfit. which seemed... harsh. like, hey, im allowed to be quirky, fuck you. also its a blind date, i thought the deal was that we were both going to be sad broken sacks of mortality.

anyway, we looked at each other for several seconds before she slammed the door in my face.

i looked back at my friend. he was sweating bullets. i dont know what he expected from this, but there was this big long pause where we both tried to figure out what to do, and then the door opened up, and her dad invited me in, and he said she was gonna need a few minutes to finish getting ready, and that in the meantime we could sit and talk.

we did not talk. we did sit. i sat down on the couch, and he sat down in a chair across the couch, and then instead of talking he cleaned his pistol on the coffee table. i wasnt actually sure if it was a threat, or if it was just a fidget thing for 40+ year old republican men, but when i tried to help he got snappy so i just watched him put a pistol back together.

he was okay at it.

eventually my date came downstairs, still mad as hell for reasons beyond my ken, and i felt pretty guilty for being such a mess because i thought that was why she was so angry. i tried to make up for by walking her to the car and getting the door for her, just generally trying to be extra polite, but before i could make it back to the drivers side, her dad called me back to the door. so i flipped around, went to the door, and immediately regreted my decision.

soon as i was within range, her dad got waaaay too close to me, leaned in, and said "whatever you do to her, i will do to you," and my brain went into overdrive making three consecutive realizations.

realization one was, damn, the pistol thing was a threat. that sucks. what an asshole. realization two was, wait, im autistic and even i know theres a 0% chance me and my date even hold hands, least of all boink. does this guy actually think there's even a 1% chance of anyone in that car getting laid tonight? is he an idiot? and then realization three went through, which was wait, is this guy threatening to fuck me? and unfortunately, with my brain doing so much processing, my mouth was left to run amok, so somewhere between realization 2 and 3, i said:

"i can't get pregnant"

which, i swear, wasn't actually me trying to be a smartass, it was just me pointing out that he couldn't actually follow up on that threat. it just wasn't possible. we do not live in the omegaverse and im not scared of you.

still, it was an insanely catastrophic thing to say, and the moment we both heard it, we bluescreened. that single sentence obliterated both of our momentary streams of consciousness like a saltine in front of a sand blaster. problem was, he'd probably gone his whole life not even realizing someone could say something that stupid, and making that realization was going to cost him a lot of thinking time. me though? i had been saying shit like that for 17 years, i didnt have to rewrite my expectations of human nature, i just had to plan an exit and start striding. so i was already halfway back to the car before i heard "hey. hey come back. Hey. Hey. HEY. HEY WAIT. HEY GET BACK HERE. HEY-"

and then i was in my car, and i drove away.

if this happened today, he'd have called her, and the whole thing wouldve imploded then and there, but back then, there were still a decent number of teenagers without cell phones. especially the teenagers of insane, gun toting parents. so she just said: whoa what was that all about? and i said: dont worry about it, he'll tell you about it when you get home.

and she said: ok and went back to staring daggers at me and my friend.

WHICH SURPRISINGLY isnt even how the story ends.

we went to an improv comedy show, and it was a disaster. it shouldve been like, 7/10 tops, but between my date being mad, and my friend having a good time, and me having the existential terror of knowing that a guy with a pistol was probably waiting outside his house for me to come back, it was easily 11/10. i laughed way too hard at everything. especially the jokes that flopped. id sit there in this mostly silent room and laugh until i dry heaved a little, and my date was absolutely disgusted, and even my friend was a little embarrassed, which would just make me laugh harder. i laughed so hard that night i could barely talk the next day. and then the show ended, and my friend said, you know, that was a good time, but i think we should maybe do something a little chiller? who wants to walk around the park? and his date said yeah, and my date said no, and i finally had mercy on the poor woman so i said, look, im gonna drop you off. and i am so, so sorry about this, but im dropping you off like a block away. super duper sorry.

do talk to your dad about the pistols thing if you dont want this happening more in the future tho.

and she said: okay. so i dropped her off, and she walked a block down, and that was that.

then i drove my friend and his date to a park that was good for wandering. i figured they wanted something more private, so instead of following them around point blank, i chose a park with this 30 foot rope tower, and i climbed to the top and i said: hey i can see you anywhere from up here, you are officially chaperoned from a distance. get panopticoned idiot. except my friend really is an idiot, and he didnt really get the whole 'now i dont have to third wheel so insanely hard with you guys' thing so he climbed up the tower too, and then his date followed behind him, so there are three people basically sitting together on top of a telephone pole.

and then they started making out.

i was close enough to hear it.

i didnt really know what to do so i was just kind of sitting there, dissociating, when some college kids came around and started shaking the tower. my friend's date went aaaaaaaaaa im afraid of heights :( and my friend went oh, dont worry, ill hold you tight ;) and i went hey, im gonna climb down and ask them to stop.

so i did climb down, and i did ask them to stop, and they flipped me off, which i wasnt even mad about. at that point i was i was like yeah, it would be weirder if this wasnt a mess. gods plan has been to fly this day like a 747 into my metaphorical twin towers and brother he is close enough for me to see him grinning through the cockpit window. still, eventually the college students got bored, so they climbed up the tower, which gave my friend and his date a window to climb down, and together we walked back to my car.

now, i cant explain why this is, but sitting back in the drivers seat was my carriage-back-into-a-pumpkin moment. i'd been chill about all the chaos, just rolling with the punches, but sitting down made me realize how much of a shitshow the day had been, and while i couldnt go back and fix all of it, i could go back and fix one thing.

so i told my friend and his date, hey, you two, stay here and don't do anything weird. don't. then i walked back to the rope tower, and i started picking up the shoes the college students had left at the base in order to climb.

about halfway through this, i realized that if i took all their shoes, they might think i was in it for the money, and i actually wanted them to know i was in it specifically to spite them. fuck those guys. so i put all the right shoes back, gave myself a 100 foot headstart, yelled "nice shoes, assholes", did a little jig, and started running.

my advice to everyone is that college students are faster than you think. even with the headstart, and the whole climb down the tower thing, i was still only fivish seconds ahead of them by the time i got to my car. i flung the door open, looked in the backseat, didnt see anyone, flung the stolen shoes in the backseat, heard two "ow"s, took that as proof of presence, jumped in and pealed out of the lot.

my friend and his date popped up a few seconds later. they were, uh, doing something weird in the back seat. my one request - obliterated.

they climbed up to ask where the hell all the shoes had come from, and i was like yeah i stole them from the college students, and they were like oh. cool. hope you had fun. and i was like, i did. i did. but speaking of fun, what were you doing back there?

and for the first time in my buddies life, i think he was actually embarassed.

[lovebugism]

Hi I am begging on my knees for more of your steddie x reader it’s so good I’m crying

BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE | baby fever

summary: steve's got a bad case of baby fever. it's not so bad until you start getting sick with it too. eddie has to come up with a solution before all of you fall ill.

pairing: steve harrington / f!reader / eddie munson

a/n: i just realized i haven't posted anything steddie related in almost three months. i am so sorry. this is a total travesty. please enjoy this 3k blurb and find it in your heart to forgive me <3

You squint at the grocery list scribbled on a bright blue sticky note. It’s a mish-mash of all your different handwritings. Some are certainly neater than others. “This just says crabs… I think...”

“It doesn’t say crabs, you loon,” Eddie laughs from where he mans the shopping cart beside you. He’s steering the thing about as well as his van. “It says cereals.”

“No, it says a bunch of gibberish that no one can read but you,” you retort with a giggle of your own as you follow him down the breakfast aisle. “And we just need one box of cereal, alright? Singular.”

He turns to you with a cartoonish pout on his lips. “But why?”

“Because you’re like a kid, Eds. You eat the entire thing in one sitting, and then you’re absolutely haywire for the rest of the day.”

And, just like a child, the boy stands in front of the vibrantly colored boxes of cereal with a wide grin on his face.

The local grocery store was smaller compared to the others in town, but they had every brand of the breakfast food known to man, stacked in neat rows from the floor to ceiling. 

Eddie’s got a twinkle in his eye as his gaze runs over them all. And even though you think it’s all boyish and hilarious, you let him have his fun. 

He grew up unable to enjoy all the goodness of overly sweet cereal because bills and food with actual sustenance were always more important. Now, he’s got a halfway stable job with Wayne at the car shop, and he’s living at his own place with his boyfriend and girlfriend, and he can buy whatever the hell kind of cereal he wants. 

So, as far as he’s concerned, everyone who said he’d never amount to much can suck it. 

And you know you’ll let him buy the whole damn grocery store out of their cereal if that’s what he wants. It’s the least you can do for the world’s best boyfriend — a title he begrudgingly shares with Steve The Hair Harrington.

You’d give him the world if you could, but for now you’ll have to settle for a couple of boxes of Lucky Charms.

“Okay, so the OJ’s we got last time tasted like absolute shit,” Eddie mutters, mostly to himself as he crouches to peer at the lower shelves. “I saw a commercial for Waffle-O’s this morning, and they looked pretty good. But I know you like Breakfast With Barbie and Steve ate a bowl of C3PO’s every day for, like, two weeks, so…”

You stand by the cart and laugh at his rambling. You turn to look behind you with a lighthearted joke sitting on the edge of your tongue. It dissipates when you realize Steve isn’t next to you. 

Instead, he’s still standing at the end of the aisle with his back to you and Eddie — like his feet forgot how to work when he caught sight of the family across the store. It’s a mother and a father, dressed in their mid-weekday finest, with a baby swaddled at their chest and a toddler bouncing in the seat of the shopping cart. 

And you know it’s got the boy totally lost in his own head. You know he's picturing you and him and Eddie as that happy family — the one fills every store you walk into with baby babbles and bubbly laughter. 

Steve told you his senior year of high school he wanted a baby, that he wanted six of them, and that he wanted them all with you. And you were just a stupid seventeen-year-old girl who would’ve done anything he asked you to, though you definitely drew the line at babies. 

But you’re older now, and far more settled than you had been all that time ago. Steve’s ready for a family, but you don’t think you’re anywhere close.

“How about we just compromise and get all three?” Eddie finally concludes with the boxes already in his arms. He dumps them into the cart and notices that your attention is elsewhere. He realizes then that Steve’s gone too because his attention is stuck on a nice family minding their own business. 

“Not again…” he murmurs to himself while you go rescue the boy.

“I’ve never seen someone so sick with baby fever in my life,” you laugh as you drag Steve back to the cart by his wrist.

“I can’t help it!” he defends weakly. “They were so cute! They were all matching and I couldn’t stop thinking about how I can’t wait to coordinate outfits with our baby. Doesn’t that sound like the cutest fucking thing ever?”

“It sounds very adorable, Stevie,” you nod understandingly and try to ignore the way your stomach twists at the thought of him and his baby girl wearing matching pastels every time they step out of the house. “And we can be just like them in five years—”

“Five years?” he gapes.

“Maybe even ten,” Eddie shrugs and nonchalantly tosses a box of Count Chocula into the cart.

“Ten years— You guys are insane if you think I’m waiting ten years to have a kid!” Steve protests with a pair of buff arms crossed boyishly over his chest. “I’m not getting any younger over here, you know that, right?”

“You’re twenty-five, Steve, stop being so dramatic. We’re just now trying to get settled. I’m still in school, you’re still working at Family Video, Eddie’s still… Eddie. Don’t you think we should have actual careers before we have a kid?”

Steve huffs and rolls his eyes, feigning annoyance even though he knows you’re right.

It’s not like he wants to keep working at the stupid store on Main Street. He keeps putting off the conversation with his dad about another job, because he puts off every conversation with his dad. He’s scared of what asking for a position at his firm will do to his pride.

“She’s right, and you know it, Steven,” Eddie tells him, then scoffs. “I mean, can you really imagine me with a baby strapped to my chest on tour?”

You and Steve both pause and tilt your heads to the side as you picture the sight, terribly in sync as always. You can imagine it, quite perfectly actually, tangible enough to touch.

“Well—”

“That’s the cutest thing I think I’ve ever heard,” Steve finishes your thought for you.

Eddie cowers at the sudden attention. “Okay, stop looking at me like I’m a piece of meat, alright? We are not having a kid right now. There’s no fucking way.”

Steve all but deflates at the rejection as Eddie pushes the cart down the aisle, desperate to escape the bubble of tension the conversation had created in the cereal section.

You smile sheepishly over at Steve and wrap your arms through the crook of his elbow, standing on the tips of your toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “He’s being grumpy about it, but he’s right… It’s just not a good idea right now— but it will be, okay? One day. Just not… to-day.”

┄

The day, for you, comes exactly seven of them later. 

You accompany Steve on his morning run and his routine stop for coffee. You’re not quite sure how he’s still mobile because your muscles are screaming, even after the warm shower you took to soothe them.

You left him alone for all of half a second to use the bathroom while he ordered drinks for him and you, and something extra for Eddie for when the boy decides to roll out of bed.

When you return, you find him bouncing a baby on his hip — a young thing, maybe three if you had to guess, with two buns in her hair like bunny ears and a sparkly pink dress to match the bows she wears in them.

Steve smiles down at her, talking to her in a baby voice and saying something you can’t hear because you’re frozen in place. You resemble him at the grocery store a week ago, when he was thrown into a daydream so suddenly that his body all but shut down. 

You look at him now, tickling the baby’s sides just to hear her giggle, and you see him with your firstborn — sleep deprived, covered in spit-up, and still the most beautiful human you’d ever seen.

You have to shake your head to remove the thought before it ruins you entirely. 

Freshly jostled from your stupor, you walk over to him. “Steve… Please tell me you didn’t steal someone’s baby.”

He laughs. “What? No! She was just a little fussy, and I offered to take her while her mom looked for something,” the boy explains. You look just behind him to see the woman bent over at one of the smaller tables, sifting vigorously through a large baby bag.

“She doesn’t seem very fussy now,” you observe, eyes flitting between his and the child's and noticing they’ve both got matching grins.

“She doesn’t, does she?” he smiles, softly scratching at her sides again to make her laugh. And she does, most enthusiastically so, tilting her head back and letting the giggles spill from an open mouth.

He turns back to you, with wide eyes and raised brows and a bemused grin. “I like she likes me.”

“Of course, she does,” you scoff. “Babies always like you.”

The mom returns with a snack in hand and a relieved smile. Steve passes the baby back to her with little effort. She whines at the loss of him, though the brightly packaged treat is quick to quell her sorrow. 

“Thanks for taking her,” the mother's grateful smile falters with exhaustion. “If I don’t give her the same snack at exactly the same time every day, she tends to go a little nuts.” 

Steve tells her that it’s no problem, that he was a part-time babysitter at one point in his life, and that her kid was better than those little shits combined. He censors himself before the swear slips out, though.

You go your separate ways when the barista calls out your drink orders and walk hand in hand back to your place.

“Did you get their names?” you ask him before taking a sip of your latte.

“The mom’s name was Maeve and the kid’s name was Harper—”

“Holy shit,” you mutter.

Steve snaps his head over to you because he thinks you’ve burnt your mouth. Instead, he finds you with a distant smile on your face.

“Those are the cutest names I’ve ever heard. It sounds like something out of a fucking cartoon or something.”

“Yeah…” is all he can say because his mind is preoccupied with a million other thoughts. He doesn’t tell you them, obviously, but you know they’re there. The sly smile pulling at his lips makes it obvious.

“…Why are you looking at me like that.”

“Because I’m totally gonna wear you down,” he grins and brings his coffee to his mouth, sipping through his smirk.

You only scoff in response. “Never.”

┄

It doesn’t take you very long to realize that Steve was right.

You spend the rest of the day thinking about it — about him with a baby and how perfect he'd be as a dad. The thoughts plague you far more than they usually do. They take up the entire frontal cortex of your brain and make it nearly impossible to think about anything else.

You’re self-aware enough to beat yourself up about it. 

You were just telling him that it wasn’t time yet, and you knew you were right. As far as you’re concerned, you still have another few good years before you’re ready to even start seriously considering it. 

But here you are, having to calm yourself down every time the thought of Steve Harrington with a baby, your baby, crosses your mind.

You wait until the boy heads to bed to talk to Eddie about it. You find him in the kitchen, eating handfuls of Breakfast with Barbie like a maniac. You’re too preoccupied to make a snarky comment about it.

“Steve wasn’t lying,” you warn him.

“..About what?” he wonders through the mouthful.

“About him not waiting ten years to have a baby! He wants one now!” you explain through a yell-whisper hybrid. “And he told me he was going to wear me down, and he was right.”

Eddie’s eyes go wide too, like he’s just learned you caught some sort of plague. You have. It’s called baby fever, and it’s only a matter of time before the entire house is afflicted. “Shit…”

“So you have to be the strong one, Eddie.”

“Oh, god,” he whines with pinched brows. “Why does it have to be me?”

“Because I saw him hold a baby today.”

“…And this is a bad thing?”

“Of course, it’s a bad thing! My hormones went crazy, okay? It’s like my brain stopped functioning, and I started thinking with my ovaries or something! All human instinct told me to lay down and procreate the second we got home!”

Eddie laughs to himself. “Are you sure it was human instinct, or was it just you on a normal Wednesday?”

“I’m being serious, Eddie,” you tell him, a sudden solemnity to your features. “You have to put your foot down whenever Steve talks about it because I will cave.”

“Alright, alright, have some Barbie cereal and settle down,” he tells you with a playful grin.

He offers you the box and you pout for a moment before sticking your hand into it and pulling out several red and purple butterfly pieces.

The boy wraps an arm around you with his free hand. He pulls you closer and noses at the crown of your head. You sigh as you relax into him. 

“I’ll take care of it, okay? I actually have the perfect idea.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” you waver through a mouthful of cereal.

“Don’t worry about it,” he lilts with a grin, smacking a kiss to your forehead. “Let me take care of it.”

┄

You and Steve are tangled in bedsheets, both slowly rousing but trying desperately to go back to sleep. 

You’re laying on your stomach, face smushed into the pillow you clutch to your head. Steve lays halfway on top of you — his legs knotted with yours, arm splayed over your back, and softly snoring in your ear. 

Both of you noticed the lack of Eddie’s presence, but chose not to linger on it too much, figuring he must’ve gone for a breakfast run. 

He returns hardly a moment after the thought of him crosses your mind. You hear the door open and shut again, then the shouts of your names entwined with a muffled barking.

You groan at the intrusion on your sleep.

Steve huffs and shifts against you, voice gruff with fatigue as he wonders: “Why do I hear a dog?”

The mixture of confusion and subtle knowing has you both shuffling out of the bedroom and trudging into the living room.

You round the corner and find Eddie standing by the door with a rowdy goldendoodle bouncing at his feet. He’s trying hopelessly to undo its leash when the thing starts to squirm at the sight of you and Steve.

Eddie’s eyes flit to the both of you when he notices you standing across the room. A smile bursts like early morning sunshine on his face. “Surprise!” he beams.

The metal of the leash clicks when he finally gets it unbuckled. The dog dashes your way, all but jumping into Steve and then spinning in circles with excitement as it tries to figure out who to accept attention from. 

“You got us a dog?” the boy wonders, head cocked back to dodge the thing as it licks at his chin.

“You said you wanted a baby,” Eddie shrugs. “So, I got you a baby.”

“This is so not what a meant,” the boy grouses in response, though he’s got his arms wrapped around the dog like he’s hugging it. “I mean, it’s not even a baby— it’s huge.”

“The woman at the shelter said he was eight months old. And he is a he, so stop calling him it.”

You crouch beside Steve, scratching the dog behind his ear. He pants with his tongue sticking out, almost looking like he’s smiling. It makes you smile too. 

“We don’t even have dog food. Or toys. Or a bed,” you stress. “What are we even gonna name it?”

“Well, I took care of exactly one of those things,” Eddie lilts with a grin. “They only had that gross artificial shit at the grocery store, but they did have some badass collars and an engraving machine, so…”

You and Steve peek through the dog’s golden curls and find a black band with silver spikes dotted around the neck. “Super metal, huh?” you hear himEdiejoke as you reach for the dangled heart pendant handing around the collar.

“…Ozzy?” you recite.

“See what I mean?” he beams. “Metal.”

[idleorbitals]

okay actually I just want to talk about this scene:

ray has been feeling out his own feelings this whole episode (while sand sits beside him taking psychic damage off every "he's my friend" doled out) but here he's explicitly inviting sand in, in a way that we haven't really seen him do yet. yeah, it's a bummer of a moment for it, but it's actually some stellar emotional outreach, especially considering what this scene is following

obviously boston was way out of line on multiple levels, not least for implying that ray was somehow betraying sand by not having already confessed his feelings for mew. this is not information ray owes to sand at this point in whatever they got going on. but the cruelest thing boston has just done is place both of them in a narrative that they think they belong to: ray as broken, toxic, and unlovable; sand as secondary and disposable. they will both believe these things about themselves given any prodding, and boston (along with ray, through no fault beyond his own reactivity) has just given them a hell of a prod.

still ray manages here—with frankly stunning composure and vulnerability—to offer sand an in on the mess. and it's a real offer. after he says don't listen to Boston; if there's something you want to know, ask me he stops and gives sand time to ask him, and then prompts okay? when sand doesn't respond, and then we get to watch his face fall in real time as he realizes that sand's deciding not to take him up on it

we end on a low note because sand doesn't trust ray enough to reach out in kind. this is certainly not unjustified, given the imbalance sand sees in their feelings for each other. and maybe it's wise, given what's we've seen in the previews. but it's a travesty for both of them in this moment. when sand turns away we can see on his face that he wants ray to reach out; we can hear the hope in his voice when ray touches him and says his name, and then the disappointment when all ray has to offer is a reminder that it's sand's terrible no good very bad birthday.

meanwhile ray, who has been given several recent boundaries lessons and has generally been good about sand's, takes sand's words and body language at face value and doesn't push further. instead he pulls his hand away again and turns this utterly crestfallen look at the ceiling as he slips back into his own story about himself

the communication mismatch has come for raysand and it won't be over anytime soon methinks

(all ofts watch throughs)

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future Part III, The Novel by Craig Shaw Gardner: Thoughts, commentary, and general ramblings

Part 1: Marty-themed nightmares and lots of cowboy talk

• So! We all know how this one starts. Marty's just come running down the street; he announced he’s back from the future, and Doc is out cold.

• Marty brings Doc home, and while Doc is unconscious, we get to go inside his head for a little dream sequence! And if I may say so: it’s a travesty that this wasn’t in the movie. He has a nightmare that there are Marties everywhere, and he can’t get away from them. Everywhere he turns, there’s A Marty staring back at him. His escape from the horde of Marties only comes when the “Howdy Doody Time” theme song starts, and he wakes up. Since the song also wakes up Doc in the movie, I’d like to believe he was also having Marty Nightmares.

Also, this reminds me of that one post. I can't track down the original to include a link, but I do have a screenshot saved, so that'll have to do.

• Meanwhile, Marty is over on the couch having Cowboy Dreams. He dreams he’s in the Old West with Clint Eastwood and is woken up by the sound of Doc talking into his tape recorder.

• As Doc reads the letter, Marty sits quietly in a chair, intently listening to the whole thing, which is very un-Marty if you ask me. Very glad we ended up with Movie Marty wandering all over the place and touching everything, as it should be.

• Ok, the book earns a point for having both Doc and Marty get emotional to the point of actual tears after reading his letter. Doc is sniffling and wiping tears away, and Marty is described as, “trying hard to keep his lower lip from quivering.” They should have cranked up the emotion for the movie scene.

• Also, I somehow purchased a version of the novelization that was printed in Great Britain, so I’m continuously running into different spellings, such as “centre” and “favourite.” My inner voice narrating as I read is occasionally speaking with an accent because of this. Adds to the fun, I guess.

• Once they locate the DeLorean in the mine, it says, “Doc and Marty grinned at each other,” then they just get to work uncovering it. This is interesting to me because it contrasts so much from the actual movie scene where these supposed grins are replaced with a look of awe from Doc and a look of what I can only describe as horror/fear in Marty. It’s one of my favorite scenes of part III because of their reactions, actually. It's almost as if the realization that the car has been there for so long, and that the older version of the guy standing next to him had stood in that very spot to hide way back in 1885 is a little too overwhelming for Marty. It's a great moment. Next time you watch part III, really focus in on their expressions during this quick little scene.

• Book Marty does NOT stumble over the word “schematic.”

• When Doc tells Marty that he always wanted to be a cowboy, he mentions that he spent a few summers working at Statler’s Ranch, where he learned how to ride horses and shoot guns. In the DeLorean Manual (you know I always have to bring up this book; it’s a treasure trove) Doc says he learned these skills because his father sent him away to “wilderness camp.”

• Got a chuckle at what follows Doc talking about those summers working at the ranch: “Marty got the oddest look on his face. He was probably trying to imagine Doc Brown as a cowboy.”

• Marty then asks Doc how he ended up becoming a scientist instead. Which is kind of an odd choice. Are you to expect me to believe that Marty doesn’t already know the story of how Doc went into science?? This is something I assume 1980s Doc would have told him in their first week or so of knowing each other.

• Marty, initially wary at Doc being “stuck” in 1885 has a change of heart after hearing Doc talk so enthusiastically about his older self getting to live out his cowboy dreams. He says, “Doc, if you’re happy, then I’m happy. It’ll be a whole lot easier for me to go back to 1985 knowing you’re living it up in 1885.” I actually think this is a wonderful addition that might have been nice in the movie. It just…it displays their relationship so nicely. Marty doesn’t WANT to lose his best friend, but he values Doc’s own happiness above his own. To Doc, he isn’t stuck or condemned to a life in the Old West. He’s living out his childhood dream! If you’re happy, then I’m happy. It’s such a beautiful way to reframe the situation.

That seems like a good place to leave things for now.

[vex-bittys]

When Life Gives You Skeletons: Chapter 1: The Customer Service Blues

One day things can be going (relatively) fine, and the next, you've lost your job, your home, and all of your possessions. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? What if life gives you skeletons instead?

(Warning: domestic violence)

The worst part of customer service, in your opinion, is the customers, followed in a close second by the concept of service in the form of appeasing the aforementioned customers regardless of how ridiculous their complaints are. Still, rent, bills, and student loans require funds, so here you are with a friendly smile plastered onto your face asking an elderly woman what you can help her with today. Your eyes dart nervously to the clock on the screen in front of you. Your coworker still hasn't returned from his break, and your shift ends in less than five minutes. That's plenty of time to handle one little old lady, right?

You couldn't be more wrong.

She introduces herself by telling you how long she's been shopping at this store location (longer than you've been alive, according to her) and how she's severely disappointed with the declining quality of her shopping experiences. You apologize, stopping yourself from suggesting that she just shop elsewhere in time for her to scold you for interrupting.

Apparently she intends to monologue about everything that has ever been wrong with the world in general and this shopping trip in particular. She's got quite the laundry list of grievances and no time for your hollow platitudes. Your customer service smile never wavers despite the fact that the last few seconds of your shift are ticking by, and you have a bus to catch to get home.

Grandma Grumps-A-Lot takes issue with the cleanliness of the store (litter in the parking lot!); you nod. There's no peanut butter either (a travesty)! You explain that due to a recall for salmonella contamination, most of the peanut butter had to be removed from the shelves. She sharply chastises you for interrupting again and argues that you (personally?) should have a contingency plan for salmonella contamination. Recalls, you want to shout. Recalls are a contingency plan for salmonella contamination.  You swallow a frustrated sigh. Just. Keep. Smiling.

You spot your coworker returning from his break, but you've already started working with the elderly woman. You can't just walk away while she's in the middle of a sentence, as tempting as the thought may be. Your coworker shoots you a sympathetic glance as he steps behind the service counter. Meanwhile, the agitated old lady has moved on to a new topic.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that new Monster Foods section there in the Specialty Foods aisle! Why would you sell items for monsters? Nobody wants those things shopping at our grocery stores!" She pauses as if waiting for you to agree with her, but you are more than happy to be one more disappointment tacked onto her day.

"We strive to provide the best selection of grocery products to all of our valued customers, regardless of species," you reply in a saccharine sweet voice. Monsters emerged from the Underground over five years ago, and Ebbott City was a melting pot of cultures already. Why did some people still have such a problem accepting them? You'd actually enjoyed watching monster customers start visiting the store! Besides, management hadn't removed any human products to make room for the items; they only reduced the on-hand amount of certain, less-popular items. Nobody really needs to buy sixty boxes of gluten-free penne at a time. Forty boxes is plenty.

The elderly woman scowls, narrowing her already-beady little eyes. "I don't appreciate your tone, Missy! You must be one of those types." She turns to your coworker for confirmation, but he simply shrugs. With no one to support her anti-monster rhetoric, she switches topics.

"You've also raised prices again." She waves her receipt at you as if expecting you to be able to read the tiny print on a moving object. She begins pointing at individual lines of the receipt and listing the price differences one by one. "I'm on a fixed income. I can't afford to spend more and more every month on groceries."

You can relate. You've been feeling the grocery sticker shock just the same as everyone else, so you are genuine in your response, not that it placates her. "I'm sorry, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about how the store sets its prices."

"Maybe you should call someone over who can do something then," she snaps.

Finally, an opportunity to make your escape! You turn to your coworker and ask him to call a manager over for your dissatisfied customer, then apologize in the same saccharine tone as earlier, stating that you've reached the end of your shift. With the elderly woman still sputtering in disbelief at your flippant behavior, you make a mad dash to the employee area to grab your purse and jacket from your locker and clock out.

A cold autumn rain has already started by the time you leave your workplace. The bus is scheduled to arrive any second now, and you hear the pneumatic hiss of air brakes when you're still halfway across the parking lot. You wave frantically and shout, sprinting towards the bus stop, but the hulking vehicle pulls away before you can reach it.

The person who disembarked from the bus, a cashier from your workplace, shakes her head sadly at you. "Just missed it," she comments unhelpfully, and now you're faced with a dilemma. 

You can spend way too much of your hard-earned wages on a taxi or ride-share. You can wait in the store's breakroom in your cold, damp clothes for the next bus which isn't due for over an hour, or you can walk home in the rain for free. The walk will take you almost an hour, but at least you'll be making forward progress. Besides, it's not raining that hard, and you have a jacket! You decide to walk.

It only takes half an hour for you to seriously regret your decision. The overcast sky causes the temperature to drop to downright chilly levels, and the occasional gusts of wind aren't helping. The light rain has become an outright downpour, leaving you soaked through your jacket and clothes, and you're freezing. You hug yourself, rubbing your upper arms and shivering against the cold. You hope that tucking your purse under your armpit at least keeps your phone from getting waterlogged. It's going to be a miserable walk home.

Thankfully an angel arrives, though he's not what you would have expected in a million years. A car pulls to the side of the road, hazard lights flashing. The driver's side door opens, and a skeleton monster steps out, calling to you over the roof of his very fancy and most likely extremely expensive vehicle. "ya look half drowned 'n three-quarters frozen, human. hop in." Thanks to the rain obscuring his features, all you can see of his face are two glowing red eyelights.

Normally, you'd be wary of a stranger offering you a ride, but monsters are supposed to be kind and gentle by nature… and you are half drowned and three-quarters frozen. You open the passenger side door and sink into the leather seat, closing the door quickly behind you to prevent a deluge of rain from pouring in. The skeleton settles back into his seat, pressing a few buttons to get deliciously warm air blowing on you from the vents. Even the seats are heated, pulsing with a gentle warmth against your butt and back.

The skeleton lets you warm up for awhile before he says anything, and when he does speak, it's a simple introduction. "name's red," he rumbles in a deep, gruff voice. You tell him your name with a small, grateful smile. By this time you've noticed his wide grin of shark-like teeth, including a gold-plated one. It matches the gold spikes on the collar around his neck perfectly. This skeleton definitely has a specific look going for him, but you don't judge. You went through a hardcore sequins and glitter phase in high school that you'd rather forget about.

Red holds out his hand to you, but it isn't for a handshake. He's offering you a business card. You scan the card, then reread it more slowly to make sure your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. RED SERIF, Head Engineer, Research and Development,  Ebbott Institute of Science and Technology. This guy, this skeleton who is wearing basketball shorts and a well-worn heavy jacket that smells faintly of mustard is the head engineer at the most prestigious engineering school in the country? You're impressed, both by the credentials and the fact that you feel completely at ease around this skeleton monster despite a lifetime of warnings against getting into a stranger's car.

Fingers numb, you struggle (successfully!) to tuck the card into your thankfully mostly-dry purse before turning back to the skeleton. You want to avoid an awkward silence, but you can't think of a good conversation starter because this guy is a literal genius. Instead, you eloquently blurt out the first thing that pops into your head.

“I've never seen a skeleton monster before.” Nice. That's sure to impress him. Before you can die of embarrassment, he chuckles in that rough, deep voice of his.

“always happy t’pop a human’s skeleton cherry.” You snort, not expecting the innuendo. The humor puts you at ease.

You're watching him out of the corner of your eye, your curiosity building. “How do you fill out your clothes like that?” You blurt it out before you realize that he might be sensitive about his physique, but he chuckles again.

“ladies dig th’ dad bod.” Red shrugs. “y'can touch it if ya want.”

You happily accept the invitation, reaching out with a slightly thawed finger to prod the skeleton’s stomach. It feels… normal? There's some give, and even through his shirt, you feel a pleasant warmth radiating from him.

“How?” You make exaggerated hand gestures encompassing the entirety of his somehow both skeletal and squishy body. Thanks to the warmed temperature of your skin and the still frigid dampness of your clothing, your gesturing appendages begin to shake.

Red's sharp-toothed grin widens. Lifting up his shirt and jacket to reveal only bones beneath the fabric, he simply says “magic” and winks.

You ignore your increasing shivering to point out the obvious. “You can wink?!”

“so c'n you.”

“I have eyelids!”

With a deadpan look, Red congratulates you on your eyelids. There's a beat of silence, then you erupt into laughter. Now wearing a smug smirk, the skeleton reaches forward, turning the heating vents on his side of the car towards you and cranking the temperature up to full blast. It feels like heaven.

You bask in the added warmth for awhile before resuming the banter. “You trying to cook me before you eat me, Hannibal?”

Red somehow lifts a brow bone, which you are not even going to ask about at this point, before responding with: “knock, knock.”

You answer automatically. “Who's there?”

“chianti.”

“Chianti who?”

“chianti you help me peel these fava beans?” 

The punchline hits its target, and you laugh hard. Red doesn't let up, telling you rapidfire knock-knock jokes until you can barely breathe through your laughter. He switches to regular jokes since you're no longer able to respond to his verbal knocks. You don't even notice how close he's leaning, but then his gruff voice fades to silence.

Suddenly, you find yourself back to reality, sitting in a warm car with a skeleton monster during a downpour… except the harsh pattering of rain has stopped. The clouds begin to dissipate, leaving behind weak evening sunlight that reminds you that you are supposed to be walking home.

Red leans back and settles himself in the driver's seat. He speaks before you manage to gather your thoughts. “now that yer a little drier and warmer, howzabout a ride home?" 

You consider the offer. A knight in oh-so-casual armor has swept in on a dark steed-car to rescue you from the perils of inclement weather, and now he wishes to escort you back to your budget castle? Feeling surprisingly safe with Sir Red Serif, you give him directions to your home and buckle up for the ride.

The middle-class area where you work slowly transitions to the low-income neighborhood where you live. Green lawns become brown lawns which eventually become unkempt patches of dirt in front of high-rise brick apartments and tightly crammed together houses with peeling paint and broken windows. Red’s fancy car stands out amongst the collection of native vehicles which are all older than you and have the rust and dents to prove it.

You aren’t ashamed of where you live. It’s certainly not the worst corner of Ebbott City; it’s just where people live when they’re going through hard times, like you. The rent is cheap, and the sounds of barking dogs and arguing families can easily be drowned out with headphones. Living here means you have the opportunity to save up for something better in the future, hopefully not too far in the future.

“Right here.” You instruct Red to park in front of a rundown white one and a half story house with a piece of plywood covering a missing downstairs window. The lack of a car out front lets you know that your upstairs roommates aren't home. They could be working, partying, or even in jail; as long as they aren't eating your groceries or throwing up on your laundry, you don't particularly care.

You turn to your skeleton chauffeur to thank him for the rescue and the ride, but he's staring at you with such intensity in his glowing red eyelights that you forget how to speak for a moment. He blinks somehow (seriously, does he have some kind of bone eyelids?), and the spell is broken.

“Thank you.” You smile warmly at him, unbuckling your seatbelt though you find that you're in no rush to exit the vehicle.

“don't mention it.” Red waves away your gratitude. “seriously, don't mention it. i gotta reputation t’maintain.” His gruff words and rumbling voice make you chuckle.

A fist slams against the passenger window, instantly killing your laughter. You whip your head around just in time to see your door yanked open, revealing your other roommate, Jay. His face is red with rage, and he's yelling at Red.

“Get the fuck away from her, you fucking freak!” Your roommate grabs your upper arm in a painfully tight grip and tries to pull you out of the car, but you trip and end up hitting the hard packed mud with your knees and free hand. Your shoulder wrenches from the impact. The pain intensifies as he drags you to your feet without loosening his death grip. 

Jay also doesn't stop berating Red who is suddenly right in front of him, snarling in his face. How did he move so fast and so quietly? You don't have time to ponder this great mystery of the universe because if you don't diffuse the situation, these boys are going to start fighting, and Red doesn't look like a guy who loses brawls.

“Go the fuck back underground where you belong!” Jay releases your arm to give the skeleton monster a hefty shove. Red doesn't budge; he doesn't even take his hands out of his pockets. Your suspicions of his badassery have been confirmed.

“ya talk a big game f’r a guy throwin’ a lady around,” Red growls. His eyelights vanish, and for the first time since meeting him, you realize that he might actually be dangerous. “an’ if y'keep it up, yer gonna have a b a d  t i m e.”

Skeleton and human face off, chests almost touching despite the fact that Jay is at least a head taller than Red. The tension of barely restrained violence permeates the air around them. If you don't intervene, you just know something bad is about to happen.

You step between the two posturing males, forcing them apart and bringing their angry focus towards you. Red’s eyelights reignite, and his snarl evaporates. Jay bristles, reaching out to push you aside, but you dodge, not wanting him to set Red off again.

“Red just gave me a ride home because it was raining,” you quickly explain to Jay. Keeping your roommate in your peripheral vision, you then address Red, hoping he understands that you're just trying to keep the situation calm rather than dismissing his kind actions. “Thanks for the ride.”

Turning back to your roommate, you place a hand on his chest, gently pushing him backwards towards your shared home. He grumbles the entire time, and you absently reassure him. Just before you enter the house, you spare a last glance at Red.

The skeleton monster is returning to his car at a pace that can only be described as a trudge. Guilt uses its Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique on you, and you silently promise to find a way to apologize to Red. For now, you've got your sights set on confronting your roommate about his tirade.

The door has barely finished closing behind you, and you're already shouting. “What the fuck, Jay?”

Your roommate throws your words back at you with an added accusation as a bonus: “”What the fuck? How can you choose a monster over me?”

You stare, shocked into a loss for words, but the loss doesn't last long. “I didn't choose a monster over anything! A kind-hearted guy saw me walking in the rain and offered me a ride home. He was being nice, something you obviously know nothing about!”

“I can't believe you fell for that bullshit,” Jay snaps, flopping down on the couch. “Those freaks want you to think they're all sweet and harmless. As soon as we let our guards down, they'll kill us all.” He reaches for something on the coffee table in front of him- a glass bottle of amber liquid. Great. As if his speciesist attitude and short fuse aren't enough, he's throwing literal fuel onto the proverbial fire.

You're too tired, dirty, and hungry to deal with pointless arguments and ridiculous conspiracy theories. As soon as Jay tips back the bottle and takes a long drink, the possibility of reasoning with him goes right out the window… just like one of the end tables went out the front window the last time he drank and started slinging accusations. Hopefully he won't break anything this time.

Grumbling under your breath, you retreat to your bedroom to change into your comfiest oversized shirt, a nice change from your damp, muddy work ensemble. Nobody needs to know you aren't wearing pants; the shirt is long enough that it could be hiding shorts. You creep into the kitchen, ignoring Jay who is yelling at the television for some imagined personal slight. Sure enough, your upstairs roommates have pilfered your supply of microwave meals as well as an entire brand new package of deli meat. Looks like PB&J is what's for dinner.

You munch your sandwich on your way back to your room, and the sweet deliciousness revitalizes you. You fish around in your purse until you find Red's business card, planning to send him an email until you notice that the contact information includes his cell phone number. You dig your own phone out of your purse, and your fingers tap rapidly across the screen. Hooray for texting!

(XXX) XXX-XXXX

You: Hi, this is the soggy human that you gave a ride to earlier. I just wanted to apologize for what happened. My roommate is an asshole and an idiot.

You decide not to wait for a response because the shower is singing a siren song to you with promises of hot, steamy water and luxurious scented soap lather. The shower ends up being so relaxing that you can barely stay awake when you emerge from it. You see a new message alert on your phone, but you ignore it in favor of collapsing onto your bed. Conversations can wait until you've had your hard-earned after work nap!

You awaken with a jolt, sensing that something is off. The door to your room is open, allowing a rectangle of muted light to sneak in from the living room and throw sinister shadows over a hunched figure rifling through the belongings on your nightstand. Even in the dim lighting, you recognize Jay. 

Your room should represent privacy and safety, and Jay's intrusion (while you slept!) makes your stomach churn. You try to leap out of bed, but the covers trip you up. You lurch towards your roommate who doesn't seem to care that you've caught him mid-snoop.

“Get out of my room,” you yell, barely regaining your balance before you crash into him. The strong scent of liquor hits you like a freight train. How much did he drink before deciding this was a good idea?

“Are you fucking him?” Jay's voice is low and angry. He throws your phone at you, and you scramble to catch it before it hits the floor. 

“Fucking? What?” Your sleep-hazed brain struggles to catch up with your incensed roommate's train of thought. Ignoring you, Jay starts digging in your purse again. “Hey!” Unacceptable!

You reach for your purse, but Jay backs away, out of your bedroom and into the living room. You follow him, right as he begins a loud rant, each word carried to you on an alcohol-soaked breath.

“I knew you were going behind my fucking back. Why else would you turn me down?” You manage to snatch your purse, and after a brief tugging match, Jay releases it. You hope things will cool down now. Nope. “Never thought you were a monster fucker though.” Jay's rage explodes. “Fucking traitor!”

As he screams the word traitor, Jay grabs the front of your shirt and slams you against the wall. He lets go immediately, and once again you think that perhaps things will cool down, though you're shaking from the level of violence your roommate exudes.

“Traitor,” Jay snarls again, smashing a fist into the wall next to your head. You clutch your purse and phone to your chest though they offer no real protection.  “Monster fucker!” Another punch to the wall. “Whore!” Jay latches onto your arms and shakes you. This time when he releases you, you're ready. 

Throwing yourself forward, you shove Jay backwards with the entire weight of your body and quickly dart into the bathroom. You barely have time to lock the door before he hurls himself into it, making the entire door shake in its frame. The knob rattles as he tries to open it the proper way. Fortunately, the lock is strong. Unfortunately, the door itself is not.

Jay pounds against the door with his fist, causing the wood to strain and splinter. A rain of kicks and punches further weaken the flimsy barrier. You panic as cracks appear and bow inward. He's going to break down the door!

You fumble with your phone, dropping your purse in the process. Your trembling hands can't manage your stupid unlock screen, and your panicked brain doesn't even register the emergency call button. You need to hurry! A fist smashes through the door. Your phone falls from your clumsy hands as you watch Jay tearing the door apart. You drop to your hands and knees to find it.

This time, you manage to get it unlocked, but Jay is forcing his way through the mangled door. You hit the call button reflexively, screaming at Jay to stop.

There's nowhere else to run. 

Your roommate's hands close around your throat.

READ ON AO3

INDEX | NEXT

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 64 Review - Explorers Bring In The Heat

I always love it whenever the Explorers show up. I feel like they spice things up. I’m always on the edge of my seat whenever they show up because they always progress with the story in some way. The events that transpired in this episode certainly got me feeling that intense feeling—it’s not because Spinel shows up, okay?

What makes the Explorers compelling villains is that the kids are never aware that they’re being played right into their hands at times. It’s because they move around so secretively. Liko wasn’t aware that she was separated from Roy and Dot on purpose. I was surprised that Roy and Dot were shocked about Sandwich and Onigiri’s identities. I thought they already knew back in Episode 46. I guess seeing their sillier sides throughout the course had them adjusted to them not being too much harm.

There’s also discord amongst the members themselves. While Amethio and Liko are still enemies, Amethio’s true purpose was to see what Spinel is up to. He had more of an anti-hero role just for this episode in a way. The battle between Amethio and Liko was actually great! Even Amethio was surprised with how much she has improved since their last battle. Liko knows how to strategize! The only bad thing is that the battle got interrupted as Terastalized Ceruledge got interrupted by Spinel’s Umbreon and eventually got knocked out by it.

Spinel’s such a compelling villain in the sense that he’s truly menacing. Not only did he make Liko and Amethio meet each other, he also shows off what the Rakurium can do. Apparently, it makes Pokemon aggressive. His Umbreon became aggressive and got an enhance in strength. It’s like a mix between the R drug that was the main conflict in Detective Pikachu and Shadow Pokemon in Pokemon Colosseum. The fact that he’s willing to experiment on his Umbreon makes Spinel a bit of a psychopath. He has a Pokemon who evolves via friendship yet uses it for experimental purposes. Yet, it’s still loyal to him. Spinel wants to get rid of Amethio and the way he said it makes me wonder if he’s going to overthrow Gibeon and become the true final villain of the story. Just what are you plotting with Chalce?

Terapagos wasn’t a source of burden this time, surprisingly! Instead, Terapagos keeps showing off its angry side as it gets angry whenever it sees Amethio and got furious when it saw Rakurium. I wonder if Rakurium is something bad which is why it ignited its fury. Honestly, the way it’s normally sweet but is seen perpetually angry really got me invested. I wonder what its deal with Rakurium is.

I do like that Roy and Dot called Friede about Liko being missing. I guess Friede’s coming back into the story now. Also, I guess he’s calling Grusha and that’s why he shows up in the preview for next episode. I love it that the kids go straight to Friede for help. It shows that they know that can’t solve problems on their own. They’re a team, after all.

I think the best thing about the ending of Liko and Amethio being trapped in a cave is that we can finally see how they’ll get out. I swear, if they escape the cave off-screen, I’m going to riot. Horizons, you have to make up for the travesty that was Episode 23. I got my eye on you. What are your thoughts on the episode?

[artiststarme]

Shakespeare? Gay as hell

Based on this post about Eddie getting held back for writing about gay characters in Shakespeare. Thanks to @lunaraindrop for needing more of his essays! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Many relationships can be observed in William Shaksepeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, the most important relationship is not between the famous star-crossed lovers. No, instead the most important relationship is between Tybalt and Mercutio, another pair of star-crossed lovers often overlooked by the conservative, religious audience of the play. This relationship highlights the struggles of the homosexual community in the fourteenth century as well as those that still exist today. By analyzing the tragic gay relationship between Tybalt of the Capulets and Mercutio of the Montague side, efforts can be made in the present day to prevent tragic endings to gay relationships in the 80s.  

Eddie didn’t know why he got called into the principal’s office. He was three weeks into the school year and he hadn’t even done anything yet. He’d been attending all of his classes despite how goddamn early they were and he’d been turning in all of his schoolwork. They had no reason to pull him from his lunch and tentative new Hellfire members. 

His confusion only grew when he saw Wayne sitting awkwardly in one of the office chairs. “Uncle Wayne? What are you doing here?”

“Hell if I know,” he grumbled. “They said it was important that I be here. Boy, I haven't been in the principal’s office in over thirty years. What the hell did you do?”

Eddie threw his hands up in defensive surrender. “I haven’t done anything! Whatever they say is lies and slander! I’m innocent!”

He heard a scoff behind him and turned around to see Mrs. O’Donnell, his senior English teacher. She was a rigid old woman that wore three too many layers and went home every night to her twenty-seven cats and no husband, or at least that’s what Eddie assumed. She was standing next to an unimpressed Principal Higgins that glared at Eddie when their eyes met. 

“Sit down, Mr. Munson. Now, we’ve called you both here today to discuss some concerns. It seems that Edward here has some… perversions that we are concerned about.”

“Perversions?!” Eddie shrieked. What the fuck?

Uncle Wayne sat up straighter in his seat. “No, that’s not Eddie. I don’t know what this is regardin’ but my Eddie is a good kid so you must be mistaken.”

Mrs. O’Donnell slapped his latest essay on Hamlet down on the desk in front of Wayne. “Read it! He’s disgraced one of the grandest plays of all time!”

Everyone sat in silence for a moment while Wayne read his paper. Both Principal Higgins and Mrs. O’Donnell looked almost giddy as they waited for Wayne to start yelling at him and his ‘perversions’. Instead though, Wayne just hummed and leaned back in his seat.

“I think it’s great, wonderfully written. The sex scene between Tybalt and Mercutio was a little graphic for my taste but it was beautifully written. Eddie always has had a gift for writing stories.”

Mrs. O’Donnell’s jaw dropped in the utmost offense. “Excuse me?! This is not ‘wonderfully written’, this is a travesty on Shakespeare’s good name!”

“You’re his teacher, ain’t you? You should be happy that your teaching is inspiring such creativity. Great job on your part,” Uncle Wayne told her. 

Principal Higgins dismissed them hurriedly and as they left, they could hear Mrs. O’Donnell’s shrill screeching from down the hall.

He didn’t pass her class that year.

~*~*~*~

In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, the most important theme is love. The love between King Hamlet and his son allows his ghost to appear from beyond the grave to pass along important information to aid in revenge. The false love between Claudius and Gertrude causes revenge to spark and ultimately people to die. Perhaps most notably, the romantic relationship between Hamlet and Horatio proves the most important. It shows that love can persist beyond heterosexually bearded relationships, as Hamlet’s is with Ophelia. Furthermore, it shows that love can exceed death, as Horatio’s feelings continue even after Hamlet’s death when he kills Claudius in revenge. 

Honestly, the calls down to the principal’s office had become routine. Eddie was always being pulled out of class whether it was for goading on the basketball team, stealing Billy Hargrove’s clothes while he was in the shower, or allegedly selling marijuana to freshmen. It was always something. 

But when he walked in to find Wayne sitting uncomfortably in the office chair once again with Mrs. O’Donnell and Principal Higgins standing behind the desk, he let out a groan of annoyance. 

“Jesus Christ, can you not just let me live my life?”

“Eddie, don’t talk like that. Treat them with respect,” Wayne scolded him. 

“Mr. Munson, I don’t want you exposing my eyes to your homosexual writing urges. Unlike you, William Shakespeare was not a faggot!”

“Now you wait a damn minute,” Wayne said, whirling around to face Mrs. O’Donnell. “It ain’t my Eddie’s fault that this Shakespeare fellow was writing about gay characters in his plays. Just because Eddie is noticing them doesn’t give you the right to put him down or spread your lies. Grade his paper properly like you should be doing and stop trying to stomp all over my boy’s creativity!”

Uncle Wayne grabbed his arm and pulled him all the way out of the school to his truck. They drove to the diner a town over, the best place now that Benny’s was closed. He turned to Eddie in the cab of the truck and rested a calloused hand on his shoulder. 

“Look Eds, people are always gonna try and put you down but it’s your job never to stay there, alright? They don’t like your paper because it's too gay in their eyes? Write some more, do what makes you happy. And if you are gay, that’s okay too. I’ll always love you no matter what.”

By the time he’d finished, Eddie had tears dripping down his face. “I’m so sorry, Uncle Wayne. I didn’t want to be and I tried so hard-”

“Hey, stop that. There’s nothing wrong with being gay and you can’t believe anyone that says that there is, you hear me? Now c’mon, let’s get some burgers and you can tell me about any crushes you have at school. Any handsome fellas around here, you think?”

From that day forward, Eddie stops putting filters on his writing. Wayne told him that there was nothing wrong with him and he’d never lied to him before. He started making every character in his essays gay, he even added some gay characters to his campaigns and when no one questioned him, he centered the entire campaign around a lesbian elf saving her girlfriend from a horde of homophobic goblins. His friends didn’t so much as blink and Wayne beamed at him in pride when he told him about it later.

No, he didn’t pass his English class that year either but he remained true to himself and according to Wayne, that was the best thing he could do.

~*~*~*~

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the major theme of the play is homosexuality. This can be observed when Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to start killing all of the men that she thinks had a crush on him such as Duncan and Banquo. However, it can be seen most prominently when Lady Macbeth kills herself, may she rest in peace, because she realizes that despite all of her actions, Macbeth will remain fucking gay as hell. 

Eddie received a note from Mrs. O’Donnell the last class before Spring Break that summoned him to the Principal’s Office upon his return to school. However, with the murder accusations, earthquakes, and sheer amount of deaths, his summons was thrown to the back of everyone’s minds. 

Eddie graduated that year, passing Mrs. O’Donnell’s class with a pity A- but passing nonetheless. He walked across the stage with Uncle Wayne and the Party in the audience, ignoring the slurs and hate being screamed at him and focusing on Steve’s wolf whistling. Afterwards, everyone went back to the same diner that Wayne had taken him to a year prior and they celebrated the fact that he finally graduated. Who knew that all he had to do was remain true to himself and win over Mrs. O’Donnell?

(Or maybe it was the horrific events over Spring Break that allowed everyone to graduate despite how bad their grades were, but no one will ever know.)

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[mseirtaku]

Me watching travesty that was Kung Fu Panda 4.

Under 'read more', I have my full (unsolicited) thoughts on the fourth film - warning, I don't have much good to say about it 〔´∇｀〕;;

SPOILERS! + LONG ASS POST!

So... I'll start with the positives, because honestly, I do love aspects of this movie.

Any scenes featuring Li and Mr. Ping are the absolute highlights of this film. Love them, ship them, hilarious chemistry between them. I'd watch a whole film dedicated to just them.

Though not as funny as the previous films, it’s genuinely funny, like, some jokes are deadass hilarious. (See above for example lol)

Genuinely, the main villainess, the chameleon, has such a cool design and Viola Davis provides such a good voice for her. The animation whenever she transforms is so cool.

Jack Black as Po is just so charming, you can't help but find Po so likeable.

For what little we saw of Tai Lung, he was a treat to see.

Great animation, lovely scenery, love the little animation flairs during the action scenes

Alright, now time for the negatives... Which unfortunately there is a lot of. I’ll go step by step and build up to the bigger picture I’m trying to visualise here.

The Kung Fu Panda

Po’s character arc was pretty much complete at the end of KFP3, when he has his epiphany and finds that his true self lies in not restricting himself to one label, but by embracing everything that makes him Po. His identity by this point is very well realised. Unfortunately in KFP4, the tacked on conflict of him needing to retire the Dragon Warrior title and choose a successor just… Doesn’t make sense for his character at this point. Not to mention, the movie repeats a joke ad nauseam where no one knows who Po is, or of his adventures, jokingly chalking it down to a ‘regional’ tale. You’d think the literal saviour of China would be well known. The world-building feels so much smaller for it. Unfortunately, this movie is very determined to undermine the impact of the last three movies, all to prop up the wisecracking and super cool shitass Awkafina character. Sorry, not sorry, but Zhen is a terrible character just for that reason alone. If Kung Fu Panda wanted to pass the torch down, Tigress or even Tai Lung would have been a much more compelling option, seeing as both were telegraphed to be potential Dragon Warriors in the past. Speaking of…

Tai Lung

Man… The trailers got my hopes up that KFP4 would feature a long awaited redemption arc for the OG villain of the KFP films. Instead, he’s delegated to a cage for half his scenes, and received the barest minimum of character arcs in the finale. Granted, he was still entertaining to watch, but he was totally under-utilised.

To continue the topic of identity, the film missed the chance to ask this: “Who is Tai Lung without his kung fu?” All his life he’d been raised with huge aspirations to become the best kung fu master, and to eventually gain the dragon scroll (which he was denied.) In KFP4, the chameleon summons him from the spirit realm, and drains him of all his kung fu skill. Therein lies the missed opportunity for a compelling character arc, now that he’s been cast out as a supposedly useless body into the real world. And who better to help him figure out his identity other than Po himself?

I could go on forever about the various fanficy rewrites and plot ideas, but I don’t want to let this get any longer. So I’ll talk about one more topic.

The Chameleon

I love her design, I love her voice acting, but compared to Tai Lung, Lord Shen and even General Kai… She’s simply a weak villain. (Too small to learn kung fu… Really?? With characters like Mantis and Viper who deadass exist in the same franchise???)

‘I’m the Chameleon! I do nothing but change!’ holds such potential for a far more interesting backstory. Instead of being rejected for her size, suppose that it was seen by many king fu masters that she simply didn’t possess a true spirit of a kung fu warrior. As explained in this film, their abilities are harnessed in the spirit/soul, not just the physical body. Perhaps she didn’t want to work for those abilities properly. She wanted the easy way forwards. She didn’t want to put in the proper time and effort to become a master of the craft. Spurred on by what she sees as rejection, she learns sorcery to take on any number of identities of kung fu masters. So many identities she could use to fool herself into believing she was someone talented and gifted in the art of kung fu. But it’s only a lie she tells herself. And so, she takes the drastic action, and decides to start summoning these masters from the spirit realm. But even as she slowly grows in power through the course of this film, maybe a strong sense of imposter syndrome starts to set in. These powers aren’t truly hers - what value does a carbon copy of something original have? Nothing. She never properly worked for them and made them her own.

Anyways. I’m almost done writing.

Quick fire round of criticism;

Akwafina’s shitass character

Furious five just tossed aside except for a non speaking cameo. Tigress got done so dirty - if there are gonna be like three more films, they should have been about her

WHAT DID THEY DO TO LORD SHEN’S CHARACTER MODEL

The goofy-ass way he was attacked and then thrown into the cage, the disrespect lol

Li (the victim) and Lord Shen (the genocidal maniac who destroyed his village and killed his wife) somehow existed in the same space and did not get into a conflict.

Why does Kai still exist in the spirit realm? I thought he was literally skadooshed to be extra double dead lol. Like spirit literally eradicated

Akwafina’s shitass character

The villains bowing to Po feels super unearned given how under-utilised they were. I can see it working, just not in the plot we got in the end

Po’s character feels weirdly dumbed down, it’s hard to put my finger on it

Fart joke :(

The innocent and cute but secretly psycho baby bunnies are the definition of anti humour. They’re so fucking obnoxious and cringey

For some reason, the character designs of new characters feels super incongruous and out of place.

The Dragon Warrior isn’t an inherited title, it was given during a time where China needed a hero. Why does it need to be passed down?

Ȁ̸̺͚̮̘̔̌̇̋͛̀́́̒̉̅̐ķ̶̲͍̘̖͈̭̮̝̩͐̃̎̕w̴̙̖̫̿̿͜a̸̧̠͎̰̲̠̮͇̰̼̱͂̋̃̇̑̍̊̂̎̾̓͝f̶̛̼͓̱͖̖̭͓͍͚͋͛̍ḯ̶͕̈́͛̀̎̆͛n̶͖͓̻̉̆̎́͆̌͌͂̾̉̚a̷̡̻̟̟͍̳̙̰͔̬̜̐̏̾̍̊̎́͂͊͝’̷̢̢̭̬̹̪̟̰̣́̈́̌̈̑̄̔͗̓̃̄̐s̶̡̹̙̖̲̝͎̳͔̍͑́ ̷̢̤̈͊͛̚s̸͓̪̠̼̪̤͈̜̎ȟ̵͇̥͈̟͖͈̣̞͚̘̩͍̓̅̀͐͗͛̏̉̀̒͘͜i̸̛̦͕̖̙̲͔̗̙̘̥̣̰̖͖̭̓̄͂̋́̍̓̃͘t̴̯̯̔̑̈̽̇̋̈́͌͛á̴̡͍͓͎͍͈̖͖͎̼̀́̅̿͌̂̌̆͠s̷̢̳̙̦̯̥̮͕͍̃̃͑̂̎̑̍̀͒̊͘̚͝͠͠s̴̪͖̼͈͂̏̚ͅ ̶͕̺̟̙̲͓̘̟̠͇̩̖̠̦̫̄̅̋̓̈́̓̆͋͝͝c̴͕̤̮̎̿̎͐̀̐̊̆̓̍̾̈́͠h̵̛̝̑̋̎̃̈́̆͋͒̅͊́͑͠͝a̷̡̹͍̳̘̪̰̰̤̼̎̄̈́̚ͅŗ̷̝̲͚̻͚̮͕̳̙̭̻̄͆̇̐̄̐͂͘a̴̡̢̯̩͓͓͂̄͑͗́́͂͠͠c̸̨̺̖̪̙͖̯̟̠͙͐́͊̾̅̎̏͠͝t̸̛̗̣̳̠̯͎̫͔̣̱̞̂̅͑̀̈̄͋̈́̆͘͝e̸̢͎͙̻̩̦̹̜̩̦̖̫͍͂́̌ͅr̵̨̄̅͐̍̏̅̀̃́̇̇̅̕͝

That’s all I have really. Sorry for straying so much into fanfiction territory, but it’s an integral part of my criticisms. I could honestly write forever, but I mainly wanted to share this silly redraw of the Tai Lung meme using Lobster and I’s silly Kung Fu Panda Hetalia gijinka crossover AU nonsense lol

If you read this all the way to the end, congrats! And sorry - I never do long text posts like this lol

[chaifootsteps]

Most dissapointing aspect of latest HB episode was the fact that Mammon who was supposed to be rock star, who at beggining was standing on the stage with his guitar, making rock signs, never ever sang a song... Everyone was expecting we'll see pre accident time of Blitzo and Fizz and we'll see that mammon concert, I mean wouldn't it be great opportunity to introduce him as a character? Remember how Ozzie was introduced? Now imagine if instead of house of asmodeus he would just be shown at beggining and he would just stand there and talk about things he instead sang about. It would work so much better if mammon's whole clown competition advertisement, evil plan thing would be introduced during memorable song, instead we are at this "magnificent" concert, we see mammon for the first time, he talks, he talks, and in the end he doesn't even play anything, well to be honest it can be some kind of joke that guy is such a rip off he doesn't even do anything on his expensive shows but come on he is supposed to be that most evil antagonist so far, the mammon himself, etc. We got 4 songs it's a crime none of them were mammon's, for fuck sake even belzeebub lame sin got song, why not mammon? At least make it believable that this guy was fizz's idol since 5, rock star would be perfect way of doing it, but they kinda wasted it.

Honestly, actually seeing Mammon slosh his way through a travesty of a rock song ala Russell Crowe in South Park would have been hilarious.

[kursed-arcana]

Sailor Moon Cosmos Review

“We’re all lonely stars searching for companionship.

Each and everyone of us carries a star deep within our hearts”

Like most fans I’ve been waiting for most of my life for Sailor moon to get a proper adaptation, and like the rest of crystal, this is not it. Just like eternal, this suffers from the worst flaws of crystal, amplified by a ridiculously short run time. Again instead of prioritizing manga content we are plagued by cheap senseless fanservice and references to the past series. There are few meaningful additions to the story which honestly is a travesty considering how vague parts of the ending are even in manga form. For a franchise as popular worldwide as Sailor moon to be done such a disservice, what does that mean for the future of anime as a whole?

Let’s start with some surface level criticism. We get cheap and lazy references to the old anime like Mamo’s clothing in the airport scene, the outer guardians finally get their final attacks animated only to be done the disservice of changing them into energy balls like the the old anime and crystal did for their initial attacks, and while I was prepared to complain about the iconic transformation sequences and attack animations cutting into the shockingly short runtime, the anime actually plaid those moments on double time (praise Neo Queen Serenity, we need the runtime for everything else). However back to criticism. Instead of Sailor Venus’s love and galaxia shock being animated with the stars and galaxy beads from the manga we get the same generic stock animation. Toei has once again proved they don’t know how to handle this cash cow of a franchise beyond cheap lazy tricks to appeal to basic nostalgia. Toei I promise you, it’s worth putting in some effort. If you used your collective intelligence you’d realize you could have sold proplicas of the new attack. But hey what do I know, I mean you couldn’t even be bothered to animate that the inner guardians now have physical objects for their weapons like the outer cast. God forbid we reinstate more of the world building you scrapped in eternal. Let’s just let Toei continue to pop out proplicas mainly for the 90s version of everything.

What’s good? The nostalgia of course. That’s literally the most effort they put into this. I’ve been endlessly obsessed with the opening animations since they got added to YouTube last year and they are still flawlessly done. The new vocals are fantastic and the visuals do an excellent job of foreshadowing the plot. The best part of oppening one is the future fading away in front of Chibiusa, and opening two’s highlight is of course the Sailor Galaxia and Kakyuu moment, as well as the galaxy cauldron being shown in the beginning.

Their fantastic visuals show toei knows what fans love, and yet why did they put so little effort into adapting the content itself? It’s honestly just as fascinating as it is rage enducing. For a series as world renowned, and with a company created by Takeuchi to protect it how could things be done so lazily? It’s 2024, this fandom has survived and thrived for over 3 decades, we jump at all content and all merch. Do better Toei, we may be simps, but we want effort.

With the preamble done, let’s dive in

Questions and uncertainties have plagued the fandom since the manga ended decades ago. Do we learn more about Sailor Cosmos and her war against Chaos? No time for that. Do we learn the fates of Usagi’s family and our beloved feline friends? Thank Neo Queen Serenity yes. Do we get an additional glimpse into the future to see for certain if Chibiusa ever reunites with Helios after their promise? Lol of course not. That would be ground breaking amd meaningful and we have to save time for what was originally cheap filler tin the 90s, the Iconic transformations and stock footage attacks that were done so lazily for the movie.

At the very least between all the cuts I get to see my beloved Asanuma one last time. He may have suffered having his scenes cut in early seasons but it’s refreshing to see him one last time. For those who don’t remember him, he is Mamo’s underclassmen, a boy with a crush on Mako and one of the few civilians trusted with their secret. A true shame that like most civilian side characters he fell out of focus as the plot got heavier and thicker with supernatural threats. It was my hope this movie would resolve some of the dropped plotlines of the series like Mako x Asanuma, but alas no time for that or any reveals for the side cast. But think of how nice it would have been for Mamo to actually be shown interacting with guy friends instead of the girls the whole time. Asanuma was truly a delight and good ally for him.

Now I need to give credit where credit is due. Despite the cuts and break neck pace, it expanded on several thing people have complained about for years. Naru is shown for the first time since the infinity arc and we thankfully know she went to high-school with the girls and see her eating with Usagi, Haruka and Michirru. Honestly no notes on that. We get the Starlights putting up a fight before they die unlike the manga where they’re attacked while unconscious. Now Toei, I’m giving you praise for this, but you ruined it by not giving them and Kakyuu a proper send off at the end. They earned it, they fought hard to bring peace and deserved to receive a proper goodbye before disappearing back to their home planet.

We also get a rather awkward (yet also refreshing) scene where Usagi returns home at the end and see Shingo for the first time in years! Even better, we get confirmation her whole family and the cats survived / got revived. Now the edgy subset of the fandom can finally shut up and accept reality, cause Cosmos knows the rest of us are tired of those inane questions popping up monthly. We needed more of this, the story is designed to be expanded on in adaptations, not have content skipped. And it’s nice to see Shoujo Queen Takeuchi sensei managed to get some brief complaints people have had resolved. Now let the next reboot do better Queen, your fandom needs you!

Let’s keep the praise going, the character models are even more perfect then they were in eternal. Sailor Cosmos is especially gorgeous. And we even are treated to a new character design, we get a proper look at Sailor Chaos for the first time ever! And Takeuchi slayed it with the medusa inspiration for her. Let’s talk transformation sequences next. The starlights get underwhelming references to their old sequences, Cosmos and chibi chibi get scraps, Kakyuu faired slightly better then the starlights but nothing spectacular. Sailor Quartet? Nothing at all. Sailor moon herself though got more then one transformation. The first referenced stars, even used the locket and the second one is absolutely brilliant. It’s full of references to past 90s ones. My favorite part by far is the feathers making her skirt like the S transformation with the heart. But guess who finally got the solid gold treatment transformation wise? My girl Chibiusa. It’s flawless. Cute and feminine and 100% her. We even get a new adorable emblem (Maybe locket). A+ work. 100% makes up for her only having a short one in the 90s (with the exception of the movie), a horrible one in crystal 2 and 3z and the same joined sequence in eternal as supers. This was worth the wait, too bad Saturn didn’t get that effort for her transformation in eternal. We waited 30 years and got scraps with that one.

Now the songs are on point. I praise the new oppening and endings elsewhere, but the new version of the 3 lights song (search for your love) is also excellent. And what’s more, we get the adorable marriage song to close the series, and a phenomenal new piece in moon flower. A beautiful song written as if Sailor moon is singing it to chibi chibi. It captured the theme of the movie and conveys it beautifully.

At its core, this story arc is about stripping away everything that gives Usagi her strength and seeing what happens when she is forced into an unthinkable despair. Her love, friends, family, her child and the promised future our all mercilessly destroyed in front of her eyes. But what is on the other side of despair? For Usagi, it’s still hope and compassion. She does not give into despair, she rises above her losses and overcomes her pain, showing mercy to her enemies and accepting that her actions may not be the best path forward for the world, but having faith that she can overcome any obstacle. Sailor Cosmos, her future self, the guardian who failed to stop chaos and lost hope, even has her passion reignited, she takes Usagi’s strength and accepts that she wasn’t wrong to make the choice she did. With this newfound resolve, she decides to continue her never ending war against Chaos, no matter the pain it brings her.

I think it’s important to point out that Cosmos and Chaos are the 2 states of the universe in Greek mythology. Chaos is the absence of life in the universe, a state of void and indistinguishable matter, while Cosmos is the presence of order in the universe or the universe itself. While Sailor Galaxia strived to be the strongest sailor in the Galaxy these two primordial forces of good and evil are the real deal. I encourage casual fans to look up various names you may not recognize so you can truly appreciate the lore. Some members of the Shadow Galactic Empire are also references to the mythologies that helped inspire this beloved series.

Lets talk about the end. We see a beautiful moment in time, the wedding day for Usagi and Mamo, as well as the day that Chibiusa is conceived. We end with her gaining everything she desired and close on this bittersweet ending with a closing monologue by Mamo. His words hang over visuals of their past and present meetings, as well as their future together. A truly flawless moment thatreally hammers home that this is the end while also setting up Sailor Moon’s future as Sailor Comos. Mamo can see visions of the future, his closing monologue about her living on beyond everyone else’s lifespan is a fact that we see with Sailor Cosmos.” Sailor Moon you will without a doubt live on forever. You are the most beautiful star and you will shine brightly until the end of time.” A bittersweet prophecy to close our beloved series.

10/10 would still recommend. When you wait most of your life to see some of your favorite moments on screen, you’re sadly forced to take what you can get and enjoy the ride despite the faults. I still recommend this train wreck of a movie to any Sailor moon fan who treasures the manga’s impeccable and breathtaking story, and for those who have never read it, please no the content is far superior in manga form. The story still moves at a fast pace. But it’s slow as hell compared to the movies. The characters, dialogue and world building is phenomenal in manga form, you can get so much out of each panel and it’s a shame that once again, instead of expanding on the fantastic lore, we’re plagued with an adaptation the cuts content. Each chapter of the manga is packed with dialogue and content because it was designed to move rapidly, so the anime which was always just a short ways behind, would have a lot to work with. I encourage you all to imagine what we could have had if crystal and the movies that followed were given adequate runtime, to not only fully adapt the content of each chapter, but expand on it in meaningful ways. While the first season of crystal did toy with this idea, it didn’t implement it well and wasn’t given enough runtime to do it without cuts and several meandering questionable changes. It’s a shame instead of improving from there we just got worse, cutting just as much content and barely adding scraps, even in the grand finale.

Hopefully in the future we are given a truly excellent reboot of the main series that doesn’t start off as a cheap cash grab and end as a decent yet disappointing adaptation overall. However in the meantime, I’ll settle for an adaptation of the iconic Prequel that started it all Codename Sailor V, or even a season adapting the collection of side stories. Get on it Toei, you know you want more of our money.

Stray notes for those who want more

The body horror is censored as expected. So the deaths are less impactful

Sadly Chibi Moon and the Sailor quartet get minimal screen time just like in the manga. While their 2 iconic attacks are shown, they’re done in a minimalistic way with very little fanfare. They are cute like the girls but should have been so much more considering these are their joint attacks and they only ones we will see from them. Like at least make pink ladies freezing kiss pink. Amazoness arrow was actually really cute and really them though.

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne get a slightly more detailed flashback where we see their plants fully.

Honestly it fills me with rage that eternal movies were such a mediocre adaptation of my favorite arc. The dream arc solves many of the complaints people had about the manga, by expanding the lore around the guardians and highlighting each of them and their pasts. It’s truly a beautiful arc that sets up Cosmos, and despite taking years for it to release, it didn’t receive half the effort that Cosmos received. Cosmos proves that they could have done a beautiful job with eternal despite its ridiculously short runtime and cut content. While Cosmos had slightly more chapters to adapt, it feels like significantly less content was cutz plus it had some brief additions.

One more eternal complaint. They skipped the full backstories of the castles in eternal, but they get one line here by Pluto explaining their origin as gifts from Queen Serenity. It may be included at last, but that doesn’t make them skipping them or the power guardians explanation in eternal less infuriating.

As an English dub watcher, got to point out that they couldn’t even be bother to get Asanuma’s original va back for this. Always nice when they put no effort into consistency. To further illustrate just how lazy some casting choices continue to be even here at the end, They have Amalee play heavy metal Papillion, most likely for the sole reason that her vtuber persona is butterfly themed. If that’s all it takes. To get a role these days then I don’t even know what to say. But good for her.

And with that I’m done. If you want more sassy complaints or praise, feel free to send me a message. I love talking Sailor Moon.

And remember, Sailor moon says "the Moonlight is a messenger of love"

[amethystoceandespiser]

disapointment with izuku and katsuki's arc

taking in count how, even though we are told we are seeing or reading izuku's story, Bakugou ends up hijacking the narrative to make himself look good in comparison to Izuku. which is infuriating since both of them have concepts on their backstory that could make the story better. their dynamic since coming to U.A. didn't change from when they were in middle school and the narrative still tries to gaslight us that their interactions are signs of "friendship" when in reality is, has, and will be stocholm syndrome, since bakugou even when we are TOLD he changed, still demeans, insults, and has a lack of respect for Izuku as a human being that i worry for what kind of fuckery horikoshi went through in terms of relationships. the only way that the arc could have a vestige of quality would be if Izuku at the very least expresed that he resents Bakuhoe for his abuse, but hori turned his own MC into an enabler for his behaviour by trying to tell us supposedly why Izuku thinks Bakugou would be a good hero.

i mean, "bakugou's determination, "charisma", and quirk control make him hero material", no Izuku, you're listing the things you envy of him, not his "heroics qualities"

bakugou's apology? it didn't move me even a little bit, the timing for it was when Izuku was at his weakest and couldn't think straight to comprehend what the hell bakugou wanted to say, and it seems to only be there so that Izuku is shocked enough to let the last remains of adrenaline he has, fade away to pass out. the apology in and on itself was straight out excuses, excuses and more excuses that we are TOLD are what Bakugou tought about izuku, even when after hundreds of chapters of the manga we got jack shit of evidence to prove these claims.

the second fight they had? pure fan service for bakugou stans telling us that "he changed". yeah, he did, but not the ACTUAL issue that he has as a character. him calling himself weak after defeating Izuku actually defeats this claim of being weak making it worth less than shit. this could have been more gut wrenching and understandable (as awfully unnecesary as it is) if he lost to Izuku, that wasn't into the fight at all, it could have shown us izuku's strength, it could've been humiliating for katsuki, but at least this claim admitence of vulnerability could have been EARNED.

his kidnapping by the league of villains? it was only used as a plot device to tell us that bakugou wants to be the best like All might, instead of making him reflect that the villains not only choosed him for his power, he was chosen for his demeanor, behaviour, and personality being more benefitial as a villain than as a hero. he never reflects that they chose him because he's an straight out horrible person.

and one of the worst travesties of the narrative. ¿the final exams? ¿that pair up Bakugou and Izuku together because of their "rivalry"? i don't know what the hell aizawa smoked, but i need some of it to relax after having to deal with his BS reasoning.

i have two mayor problems with this particular issue:

by the context we are given by the teacher (what we are told), they are tested together because their rivalry could be dangerous if its left unatended like it was currently seen (something that should be aizawa's responsability to deal with). the problem rises when we take in count their behaviours (what we are shown) in which someone could see that the agression is completely one-sided from bakugou's side. meaning that if they're tested together, the over-all weight of the failure or success of the team is solely on Bakugou, since Izuku has no problem working with anyone since he can sinergize quite well with his skill set in analisys. this test is unfair for izuku since they are putting part of the blame of bakugou's shittiness on izuku, and these exams should show what they learned or how they react in situations outside their confort zones. my point is that it doesn't showcase anything that we haven't seen izuku acomplishing before, this test only favors bakugou.

another pair that was mismatched on this exam was shoto and momo against aizawa, since shoto's problem, while technically is an overeliance on his quirk, he's been using only half the incomplete version of it for a long time, meaning that pairing him up with aizawa is logically speaking, more counterproducent than needed

the way it should have been is: izuku and momo vs aizawa; shoto and katsuki vs All might.

for the former, izuku and momo share a similar trait at this time in canon that is self doubt of their own worth and capabilities, and with aizawa as an opponent, Izuku is reminded of his past as a quirkless individual, and can try to work around with momo about their issues regarding their positons in the hero course and how they use their quirks. izuku could acomplish passing the exam without using and start to heal from the malicious programing that make him believe his past as a quirkless has no value and can work on raising momo's self-steem and make them grow closer as friends. (also i think this is the perfect place for some Izumomo interactions)

for the latter, katsuki and shoto had the same problem that is pride on their quirks, and it has the upside of getting Katsuki the hell away from izuku's story, shoto wouldn't have the same patience izuku have towards bakugou's bullshit, and the possibility of them failing the exam despite being considered the strongest of class 1-a could be one of the biggest humble pies bakugou could recieve.

izuku and bakugou's arcs could work... as long as Izuku and him are separated. if the fics of Demonic Quirks for Dummies taughth me anything is, that with people that izuku could be open about his past as a bullyng and discrimination victim, and with a large distance away from katsuki, he can start to heal and start to see that his life has value and matters for the people that love him, not for having power, but because he is someone that affects those around him, making them wanting to be better versions of themselves, and that are willing to give the favour back. and actually having Katsuki reflect that he is a horrible person, while been humiliated for his shitty behaviour, makes their growth more palatable to enjoy.

[kasanya-01-bnha]

Genetics, A Primer

(Because I Can’t Just Assume You All Know This Sh!t)

I’m going to kick things off on my new BNHA blog with a short series exploring Quirk science, for several reasons:

A) Quirks are the defining element of this franchise;

B) my brain arbitrarily decided to hyperfixate on Quirk science while I was world-building for the fic that I’m working on in my creative writing class;

C) canon Quirk science is, in my humble opinion, a travesty; and

D) since I’m doing all this research and overthinking anyway, I might as well inflict it on the unsuspecting public share it.

Unfortunately, as I was writing what I wanted to be the first post in this series, it quickly became apparent that I was assuming my readers would have a basic understanding of genetics and inheritance, which might not be true. $@&#!!! So here I am, backing up the info dump truck.

Honestly, I’m not expecting a lot of traction on this post, but whatever. I thought I should be considerate and make this information readily accessible for people who might need to brush up on the basics (or learn them in the first place) before jumping into the actual Quirk science with me. Whether I got any personal benefit out of writing this is entirely beside the point. -coughs- It’s not like high school biology is several decades in my past or anything.

>.>

<.<

>.>

Annnnnywaaaaaay, here we go! A crash course in beginner-level genetics and inheritance.

Enjoy!

All living things, or organisms, have observable characteristics (also called traits).

Collectively, all of the traits that make up a specific organism—be it Kohei Horikoshi, or your favourite childhood pet, or that scraggly-looking tree at the end of your street, etc—belong to that organism’s phenotype. And within its phenotype, that organism has a variety of both monomorphic (one form) and polymorphic (multiple form) traits.

In the case of humans, our baseline is to have a torso with one head on top, two arms on the sides, and two legs on the bottom. There are no standard variations, for example, where humans have two heads, or where the legs present on the sides of the torso instead of the bottom. We all have skin, not scales or bark. We grow hair, not feathers or fur. We all have a spinal column, and a brain, and one heart. (Did you know some animals have more than one heart? I sure didn’t until today.) Anyway, these are all examples of monomorphic traits.

Where things get really interesting are the polymorphic traits. Yes, we all have skin, but it comes in a wide range of colours. (And wow, the problems that has caused over the centuries. Mind-boggling! It’s just melanin, folks!) We all grow hair, but it can be straight, or wavy, or curly; its texture can be fine, or medium, or coarse; it comes in a full spectrum of ‘natural’ colours; it covers varying amounts of our bodies; and so on. We all have a spinal column, but the coccyx (tailbone) portion may be fused into two to five segments. We all have a brain, but we might be right-handed or left-handed or mixed-handed or even ambidextrous. We all have one heart, but only one of many different blood types.

The specific versions of polymorphic traits displayed (expressed) by a particular organism depends primarily on their own unique biological blueprint, or genotype.

A human genotype is made up of an estimated 21,000 genes, which are the basic units of heredity: the biological inheritance of traits from parents to their offspring. Genes consist of strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which we are absolutely not going to go into the nitty-gritty details of here, because that’s not important for this TedTalk. The important thing is that the DNA in an organism’s genotype biologically encodes all of the information needed for an itty-bitty one cell fertilized egg (or egg equivalent) to become a fully-grown, functional member of that particular species.

Chromosomes are long DNA molecules, each containing hundreds to thousands of genes. This means each chromosome can store part, or all, of an organism’s genetic blueprint.

In humans, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in every single normal cell—can you even imagine how small that would all have to be to fit?!??—for a total of 46 chromosomes. One half of each pair is inherited from the person’s mother and the other half from the person’s father. This means people inherit two copies of every single gene in their genotype, but they might get different versions of any gene which encodes for a polymorphic trait. These different versions are called alleles.

Now, what happens when a person inherits two different alleles for the same polymorphic trait? Can our hapless sample person actually have both straight and curly hair at the same time?!?? Tch! Of course not. (At least, not without access to hair-styling equipment, but that’s not relevant to the genetics here.) Anyway, I don’t know about you, but my high school tackled the ‘different alleles’ question using the example of eye colour—which, incidentally, is actually a terrible choice for teaching this concept, but it seems to be one of the ‘industry standards’, per se, and who am I to question decades of teaching expertise???—so, onwards!

With polymorphic traits, one allele is typically more dominant than the other and is the version of the trait that ends up being expressed in the organism’s phenotype. The allele that gets ‘overridden’ (or, more accurately, ‘masked’) is called the recessive trait.

Back to our example of human eye colour, brown is the dominant allele (indicated with an uppercase letter) and blue is the recessive allele (indicated with a lowercase letter), and they combine like this:

Mother Father Child

B - Brown B - Brown BB - Brown

B - Brown b - blue Bb - Brown

b - blue B - Brown bB - Brown

b - blue b - blue bb - blue

As you can see, the child will only express the recessive variant of the trait (blue eyes) if they inherit the recessive allele from both parents. Any other combination results in the dominant trait being expressed.

Pretty straightforward, right? So simple. Easy peasy. Go ahead and just… ignore… any obvious, glaring issues that might be coming to mind when looking at this examp—

Whaddya mean, there’s more eye colours than just brown and blue?!??

No! Stop!

-makes a distracting gesture with one hand-

These are not the droids you’re looking for!!!

(We’ll come back to eye colour in my next post.)

One last thing that is incredibly important, given that we’re talking about genetics and inheritance within the context of BNHA: genes are not always copied correctly when cells are dividing and combining and multiplying. Genes can also get damaged in various ways. These errors are random mutations and may become new alleles, which might be dominant or recessive, and can be passed down to future offspring.

These mutations can result in genetic disorders, where physiological processes ‘break’ (like hemophilia and diabetes) or where people are born with unusual physical characteristics (like extra toes or a cleft palate). Mutations are not always bad, though; in fact, mutations resulting in new traits and trait variations are a key feature in the process of evolution. If a new mutation provides an advantage to the biological success of an organism, that mutation is more likely to be passed down to subsequent generations and may eventually become a standard variant in the genome (the complete set of all possible genes) for that species.

Anyway, I think that about covers it for the important basics of genetics and inheritance before I dive into Quirk science in my next post. I hope it was helpful!

~~ Kasanya

PS. I’m enough of an academic that I’m going to include my sources below, but it’s late and I’m tired and I’m not actually getting graded on this ‘essay’, so I’m not going to bother going back and end-noting my references properly. Yes, most of them are Wikipedia. No, I don’t care. Wikipedia is good enough for my purposes here.

PPS. If anyone would like a more thorough introduction to genetics and inheritance, I recommend the top three sources below. They’re pretty good summaries. I will be getting into more detail in my future posts, though.

PPPS. And, finally, if anyone reading this is a subject-matter-expert and notices any errors in my info dumping, please let me know! I’d hate to spread inaccurate information. Thanks!

Sources:

https://www.genome.gov/About-Genomics/Introduction-to-Genomics

https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/home/fundamentals/genetics/genes-and-chromosomes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_genetics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allele

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccyx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_disorder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genotype

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heredity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homologous_chromosome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus (Bet you didn’t expect that one, hah!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotypic_trait

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploidy#Diploid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyly

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymorphism_(biology)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_reproduction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/5-stunning-animals-that-have-multiple-hearts/

[mybelovedintrepidheroes]

things I loved about dungeon meshi:

- the fact that there was very little sexualization of the women in the series. like yes they do be in the nude sometimes but to me it doesn't feel like the artist/writers are drooling and foaming at the mouth wanting to fuck those women idk how to explain sorry

- the fact that there were underpants shots but they were ONLY from Senshi which is pretty funny to me idk I love how they're poking fun at the fan service in most animes.

now don't get me wrong I'm a certified monster fucker I don't mind sexual shit what I DO mind if it's objectifying women that shit doesn't sit right with me and idk in other series I just get the vibe that the creators aren't as confident in their show so they try to get specifically men to watch that series to get horny to? idk what the fuck the deal is with that it just seems like the creators aren't confident that ppl will like the show without the fan service which is a travesty, let's be real. again, I don't mind sex and other stuff in movies/series what I DO mind is if the women aren't doing the shit they're doing on purpose. I h8 pants shots in anime with a burning passion cuz like it's ALWAYS a mistake like idk I think it'd be way more fun if the women actually did that shit on purpose or if the men reacted differently to the fan service bullshit you know?

- Izutsumi is my fave character hands down (I'm also partial to Laios but that was inevitable given the fact that Damien Haas voiced him and yes I did watch it in English sue me) I was really fond of the idea that the barrier/spell also applied to her beast side which was indeed cool as shit I loved that so so much also the fact that she clung to Marcille, there's not a straight way to see that I fear.

- I loved the ingenuity with the creatures, like mollusks inhabiting armor? sign me the fuck up that is fun as hell! insects that look like jewelry & coins? oh that spells certain doom for some ppl! MIMICS ARE ACTUALLY CRUSTACEANS INHABITING FUCKING TREASURE CHESTS!! THAT'S SO FUN! SUCH A COOL IDEA!

- also that body swap episode oh hell yeah!! it was quite fun that Izutsumi got turned into a dog girl (kobold yeah yeah I know) bc there was an uneven amount of ppl, a very fun way of going about it.

- everyone talked completely the same way they usually do EXCEPT FOR Senshi that was so fun, elf senshi my beloved it was incredibly funny to me. also like was it part of the change to have him have flowers float around his face? perhaps idc it was funny as hell.

- the fact that what's his face was happy that his grandpa turned to dust, we love to see it. they've lived so long it could've been easy to make them incredibly afraid of death and almost even resentful but instead he's just like "good for him he got the FUCK outta here"

- deeply liked Kobru I love me a good antagonist <3

- okay hear me out it was deeply understandable that Shiro got annoyed bc laois kept asking abt his home and honestly I'm pretty sure there were some hurtful questions that laois asked and I think it's okay to be mad at and put off by someone who keeps asking questions that amount to "do you do *insert racist stereotype* in your country?" and I get that but also it's super funny that laios kept cockblocking him

I guess the end

what I didn't like about dungeon meshi:

- that season 1 ended

- that idk when the next season will drop

- that the subtitles were unreadable when I tried to watch it subbed bc the color of the subs was the same as the background which isn't helpful at all. like in that opening sequence it would help to make the subs black or some other color so you can actually read wtf is going on.

thanks for reading this have a nice day

[ladyhawke]

we should have gotten a show about two factions of the same family lead by two ambitious women fighting for the throne but instead we got a reductive good vs. evil game of thrones prequelTM that still doesn’t know how to write interesting female characters

detailed under the cut if anyone’s interested i just need to vent

aging down alicent and creating a relationship between her and rhaenyra was the show’s best decision, it added depth and emotional charge to the story but what’s the point of creating a wonderful backstory if you never get to the actual story? they refuse to allow the two of them to actually break apart and have something rotten sprout of what once was love and friendship and that compromised the whole show. the fact that they clearly wanted to keep the two of them interacting resulted in two of worst scenes of the show (especially the first one cause god that was unbelievably cringe)

i liked that they made alys rivers a weird witch instead of the obvious hot seductress

i love mysaria possibly being a agent for the smallfolk, it’s one the book’s most important themes “when the lords play their game of thrones it is the common people who lose” and if she understood that and is just using her position the help them would be amazing but i’m not very optimistic about that

helaena being a dreamer was also nice and i liked that they gave her neuroatypical traits but hated the distance they put between her and her dragon, her being neurodivergent should make her even more attached to dreamfyre if anything. i understand her not wanting to fight in a war and kill people but she doesn’t even ride? bullshit

mostly i hate how they refused to let their main female characters be bad, rhaenyra is a perfect saint and not a bit spiteful or rancorous and alicent was just a dumb bitch with no agency and permanent downturned lips. having aegon as king was a misunderstanding and she wasn’t even aware of the green council until it began, they should have allowed her to be ambitious especially because it would fit the young alicent so well!!! the girl who always followed the rules and did everything right didn’t get rewarded in the end while rhaenyra who was always being transgressive never faced the consequences, remember “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It’s trampled under your pretty foot again.” it would have been incredible to see her going “well i’m gona do whatever i want now cause apparently that’s how it works” and them drive herself into a tragedy, but at least a tragedy *she* chose, doomed by herself

blood and cheese was terribly written and shot, seriously what the fuck was that?

nettles is the doubt over whether or not targaryens are the only ones who can ride a dragon but since the show made the velaryons of all people black i don’t think she would have had the same effect. i still think they did it to soften the connotation that would come with super pale white people obsessed with blood purity btw

i tried not to give into the “targ stan” argument because i quite dislike the targaryens so i know i’m biased but now seeing that even people who are team black are complaining that the show killed all nuance by making it greens = bad and blacks = good i have to agree

this is truly a show for daenery’s widows (the last episode shamelessly confirms it) they were constantly forcing this rhaenyra and daenerys connection and that really annoyed me (syrax being the mom of dany’s dragons confirmed by a director or producer is so ????)

actually all the connections to game of thrones annoy me deeply THAT FUCKING DAGGER!!!!!! the prophecy thing is so boring and simplistic (and when you consider the travesty that was the long night in the series i really don’t understand why they want to remind the audiences of that) i really dislike all the cheap fan service scenes

it’s still the same issue they had with got, this epic-ness complex, they didn’t have to tie this so directly to daenerys and the long night. all they had to do was tell the story of the dance, with good consistent characters and themes and good writing and of course cool action and dragon scenes but i guess that’s not interesting enough for them

also what’s with the rhythm of this show? season 1 ended on a cliffhanger that went nowhere since we didn’t see angry rhaenyra seeking vengeance at all and now the we spend several minutes of fun and laughter at essos with tyland in a season finale? that once again ends with the promise of conflict? and what conflict is that if alicent just gave away everything?

[hotheadrednecksimmer]

Looking For The Hoes - Struck by Love Legacy Challenge - Season 2, Episode 8

After the travesty that happened, Naomi decided to go out for herself. She wanted to get out and see some of the world before she started her career. She had a couple places on her checklist that she wanted to go to, and some places like Sulani that she wanted to go as she always did with her mom in the summer.

Friday Night - Naomi went to a bar in Del Sol Valley hoping to meet some people from the area.

She met this guy - who she can't remember the name of and hooked up with him.

Early Friday morning around 4 am, she found herself drunk and falling asleep on the walk home to her apartment, alone. She could feel that she needed a shower pronto from the hookup that took place in the bar's bathroom.

Saturday - Naomi found herself traveling to Sulani for the day, even though she had a killer hangover, she thought she deserved some R and R. During the day, she spent her time sunbathing and swimming in Sulani's beautiful water. She even spent some time picking up some trash that she found on the beach.

Her parents and brother went home, but Naomi decided to stay. It was great seeing them again and enjoying this family vacation that has been a constant in Naomi's life.

During the family beach trip, Naomi filled her parents in on the break up with Gabrielle without revealing that Naomi was cheated on or what she did in revenge.

That night, Naomi headed over to Sulani's local bar and began drinking. Somehow, drinking slowly had become her crutch to reality. Everything that was wrong in her life was fixed with booze and sex. While at the bar, she met another random guy and hooked up with him.

He wanted to go home with her instead of hooking up in the bathroom, but she refused. She wasn't letting anyone in her apartment except family and friends, he didn't exactly fit the bill. She was only going to sleep with him and never see him again, at least that was the plan.

She slept with him and did the walk of shame home once again. As soon as she got back to her place, she took a shower, grabbed another drink, and slept.

Sunday night - Naomi went out again before she had to clock into her job tomorrow. She went to the city, San Myshuno, she missed the city life. Del Sol Valley had city elements, but it was nothing compared to San Myshuno, the culture, the festivals, Naomi could go on. She went to Honey Pop Karaoke to get some drinks and sing to her heart's content.

At the bar, she grabbed a drink and signed up for a spot at Karaoke, there was only one spot left. As she was telling the bartender that she wanted the spot, a very handsome black haired guy spoke up at the same time.

Naomi: Hey! I was going for that! It was the whole reason I came here!

Black haired beauty: Well, there's only one spot left and it was the only reason I came here too.

Bartender: That's not true Leo, you come here most nights I'm working.

Leo: Well, my twin has outed me, but the only solution I can come up with is that we sing a duet.

Naomi: I'm pretty good, can you keep up with me?

Leo: Oh I'm absolutely positive I can.

The two wait for their turn conversing over their drinks. Soon enough, they were up and as they approached the stage, Naomi was nervous to sing for the first time ever. She wasn't sure if it was because she was sharing the spotlight with someone who she barely knew or what it was.

But as the song started, her nerves were released as she heard Leo's beautiful voice.

They're duet ended and they smiled at each other. They were perfect pitch and everyone in the audience and at the bar were applauding them.

Leo: Hey, I know this is bold, but you want to get out of here? I know a place.

Naomi was itching for an adventure and trouble, hoping that was exactly what Leo was: You might be trouble for me, yeah let's get out of here.

The pair walked out together flirting and laughing.

To be continued....

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