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sagemoderocklee · 2 years

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...and that's another year of writing done!

Happy New Year's, everyone! Can't believe we've gone through yet another year of a pandemic (despite what government's around the world tell us about it being over).

This year was a strange one. The later half of the year feels like such a haze for me, days bleeding together, much like they did in 2020. Why? Because, after two years of being as safe as possible, I caught Covid. And not only did I catch Covid in early May, I was one of the lucky ones to get Long Haul Covid, and with that I have spent the last half of 2022 on a medical leave.

It's been a difficult year for me. There are very few things about 2022 that went according to plan--between catching Covid and simply not having the money, my plans to move to Ireland at the end of this summer didn't happen, and while the plan is to postpone my move, to when is still to be decided. I have also let my sewing and portfolio building fall to the wayside, largely--again--because of my health.

However, there are some things to be happy about and this post is my chance to look back and celebrate my writing victories.

sagemoderocklee's 2022 Fic Wrap

Absolution: Part IV (WiP)

While the goal had been to end the year with another update, tragically it was not in the cards. My health being what it is and my focus being on completing other projects, and Absolution being the huge piece it is, I felt it made more sense not to try pushing out Part V. However, I am very happy I was able to start the year with an Absolution update as this fic is very much one of my faves. The fourth part of this fic was a bit of a challenge to write, especially in the middle, but I finally hit on the beats I really needed. A big complication with Absolution was that the remaining 6 chapters, which I had fully planned and plotted, needed tweaking... which is to say Absolution needed to be longer. So I had to move all the plotting I had from Part IV on and rebuild and entirely rewrite each chapter/scene-by-scene breakdown. I'm pretty solid at the moment with Parts V through VIII in terms of plotting, and now I think I can safely say this fic will be a total of 13 chapters (the last one being an epilogue), but that could change since I still have to finish all the restructuring. I know all the key beats and the end goal, but sorting out the getting from one point to the next is really the big issue. However, all that being said, I do want to start the new year with Absolution, so that will be my top priority for January!

Pomegranate Sun: Ch1 (WiP) Co-authoring with @ghoste-catte

The first chapter of this fic I started writing a couple years ago, sometime after I got the prologue from @ghoste-catte. And then, of course, I stopped and didn't touch it again for... ages. But with the Naruto-Run last December and @ghoste-catte wanting to have a special fic for the big milestone of 100 GaaLee fics, it was time to work on this baby again. It is absolutely no surprise that when I get to worldbuild I'm in my comfort zone, so even though it took a while, once I got into working on this (while sick with covid, no less) I was happy. And this is going to be such a fresh piece of worldbuilding since we're bringing in OCs from the far west of Wind Country!

Plus One (COMPLETE)

So, I signed up for a bingo challenge and ended up writing a slightly spicy one-shot. Certainly not the spiciest thing in the world, but I very much enjoy writing flirty!Gaara. I have a LOT of feelings about the way fandom and even the canon blank period treats him surrounding sex/sexuality, and it's really informed a lot of how I view and approach Gaara as a gay male character. This wasn't like a huge piece (though I have an even sexier sequel planned), but it was so much fun.

It Eats Your Heart: Ch2 (WiP)

Chapter 2 of IEYH took me about a year to write. I was struggling. It gave me writer's block. It made me wanna throw my computer. My roommate helped me workshop it a bit. And it still took me forever to finish it. Then finally--FINALLY--I hit on what was missing. This chapter was a fucking bitch, but gotdamn was it worth it. I'm so happy with how this turned out and I'm so looking forward to finishing this fic in the new year.

Pearl-Filled Lungs: II, III, IV, Epilogue (COMPLETE)

My beloved enemy. This fic sat for three years, untouched and miserable. I'd started chapter two... last year? The year before? I don't remember, and it languished. I think it was just the first scene--maybe just part of the first scene. But god it was a struggle. I signed up for the WiP BB last year, but dropped. Signed up again this year and... committed. Largely because of the artist who, though unable to complete art for this fic, was such a huge inspiration. The WIPs they sent me... I wish I could share them because they were stunning. When they were unable to continue, I really thought I'd give up, but once again @ghoste-catte inspired me to continue, thanks to their generous offer to make banners for my fic--and the banners are truly such a work of art! And someone... I got through this fic. I think my original vision comes through, despite how much I bitched and moaned during the process. I wanted to write a fairy tale, and I did. And honestly, I am happy with P-FL. It's not my most popular fic, by any means, but it will always hold a special place in my heart.

My Home is Your Home: Ch1 (WiP)

And here we have a fic that was meant to be a one-shot. I was gonna try and get this done in under 10.5k for an event challenge, but then I talked with my roommate and... they looked at me like 'bitch who the fuck do you think you are' and you know what, they were right. I was foolin myself. This fic wasn't a one-shot. I'd come up with an idea for something much bigger than a one-shot, and I'm glad I listened to them. So instead of an event challenge, I reworked everything and turned this into a fic for the @puregaalee Horror Fest, and I am sooooo excited that I did. Paranormal Romance isn't a genre I've dabbled in, and I'm stoked to try weaving the horror genre with RomCom elements. This fic not only ended up being a much bigger piece than I'd intended, but it also has a planned sequel! Because I wouldn't be me if I didn't add more WiPs to my docket than I subtract.

Blood on the Branches: Ch1 (WiP)

Talk about a fic that was pulled out of my ass at THEE last minute. For Horror Fest, I was struggling to come up with an idea. I knew what prompts I was vibin with, but damn I couldn't think of a single thing. And then one night, laying in bed I came up with an idea.... An entirely different idea from this because with only days left to finish, I scrapped everything I had (and by scrapped, I mean moved to a different document) and came up with something completely new! And so instead of straight horror, I leaned into what I'm good at and now I have a horror/adventure story! While the original concept for this fic is good, I am way more excited about this! Once again, taking my worldbuilding to new heights as we leave Suna and head to the south of Wind! I don't know exactly when I'll be able to get the next chapter out, and I really need to sit down and plot this in full, but I am so excited to write this story!

The Corn Maze House (COMPLETE)

Well, it was a bit of a slog towards the mid-point, but I got through it. I honestly worried I wouldn't, but in the end I'm really glad I didn't give up or give in to feeling negatively about the writing process for this piece. I'm not fully happy with it, but I am happy it's done. The premise for this fic, in my entirely unbiased opinion, is very good, even if I'm still not sure of the execution. I may end up going back over this fic in the future, but regardless I'm happy to have a completed horror fic under my belt, and also to not be adding another WiP to my roster. Definitely very light on the GaaLee, despite being an established relationship, but that was kind of how it had to be, so I'm sure this won't be like a crazy popular fic, necessarily. But I still think this was good practice with the horror genre.

Return to Sender: Ch1-11 (COMPLETE)

Talk about a fic I never expected. RtS was meant to be a simple, cute lil RomCom. A dash of miscommunication, a whole lot of comedy of errors, and just a smidge of drama... The ask prompt that started this definitely did not make any indication that I needed to write a 90k+ drama about homophobia in the shinobi world or about the mistakes you make when you're terrified of losing someone important to you. But I simply am the person I am, and I am the writer I am. This was the direction that felt right, and honestly, I'm so glad because I am so happy with how this story turned out and the reception this fic has received is truly astronomical. I dove into it following completing chapter 1 of PomSun and in between working on P-FL because P-FL was the struggle it was. RtS gave me a much needed break and the first three and a half chapters were such a breath of fresh air. When I say those first three chapters were a breeze to write, I mean I think it took me less than a week to write them. This was (sort of) the first time in over a decade I've had a fully completed multi-chapter fic that I can post on a schedule, and GOD it felt so good to just post chapters weekly. RtS Sundays were the highlight of my week, and even though towards the end there were a lot of complications, it was truly such a joy and has made me want to work harder to get fics done before posting. Also! Not only did I have a ball writing this fic, but I also had a lot of fun making the images that I included in it and the soundtrack to go with it. While some of the images are... less exciting than others, this fic just felt like the perfect opportunity to do some mixed media stuff, and I do really enjoy making soundtracks for fics. I have to say, though I love so many of my fics, RtS will now have a very special place in my heart. The reception, surpassing 1million with it, and just the way it all fell into place... I am truly so filled with joy by how this fic went.

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Total WiPs at the start of 2022: 16 Total completed works: 4 Total new works: 5 Total updates: 21 Total new words: 186,296 Total words (Ao3): 1,011,369 (-2,521 PomSun = 1,008,848) Total WiPs at the end of 2022: 17

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2022 Resolutions

The difference between this year's writing and last year's is kinda wild ngl. All that time on medical leave and not sewing really gave me a lot of time to write, (though I do wish I'd been healthy enough to sew more). Looking back at my writing resolutions from the start of the year to now, I can definitely say I'm proud of what I've accomplished, even if it seems like I didn't reach that many resolutions. The two biggest resolutions (1million words and finishing P-FL) were reached, and honestly hitting those two goals was the greatest accomplishment of the year.

So, while most of what I'd had planned for this year was updating fics from last year's Naruto-Run to 1K which didn't happen, I still think this year was a success!

Reach 1million words--168,358 words to go!✅So, the math I did at the end of last year for how many words I needed was actually wrong. I needed closer to 178k, but despite this minor math mishap, I not only reached 1 million words, I surpassed it! I have been trying to hit this overall word count for the past three or so years, and I am utterly shocked, amazed, and proud of myself for making it happen this year! Admittedly, I think this goal was reached because I ended up getting long covid and have spent June through the end of the year out of work and home. Still, this is by no means a small feat, especially given the number of words I needed to reach this year while also being disabled by covid. Long haul is no joke and the brain fog--ohhhh lemme tell you! that shit got me so fucked up, so managing to power through and find joy in writing in spite of that struggle was really important. Writing was one of the few real joys I had in my days these past months, and I could not be more thrilled to finally say I've surpassed 1 million words. Truly, I owe most of that to RtS, the most unexpected fic of 2022.

Write the sequel to Flyweight Love❌Not Reached. Part of me was sure I'd get this done at the end of the year, following Horror Fest, but RtS became priority #1 instead, so HB3 will be on the docket for next year!

Finish IEYH❌Not Reached. While I didn't reach this goal, I did manage to update this fic, finally. Chapter two was a difficult journey and actually caused a lot of writer's block for me between the end of last year-early this year, so while I didn't finish this fic I did still make progress and for that I am very happy. My hope is to accomplish this goal in the new year now!

Finish Pearl-Filled Lungs✅REACHED! This is a pretty big one because it's been hanging over me for... long time. Three years, in fact. But I signed up for the WiP Big Bang and managed to actually get all four chapters written, edited, and published! It always feels like such a relief to be able to cross something completely off my list, but especially something that's been weighing on me the way P-FL was. In many ways, I wasn't happy with the journey, but I am happy with the end of it. I think P-FL is a lot better than I give it credit for, so I am really proud of it and proud that I got this finished.

Finish The Passing of Things❌Not Reached. I was actually really hoping to get this done, so I'm going to make this a goal for next year!

Update Absolution (Ch 4-6)✅❌❌Partially fulfilled. While I did not get three updates in for Absolution, I still got one so that's a partial win for me!

Update TAoL (Ch12)❌Not Reached. Sadly, this update was not in the cards for me this year, which is truly a tragedy for me because it's been two years since the last time I updated. But unfortunately, this next chapter has a lot of issues that need fixing, so getting through has not been easy. However, it is a top priority in the new year!

Update TBotDatP aka the Ballad❌Not Reached. Another fic I was hoping to update, but alas, not this year. But the first chapter is very much underway, so with any luck, I'll be getting a Ballad update out in short order!

Update WNNBYT aka the Hanahaki fic❌Not Reached. While this is a fic I'm excited to work on, it has lost priority in favor of other fics. Maybe next year, but I don't want to make it a resolution since I have fics I'd rather focus on over this.

Update Pomegranate Sun (Ch1)✅ Reached! Amazingly, I was able to get chapter one of this fic out, though it did take a while. However, I'm very proud of how that first chapter turned out and excited to continue this fic with @ghoste-catte in the new year!

Update 13S❌Not Reached. I did get a good chunk of the next update for this worked on, but tragically the amount of worldbuilding needed for this chapter put a wrench in my plans to move forward. However, the worldbuilding has been done in large part, so I am looking forward to getting this fic updated next year!

Edit Alliance❌Not reached. In general, Allied Nations has not been on my mind or at the top of my list. I think, more than likely it won't be until I get TAoL finished, as that's a similarly huge project, even as a stand alone story.

Update Honor Bound❌Not reached. Similar to the above. And while I do have the first three chapters written, I don't want to dive into posting any more chapters of this fic until I've edited Alliance and made the changes to it I know are needed.

Resolutions Reached✅: 3.5 Resolutions Not Reached❌: 9.5

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2023 Resolutions

With 2022 at an end and a lot more writing done than I expected, I'm hoping to carry that energy into 2023, regardless of other things. I do hope to move to Ireland and get back into sewing regularly, but as my health has changed much of my life, I'm also anticipating more time at home as I shift into working from home. So with that, I hope I also find more time and energy to focus on writing.

This is a lot, and I do not expect to get all of this done, but the goal is to get as much of it done as I can. I have a lot of motivation, so here's to a successful writing year in 2023!

Complete IEYH

Complete Absolution

Complete MHiYH

Complete TPoT

Update 13S (3-6)

Update TAoL (12-15)

Update PomSun (Ch3)

Update TBotDatP aka The Ballad (Ch-4)

Update TEA (Ch1)

Update TCoS (Ch1)

Update BotB (Ch2)

Publish the sequel to Flyweight Love, HB3

Publish The Beautiful Beast of Cāngdì (Ch1)

Publish A Cat's Guide to Finding Love

Complete at least three more MFBingo squares

#fic wrap #end of year writing summary #my fanfiction #gaalee

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deartreadmill · 2 years

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sick.

I have a terrible cold. Not COVID, but a cold. I’ve been sleeping on the couch for 4 nights now because I need to sleep in an upright-ish position or I cough all night long. I can’t taste anything, which made me retest for COVID (still not COVID). I also can’t smell. Which has been a godsend, both yesterday when the manthing cooked a fish the Bubs caught this summer and according to the Girl stunk up the house (I couldn’t tell) and then tonight, when we had mysteriously free in our grocery order deli beef in beef dip sandwiches for dinner (turned out to he corned beef. grosso) I have a lingering remnant of clove in my mouth from the corned beef. I wish I could taste something else.

I’ve blown my nose so much over the last 4 days that I’ve used 1.5 rolls of ‘double length’ toilet paper and now have whiteheads cropping up all around my nose and lip.

Sick is so glamorous.

Oh, and my period started. So that’s fun. Every fucking time I cough it’s like...

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brigittas-writing-nook · 19 days

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Brie's Update: Reflections in the time of Covid

I know, it has been a while since I've given you a Brie's update. I thought I posted an one in August. Apparently not. At any rate, let's dive in.

Covid finally caught me

It took four and a half years, but Covid finally caught up to me. I'm not thrilled about this, in case you're wondering. Not only does it make breathing difficult, it has put a very not-needed stopper into my schedule. I don't know which is worse, the stuffed up nose, the angry lungs, or the nasty metallic aftertaste the medicine (which I'm thankful exists) leaves in your mouth! Covid is no fun, and I don't recommend it. What I do recommend is this: get vaccinated if you haven't! If you have, make sure you stay up on your boosters. Please. I want to see your lovely faces sticking around for a while, because...

A new idea has formed

I've been thinking about creating a poetry chapbook for a while now. Trouble is, I've been struggling with what to put in it. Did I want it to have a theme? Did I want to focus on a specific subject or two? I wasn't sure, and I was trying to figure it out all summer, but then...

A year has passed

For those who don't know, my mother, Marlene Davis, died August 30, 2023. It was one of the hardest days of my life, and the decision to take her off life support was both painful and merciful. I hated that my sister and I had to do it, but I wouldn't have made any other choice. Mom is at peace (and happily sitting on my bookshelf, since I got custody of the urn), and that is what matters. I learned some things from that. Having the awkward and uncomfortable conversations beforehand surrounding living wills, wills, and funeral arrangements cuts down on so much uncertainty and confusion in a time of profound grief. Mom's end-of-life preferences made our decision easier to make. In the end, the right thing to do was respect her wishes. Having a will is crucial to making your beneficiaries' lives easier in this process. Mom didn't have one, but, thanks to living in an apartment, she didn't have a large estate, so it was significantly less of a hassle. Having funeral arrangements done (and paid for) ahead of time would have made our lives easier. By needing to save money, though, we did have to not honor one wish: we ended up not interring her ashes in a cemetery plot (I'm happier about this, because I kind of like having Mom hanging out on a shelf).

More than a day

When mourning someone as close to me as Mom was, I realized, during August, that mourning this anniversary involved more than the day she died. Mom had a rough go for about two and a half months. She had three surgeries, two strokes, and a bout of pneumonia during that time. Her poor body just couldn't keep up. And my sister, my mother's best friend, and I spent practically every day with her when she was in the hospital. It was a painful time, and it lasted for more than one day. It's a time period I've had to mourn, as well.

Reflections on death

I have done a lot of reflecting on death in the past month. Not just on Mom's passing, but on the concept itself, particularly the anthropomorphic ideal of death. And this reflection has created quite a bit of poetry Yes, you guessed it. I figured out what subjects I want to cover in the chapbook. And, yes, I realize how morbid that sounds, but the mind processes how the mind processes. And, apparently, mine has been doing so through poetry. So look forward to a new chapbook from me soon. I would love to publish it on her birthday, November 14, but that might be a lofty goal. Maybe in time for her favorite holiday? That gives me another four weeks. Here is one of the poems I wrote during this time of reflection. Nearly a Year It has been nearly a year Since your new journey began In a place I couldn’t go to – That beautiful, distant land. The world is a little empty Since you went away. And life has taken weird turns – I wonder what you’d say. Would you tell me I was crazy To take such an uncertain path? Or would you tell me how proud you are To see me make dreams come to pass? Sometimes a year passes quickly, But this year has dragged on. And I desperately miss you Now that you are gone. I hope you realize, Wherever you have flown – You were the first person I met, And the greatest I’ve ever known. Copyright 2024 Brigitta Shannon Rose if you want to support me, visit my Patreon or Buy me a Coffee. I like coffee; it keeps me going. Patreon That's all for now. Stay fabulous, y'all! Read the full article

#chapbook #covid #death #livingwill #mom #mother #poetry #sister #will #writing

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imonlyusingthisforrp · 1 year

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I don't talk much about real life around here. So I'll start with talking a bit about Kiddo. Kiddo is almost 12, going on 30 I swear. He's wicked smart, funny as hell, and calls me "Mom" and "Aunt Kelly" by turns. I knew Kiddo's Bio-Mom from work (and when Bio-Mom was pregnant, so I've literally known Kiddo from before birth), and we became tentative friends over our retail hell. Eventually (like almost two years in), Bio-Mom invited Spouse and me to LARP, and hearing that we didn't ever go anywhere or do anything, invited us over to their parents' house. We went over, and there sat this tiny, beautiful child who was 18 months old, and who knew NO fear of strangers, as long as they were brought in by Bio-Parents. Within a few times of meeting them, I was getting hugs and cheek kisses and learning how to translate tiny human words. I was WILD for this kid. Spouse felt the same. We flat out adored him.

Within a few months, Bio-Mom's parents had moved across the country, left the house to the fam, and we had moved in to help with bills and all. Kiddo spent a LOT of time with us, because we were the fun Aunties. Our door was always open (within reason), and he knew he could come in and we would love on him and snuggle him and make him watch TV with us (I was early in my Doctor Who era, and there's a post on FB about him and I going back and forth about "My Tardis!" "NO, MY TARDIS!")

Life is funny. Ours might have stayed that way forever. Auntie Kelly and Auntie Sheep (Spouse would go "BAAAAA" like a sheep and then play a Zombie for kiddo, and literally, kiddo would yell "SHEEP!" and "ZOMBIE" just to see how fast Spouse could switch. It was adorable), living in the basement, with the door open and lots of hugs.

But then Kiddo was five, with infant twin brothers, and Bio-Mom kicked Bio-Dad out. In hindsight, a great plan (he is diagnosed as a sociopath, and has severe narcissistic personality stuff going on). At the time, we panicked, because he was going to take the kids, and all we cared about was keeping the kids safe. So we left with him. And then he got the kids, and we moved into a townhouse, and we took care of Kiddo even more. The four hour hair-brushing incident was when we realized HOW bad it really was. We gave him baths, we fed him, we took care of him, and it all came to a head when I told Kiddo's Bio-Dad to get his shit together (meaning 'oh my god, you asshole, take care of your children', but he took it as 'get your shit together and go'). He moved out within a week, and Kiddo's Bio-Mom took custody of Kiddo and the Twins.

It was around a year later that Bio-Mom decided to move where their parents lived. Spouse and I cried so much when they left that both of us almost got sick. We figured we'd see them rarely, if ever. Travel is expensive, after all.

Summer of 2021, we had Kiddo with us for 4 weeks to give Bio-Family a break. It was awesome. We had fun, we laughed and talked and cuddled and at the end of the visit, we cried as he walked to the plane. But when he got home, things were tense (not because of the trip. The tension had been bad anyway, but the break from each other seems to have made things worse). This is the part I'm not going to go into more than this. Just, it wasn't great for anyone involved, and we offered our home for Kiddo to come to. Like, to his Bio-Mom, not just telling him "oh, come stay with us".

We got him here on January 9, 2022. Within a few months, he started using his new name and pronouns, and while it was a pretty constant struggle for all of us to deal with things, he was doing SO well.

Last summer, he and I went to visit the Bio-Family. It was fun, because I don't get to travel much, but we ALL caught Covid, got the version that makes everyone puke, and I wound up with laryngitis for 4 days in the middle of it. There were also a LOT of fights. A lot lot. When we left, we all agreed we needed more time before the next visit. At least a year (and now we're not sure when, if ever, it will happen again. Things with Bio-Family has not gone great in the not-so-distant past)

The year between then and now has been... outstanding. Kiddo is growing by leaps and bounds. We still argue sometimes (he and I drive each other nuts because I'm with him CONSTANTLY, while Spouse has a life outside of the house and works and has local-ish relationships), but we're all getting better and realizing why it's happening and turning things around. Kiddo has less negative self-talk (A HUGE step). He passed 5th grade and moved up to Middle School! He's learning to be vulnerable and ask for help. He's learning to trust (though sometimes he falls back into his past way of handling things, and it frustrates me to no end), and knows he can talk to us about everything.

We're not a traditional family, obviously. Kiddo has two Aunts/Moms at home, a "Canadian Mom", a Father, lots of Uncles, a Mam who adores him (my mom), an Uncle (my brother) who drives him nuts (My brother is old, and very set in his ways. He refuses to use Kiddo's pronouns and chosen name. it has caused ISSUES.), a Bio-Family (Including twin brothers, of course) that gets lots of updates and pictures, and a Grandpa who has never met him but loves him in his quiet way (Spouse's Dad).

I wish I could have made Kiddo's life better earlier, but I'm SO glad we have the ability to do it now. I'm so glad that he's my sweet kid, who drives me nuts but who I love so much I'd happily hurt anyone who tried to hurt him. We're a weird bunch, but we love each other just as hard as we fight.

I'm the luckiest Mom.

#real life #kiddo #aunties or moms?#why not both?#I'm the luckiest #Mom things

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rawrmeansilyindinosawr · 2 years

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MICKEY MOUSEY clubHAUSE!!!

I KEEP HEARIN MUNCHIN N MUNCHIN N LIL PAW PAWS RUNNIN AROUND IN MI ROOM N IN THA LIVING ROOM WHEN NO ONE IS DOIN ANYTHUNG N ITZ SCARIIIIIIIII. IDK WHERE DA FUG WE LEF THA RAT TRAP LAST TIME WE CAUGHT A LIL MICKEY MOUSEY MITSKY POOP BUTT I KANNOT MF SLEEP IN PEACE KNOWIN THEY HERE. I AM SO [RATIONALLY] SCARED IMA WAKE UP N ONE IS GONNA B IN MY MOUTFH. TELL MEH IF IM BEING RAT-IONALL. ALSO THE CRICKETS FUK RLY RLY LOUD AT NITE N IM SCARED OF THE BIRDS I KANT SEE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW THT SOUND LIKE THEY R SCREAMING OL YELLAAAAAHH. I KANT HEAR PHEOBE BRIDGERZ OVER THEM.

Finally went to the bins in LIC. thought id hav to fight ppl there cuz TIff told me sOme bitch pulled some shoes out of their hand they found first but it wuz quite EMPTY when i got there!!!!!!!!!! i found a Rly kute brand new ralph lauren polo tank and GW leather red n black high heel boots. ALL for like 2 buckz!!!!! idk why i thought id b successful in finding anna bolina [my iphone autocorrected anna bolina to anna bologna n i thot tht wuz kinda funnie] tanks or zip dressez there but whatevzz, walking around for an hour and a half in circlez around tha bins were rly theraputic . the7 train so wobbly n packed n sociologically fascinating. ppl r counting their hundreds openly , couples r so intertwined , holding each other still while the subway carts shake our bones ... i wasnt even wearing platformz but i felt so fragile even whilst being held together by tha rat race rat packed lil LIC 7 Train. LIC so quiet i wonder if and when i get a slower pace of life ill maybe settle here cuz it's so neighborhoody n it's a still an easy ferry ride to the city . i wuld luv to live alone again n feel the ability to host more ppl comfortably / hav my own independent space for my own artistic pursuits as a multidisciplinary artist .......

ST EAZY n ZILLOW

PLZ B KIND 2 MEH.

ihope i kan get on sum pandemic monkey pox rent stabilized deal LMAO. mi rent in bev hills for my own place wuz like 1300 but studios in NYC are like 1700 . like wtf lolzz. Mind u i was paying like 100 every 6 months for a fuckin parking pass just to park my car in my area n also like 100 in utilities on top of tht a month but tht was do-able w/ my income n i kant imagine having to make like 40x the rent amount now in NYC n with my Average credit score now i just don kno .

BUTTTTT. igot a nannying job in UES n also passed tha first round of interviewzz with The Children's Institute of Fashion Arts to b a sewing instructor / fashion design teacher ;] EXCITED. i hav no teaching credentialzz but i was a tutor thruout high school n was a socialworker for kiddozz during covid n had to meet their teachers / drive them to skool to get their laptopz ….. during my junior yr in college i had my sociology internship where i taught art to unhoused children for the summer. i think tht makes me more than qualified TBH butttttt.

Ur laughing w a stranger outside of substance abuse skate park at an after after party talkin ab naming our children after diff types of cheeze, like Baby feta andbaby swiss and baby parm n baby colby Jac . Whenever i decide to hav children i will name them meunster. Or swizz.

LADYGUNN wuz fun w many cute musicians, stylists, designers, photographerzz modelzz n HOTTIES . giving advice ab seeking/sugar bby lyfe n getting advice on how to succeed in tha fashion world blah blah... mucho tired pullin up tho cuz NYFW castingzz have been extremely exhausting but i made it past tha 2nd round for danielsleatherzz n got scouted by MAMA KITTYYY who shuld hit me up for a show as well... TRYNA STAY BOOKED AF.

i luv being able to complain ab the stupid modeling industry with other cute models but also laugh about how fun it is at tha same time n be encouraging n hype each other up when we all do our lil runway walk IT SO KUTE n supportive n MODELING IS SO MUCH FUCKING MORE THAN MODELING. its art, community, FASHION which is SOFT POWER... A LIL EXCERPT I WROTE AB IT 4 SKOOL RECENTLYY.

"fashion is soft power, a form of communication . During the french revolution people wore the jewelry of the high priestesses n priests while redistributing wealth. with wealth comes influence , with wealth comes power. fashion attests to that. '

and the redistribution of wealth is something i always found endearing in my religious studies and 'wrestle' with God per say, i enjoyed the reading of the laws. and That every 7 years there would be a sabbath / rest period for labor. and every 50 years [ year of jubilee ] they would rotate class statuses. jesus also taught to create safety nets for the poor, fashion encompasses society n its growths and highs n lows. jesus emphasized nurturing all class statues thru clothing them, feeding them, housing them.

CHARLIXCX JUSTDISCOVERED CROCS 2 DAYS AGO [09/05/22] AND I YAM WAITING 4 THEM TO DROP A SONG AB IT ASAP ALSO MET A GURL NAMED NELLY THIS WK N NOW I FEEL GUILTY CALLING PPL THT AS A TOXIC WAY TO TEASE PPL.

Nowadayz is so kute to lay against tha speakers n rly rly rly feel the music surge into ur palms and thru ur body. why do the deepest convos happen on the nowadayz dance floor. standing in front of the DJ booth holding each other so close screaming in each otherz ears loud enough to hear over the music but tender 3nough to not b offended. yR friend r on molly anD we lay outside finding the orion constellation in the string-lightz. its funnie to laugh ab but the truth comes to surface thti haven't seen constellations or stars 4 far 2 long.... growing up in SGV i wuz surrounded by mountains ... waking up willingly at like 5am everymorning just to walk around alone . watch the sunrise n leave poems 4 my forbidden crush [they were a pASTORS KID and i wuz this scene goth bitch wiff an antieyebrow piercing] in the little tunnel / bridge under the mall down tha st from mi house. id sneak into the arboretum n write poems next to the cherry treez and see the peacocks every single day . arcadia was such a jdugmental n superficial fake town. but we sure housed all tha god damn peacocks in LA. it wuz our town's lil slogan in animal form i guess, if u hurt one u could deadass do time in jail.

[lost the rest of this on my old tumblr SADDDDDD] ...

-RENNY

#blog

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comfortablyunsolved · 2 years

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2022 summary (tw for sa and si). mostly just making this post to go back over my own year for myself + to have for posterity for Reflection Purposes idk:

january - STARTED TESTOSTERONE and got covid. that's pretty much it

february - by far the ugliest, most painful friend breakup i've ever been through but it needed to happen. in retrospect the friend was at best pretty inconsiderate and at worst abusive so ... yeah. w more time to reflect i've realized i also had my own faults in ways so i think it's ultimately just true that we brought out the worst in each other and it was for the best for us to part ways

march - my voice broke and started dropping!! it was so great!! went to nyc during spring break to see two of my best friends who i don't get to see very often and mean the world to me. seriously adore them

april - saw lorde (LIFE-CHANGING), got my giant stuffed rat that i'm still obsessed w, joined a (gender-inclusive) greek house at my school

may - weird situationship with this girl who's really lovely and we are still on friendly terms but it didn't work out lol

june - went to california for my brother's college graduation, saw most of my relatives for the first time since starting my transition and it was a bit awkward but overall pretty good

july - mostly school, partied a lot bc it was summer and whatnot. had The Drunken Makeout Incident That Started The Hell My Life Spiraled Into right at the end of the month

august - hell hell more hell. every corner of my life had drama blowing up in it, guy i made out with asked me to be his boyfriend and when i said i wasn't comfortable w that label yet he immediately went and told everyone we were boyfriends, he did some other questionable shit that i will not go into detail about and other ppl also did some other questionable shit and i was caught in the middle of it all having close friends on both sides and it was really bad! was pretty much constantly dealing with suicidal ideation and just wanting to run away somewhere

september - stuff settled down a little, i finally got the courage to break things off with this guy, made up w one of the friends i hadn't talked to after everything went down. really started changing my conception of social fulfillment in terms of who i spend time with and how, got a lot closer w the people i was living with in my house

october - mostly marching band is what i remember!! didn't do marching band first two years of college but i missed it a lot and had so much fun picking up a new instrument this season

november - everything immediately went downhill again. jarringly public twitter feud with the ex-friend from february, my childhood pet died, my dad had a medical emergency and had to go to the hospital, got contact traced for tuberculosis, the drama from the summer came back almost out of nowhere and it got even worse for me, realized i was probably assaulted by my ex from july/august, got my first c in a class ever, parents told me they're getting divorced. lmao.

and now it is december! despite how shit last month was i am feeling okay! studying abroad in aotearoa (new zealand) + the cook islands starting on new years eve so i will try to document that on here, the drama in all of its facets and complications will be waiting for me when i get back to campus in march but i'm gonna try to have as good of an experience as i can because it'll def be very once in a lifetime

#2022 #year in review #diary #online journal #vent

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celestialprincesslulu · 3 years

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{{ Hey.. what’s up friends and foes...

I know, I did what I said I wouldn’t and went MIA but I have a reason! School kicked up and it was my last semester. Finals were in swing, holidays were upon, and life was catching up to me hard. Once finals were done (all passed), holidays were done, and I thought I could return.. friendship drama and family issues swept me back up as I got involved in GTA RP as well again.

I got caught up in all that. When that slowed down, I got covid which wasn’t as bad as some horror stories (praise be the vaccine). It was still very not fun. Covid is finally gone, I have a cough that still lingers from it. I’m sorting through some friends after a series of unfortunate events.....

And I finally have time to be back! I might be gone towards the summer.. May is when I walk for graduation. June is when I’m possibly moving to Delaware.. which means that I’ll be gone for moving and graduation stuff when it comes around but I’m going to do my best to come around, clear out responses.. be a roleplayer.

Feel free to not respond to anything I put out because of how infrequent I am. I hope you’ll also continue to roleplay with me though! I understand otherwise!

I know a few of you tried to reach out to me via discord.. and I apologize that I was awful in not responding. I let my depression get the best of me which should never be an excuse.. thank you so much <3

#OOC: Removed The Crown

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multimetaverse · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x12 Review

Second Chances was a lacklustre finale for an uneven season. Let’s dig in!

Earlier this week I re-watched S1 in preparation for the S2 finale and the contrast between the two seasons is jarring. In almost every way S2 has been worse and after seeing this finale I’m less optimistic that Tim will be able to fix the long list of things that have gone wrong. Tim has said in some of his interviews today that pretty much all of S2 was written before the pandemic and that they didn’t have to do as much re-writing as people might think due to the stringent safety measures Disney put in place. Of course, that removes an excuse for the bad writing we’ve seen so much of this season as according to Tim what we saw of S2 is largely what he envisioned minus big crowds and background dancers.

Across his many interviews today, the one consistent point is that Tim does not have any real plans for future seasons; things like Ricky’s endgame he hasn’t decided on and he can’t even guarantee the summer season the finale sets up due to the weather in Salt Lake. I do think a S3 is an almost certainty given the show’s popularity but I’ll take Tim at his word that he truly doesn’t know if they’ll be renewed since it seems to be a new Disney tradition to wait until seasons are done airing before making a renewal decision (the same thing happened for the popular and well received Mighty Ducks: Game Changers which got a silent renewal only after all of S1 aired). That being said as poor of a season finale as Second Chances is it is also a terrible potential series finale. In large part it goes back to his lack of planning, he wants to keep all options open but in doing so Tim is crippling the show’s ability to deliver any pay offs or tie up loose ends.

The one mostly well done plot line this season was Portwell which got a happy ending tonight as they canoned. The only good thing about the big brother angst was that it was so insane that it had to be addressed and sure enough it was and Gina got her first kiss with a guy she really liked. If Tim is to be believed the reason we didn’t get an on screen Portwell kiss was not because of their age difference or covid concerns but because he felt that everyone’s first kiss was different so he wanted it off screen so viewers could fill in the blanks themselves. Tim’s line of reasoning is profoundly stupid. Imagine if they had Jamie show up and he and Gina talked off screen and Tim tried to claim that because everyone has a different relationship with their own siblings that he wanted the audience to fill in the blanks as to how their conversation went!

Still we saw great character development on Gina and EJ’s part as both really grew from the people they were in S1. As Tim noted, EJ bringing Gina back in 1x10 was kind of the set up for this story line. The only thing missing was a brief Portwell scene sometime in eps 2x01-2x04 to set them up. The consistent development they got from 2x05-2x12 is unlike any other ship on the show; only Rini exceeds their development.

Unfortunately I don’t think that will last in S3 because Tim will always favour Ricky over EJ and if he wants to do Rina he’ll dispose of Portwell before doing so. I was surprised that they never bothered to have Ricky and Gina have a conversation about Gina’s S1 confession. It was a huge mistake to have Gina pine over Ricky for half the season and it was no surprise that Gina’s story line got instantly better once she stopped interacting with Ricky. Tim has made clear in interviews that he’s still interested in the possibility of Rina which makes his poor writing of them even more bizarre. What conclusions are the audience supposed to draw from the Rina story line this season? That Ricky never cared that much about Gina? That it’s totally fine for the show if they don’t interact for 6 eps in a row? That Gina has moved on? I’ve said before that a wiser man than Tim would recognize that doing both Portwell and Rina will do tremendous damage to the show and he should pick one and not do the other. Of course he’s not that smart but it is wild how he’s accidentally written their story line to make for a perfect end to Rina.

Second Chances was great and is the only part of the finale that would have been well suited to being part of a potential series finale.

The Rini closure was a sad inverse of their S1 opening night confession. They’ve fallen so far from being the it couple of the series and I fear Tim doesn’t actually know what to do with them now. He really needs to decide if he’s tearing down that treehouse for real.

The less said about the Valentine’s chocolates the better but at least Gina and Nini are cool again and Nini can explore her budding music career with Jamie’s help. Tim repeatedly said in interviews that the scripts about Nini’s music career were all written before Driver’s License came out and I think he understands that the audience is just going to see the show as copying from Olivia’s life.

The wildcats just deciding to drop out of the Menkies was a lame cop out. Tim has said he always meant for that to happen though they were originally going to compete at the Menkies then drop out (presumably that’s where we would have heard Lily singing Home). Somebody should have mentioned the $50 000 prize money which the East High theatre department could surely use after Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara burned it down (remember that story line that had no consequences?). And that NYU scholarship could have been life changing for one of them and yet no one even brought it up once this season.

I did like the twist that it was EJ and his dad who got Mazzara into Caltech. He’d be a fool not to take it but I’m glad he confessed to Miss Jenn. She’s had a really rough season and I hope she redeems herself in S3.

Howie was acting so weird tonight and last ep that I have a hard time believing he was really so awed by Kourtney’s talent rather than feeling guilty for helping to steal the harness. The harness is another useless plot device; there are no consequences for Lily stealing it, she’s not caught, East High pulls off another version of the transformation off screen, and then East High withdraws from the Menkies anyways. Doubtless the harness will eventually come up to serve Rily angst.

At least Lily was straightforward, I’ll give her that. She has such an odd way of speaking, almost child like. As awful as it is there is potential for a forbidden/secret romance story line with Rily. It really does not speak well to Ricky’s character that he’s so easily fallen for Lily’s act when he has no reason to trust her and she never apologized for making fun of Big Red during the auditions or making Ashlyn feel insecure during the dance off.

The one way in which S2 was drastically better to S1 was in regards to the Seblos story line. Clearly Joe being bumped up to regular made a big difference. We got the first same-sex kiss between two boys and the first love song sung by one boy to another in Disney history and that is a legacy to be proud of. Of course, there was still some Disney censorship such as Carlos and Seblos being unable to use the word gay in the same ep that focused on Carlos singing In a Heartbeat to Seb.

S1 of HSMTMTS had a clear direction, the wildcats would have to try and come together to stage High School Musical and Ricky and Nini would have to decide if they still had a future together while Gina and EJ had to work on being better versions of themselves. It was simple sure but it worked very well. There was a lot of heart but also a lot of humor and the show never took itself too seriously. What has S2 had? Beauty and the Beast was hardly the main focus of the cast or the writers and the central couple that S1 was built around is now broken up either for a long time or for good. There was a lot less of the meta moments that jokes that made S1 such a hit, for far too many eps this season the show took itself way too seriously. Hell even the lighting this season was darker than in S1.

Olivia Rodrigo’s team had complained in a recent article that Olivia wouldn’t be able to potentially tour until fall 2022 due to her contractual commitments which is a sign that they think a S3 is very likely though I wonder how late S3 filming would have to start to keep her occupied until late 2022. There’s no confirmation of this but I thought it might be worth keeping an eye on; a post on r/hsmtmts by someone who claims to have a source working on production says that the plan is for S3 to be a summer theatre camp possibly with Camp Rock renditions and the plan for S4 is to jump 6 months ahead to the final semester of senior year and end with Ricky, Nini, Big Red, and Kourtney graduating from East High. They also say that part of the delay in the S3 announcement is a conflict between Tim and Disney executives. Tim wants to move production to LA and film on sets as it’s easier and cheaper while the Disney execs still want some on location shooting in Salt Lake. Again this is all unconfirmed but if it pans out it will represent a major shift in the series.

Regardless if Tim wants the show to remain successful he needs start planning out what he wants to happen. He should not assume he’s getting more than 4 seasons. If the series gets a S3 but then is suddenly cancelled then how would he want all the main story lines to wrap up? And if they make it to S4 where does he see it ending? The graduation of the current juniors is a logical series ending point but if Tim wants to do something different he needs to start thinking of that now. I can’t say I’m excited anymore for S3 but I do really hope that Tim and his writers can turn things around and that will only happen if they recognize what they did wrong and learn from their mistakes.

Until next season Wildcats

#HSMTMTS #Portwell #Rini #Gina Porter #EJ Caswell #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #Kourtney Greene #lily #HSMTMTS Reviews

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serenityseventeen · 3 years

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♪ The Last Day of Summer With You

Hoshi/Kwon Soonyoung : Dancing in the "Rain"

You and Soonyoung looked at each other, holding two different plants while squatting close to the ground.

It was a way for you two to comfort and encourage each other to continue pulling out dandelion and white clover weeds from your blossoming garden.

As if by the count of three, you and Soonyoung began pulling the plants. The squat was making your legs burn and you continued your attempt at plucking the stubborn dandelion; eventually causing you to fall backward flatly, your bum hitting the grassy floor of your backyard. Laying in your gloved hands were ripped leaves, yellow dandelion flowers, and stems with no roots attached.

Contradicting your failure, you heard a squeal of success from Soonyoung. He had been quiet throughout the entire weeding hour, only talking small bits and complaining. Soonyoung held up the roots of the dandelion while screeching in happiness.

You turned to see him laying down on the grass with the dandelions clutched in his hand, his arm that held the dandelions was raised high, like he was showing the unsupportive sky and burning weather of his achievements.

“God, I thought I would never get one of those mean things out of the ground... I always thought they looked a bit cute but sheesh!!!” Soonyoung shouted, finally letting his hands fall onto the cool green grass. “When can we stop this torturous weeding? I mean, it's the last day of summer, can't we spend today doing something fun, unlike weeding??”

Soonyoung sat up and began to sulk while placing the weeds he yanked into a plastic bag. His legs were spread out in front of him and his fluffy, disheveled hair reminded you of a hamster.

“I want to do something else too,” You replied. “But I'm afraid that when your mother comes to visit next week, the garden would look too unnatural.”

Soonyoung was panting as he crawled over to you, who was still sitting flatly on your bum.

“Aren't you hot?” Soonyoung asked, barely able to open his eyes because of the blinding sunlight. On this awfully hot final day of summer, Soonyoung just wanted to jump inside a pool.

You nodded in response to his question, staring absentmindedly at the dandelions you pulled. “Of course I am hot, the weather is like a lava pit.”

Soonyoung nodded in agreement. “Then why did you have to pick this special day out of all days to pick weeds??”

You turned to him and felt like you wanted to cry, not literally, of course, you were just feeling whiny, so, you threw your head against Soonyoung's shoulder.

“I just wish that rain will fall today...” You mumbled to yourself, loud enough for your boyfriend to overhear the small comment.

You jolted up and stood, placing your hands on your hips. You adjusted your hat and looked down at your boyfriend, who was staring up at you curiously.

“I'll go inside and get some water...” You said, determined for nothing.

You didn't want to pick weeds but the look of the overgrowing dandelions was constantly bugging you like a leech telling you to get rid of it. So, on this blazing ending day of summer, you decided that you couldn't take the messy lawn any longer.

After grabbing two cups of cold water, the moment you stepped outside, you were surprised to see Soonyoung waiting for you. You handed him the cold mug without a word but he didn't drink any, only set it down on the backyard stairs, and took your hand.

“I have something to show you.”

“All of a sudden??” You asked, placing down the cup, swallowing the last of the freezing water as he took you away.

Soonyoung smiled innocently. “I know you'll like it.”

You had no idea what your boyfriend was planning. He took you through the back door of the garage before pressing the front garage door to open. There were creaks and grinding noises as the garage door opened, leading to the driveway.

Then, you began to catch the sound of what seemed like falling rain. You turned around to try and look at the backyard but saw not even a trace of water.

“Look in front,” Soonyoung said while laughing, shyly covering his smile.

“What is this...?” You asked, amazed.

When the door fully opened, you were finally able to see it. The hose had been dragged from the backyard all the way here and you didn't know how, but your boyfriend managed to loop it on something on top of the garage door.

You subconsciously took steps forward, toward the “rain” that you had wished for earlier. Your heart was pounding as you stuck your hand out from under the shelter. Soonyoung did the same while gazing at you with a shy and pure grin.

“Do you like it? You said you wanted it to rain, right?” Soonyoung asked, drawing his hand back under the garage, hiding both of his hands behind his back. He leaned out forward a little bit to see your bright eyes as you looked at what he created for you.

You turned to him and with twinkling eyes, a gleaming, lovable, and dreamy smile, you squeaked, “I absolutely LOVE IT, SOONYOUNG!!!”

You wanted to hug him but instead, you took his hand and dragged him under the falling water drops that came from the hose. Soonyoung had probably chosen “shower” mode. The water coming from the hose was gentle and the drops were large; it felt like a shower, thus its name.

The refreshing feeling of washing away all the hotness was relaxing. You felt amazing under the rain that Soonyoung set up. You felt touched that he heard your soft mumble and then proceeded to give you exactly what you wanted. He deserved the world indeed.

Before you both knew it, you two were jumping around the driveway like little kids, getting soaked in water, splashing the driveway with your feet. You both didn't care whether or not it was dirty water; you both were having fun, smiling brightly, hand in hand, jumping around, have the best time of your lives under the “rain”, and defeating the summer heat.

The sun was shining down, the rays were still bright, illuminating each raindrop, and casting your shadows on the driveway.

You stopped after running short of breath from jumping and playing around so much. Soonyoung's wet hair made him look arousing and made your heartbeat pound faster Your eyesight was slightly blurred because of the continuous falling shower; every time you blinked, water would drop down from your eyelashes.

You called out to your boyfriend to ask if he was feeling refreshed yet but he couldn't hear you. He was in his own world, jumping like a little kid. The sight of him like this made you feel nothing but beatific. Staring at Soonyoung, you felt like he was an angel that descended from the heavens.

“Soonyoung!” You called out again, this time he turned around, his hair dripping wet drops as he turned around to face you.

“Huh?” He asked, still smiling like a child. He looked like he was extremely happy and genuinely having fun.

You didn't even say anything when he replied. You were caught up in his dreamy smile and eyes, along with his pulpous cheeks that you just wanted to squish together.

“Isn't this fun?” Soonyoung asked, leaning in a bit closer to your face.

You looked up at him and continued to grin happily. You went in closer too, thinking he was leaning in for a kiss, but Soonyoung only bumped his head against yours. With your foreheads against each other, he took one of your wet hands into his, tossing his other hand around your waist. Your empty hand instinctively went onto his shoulder.

After realizing what he was trying to do, you giggled softly. He was grinning.

“One, two, three, four, five,” Soonyoung counted as your steps followed each other rhythmically, turning into a graceful ballroom dance under the hose that was spraying a shower of water. “Six, seven, eight, and one, two, three...”

You twirled around, your spin causing water droplets to fly from your hair. Soonyoung watched as you elegantly spun, finding the soaked you utterly gorgeous. Your drenched hair and clothes somehow made you even more charming than you already were.

Snapping him out of his short daze, You asked as you twirled back into the arms of your dear lover, your back against his chest, “Aren't we wasting water? What about the water bills?”

Soonyoung chuckled attractively, his head leaning toward your neck as both of his hands fell onto your hips.

You flipped around to face him, your arms now wrapped around his shoulders. You tilted your head, waiting for his reply.

The corner of Soonyoung's lips lifted into a gentle smirk, as he replied with a somewhat seductive whisper, your foreheads kissing again.

“I won't be surprised if it amounts to over 1,000.”

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a/n: I think this one is also around 1.5k words... The original idea is to dance in the water from sprinklers but I don't know how sprinklers work so I went with a hose with functions(?) lmao. + I got first dose of covid vaccine and I'm okay but my arm is slowly achinh lol + OCTOBER COMEBACK YESHSHHZIXKDF I'm so excited, I wonder what it is + SNAP SHOOT- I don't know what it is but I'm excited for it too

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myhockeyworld87 · 4 years

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Bubble Wrapped - Part 9

Word Count: 4,396

POV: Reader

Warnings: Same as always, Language, Smut, NSFW, Please see the note in the Masterlist

Teams: Bruins, Caps, Flyers, Lightning, Pens, Jackets, Canes, Islanders (more to come)

Notes: Finally part 9! Thank you guys for being patient with me as I finally got back to writing. I’m not sure if anyone is still interested in this story now that Bubble is officially over. So please let me know if I should continue you on with this story or just let it drop off. At any rate, here’s the next part, so happy reading!

"Earth to (Y/N)! Are you in there?" Carly asked as she tapped on the front desk where you would like to say that you were lost in thought, but in reality; you'd just sort of spaced out. When you didn't reply right away; Carly said, "Are you done moping yet? It's been almost a week."

"Please, stop exaggerating. It hasn't been a week." Sometimes Carly could be so dramatic, you thought to yourself.

"Bitch, his team got ousted last Friday and today is Thursday. I might not have the fancy education you do, but that's six days which means tomorrow is a week." She pointed her finger directly at you. "You, Miss (Y/LN), have been sulking around this hotel for about five days too many by my count." It was hard not to roll your eyes but you suppressed it all the same. "Look I know…" she brought her voice to a whisper, "Sidney…must have been amazing in bed. Though why you haven't told me all the details yet; I'm baffled? Like seriously sis, spill the beans."

This time you couldn't hold back as your eyes practically rolled back into your head at your soon to be former best friend if she kept this line of questioning up. "And what makes you think that I slept with Sid? How do you know I'm not pining over Tyler or someone else for that matter."

"Well, I saw him leave. I'm not blind. The man literally couldn't take his eyes off you and the look on your face!" She pulled her lip down in a pout and mimicked a look of utter devastation. "You were a puppy that someone had not only kicked to the curb but then got run over."

"I wasn't that bad."

"Ok, well maybe not run over by like a car, but definitely by a bike." A chuckle escaped your lips and you supposed you were kind of upset that Sid and the Pens were headed back to Pittsburgh. "Oh my god, was that a smile? I haven't seen that in days." She pressed the back of her hand to your forehead.

"What are you doing now?" You frowned at her.

"Checking to make sure you don't have a fever."

"Stop," you said starting to giggle. "Someone will think I have Covid or something." Carly joined you in laughter and you had to admit it actually felt kind of good. You hadn't realized that you were being such a Debbie Downer once Sidney had left, but once you started laughing your heart felt a little lighter.

"See, I knew she was in there. Welcome back!" Carly came around the desk and hugged you. "Though I'm still going to make a suggestion to you." You cocked your head in inquiry. "Why don't you take the day off?" She could tell that you were going to say something but she held you off with a wave of her hand. "We came in the bubble two weeks before the players and they've been here for almost three. That's five weeks and you have yet to take one day to yourself. You've insisted the rest of us take off at least one day a week if not two. I think you should do the same." While Carly's plan sounded great, you really couldn't see yourself just taking the day to lounge at the pool or in your suite.

"What if there's another fight? Or the kitchen catches on fire? Or…" She didn't let you come up with any more scenarios.

"Someone will call you. See that thing right there." She picked up your cell phone. "It's amazing and lets us talk to you if we need something."

"But what would I do? It's not like I can go get drunk at a club or something."

Carly sighed heavily, "I have to do everything for you don't I?" She was definitely skating on thin ice in the friend department. "Why don't you go sit by the pool, or go for a run over in the stadium. It's a beautiful summer day, get out there and enjoy it. Besides you're starting to look pale, a little sun would do you some good." She grabbed your wrist and start to haul you out from behind the desk. "Then tonight, crack open a bottle of wine, take a hot bubble bath….maybe with one of these hot men that can't quit staring at you."

"Oh stop, they are not staring at me."

"Girl, would you look around." You did as she said, watching guys from different teams mill about the front lobby. There were some definite stares in both yours and Carly's direction. "See that one there," she pointed over to Jake Debrusk. "I swear he comes down to the lobby just drool over you, or what about that one. I think Brayden said his name was Joel Edmundson. He also mentioned something about him and crop tops, but then well he stopped talking when that sent my eyes wandering a little too far south for his pleasure. The man really can get jealous."

"Can you blame him, Car? There are very few women in this bubble and quite a few men." The ratio was well to your advantage; that's for sure. "He's afraid he could lose you to one of these other guys."

"Will never happen. But you're distracting me." She was now dragging you towards the elevators. "Now get your little butt up there and go do something fun for the day." She pushed the button and the elevator doors opened. "Oh! I expect to get notes or something if there are any hookups. Don't pull that shit you did with you know who."

"What? I can't hear you." You told her as the door slid close. Faintly you heard something about bullshit and probably a few other choice words. Once you were in your suite, you decided to take Carly's suggestion and head over to the stadium for a little run. It had been quite some time that you'd actually gotten on the pavement instead of the treadmill and hopefully, it would clear your head of any lingering thoughts of Sidney. You quickly changed into some running shorts, a sports bra and one of those famous crop tops Carly was talking about Joel Edmundson wearing; then slipped on your sneakers and AirPods, and headed outside.

Carly had been right. It was a gorgeous day to be outside. The sky was the most beautiful shade of blue, with white puffy clouds that reminded you of cotton dotting it throughout. You could still hear the light buzz of traffic from the city, as you made your way over to the stadium. Carly, forgot to mention that Islanders happened to be using the facility when you got there, but then you supposed that it was always busy except for the evening. You almost turned around, and went back to the hotel, not wanting to interrupt their time, but you saw a few other non-team members wandering about and figured that taking a little run shouldn't bother anyone.

Cranking up the music, you started at a nice leisurely jog, just warming your legs up, as you made your way about halfway around before kicking it up at a faster pace. The sun felt good on your body as well as the fresh air getting in your lungs. You were off in your own world as you continued what was probably your fourth lap around the place when something came flying out in front of you. You stopped in your tracks.

"Sorry about that," Mat Barzal said as he came over to retrieve what you now knew was a frisbee. "Didn't mean to interrupt your run." His shirt was off and sweat glistened on his well-defined abs.

"It's no biggie," you told him as you went to put your earbud back in and continue on with your run.

His hand went to reach for your wrist, but he caught himself before he grabbed you, though the action made you stop anyway. "Sorry again," this time you just smiled, which in turn made Mat smile and that was something to behold. "You're (Y/N) right?" you nodded and it really didn't feel strange now that almost every NHL player knew your name. "You wouldn't be interested in a game of spikeball; would you? We need another player."

"Oh, um…" You were kind of stunned by him asking you, not that you didn't want to play. It was just, you were sure there had to be someone else that was probably better than you.

"Please," there was this little puppy dog look in his eyes, and you were done for.

"Sure," you told him, then followed him over to where Anthony Beauvillier and Derick Brassard were hanging out by the spikeball game. "I'm warning you, I not a professional athlete like you guys."

"Don't worry, it's just a friendly little game." Mat told you, and yet somehow you figured even the friendliest of games with these guys would be competitive. Introductions were made, not that you didn't know who these guys were, but it was still a nice gesture. "So, I'll take (Y/N)." Mat declared.

"What if I want her on my team?" Tito interjected and you really didn't feel that you were that great of a player to fight over, though to be honest, you had a feeling it wasn't about the ball game.

"Well, so you kids don't fight. (Y/N) and I will be partners." Derick decided to chime in.

"Guys, I'm not that good." You felt the need to be at least upfront with them.

"I'm sure you're great," Derick said, while he wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

"The only fair way to settle this is rock, paper, scissors." This from Tito, as he made a fist preparing for the game, the other two joined him. Tito and Mat both picked scissors, effectively cutting out Derick who had chosen to go with paper. Now down to the two friends, it took two tries before they didn't pick the exact same gesture. In the end, it was Mat who won with a paper to cover up Anthony's rock.

"Guess it's you and me." Mat said steering you over to his side of the net. "You know we're skins right?" there was a teasing note to his voice, along with a twinkle in his eye, to tell you he was joking. But to call his bluff, you simply stripped off your crop top and tossed it over to the side, leaving you clad in only your sports bra. All three guys' eyes about popped out of their heads as you reached for the hem of the bra.

"Trust me, boys, you'll have to work a lot harder than that to get the rest off," you teased as you dropped your arms back down. "Well, are we going to play or what?" They chuckled at your joke, though you were pretty sure you saw Derick adjust his shorts and his cock.

The game was fairly friendly at first, and it took you back to your high school days on the volleyball team, though it was a far cry from your setter's position that you played. You and Tito ran into each other at least three times and you were pretty sure the third one was on purpose just so he could steady you by grabbing not only your hips but your ass as well. There were a ton of volleys and points seemed hard to come by, but overall, you had a blast. Mat carried your team, but you held your own from time to time. Close to the end of the game, all four of you were sweating and the other two guys had joined Mat in going shirtless. You knew you were going to have to thank Carly for giving you the suggestion of coming over here, just for the sights alone.

The game was all tied up, and you had no idea how it had gotten to that point. You were pretty sure someone had to have lost count at some point, but you weren't going to argue as you were having too much fun. "Ok match point. We got this (Y/N)." Mat told you, then gave you a high five before the ball was served. You hit it over to Mat with ease and he spiked it onto the net. The volley went back and forth a few times, each time getting more and more difficult to return. You thought for sure on Mat's last spike over that there was no way they were going to get the ball. However, Derick's quick reflexes had him tossing it back over to Tito, who set Derick back up for a soft spike. The ball fluttered to the ground and both you and Mat dove trying to reach it. It all played out in slow motion in your head, you could almost foresee the two of you clunking heads which would probably result in both of you getting a concussion, but at the last second, Mat rolled to his side instead, grabbing you as he did so he absorbed most of the impact. As you both landed on the ground, he moved so that his back was now on the grass with your body on top of him.

You were a bit stunned at first but recovered quickly. "Are you ok? You're not hurt, are you?" The words tumbled out of your mouth as you went to get up, only to have Mat's arms pin you closer to his body. That's when you felt his cock stiffen. Maybe it was the action of sliding down his body slightly so that you could see his face that caused it, or maybe it was just your body pressed against his; you weren't entirely sure. All you knew was that it was definitely hard and seemed to have a bit of length to it, which made you want to get Mat in this same position only without prying eyes.

"I'm ok." Mat said, drawing you back to your present circumstance.

"Looks like we won." Tito gloated from above you, reminding you that you couldn't stay like this for much longer.

"I'm not so sure about that." Mat whispered before rolling you onto your back, his weight all on his forearms before he lifted himself up off the ground then helped you up as well. "Good game," he said to his teammates, making you wonder if you'd actually heard what he said correctly.

You shook hands with both Tito and Derick, before you all headed over to grab some water, making idol chit chat for a bit. It wasn't long before they were being told that they had to leave the arena as their time was up and another team was coming in within the hour. "It was a lot of fun guys, thanks for inviting me to play," you told them.

"Our pleasure," Derick said, and you could've sworn you heard Tito say that he would play with you anytime. The double entendre was not lost on you.

"I'm sure I'll see you around the hotel." You told them all then headed out of the arena as well, though in a different direction as your hotel was the other way. You'd just made it into the alcove when you heard Mat calling your name.

"You forgot this," he said handing you, your crop top. "Can't have you going back to the hotel like that."

"Thanks."

Mat shifted his weight from foot to foot a few times, before saying. "Can I walk you back?"

"Sure," you told him. "I mean as long as you don't have to go back with the team."

"Nah, we have the next hour free still." Well, that was interesting information that you took in as you continued around the empty halls of the stadium. Mentally, you calculated how much time it would take to get to your suite and then for Mat to get back to his place. It was definitely more than an hour, so if you were going to have a little fun it was going to have to be here. Your eyes darted around, looking for the perfect spot. "What are you doing?"

It was right at that moment that you found the ideal location. "This," you answered, grabbing Mat's hand and pulling him into the spot that would conceal you both in case anyone would walk by. As soon as you were ensconced inside, your lips found his. You pulled his neck down to meet your mouth, kissing him with abandonment. Mat caught on quick to your plan and quickly took control, pinning you against the wall as his mouth plundered inside yours. His tongue danced with yours, as his hands skimmed up your body, sending shivers down your spine.

A lock of Mat's hair dipped down to his forehead and your hands moved up to push it back, though you didn't stop there as you let them sift through his thick mane. He moaned into your mouth, as your hands raked through his hair, nails slightly scraping his scalp. He devoured your whole with his mouth as if he couldn't get enough of you and the whole time you just wanted more of him. Mat's thigh came up between your legs, and you wantonly pressed your cunt down upon him. "Fuck baby," he whispered. "That's it, grind down on me." It wasn't like you needed to hear the words, but they still made you damp coming from his mouth. He released your mouth finally, but only so he could trail his lips down your neck to your breasts. His hands pushed your bra up, and you felt your arms reaching up to the sky so that he could remove it completely. "I've been wondering what these looked like the whole fucking game." His head fell back slightly so he could take your breasts in and you felt your nipples harden under his stare. "Fucking perfect," he panted out before capturing a pert nipple in his mouth.

"Fuck Mat," you gasped as he lightly bit down. Hips now desperate, you continued to grind down on Mat's thick thigh as he lavished each of your breasts with attention. You whimpered, trying to find that perfect position against him that would put you over the edge, but then Mat moved his thigh away.

"I can't," he said and your brain was too fogged from chasing your high to register what he meant before his fingers were sliding under the waistband of your shorts and panties. "Damn baby, I can't believe how wet you are." His fingers slid inside your pussy with ease and you moaned out with pleasure as he scissored two of them in, while his thumb pressed against your clit. "You like that," his whispered then sucked on your nipple again. "God, I want you to cum on my fingers so bad." They started to pump in and out of you then. "Can you do that pretty girl? Can you cum for me?"

Fuck you loved it when he talked dirty like that. The combination of his words and his actions sending you spiraling into orgasm. "Mat," you called out as your body trembled.

"Yeah baby, say my name. Tell everyone who's making you cum." He kept fingering you through the orgasm, pressing kisses all over your chest and neck. "So, fucking pretty." You slumped back against the wall, head going back as your body was finally sated. Mat pressed his fingers deep inside you one last time before withdrawing them and bringing them to his lips. His tongue darted out, licking up the length of them before he brought them to your lips. "Suck," it wasn't quite a command, but at the same time you didn't feel the need to disobey either and you wondered if the two of you had more time, what all Mat could come up with. You licked your essence off his digits, letting your tongue glide up his long fingers. It was Mat's turn to groan this time and you felt him go a little weak, so you took advantage and twisted you both so that he was now against the wall.

You kissed him hard, before sliding down onto your knees taking his shorts and boxer briefs with you. Mat inhaled sharply as your hands skated back up his meaty thighs you were riding moments ago. Eyes locking with his, your tongue slipped out and licked the head of his cock, tasting the precum that was oozing from it. Your lips wrapped around the head then and you heard as well as felt his sigh of content before his fingers threaded through your hair. "Fuck (Y/N), that feels so good." His hand gently urged you to take more, and so you did. "That's it, baby, just like that." Your lips sunk down on as much of his cock as you could take in, while your hand fisted him at the base. Sucking him back out, you let your teeth lightly rake along his cock and he hissed out another fuck but thrust hips forward wanting you to take him back in. You did, but slowly centimeter by centimeter. Mat's head fell back against the wall. "You're killing me." Your lips smiled around his cock as you started to take him and out of your mouth.

Mat was breathing was labored, as he fisted his hand around your hair, holding it back so he could see your face as you took him inside your mouth. Your tongue pressed up against the underside, and you felt him twitch in response. Letting your fingers dance along his thighs, you slithered them up to his balls where you cupped them and gave them a gentle squeeze. "Fuck, yeah," Mat panted, his hips now rocking into your mouth. Relaxing your throat, you hummed so that you could take him deeper. "Jesus," he hissed out, his hand now tightening on the back of your skull as he thrust again, this time shooting his cum down the back of your throat. You swallowed what you could, though some dribbled out and down your chin; that only turned Mat on more. "You're so fucking gorgeous right now." He told you, as he helped you back to your feet, where his lips locked with yours. You were half-naked from the waist up and Mat from the waist down, but you didn't care as you made out with him against the wall of the stadium. Time sort of stood still as the two of you entwined not only your mouths but your bodies. His hands going from your ass, then to your back, to your neck and then breasts, all at the same time. Off in the distance, you heard a noise, and you realized the other team must be coming in.

You broke the kiss, though Mat chased after your lips still wanting that contact with you. "I think someone's coming." He heard it then, the idle chatter of voices still far enough away, but you weren't sure for how long.

"Fuck, I thought we had more time." He reluctantly let you out of his embrace, but only so that you could both pull your clothes back on. Mat grabbed your crop top and slipped it back over your head, before pulling you back in for a kiss. "You're pretty amazing, you know that?" All you could do was blush. "I'm not just talking about back there either." You cocked your head at him, as the two of you headed back to Hotel X, fingers entwined. "I might be staying at Royal York, but everyone talks about how great it over at your place and how it's all because of you. You're like some legend or something."

God, you were hoping that they weren't talking about all the sexual things that had gone on with other players. "Well, I'm glad everyone's happy. I'm really just doing my job."

"Hopefully, I'll be over there soon," Mat added with a little wink to you, and you realized you wouldn't mind having him in your hotel at all. In fact, it would be a lot of fun. "I guess I have to let you go, huh?" You were now standing in front of the hotel and short of asking Mat up to your room, which you knew there wasn't time for; your interlude with him was coming to an end.

"Well, you know you're more than welcome to use any of the facilities we have here anytime." It was your turn to give Mat a little wink.

"I just might have to do that. We have a game tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be needing to use the tennis courts or that pool sometime soon."

"Well, make sure you stop and tell me hi when you're here."

He chuckled at your comment. "Oh, there is no way I would forget to do that." He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you close to him, before dropping a kiss to your lips. Part of you was hesitant that someone might be watching but then it didn't matter because when Mat kissed you, it seemed like no one else even existed. "I gotta go." He finally said breaking away. "But I'll see you soon."

"I'll hold you to that promise." He pecked your lips one more time before heading in the direction of his hotel.

Thankfully, things were running smoothly at the hotel, so you decided to continue taking Carly's advice and head upstairs for a long hot bubble bath. Pouring yourself a glass of wine, you let the water get to the perfect temperature before sinking down into it. You sighed as you took a sip of the crisp tasting vintage as soft music played in the background. The only thing you were missing was a few pieces of chocolate to make this entire thing perfect. Well, and maybe Mat, for that man truly was something. You let your mind drift to thoughts of him and his rock-hard abs. What you wouldn't give to have him here right now, sliding into the water and into your pussy. Those thoughts were cut short as your phone rang. Damn, you thought, just when things were getting good.

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sarasa-cat · 3 years

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Life, Gaming, Fannish goodness & Cyberpunk 2077 anticipation thoughts:

@fereldanwench (one particular bit of good news may be of interest to you)

The days are starting to edge toward autumn and evening starting ever earlier, so outdoor exercise soon needs to move to the normal midday hours rather than late in the evening after dinner. Because after dinner is now either deep twilight or DARKNESS depending on how late dinner is.

And that means returning to evening gaming and watching things on TV too pretty soon!

I have So Many Unfinished Games that want my attention but the list of additional games that have caught my interest (thank you mutuals ;) has grown over recent years too.

Given the state of the world, I am not one to complain about the gaming gear I own — quite a lot actually bc I’ve kept and collected since the late 90s and I baby my electronics, new and vintage — but my systems no longer meet the requirements of modern AAA gaming.

But(!) I now have a modern-enough gaming machine on order that will supposedly arrive in early October(big improvement from the wait time of sometime in late Nov to mid Dec, which was what I saw just last week when shopping around for systems that more or less met my specs etc etc). So, Yay! And it should also run graphics programs (photoshop etc) blazingly fast too so that’s also a big win.

Thus (drum roll) — My Cyberpunk 2077 escapism will hopefully begin in Oct!

Still no luck on a PS5 but… shrug… someday that luck will win out. Having a windows based gaming machine that is of 2021 specs opens up a lot of goodness for the upcoming months of the Long Dark, especially since I am stuck for a second winter in a row in the US (thank you covid). Sure, there is ONE game that I very much want that is PS5 only but … I’m okay. Maybe by the time I finally get a PS5 they will have made a fancier model of it? Shrug.

The new gaming computer-on-order is entirely a mental health purchase.

Fwiw, some years back, long meanders in Dragon Age Inquisition’s sunny environments got me through a winter trapped in the Long Dark. I might need to revisit something of that style — if not DAI itself during the worst of winter.

Additionally, I have very recently gotten back into coding as a hobby (long long long after software dev as a 9-6 career or graphics & human computer interaction applied to Serious Things as an academic job). Except I am already thinking of actual software I might want to design so… it may stop being a true hobby if it becomes a side-hustle.

Remembering how relaxing and flow-state inducing programming can be — which it was when I was a tween and a teen, killing long evenings in my room “playing” (rather than grinding) at programming projects purely for fun. (Or gaming, ahaha, because some things never change.)

So….. given that (a) america, with all of its resources in medicine, is dragging its fucking heels at ending its own pandemic and literally tossing vaccines in the garbage while other nations are in need of vaccines and have ppl who desperately want the jabx2 (which raised my blood pressure just typing that); (b) politics have become so depressing and so regressive and so corrupt that I just need to step back (quit) after a couple of decades of on the ground organizing— honestly I cannot even read the news without wanting to scream and my partner of 2 decades is now incapable of discussing political-related things at any level; (c) at least until next summer (and just like life for the past 18 months), my entire physical world has pretty much shrunk to most of my time being in my house or being outside in my walkable urbanish hood, (d) I need a hobby that is actually just a hobby — one that cannot be side-hustled into a non-hobby, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS: Fandom goodness.

Mmmmmmm.

Thinking about messing around with tumblr themes and fannish graphics.

Will definitely get back to fanfic writing v soon.

Will almost certainly rearrange my main blog (this one) and my side blogs.

Will also get back to that much threatened Dirgepalooza- ahahahaahah- bc ffvii is my original fandom.

Might finally start making fanart after threatening to do so for years?

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Top 20 Animated Episodes of 2020 Part 1 (#20-#11)

Hello Hello Hello animation fans! And welcome to something i’ve wanted to since last year. See I had the idea for a best episodes list back in 2019: rather than do a best shows list, which would be only about half of 20+ shows anyway, I thought i’d do a best episode lists: to give as many shows a possiblitiy to shine as possible while still honoring the best of the year. But my own natural foibles got the better of me: I INSISSITED on watching everything I missed.. then just kept putting THAT off until it was was spring, shows were coming back and I just threw up my hands. I’ve regretted it ever since and vowed, especially since in the interim animation went from just being something I analyized for fun to my analyzing it for fun AND profit, to get it done this year. So I had to make a few caveats. First I gave myself at first till the 31st of the year and then due to covid and everything that happened, until the end of the first week or so of the year, i.e. today, to watch as much as I could. So several shows are missing. Some I REALLY got behind on and don’t have an excuse for (Craig of the Creek and Big City Greens), others I also really liked but my depression made it really hard to watch (F is for Family and very nearly Bojack), some I just kept putting off ever starting or forgot to start entirely (Hilda, yes even since season 1, Kipo: Age of the Wonderbeasts and It’s Pony) and some.. I gave up because as you can tell I sit on shows way too often (Ilve action wise I still need to get back to Doom Patrol), and I realized i’d rather watch stuff old and new I care about than waste time with something that I just stopped liking, i.e. Rick and Morty and Big Mouth which i’m guaranteed some flack for saying but I dont’ care. I have my reasons, and while I originally GAVE those reasons I decided to leave them out: this list is not about me bitching about why I quit certain shows. I’m a grown ass man, I can quit a show anytime, and given last year was such a craphole, I think we could use less piss and vinegar and more sugar. So before we begin, a bit about the state of animation last year: It was in flux. WIth a new decade dawning we got great new shows like Owl House, Close Enough, which in a year full of terrible suprises not only FINALLY got released but did so with a second season order, Solar Opposities, the Midnight Gospel and Kipo: Age of Wonderbeasts. Ducktales returned for it’s best season ever. Amphibia returned for a pretty good season. Disney brought back the wonderful mickey mouse shorts towards the end of the year, FINALLY given D+ some non-movie animated content. The Casagrandes got better as it went and just barely didn’t make this list and the Loud House kept on trucking and shows no signs of stopping with a season renewal and a movie coming out. And Adventure Time staged a comeback a few years after it died and while I haven’t seen BMO yet, Obsidian was fantastic and only barely didn’t make the list.

Not only that but we got great new series announced for the next two years: Lumberjanes is FINALLY getting adapted and by Noelle Stevenson herself. Gendy Tarkovsky is not only returning to children’s animation but with a wonderously weird concept about immortal unicorns turned into teens> There’s a promising show about a ghost and a plucky tween coming this summer. The Rise of the TMNT movie is still happening. Craig McCracken is also coming back. But naturally given this was 2020 the news wasn’t all good as we said goodbye to a lot of shows.. and this was after 2019 already took several from us, OK KO still being the hardest loss to this day and Star Vs very disapointing finale still leaving a bad taste in my mouth: Most gutpunchingly, the two frontrunners of animation at the time, shows that truly changed the game and probably gave other shows a chance at life they never would’ve had, including some on this list, ended.

Steven Universe took it’s final bow after we got one last trip to beach city with the Future miniseries, with the show ending gracefully and beautifully, and having pulled off it’s third succesive possible ending for the franchise and it’s defntive ending for steven’s story. Bojack did the same not long before, ending on a bittersweet but beautiful note and with a one two punch of the series best episode and i’ts second best episode, a satsifying but bittersweet finale we’ll get to. Both shows as I said have set hte standards and tones for most animation after them, and both’s absence is felt. She Ra suprisingly ended, though with a beautiful and wonderful finale we’ll, again, get to, and on i’ts own terms, but given it was the most likely to take up the shield from steven, it was another punch. Less peacefully was the ending of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a show I caught up on after it’s demise which was screwed by the network over toy sales because that’s.. still.. a thing.

There is a light of hope, as the movie is somehow still in production and if it does well we may get season 3, but it’s dim and given the show, despite it’s flaws, had found itself and the finale, which they were given weeks to put together, was spectacular and, say it with me now “we’ll get to that”, I really hope it does. And that nick learns how to run an animation company for fuck’s sake.

Infnity Train while not dead, is on life support despite having it’s best season in season 2 and an okay season that still tackeled racisim very well even if story wise the season faltered, at a time when we REALLY need to tackle racisim in our entertaiment period. Venture Bros meanwihle was just flat out canceled for no given reason despite both having as eason renewal order and you know, being Adult Swim’s highest rated and best show for over a decade. Like Infinity Train and Rise there’s a SCRAP of hope, both adult swim and hbo max are apparently looking into ways to bring it back so a finale movie or a season 6 comic are propable, but given the show ended on two big cliffhangers, and given 2020 already had pushed back a LOT of things I’d looked forward to for good reason, and had now just outright killed a show, it was a massive shattering blow and easily the biggest of the year. But coming VERY close was finding out Ducktales was ending. While the finale would serve as a proper finale, I feel the show easily could’ve had more seasons.. Disney just dosen’t let shows go on forever, or sometimes not even for a reasonable amount.. or put those shows it didn’t let go on a resonable amount on Disney Plus.. and I will be bringing that last part up until Wonder Over Yonder is FINALLY put on the platform, along with MANy other shows. Figure it out. But yeah that was ANOTHER show I thought would lead the way and like Gravity Falls lead to Ducktales, Ducktales will probably lead to more shows including HOPEFULLY a frank and matt lead Darkwing Duck.. and even that’s in jeapordy since instead it might be done by Seth Rogan’s company who while not bad people and if their working on Frakn’s reboot great.. are not the people who spent three seasons setitng up a reboot in a unvierse they already spent three seasons deftly crafting. I DOUBT Frank won’t be involved since Let’s Get Dangerous was promoted to hell and back, but again given this is disney.. it worries me and I won’t be settled on this till we get conformation of a proper reboot with frank and matt at the helm.

Point is it was a rough year for animatoin even without covid taken into account pushing back seasons and forcing a change in work habits. But as this list attests even in the worst year in recenet memory, here’s hoping 2021 dosen’t say hold my beer, there was some damn fine animation, including some of the best i’ve ever seen and the shows that did leave or are getting ready to gave us one hell of a show. Before we get started one last bit of buisness for transparency: As I said i missed some shows and others I did watch but given despite this list’s sheer size it was still VERY tight, for the record each show got four nominees a piece, and some had even more episodes considered before widdling it down, and even at the 40 episode mark there were some tough cuts and by the end it was brutal. So here’s the show’s considered.

Shows Watched: Steven Universe Future, Infinity Train, Close Enough, She Ra, Ducktales, Amphibia, The Loud House, The Casagrandes, Rise of the TMNT, Animaniacs, Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Solar Opposites, Bojack Horseman, The Owl House, The Midnight Gospel Shows That Did Not Make the Final List: The Loud House, The Casagrandes, Animaniacs, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, Adventure Time: Distant Lands, and Solar Opposites. Final note: all episode’s i’ve done reviews of at the time of this list will have links in the title to said reviews in case your curious So with that in mind , here’s my top 20 list, part 1.. becasue these posts are going to be long as hell so I needed to split up gang. On with the show after the cut as this is a really damn long one

20. Fragments (Steven Universe Future) “I bow to your strength.. my Diamond” Steven Unvierse’s final act was a masterstroke. The show ended with every major conflict resolved as the Diamonds decided , if only for Steven’s sake at first, to change their ways and helped him restore the corrupted gems, while Lars made it home. Our heroes were FINALLY, after seasons and almost two in-story years, as Steven “Finally Done, Finally Us, Finally Me”, the last part being especially pogniant since, while done thanks to a horrifying action on whites part, his breif seperation PROVED there was nothing of rose left; She’s gone. So Future uses this cleverly: With the conlfict of the movie resolved things were still very nice.. but eventually Steven started breaking down piece by piece: As the series went on it became clear what it was: A deconstuction of some of the less healthy part of the mostly fairly healthy and wonderful main show. It showed just what happen when someone whose put his identity into having some kind of destiny, someone whose felt their purpose in life is to make other people’s better and solve their problems and be a good person.. has no issues to solve. Oh sure there’s an antagonist here and there and Jasper refuses to change or admit no third great gem war is coming and that peace really has come.. but his family are finally happy with who they are, and are moving on with their lives. As someone whose had people move on without them and whose clunt to people this hits close to home.. hits close to home a lot.

So as the season went on Steven clung to everything, taking it VERY badly when Lars and Sadie not only revealed their attempt at a relationship failed after years of build up, and never told steven because they thought it wasn’t his buisness, which is true to a point as them breaking up isn’t anything to do with him but someone should’ve told him it was amicable given the amount of shit he’s seen between you two, just saying. But it still meant a good chunk of his friends leaving town, and him, behind. Attempts to fillt his gap with tv watching or gardneing, aka what the crew amazingly dubbed “Depression Hobbies:”, a term that hits close to home, failed and then a far WORSE attempt to fill the void in his life by proposing to connie failed.. she turned him down firmly, but gently recognizing this was a terrible idea, they were too young, and he was clearly going through some stuff. As garnet put it “Your partner is your compliment, not your missing piece”. Another beautiful term to stick in my brain.

So as if this wasn’t bad enough his body started mutatating and it turned out the pink form he’d gained was actually supposed to just be his body’s version of adrenline, but since he’d spent years in constnat struggle, his body was treating his emotinal stress like do or die situations with predictable results. We’ll get to that more in a bit but needless to say steven’s family were concerned and Greg returned from managing Sadie to TRY and help his son.. only to drive a wedge between them as Greg’s Smothering Parents seemed like the life Steven never had, instead of obnoxious people who refused to reconcile with their son even decades later despite plenty of effort on greg’s end and Greg having to raise a child alone with only marginal support from the gems at best at first. But Greg’s tragic inablity to see his son was hurting, as with everyone elses lead to him nearly getting them hurt in a car accident and thus this episode. After getting chewed out by the gems, who tragically simply don’t realize what’s wrong with steven, can’t figure out why themselves and he refuses to tell them, Steven runs off, to the one person who would never tell the gems where he is and the last place they’d expect him to go at his lowest: Jasper. And thus we get one of the darkest and moodiest episodes of the show’s long history.

After having lost a lot of his sense of peace of mind: his best friends are gone, his girlfriend is next, his parents and sister are constantly busy, there’s no one for him to turn to. Steven NEEDS someone like him and while his family is trying they just don’t know how to reach him and deep down he dosen’t WANT them to. Like me at times, shocker I know, he fears deeply that if they knew some of the flaws about him, some of the problems he’s had, they’d hate him. When as time would bear out for both of us, as my first stint of therapy near the end of colllege proved, it just means they understand you better and can HELP YOU.

So instead he turns to Jasper, and he does so for good reason: He wants to control his power and emotions.. the problem is Jasper dosen’t WANT what Steven wants. Steven wants to feel godo again and feel healthy and be the person people want him to be. Jasper.. wants a fight. She wants a diamond, someone to serve, someone stronger than her who will LET her be what she feels she’s meant to be: a warrior, a destroyer, a breaker of worlds. So she slams that steven shaped peg into a round hole, and it’s horrifying and uncomfortable to see our hero turned from a loveable hero.. to a power obssed, almost vegeta-esque asshole .. in short she’s made him into the very thing he spent years fighting against, all because he’s so scared of himself he can’t face himself. It shows just how bad things have gotten: that steven’s hates himself SO MUCH, that he’d rather become something worse than face the truth and let his family help him. So convinced they don’t need him that he needs to be something ELSE.

And so tons of training, abuse and hard labor lead to the moment Jasper and fans had been waiting for: a rematch between the two. And.. it’s easily one of the series best fights. For a series that’s at it’s core about ending the cycle of violence and often big exchanges of words and someone emotinally healing are treated as big as victories in combat.. the show has some of the best fight scenes in cartoons period, and this being the penultimate one, we’ll get to the last one next time, it’s a brutal, dbz style slugfest, something unlike the other fights in the show, with two opponents full of rage and hate going at it with everything they have.. ending in Steven, for one breif terrifying moment having BECOME what his grandmothers and mother used to be: A sadstic monster drunk on their own power “Your right jasper, I WAS holding back”

But when we next see Steven, running into the house and ingoring his rightfully concerned family..... he’s not that guy anymore. He’s back to who he was at the start of the episode: A scared teenager who deeply hates himself and who wants to be better but is ironically shutting out the only people who can help him. And one.. whose committed murder. This was a VERY bold move to make: Steven KILLED SOMEONE. Sure it was shattering so it got past censors, but in his lowest moment.. steven did the one thing that to someone who treasures all life, is anthemia to him: he killed, did what his mother did before she changed, did what his aunts have done countless times to countless worlds. And it horrifes him, with him desperate to bring jasper back and using everything he has, his powers and his aunts essences, to try and fix his mistake. And unlike anyone else in his postion he succeeds.. and Jasper, ignoring steven’s attempts to apologize is surprised at first at being shattered, knowing what happened.. befor bowing proudly, FINALLY getting what she was REALLY after: A diamond to serve. And steven can only gaze in horror at what he’d become and at the realization he can’t go back from this and he has no idea what to do now. An utterly grippling, utterly terrifying character piece with some of Zach Callistons best character work in the show’s storied history, with Steven shifting from being drunk on his power to utterly broken at having broken jasper. One of the series finest moments.. only topped by some things the series proper did.. and some more on this list.

19. Perils of Peekablue (She Ra and the Princesses of Power)

“They are my people. Which means most of them have sworn revenge against me at some point “ She Ra was easily one of the best shows of the 2010′s. While it started out excellent, and pretty gay, it ended being a masterpiece, and fabulously gay, as is befitting something related to He Man in some way.

A masterful space opera, She Ra had some great bones in a thrilling love story, great humor, great action and wonderful characters most of them main and supporting going through some form of development. It was a wonderful, magical show and I look forward to Noelle giving Lumberjanes the series treatment, both because the series concept is frankly better built for an ongoing tv series than a monthly comic, and because after this series she has my utmost faith in whatever she does. Also her story about how she both came to terms with her sexuality and met her partner was VERY lovely. Seriously check it out. Also her partner was the one who co wrote another entry on this list, just a fun fact. Point is this show was awesome. But as I said part of the show’s strength was it’s character and that shines on this day in the limelight episode covering what’s going with the rebellion since She Ra shot off into space to rescue her best friend. We do get to see the best friends squad breifly, but their simply heading home: With Catra rescued and on the path to being a better person, and firmly in adora’s lap because again this show is wonderously gay and because it annoys her and Catra gets off on that, our heroes are wondering how everyone else is fairing. So we see that, as with the Rebellion not doing so good against Horde Prime, our heroes seek the solution to their problems with the same solution homer simpson always uses:

Well okay less starting a new life and more getting the help of the mysterious prince peekablue, who I now realize is where the whole pikablue name for merril probbaly came from.. or maybe nerds making things up in the 90′s werne’t that creative. You decide!

So we get the ragtag team of Mermista, Seahawk, Scorpia and Perfuma, as the quartet try to bluff their way to the prince for help. Naturally we get Seahawk being seahawk, i.e. an awesome ham with a voice way older than he looks, Mermista being annoyed by that and being forced to admit she tried out pyromania to see what it’s like, which naturally is the most romantic thing Seahawk’s heard in his whole life.. as well as some VERY charming ship tease between Scorpia and Perfuma as Scorpia enrouages her the two bond and Scorpia finally likes someone who both likes her back and isn’t so obssed with her sorta ex and tied up in her own issues a relationship is impossible. Look I was suprised she found someone else as everyone here, but i’m happys for her. She’s the nicest person on this show and is now dating the second nicest person on this show. It’s nice okay. 2020 didn’t give me much nice, it gave me the emotoinal equilvent of being constnatly stung by hornets.

We also get a lovely musical number from Scorpia about being a spy.. and the revelation Peekablue.. is just Double Trouble. THEIR BACK BABY. It was nice for them to make a comeback for one last apperance and they do provid vallid information.. but prove to not be too useful despite this both due to their habit of being only out for themselves, hence setting up an elaborate cabaret act under the ocean.. and because Mermista got chipped by the crowd, so now our heroes are stuck in a giant coffin surronded by the thing she can manipulate. It’s only through a harrowing sacrifice by scorpia that Perfuma and Seahawk escape but with their sorta partners now brainwahsed to the other side. To amp up the tension back home.. things are even worse as Spinerlla, whose been brainwashed for several episodes and seriously worrying her wife Netossa... has made her move and with the rest of the rebellion’s leadership gone, chipped everyone but Frosta and King Micah, who dosen’t last long, meaning not only do our two remaning heroes BARELY escape, but the horde now has, between both plot lines, four really heavy hitters, as later episodes would bear out that Spinerlla is basically the red tornado when it comes to wind powers. Point is perils is a fun, breather episode... that then turns into a still fun but also heartbreaking episode as our heroes loose and loose bad and their only hope is in our ohter heroes making it back to htem in one piece.

18. 100% No Stress Day (Close Enough) “Long story short I owe them three grand” Close Enough.. has not had the easiest existence. It was greenlit in 2017, used it’s pitch reel as the trailer meaning everyone thought it was MUCH farther along, was meant for TBS but got shelved because the show it was to be paired with, The Cops, was created by sexual predator Louis CK. And since he came up and h’es primarily responsible for this show getting shelved for so long... Louis CK is a bastard. He harassed women, literally and metaphorically waved his dick around to show his superiority, knew he could get away with it, and ACTED contrite when caught and rightfuly punished for it by loosing everything.. then has spent the last year or so TRYING to mount a come back, with the help of Dave Chapelle who I lost ALLLLL respect for in recent years, despite not having apologized or done anything that resembles him having actually learned his fucking lesson or tells me that, could he get away with it, he wouldn’t just do it again. I’m taking time out of this unrelated thing ot make sure he does not get ANY power back, as too often preadatory or abusive assholes get away with this and get right back to doing stuff, like say Doug Walker, who I only bring up to remind people he’s a bad person who enabled worst people and abused a lot of innocent critics, and let htem lovingly euologize a man he knew was a preadator in life without telling any of them about said behavior, which he coudl’ve done without outing the victim to the world against her wishes. Because as another episode we’ll get to next time briliantly put it

But now i’m done reminding people of assholes, I can get back to what’s really important: The fact this show is a goddamn miracle. Not only is it as good as I hoped, which let’s face it in this year it was just as likely the show would be the video equilvent of scabies, but it got RENEWED. Turns out it’s being delayed.. was a blessing in disguise as it sidestepped being part of a failed animation block, and instead go to be the first adult animated show on HBO Max with tons of promotion. And judging by the future lineup of adult animated programming.. it’s probably going to be the ONLY good one for a while as other offering includes the prince, about life with the royal family, and a show about a 12 year old whose constantlly going thorugh trauma because they apparently did not get the irony when watching moral orel and also skipped the entire third season. And possibly got some brain damage I dunno. Hopefully will lead to much better shows down the line and actually gets a second chance at life, and even if it clocks in at only two seasons, it’s still a damn miracle and I will acknolwedge it.

So yeah as I said the show is fantastic and was one of my faviorites this year. The show treads some familiar terroitory as it does use the formula from Quintel’s “Regular Show”: Normal problems that spiral into bizzare chaos that still has it’s own effed up internal logic. The thing that honestly makes it BETTER in my opinon, is the passage of time. Quintel is no longer the brighted eyed fresh out of college and menial job guy he was: he’s married with a kid, and that fully informed this project, as instead of being about doofing around in your 20′s, it’s about the pressures of hitting your 30′s: from aging to keeping your relationship fresh to all the perils that come with parenting, to missed opportunities you deeply regret. There’s a lot of good stuff they dig into here, but it never overdies the comedy, simply ads a bit of depth to it. And regular show wasn’t LACKING that by any means, i’m not bashing the show.. i’m just saying Close Enough is starting at the level Regular Show was at at it’s best.. and could easily and handily suprasss it with time it now has.

And I was first given a good and proper introduction via this episode, as it leaked beforehand due to a french animation festival and I couldn’t help reviewing it, as i’d waited quite some time. But honestly while I like the first episode in the all in the show proper, quilty pleasures.. I feel this is a WAY better first episode and shoudl’ve been swapped with Quilty, as it introduces things even better and lets the whole cast shine, and thus is one of two close enough episodes on this list. The episode starts with Emily, the stable but stressed and anxious half our our main couple at the doctors office where we get a great barrage of jokes off the bat, from the laundry setting a blaze leading to one of the series best lines

Naturally this has lead to her body constnatly sleep fighting .. while she’s awake, so Josh, her husband and loveable doofus, offers to take care of errands so she dosen’t implode from the stress. This also displays one of the series best assets: While Josh and Emily are an optimistic and impulsive idiot and a stressed out, often voice of reason.. they actually LOVE each other. It’s like a far more healthy of early seasons homer and marge, where BOTH get in over their head but both clearly love and respect each other, and while Josh CAN be irresponsible.. he still holds down a decent job (Though Emily is more of the breadwinner and her job provides the insurance), is attentive to their daughter candace, and WANTS to be repsonsible. Trust me after countless dom coms where i’ve had to restrain from yelling “GET A DIVORCE” at the screen, it’s nice the tide is turning and Bob’s Burgers has become more of the norm couple wise than the exception. But yeah so the main group splits up: Josh takes candace and his best friend and local weirdo played by Jason Mantzokus every series needs, and easily my favoirite character, Alex to do errands while Bridgette, Alex’s ex husband, Emily’s best friend and both the bbay of the bunch and the most irresponsible one.. gets her high to help her relax.

Both plots are really great: The boys and candace run into a ham shortage, a joke that actually plays better in the pandemic age, and stripper clowns because in the series best gag so far, Alex explains via flashback he bet them they couldn’t make a dog, and one did so.. using his dick.

Just in case you were wondering if JG was enjoying the fact he could use adult humor now, though another part of the series charm is while it freely makes more adult jokes, it dosen’t ever get into gross or dudebro territory. It just means the censors are down and they don’t have to hide beer as soda anymore. They also have to tangle with some hamburgalers who are reselling the meat at rock bottom prices and creating the shortage.. and who deny being hamburgalers despite their tactics being backing up into houses with a large van and stealing hams. OUr heros avoid becmonig meat and naturally end up both in a car chase and then a bet for their lives in a game of Ladder World, josh’s latest game. Meanwhile Emily blazes it and we get a great getting high montage, as it shows BRidgette’s idea does genuinely help a bit.. until they run into Timothy, the teacher at cadance’s school who I hope gets an increased roll as he’s always a delight and this is his best apperance. Depsite the understandable awkwarndess and paranoia of running into your kids teacher while high, being an open minded guy Timothy offers them wine and then weed and even takes Emily punching him when her trip takes a bad turn, giving her a stern but fair “bitch use your words!” before the next seen has him helping her through her issues with some solid advice, allowing her to arrive in home just in time to save her husband and the cave goblin who lives in her house from clown strippers and meat gangsters.. which sounds like one hell of a gay porno. All in all a solid, always hilarous, always charming ep that shows the series off at it’s best.

17. How Santa Stole Christmas! (Ducktales)

“No, no.. Christmas is a SAD story?”

This is my third and hopefully FINAL time talking about this one, though given it has a high chance of showing up on the series best of list, probably not. Not that I mind, this is a VERY good episode, I just don’t have anytihing new left to say. It’s a heartwarming, fresh, engaging christmas special that uses the characters perfectly and for once actually strips down the cast effectively instead of making you wonder where everyone else is, while still giving everyone an apperance. It also has Webby giving Lena (And Violet) an adorable cheek smooch when delivering her parents and I will never not find that fucking precious. Plus it’s gay as hell with plenty of gay subtext between Scrooge and Santa, a sentence I never thought i’d say but i’m so glad i’ts my job to get to type things like that, and said kiss so that helps. But even besides that it’s just REALLY damn good. Again i’m leaving this short both because i’ve talked about this twice now, once when it came out as I do regularly for ducktales and again for my best christmas specials list, but it’s really that good and made it damn high on my bet christmas specials list and is only so low here.. because despite being a terrible year in every other respect we got some REALLY good episodes this year. So yeah this one’s a classic, I love it but i’m tired of talking about it till at least next december. Moving on.

16. Finale (E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shreddy or Not, Anatawa Hitorijanai, and Rise) Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Oh and Blue your leader now” As I mentioned in the intro. Rise of the TMNT was unjustly canceled this year and even worse got it’s season order chopped in half and was given just weeks to throw together a finale. So it’s remakrable that not only was the season pretty damn good, having the series usual problems of sometimes overdipping into the boys stupidity hence the episode where everyone but Raph keeps eating poison, but also had both great character arcs in Baron Draxum’s reformation and Splinter getting more and more fleshed out and more screne time, and great laughs. Seriously Clothes Don’t Make The Turtle, aka that episode where our heroes end up trapped in an 80′s dress up montage, BARELY didn’t make the list.

And as a longtime fan of the franchise I couldn’t be happier this fresh take, which I was aprhensive about at first because it looked like yet another dumbed down teen titans go ripoff, and given it was dumb to begin with... but instead was a fun action comedy with a lot of really unique and intresting ideas. And despite the rush to finish.. they delivered one hell of a finale and on the high chance season 3 dosen’t happen... it’s a hell of a note to go out on. First things first: yes i’m counting multi parters as one episode. Not more seralized shows like SU Future or Infinity Train, where events can flow in and out, but stories that are clearly one big story, in pieces like the old days. Since hour long episodes of shows are fair game, I felt it only fair that multi parters around the same length as an hourlong special be given the same treatment. Not that any hourlongs made it this year, sorry fans of Obsidian and “Let’s Get Dangerous”, though both are throughly EXCELLENT episodes this was just a tight list.

Okay good. So yeah the finale, split over four episodes, is an epic: taking plot threads from all season and series and weaving them into a well paced, emotoinal, finale. Like previous more serious episode the comedy’s downplayed.. but it doesen’t feel like an entirley diffrent show and works well, and the always great fluid animation was kicked up to 11 for this one. So to make a long story short: in this series shredder is a demonic set of armor, but came back wrong at the end of last season when the food clan revivied him, so while the clan now has him back, they can’t really use him. And current head Foot Recurit, a spunky foot recruit whose failed to rank up despite being tough and ambitious and worthy of it, is at a loss how to reviive her master. The turltes, naturally, end up accidently blundering into the solution as they head into Splinter’s head to find the info to beat Shredder. The show gives splinter easily one of , if not the best, backstories he’s ever had: While at the start the character was highly annoying, being a lazy asshole who didn’t train the boys and did nothing.. the show eventually give us valid reasons WHY he’s like this: he didn’t like being turned into a rat by big bad of season 1 Baron Draxum and thus has depresion over that, had quit fighting since he’d been forced to be a cage fighter by his ex for a while, his ex being a giant spider just in case you thought this would be remotely normal an forgot what show we were talking about and genrally just had no horse in the tight training he usually does in most continuties.

This episode adds another, heartbreaking lair: We find out back when he was Hamato Yoshi, Splinter’s mom left to ward off shredder when he was a boy.. and thus never came back and presumibly died. Understandably he had no time for the clan at that point, constantly defying his grandfather.. and why should he have time for them? They took his mom away for a thankless duty sacrificing herself to stop something he had no way of knowing was real, another reason he never trained the boys. And his grandfather rather than be AT all apologetic clearly, via his actions, thought of this as some great honor and was baffled why Yoshi would have no intrest in repeating his mother’s actions or have any sense of honor, duty or even love for a man who as far as he could tell, threw his mom to the wolves and had no regrets about it. So we see Yoshi as both a rebellious teen and as a movie star throwing out his grandpa.. we see those in reverse of course, but the later scenes give context to those showing why Yoshi was so rude.. because he lost his mom and it still hurts him. HOwever helping her frees the shredder.. but also Karai who bizarely, in this continuity is not only an aincent ancestor of theres but a firm ally instead of either a deadly enemy or a fremeny of sorts. Or Splinter’s dang daughter, one of 2012′s best plot elements.. that was then wasted by turning her into a snek for a while because that show really went off the rails. So it quickly turns from a heartwarming and awkard family reunion.. to our heroes and karai barely escaping with their lives as shredder demolishes the lair, and Draxum, now a good guy after a season’s worth of wonderful chracter development, and Splinter stay behind, with Draxum cleverly bluffing and pretending ot be evil again.. only to try and take out shredder.

Meanwhile we get this series take on “the turtles going to teh woods to retreat” as Raph beats himself up for being a bad leader and our heroes learn to tap into their hamato nimpo.. which basically means super magic ninja powers which allows them to bring back their classic weapons and enhances their magic, as it was never in teh weapons but in them all along. Also April gets Karai in her, phrasing, and a glowing boost to her bat. The result.. is one of the best fights of both the year and the franchise PERIOD, which is what got me to catch up to see the finale because I saw a fan video synching it up to “Spin and Burst”.. and while not a naruto fan.. that song is fucking awesome and that video showed off an utterly marvelous fight. See for yourself

youtube

Seriously I wasn’t kidding. I’ve been a fan of this franchise since 2003. This is one of the best sequences in it’s history with or without the added soundtrack: The fighting is fast, frentic, beautfully animated and cool to watch and perfectly combines the series humor, with our heroes giving out quips and callbacks at the right times, with it’s fast paced and wonderous action. It also shows how far our heroes have come: while PART of it is them having super mystic powers unlocked.. they both had to work to reach those powers, and spirtually rather than phsycially,in the third part, but each power is merly an upgraded versoin of their old weapon powers, ablities they’ve spent the entire series mastering, paticuarlly leo who went from BARELY being able to work his portals to using teleport spam here. While they did pull a power BOOST out of their ass, it would’ve meant nothing had they not been anymore skileld than when they started and it makes the fight feel rewarding and impactful. And it ends with the hamot clan as a whole, with new ally foot recurit aka cassandra jones ina great last minute reveal that they CLEARLY didn’t have time to build up better, and smoke that bitch. Also Leo’s leader now bye. It’s just a damn good finale and I dind’t even get into all the great character stuff, including the great payoff of Casey’s face turn after seeing just how much of a monster the man she always wanted to serve is, and how he’s hurting Splinter, who ACTUALLY cares about her well being despite being an enemy. It’s just good stuff that fits the franchise like a glove but iwth the series own unique stamp on it. Nuff said.

15. Toadcatcher (Amphibia) “Your not upset because you lost the fight, your upset because you lost your friend! Your upset that Anne stood up to you and things between you will never be the same again.” Amphibia was one of the first shows I covered reguarlly and along with Ducktales one of the most popular.. so yeah it’s weird it not only is low on the list, but this is the only represtintive. But this was a high volume year for quality and while the show had other standout episodes like gravity falls tribute “Wax Museum”, Marcy’s introduction “Marcy at the Gates” and noir patische “Little Frogtown”, as this list already shows it was a really tight race. It dosen’t help that while Season 2 isn’t terrible.. it’s a bit more uneven, and unlike season 1 it’s weaker stretches of episodes weren’t as easily covered, as instead of airing every weekday, it was a weekly release. Which I prefer, as it means they aren’t being dumped out en masse and are given room to breathe and the passage of time feels more warranted when it’s spread out over a few months intead of a few weeks. It just meant the weaker episodes stood out more and drained on me more.. but it also meant the stronger ones were all the more a breath of fresh air. And nowhere was this more apparent as teh worst episode of the season, and series, thus far, Quarallers Pass.. was paired with Toadcatcher, an utterly marvelous episode and followup to ironically the series best so far, Reunion.

This episode catches us up with Sasha, Anne’s former best friend who tried to kill her in a sword fight, one where the entirety of wartwood including her adopted grandpa was at sake and Sasha knew this and did not care. She then followed it up by letting go when Anne was depseratley holding on, with the help of her new family, to save Sashsa’s life.. and Sasha let go. I discussed the full implications in the review so I will avoid trigggering anyone, and I mean tha tin the medical sense anyone using it ironiclaly or to mock people using it as it’s intended can get fucked, but she clearly didn’t intend to make it, but Grime saved her and spirted her off. So we catch up with both licking their wounds from the ordeal: Sasha has decided to take the Jasper route of horrible coping mechanisms and is training constnatly, readily kiling dolls of the plantars but still unable to truly hurt Anne, burying her feelings over her guilt and her best friend rightfully turning on her and then trying to save her anyway despite Sasha trying to gut her. Grime.. is binging on the wonderfully terrible teen soap Supscion Island, coming back this january on the cw, that was intorduced last season and generally not carring the king has his best men, women and nonbinary folks out for his head.

So both issues come to a head as General Yuaan, scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the great Newtopian Army, and she’ll never miss a chance to say that, has come for Grime whose in no condition and has no will to fight back. He also finally confronts Sasha when she snaps at him for it, pointing out she’s simply burying the fact that she lost Anne, things won’t be the same, and she won’t deal with it. The episode adds real depth to grime, going from an intresting but semeingly just evil overlord.. to someone who worked his way out of a fighting pit to be given a thankfless if cushy job by the same people who threw him in in the first place, someone who to my shock at the time.. CARES about his protege. While allowing Sasha in was simply to their mutual advantage at first.. he’s grown to genuinely care about her as his friend and offers to let Yuaan have him so she can be free. but Sasha refuses. Despite her issues.. she CARES about the old toad and together, and using Yaan’s ham against her, they beat her, and decide to rebuild their army... after Grime finishes his soaps of course. Can.. relate. A thorughly good, throughly emotinally episode that dosen’t lack the series humor but does have a depth and rhthym to it that the series has at i’ts best.

14. Quack Pack! (Ducktales) Jesus I was so tired when making this I nearly forgot an entry. And shame on me as this was one of the best episodes of an already amazing Season. Season 3 is easily ducktales best and i’ve been proud to cover it. It’s been my most popular feature and while not every episodes been GREAT, only one’s really not been very good, and none have been out and out bad. While it may be the end of the shows run and not without problems, they still have trouble ballancing the adults at times if not nearly as bad as before, to the point Launchpad just sorta vanishes after Let’s Get Dangerous outside of the Christmas Specail that takes place before the season anyway, and Louie is often written VERY badly.. but i’ve talked about these things all season in my reviews.

Point is those faults are overwhelmed by the strengths; The character ballance is better, several side characters have gotten tons of payoff to their arcs and more development, and the main plot is easily the best in the series history: By having essentially one main plot with two focuses, before they merge at the halfway marker, it allows the season to be far more streamlined after the really messy way season 2′s plots were handled. It just shows the show at it’s best and has produced amazing episode after amazing episode and it was really hard to widdle it down to the ones that got selected here and even then one got left out.

But one boost I haven’t mentioned is their wilingness to take risk. While past seasons had flashback episodes and what not this one, in hindsight, has some of the more risky episodes of the series, ones you really COULDN’T do in seasons 1 and 2: a whole episode flashback to the twins, basically taking our present day kids out for the whole season, an hour long special focusing on what, to fans not familiar with darkwing duck, is simply a very engaging side character and his new sidekick.. and launchpad (The ducks aren’t OUT of the special, but they aren’t the focus and aren’t around for most of the climax). An episode with really dark emotional moments.. which isn’t unsuaul for a disney show, see next time, but for one so close to their chest it was a lot. They were settled in enough to take plenty of risks and it’s paid off. It’s not to community levels of experimentation, but it’s still nice, intresting breaks from the usual adventures.

And one of the best and boldest of these was Quack Pack. Taking our heroes and plopping them into a TGIF sitcom. Of which this plot not only happened TWICE this year, three times if you count the entirety of beef house, which I do so let’s call it three, but both cartoon examples are on this list. But both tackle it in diffrent and intresting ways so both got on here. IN this case.. during a stock plot about a family photo, complete with Donald having his Don Cheadle voice back, we get some great parodies of convetions of les.s. good sitcomes nad even some of the greats: there’s the constnat catcphrases (ranging from a sticomy version of Della’s “On the moon”, to Beakly’s “I’m not a spy.. which sh’es understandably inscnesed to find out is her catchphrase) ,and even the wacky neighbor with our lord and savior Goofy showing up in the roll, as a nice nod to the more sitcom side of the Disney Afternoon. We just get a lot of good gags.. until Huey becomes aware, starting to realize things are off, with his guidebook being empty and things just not adding up. We even get a great bit of him being forced to do a disney channel/that 70′s show dance transtion only to react with exesntial horror. Naturally, given their lives,a genie did it, Gene, played by Jaleel White in a pefect bit of casting. Having been imprisoned in his lamp since the 90′s. Gene’s a bit behind on how sticoms work, but was just granting a wish, Donald’s wish, which the family figures out by trigggiring a flashback, Goofy VERY MUCH included. where we find out it was, unsuprisngly Donald’s fault.. though in his defense, and in the best line of the episode, when confronted about wishing for a normal life “I wish for that 30 times a day. How was I supposed to know a lamp was under me this time?”

And we find out why and it’s heartbreaking: Donald just wants a normal family, where everyone’s safe and, most tellningly “No one gets lost.”. It’s the climax of a series long HATRED of going on these adventures. For everyone else it’s fun, thriling, good stuff.. to him.. it’s not only a reminder of what cost him 10 years with his sister and his adopted sons their mom for that time, but a reminder of a lot of pain and humilation. To him he just wants the normal life he used to have back, despite that not being an option and his kids to be safe and his sister not to leave again. Granted his refusal to undo the wish is selfish.. but i’ts understandable. And while the rest of them try to break the wish, and end up fighting the horrifying audience it’s GOOFY who gets donald to see all families are diffrent and that there is no normal: just what you make and enjoy. It makes donald realize that as hectic as his life is.. it’s his life, his family.. and maybe. it’s not so bad. After years of denying how much he used to love adventuering.. he realizes part of him stilld oes and no amount of turning against it will fix what he lost... he just has to enjoy NOW. It’s good solid character development for my favioriote member of the cast, and overall a fun, genre spoofing episode that pokes fun at the genre but reallyg ets how it works.

13. Growing Pains (Steven Universe Future)

“ What do I do? How do I move on from all the stuff I've been through? How do I live life if it always feels like I'm about to die?! “ So yeah big recap of steven’s emotional well being to get into future earlier, but rewinding a bit, this one takes place with our hero at a low point. Not “oh god I comitted murder what am I now oh god” low as we got to earlier and the series itself wold get to later, these lists make time warped and space bendeble, but still pretty damn bad. As mentioned before Steven tried proposing to connie, not helped by Ruby and Sapphire both being fully on board, as both are hopeless romantics seprate but when combined as a Garnet their shared braincell can get working properly and has settings other than “emotoinal pain, peppy (ruby), a bit distant but kind (Sapphire) and horny”. While it was as beautiful a propsal as you’d expect from Steven.. Connie gently rejected it since you know, he also wanted to be permafused and their not even legal marrying age left. He’s 17.. despite what this episode claims. She’s 15 or 16. They aren’t ready and she knew it not even ruling it out entirely, just saying “not now”. But as this episode bears out.. Steven really isn’t an emotinal state where he could properly process that way and after shooing her away, even though she WANTED to talk it over and genuiely make sure he was okay as she damn well knew this wasn’t easy on him, but also knew it’d probably be bad to press him while he was clearly in pain. So like everyone else she made the mistake of leaving. So Steven’s binging on junk food, and bemoaning the fact that even dogcopter is getting married.. also Dogcopter is gay. Given the show he’s a fictional character in, you THINK i’d of been less suprised but you’d be wrong. Point is steven isn’t dealing well and is going pink and with the gems gone for the weekend, and Greg unavaliable due to being busy as a manager, Steven is getting worse and his body is starting to warp. Thanfkully connie comes to check up on him and insits he see a doctor.. and since her mother’s a doctor and thankfully had a cancelation. Unthankfully it turns out, to Prianka’s understandable frustration.. Steven’s never been to a doctor. Which does make sense, Greg taking him in might’ve alreted authorties to his lack of schooling or his injuries from age 13 onward, plus he had no idea of knowing how his body would react to tests. That being said given by this point in the series Gems are well accepted and known around town and everyone loves and adores steven, Greg had no real excuse by this age especially after the second gem war. And that’s proven by the fact it turns out steven’s body has tons of internal scars which, due to him turning out to have a wolverine style healing factor, mean h’es alive and without brain damage, but still has plenty of internal scars. It’s a godo metaphor for his mental trauma: he came out of his various happenings ALIVE.. but not mentally okay and with PLENTY of ptsd. When Prianka asks him to list his traumas.. he dosen’t even get past season 1 before she’s understandably horrified, though she’s figured out exactly what’s causing his pink mode: as mentioned before his contstant life of danger and having the threat of a fight at any moment over his head for 2 solid years, maybe 3 given the third light game shows he still had a lot of work to do before the movie and future, and honestly still does at times during both, mean his flight or fight response has been shot so the adrenline charged pink form, meant to protect him from danger.. is triggering for EMOTIONAL pain and suffering.

Steven dosen’t take it well and keeps enlarging when pressed.. and accidently spills the beans about the proposal... and understandably, even if she was FULLY in the right can’t be around Connie: while she had every right to reject him, it dosen’t mean it hurts any less. Sometimes even when you do the absolute right thing.. it can still hurt to be on the receiving end of that. But Connie is still Connie, aka the most emotinally stable and mature person in the main cast very much including the sentient space rocks who are centuries older than her, so she called Greg who naturally dropped everything because his son needed him. It shows the genuine conflict, one, again that I’ve grappled with: Steven is so obssed with not boterhing those he loves, he fails to see they’ll help him when he needs it without a second thought. So Greg thankfully calms him down and taks over the failed proposal with no judgement or anything just support. Sadly things go downhill from here but it’s a good episode that turns the entire series on it’s head with some damn good character work.

12. Annhilation of Joy (The Midnight Gospel)

“Again? How Many times is this guy gonna die?” “Until he learns” The Midnight Gospel was a plesant suprise. Penndelton Ward’s return to animation after leaving Adventure Time, the show is a collberation between him and podcaster Duncan Trussel. It was a suprise both in how quickly it came together, and in how it’s real nature wasn’t properly expressed in the trailers: while the series does tell us the trippy adventures of Clancy, a 40 something “Spacecaster” who uses an illegal simulator to visit worlds to interview various people.. said interviews are expercts from Trusseul’s own podcast, the Duncan Trussel Family Hour, something this series has badly made me want to listen to. As such while dealing with zombie apocalypses, a quest to avenge a dead lover, being processed as meat and meeting death herself while looking for his hose, Clancy interviews his subjects, including Death herself, and talks on various subjects related to medation and spirutality, throughly fascenating interviews greatly woven into trippy visuals. Hopefully the show will be back for round 2 at some point as both Ward and Trussel are game, but for now the first season stands on it’s own as a throughly trippy, throughly wonderful blend of Trussel’s words and insight and Ward’s boundless imagination. And the best of these, narrowly beating out the final epsiode which uses an interview with Truseel’s late mother to inform clancy’s own actions, as Clancy’s Mom is dying from cancer same as Trussels tragically did. But I like this one slightly better due to it’s great blend of the subject with the plot. Once again Clancy is ignoring his pain, and his sister’s calls, by diving into the space vagina of his simulator, taking a weird form, and easily my faviorite of his shapeshifted forms of the season: a living rainbow that wouldn’t be out of palce in a pbs kids show, complete with the fact he makes musuical chimes when touched not unlike a children’s toy and has chosen this form to enter the simulator’s jail. It’s there he gets engagled, literally, with Bob and Jason. Bob is an angry, upset prisoner who chewed his own tounge out years ago, and Jason is his soul bird, a represntation of his pain bound to him by blue rope that Clancy got tangled in. So Clancy is taken along for the ride with them as every time Bob dies, the celestial beings in charge of the prison put him through weird emtional torment, pluck out his heard and weigh it against a feather plucked from jason.

Thus while Clancy and Jason have a spirited conversation about Buddishm and about not treaing spirutality like a game with levels and having to earn progress but as an emotinal journey, Bob goes through a buddishm inspried journey of his own, mixed with a bit of edge of tommorow. He dies, gets tourtured then resets.. but slowly learns to empathize, to let go of his anger and violence and help those around him. It’s an utterly mesmering journey to watch this angry green big headed man go from a violet convict who will gladly shoot and stab.. to a pacfisit eager to help those around him. And it’s thorughly convincing and backed wonderfully by the interview and easily a sign of what this weird and unconveintonal series can do at all cyllnders. Seriously Netflix you’ve been on a loosing streak decisionmaking wise. Make. More. Of. This.

11. Save the Cat (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) "C'mon Catra. You're not done. Not yet..."

God that image is unsettling. Anywho back to She-Ra, and somehow this is the second time i’ve had to rewind the progress of a season by about an episoide. Weird. Point is saved the cat is one of the most tightly packed and thrilling episodes of the series.. and the crux of Catra’s character arc. Before this Catra had hit her lowest point, having lost ..j well everything. She pushed everyone from adora, to the nonambigiously a couple trio, to her own best friends away through her shitty behavior and inferoirty complex and somenoe she THOUGHT was her friend.. turned on her for money. Oh and as an added stomp on the tail all that betryal, all the blood spilled in her name.. was for nothing. Horde Prime made her irrelvant: she couldnt’ manipualte him because a combination of a god complex and an army of loyal drones meant he had nothing to hide and eyes everywhere. She had nothing. Eveyrthing she did every sacrifice she made every worse and worse turn she made a s a person... amounted to NOTHING. So it was at this point she and glimmer, despite you know killing Glimmer’s mother, were forced to work together.. and Catra sacrificed herself both to get Glimmer safe and because for once.. she wanted to do something right. Her self loathing, some of it warranted, a lot of it already there from an abusive childhood, left her with one option: sacrifice herself and HOPE, something good can come of it, Apologize to Adora, hte one person she ever loved and hope she can at least surivive this. Naturally, Adora having seen her friend/love of her life has not only REALIZED what she become, but sacrifice herself.. isn’t having this, and after an episode of repairs both on the ship and emotinally, our heroes are naturally, despite any personal hangups with her ready to save Catra. Naturally this hits snags. On Bow and Entrapta’s end, they accidently free a horde clone she mistakes for hordak and, having no other real option and with the guy being useful, Wrong Hordak is born! I love me some Wrong Hordak. What a guy, makes you cry, und I did.

The main issue though is Adora let herslef be captured.. only to find Horde Prime is a sadstic bastard and has not only chipped Catra, but is using her newfound peace of mind to play with adora’s head, using Catra’s heartbreak from the past to manipulate Adora in the present.. and force them to fight because hey he’s a sadistic jackass with a god complex. They make their own fun. But Adora gets through to her .. only for Prime to decide fuck it and try killing her with Adora BARELY saving her with her power, and Catra, as she fades, wondering why Adora even bothered. And the why is simple.. as a wise fictional version of a wise president once said “Dying is easy young man, living is harder”. Not the last time that quote will be relevant in this top 20 list, but the point, and it was delebrate on Noelle Stevenon’s part, was to subvert this kind of thing> The bad guy gets redemption but then dies seconds later. Instead.. Catra has to LIVE with what she did and make up for it, become a better person and work for redepmtion, instead of just getting to end in some big blaze of glory. But at the same time.. it’s the better route. The harder one sure.. but she gets to have a life and to undo the damage and maybe for once.. actually live instead of just trying to surivive. IT was the right call in a series full of them.

But yeah the day is saved, our heroes have two new roomates and Catra weakly greats Adora.. but with genuine warmth for the first time in .. years I guess? I don’t know this series time span. Point is the healing and the ship tease for our finale can begin and this episode is a tense, well put together masterwork. The pacing really is what put it up this far, as it really ratchets up the tension, and being the last season, meant there was no guarantee anyone, including catra, was going to make it. Excellent stuff all around.

So that’s where we leave off for now. i’ll be PUTTING PART 2 HERE WITH A LINK. once i’ts finished For now watch this space and..

#best of 2020 #2020 #best of list #Steven Universe #Steven Universe Future #She Ra and the Princesses of Power #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rottmnt #ducktales #amphibia #the midnight gospel

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hobeymakar · 4 years

Text

My Lover | C. Parayko

Words: 2,356

A/N: this one is based off the music video for the song My Lover (Remix) by Not3s Ft. Mabel. In this, COVID never happened and the NHL schedule never changed. Also shoutout to my girls @hockey-and-wine @grenawitka and @pizzasloot for being my cheerleaders in the gc love you girls so much!

Warnings: swearing

You and your three best friends pull up to a local fall carnival near St. Louis to ring in the start of fall. The temperatures in the city have already started to drop which has already signaled the end of summer.

You get your tickets and start walking through the carnival, taking in the bright lights from the booths and the rides. You and your friends get on some rides and scream your asses off. You make your way to the booths with games and take your shot on one of the basketball games. You played on a youth basketball team back in the day, so you definitely can hold your own.

Just as you're about to take your first shot, you feel someone looking at you. You turn your head to the side and see Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues staring right at you. You shoot him a challenging look in response.

He turns his attention back to the game and his teammates Vince and Sammy keep stealing glances at you and your friends. You play the game but manage not to get enough points to get the prize. You turn your attention to Colton and see he got enough points to win the prize. He takes the prize and walks over to you with it.

"I'm not really a stuffed teddy bear kind of guy," he says, handing you the big teddy bear.

"Thank you. I'm flattered, but don't you have someone you know you can give this to?" you ask.

"I actually don't. It would just take up space in my apartment," he replies. "I'm Colton, by the way."

"I know who you are. I was at the Stanley Cup parade last year," you inform him.

"So you're a fan then?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I was a casual fan until the playoffs, then I became a bigger fan," you admit.

"Well since you know who I am, it's only fair I at least get to know your name," he suggests.

"I'm Y/N," you smile.

"Well Y/N, will you accept this teddy bear as a gift?" he asks.

"Sure," you nod, a smile on your lips.

You hand the teddy bear to your friend who takes it to your car.

Vince and Sammy finally walk up to the both of you.

"What brings you three to this fair?" you ask curiously.

"We got a few days off before our next game and we wanted to do something different," Colton replies, not letting the others answer.

"Well, I hope you guys have fun," you smile, knowing they'll probably want to have fun by themselves.

"Yeah no, you're not getting rid of us that quickly! It''ll be more fun if we do stuff all together!" Vince suggests, referring to your friends.

You look at your friends and see them nod and smile, letting you know they're on board with the idea.

"Alright, let's do it!" you smile.

You all start walking towards the rides, falling into conversations with each other.

“Can we stop at the concession stands? I want some cotton candy,” you ask.

Colton leads you to the concession stands to buy the cotton candy. You order the cotton candy and before you can pay for it, Colton hands the worker the money, causing you to whine.

“I wanted to pay!” you cry out.

“Too late now,” he replies, causing you to hip check him lightly.

The worker hands you the cotton candy and you take a piece and put it in your mouth, enjoying the taste of sugar on your tongue.

“Is it good?” he asks, as you all start to walk away from the stands.

You take a piece of the cotton candy and feed it to him. He eats the piece and smiles back at you. Your friends and his teammates just give each other knowing looks.

“You guys wanna go on the teacups?” Vince asks.

Everyone else agrees with the suggestion, leaving you and Colton alone to eat the cotton candy. You and Colton go to a nearby empty table and sit down.

“I can’t believe they really ditched us!” you giggle, shaking your head.

“They’ll come back after they’re done with the teacups,” Colton replies. "So what brings you to the fair?"

"I come here every year. I used to come with my parents when I was little, but now I just come with my friends," you explain.

"Funny how I've been in St. Louis for years now and I've never been here before," he explains.

"Well now that you know, you're gonna come back right?" you ask.

"It's obviously difficult with the schedule to come out here, but I wanna come back next year,” he explains.

“That’s great to hear,” you smile.

You two finish the cotton candy, just in time to see your friends and Colton’s teammates come back from the teacups.

“So where to next?” one of your friends asks, as you and Colton get up from the table.

“The bumper cars are right over there!” another one of your friends points out.

“Let’s do it!” you suggest.

The others agree and you make your way over to the bumper cars. You wait in line for a bit before being allowed into the bumper car rink. You get into cars and after a minute or so, the cars start and you all start trying to bump each other. Vince, Colton, and Sammy get super competitive and start trying to kill each other. You and your friends get competitive as well and you start bumping the shit out of each other. You spend the majority of the time laughing as you bump into everyone. After a few minutes, the ride ends and you guys all get out and start walking away. You and Colton walk ahead of everyone else and start walking to the main area of the fair.

“Alright guys, where do you want-”

You turn around and stop yourself in your tracks, when you notice your friends and Colton’s teammates are gone. They were behind you and Colton and decided amongst themselves to leave you two alone.

“I can’t believe they ditched us!” you groan, shaking your head.

“I guess it’s just us two then,” he replies, trying to fill in the empty space.

“So what do you want to do now?” you ask.

“We can play some games or we can get on some rides,” he explains.

“We can go play some games,” you suggest.

You two walk over to a line of games and you decide to play the water gun game. Colton pays the worker and you grab the gun. You start shooting the water but you’re having a hard time hitting the red target.

“Let me help,” Colton says, pressing himself behind you.

He puts his hand over yours and steadies the gun, aiming it at the water. He hits the target perfectly. You win the race and get another bear as a prize.

“Since you gave me the bear earlier, it’s only fair that I give you this one,” you explain.

“Like I said earlier, it would just take space at my apartment,” he replies, shaking his head.

“Your loss,” you tease, hugging the bear tightly.

“So where to next?” he asks.

“We can do the ferris wheel,” you suggest.

“Alright, let’s do it,” he smiles, leading you towards the ferris wheel.

You wait in line for a few minutes, before getting into a cart. You put the seatbelts on and you start feeling the cold breeze hit you as the night goes on.

“Are you cold?” he asks, wrapping his arms around you.

“Yeah,” you nod, resting your head on his shoulder.

The ride starts and you start seeing the view of the city.

“Isn’t the city so beautiful from up here?” you ask, taking in the view.

“Yeah it really is! My place has a nice view of the city too and I’m blown away by it every time,” he adds.

“You live in a high-rise? I might have to invite myself over sometime,” you tease.

“The view is ten times better with you in it,” he adds, kissing your forehead.

You lift your head up and feel the heat rise in your cheeks. You have no idea how to respond to that. You open your mouth but then close it, like a gaping fish.

“Y/N, can I kiss you?” he asks, cupping your cheek.

You nod sheepishly, not being able to form thoughts or words at the moment. He leans in and kisses you softly and you feel all the cliche bullshit that every teen romance and romcom talks about; the sparks, the butterflies, the hummingbirds singing. After your moment of temporary paralysis, you get with the program and kiss him back. Your hands make its way to the back of his head and you dig your fingers into his hair. You two keep kissing for a while before you finally break apart to breathe. You both take in the surroundings and notice you’re almost on the way down to the ground again. You straighten yourselves out and enjoy the last minute or so of the ride before coming off. You come off the ride holding hands and make your way back to the main area. Once you arrive there, you see your friends and Colton’s teammates show up.

“I see you two had fun,” one of your friends points out, referring to you and Colton holding hands.

“Yeah, you can definitely say that,” he replies, as you bury your face in his shoulder from embarrassment.

Your friends start talking about the time and how they have to go do stuff at home. They exchange numbers with Vince and Sammy, with Vince talking about them all hanging out soon. Your friends say goodbye and head towards the parking lot.

“And then there were three,” Colton announces.

“Actually, it’s getting pretty late. So, Dunner and I are gonna head out,” Sammy says, making it obvious what he’s trying to do.

“Yeah, we’ll see you around,” Vince adds, playing along.

They both say goodbye and head towards the parking lots.

“So now it’s just us,” he says.

"How are you getting back home?" you ask, hoping that his teammates weren't his ride.

“I was actually gonna take an Uber back,” he replies.

“Yeah no, I’ll take you back home,” you inform him.

There’s no way you’re gonna let him take an Uber back home, when you can drive him back to his place.

“You just want to see the view of the city from my balcony,” he teases.

“You caught me!” you tease back, giggling lightly.

“So you wanna head out now?” he asks, not wanting you to leave.

“Actually yeah. I wanna see if the view of the city from your place lives up to my expectations,” you tease.

“Lead me to your car then,” he smiles

You two walk hand-in-hand to the parking lot and towards your car. You get into the driver’s seat and he plugs his phone to the speakers. You drive out of the parking lot and make your way to his apartment in the city. After almost half an hour, you arrive at the parking garage under his building. You park in the garage and you both make your way inside the building. You take the elevator all the way up to his floor and he leads you towards his apartment.

“Welcome to La Casa de Parayko,” he smiles, opening the front door.

He gives you a quick tour of the place and it’s very luxurious. But you shouldn’t expect anything less from a multi-millionaire hockey player.

“So, where’s this view you’ve been talking about?” you ask.

“Right here,” he says, leading you towards the sliding door.

He opens the door to the balcony and you step outside. He shuts the door shut behind him and you’re immediately hit with the chilly autumn breeze. He comes from behind and wraps his arms around you. You place your hands over his, as he rests his head on your shoulder.

“You weren’t lying. This view is beautiful!” you cry out, loving the view of the Mississippi River and the Golden Arch.

“Not as beautiful as you though,” he replies, kissing your cheek.

You turn around in his arms and kiss him, throwing caution to the wind. He kisses back right away, keeping his hands firmly around your waist. After a few minutes, you pull away from the kiss, biting your lip.

“We have a game tomorrow night against the Avalanche, one of our biggest division rivals. If you’re free, I would love for you to come,” he explains, looking slightly nervous.

“Yeah I’m totally free, but I’m pretty sure it’s sold out already,” you reply, not wanting to get his hopes up.

“I can save you a ticket for the game under my name. Do you own a jersey of mine?” he asks.

“Actually no. I only have an old Backes jersey,” you inform him.

“Well I’ll have a jersey for you as well. You just have to go to the box office and say you have a ticket under my name,” he explains to you.

“Will I see you after the game?” you ask.

“Yeah, I’ll have somebody bring you back to see me,” he explains.

“Colton, I don’t know what to say. This is a lot,” you smile, not expecting all this to come out of going to the fair.

“I like you and I want to get to know you more, if you give me a chance,” he explains.

“So it’s a date then?” you ask, biting your lip.

“After the game, it’ll be,” he explains.

“What are we doing after the game?” you ask curiously.

“If I tell you, it’ll just ruin the surprise,” he teases.

“As much as I’d love to stargaze with you out here, it’s cold,” you inform him.

“Sure, we can go inside and watch a movie?” he suggests.

“Movies and cuddles? I’m definitely in,” you smile, kissing him sweetly.

You’re so glad you decided to go to the fair again this year.

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