#jeff as my gorgeous wife

[saturfied]

The Star of the Show

The Dreamy Girl herself - Jeff Satur

source links:

first clip - from Studio on Saturn story

second clip

third clip - from elle

song - aakhon mein teri

[wynnyfryd]

@messessentialist told me her friend called to rant about spotting an “upsettingly beautiful boy in a tj maxx” and i vomited 1200 words about it, enjoy

—

fic idea: chrissy and eddie work together at tj maxx. one afternoon a guy comes in who’s so hot that it kinda just pisses eddie off? bc like, who does this gorgeous asshole think he is??? coming in here and popping his hip at eddie’s counter, like, does he even know how uncomfortable it is to start chubbin’ up in skinny jeans?? that shit chafes!

so eddie gets all flustered and responds by getting an attitude with the guy because he has zero chill (and also because the dude’s iced coffee is sweating a ring all over eddie’s counter, and so help him if his manager gets on his ass one more time about keeping his station tidy—)

“did you need help finding anything else today?” eddie sneers. “coasters, perhaps?”

upsettingly hot guy looks confused for a second before he follows eddie’s pointed glance at the plastic starbucks cup leaving a cold puddle on the laminate, and then he sneers right back; adjusts the ray bans nestled in his perfect honey brown hair and looks eddie up and down — long, slow, one eyebrow lifting in subtle elitist disapproval.

“what?” he snorts, “hot topic wasn’t hiring?”

oh, fuck you very much!

so eddie’s all ‘nemesis acquired’ and holds the biggest grudge of all time. makes a sworn enemy and a boogeyman out of the guy, turns him into urban legend, starts blaming the Upsettingly Beautiful Man for every little thing that goes wrong in his life — at work, at home, at band practice; no place is safe from the dreaded UBM.

“he’s not a fucking cryptid!” gareth snaps one day at rehearsal, chucking a drumstick at eddie’s head. “just track him down and bone already so you can shut the hell up!”

“wouldn’t he just talk about him more after they have sex?” jeff wonders, to which gareth narrows his eyes and raises his second drumstick as a threat.

meanwhile, eddie’s cute coworker chrissy (who he’s become surprisingly good friends with, to the point of referring to her as his work wife) gets a girlfriend. robin’s sooooo pretty, and soooo nice, and sooooo tall, eddie, did you know how tall she is?

yes, chrissy, he’s supremely aware of a stranger’s five-foot-eight-and-a-half stature now, thank you.

“you have to meet her!” chrissy gushes, bouncing up onto her toes.

eddie hangs another shirt. “you have to chill.”

“hey!” she pouts, pixar princess cute. “you wouldn’t tell the sun to dull its shine, would you?”

“i mean, i would, but i doubt the giant ball of plasma cares what i want.”

“okay, whatever, eeyore.” she rolls her eyes but she physically can’t stop beaming even as she does it, and eddie finds himself melting under it — some sort of radiant area attack coming from the apples of this girl’s cheeks, he swears, because the next thing he knows he’s agreeing to go to rando new girlfriend’s housewarming party this weekend so he can meet her properly.

only he doesn’t get to meet her properly, because when he shows up to the party the two bedroom apartment is packed with people he’s never seen, and it’s loud as fuck in here and he’s sweating through his leather from the six flights of stairs he had to climb to reach the place, so he steps through a sliding door out to the balcony and lo and behold, if it isn’t Upsettingly Beautiful Man looking upsettingly beautiful — positively fucking divine, actually, the last wisps of fuchsia sunset catching the gold streaks in his hair and dotting the tip of his flawless nose. Seriously, does this dude have any flaws? A scar, a birthmark, an unsightly ingrown hair? Eddie can’t even see a single blackhead for fuck’s sake.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer” the dude mutters, turning to look at him, and, “oh, my god, you again?”

“uh.”

“i’ve got a fucking coaster this time,” the guy says, lifting his solo cup and giving it a little shake to point out the cork round sitting underneath it, “so if that’s what you came out here to berate me for, then you’ll have to think of something else.”

“uh,” eddie says again, because he has no idea what brought this on but he’s pretty sure it has shit all to do with him, and pretty boy’s really working himself up now, arms moving in sharp gestures as he paces back and forth on the short balcony.

“not that it even matters if i didn’t have a coaster, because this is my house! i can do what i want with my own fucking stuff in my own fucking apartment, nance, i don’t— uh…”

pretty boy’s face blossoms rose petal red, a heavy blush creeping up his jawline as he catches himself mid rant and folds in on himself, crossing his arms over his chest with a sheepish expression.

eddie’s always had a thing for shepherding.

“i’m listening,” he says, popping a cigarette in his mouth and holding the pack out in offering. “if you care to vent.”

the guy — steve, eddie finds out — tells him all about his controlling ex-girlfriend as they work their way through two cigarettes each, the sun slipping away to reveal a full topaz moon, big and low and close, ripe citrus bending the branch of a tree. nance was a real piece of work by the sounds of it, and eddie feels like an absolute shit for the way he treated steve, who had apparently just gotten dumped the night before they met and had been out shopping for a “please take me back” present.

“like that was ever gonna work,” steve mumbles, ashing over the railing. “pathetic. anyway, sorry i was rude to you that day or whatever.”

“you weren’t.”

“nah, i was.” steve shifts his weight, knocks their shoulders together. “not that you didn’t deserve it.”

“yeahhhh,” eddie agrees, cringing at himself. “sorry.”

“all good. so what’s your story then, huh? who pissed in your cheerios that day?”

eddie blames the alcohol fumes wafting from steve’s cup — a justification that makes perfect sense and would totally hold up in a court of law — for what he says next.

“honestly? you.”

steve’s face is so cartoonishly offended that eddie busts out laughing, eyes crinkling, head thrown back.

“oh, so you’re just an asshole,” steve nods sagely. “first cute guy to flirt with me in six weeks is a lunatic. love that for me.”

“no, i—” eddie laughs, “okay, we’re coming back to how you think i’m cute, but i just meant, uh-”

oh, fuck it. eddie’s never been good at holding his cards close to the chest. more of a 52 pick up kinda guy, historically, and why change now?

“you were so gorgeous it, like, genuinely upset me for a second,” eddie admits, running his tongue over his lip. he stubs out his cigarette; turns to look right at steve. “like, uh, like cuteness aggression or some shit.”

steve mirrors his posture, leaning an elbow on the railing, nearly chest to chest. “so you are crazy,” he smiles.

“that’s correct.” eddie swallows.

steve moves in to close the gap. “good crazy?”

“fun crazy, so i’m told.”

“i’m gonna kiss you if that’s cool.”

“very”

the kiss tastes like ripe citrus

[harrysfolklore]

husband and wife - harry blurb

those harry pics gave me major new husband!harry vibes so here we are, hope you enjoy !

MASTERLIST | MY PATREON

//

The Caribbean sun, the man you loved and your friends. There was definitely no better way to start the year.

In good old fashion, you decided to travel down to Anguilla for New Years, just like you did back in 2019 and it ended up being one of your best trips ever.

You were soaking up some sun, laying comfortable on a beach chair and occasionally sipping on the fruity drink Harry provided for you earlier, totally blissful as you enjoyed the moment.

That was until a muscular body that you knew too well blocked the sun for you.

“Enjoying yourself, gorgeous?” Harry asked, in his shirtless glory and wearing just some black swimming trucks.

“I was a few seconds ago,” you teased, “You know, before someone interrupted me.”

“Heyyyyy,” he used his topical fake hurt voice, “That’s not a nice way to talk to your husband.”

You smiled at this, feeling butterflies on your stomach as he called himself your husband.

It happened after the end of the tour and before his infamous haircut. Your weeding took place on your Italy villa and all your close friends and family were there to celebrate your love. It was a beautiful and intimate ceremony that everyone always would hold close to their hearts.

The public and fans still had no idea about it and you loved how much you were enjoying your marriage with that kind of privacy.

“That’s right, you’re my husband now,” you said as Harry squeezed himself next to you on the beach chair, “I can’t bully you like I used to.”

“Mr and Mrs Styles, come join us!” Jeff’s voice interrupted was Harry was about to reply and made you turn your heads his way, noticing that your friends were gathering around to watch the sunset.

“I think we’re good mate,” Harry replied sassily, “Don’t feel like sharing my wife right now.”

Your friends laughed at this, yelling some stuff like “you’re whipped!” and “she must be sick of you.

“You’re mean to them.” You joked, closing your eyes and leaning into him, feeling his hands rubbing up and down your back.

“They deserve it, they haven’t let me be alone with you all day,” he shrugged, making you roll your eyes and look up at him, holding his jaw and rubbing the stubbled skin of his chin, “Besides, an I mean for wanting to love on my wife?”

“You’re not,” you said, grazing his bottom lip with a smile on your face, “You drive your wife absolute mad.”

Harry smirked, throwing his head back at your words and grabbing your chin to kiss your lips.

“I love to hear you call yourself my wife,” he smiled widely, his eyes full of love and glee, “I still can’t believe we’re married, It’s the best thing that happened this year.”

You only smiled, connecting your lips again before Jeff’s voice interrupted you one more time,

“Seriously lovebirds, get in here. You already had your honeymoon!”

Harry groaned as he let go of your lips, standing up and facing your friends.

“Fine, we’ll join you,” he grabbed your hand to walk towards them, “Don’t you hate when lonely people ruin the moment for happy couples?” Harry said to you, making the entire group laugh.

“We’re literally married!” Glenne said, pointed to herself and Jeff.

Harry only shrugged with a smug face, sitting down beside Tommy and pulling you to his lap, laying his chin on your shoulder.

The sun sank lower, painting the sky pink and golden. Harry's arm was around your around your waist and he occasionally placed kisses on your shoulder as you engaged in conversation with your friends.

"This is perfect." You leaned back into him, whispering so only he could hear him, his heartbeat steady against your back and his breath hitting your neck.

"Absolutely perfect," Harry whispered back in agreement, his lips grazing your skin as he nestled closer.

You were starting the year at one of your favorite places, surrounded by your friends and as husband and wife, and you couldn't wait to see what 2024 had in store for your perfect life together

[incognito-duo]

D'you ever think that Rio Morales looks at her son and thinks "when did you get so tall?" She knew that it would happen but it happened too fast, suddenly Rio has to buy new shoes and clothes for her ever growing boy. She smiles as she watches her husband happily make lunch boxes for him. "He's finally appreciating my chef expertise!" Jeff claims triumphantly. "I'm not sure if making a basic sandwhich and cutting apples are exactly chef expertise, amor." Rio teases, earning a side glance from her husband. She cackles. "Oh please, I know you're a good cook! I'm just happy he's eating, es demasiado flaco."

D'you ever think Rio sees how Miles' freckles become more apparent as he's older, how the sparse dots are not exact replicas of hers, but definitely taking after her? She sees the young man take after her lithe and slender form - maybe Miles will be lean like his mama, with her sassy side eye and pursed lips or her loud, lovely laughter. He likes that they both roll their eyes dramatically, how they both talk fast when they're passionate but seem to get comfortable in awkward lulls in conversation when nervous, how their fake laughs are always higher pitched than their real ones so he knows which jokes land. At the very least, Jeff hopes that Miles will be more like Rio. He sees so much good in his wife, his lover, his everything perfect in this world.

He thinks about how he took the chance of moving out of his "dad's" place with Aaron as soon as he got into college. Leaving the old man in his lonely place in Harlem, he didn't care if he had to wake up early to drop off Aaron to high school, he'd do it. It's not like his dad ever did it anyway when they lived with him. He was a boulder of a guy, but he hadn't really built up as much muscle as he has now at the time. Skittish, quiet, glasses - then gorgeous and confident nursing major Rio Morales came into his life and he never wanted to take someone else's last name so fast. She was like a beacon of light, specifically when things got rocky between him and Aaron. Jeff hopes Miles becomes more and more like Rio every day.

But Rio can't help but insist it's him that Miles looks more like. "He's got your forehead!" She explains, reassuring Jeff that that's a good thing. Yes, Miles and Jeff had the same forehead, the same tight curls, same full lips that would go in a deep frown when he's shocked, eyes bulging as he moves his head back and revealing a double chin (she thought it was so cute and funny.) They had the exact same smug smirk and hooded eyes when they're correct, they both had a dorky way of giggling when they were flustered, all snorts and giggling. She thinks about how their voices breaks every time they're emotional cus they're men who aren't scared to feel but still scared to show it - and with how Miles has been growing? "He'll be a giant like you, I know it!" She laughs as Jeff shakes his head.

But something in Jeff's heart aches when he sees that Miles busts a move in triumph like Aaron does, or how he smirks all charmingly when he talks to a girl - just like his lil brother back in high school. Jeff knows how Aaron's footsteps sound like when he's sneaking back into the house too late so he always catches Miles cus they sound the same. He feels something in him break when Miles smiled at him and he noticed that he got the same dimples as Aaron. What's he supposed to do when the boy walks like he's confident but too scared to really confident. He's too much like Aaron; what is Jeff supposed to do when he finds spray paint finger prints on his son's clothes just like he does when he does Aaron's laundry- oh.

He did Aaron's laundry. On Earth-42, Aaron has to remind himself of that when he sees Miles redo the laundry he folded just like how Jeff used to do. Those same hands always fiddling with something, quickly spinning his pencil while doing math problems, he's got that patient but firm tone when he explains carefully to Aaron whatever he did in Applied Physics just like how Jeff would help him with fractions as a kid. Miles G walks with his back too straight, and just like Jeff, he jumps ropes with the line that's between being endearing and being awkward when he talks to a girl. His nephew has that same, tired, far-off look in his eye that Jeff used to have, that same flickering ember that's awake enough to get up and do something right and it makes Aaron's blood run cold in fear every time he sees Miles G jump off a building too high or swing around too fast. He's too much like Jeff.

"Is he? I think he's sorta like you." Rio muses to Aaron in Earth 42. "He's all lanky like you, and likes going out late at night doing God knows what." She scoffs.

"He's doing good things, always studying and being a smartass like you." Aaron assures his sister-in-law. The two were never close, mere strangers, but a unlikely friendship had grown in the absence of Jeff; Rio had become a sort of big sister to Aaron, and he couldn't help but feel like he needed someone to guide him, even at his big age.

"He better." She pouts. In Earth 1610, Rio was telling Jeff the same thing. I mean, in every universe, Miles was their baby boy. "He's gotta have the best of us, right?"

[alottiegoingon]

facing your fears

shauna shipman x fem!reader (all characters aged up)

warnings: struggling with sexuality, pre-crash (but mentions of it?), minimal usage of bad words, probably a bunch of english mistakes and bad writing (not my first language), no 18+ content just fluff

“Right, okay, Van. I think the lesbianism thing is taking over your head a little too much.” You scoff. Your lips were curled up in an expression that it was supposed to be a smile ready to mock your friend Vanessa and let her know how absurd her comment was, but it honestly seemed very unsure. Maybe been discreet wasn’t actually your thing, but liking Shauna Shipman wasn't something that you were happy to admit.

“She’s kind of right, you know. You think everyone is gay, Van.” Taissa’s eyes met her girlfriend’s. She didn’t like disagreeing with Van. Happy wife happy life, right? But maybe, just maybe, she could be wrong about it. Since Van and Tai got together and finally told the team, their favorite thing to do was spot other queer people at school and you were a great targer. Well, except for the fact that you probably weren't a lesbian.

It just wasn’t very you. As y/n Taylor, you had high expectations to be filled and a reputation to care about. Jackie Taylor was your oldest sister by a year and no matter how close you two were, ruining her reputation at school wasn’t a very nice thing to do and it could easily ruin your life. Her life. Jackie was the dream girl. The one that all the boys wanted to be with and all the girls wanted to be her. Perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect grades (almost) and perfect at soccer. Always the one that would drag all the attention to herself while walking through the school hallways and never missing a chance to attend a party with stunning clothes and the gorgeous makeup. You couldn’t complain about it though. Being related to a popular girl would usually get you stuff that most teenagers would fight to have in high school. Even if you were being known by being Jackie Taylor’s sister, it was still some sort of popularity level that many people wanted to have. Just… Not you.

You loved Jackie, of course. But the pressure of being related to the Wiskayok High School princess was too much. You were in Shauna’s car two years ago along with Jackie while she would drive you to school and you accidentaly let a thought slip away out loud; You were scared of trying for extra activities in school, frightened by the idea of not being good enough like Jackie was (which you didn’t tell her, of course). But eventually, you gave it a try when she said that you had to face your fears. She was good with pep talk. It felt like the world was ending when you tried to join the Yellowjackets team right after that and failed miserably, managing to fall right against the scratchy artificial grass on your first attempt of running after a stupid football. That’s when you realized that you saw Shauna with different eyes. When your cheek was getting squeezed against the floor and you heard the coach whistling, your eyes immediately met hers from afar. Sitting on the closest bench, Jackie made sure to scold all the girls that were laughing at you and right by her side, there was Shauna. Maybe she wanted to laugh as well but she didn’t. Probably because she was Jackie’s best friend, you thought. Her lips were pressing against each other so tightly that they were repressing even the slightest smile. She even had a threatening stare while looking at the girls who were giggling. It was a miracle that you got into the cheerleading team but at least it was better than run after a soccer ball. Besides, you looked cute in a skirt.

You knew Shauna before that, she was always at your house. But you never acknowledged her before. Not consciously at least. You remembered clear as the day when Jackie and Shauna would stay in the bedroom for the entire day; talking about everything and everyone and their stupid crushes. Jeff, Randy, James, you name it. You, too shy and scared to join them, would always politely deny Jackie’s invitations but that didn’t stop you from hearing their nonsense every time you walked through Jackie’s bedroom. Even when the door was closed, their voices, too excited to share their opinions on the world, weren’t exactly the quietest.  

“Exactly! And even if I was a lesbian, which obviously I’m not, Shauna would be the last person I would-“ You were more than desperate convicted of your own self, ready to deny Van’s crazy thought. You had no feelings for Shauna. But then, you heard a familiar voice sounding a bit too hostile now, echoing through the entire locker room. It was definitely her. You could see her narrowed brown eyes, her stiff back showing signs of tension, her folded arms and how her hair matching her eyes was stuck on a messy ponytail and took your breath away.

The muffled voice got more and more clear as the steps were sounding closer to you. You were so eager to defend yourself before that you didn’t even bother to look around and search the area for other people. A soccer team with girls only? The rumors would fly around very quickly, especially when coming straight from Jackie Taylor’s little sister. Teenagers were known for being cruel and mean for no reason and being a lesbian in 1996? That was the same as having a death wish.

“You aren’t supposed to be here. Cheerleaders are not allowed.” You were just standing up from the bench when Shauna stood there, just a few steps away from you. You took a quick glance at Van to see her with widen eyes and an ironic lurking smirk. She would always act so suspicious when Shauna was around and it made you worried every single time, thinking if Shauna would notice how their behavior changed when she stepped in and how you always seemed so nervous. You look at Shauna again and immediately remembered why Van and Taissa always assumed you had a thing for her. It was definitely probably how your pupils would dilate immediately when seeing her, the fact that your voice would get high-pitched even when saying a simple hello or how you would fix your hair awkwardly. Or maybe how you could barely say a word without stuttering and making it way too obvious that you weren’t casual about her presence.

You didn’t have enough time to say a single word. A loud metallic noise echoed through the locker room when Van practically slammed the locker door shut and gave you a very much not cautious look before leaving and practically dragging Taissa with her. In less than ten seconds, you were panicking. You were alone with Shauna all of her toughness and not a single sign of friendly thoughts inside her head. “What?” You mutter. For someone that struggled with eye contact, your eyes wouldn’t dare to leave hers. Maybe it was fear but maybe it was amusement.

“I know that you are friends with the girls but you can’t keep coming here all the time, you know? Cheerleaders shouldn’t be here and you know we only let you in cause you’re J-“

“Jackie’s sister.” You cut Shauna before she could finish her sentence. You didn’t think much before doing it. Before not only interrupting her but also giving hints that you were upset. Even if in silence.

Shauna doesn’t say anything at first but her eyebrows frowned almost instantly. It wasn’t like she didn’t know you at least a little bit to see through you, even if you had no idea, but she wasn’t expecting to hear that. Especially not now, out of the blue.

“I mean.” You sigh. It wasn’t the easiest thing for you to talk about what you felt and how all of these hidden feelings had such a deep impact on you. You couldn’t afford to maintain eye contact now and, just for a moment, you looked away. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Jackie, obviously. I just feel like…” You trail off. Maybe it was that time of the month again and you were extra sensitive or you just felt comfortable with Shauna, but something buried inside of you was begging to come out. The silence settles in for almost an entire minute. It wasn’t exactly awkwardness the thing that was hanging in the air but something very close to it. Once or twice, you would shift your eyes up from the dirty school floor to Shauna’s eyes just to make sure that she was still there.

“No, it’s okay. I get it.” She murmurs. Her eyes didn’t leave yours not even for a second. Even at different places and circumstances like at your own house or during the moments you were invited to hang out with the girls, she was always staring. Even when you weren’t aware of it, which was most of the times.

You were expecting to finally show signs of how bothered you were by the pressure of being Jackie’s sister. Of course that some of your closest friends like Van and Taissa knew that and always did their best to support you. (And by that, it meant that you would get to pick the movie for the movie night even though Van would complain about your choice as soon as the movie ended, pointing how badly written, directed or produced it was or how the actors sucked). But you weren’t expecting Shauna to understand you. She seemed to notice the surprised look in your eyes and it made the usual neutral and intimidating expression on her face softens. If you squint your eyes hard enough, you could almost see an empathetic smile.

“What do you mean? You are always glued to Jackie. You’re like her shadow. I remember going downstairs once to get some water and you were there at 2 a.m to grab Jackie a snack and I was terrified for a week. I’m surprised you don’t follow her to the bathroom.” You breath in, letting your voice show signs of vulnerability and even a playful feeling to it. And this time you weren’t crazy. Shauna was actually softening. You caught her lips twitching in a little smile and even making a sound that sounded like a laugh. When did Shauna begin to think that you were funny anyway?

“Look… All I’m saying is that I understand.” Shauna would never say anything bad about Jackie. Not explicitly. Not if she wasn’t bursting out with anger like she would do rarely or with small mean comments, which she would usually do if she felt like Jackie was being too bossy. You wouldn’t blame Jackie as well; she had her own personal problems. But somehow, Shauna was being comprehensive. She was there for you. “There’s things I can’t do because of Jackie too.”

There it was. Her words made you heart drop to your knees. You felt a cold sensation stinging on your body and now you were more focused than ever on the brown eyed girl right in front of you. Shauna had her back resting against a closed locker and her arms were still crossed, but it didn’t seem to contribute to her attempt of looking tough. You were definitely tired from cheerleading practice today and the stress from the finals combined to that probably made you imagine things when you saw Shauna’s eyes sparkling with something different when she said that looking at you. It felt like she was staring into your soul.

“I don’t… I can do whatever I want. Jackie isn’t the boss of my life.” You immediately say, clearly nervous and defensive. You feel a slight warmth in your cheeks when notice your struggle with expressing yourself and begin to overthink everything.

“Oh, really? Like when Jackie invited you to Mari’s birthday party last week but told you not to wear that dress cause yellow was her color?” Shauna smirked finally and her brown eyes were lighter. There was playfulness in her tone as well as a slight cockiness to it, she was proving a point. “Or when you had to talk to Randy Walsh once just because Jackie liked Jeff and his best friend was desperate for a date?”

The words Randy Walsh made your lips curl and your nose scrunch in disgust. That guy was awful. He even asked who invented the Pope once. He wasn’t even cute. Or charismatic. Or smart. It was safe to say that you weren’t very impressed by him. For the first time in that day, and even in weeks, you heard Shauna laugh at your reaction and half of the tension on your body faded away. You looked deeply into her eyes and you didn’t feel intimidated now. You smiled back. Well, it was still a small and sort of shy smile but it was there and it made your heart warm. You felt fuzzy while looking at her, noticing how a few hair strands would fall perfectly through the sides of her face and how her cheeks were still looking pinkish, probably from soccer practice from a few minutes ago.

“Maybe you’re right.” You finally admit. Shauna was ripping the truth out of you without even trying and you weren’t exactly opposed to it anymore. “But it’s not like I could do anything about it. Could you imagine what everyone would say if I told them that I’m into-“

“Girls?” Shauna finishes. One of her eyebrows is slightly raised. She wasn’t sounding judgy or rude, not even surprised, and you wondered why. Your body got stiff as a rock and you feel your forehead getting sweaty as a heat wave hits you. You were panicking. A lot. Enough to left you speechless.

“I went to your bedroom once last year when you were out. Jackie said that you had borrowed one of her books and she needed it to show me something and I swear I wasn’t looking for anything but you really need to hide your things better.” Shauna’s breath sounded heavy now. Was she tense? You definitely were.

Your mind was racing from thought to thought, thinking of all of the things that Shauna could’ve seen. And then it hits you. Since you were seven years old, you saw a movie from your childhood where the main character had a diary and you immediately fell in love with the idea of putting all of your feelings out with no consequences, instead of shoving them down. No one would see it anyway. At first it was just some silly little sentences about your day, about a kid stealing your favorite pen at school, about a lame day where you did nothing but stayed in your room and listening to Jackie all day or how your parents would fight over something idiotic. Then you entered high school and things changed. Suddenly losing your favorite toy wasn’t the hottest topic of your diary. Talking about how badly you hated those stupid boys from school but loved sitting close to girls in class cause it made you have butterflies on your stomach was the main thing going on. And you were lucky enough that your diary was left opened exactly on this page when Shauna entered your room. Fuck.

“You can’t tell anyone. Especially not Jackie. Do you understand how serious this is?” You immediately started to beg Shauna. Your voice was quieter now even though no one was around. Your cheeks were practically entirely covered by a bright shade of red and it was very easy to tell how nervous you were just by staring at you. Your fingers were playing with each other, fidgeting to avoid stress, your eyes were wide open and would barely blink. Your throat was tight with a feeling of having a huge lump stuck on it.

“Relax, okay? I won’t.” Shauna’s voice is quiet but soft now. Ot almost sounded like a whisper. A reassuring and genuine whisper. “It’s not like my journal isn’t full of embarrassing stuff as well.” She continues. It sounded like she was just trying to comfort you but it was actually true. You didn’t even know that she had a journal.

“Like…” Shauna takes a deep breath, taking a few steps closer to you. “Like how you look really good wearing those cheerleading skirts. And how cute your hair looks like with a blue and yellow ribbon on it.” Her breath catches on her throat when you look at her. Did she actually say those words or you were dreaming? Real or not, your heart was racing and you were feeling something different. A rush of excitement in your chest.

“You think so?” Your voice barely comes out. It sounded like a weak whisper. You couldn’t say much but the eye contact was intense and it would only get interrupted when Shauna would take a quick look at your lips. Taking another step in, her hand touched your cheek and it immediately made your body tremble. If your stomach was empty before, now it had tons of desperate butterflies.

Shauna simply nodded. Her eyes remained completely focused on yours, something shifting away and slowly tracing down to your lips. Your own eyes were doing the same, not scared to show how badly you wanted to find out how it felt to kiss her. And being quite honest, Shauna seemed to want the same thing. Finally, she begins to lean in and closes her eyes and you do the same. The next thing you feel is her soft lips pressed right against yours and it felt like the world around you had stopped. It took you a while to kiss her back. At first you just stood there like you were frozen in place. Paralyzed by the thought of trying to understand if this was actually happening, with your hands hanging in the air. But then you slowly let yourself get lost into her. When you both began to feel more comfortable, Shauna’s hands moved down to your waist firmly and your hands touched the soft and smooth skin of her cheeks. You were so close to each other that you could smell her perfume. Not too sweet but addicting and not too strong now once the day was almost over. Okay. Maybe you had feelings for Shauna.

She was the one who pulled away first. It took you some time to finally open your eyes, the idea of looking at Shauna after she kissed you was almost unbearable but in an actual good way. Now, that terrifying sensation of panic that was tightening your chest was all gone and you could only feel the warmth of your own cheeks and the one that would exhale through Shauna’s hands that remained on your waist. You finally opened your eyes, Shauna was looking at you with curious and dreamy eyes.

You were both heavy breathers now when Shauna finally broke the silence. “Am I still the last person you would kiss?” She teased you with a hoarse tone. Her lips were slightly puffy and red thanks to the kiss you two shared. You didn’t say a thing but your lips were struggling to stay still. Everything was too overwhelming and you found yourself losing the battle as the corners of your mouth got wider. You were smiling from ear to ear like a fool. That was probably what you were when it came to Shauna anyway. You were about to open your mouth to defend yourself but a masculine voice interrupted you. You both look towards the locker room entrance to see the assistant coach, Ben, with raised eyebrows and an angry stare directly at you. You immediately knew why. No cheerleaders.

“I should really go now.” You use your head to point towards the coach. Your voice was sounding thinner now and in a higher pitch than it usually was, showing signs of how dazed you were and how Shauna was the only thing going through your mind right now. Shauna slowly took her hands away from your waist. “But maybe we could, like, hang out after you come back from the nationals?” You could barely contain your smile now, walking backwards while not looking away from Shauna.

“Definitely. I can’t wait to come back.” Shauna was smirking back at you while biting her lower lip.

[hpowellsmith]

Some Honor Bound Acknowledgements

Today I want to highlight the amazing jobs that lots of people did to get HONOR BOUND where it is. It wouldn't be anywhere near so polished without their hard work!

My editor Abigail C. Trevor pushes my games into shape from concept to release, from big-picture feedback to meticulous edits.

Abby has a particular knack for teasing out the potential of an idea and pushing it further. At the very early stages, the PC was assigned to Ozera because of an injury but not because of any particular other issues, and Elene's Prospect was not the PC's hometown (and therefore there was no prior connection with Denario)!

Abby also writes games! Her first game, Heroes of Myth, is about a con-artist called to really fix a magical crisis. Her latest, Stars Arisen, is a fantasy doorstopper about being the child of an immortal deposed tyrant queen who wants you to seize back control of the city-state. Highly recommended!

Kris Lorischild copyedited this 595K word monster. This would be a massive undertaking even without my tangles of code to deal with and Kris truly polished Honor Bound to make it shine.

Kris was narrative co-lead/localisation producer on Cozy Grove, created You Are Jeff Bezos and more, used to be Senior Curator for Critical Distance, and has copyedited 20 CoG games. Check out their itch page here!

Adrien Valdes aka @defenestratin did the cover art. Adrien's illustrated three of my games now and knocks it out of the park beautifully every time. He's also illustrated many other CoG and all of the Heart's Choice games. See more of Adrien's work here!

I don't know all the names of the continuity readers, and although I've tried to thank the playtesters directly, I may have missed some—but from finding bugs, to noticing typos or awkward sentences, to letting me know where I was falling short of my goals, their work was invaluable.

Jason Stevan Hill, Mary Duffy, and Dan Fabulich from the Choice of Games team worked wonderfully on this release. Special shoutout to Rebecca Slitt's editorial review of the full draft which guided me in expanding and enriching a ton of moments that needed it.

These days Rebecca is mostly an editor and runs the Heart's Choice label (and many of my favourite games were edited by her), but she also created Psy High, a brilliant teen-psychic CoG game!

Shortly after Honor Bound was released, my friend and fellow writer Eiwynn passed away. You can find out more about her here. Eiwynn was a tireless pillar of the ChoiceScript interactive fiction community, helping writers and players old and new. Ever since I started writing with ChoiceScript, she gave me support and encouragement, and I know she did this for many, many more writers.

Thank you for everything, Eiwynn. Your warmth and kindness will be sorely missed by me and countless others in the community.

Finally: my wife Fay Ikin is my first reader even at the concept stages and helps me arrange my ideas as well as helping me untangle when I'm struggling (in writing and in life!).

Teran is loosely based on her TTRPG campaign from many years ago. I'm very grateful that she let me steal her setting!

Fay isn't on social media, but she makes interactive fiction as well. She's best known for her intense gladiator-pit romance game HEART OF BATTLE in which you can fight and/or romance your fellow gladiators, a magic medic, or a fabulously wealthy patron. It's a brilliant game, and I would say that even if I wasn't married to her! She also made ASTEROID RUN: NO QUESTIONS ASKED, a gorgeous and very underrated scifi thriller.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making HONOR BOUND what it is!

Steam | Google Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore

[loudrats]

Loud Rats Book Club 2023

This year the rats became literate!

We suggested a number of books each month and then voted on one to read (somehow Fish managed to read all 12 of them… wild!). The ones in red are the winners, but there are some other really good books in there.

Hopefully you can find your next favourite read below! :)

January

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

Pirates and Prejudice by Kara Louise

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

February

Adua by Igiaba Scego

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

March

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Humans by Matt Haig

Cane by Jean Toomer

Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (#1 Broken Earth Trilogy)

Young Mungo by Douglas Stewart

April

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel

Dubliners by James Joyce

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

May

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

June

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill

Swimming in the dark by Tomasz Jędrowski

Girls like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 17 by Jeff Kinney

Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

July

Kid Youtuber 9: Everything is Fine by Marcus Emerson, Noah Child

Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella

Hit Parade Of Tears by Izumi Suzuki

When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl's Book by Naja Marie Aidt

Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Mapping the Interior by Stephan Graham Jones

August

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Small Game by Blair Braverman

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi

September

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

October

Linghun by Ai Jiang

Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moira Fowley-Doyle

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić

Kindred by Octavia Butler

November

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Liberation Day by George Saunders

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

December

Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes by Maurice Leblanc

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

[weirdo09]

what do you mean she isn’t my wife? me n jeff married her on the same day, like he is my husband as well ? people crazy frfr anyways, admire my beautiful, gorgeous, pretty, lovely wife 🥰🥰

[dalekofchaos]

Why I hate Cody Rhodes

Ya know, for a longtime, I just couldn't think of it, but there was something about Cody that I just can't bring myself to like him. Here's why.

As he started in WWE, he was a midcarder at best. Showed promise in Legacy, shined as the dashing and excelled as undashing and lol Stardust happened. Then he rebuilt himself on the independents, formed a friendship with The Elite and helped build AEW and finally completed his goal. All that sounds good on paper, so why the dislike?

Cody to me, is one of the most disingenuous people in the wrestling business. He talks like a snake oil salesman. He workshops his promos and just sounds phony every time he talks. He desperately wanted to be like John Cena, the face that ran the place. He and Brandi wanted to be HHH and Stephanie so fucking bad in AEW and it blew up in their faces. He has to use the memory of Dusty Rhodes to get over. He had to use his friendship with Kevin Owens to get taken care of by the Bucks. He needed The Elite to build his stock. He needed the Rhodes Family and The Elite, because on his own, Cody is NOTHING!

On Brandi. She was a heel while her husband was the top face of the midcard and ran the worst faction in AEW history. But oh she's a face when she's in Cody's entourage. "WHO TOLD YOU IT WAS OPEN MIC NIGHT, BITCH?" then she threw water in Shaq's face. Then she got pregnant and everyone cheered! Despite that, she had to be the center of attention, whether in the woman's division or Cody's feuds. Then Cody had the most ridiculous, carny and overbloated feud between himself and Anthony Ogogo where he markets Brandi and their mixed baby. He did it! Cody ended racism…..while racially antagonizing a British black man.

Then Cody and Brandi did a fucking kayfabe breaking reality show. Then Brandi set Cody’s back on fire. That happened. “That’s what you get for that stupid neck tattoo, babe”

Then the fucking Dan Lambert feud happened. When Dan fucking Lambert is more over and more cheered than this alleged babyface and his wife, it’s time to pack up and go home. It was absolutely fucking ridiculous.

The difference between Dusty and Cody is, when Dusty speaks to you, you believe in him. He makes you feel good about yourself and gets you fired up! When Cody speaks, he's condescending and talks down to you.

To me Eddie Kingston, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens represents the common man and closest thing to the American Dream aka Dusty's legacy than his own son.

Despite how much he loves Dusty and tries to emulate him, Cody comes off more like the love child of Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett than Dusty Rhodes.

This is why Cody's refusal to turn heel baffles me so much. He is the perfect disingenuous smarmy heel. He even has Brandi as the perfect heel valet. He has bleached blonde hair like Gorgeous George and Flair. This clown even dresses up as Homelander. Unless Cody is a closeted MAGA, there is no way he doesn't know or understand that Homelander is the fucking villain, you can't tell me he doesn't lack this much self-awareness.

This is why his refusal to turn in AEW was ridiculous.

He got booed out of the fucking building like he was forced down cookie cutter Roman babyface. His own belt was thrown back at him. Him and Brandi had get off my TV heat to the point where Dan Lambert got cheered over them. Seriously, his AEW run was weird.

If he stayed in AEW? He should've turned heel. Embrace the EVP/Founder mentality. Use your power as EVP to get rid of the stipulation of being unable to challenge the AEW World title. Become an insufferable power couple with Brandi. Unite The Elite and run the goddamn place.

If Cody had any self-awareness, he’d stay The American Nightmare and own that shit. A rich guy whose greatest achievement is being born to a great man, teaming up with another rich guy whose only achievement is having a billionaire father, booking himself to be champion in a fixed game by "beating" self made men. His father was a son of a plumber and lived the American dream… he is a shining example of the nightmare everyone else has to live through. You can't write a better heel story.

And goddamn. You already have the perfect heel story in WWE. "I ran the revolution, but I sold out to the fed and became world champion" He brings out his wife as the perfect bitchy unlikable valet and brings out an entourage and Cody acts like Homelander. Someone who acts nice and like the good guy, when in reality he's this obnoxious self-centered prick.

So yeah, when the chips are down, I just can't bring myself to like Cody cause of how phony and disingenuous he is and how he refuses to embrace the perfect unlikable heel.

Also #Kevinowensisright

[xxemosceneacidscumxx]

Jeff the killer x FEM! Reader

~A Blinkless Gaze~ Part 9

Suddenly I woke up in a black void. "Hello y/n, my dear." I heard a weird demon voice say. "WHO ARE YOU, WHERE AM I???" "All will be well once you are mine my dear." I cringed "I HAVE A HUSBAND" the thing talking to me laughed a laugh that echoed all around me, running chills down my spine. "We''ll see about that." Suddenly I sprang up covered in sweat. "Oh, hey I was just gonna tell you that foods ready" jeff said turning his attention to me. I yawned and stretched. "Yeah?" He chuckled. "Yeah." I looked around. "Where's your brother?" "Oh, sully was nagging him to go on a killing spree, so he left before he got pissed." "Ok, so how far are we from your place?" He shook his head. "About 2 days." I groaned. "We have to walk two days?" "Sure do." He said handing me my venison piece. I took it and began to eat. "So when'll we start moving again?" "After we eat." I nodded as an ok, while I enjoyed my venison. After a few minutes we were both done eating. I looked at jeff and giggled. "What?" I shook my head. "You eat like a pig" I said pinching what was left of his cheeks. I hugged him "you're my piggy though." I held on to him and felt a weird sinking feeling in my core as I thought of that dream I had. He hugged me back. I sighed. "You ok?" "Yeah I'm good. You ready?" "Uh huh." We both got up and began our journey once more. We walked all night, until the crack of dawn when we crashed together. The next day was basically a repeat of the day before, except around maybe noon, we came up on a mansion. It was gorgeous. There were a few apple trees, wildflowers, and the mansion had a gate. It was a big black gate, for the black mansion. We walked up to the gate. "Jeff who the heck is this?" I saw a man with medium brown hair, goggles hatchets, and a mask say. "This is my wife y/n, Toby." The guy whose name I guess it Toby, crossed his arms. "Master is not going to like this and you know it. You can't just bring-" "i know. But I'm all she has, there's no choice but me. She's mine. And I'm sure Slender will let me keep her." Jeff said in a stern tone. Toby let out a sigh. "Fine I'll let you guys in, but don't do anything dumb." Jeff nodded "yeah, yeah yeah." Suddenly we walked into the mansion and turned into a corridor with what looked like a bajillion stairs. I looked up at jeff. "Goddammit!" I groaned. He laughed and lead me all the way to the top floor, which only had one room. Jeff took a deep breath and exhaled. He knocked on. The door."COME IN." I heard what seemed telepathic. We walked in to face a man wearing a suit, with no face and he was very tall, like SCARY tall. He had black tendrils going all behind him. He looked like he meant business. "JEFFERY, WHO IS THIS?" He said sounding a little irritated jeff looked at me. "I- I'm y/n." "WHY ARE YOU HERE?" He asked. "I'm Jeff's wife." He looked at Jeff. "WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO HAVE A WIFE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?" I could see the irritation bubbling on Jeff's face. "I love her, sir, and I'm all she has now. I killed everyone. And I thought we'd be able to live here." "YOURE POSITIVE?" "Yes." "ALL RIGHT YOU CAN KEEP HER, BUT DO NOT MAKE ME REGRET THIS, UNDERSTAND?" "Yes, sir." "I DISMISS YOU." We turned around and left the office, beginning to trudge down the stairs. I'm afraid of the dream I had, and now I live with literal serial killers. I looked up at Jeff, and felt safer. I think this'll work out.

[noyzinerd]

Im so mad about the casualty in which the last scene unfolds like what the fuck? The sheriff giving his wife’s car keys to eli and the speech? Like it’s the easiest thing in the world is absolute nonsense, the amount of implications of that scene ALONE break my heart but their relationship in the entire movie is grandson and grandpa coded as fuck

From a meta standpoint, it's absolutely wild and completely bonkers to throw that whole random scene in out of left field. Like, what are you doing, Jeff? What the fuck is this? Why is this scene here of all places? What is your game here?!

But from a shipping standpoint, ignoring literally everything else in that piece of trash, that's honestly the only saving grace that lives rent-free in my head. Like, of course the sheriff would hand down his wife's Jeep to Eli. That's his grandson (everyone shut the fuck up on this, he is, fight me). It wouldn't be any hardship at all. The ease of just handing off the Jeep and saying "Yeah, your dad probably had a thing for my son", although infuriating in this physical plane where my brain and frothing mouth exist, does create an atmosphere in my fanfic devouring maw where this is just another one of those mornings at Grandpa's, talking over breakfast about the facts of life, about how "Their comes a time in a man's life" and somehow tying it to a metaphor about fishing.

IRL, the scene screams rushed and tossed in there to plant one last Sterek flag for...reasons? But in that same breath, it's also beautiful in the life it makes you imagine these characters live. It's awful and gorgeous. It's terrible and breathtaking. It's fucking Schrodinger's Sterek heritage post.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week # 152 (Year 3/Week 48):

7 more with gorgeous Belgian actress Virginie Efira:

🍿 Continuing with the rest of Justine Triet's work, In bed with Victoria was a study for Triet's later 2 films. Like 'Sybil' and 'Anatomy of a fall' it is fascinated with the process of elaborate legal machinations, a strong women's sexuality, great kid performances, intellectual analysis and delightful sensuality.

Virginie Efira is a single mom and a powerful criminal lawyer here trying to balance her work and love life, but she is confused, and so is this movie. Still, they are both a delight to watch. 5/10.

🍿 A boilerplate, fast-paced romantic comedy of a hot "cougar" falling for a 19 year old boy, It Boy, predictable and formulaic, but she's such an eye candy, it's impossible to hate.

🍿 An Impossible Love, my second challenging film by Catherine Corsini (After 'Summertime'), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. A difficult and elusive drama about a beautiful woman who passionately falls in love with a dashing young man. But as soon she becomes pregnant with his child, he leaves her, and refuses to take responsibility for their daughter. What starts as a romantic fairy-tale, turns in the course of 30+ years, into a nightmare of cruelty, abuse and heartache. The dynamics of a horribly narcissist father and his hold of the women who wants to trust him are very hard to watch. Beautifully sad and brilliantly dark. 9/10.

On the other hand, in every one of the 8-9 movies that I've seen with her so far, she always have some 'steamy' sex scenes (but they are usually perfunctory and all are similar in style). I am absolutely not complaining, but is it part of her contract?

🍿 Just the two of us, her most recent film from 2023 is similar in parts to 'An impossible love'. This one too is about a gaslighted, terrorized wife, whose cruel, possessive husband is a disgusting, hard to watch abuser. For some reason she plays here a double role of twin sisters, and her laugh (when she does) lights up the screen. But this was an ugly and unpleasant experience.

🍿 Night Shift, my second by Anne Fontaine (After 'Adore' with Naomi Watts), It's a police procedural, a somehow-updated, French version of Hal Ashby's 'The last detail'. 3 police officers must escort an illegal immigrant from Tajikistan back to his country, knowing he will probably be killed there. I did not expect it to be so captivating. 9/10.

🍿 Paris memories, my second by French director Alice Winocour (She co-wrote the Turkish award-winner 'Mustang'). Efira plays a lovely woman traumatized from having survived a mass-shooting in a Parisian bistro. Going through similar mental agonies as Jeff Bridges did in 'Fearless', this one felt like banal film-making with no real depth. Some moments of pathos when the POV shifted to a couple of the other characters. (Photo Above)

🍿 Because I'm a completist (and sometimes a masochist), I checked out one episode (S2 E1) of Call my agent, a fast-paced French serial of the Netflix kind (i.e., slick, shallow, "funny" with constant muzak in the background). It's about a Parisian entertainment talent agency, and each episode stars a real celebrity. 2/10.

🍿

Young Picasso, a simple British documentary about the early years of the 20th Century's greatest artist. From his birth in Malaga to 1907, when he created Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, "The first modern art masterpiece". Absolutely riveting. 9/10.

🍿

2 by Alexander Payne, both starring Paul Giamatti as an unsuccessful teacher with an unfinished manuscript in his drawer:

🍿 The holdovers, Alexander Payne's 8th feature, and my favorite of all of them (Even more than 'The Descendants'). Absolute pleasure from the very first chords, like listening to Simon and Garfunkel for the first time. 10/10.

🍿 "...If anybody orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I'm not drinking any fucking Merlot!..."

Rewatch: Sideways, the film that helped cause a real growth in pinot noir sales worldwide. I forgot how wonderful it was: It really got better with age... With "Gretchen Schwartz" as Miles' Ex-wife.

[It reminded me of one of the happiest summers of my life, in 1974, when I worked the grape-picking 'vendange' season in the south of France. I started in Perpignan, and together with other free-spirited hobos, hitchhiked north every two or three weeks to a different vinery, and ended up in Champagne. We were housed in worker's quarters, worked long hours in the field, were fed fantastic rustic French food, and received (beside the meager wages) two bottles of red wine each - every day.]

🍿

'The Holdovers' was a modern adaptation of a 1935 French drama, Merlusse, directed by Marcel Pagnol. It also tells of a reclusive teacher assigned to watch over some pupils over the Christmas holidays. And he also has a glass eye, and stinks of codfish, etc. The new version was much superior.

🍿

Re-watch: Umberto Eco, A Library of the World, a wonderful documentary about the private library of the Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic (and flutist).

Roaming through the many rooms hosting his vast MIlanese library of 1,200 rare books, and 50,000+ newer ones is any bibliophile's masturbatory wet dream.

It features the same Carl Orff cover that Hans Zimmer adapted to 'True Romance' under the name 'You're so cool'. 9/10.

Now I want to watch an adaptation of Foucault's Pendulum if there ever was one. Or at least re-watch his 'The name of the rose'. I also wish there was a movie about Eco's favorite writer, Athanasius Kircher.

🍿

So instead of reading all of Borges books again, I was looking for movies based on his stories. Bertolucci's The Spider’s Stratagem, made in the same year as 'The Conformist', is the first that came to mind. An operatic web of truths and lies, symbols of murder & betrayal. "Athos Magnani arrives at the sleepy town of Tara, where years ago, his father—also named Athos Magnani—was assassinated by Fascists while attending a performance of Verdi’s opera Rigoletto." Memory, identity, stagecraft, a trip to the kingdom of the dead.

🍿

From a recent list of '30 best mobster movies', The Traitor, an epic Italian saga about Tommaso Buscetta. He was the first Sicilian Cosa Nostra boss to turn informant, and whose collaborations were used at the big anti-Mafia trials of the 80's. Not as great as 'The Godfather', but a solid entertainment piece. 7/10.

🍿

I struggled with the new disjointed psychodrama May December, my 5th film by Todd Haynes. I found it pointless, confusing and lacking emotional focus. Not close to the pathos of his two earlier masterpieces, ‘Carol’ and ‘Far from heaven’. Natalie Portman was an unreliable narrator, and Julianne Moore‘s family was unconvincingly flat. It felt unnecessary. 3/10.

🍿

The platform is a cruel Spanish horror / science-fiction story, with an unusual hook: Prisoners are held in a 300-floor vertical tower, two to a cell. Once a day they receive food lowered on a platform to their level, and they have only two minutes to eat as much as they can, but the lower you're in the system, the less you're left with. This is not something I usually enjoy, and indeed I despised this unpleasant, disgusting parable of inequality.

🍿

First watch: I kept reading that the sequel Hot Shots! Part Deux was better than the original, but really not by much. A few funny jokes in otherwise lame and lazy spoof. 3/10.

🍿

4 more documentaries:

🍿 Innocence, a painful Israeli documentary by Guy Davidi about Israel's compulsory military industrial-cultural complex. How it indoctrinates, brainwashes and overwhelms (nearly) all its children to become cogs in the war and oppression machine. Told from the prospective of some soldiers who had committed suicide while serving in the army, it's a depressing, evil and unjust story. But it is told in an irritating 'poetic' voice-overs, and I hated everything about it. 3/10.

🍿 Memories from Palestine, a Danish documentary about a tiny museum in the refugee camp of Shatila, Lebanon. It’s a rather small, decrepit room, where the elderly caretaker Mohammeds had been collecting some old keepsakes from 3 generations ago.

🍿 Coded, a lousy documentary about gay illustrator J. C. Leyendecker. The famous commercial artist cloaked his sexuality while producing popular magazine covers for 50 years. 1/10.

🍿 Bob and Don: A Love Story, a light 20-minute documentary by Judd Apatow, about the friendship between the two comedians. Not much meat on it, but OK.

🍿

Summer in Tyrol, a 2010 Danish short about an old couple who argue with each other, even as the old lady dies in a hospital room.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[5ammi90]

911 lone star

Season 4 episode 12

Huh. Didn’t think Carlos would be the one to not want kids. True, they never actually talked about it.

This is some beautiful karma. Suck it Gerald’s. That was brilliant.

Don’t try to hide stuff from Paul. That never works out well. Paul is absolutely right and you should stop following your ex.

My girl is getting dating advice from Carlos. Marj no, bad idea. I love Carlos but no. She asked for chaperones and she got TK and Carlos for one date. Oh dang. Owen for the king of god. It’s Jeff not Jake. TK and Carlos are like we win at match making. I like the paper flower dude and I kinda like the dog dude. Paper flower dude just noped out cause Marj said she isn’t into the whole Harry Potter thing. Same because it seemed to be going well. Mateo got on with the date better than Marj did.

Mateo is getting a second date before Marj. Lol. Also Paul is ordained, yeah Paul marry our boys.

Ok dog guy is married and his wife is seven months old. He’s apparently being cheating on her a lot and Marj was gonna be added to the list. The wife and Marj are pissed but Owen is just disappointed. Also think he’s eating his feeling, in the form of fried chicken buckets. Now TK has joined in on the eating his feelings. Poor boy. Tell him off Andrea. Shit. Andrea is laughing at her sons excuses. Carlos you are hopeless.

Marj please date the hot pt instructor.

Carlos the fuck. You got him a bearded dragon. Shit it must be love. He’s gorgeous. Lou 2 really. Wait no it’s the perfect name dude has already escaped and disappeared. ‘ I’m never sleeping again’ poor Carlos.

[septembersghost]

etonline. com/jeff-goldblum-gushes-over-taylor-swift-and-reacts-to-a-possible-musical-collab-exclusive-209667

"I've never been to the SoFi Stadium, so you walk in there and there's 70,000 people, they're all going nuts," Goldblum recalled with a smile. "We were exchanging friendship bracelets with everybody!"

"It's so joyful to see her because she always has been herself and now I feel like she's being celebrated for being herself and she really can bask in that light when she's there in the concert," Livingston shared.

yes!!! my friend and i were talking earlier about how one of the gorgeous things about taylor is her earnestness, she is wholly herself, she wears that heart on her sleeve, she tries and tells us that she does, she knows beauty is sincerity. it was something that used to be met with derision for some reason, seeing it embraced and celebrated and shared instead is cathartic.

"Some very interesting and important singers and artists have sung with us, but, boy, she's, well, Taylor Swift, you know? Hello!" Goldblum said, with a laugh. "[Taylor], if you want to sing with us you can check us out we're called The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, and we've got our fourth album coming out... and yes, we have special people sing with us, you know, so if you're interested in singing a jazz song or anything, that would be really fun!" stopppp taylor experimenting a little bit with jazz someday is a personal dream, i would love to see it.

[shortviolet]

so i haven’t seen anyone do it yet, but i’ve screenshotted some frames from this video that intrigued me a lot. spoilers ahead i guess ? 

first, these two shots of young misty in clear distress. first one she’s seemingly discovered something horrifying. My guess is that one shot of somebody who seems to have fallen in a frozen lake (if you saw my earlier post about the s2 trailer, my guess is it’s Nat). in the second one she has blood on her hands and looks shocked and traumatized, which is um... surprising for misty lol. 

shauna screaming while tai is looking at her with obvious concern. beginning of one of the most traumatic birth scenes ever represented on television ? place your bets !!!! 

now here comes taissa. my sweet sweet, fucked up taissa. she’s gonna go through the wringer this season and it seems miss Lady In The Tree is gonna start manifesting while she’s awake. cannot wait 

jeff in distress too. the biggest twist last season was him actually loving his wife, how are they gonna make our favorite fail husband suffer this time ? 

i have nothing to speculate about this shot, just have adult lottie looking gorgeous. as a treat for the lesbians and the bisexies out there. 

now THIS shit. is it shauna punching lottie ? either way it’s gonna get wwe out here and i will be seated 

some bitch pointing a gun at jeff. whose bitch hand is that ? anyway shauna is me taking all these screenshots and badly analyzing them rn 

THIS ONE. THIS IS THE ONE THAT MADE ME WANNA MAKE THIS POST. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SIMONE ? WHO HURT HER ? WHERE’S MY HUNTING KNIFE. 

we already saw a shot of this in the trailer, at a different angle. seems to be shauna and tai ? wolf and butcher girlies where ya at. more seriously tho i think it’s the very beginning of the birth scene, and from what i’ve gathered i think shauna starts giving birth while they’re both stranded in the cold, but they get back to the cabin just in time. (insert bfu “i’ve connected the dots” meme) 

traumatic birth !!! traumatic birth !!!!! anyway im sorry but this angle is so funny to me why is tai’s head like that. also misty and nat staring directly into shauna’s vag im sorry it’s hilarious. this show is a comedy 

travis. travis why are you doing that. travis stop it. did misty drug you again. travis please-

[bike42]

Saturday January 4, 2025

Our alarm went off at 3am, painful, but we’d probably been sleeping since 9pm last night. We showered and were down in the lobby for the first hotel shuttle to the airport at 4:15am. We checked in with Avianca Airline with no problem, then stood in the always long immigration and security lines. In my carry on, I have two Costco (large) bottles of Calcium supplements that got extra attention (but we’re ok through TSA in Madison). Jeff had the rest of the vitamins / supplements that we’re bringing for the Mission Guatemala medical clinic in his checked bag, probably a better option.

We bought an OJ and croissant sandwich to split, then it was time to board the flight. We squeezed ourselves into the seats; we’ve been spoiled flying Delta’s front of the plane so this was an eye opener! I’d downloaded White Lotus on my iPad, so we watched the first two episodes of that which made the time fly by (and also let us skip all the preflight announcements!). We finished the second episode just as we were on our approach to Guatemala City. We got an appreciation for the hills and forests, and why it’ll take us three hours to travel the 60 miles to Panajechel once we meet up with the rest of our mission group today.

We arrived at GUA, cleared immigration and customs and claimed our bags with no issue and by 8am we were outside the airport. I was surprised to see it’s quite a small airport, so it’ll be no issue to find our group (arriving about 1pm on a United flight). We settled in to read, play backgammon, and people watch!

There were many vendors selling flowers and balloons to families that were there to greet travelers (large families!). We went to the second floor to try to check out the arrivals area, but you could only get in if you were had a ticket. Consequently, the area was packed as it seemed that those large families also travel to the airport to see their loved ones off! I’m not sure why I was surprised by this, but just like in the states, nearly every person had a smart phone pulling at their attention. There were many women dressed in traditional Mayan skirts - a few younger women and girls too, but all older women for sure. Gorgeous colors! For most of the morning, we were the only white people around, which was good for us to experience. I went to the cafe twice to buy hot chocolate, water and sandwiches and did okay with ordering and paying. But even though we’re so close to Costa Rica, that is definitely a country set up for tourists, and what we’ve seen so far in Guatemala, it is NOT. But again, what a cool opportunity for us to immerse in the culture and figure things out!

There was an arrival schedule in the lobby, but it was hard to read so I checked out the United flight schedule online. They had a delay leaving Chicago, so by the time they came out of the terminal it was about 2pm.

We met Daniel, who will shepherd our group all week, then 8 of us piled into one van and met our driver, Luis.

In our van:

Phil (our leader who has been here many times, his wife, Michelle, and daughter Olivia

Brian

Julie (mom) and Nate (son, engineering student at U of M).

I’ll have to introduce the other van people to you tomorrow!

Interesting drive thru Guatemala City, where 4 million people live and many others came to town today to go to the airport! They said it sometimes can take up to three hours just to drive out of town! We drove the back streets to try to be faster. While we’d seen a lot of different vehicle configurations during our wait at the airport, seeing them on the streets was another story! Motorcycles with multiple passengers (including babies), weaving through traffic and “chicken buses” which are old school buses retro fit with truck front (and diesel engines) and tricked out with lights and speakers. Whenever traffic was stopped, there would be vendors selling snacks like nuts, dried plantains, water and fruit.

It ended up being a 4-hour drive to the River House, we arrived after dark but had some gorgeous views along the way. We also climbed some mountains because we’re at over 5000 ft in elevation here! We were greeted by Dave & Abby, along with their 18 month old, Ty and a couple of dogs. We got our room assignments, dumped our stuff and headed to the kitchen house for a taco salad dinner - yummy. Everyone is pretty exhausted and scattered back to their rooms to get settled. I’ll try to describe the property a bit more tomorrow!