#like i’ve only stopped listening to it to watch episodes of the show

[straightupsapphic]

someone posted the “crushing me” scene from rise of the pink ladies on twitter and altered my brain chemistry so I’m inflicting it on everyone i know and binging the show even though the reason i found out about it was because it got canceled how y’all doin tonight

anyway why is every good song now like under two minutes and also why do i only hear about sapphic shows after they’re canceled like?????

also ari notartomaso is so talented i want to vomit omfg I’m trying so hard not to be obsessed with them

[gay-dorito-dust]

hi sweetheart 🥺🥺 I love ur page so much!! Also I feel so thirsty to ur cannibal and reader things we need MORE and more PLEASE FEED US 🙏🏻🙏🏻🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

I will keep feeding you cuz I have some stuff in mind but I’d like to add some benjicot Blackwood brainrot into it also bc he’s been on my mind since the sneak preview for episode 3.

So I might as well do a little short piece for you right here cuz I can:

Since we’ve toyed with the idea that reader and Cannibal would/could have a telepathic bond, so what happens if reader gains a crush on someone?

Cannibal is extremely protective over reader, no man -or woman- is good enough for them in his eyes and will let that be known.

Let’s say you met benjicot by pure coincidence, whether it be by a Bracken boy being a cunt and you kicked him in the dick, or you just happened to run into him and find his shy awkwardness somewhat charming and endearing as you found yourself wanting to get to know him more and he with you.

However Cannibal sees this interaction and is immediately in your head saying; the Blackwood boy? While skilled with the sword the boy can barely put together a sentence in your presence, what do you find so appealing about that small friend?

And you’re like: he’s sweet and kind and strong but has a warriors heart.

Only for cannibal to respond with seconds later as your getting lost in Benjicot’s eyes, cutting your daydream of being his short: he’s a guy that you’ve barely known for five minutes and you’re already saying he has your heart? Small friend you must realise how dangerous this mentality is, for your sake and mine.

You mentally curse this telepathic bond of yours as you tried not to show Benji that you were far away in your head to listen to him talk about anything; so? I can always get to know him more of you stop butting in you overgrown lizard.

Cannibal growled at the insult from afar, watching you practically eat the awkward Lord Blackwood with your eyes; I don’t want to see your filthy fantasies mortal, your hormones are getting the best of you that I can smell it from where I am.

‘Would you like to come visit Raventree hall sometime soon?’ Ben’s calming voice pulled you from your mental argument with your dragon as you blinked at him before realising what he had just asked.

‘Oh yeah, I would love to but I don’t wish to intrude-‘

‘It’s honestly no harm,’ Ben cuts in, cheeks flushing red after realising how desperate he might’ve looked in wanting to see you more as he clears his throat, ‘what I mean is that I’m the one who offered the invitation and besides I’d like to think my aunt would come to enjoy your presence.’ He adds with the shrug of his shoulders to act nonchalant.

You could hear cannibal groan at the obvious tension between the two of you, complaining that it was burning his sensitive nose, but you only smiled at Benjicot softly and laid a hand on his bicep. ‘I’d love to Benji, I would be honoured. I shall send a raven whenever I can.’ You tell him and you couldn’t help but smile when he smiled, warmth flooding your chest as you both bided the other farewell and see you soon’s.

When you got back to Cannibal and needless to say if a dragon could raise a judgmental brow, you knew that’s what he was doing as he huffed.

I don’t approve. Cannibal growled in your head.

You never approve of anyone I’ve ever fancied. You retorted back as Cannibal gave you the silent treatment for the next week for thinking about the sweet nobleman of house Blackwood.

[loveluvrs]

third time's the charm l oscar piastri x reader

request/summary – Hellooo!! Would you be able to write an oscar piastri blurb with little examples of the reader showing him off and him getting all flustered? For example, drunk in a club with her friends / to make him feel more confident / ect..? 🫶

author's notes – idk if this was what anon was thinking of but this is what i imagined 😭

I walked into the paddock, hand in hand with Oscar. I was talking about the newest episode of the series I had been binge watching. Oscar, as usual, had settled into listening to me attentively, as I yapped on relentlessly without an end in sight. 

I stopped when I bump into Max’s mum and sister. His family was like a second family to me, and I hadn’t gotten a chance to see them yet since Oscar and I started dating. 

“Oh, hi! I’ve missed you guys so much. This is Oscar, you guys already know he’s my boyfriend,” I say excitedly as he reaches his hand out to greet them. “He loves the curry I make just like you guys do. Sometimes I think he may like it even more. I mean, he always begs me to make it whenever he’s visiting home,” I ramble on excitedly. 

“Ooookay, we should get going now. Nice to meet you,” Oscar says before dragging me along with him to Mclaren garage. “What happened? I was talking,” I ask with a pout. 

He laughs as he rolls his eyes playfully. “Yeah, I know, babe. You never stop talking, do you?” he says playfully, “you should remember to breathe every once in a while.”

“Ha ha. Very funny. I wasn’t even talking that much! I was just introducing them to you and telling them how much I love you!” I say defensively with a confused look in my eyes. 

“Love, you were telling them I beg for your cooking, that’s embarrassing!” Oscar says with a slight laugh. It’s only now I stop and notice that he’s turned slightly red, making me giggle. Oscar gives me an unamused look before saying, “don’t laugh at me like that, you do this every time!” 

“I’m sorry,” I say with a giggle, “you know I only do it because I love you. I just want people to know how great you are, promise!” Oscar opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted when some of his team members approach him to talk to him about the upcoming race weekend. “We’re going to talk about this later,” Oscar says softly as he points a finger at me playfully. 

——

I screamed as Oscar won the sprint race in Qatar, and I immediately rushed over to him after the race, peppering him with kisses all over his face. “I’m so so proud of you, oh my god!” I say excitedly. Oscar’s face was already red from the heat, and it somehow turned even redder when he saw the cameras approach us. He whined slightly as he burrowed his face into my neck. “Baby, don’t embarrass me,” he mumbles quietly in a shy voice. 

“My boyfriend just won a sprint race in his rookie season in F1, of course I’m gonna show you off and embarrass you. Don’t expect anything less from me,” I tease as I give him one last kiss before sending him off. 

When Oscar returns to our hotel room that night, I’m already half asleep. He spends a bit of time on his phone while in my arms, trying to keep up with everyone’s messages. He stops when he sees an Instagram post from me, his embarrassed and red face that was caught on the cameras now plastered all over this post. “Did you really have to post that?” He asks me playfully.

“I absolutely did. You’re amazing, and you’re mine. Two things every person should know,” I say playfully, earning a playful eye roll from him. “But I look awful, babe!” He protests, zooming in on himself in the photo. I stifle a laugh. “Thousands of people would disagree, actually. Plus, you don’t look awful, you look happy!” I say softly. 

He gives me an unamused look. “What if I don’t want to look happy?”

I giggle. “Then you are one sick weirdo, Oscar Piastri,” I tease with a soft kiss to his lips. 

——

It’s Oscar’s birthday today, and I have been meticulously planning out every single detail for the past few weeks, including a party with some of his closest friends after qualifying session that day. Despite my protests, Zak also insisted inviting some sponsors to the event and key investors of Mclaren, to act as an opportunity for networking. I reluctantly agreed, although I knew Oscar wouldn’t like it. 

As I thought, Oscar seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people there. He was whisked away to a new person every two minutes, and it was all too much for him to handle. He eventually sat down next to me outside with a loud sigh, leaning his head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to invite this many people, but Zak said this and that. And you know how he is, he wouldn’t have stopped until I said yes,” I say with a frown as I clearly notice how he isn’t having the best of times at this party. Instead, he just smiles, leaning in to give me a soft kiss. He stands up again, holding his hand out towards me. “I don’t care. Just be by my side while I’m being interrogated?” He asks playfully. I giggle, and with a nod I take his hand, our fingers intertwining. 

We soon see one of my old friends that I knew from RedBull, and I introduce Oscar formally to her. As always, I begin to praise Oscar as a driver and as a person. And as always, he gets incredibly red. This time, however, I catch myself before it gets too bad, cutting myself off. When my friend walks away, Oscar has a frown on his face. 

“Why’d you stop? You usually go on for longer,” he asks softly. I shrug. “You always get embarrassed by it, so I just realized and quit while I was ahead,” I say quietly in a kind of embarrassed tone that he even noticed I cut myself off. 

Oscar shakes his head. “Oh come on, babe. Yes, I do get extremely embarrassed by it. But rambling on about me is so you, and I never want you to stop, you hear me? If I can’t praise myself then I need someone who will,” he says with a playful smile. 

“Promise? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything,” I say softly.

“No no no, absolutely not. You could never make me uncomfortable, ever. And you rambling on and showing me off is embarrassing, yes, but I love you for it. I promise,” he says softly. 

“Well, if you insist… then I guess I could squeeze in a few rambles here and there..” I say playfully with a giggle. 

[lipglossanon]

I’m With You

........::::*❃*❃*•°✾°•*❃*❃*::::........

roommate!Leon S. Kennedy x fem!reader

This one’s a little self indulgent on my part 😌 also the last one I have planned for roommate Leon as he’s going on hiatus as I work on other WIPs 👌

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI, hurt/comfort, softness 😌, slight dirty talk, praise, unprotected sex, creampie, Leon being his dorky self 🤭

Not proofread ✍️

Title from I’m With You by Avril Lavigne

........::::*❃*❃*•°✾°•*❃*❃*::::........

“Whatcha up to?”

You raise your head up from laying on your palm, turning your attention away from the tv to Leon walking towards you. 

Stepping up to the couch, he presses a quick kiss to the top of your head. 

“Rough day?” he asks softly noticing the show playing on the screen. 

You nod, head sinking back down to rest on your hand, “Yeah, just trying to forget about it.”

He strokes the back of your neck. 

“Be right back,” he murmurs, kissing you again before walking to his room. 

You turn back to the tv, letting the comfort of childhood wash over you, lessening your anxiety. After a few minutes, Leon joins you on the couch. You notice he changed out of his work clothes into some comfy looking loungewear. 

“C’mere, honey,” he grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and holds it open in his arms, “come snuggle with me.”

You give him a watery smile and scooch over until he’s wrapping you up like a burrito and cuddling you to his chest as you lay on your sides to watch TV. 

“Wanna talk about?” his low voice whispers in your ear. 

“Just a shitty day,” you whisper back, snuggling further into the fuzzy blanket and his arms. 

A comfortable quiet settles as you both just relax in each other’s company. A few episodes later and you feel yourself drifting to sleep but you shift and squirm trying to fight it. 

“Shh, I got you,” Leon presses a kiss to your ear, “it’s okay.”

You nod off, listening to the sound of Leon’s even breathing and the faint voices coming from the speakers. 

You wake some time later to a different show playing on the television, sound turned down so low it’s barely noticeable. Leon’s hands are petting across your body and you sigh as you nuzzle against him. 

“Awake?”

“Mmhmm,” you press a kiss to his chest, “thank you.”

“Sometimes y’just need to take a breather,” he presses a kiss to your hairline. 

You squirm a little, “Yeah, thank you. It helped me relax some.”

“Good,” his hands stop moving as he takes a quick breath, “I’ve got sort of an unorthodox way to help you relax more. If you want.”

“Like what?”

“Sex,” he states bluntly making you laugh softly. 

“I mean it,” he grins as you tilt your head up to look at him, “it’s good for relaxation.”

“You’re such a dork.”

“It’s just an offer.”

“I never said no,” a shy smile steals over your face, “I’m not opposed to it.”

“Oh?”

Leon pushes the back of the blanket up just enough to reach a hand underneath. He slips it between your thighs and slowly teases your pussy through your shorts. 

“Just need to relax, honey,” he soothes, tongue licking the shell of your ear, “let me make you feel good.”

“Leon,” you whimper, trapped in your burrito blanket so you can only wiggle against him. 

“I know,” he whispers, voice heavy against your sensitive neck, “let me dick you down baby. Stuff this little cunt til you can’t think anymore.”

You whine and he moves his fingers underneath the band of your shorts and panties to tease along your pussy lips to circle your clit.  

Slick is oozing from your hole dripping into your panties making it easy for Leon to circle your slippery clit with his fingers. 

“Leon,” you sigh, pushing your hips down into his hand.

“I’ve got you,” he murmurs, kissing you sweetly as his middle and ring finger press into your clenching heat. 

You moan into his mouth as he scissors you open before slowly sliding his fingers deeper into your wet pussy.  He lets his palm slap against your clit with every thrust up into your cunt as you sloppily suck on his tongue. 

“Leon, please,” you pull back, licking his spit off of your lips.

“Okay,” he soothes, shifting you down on the couch and onto your stomach.

He bunches up the blanket with one hand as he slides your panties and shorts off with the other. You whine to feel the cool air of the room but it’s soon replaced with Leon’s body heat as he grinds his bare cock against your wet pussy lips. 

“Ready?” he presses his cock against your clenching hole but waits til you nod before pressing in. 

You both moan as he slowly slides into your wet fluttering walls until he’s bottoming out in your cunt. 

“So good for me,” he grunts as he pulls out and snaps his hips back into your pussy, “such a good girl.”

You whine in reply, letting Leon’s heavy weight press you down into the couch, cocooned in the blanket, as he spears you open on his cock.  

“Shh, shh, let me do all the thinkin honey,” he coos, grinding deep into your spasming pussy to rub against your g-spot, “there we go, you just worry about feeling good.”

Your moans are muffled as he gently presses your face into the cushions. You let him rut his fat cock into your pussy for hours. He goes so slow and deep that you’re drooling all over the place, pussy feeling stretched and used—you love it, not able to think past the feeling of him buried in your guts. 

Leon hasn’t moved you from where he first pressed you down into the couch. The blanket is saturated with your slick, dribbling past Leon’s dick every time he he thrusts into your pussy. 

“Gonna have to do this every night huh,” he chuckles into your shoulder as he kisses the skin, “really feels like y’needed it.”

“Uh huh,” you reply dumbly, clenching around Leon harder at his voice in your ear. 

“Don’t worry,” he coos, grinding his tip against the opening of your womb making you kick your legs from the pleasurable pinch of pain, “you just need my cock emptying that silly brain, right honey?”

“Please, Leon.”

“Shh, shh,” he nips your neck before whispering in your ear, “that’s my good girl, perfect little pussy just taking my cock nice ‘n deep. Mmm so good for me.”

You’re whining louder now so Leon slows down even more, burying his cock into your soaked cunt with a sigh. 

“I need you to keep quiet, don’t want to wake the neighbors,” he chuckles as you try to buck back against him. 

You shiver and moan quietly, the syrupy pleasure trickling from your brain all the way through your body as the band of arousal winds tighter and tighter. Leon shifts his hips and presses his cock upwards to grind his drippy tip against your g-spot constantly. 

“Oh, oh, I’m gonna— oh Leon,” you try to let him know you’re about to cum, but your tongue feels thick and heavy in your mouth, brain slowly processing what you’re feeling much less words to go along with it. 

“C’mon, be a good girl and cream my cock, you can do it,” he rumbles low in his chest, voice smoky and warm, “want you squeezing on my dick so I can fill you up.”

“Fuck,” you gasp out a mewling cry as your pussy clamps down on Leon’s dick, walls pulsing and fluttering around him as that band snaps and your climax washes over your senses. 

“That’s it, my good girl,” Leon grunts, snapping his hips harder into your soaking wet hole, “take my load, honey, wanna watch it drip outta ya.”

With a few more harsh thrusts, Leon groans and buries his cock deep into your pussy, white hot cum spilling from his throbbing tip. He grinds himself even deeper as he finishes inside your fluttering cunt before slowly pulling out, a creamy mix of cum and slick oozing from your pussy. 

Leon chuckles softly and flops down on top of you, making you let out a breath as his weight smushes you into the couch cushions. 

“Leon,” your whine ends on a giggle as he blows a raspberry on your neck.  

“I know, I know,” he kisses the side of your head, “wanna join me in a shower?”

“Yes, please,” you wiggle and finally free yourself from the blanket to raise up on your knees, “I’m a mess.”

“Mmm, I’d say so,” he grins at you, slapping your ass as he stands up, “c’mon, you know how long these raggedy ass pipes take to heat up.”

You roll your eyes and swat his hands away before he can smack your ass again.

“I know, Leon, I live here too.”

“Never said ya didn’t,” his grin widens and he swings down to grab you up in a bridal carry, “this’ll be faster, sweet cheeks.”

“Oh my god,” you bury your face in his chest with a laugh, “you did not just say that. You’re such a dork, Leon.”

“Maybe, jury’s still out on that one.”

He drops a quick kiss to the top of your head as he gently carries you to the bathroom.  

[seventh-district]

update. i have spent the last seven hours trying every possible position i can situate my body in that will alleviate this god-awful pain and i have reached a rather fascinating conclusion

screaming shaking crying trembling wailing sobbing throwing up punching the wall in anguish and agony and angst etc etc etc

[ghostybaby000]

He found you. Again. | Part 3

part 1 part 2 part 4

Paring: Simon Ghost Riley x reader

Summary: I suggest going back to part one to really understand this plot! There’s a link above

Warnings: 18+,blood, violence, stabbing, guns, stalker, symptoms of panic

Word count: 1.5k

(Not fully edited, apologies for any incorrect information!)

Although it sounded foolish you had flashbacks to watching your investigative shows. The shows where situations like this happened in almost every episode, and thats what it should be- just an episode on the T.V. not something that you should be enduring why, why did this have to happe-

‘Are you listening to me Y/N? I came this far for you, don’t you see!’ He had stopped pacing, he was now staring you down, when he finally took a second to see what you held. 

He let out a small laugh, and then his expression turned to stone.

‘Why do you have that Y/N, you don’t need that-you wouldn’t hurt me. The lamp, I can forgive because maybe you didn’t know it was me but, now you do, you can see it’s me and I…’

His voice trailed off, and all you saw was his anger boiling over when he reached to his side leading his hand to rest on a gun.

‘Drop the wrench Y/N. Drop it NOW and I won’t have to hurt you, I would never want to hurt you y-you just need to see that- so go on and drop the wrench….’

He unholsters the gun, shaking and holding it in his hand to his side. He has tears welting up in his eyes and you decide to try and coarse him, as the panic surges inside you and you aren’t quite sure that you can even move. You think back on the shows where you are meant to play into their mind games, and not fight it as it usually didn’t end well. You slowly lower yourself to the floor, forcing your fingers to each let go of your only weapon as you exercise your acting skills.

‘You’re right. You wouldn’t hurt me, never…Y-You’ve looked out for me for so long an-

‘Don’t be sarcastic with me. It isn’t funny and it doesn’t work-‘ The gun now knocking on his bouncing leg, you can see his white knuckles gripping it tighter now as he stands there waiting for your response shifting his weight.

‘I’m not being sarcastic, I’ve known you for so long and you were there that night at my house-‘ You start to take a small step towards him, when he backs away.

‘Don’t play games with me Y/N- I-I’m not in the mood for you to be messing with me- I’ve finally gotten you here all to myself I don’t want to lose it.’ He’s moving the gun between his hands when he moves towards you, making you step back.

‘You really are afraid…you-you don’t see it…you don’t get why I was at your house’ He begins to be refilled again with anger and he’s speaking so loud now he’s spitting at you.

‘You don’t see the struggles I’ve gone through to get to you, you don’t know the years I spent in training and trying to find you. I just wanted to be with you again why WHY don’t you see that!?’ He stops for a moment now only about a foot away from you, you can smell him- a smell that reeks of sweat and desperation. He moves closer to you, staring into your eyes you look away towards anywhere but him furrowing your brows in fear, wrong move. The cold metal of the gun now pushing your head back up to meet his gaze.

‘I want to have you with me, whenever and wherever.’ He was now staring through your sole, and that’s when you saw him. 

In your peripheral vision you saw Ghost, his mask making his identity obvious, a wave of relief waiting now to wash over you. He was inside the door and making his away behind the kitchen, moving the small table out of the way. The same table you now realize would have been in your way had you tried to run for the door. You couldn’t bear to look, knowing that he would probably spin to see what you were looking at and it would only become worse.  Ghost disappeared into another portion of the room behind a wall that couldn’t be seen so you made your move.

You tore from his gaze with the gun to your head, looking at where the front door was. He leans in closer to you, the gun still a dangerous distance from your head as he speaks. 

‘That means, Y/N- that you aren’t leaving. You can’t, it’s so SO simple how do you not understand this, me, why I’m here now for YOU.’ He grabs you by the throat with his free hand just strong enough so that you could tell he was deciding whether to strangle you or not, until you just about pass out. He forces you upright, moving your face to look at him him as he slightly loosened his grip.

‘Do you understand?’ You nodded your head as vigorously as you can while still being held tightly, tears welting in your eyes. Your hands were wrapped around his now, trying to prevent it from further strangling your neck.

‘Say it, say you understand me.’ His stare piercing through you now.

‘Yes, yes I understand you’ You manage to squeak out, hoping that he doesn’t hurt you and will let you go if you play along.

‘Good.’  His grip loosens as you let out a few coughs to clear your throat. He hesitates before letting you entirely go, and decides to hold your upper arm so you couldn’t flee.

‘Now let’s get to bed- I didn’t want to come this late into the night, but it was the only way I could be sure you were alone. It’s late and you have work tomorrow…go- move…’

 You were almost sick then knowing that he had so much information about you, when you had been so careful. You hadn’t seen any sight of Ghost, and thought for a moment that it may have been your imagination trying to tell you that you were saved, still stuck in fight or flight mode you couldn’t muster the urge to speak, and instead mumbled a small ‘Mmhmm’

He walked behind you, not letting go of your arm and leading you to your room, the gun still in his other hand. You try to think about what you can do to get away, maybe once he’s asleep you’ll be able to leave. Maybe you can try to seduce him and then knee him and flee, maybe you had a good enough weapon in the room but when would you find time to get it? 

He’s made the way to the door now closed, that leads to your bedroom. He didn’t notice that it wasn’t closed before and decides to reach past you to open it. Your room was already dark, having not turned on any lights you notice the rampage that had torn your room apart. Standing in the door frame you saw the closet was a mess and there were things all over the floor. You crept towards the bed, just getting out of his arms when it all happens. It feels like milliseconds to you, but in real time it lasted a few minutes. 

Within a second the attacker had been outmatched. Ghost made his way directly behind him, and was pulling him backwards and down to the floor in a headlock. He had been in many hand-to-hand combats with men his own size or larger and given he usually had a gun, he had to make it more personal this time. The gun shot out making you shriek out and scurry towards the closet, your hearing ringing due to being in such a confined space. The attacker now choking and stammering backwards the gun cast aside to free his other hand, clawing at Ghosts arms to be let go of. There was a struggle you heard as boots stomped in the hall and hands were hitting the walls, groans and other noises flooded your still sensitive and ringing ears.

You could tell it wasn’t an easy fight, not that any ever was between two stronger men of similar height, Ghost being slightly taller and you hoped stronger-you peered out in the hall with baited breath. To your satisfaction, Ghost was now on top of the attacker in the office space down the hall, pummeling him with his gloved hands relentlessly. You made a quick inhale and retreat around the corner you were peering from which was enough to distract him from his beatings and slowly back off the man. You backed away further into the bedroom, watching as Ghost paused to checked the man wasn’t moving and then walked towards you. 

You were relieved to have the one attacker off of you, but upon seeing his merciless beating you now also felt nervous to be in his wake. You reach the wall on the other side of your room as he makes his way through the door frame. You started to close your eyes not telling If you were afraid now of him, or of being on the verge of breaking down worse than ever. Within a few seconds he had made his way across the room, his boots giving his location away for being a few feet in front of you.

‘c’mon’ His low accented voice allowed you to exhale. 

[scrubbinn]

Mimic HRT: 17 months “Sea legs”

“Did you really need to bring a recorder here? It's an aquarium hun. Do you really plan on interviewing yourself here?”

“It's not that, Abi. I just, with how bad my memory is, I want to make sure I have something to remember this moment.” 

“And you chose a recorder instead of a video camera because…?”

“I really want to eat the fish. This way I get to focus on your beautiful voice when I listen back.”

“...Gay.”

“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it? Kiss me maybe?”

“Maybe later. Come on, I want to get to the underwater tunnel before it closes! I know it's Hyper city, but it's really cool to see so many therians here. Back in Canada, I'm lucky if I see one in a week.”

“There's a lot of us, yeah.”

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing, just a little sad is all… Ok ok, I’ll talk, stop making that face, haha It’s just that, yeah there are a lot of us around. Still feels like we never get treated properly. We’re either freaks or walking tourist spots. I know things will get better eventually, but it's. I really wish I could figure out how to shapeshift into a more convincing human."

“You spent how long on this medication and now you're trying to look human again?”

“It's just useful, that's all. Besides, it's not like I have the right to call myself otherkin… Ow! Don't flick me hun, my skin is sensitive, and you could lose a finger!”

“stop overthinking things. Enjoy your time here and if anyone calls you out, then I'll kick their ass.”

“Thanks, but please don't fight anyone for me. No offense, but you're not exactly capable of doing damage to people hun… ow, ok ok stop it, ah! Haha, cut it out!”

“I'm not gonna stop until you start treating yourself better. You're my mimic girlfriend! You get to decide what you are and no one gets to tell you otherwise. Also! You have a bunch of other people here who would defend you like… is that a werewolf over there? Next to the robot and… um.”

“Pretty sure that's a cyborg, and also that looks like a black arms member?”

“Wait, like the-

“Abi, we're currently having a date in an interdimensional dead end, looking at fish that do not exist in our universe, and I'm pretty sure that fish over there is a badnik. It's really not that strange.”

“That's… fair.. I guess… Hey hun, I'm gonna go grab some ice cream real quick.”

“We're half way through the tunnel already. You sure you want to go all the way back?”

“I'll be quick, just stay put.”

Bzzzt, crackle, Welcome to the wonderful world of Hyperquarium! Thank you for choosing us as the one and only place that can bring fish together from around the worlds in perfect harmony! If you look to our left, you'll see our trained feeder get a chance to show off those gills and show you what only a shark therian can do, he's a professional so don’t worry about being bitten kids. This therian knows how to take care of others. This is also a reminder not to touch the glass as you may spook our feeder.

“Ugh, great, just what I needed, feeling insulted over an intercom. Why does getting second hand insulted have to feel worse? I'm definitely cutting this part from the recor- OW, OH STARS, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE… slithering, um, miss, are you ok?”

“Oh- I’m so sssorry I didn’t mean to, I sswear! This tail just gets sso long by now it’s… difficult for me to control at times. I uh… You haven’t seen any other Lamias around by chance? Or some people in brown uniformss?”

“Uniforms? You’re not on the run or something right? And no, I haven’t seen any other Lamias around, You’re actually the first I’ve ever really had a chance to see. I kind of thought I’d see more with how popular you guys are. But seriously are you alright?... 

Is- is that a shock collar around you?”

“Well… Yes and no- Yes thisss is a shock collar… okay uh- we’re not suppossed to call them that uh… It’s a.. “behavioral correction device”... But yess it’s a shock collar. And no, I'm not on the run… quite the opposite actually… I had a bit of an episode and lost myself in some instincts when watching the fish… and the next thing I know my group is gone and I'm.. I’m not supposed to be away from the group and… if I don't get back soon I might be in a bit of… ah ssscrew it they’re gonna be mad at me anyway… “

“So then… I know a good hiding spot to watch the fish if you want to hide a bit longer. I mean, if that’s ok, and I won’t get in too much trouble, and you won’t get in too much trouble, and I think I’m stumbling over my words, You want to just go hang out in the jellyfish room? It’s pretty dark there and they don’t allow any kind of outside lights in there.”

“Y-yeah that sounds nice! Low lightss could help with that headache. Uhm, what’s your name if i may assk?”

“It's Mayday, and what about you? What's your name?”

“Ah my name-.. It’s uh… oh wait.. I…hmm…Right! Aria… I think. I… am still not sure if I should change it… it’s uh.. complicated.”

* * *

“The jellyfish are really cool, just floating around with not a care in the world. I guess I get why humans find them so boring, but I think they're just not seeing how nice it would be. You know?”

“I totally get what you mean. Just being able to be you… going with the flow of thingss.. Not a care in the world. But that’s just something that therians like us can fully understand… other than the other animals of coursse right?”

“I'm guessing you're past your own crossroads then, like me, based on your words at least. You wouldn't mind if I asked you some questions would you? It's a bit selfish to ask after dragging you here, but I need to know something.”

“Ah well-... i am still “crossssing” it… doc said it will go on for another month or three… maybe longer they are all very vague about this stuff. But sure, I can try to answer to the besst of my ability.”

“So, what do you think of those that don't take that next step? Like the ones that decide they want to stay human in some way, aren't they cheating or something. Like they got to have their cake and eat it too, isn't it a bit unfair? I mean, look at you, you're getting escorted around in a collar by guards, and then we- they get to walk around with not a care in the world.”

“I don’t think that it’ss cheating… It is my choice to go through with it… and in the end I will be what I alwayss wanted to be… fully in both mind and sspirit. This of course will come with quite a few burdens… I am already forgetting so much that I would have loved to remember… But I alsso gain so much more which is just hard to desscribe. All I can hope for is that I ssomehow end up remembering all the faces of the ones that helped me get sso far… or at least ssome other kind of connection.  Those that however stay human to ssome degree have their own struggless to live with. For some it’s never being able to fully control yourself, alwayss having that bit in them that shines through and reminds them that they are sstill “incomplete” which can be a lot on their mind. In the end we all go our own ways, face our own struggless. No sside has it any easier I think than the other, it’s just… different, and you have to choose for yourself which sstruggles you want to deal with in the end. What you yourself think you are able to handle better. For me it was that I was just afraid that I couldn't control the animalistic sside of myself… I could just not live in this sstate i was in, i wanted to fully become me, hoping that it will set me free of the fearsss and anguish that my humanity brings me. But I know what it can cosst me… what it already has… still I weighed my options and decided that this is the best option for myself.  But if you think that where you are now is what is the best option for you, then no one should hold it against you, not even yourself… Does that make ssense?

“Wow, call me out huh. I guess I'm not as good at hiding these sorts of things as I thought. I technically went too far before I lightened my dosage. It left me, broken. Things don't feel right for either side, and I have things I just- there are things I can't let go of no matter how much I want this. It's like I'm splitting apart and I can't figure out how to be anything correctly. I'm not really Mayday, I lost all my memories in my first year. It should have been the perfect excuse to continue forward, but then I got to know Mayday's friends and family. And... I liked them, I liked them alot, I love some of them. I barely know them and when I met them for the first time it just felt right and they were crying like I died and. I can't put them through that. Not a second time. This human side of me just won't let go. I'm putting others before my own happiness again. I'm undermining your sacrifice, being a coward. Sorry I'm ruining your trip aren't I. I'll get out of your scales for you.”

“No wait! It’s okay, I’m used to doing thisss… sort of. Uhm sso… before I got put with the other Lamia’s… I was part of a group that… helped each other… there iss someone there that's a lot like you… multiple actually.. While they did not lose their memories… they stayed partly human too.. They did not continue like I did. Anyway, you’re a lot braver than me, I think.  You… lost your memoriess and still decided to stay with the ones that love you now and before, I don’t think I could have done the ssame. You’re still happy with them now aren’t you? I mean… the way you said it, it’s not just others happiness at stake but your own too. Sso… heh.. I don’t really know where I'm going with thiss but I think you’re brave.”

I can't believe I'm talking about all this with a complete stranger, solidarity is a powerful thing. Who knows, maybe we did know each other at some point and just forgot. But thanks. It doesn't fix how I feel, but it's a good bandage for now. In the meantime we can watch the Jellyfish together until you're ready to go back… Did you hear that announcement a little while back? Nice to see therians getting hired here but way to not only turn it into another tourist spot, but also insult all of us at the same time. Can you believe they actually said all that?”

“Oh my god yesss! How do you actually manage to be ssupportive and a total a-hole at the same time!? Urgh… It’s not just here though… god the way they sometimes announce our exhibit is just… urgh something about staying on the paths and not getting too close without sssupervision… like-... As if they don’t almosst OVERFEED us before so we aren’t even in the mood to hunt… and then these stupid collarsss too.. Sigh I thought this stuff is to make us get away from the negative ssstigma.. Not FEED into it..”

“Wait, I'm sorry, did you say exhibit? Like as in… you're part of a zoo attraction? Y'know, if I was still human, I would be throwing up at that. Is that why you're wearing a collar?! That can't be legal. Like when you say exhibit, you mean like they put you in walls that you can’t ever leave without people acting like handlers? That's disgusting!”

“Ah-... y-yeah? Well okay, it ssounds bad when put like that but… okay that's uh kinda the best option? It was either… have ssome other person keep me like a pet.. Definitely no, be put into the wilds far away from civilization and be not allowed within a certain disstance of any human civilization… also big nono in my eyes.. or… Join the lamia exhibit in the zoo. I’d still be allowed to see my friends… or, well, have them visit me at leasst… I can help fix the kinda negative view people have of Lamias ssince most think of the evil folklore… or video games…  I get to live with others of my kind in a gated community… food is taken care of… healthcare too… kinda… Honestly it was the besst of the options I was given… All I gotta deal with is people looking at uss all day… the stupid collarsss, handlerss… yeah… Maybe one day laws change, that we do not have to sign some legal ownership document stuff and can be free in the city as well… but until then… that’s how it hass to be.”

“I guess I understand, but that just sounds horrible to me. You can put up with a lot, if that’s what you're handling every day. Speaking of, are you going to be ok? Either your guards find us and something bad happens to you, or I jump in and take the blame for essentially kidnapping this zoo's pet. Either option doesn't sound particularly fun. Stars, I thought after finishing this transition I wouldn't have to deal with all this negativity. Somehow Hyper city ended up being just as bad as back home, only it's bad in different ways. This sucks. Is there really no other option that's better? I thought that lamias had intelligence comparable to humans, are your instincts really so strong that you'd endanger humans around you?”

“Don’t worry, they are gonna be quite mad at me, and i’m probably going to have to wait quite ssome time before they allow me my next outside trip… but as long as I sstay put, and don’t get in any situation that could be interpreted as me being a danger… they will probably not use the shock collar when they find me.  Well… the besst outcome would have been if at least they put my legal ownership to one of my friendss but… I wouldn't have wanted them to see me sslowly forget who I was and all the other legal stuff it brings with it… not to mention that most of them are therianss on HRT themsself so the state probably would gatekeep that somehow too. And please don’t put the blame on yourself, that would probably give a hefty fine if not jail time… rather leave the option open to see you again at the exhibit than have you banned from it. At leasst then I get visitors I know and like! And as for our insstincts… It’s difficult… yes they can be overwhelming but they get more manageable after the crossroads… At least that's what I heard from a friend. Ssomething about being more aware of them subconsciously. But for our intelligence being comparable to humans, that's true but mix it with our statuss being non human… and laws haven’t developed that far yet… we are basically categorized as animals. And with people being afraid of our fangs, ssnake parts and all that, I don't see it changing soon.”

“Oh that is so gross, I can't believe the universe would let something like that even happen. Sometimes I wish I could just bite anyone who ticked me off. But you're probably right. About everything I guess. I hate the idea of a place like that existing, but I'd rather not get in trouble and not have the chance to talk again. You're strangely nice to talk to, also I don't think I could afford bail if I got arrested. I probably would lose my chance to work with Erian if that happened. Maybe I can do some protesting in front of city hall instead… I also want to ask about that old support group of yours, and also… hm, maybe I shouldn't chew your ear off right. If you don't get into too much trouble, we could meet up to chat more? I'll make today up to you, if the zoo allows it I could get you a plush at the gift shop.”

“Ah-.. uhm… no… trust me that you do NOT want that… it’ss… no… you’ll not forget the taste… ever… *sigh* Anyway thank you that’s nice to hear, you’re also a lot of fun to talk to. A nice change of pace. Protesting could help! Make our voice heard~  I’d love a visit and another chance to talk too! The plushie would be lovely. As for my old ssupport group.. Yeah they are nice, you should really go and talk to them. We have an online presence so jusst look for… Therian THEMS support group!  There’s… a… white tiger… her name… uh… damn come on i know thissss… white tiger… and… brown… nghhh… come on COME ON I KNOW their… their namessss i know them…”

“Don't worry, it's fine. I live at THEMS actually, I didn't realize they had a support group. I sort of never checked around, and don't worry, I don't actually bite people… usually. Come on, we can try to sneak over to the gift shop and… um hey Aria, sorry if it's rude to ask but, well it's just a thought is all. Have you had a chance to see what you look like?”

“I-... I’m sssorry it’s… yeah. Yeah let’ss get there… Wait what i look like?... Now that you mention it… I kinda forgot my own face… not really any mirrorss around in the enclosure… we usually help each other with hairstyling and so on. Why do you ask?”

“Would you like to see yourself right now?”

“I… I mean sure? Iss there like a mirror around here or…”

“Supplemental: I had Erian’s help splicing the tapes together, He’s good with old stuff like this. I wanted to add this to better describe the scene. I want no possible chance I will forget this..

Ok, here goes. Descriptor: Morphing like that felt nice, I’d never done anything like that before, but, it just worked out. It felt like body and mind actually agreeing for the first time since I became a mimic. The faint pale glow of the jellyfish felt like it was a radiant sun illuminating not just the room but my shifting form. My mind felt complete. Sharp. Morphing into something with my human remains and mimic self in agreement for the first time. This state of change I went through, this was what I was meant to have. I could feel my legs twist and fuse into a tail that grew longer and longer. Teeth moved from my body and incorporated into fangs and claws. I could feel the chemical reaction inside of me as poison turned to venom. I never looked away, I didn't close my eyes. I just kept looking back at Aria, understanding every crease and shine in her scales. It was then I finally realized how much I had always wanted to be a mimic. This felt correct. The feeling faded eventually, but I knew I had morphed myself into a perfect copy of Aria, because when I looked at her I felt happy. Did the medication somehow know this is what I truly needed? I need more time to think. End supplemental.”

“Thisss- You’re- I- woah! This is uh- I’m sssorry I’m blown away by thiss! This is what I look like!? Wait before that- You’re a shapeshifter? I- Oh my. Thank you! I-... this feels a bit weird to asssk someone that currently looks like my exact twin but-... can i… you know… give you a hug for thisss!? I mean… looking at you it’ss… looking at everything i ever wanted to be I-... sssorry that wass a weird thing to asssk someone i jusst met earlier I-... Thanksss”

“You can give us a hug if you like. We don't mind being ssstrangers. Oh, we do that too, interessting. Eheheh, but yesss, you may hug.”

“Yeah you get usssed to it~ Okay then uh-... here we go. Thank you.”

“I think I hear people coming. I need to change back before any of those guards see two of you. Glad you enjoyed getting to hug a squishier version of yourself. I must feel like a marshmallow. Oh wait, I think my partner is gonna kill me if I leave her waiting any longer.”

“Haha~ I guess we both are going to get our ears chewed off by ssome people. It wass very nice getting to meet and talk to you Mayday, and I hope to see you again! Just… don’t take it to heart if I end up having to assk your name again or… worsse okay? Oh- and if you meet the people from the ssupport group… tell them i sssaid hi.”

“Will do, you better stay safe then, and don’t you dare end up regretting your choice, you got that! Enjoy your new life, and hopefully it won’t just be within a zoo someday. If you ever need to ask my name again, then I’ll be sure to ask yours as well. I look forward to meeting you again Aria the lamia.”

“Yes, I will do my besst to do that. I look forward to meeting you again too, Mayday the Mimic.”

* * *

“Abi, I’m back!”

“Oh my god where were you! I called like eight times! I thought something might have happened to you!”

“Sorry, sorry, I got caught up in a weird situation, I met a new friend I guess. You’d like her. she was really nice… Ok, yeah I’ll make it up to you. Really sorry for making you worry like that. Let’s go out to eat. This place kinda sucks. What about that sushi place you wanted to go to a couple months ago! I’ll pay for it.”

“You seem awfully cheery all of a sudden

“I just figured out who I am. That’s all.”

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Hey, hope you enjoyed what I think is the longest chapter by far. Normally I try to stick with two pages of text to get something that most people can keep their attention on. Not really possible here.

I'd like to take this time to thank @ariathelamia for collaborating with this chapter. She's so cool and you should go follow her right now. Do it right now. Do not finish reading this part until you double check you are following her and reading her Lamia HRT story!

Anyway, I'd also like to point out the cameos/mentions for Tiger HRT and ??? HRT by @tigergirltail and @home-sweet-hive, respectively. Both are extremely good and give me the inspiration to continue writing this story every single day. This story would have probably stopped around the fifth or sixth part without them. So you should go read those stories right now as well. Do it. Seriously though, thank you so much for reading. Have a wonderful day.

-Navi

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Mention list: @a-shramp, @calliecwrites, @be702, @respectfulevil, @hyacinthdoll1315

@aster-is-confused, @bloodandbrandywyne, @glitchgloop

[fadingdaggerr]

crystal clear

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: five times other people realized melissa was in love with you and the one time she realized it herself

warnings: mostly fluff, reader gets called a slur but it isn’t written

note: sorry i’ve been slow on updating, it’s finals week and a relative has had some a health scare :/

ava

when ava introduced you to the other teachers in the break room, she truly wasn’t going to give them much of a glance. a new teacher here that understood all the references she throws out instead of squinting? now that was someone she could hang out, and party, with outside of work.

but ava coleman is nothing if not observant. she sees the way melissa is struggling not to stare at you, the way her blinking looked almost forced. she brushes it off. you’re hot. at least she knows melissa isn’t blind, being down a teacher when she just hired one would suck.

it wasn’t until months later that ava actually noticed just how much of melissa’s attention was specifically for you. jacob had gotten you hooked on some show, now the two of you were excitedly talking about last night’s episode. ava listened to none of the nerdy word vomit coming from the two of you, but instead watched melissa gaze at you while you spoke. the soft look in her eyes and the barely noticeable smile almost made ava laugh, but she kept quiet.

this could be fun.

jacob

movie night this week was replaced by you and jacob watching the two hour finale of your show together. just as you got your snacks and drinks spread out, as well as every throw pillow you owned, and the ones jacob brought, arranged into a makeshift mega-couch, the buzzer of your apartment went off.

you scrambled to your feet, “melissa is here!”

jacob nearly choked on a swedish fish, “melissa? melissa like schemmenti?”

“what other melissa do we both know?” you laugh as you buzz her in, “she caught up so that she would watch with us,” you say with a big smile. jacob had thought melissa wouldn’t come to this movie night, the way barbara, janine, and gregory didn’t for tonight, and ava never came to any, claiming she was ‘too fine’ for the occasion. they didn’t watch thisv show, neither did melissa, until now.

“yeah… us,” he mutters under his breath.

“what?”

“nothing!”

jacob watches you nearly bouncing when you hear the knock on the door, rushing to answer it. he hears a muffled mel! followed by hey sweetheart. no one else, except barbara, could call her mel. he tried once and got a glare that still haunts his dreams. she was so easy to reply to you with a pet name, too. usually she called everyone dude, or kid, or just plain you. but not you, no, you got sweetheart.

jacob was almost convulsing, the realization was just too good. he covered his mouth in order to not scream. melissa schemmenti, notorious hardass, had a big, fat crush on you. he squeals at the thought.

“do not tell me you looked at a spoiler jacob abernathy hill!” you shout as you walk back in.

“abernathy?” melissa laughs, stopping the second you look at her, before looking at jacob for an answer.

he stiffens, “nope. just super excited to see this all happen.”

janine

being yanked by the sleeve into her classroom like a raggedy anne doll was not what janine expected on a monday morning. jacob shut the door and turned to look at janine, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“i have got to tell you something,” jacob says with excitement practically oozing from him.

“what is it? is barbara okay?” janine asks quickly.

“no, no. barbara is fine, it’s something good. i’m not going to spoil the big surprise, i wanna see it on your face,” jacob answers, “but i’ll give you a hint.”

“oh my god, jacob. please just get to the point.”

“yes, sorry,” he clears his throat, “melissa has got one of the biggest crushes i’ve ever seen, second only to yours on grego-”

janine smacks a hand over his mouth, “uh-uh. who is it?”

“i can’t tell you!” jacob sing-songs as he rushes from her classroom.

the next week has janine practically stalking melissa around every corner. she watches her hold the door for you, shove jacob out of the way so she can get the last iced tea, roll her eyes aggressively when ava spoke, hold tacks for you as you hung up the new monthly decorations, then hold your hand as you stepped down from the from the chair.

janine saw in real time how melissa’s tough exterior dropped with you. she watched her handle you so gently, anyone would think you were made from glass, but you didn’t seem to notice. it was so normal for you to see this side of melissa, you couldn’t see that it was different. janine scurried to her classroom to happy dance quickly before calming herself, as much as janine is capable, before leaving to get the kids from the art room.

gregory

thankfully, janine’s knowledge of melissa’s feelings for you did not make front page news or into the morning announcements. janine felt it a safer choice for her and jacob if they just kept this secret to themselves, which left gregory in the dark.

gregory only heard mutters of your name and melissa’s, which gave him some sort of direction about their whisperings. he looks towards you, seeing you leaned into melissa while looking at something on her phone. totally normal. gregory continued to eat his also totally normal sandwich, boiled chicken is not weird.

it feels a little less normal after janine called melissa a bad teacher, leaving janine unprepared for the might of courtney’s troublemaking. when the kids are at recess, gregory starts towards the lounge but is stopped by voices inside your classroom. he stops to listen, suddenly intrigued.

“do you think she’s right, though? she wouldn’t just say that normally,” melissa says, her voice tense and sad.

“no, i don’t think she’s right. she got an ego trip from thinking it was a real requested transfer and it spilled over, i don’t think she meant it,” your voice is calm, soothing in a way.

“are you sure?”

you laugh softly, “of course. you’re one of the best teachers in the world. i know it, janine knows it, hell, stanley tucci knows it.” your words make melissa laugh, something she very much needed it seemed.

gregory feels the need to take just a tiny peek. he sees your arm around melissa’s shoulders, her head on your shoulder while yours rests on hers, your fingers gently playing with the loose curls in her hair. melissa looks relaxed, content even. he’d never seen her showing physical affection to anyone, except the occasional side hug to barbara. but she was leaning on you, playing with the hem of your shirt as she spoke, letting you playing with her hair.

gregory stepped away from the door and started briskly walking to the lounge. so that’s why jacob and janine were so giggly about you two.

barbara

barbara knows her friend very, very well. she saw the look she gave you the first time she met you. she also clocked every other look melissa has sent your way since. at first she thought melissa was just checking you out, but after a few weeks the heat in her gaze turned to cartoonish heart eyes bulging out of her head.

barbara was no fool, she saw how you acted with melissa. it didn’t slip her mind once that you also had feeling for the red head. she watched the dance between you two, smiling at the fact her best friend was so happy, even if she didn’t realize it. barbara keeps her smile to herself.

legendary schools was a hyperactive bull running through abbott elementary’s very delicate china shop. parents were snapping at teachers left and right, one setting off melissa’s ‘fight-or-fight’ response. jacob walks in, babbling about a commercial. he almost asks where you are so you be part of the conversation for the take-down plan, but he’s cut off by yelling in the hallway.

everyone rushes out to see the mother of one of your students in your face. barbara can see that you’re trying not to cry at the cruel words, but she also sees how you’re holding your own. you don’t yell back, only speaking when the mother takes a breath. a word barbara cannot and will not repeat strikes through the air, silencing everyone around you. your face drops immediately, looking like you’d been harshly slapped.

melissa is walking down the hall before anyone can stop her, immediately in front of you. “you got some nerve talking like that around here. what is this, 1951?” melissa barks at the parent, holding herself back from swearing at and beating the living day lights out of someone on this seemingly normal thursday afternoon.

“you have teachers in this school pushing their own shit onto our kids, and you’re defending it? you’ve got a cross around your neck!” the mother yells.

“liberation movements are part of the curriculum. i asked the kids what three topics they were most interested in and we covered those, i didn’t choose,” you try reasoning from behind melissa, she won’t let you move from your spot.

barbara heads over and speaks to the mother with a plastic smile, “i’m going to have to ask you to leave, the school day is done. i’m sure you’d prefer to re-educate your child with some ignorance at home, correct?”

ava leads the mother away and barbara focuses on you; your breathing is fast and you can’t tear your eyes from the floor, lip wobbling. melissa’s hands gently go to your shoulders, you barely nod before she’s pulling you into a hug. barbara can see that melissa is whispering to you, but she can’t make out the words, she just sees you nod. you pull away from melissa slowly before taking off to your classroom to get your stuff and leave.

barbara comes to melissa’s side, “going back to your place?” melissa nods and follows you down the hall.

she filled in barb later that you watched golden girls on the couch until you fell asleep against melissa’s shoulder. barbara watched the muted smile on melissa’s lips struggle against her efforts to conceal it. lord this woman was whipped.

melissa

melissa knew she loved you, but truthfully not to the extent in which she did. she had spent so long convincing herself she cared about you the same she cared for all her friends, that she didn’t see the love for you was different. somewhere between you bringing her lattes and her letting you use her lap as a pillow on movie nights, the lines between what was friendship and what was maddening love for you blurred.

melissa’s first hint that she had feelings for you should’ve been when she started looking for you. it was so small but when she realized she was doing it, she’d blush and force herself to look down. during meetings she watched you take notes, then watched as those notes slowly turned to doodles of flowers and fossils. you’d given her a very accurate drawing of a bumble bee after an ava-centered meeting. you’d told her it was because her name meant honeybee in greek, before walking back down to your classroom, leaving melissa with honeybees buzzing in her chest.

—

the day she actually realized she had full on, gross, huge feelings for you, you’d been running late. you ran into the break room with a mug already in hand, bag haphazardly over your shoulder. everyone collectively looked at you with a little bit of shock.

with a stern face you stated back, “speak now or forever keep your two cents. i’m not a fan of staring.”

immediately all eyes dropped back down, except for melissa’s. she just kept watching you move about with quick steps, pouting at the change in the normal routine. she moves to the coffee maker and pours you a cup, using the creamer you prefer from the fridge. you only responded with a relieved smile and a mouthed ‘thank you.’

she watched you hurriedly get your classroom ready for the students, a small smile across her rosy lips. “you want help or are you enjoying the crazy chicken dance?”

you huffed at her, “ha ha, schemmenti,” your fake glare dropped, “could you pass out the science quizzes? they’re on my desk.”

melissa looks over your desk as she grabbed the papers, taking note of the knickknacks and pictures. the funko pop of dorothy from golden girls makes her smile, so does the sketchbook with a bee sticker on the cover.

she passed out the quizzes, and helped you prep the whiteboard for the day. you chatted lightly, but mostly just moved around each other while music played. it was so incredibly peaceful, the ease of it made her feel this warmth in her chest.

“thank you for helping me, melissa. truly. you didn’t have to,” you say as you finish rearranging the classroom chore chart.

“it’s no problem, really… i like spending time with you,” melissa says tentatively, gauging your reaction.

any nervous energy she may have had dissipates when you smile and duck your face down. you look back up at her, shy smile on your lips, “i like spending time with you too.”

you walked with her to get the kids from drop off, standing just a little bit closer than usual.

—

today was different. this beautiful saturday morning with you practically pulling her around the flea market. you inspected every item on the table with equal curiosity, always showing melissa your favorite things and things you think she’d like. her smile never fades and her eyes never leave you.

as you finish having lunch under the large center tent, she sees your eyes widen with excitement.

“what? what is it?” melissa says through her final bite of a hotdog.

you grab her hand and pull her towards what she now sees as the mini petting zoo. your immediately cradling the face of a goat, baby talking it to high heaven. she walks up next to you, gently petting the top of the goats head.

“he likes you,” she says.

“only him?” you say with a laugh, watching another goat approach, now wanting the attention his friend was getting from you two.

melissa laughs to hide her shock at your words before facing you, “no, definitely not just him.”

your smile grows at her words, the way you bite your lip makes melissa feel a little faint. thankfully she gets a moment to breathe when you’re distracted by a piglet coming towards you, making you squeal in delight. in this moment, melissa was sure she loved you.

melissa stands back up after bit, going over to grab both of you a lemonade. when she walks back, the words she hears only solidify her thoughts.

an older gentleman approaches you, “you and your wife are a beautiful couple.”

his words clearly shock you, “oh,” but she sees you push it down before responding with a kind smile, “why thank you, that’s very sweet! she’s definitely the beautiful one.”

when you turned, you see melissa and immediately move towards her. she wordlessly hands you a lemonade, which you accept as well as loop your arm with hers. she’s quiet as you walk back to the car and place your purchases in the backseat.

before she can start the car, you place a hand on hers, “you okay? you’re just a little quiet.”

“yeah, sweetheart. never been better,” she says, squeezing your hand. she relishes in your tugging her arms and hugging it, stretching across the console to rest you head on her shoulder as she drives you back to her place for dinner and a movie, as always.

melissa ann schemmenti realized she was big time in love with you that day.

not sure if i love this but let me know what y’all think :)

[breakerwhiskey]

260 - TWO HUNDRED SIXTY

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut. For more episodes, click here.

[click, static]

It took me the better part of a day but I think I’ve done it. I think I’ve written out your whole message. It…I honestly have no idea what it says. I was so focused on the individual letters, barely any words formed from it as I went.

I…I should go get Harry. But she’s sleeping and…I think she needs the rest. After—we’re still working through things and I think—no, I know—we will be for a very long time. As we waited for your message to finish transmitting, we talked a lot. We maybe got a little…distracted from time to time, but she put it all out on the table, everything she’d been thinking and feeling that she didn’t tell me. Things she didn’t even write in her notebook. And I told her things…we aired grievances and shared the times when we thought we might get close to something, back in New York. She talked about how she felt about Pete and listened to me when I talked about him and…and she was really kind when I couldn’t parse the good from the bad, when I didn’t want to just write him off as a violent criminal. I mean, I don’t…well, there are a lot of things I need to work through and it doesn’t all have to do with Harry.

Well. I could fill you in on all of it, on every detail, but…these broadcasts have been mine, separate from Harry, as much as anything in my life can be separate from Harry, and there are some things with her that are separate from the world. At least for now.

I know I said I might stop transmitting now that we’re safe and I think…I think I am going to take a break. Disappear for a little while like you’re so fond of doing. I’m—well, I think I’m happy and I’m not totally sure what to do with that feeling. Especially since it’s laced with…well, Junior is still out there, we’re still trapped here and even though I know what it’s like to kiss her, to— I don’t think I’ve forgiven Harry yet, not fully. She knows that, she…she’s understanding of it. Genuinely. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to get there. Especially since I know I haven’t been the paragon of healthy communication and perfect relationship behavior so there are things that I need to…that I need her forgiveness on and, well, I think she wants to try to get there too.

All that said—well, I don’t know what I’m going to find in your message and I hope it’s not goodbye forever, but maybe this is a goodbye for now. I want only good things for you Birdie. I hope you get a little peace of mind. A little closure. I’m discovering eve the tiniest glimpse of it really does wonders.

Okay. Here we go.

“Dear Whiskey,

I am sorry that we couldn’t meet. You find yourself in a watch tower of my own creation. I wasn’t positive it would still be functioning in this timeline—you never do know when an earthquake or a storm is going to cause something to come toppling down—but I’m relieved to find that it is. I do wish I could have been there myself, but we can only enter timelines through great pains and effort and I have already interfered far more than we are meant to. Though I suppose my hand was forced when I ceased to be the only one communicating with you.

The person you know as Fox is, as you guessed, a purist. They want all people in all places to be instead in one place, following one path. They do not believe that anyone should be free to make their own choices and live with the consequences. They would prefer to guide your hand into another choice you cannot take back, all in service of what they deem to be correct. They know what they are; they even told you directly. Though they are not the figment of an author’s imagination, they are as close to Eternity as one can get. Though in this case, they are not the norm, but a rebel.

And I cannot claim there is nothing to re—rebel against. It is not a perfect system. It is hard, to watch people suffer in the worlds of their own creation, with no obvious recourse. Sometimes these timelines correct themselves, merging with each other or disappearing entirely. But even we, the keepers and observers of these strands, cannot fully comprehend the intricacies of why certain shifts are created.

As you know, you are not the first person for whom I have tried to bring comfort in a lonely universe. Not all alternate worlds are as empty as yours, but some are even emptier. And yours, was of course, becoming more empty all the time, though that may not be a bad thing for every person involved.

Fox told you you’re too late because the timeline has shifted once again. I’ll explain that in a moment but first I need to talk about the shift that preceded it, that caused an angry man to seek vengeance. A few months ago, Fred Billings’ mother—“

Fred. That’s his name. Fred. Wow, I, uh—anyway—

“Fred Billings’ mother, who was her—who was here, vanished from this place and merged with her correct timeline. Both Fred and his father perished in a car accident on New Year’s Eve 1974, and the widow Billings’ life was forever changed. Fred woke up here one day to find that his mother—who he had lived with in some degree of contentment for the last six years—had vanished. Meanwhile, she was waking up in the place she was from, with no memory of this world.

That’s what would have happened if you had killed Junior. Or, at least, that is what Fox and I both suspected. That it would have aligned enough with the timeline of your origin and you would’ve been sent back. But you should know, if that were to happen, all of this would seem like a strange dream. Your memories of the last seven years would be filled with the experience of that other you. The events you’ve experienced here would not inform your life. I have not brought you here to keep you from making that decision for yourself, but because I thought you deserved to have all the information relevant to what Fox was asking you to do. They forced my hand when they told you to kill Fred—I could not let you do that without knowing the full consequences.

However, it is a moot point. As I said, something in the timeline has shifted again. You have merged—you have merged with another offshoot, your circumstances have once again changed. I wish I could give you the information that would help you navigate this new world—I wish I knew if this meant more potential allies or if this meant that you were closer to getting back home than you were before. But we cannot see all. Fox has their ways of seeing more than most, but I suspect even they are uncertain of what this shift has brought.

I do know that yours and Harry’s fates are irreversibly intertwined. I cannot think of a decision on any timeline that would separate you as you are now. In that sense, I take comfort in knowing you will never be truly alone.

On that subject, I have a final gift for you. I know you are going to cease transmitting soon. And I understand that, I do. But before you go silent, look at the radio system in front of you—“

…okay…

“Turn it on and tune to the very last frequency. Then switch on the delta tune to the positive and access the off-frequency just beyond that final channel.

Through some error that I know my superiors would like to correct, your transmissions have been reaching out—have been reaching outside of your world. In the same way that visions of the world you came from have bled into where you are now—” The polaroids I’m guessing— “your words have reached beyond their usual bounds. It is why they were able to reach your friends from across the country and after a year of listening to you, I have yet to figure out why this is happening at all.

Perhaps now that you are no longer alone, you don’t need this particular comfort. But you have spent all this time calling into the dark, hoping someone was listening, hoping someone would call back. Hoping that someone out there would find you.

You were found a long time ago. You were never really lost or alone. Many of them were alone, before they heard your voice. But the moment you called out, there were voices calling back, even if you couldn’t hear them.

Your friend, Birdie”

What…I don’t…I don’t understand—

Okay, tune to the last frequency…let’s see

[turning to the frequency]

“You were found a long time ago”…Who found—

[gets to the last frequency and then—

a cacophony of different voices, all the messages that Whiskey has not been receiving, from infinite timelines]

(an intake of breath)

Oh my god.

[static]

[click]

[itsghvstfvce]

WHAT'S IN A NAME

pairing : tara carpenter x fem!reader

summary : you can keep running, but you can't run from who you are.

word count : 2.5k

warnings : scream vi spoilers, violence, swearing, shitty non-proofread writing

You just wanted Honeybuns.

You wanted to be in and out of the bodega with your Honeybuns and make it home to watch another episode of your favorite show. You absolutely did not expect to be here, tucked away behind a shelf hoping to God that the shooter won’t find you and blow your brains out.

Just as you’re about to make a beeline for the exit while the killer wasn’t looking, you hear an empty beer can thrown into the aisle you were in which meant you weren’t the only hostage here. You hear the killer’s footsteps move towards your aisle so you quickly and quietly crawl to the next aisle before he could catch you. To your surprise, you’re met with the infamous Carpenter sisters and Sam motions both you and Tara to start crawling towards the exit.

As you’re crawling, Tara accidentally steps on broken glass and makes a sound, causing you, Sam, and the killer to stop in your tracks. The older Carpenter holds a finger up and peeks through the shelves to watch the cloaked figure’s next move. As soon as he turns around, the three of you push the shelf with all your might onto him, quickly running out the door before he could get up. Looking back into the store, the killer was no longer there and all that was left was an open back door and a Ghostface mask.

And that was how you officially met Tara.

You already knew of Tara’s existence when you started your freshman year at Blackmore University. Even with all the rumors you heard about her and her psychotic sister, you always found yourself attracted to the girl. At the frat party, you were about to introduce yourself to her but to your demise, Frankie had already beaten you to it. From where you were sitting, you drank your stale beer while watching everything unfold from Chad and Frankie’s little macho dance to Sam tasing Frankie right in the balls (which you found very impressive and also kind of hot) But you thought it’d be best to keep your distance from Tara and anyone close to her as they were known to be danger magnets.

But clearly, the universe had other ideas for you because you happened to meet Tara face-to-face at the bodega.

The three of you were brought to the police station for questioning. It’s silent between the three of you with the only thing being heard was Tara’s soft breathing and a sigh from Sam.

“Do you go there often? The bodega I mean,” the older girl asks finally breaking the silence. Tara keeps her head down, but listens intently to your conversation with her sister.

“Not really, no. I was just really craving some Honeybuns,” you laugh dryly. “But I didn’t think I’d encounter a fucking Ghostface”

“So I’m guessing you know who we are, considering you know Ghostface”

“Well for the record, I’ve also seen the Stab movies so that’s why I know it. But I do know who you are,” you say almost as if embarrassed to admit the fact.

“I’m Y/N by the way, since you don’t know who I am,” you notice Sam’s eyebrows furrow slightly as you introduce yourself.

“That name sounds familiar.. do we know you by any chance?” She asks, shifting her gaze from the table to you.

“Oh I doubt it, I only came to the city recently for school,” you nervously laugh from the sudden interrogation.

Tara’s head shoots up when Detective Bailey walks in and begins his interrogation. Luckily for them, you were helpful because you were able to check out Tara’s alibi for being at the party and seeing the both of them there (Sam bringing up the tasing incident forced you to hide a smile). But not even 10 minutes in, he was asked to leave the room due to the FBI claiming jurisdiction, leaving the three of you alone yet again. It’s quiet just like when you were first brought in here, but Tara is the one to break the silence this time.

“Wait! Y/N Y/N Y/N, I know where I heard this name,” you nervously chewed on your lip as Tara tried to remember where she heard your name.

“Got it! You’re in my film class, right? You sit all the way in the back and I always notice you when I walk in. I remember peeking down at your notebook as I walked to my seat and I saw your name,” she says proudly as if she’s solved a mystery. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, giving her a smile and nodding your head to confirm her statement.

“Okay, well it’s nice that you’re meeting your classmates and making friends but we don’t have time for this. Let’s go,” Sam starts putting on her black bomber jacket before making her way out of the interrogation room. You and Tara get up to follow suit, but before you can make your way out the room, Tara stops you.

“Do you want to grab some lunch sometime? You know, whenever this whole thing will be over?”

You look at her for a moment and take in her features; the way her brown eyes manage to sparkle under the dull white ceiling lights; how a sea of freckles paint over her face so perfectly; and how her lips were plump, red, and so god damn kissable. You knew you shouldn’t get close to her, but every moment you spent staring and glossing over her features, you knew you’d cave into her.

“Guys, come on!” Sam called out from a few feet in front of you. You look back at the younger Carpenter, who was still waiting for a reply.

“Yeah, that’d be nice” you finally manage to say.

The two of you catch up to Sam who finds Detective Bailey talking to someone else but when you realize who it was, you freeze.

“Kirby?” Sam calls out.

“Hey Sam,” the blonde walks over to give Sam a hug and acknowledges Tara. When she finds you standing behind them, her eyes widen and says a quiet “oh my god,” causing the two sisters to look at you.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?”

“You guys know each other?” Detective Bailey asks the four of you, but Sam answers first.

“Yeah. We went to Woodsboro High together. She was a senior when I was a freshman.”

“We share a certain history together, yeah.”

“Wait Kirby, how do you know Y/N?” Tara asks.

Your eyes dart back and forth between the three of them, your palms getting sweatier and your heart racing faster at the sudden attention on you.

Kirby quickly understood and decided to clear the air by offering her help on the case. The girls divert their focus to Kirby and the detective, but not before Sam gives you a questioning look.

And as if seeing Kirby wasn’t bad enough, the three of you happen to meet Gale Weathers right outside the police station. She was looking very eager to cover the story of last night’s events as per usual. You call for a taxi while Sam and Tara talk to Gale, not missing the amazing right hook Tara gives the reporter. They start making their way to the taxi and Gale follows. When the three of them come closer, she catches sight of you and pushes pass the two sisters.

“Jesus Christ, out of all the places you could run off to, I didn’t expect the fucking Big Apple Y/N”

Sam and Tara look at each other, both heavily confused on how you knew Kirby and now Gale.

The reporter approaches you for a hug, to which you don’t reciprocate knowing Sam and Tara were watching. Deep down, you really wanted to hug Gale back but you just couldn’t bring yourself to wrap your arms around her.

“How is she?” you ask as she pulls away.

“I talked to her. She’s worried sick, you know. Are you ever going to go back home?”

“I'm fine here, Gale”

“Well with Ghostface running around here, I don’t think you are anymore. Why don’t you give her a call-”

“I can’t,” you feel the lump in your throat and try your best to fight the tears forming in your eyes. “She’ll never forgive me.”

“Of course she will, Y/N. She’s the only one who will understand what you’re feeling right now.”

The taxi driver honks his horn to get you to hurry up and get in the cab.

“I hope I don’t have to see you around. Take care of yourself,” you squeeze her shoulder and Gale watches you get into the cab together with the Sam and Tara and drive off.

Later that day, Tara invites you to meet the rest of her friend group which includes the Meeks-Martin twins, Ethan, Quinn, and Mindy’s girlfriend Anika. The eight of you sat together on campus as Mindy goes on a ramble about the new rules of a franchise and listing out her potential suspects. Naturally, you were on her top three along with Ethan and Quinn since you just met the friend group, so you couldn’t be mad at the accusation. And as if perfectly timed, your phone started to ring which startled everyone. The number was coming from an unknown number so you decline it, knowing better than to answer it. When asked who it was, you lied and said it was just your roommate. But you get a text from the same number:

ANSWER THE PHONE, BITCH.

The phone rings again and you excuse yourself from the group meeting to answer the call alone, earning you odd looks from everyone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Y/N. It’s exciting to finally be doing this with you,” the voice was all too familiar. You look back at the group and they’re all staring at you, watching your every move. You weren’t exactly doing a very good job at trying to defend yourself from being a suspect.

“Who is this?” you say through gritted teeth.

“You think just because you ran away from home, you won’t be a part of this? It’s inevitable, Y/N. It’s who you are.”

“I’m not the daughter of a serial killer fuckface, I don’t count!”

“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong. Are you forgetting who your mother is, Y/N?”

“Please, just leave me alone,” you beg with tears in your eyes.

“Your secret will be out soon. And when that happens, I can’t wait to be the one who will gut you like a fish in front of everyone.”

“How fucking original. Come up with a new catchphrase next time, you bitch!” you sneer as you end the call. You run a hand through your hair, trying not to let the tears spill out of frustration. Suddenly, a hand grabs your shoulder and you jump at the feeling but when you turn around, a small girl is standing in front of you.

“Woah hey, it’s just me. Are you okay?” Tara asks, genuine concern laced in her voice. Your tense body now relaxes at the sight of her, her presence washing away every bit of fear and anger that was in you. It’s already hard for her to trust you and you can’t blame her for that, so you decide not to keep any more secrets from her.

“He called. Said he can’t wait to gut me like a fish.” Tara shakes her head.

“That’s it, you’re staying with us tonight.”

“Wait, what? Just like that?”

“You’re in danger, Y/N. We have to protect you, we’re the reason you’re in this mess in the first place.”

“Okay first of all, you know you shouldn’t trust anyone, that’s like the biggest fucking rule in this whole franchise shit. Second, you are not the reason that he’s after me, you don’t- we don’t know why he’s after me. And third, I don’t think Sam will be too keen on the idea of me staying with you guys.”

“I’ll convince her. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Y/N.”

You take a moment to look at her again. There’s a genuine and sincere look in her eyes, and for a moment, you forget that you’re all wanted targets about to be murdered. For a moment, it just feels like you two are normal university students who want to fall in love with each other

“See, this is why I want to trust you,” you’re broken out of your trance when the younger Carpenter speaks. She notices your eyebrows furrow in confusion and giggles at the sight.

“You look at me and get lost into my eyes, like you’re looking pass all the crazy shit we’re going through right now. You look at me like you want to fall in love but you’re afraid to,” your eyes widen at how she managed to voice out your thoughts. “And I know I’ve been through a lot, I know I shouldn’t openly trust anyone anymore but for some weird fucking reason, I feel safe and comfortable around you. And maybe this will bite me in the ass later on, maybe you’re just a really good fucking actress and I’m gonna regret everything when you start slicing me up, but I really hope it doesn’t have to end up that way.”

You look into her eyes once more and you prove her statement in that very moment. In the little time you’ve spent with her, you found yourself falling for the girl. You always thought your life was fucked when you learned who your mother was, but now you don’t think it’s all that bad. If it wasn’t for your name and the bloodline you came from, you wouldn’t have been led to Tara Carpenter.

You held your pinky finger up to the girl and now it’s Tara’s turn to look confused. “Normal serial killers usually would verbally make promises or swear that they won’t do anything. But pinky promises are very serious, to me at least. I know it’ll be hard to fully trust me, so this is me assuring you that things won’t end up that way in the best way I know how.” It’s pathetic now that you think of it, offering a pinky promise not to kill the girl. But Tara laughs and links pinkies with you anyway.

“Break this promise and I’ll make sure Sam breaks every bone in your body.”

a/n: hello reader >:) my love for jenna ortega and the scream franchise has led me here. honestly speaking, this won't make a lot of sense canonically but pls bear w me, i'm going to try and execute this idea as best as i can :') if you made it this far, thank you for reading!

[physalian]

Narrative Framing Devices

This is a long one…

A story need not be told chronologically, nor does it have to be only one layer deep. There’s a ton of different ways to frame your narrative, I’m just picking a couple today, some I thought worked and some I thought didn’t, and my personal favorite.

Most people think of framing devices in terms of time travel stories or fairytales, where it may start in the present or the future and work backwards, giving up the ending before telling how we all got here. Or by chopping up the chronology and letting the audience try to puzzle out the order.

There are also those that break the fourth wall, with the narrator beginning the story directly addressing the audience but never doing so again, or the narrator opening the story telling their own story to a present audience, so we’re the audience behind the fictional audience.

The other obligatory framing device is the time-skip, a la “6 years later” or “8 months later”. I’ve already talked about those. Or the preface/preamble/prologue that may spoil some important event later in the story, or is simply an important moment or montage of moments to catch the reader up on “how did we get here”. Shoutout to Castlevania for the most efficient pilot episode I have ever seen, with a 1 year timeskip.

Also honorable mention to the “A Life in the Day” montage from Magicians, speedrunning decades of a life together between two characters stuck in a Situation, maybe 60 years? Key moments between the two having a whole romance, with a kid and grandkids, over the course of one beautiful bit of soundtrack. One of the best episodes in the show, for a sequence that only lasted a little over 5 minutes.

—

Story within a Story | Princess Bride, "Ember Island Players"

Best example I can think of, specifically the film, which is based on a book that already incepts itself. The movie opens with a regular kid being read the book The Princess Bride by his grandfather, and occasionally cutting between the kid’s reactions and the fantasy story with the actors.

There’s several moments where the grandfather either loses his place and rereads a scene that replays the same dialogue, or skips a scene in the “kissing book” because his grandson gets squirmy, and moments where the grandfather narrates over a couple montages.

Princess Bride is one of those movies that knows exactly what it is and isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s self-aware and loudly and proudly sincere, with one of the best revenge arcs ever put to film.

Recap episodes can either be clipshows or get really creative like ATLA, telling the series recap through the medium of a propagandized play about the Avatar's journey, performed by actors of the Fire Nation. The Gaang sits there in vague states of discomfort, horror, or in Toph and Sokka's case, thrilling enjoyment, watching their hardships and heartbreaks played for laughs. That it's the story we know, but also with the added filter of it being enemy propaganda takes what could have been just a clipshow and still told multiple layers of a story with it.

The Fourth-Wall Break | Riordan-verse, Deadpool

“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood” defined a generation. It’s one of those fourth wall breaks that opens up the story and never appears again, though occasionally Percy will get slightly self-aware, saying things like “I didn’t know it then, but I’d never come back here”. But for PJO it almost doesn’t count.

Kane Chronicles on the other hand chose a bizarre framing device, having the two leads pretend to host a radio show, or a podcast—something where they were recording themselves and I don’t think it worked very well whenever it popped up and stopped the plot.

Shoutout to Tangled, too, for having a fairytale style fourth-wall break at the end, much like KC, where Flynn reveals that Rapunzel has been listening to him tell their story the entire time. Many fairytale stories open up with the physical book flipping open to the story, like Shrek and Shrek 2, but I don’t think those are translatable to the written medium very well.

The big one, though, is of course Deadpool. Have not seen the second one, and while ‘breaking the fourth wall’ isn’t by itself a framing device, DP & Wolverine absolutely makes it one, fast forwarding and jumbling up the sequence of events to deliver a “how did we get here?” during the opening credits.

Chronology Salad | Memento, Predestination

Have not actually seen Memento but I know the premise, working backwards as the protagonist recovers his memory of “how did we get here?” Predestination is a batshit insane time travel story that I don’t think most people have even heard of and detailing the plot at all is giving spoilers but it is the most “how the fuck did we get here??” movie I have ever seen.

Then you have stories like Twilight that open with “I’ve never given much thought to how I would die” that spoils (kind of) the ending, with the goal of the story not detailing if something bad will happen, but how. Twilight’s prologue reminds me of The Bachelor, where they’ll tease the audience with *shocking* moments completely out of context from later in the season that are way less cool when they actually come to pass (from the one time I watched with relatives out of morbid curiosity).

The point of these chronological mixups is how all the random puzzle pieces fit together, despite essentially spoiling themselves constantly, they’re so random, so out of place, meant to keep you constantly guessing until the big reveal of the picture on the box—and are extremely tricky to do well without completely losing your audience. You’d have to have a very thorough outline to not confuse yourself while trying to write it.

Honorary mention here for Inception, one of my favorite sci-fi movies, because the plot is crazy, but still told chronologically, just across different dream levels. However, the movie does open with the ending scene (though you don’t know that on your first watch). And Tenet, but I don’t know anyone who likes or cares about that movie.

Dual Timelines | Outlander

There are others I just cannot think of them at this moment. Dual timelines tell two stories simultaneously across two different eras, either decades apart or mere hours, with some relation between the two. Sometimes one timeline’s protagonist is the ancestor of the present timeline, for example.

Dual Timelines happen in sequential order, making them distinct from a flashback arc (more below) essentially two chronological plots running in tandem squished into the same book, episode, or film. They carry equal weight and try not to overshadow each other in flair or importance.

In Outlander, Protagonist Claire is already a time traveler, in a time travel story whose rules are “whatever happened, happened, and you end up causing whatever you tried to prevent”. Season 2 opens with her returning to the present, leaving the entire rest of the season with a foreboding sense of dread, wondering what will get her back to that moment.

Season 3 dangles the carrot on the stick, randomly cutting between Claire in the 60s and trying to move on with her life for… I think 20 years, while Jaime, her love interest from the past, just keeps getting kicked while he’s down. It takes forever to get these two back on screen together. And the dual timelines continue taking up screen time when Claire and Jaime’s adult daughter also eventually makes a trip to the past. Points off for being blatantly manipulative storytelling with its cliffhangers, but season 1 is still worth the watch.

Flashbacks, Flash-Forwards, and Flash-Sideways | Lost

This show’s earlier seasons were heavily framed with this device. In The first 3 seasons (up to the last episode) the framing device was exclusively flashbacks, focusing on one of the main 13 heroes for an episode, particularly in season 1.

They didn’t always answer “how did we get here” but told some story relevant to the character in the present, either a challenge they had to face or parallel relationship drama or ghosts come back to haunt them. Usually, these little flashbacks were told in sequential order, but they could hop months or years ahead at a time depending on the episode.

The flash-forwards began in season 4 and closed the gap between the “Oceanic 6” escaping the island and all the missing time while they were gone, before the infamous “We have to go back” line.

The show also had flash-sideways, which featured the main cast, many of whom had been dead for a few seasons, reprising their roles to show what could have been their lives if they never crashed. To… mixed reception.

The show also also had a time-traveling character who in-universe experienced flashes of the future and got mentally temporally displaced between two timelines for a hot minute.

Lost was… a show that demanded a dedicated following. I still love it.

Flashback Arcs | My own personal soapbox

This right here is the whole reason for this post. First you have flashback episodes and I can name a lot of those—ATLA has a couple, “The Storm” & “The Avatar and the Firelord” but both are technically “stories within a story” with characters either around a campfire telling it or reading about it. The alternate timeline takes up a majority of the runtime, only occasionally cutting back to the present characters for a reaction.

In TFP there’s an offbeat flashback episode “Out of the Past”, framed, again, as a character telling this backstory stuff to another character. Many, many vampire stories will have flashbacks to some degree, since their characters live for so long. Vampire Diaries, especially in the earlier seasons, had dozens of them filling in all the blanks back during the Civil War when the two leads, Stefan and Damon, were competing for the affections of the main villain, all leading up to how they were turned, and how she allegedly died. Once the Originals were introduced, the show then had flashbacks to a thousand years ago, when they were human, and various eras in between.

True flashback episodes don’t waste precious minutes setting up a framing device, they just dump the audience in an alternate timeline and let them figure it out on their own that something isn’t right.

But none of that comes close to the full-on Flashback Arc. I. Love. This. Trope.

I actually first saw it when Arrow was good in its earliest seasons, cutting fairly equally between a present-day Oliver back home and starting his hero journey, and him learning combat back in the past, over several episodes like a series within the series.

What you end up with is a happy medium between a full dual timeline and a random grab-bag of flashbacks as they become necessary to the plot. A flashback arc relies entirely on the existence of the A-plot to make sense, as opposed to a dual timeline where it’s essentially two self-sufficient stories rolled into one big narrative. This arc is substantially shorter than the rest of the plot, cutting the story it’s telling down to the absolute need-to-know moments and cutting all transitions between the two. These arcs tend to cover weeks, at minimum, and decades of a long life at most.

I think they're best implimented after the first book, film, or season. Not something you want to throw at your audience who barely knows or cares about these characters, so if you're stuck with ideas for a sequel, consider the Flashback Arc.

My favorite thing that I have ever written (sans ENNS) was for my sci-fi WIP, a C-plot flashback arc in 13 parts. They started out as in-universe nightmares to give credibility to when these flasbacks started occuring, framed around the character's reaction to the scene, but then took off independently to avoid redundancy.

This arc covered his time as a POW, telling the reader how he came to be the living weapon he was, and the first detail it opened with was the reveal that he wasn’t the only one of his kind, he’d lied and shouldered the blame of every atrocity to protect the others, as their numbers dwindled and it all fell into place. A truth he wouldn't tell with a gun to his head.

Because you already knew he lived, because he’s right there in the present A-plot, the arc wasn’t telling you if he’d survive the war, but what he’d do to survive, and how it all fell apart. Because it was framed up with the existing narrative, I had a lot more leeway in omitting details and dropping the reader weeks or months ahead as opposed to this being a completely fresh story with new characters. You knew immediately based on the tone that this POV was the C-plot flashback POV, and you knew the only person who could narrate it was my poor character.

Over 13 POVS, 34k words (of a total whopping 202k), I told a whole love story, established and killed off 10 characters, and gave heaps of worldbuilding lore and exposition to fill in all the blanks in the present and answer questions that this character would never, and revealed just how much he lied about and why.

All of this tied in with the A-plot, staggering the physical placement of POVS within the book to hit at the right moments tonally and as the character’s condition kept deteriorating because he refused to talk about What Happened. His reason was that he’d done all of this and suffered so much to keep their legacies pure. If he gave it up now, he would have done all this for nothing.

And this was some heavy shit. There was murder, suicide, death by giant alien super robots fond of ripping people apart, assault, mercy killing, torture, gaslighting, and psychological horror. One of my magic systems let magicians regrow limbs alchemically, which meant they could endure a shit ton of pain and just get reset to do it all over again.

It was a lot.

But because it was just in flashbacks, I gave you just enough dark shit before cutting back to something marginally lighter, not just one long slog of misery. There was also the unknown of how quickly it would end. The book would end when you hit the last page, but you had no idea which flashback POV would be the last.

And also.

I got to flex my writing skills to the fullest, writing this character’s flashback POV in a completely different tone and style to make it that much more distinct from the rest of the present book.

ENNS’ sequel is very much under construction, but the one thing already polished is a flashback episode packed into one chapter for one of my characters. It’s perfectly knife-twisty and I can't wait for people to read it.

—

There’s dozens of framing devices out there. Most important thing, I think, is not sacrificing audience understanding for the sake of something ‘cool’. Doesn’t matter how amazing the story is if your audience gets completely lost and confused trying to keep up with what’s going on.

If you'd like to check out my book, Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is available now!

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[CN] Victor’s Enthrallment Date (Eng Translation)

⌚Warning⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 着迷之约, that is yet to be released on the global server! ♡

[Additional warning]: y'know the entire date is not spice-themed, but the steamy part is borderline explicit and highly not recommended if you don’t qualify for the 17+ age rating (CN server). so, the call is yours~ :>

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

─  

【Subbed Video】    

[Heads-up]: Read the transcript for reading, of course! But for the life of me, PLEASE DO WATCH THE VIDEO!! YOU DO NOT WANNA MISS WU LEI’S GODLY VOICE ACTING AKSJSJSDGFG!! (also, again excuse my real-time reactions 🤪)

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【Transcript Version】

【Chapter 1】

MC: AHHHHH, it’s collapsing, it’s collapsing!

Before my eyes is a landslide. I find myself teetering on the edge of a cliff and can only exert all my strength to flail my hands, seeking something to “hold onto.”

Just as I’m about to reach for the vine dangling at the cliff's edge, the form of a mountain beneath my feet unexpectedly crumbles. The swaying vine slips through my fingers in an instant…

MC: HELP ME!!

System Voice: “Attempt to advance failed. Game over.”

MC: Aw…

A red prompt appears before my eyes as the moving seat beneath me slowly returns to its original position. The game sequence I just experienced vividly replays in my mind.

In order to design a puzzle-themed variety show, I’ve dragged Victor to the amusement park to find inspiration together.

After checking in at several attractions in a row, I noticed a VR game experience not far away while he went to buy drinks. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try.

Much to my surprise, the game turned out to be extremely thrilling. Combined with the hyper-realistic graphics and the seamless integration of the seat’s motion, I had completely forgotten that I was playing a game…

Before I can snap back to my senses, my head suddenly feels a sensation of weightlessness, and in an instant, the lively and joyful atmosphere of the amusement park returns to my vision.

Victor looks at me with a complex expression while holding the VR goggles. Behind him, a crowd of children has gathered, their gazes fixed upon me as well.

MC: Huh? What’s going on?

Victor: Even from a distance, I could hear a certain someone screaming wildly. You scared the kids.

Victor: In the time it took for me to buy the drinks, where did you venture off to?

MC: Don’t even ask. The sequence of events unfolded so rapidly that there wasn’t even a moment to pause...

Unable to contain my eagerness, I leap off the seat and hug his arm, launching into an episode of “complaint.”

Victor silently listens for a while and arches an eyebrow.

Victor: Was it that brilliant?

Victor: But what I saw just now was a certain dummy baring her fangs and brandishing her claws on the chair.

MC: …

Only when I visualize the scene from the perspective of the onlookers do I realize why I had been mobbed, and I feel embarrassed with a sense of belated awareness. 

Victor hands me my drink and pinches my flushed face, an amused smile cresting on his own.

Victor: Only a dummy can be so engrossed when playing games.

Victor: Why not just close your eyes if you were so scared?

MC: But then you’d lose the purpose of playing VR games!

MC: Playing games is about confronting your fears head-on!

Victor: If that’s how it is, why don’t you let go and stop clinging onto someone like this?

Reluctantly, I slightly loosen my grip around his arm and lift my head to look around. My eyes land on an area we haven’t explored yet.

MC: Victor, let’s go and take a look over there later!

Victor: You’re up for playing more?

MC: Absolutely! With the infusion of your love-filled drink, I’m now fully revived!

I beam at him, but Victor doesn’t seem to be moved by my “sugar-coated bullets.”

Victor: We’ve been playing all day, but did it actually help with your show?

MC: Hmm… it’s still too early to ask that question!

MC: Inspiration always needs some time to manifest. Let’s focus on experiencing more things for now.

Victor: I see that you’re just using a pretext to play and satisfy your personal desires.

MC: It’s not purely about satisfying my “personal desires.” I mean, I brought CEO Victor along to play together, didn’t I?

Victor: Submit the first draft of the proposal to me next week, and let me assess the outcomes of your creative process.

MC: But…

Victor: If not, I won’t accompany you on your next trip to collect materials.

Despite saying so, Victor’s footsteps don’t pause, and he is already holding my hand to walk toward the game attractions.

MC: I’ll definitely hand it in next week!

Even though time is tight, considering the relatively higher price at stake here, I still clench my fists to express my resolve to him.

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

—

【Chapter 2】

In the blink of an eye, the agreed-upon day has arrived. I rap on the door of Victor’s office, carrying the first draft of the puzzle-themed variety show.

He takes the documents from me. But instead of immediately diving into reading them, he lifts his gaze and studies me intently for a moment.

Victor: The dark circles under your eyes are nearly matching those of a panda, and your face is also drooping.

Victor: What? All the playing over the weekend was of no good?

MC: There’s definitely some value in gathering inspiration, but I can’t help but feel that there’s still something missing…

MC: Maybe CEO Victor can help me by reviewing and providing suggestions?

Victor skims through it briefly and suddenly breaks into a smile.

Victor: It surpasses my expectations, to some extent.

Victor: “Hiding key information within the visuals of a VR game” and “using secret cues during an indoor roller coaster journey” - it seems like you’ve still come up with some useful ideas from it.

MC: I’m just wondering whether these little tricks can be employed repeatedly.

MC: After all, it’s a puzzle game. I want each guest to have a sense of participation and enable them to play a role.

Taking a brief pause, Victor closes my documents.

Victor: I remember you saying before that this is a sort of simple variety show, and you just need to follow the script for arrangement.

Victor: Are you reconsidering your decision now?

MC: Hehe, I’ve seen how others have been able to build a brand with their variety shows, so I wanted to experiment with it too.

MC: I want to create the kind of game that is so addictive that people find themselves unable to break away, ensuring a permanently lasting impact!

–

[Tidbits]: The phrase MC uses here is “欲罢不能” (yù bà bù néng). It conveys the idea of being addicted to something, a sense of strong desire or compelling fascination; you’re so deeply engrossed or captivated by something (/or rather someone) that you find yourself unable to break away. Remember this phrase because it is the key theme of this date and mentioned several times + one of the core themes for Victor x MC~ ❣️

–

Victor: How would you define something as “addictive to the point of being unable to break away from”?

MC: It should be something fascinating, challenging, and you won’t get tired of it no matter how many times you’ve turned it over.

MC: Just like… the attitude you have toward your work and cooking!

A smile forms on my face as I lift my head, and sure enough, I meet his speechless expression.

Victor: Don’t you already have a clear concept? Just benchmark it against something you find “addictive to the point of being unable to break away from.”

MC: Something that I find…

I cock my head and ruminate for a while.

I like plenty of things, but there are also quite a few that instantly fade away after a “three-minute passion.”

But when the standard is set for something “addictive to the point of being unable to break away from,” most things would probably not make the cut.

And the first thing that comes to mind for that standard is the man right in front of me.

Smiling, I take a few steps forward and grab his hand, swaying it.

MC: For that, I still need CEO Victor’s cooperation.

MC: You’re right. I must thoroughly study the thing I find “addictive to the point of being unable to break away from.”

Victor stares at me, and after a moment, he sets the documents down and stands up.

Victor: Sure, but this is your task. You can’t disrupt someone else’s work and rest.

MC: No worries!

Victor: Great. I’m clocking out now.

MC: Hm?

I subconsciously turn my head and glance at the wall clock, then look at him while puffing out my cheeks.

MC: There are still two minutes until the work hours end!

Victor: Are you this precise when it comes to arriving late for work?

MC: …T-this is a completely different matter!

MC: What happened to being “addicted to work to the point of being unable to break away”?

Victor: I never said that. And if you think so, then it seems like you still don’t know me well enough.

Seeing Victor really going to fetch his coat, I pout my lips and follow along.

MC: You’re leaving so early today. Do you have something planned for after getting home?

Victor: The ingredients I ordered for you will arrive shortly, so I need to head back early to get them prepared.

Victor: If you want to work overtime on my behalf, I don’t have any objections.

The moment I hear it’s about me, I immediately set aside my earlier dissatisfaction and hastily latch onto his arm.

MC: No need for overtime, no need!

MC: What’s a chef without his diner cheering him on!  Come on, come on, let’s go home!

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

—

【Chapter 3】

Back at home, Victor tidies up briefly and carries the delivery box into the kitchen. Curiosity piqued, I tag along to find out what he’s up to.

He takes out the ice bags from the box, revealing a row of fresh sea urchins.

The memories of the last experience of eating sea urchins surface in my mind, and I can’t help but break into a knowing smile––

–

──── [Flashback Begins] ────

Victor had asked me to help taste a new dish, which turned out to be an extraordinarily pretty sea urchin salad.

I took a big mouthful with anticipation, but something didn’t feel quite right. So, I took another taste.

Victor: How is it?

MC: Hmm… it’s not quite how I imagined it to be?

As I pondered the source of bitterness, I shifted my gaze to Victor. His demeanor remained composed, except for the unwavering stare locked onto my face.

I swiftly adjusted my expression and decided to give it another try.

MC: It must be that my eating technique wasn’t right. I’ll have another taste!

Victor: Hold on.

Victor took my fork and tasted a bit himself, knitting his brows into a frown. Then, he picked up the plate and stood up.

Victor: Don’t eat this. Let me prepare something else for you.

──── [Flashback Ends] ────

–

Since then, we haven’t brought up this rare “Waterloo defeat” again. But little did I realize that he was still carrying hard feelings about it.

Victor notices my teasing grin that I’m unable to suppress and lets out an imperceptible sigh.

Victor: Just say whatever you want to say.

MC: It looks like Chef Victor is becoming more and more resilient after each setback.

Victor: I just don’t accept bad reviews.

MC: That’s not an attitude you used to have before, despite all the negative reviews Souvenir had?!

Victor: When a certain someone who usually goes around controlling other people’s reviews gives negative feedback, it’s genuinely a bad review.

After Victor finishes speaking, he puts on his apron and prepares to clean the sea urchins. I naturally take the apron strings from behind him and tie them up.

MC: It wasn’t that bad. I guess maybe the ingredients weren’t fresh enough that time? Or maybe… there was some kind of clash with how it paired with the caviar.

Victor: You don’t need to make excuses for me. I’ve already found the reason.

Victor: Help me with sampling the dish again today.

MC: Sure! Let me help as your Sous Chef too!

Victor assigns the task of selecting and washing the vegetables to me, while he focuses on processing the sea urchins.

Since there isn’t much for me to do, I covertly watch him as he works and notice some differences when preparing the sauce.

MC: Did you change the recipe for the sauce?

Victor: Hmm, it will enhance the freshness this way.

Victor: Try it and see.

He scoops up some sea urchin with a small spoon, dips it in the sauce, and feeds it to me.

The silky texture, complemented by the refreshing sweetness of the seasoning, instantly makes my eyes widen.

MC: It’s so yummy!

MC: Sure enough, Mr. Victor’s culinary skills are beyond question!

Craving for more, I lick my lips to savor the lingering taste and catch a glimpse of Victor’s lips curling up as well. He seems to be in a good mood.

I can’t help but snicker inwardly. This man has quite a competitive spirit in this particular matter.

MC: See, I was right, wasn’t I? You really are “into” cooking.

MC: You always have a knack for finding ways to eliminate imperfections, just like collecting materials and leveling up in a game.

Victor: Indeed, and it’s all because we have a gluttonous “Big Boss” at home.

Victor: You eat when you’re in a good mood, and you eat when you’re in a bad mood–– bringing me new challenges every day.

I can’t help but laugh mischievously as I watch his relaxed side profile. Then, taking a piece of seaweed from beside him, I begin chewing on it.

MC: Hearing you put it that way, I suddenly feel like incorporating a cooking segment would be a good idea.

Victor: Will you be able to have secret cues while cooking too?

MC: Absolutely! Cooking can bring you so much insight!

Victor: Like what?

MC: For instance, right now, I believe I know what truly is the thing that you’re addicted to the point of being unable to break away from.

I raise my head and make eyes at him. Victor glances at me briefly before diverting his gaze and letting out a soft chuckle.

Victor: Turns out that a certain dummy isn’t always a dummy; she becomes smarter after eating something.

MC: Hehe, looks like I guessed it correctly.

I brazenly lift myself on my toes and ruffle his hair. Then, I swiftly dart inside the house like a wisp of smoke before he can charge me with his stare.

Victor: Where are you off to?

MC: I’ll tidy up the dining table first and roll out the red carpet for today’s feast~

Victor: …childish.

I pull a face at him and elatedly set the table with the cutlery.

I’ll let him off for his teasing today. After all, I’m not the only one who is “childish.”

—

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

—

【Chapter 4】

After having our fill of eating and drinking, with the spirit of “studying,” I launch a two-player game.

The game requires two players to cooperate in searching for the treasure. The character I’ve chosen is blindfolded, so the screen appears pitch-black for me.

On the other hand, Victor’s screen displays textual instructions, and he needs to guide my actions at the right times.

MC: But if it stays pitch-black like this, even if we manage to locate the treasure, I won’t know, will I?

Victor: There ought to be some special hints; let’s keep moving forward for now.

MC: Hang on, my gamepad just vibrated! Oops, it seems like I bumped into a wall again…

Victor: …try moving a bit to the right.

After fumbling around in the darkness again for who knows how long, a glimmer of light suddenly appears on the screen. I try to control the character to crouch, and sure enough, it shows that the treasure has been obtained.

MC: We’ve found it!

MC: Although it took quite some time… we still have a great tacit understanding, don’t we!

Victor: Not too bad, we were quicker than when I usually have to accompany a certain dummy to find directions.

I grunt several times, shift to the side, and lean into his arms while holding the game console.

MC:  I think this gameplay could be quite fitting for the show, you know.

MC: It challenges the players’ tacit understanding and has a decent level of complexity. Plus, watching people getting confused and disoriented and bumping into walls would be quite hilarious.

MC: CEO Victor, what do you think?

Victor: If you’re not concerned about the recording duration, it can be given a try.

MC: If players are blindfolded during the game, we need to take safety issues into account too…

MC: I wonder if it might be better with a slightly smaller space?

As I speak, I observe the room before me, and suddenly, an idea strikes me.

Due to a last-minute notice about a meeting, Victor casually placed the tie he had taken off on a chair nearby before leaving the house early in the morning, without having time to put it away.

I run over to pick up the tie and randomly grab a toy of Pudding’s from the coffee table. Then, I stuff it into Victor’s hands and promptly position myself in the corner of the room.

Victor: What are you up to now?

MC: I want to try it myself.

MC: Let’s treat this toy as the “treasure.” Blindfold me first, and then you can guide me to find it.

MC: We’ll keep the range within this room. How’s that?

Victor sighs and walks over, taking the tie from me. He then helps me tie it around the back of my head.

Victor: You certainly know how to make the most of what you have.

MC: Hehe, this extent is just perfect.

MC: You can hide the treasure now.

I hear Victor’s footsteps gradually move farther away, and then, a soft “click” sound follows. The light on the other end of the fabric vanishes entirely.

MC: D-Did you just turn off the lights?

Victor: Scared?

MC: No, not at all. I’m just feeling a bit out of sorts, is all.

Victor: That’s good, then.

Victor: I remember a certain someone saying that playing games is about confronting your fears head-on. Looks like you haven’t debunked your claim yet.

I try my best to identify the direction his voice is coming from and defiantly crane my neck towards it.

MC: I’m very familiar with this “map.” So, maybe I won’t need your help anytime soon.

Victor: Is that so? In that case, I shall wait and see.

I initially thought it wouldn’t be difficult in a room I’m so familiar with. But once my vision is blocked, things turn out to be not as simple as I assumed.

I walk to the left for a bit. According to my memory, I should be somewhere near the sofa. However, when I reach out to feel it, it’s not the soft texture I expected.

MC: Huh? What is this… the bookshelf?

Victor: Walk five more steps to the left, and you’ll reach the sofa.

MC: Is it this way?

Skeptically, I walk a few more steps and feel a hard object obstructing my feet. I slowly crouch down to touch it and realize it’s actually a cold glass surface.

MC: This is the coffee table! How could you trick me!

MC: I suspect you’re a mole sent by the opposing team, deliberately leading me to go around in circles.

Pouting, I complain as I keep spinning around, trying to locate where Victor is–– until I hear a soft chuckle drifting from behind me.

As soon as I turn around, without a chance to say a word, I find myself being pulled into someone’s arms.

Victor: Alright, the game is over.

MC: Hold on, where’s my treasure?

Victor: Right there by your feet.

MC: Are you serious? Then let me pick it up.

Just as I’m about to crouch down, he pulls me back, locking me firmly in the confines of his arms.

Victor: Still don’t believe me?

Victor: In any case, every time you win something, you just always have to pounce on me to show off.

Victor: I’m just helping you skip an unnecessary step.

I prod him gently as a form of protest, but my lips can’t resist curling up into a smile.

MC: You know everything about me to a T. How is this even fair?

Victor: No matter how thrilling a game is, if played for long enough, it’s only expected that you will figure out the patterns–– let alone a certain dummy.

MC: Then, would you still find it fascinating?

Victor: Don’t you know that answer already?

A warm breath teases my ear, and I can feel someone gently tracing his fingertips across my neck.

The mild itch and tingling sensation remind me that he has already proven his answer to me a long time ago.

It’s the prolonged kisses, the embraces to hold the other with all our might, and the marks born out of uncontrollable emotions that we leave behind on each other…

It’s a feeling of immersion and dependence, just like an addiction.

The temperature on my cheeks ascends rapidly from the passionate memories. I want to shake my head to regain clarity, but someone holds it in place, preventing me from moving.

Victor: Your face is so flushed. Looks like you’ve remembered something.

MC: You’re so cheeky…

MC: I just want to hear it from you directly.

A peal of soft laughter glides from my ear down to my jaw, finally settling at the corner of my lips, in sync with my breathing.

Victor: You know how to make demands; that’s good.

Victor: Well, I’ll only say it just this once.

Victor: It’s just like you said. What I’m addicted to the point of being unable to break away from will forever be fascinating to me and will always be worth the challenge.

Victor: No matter how much time passes, I’ll never grow weary.

A stream of satisfaction surges from the depths of my heart, and I subconsciously nuzzle my cheek against the palm of his hand.

Victor: Satisfied?

MC: Not yet.

MC: Words alone won’t suffice; you must prove it with action.

I reach out my fingers to touch him, exploring his soft muscles and tracing my way to the solid collarbones. Skillfully, I find the gap between his tie knot and hook my finger into it.

It’s akin to a signal; with just a gentle pull, I can get hold of my “treasure.”

Fervent kisses instantly catch my breath, leaving me with no choice but to swallow the provocation I have yet to put into action.

The layer of darkness, which is deeper than usual, overwhelms all my senses and draws them to rush toward the area that is being plundered. I can no longer maintain my original posture, my knees give away, and I lunge directly at the person who has started it all.

My impact seems to have knocked him over, causing him to tumble and end up sitting down somewhere, which grants me a momentary interval.

Lowering my head, I breathe desperately, my breaths coming in gasps. He gently pats the back of my head, his deep voice melding into my ragged breaths.

Victor: Do you want me to give you some time?

MC: What…?

Victor: To make the changes in the first draft of your show.

MC: …I’m off work now!

I haphazardly reach out my hand, intending to give him a punch. But I find my wrist swiftly being caught in mid-air, foiling my attempt.

Victor: Good. So, starting from this moment on, forget about your show for the time being.

Victor: Be more focused.

—

Without waiting for my explanation, the hand at the back of my head gently exerts force, sending me back into his arms again.

The soft touch of his lips makes my heart itch. I can’t help myself from lifting my head and craving more.

The pain I expect doesn’t arrive, and I don’t know whether it will or not. Subconsciously, I tighten my grip on the tie in my hand, taking the initiative to deepen the kiss.

Wet and sultry; just like the rain outside the window which has started pouring who knows when.

An array of grotesque light spots dance before my eyes, and a slight sensation of dizziness causes everything around me to appear as if it’s melting away.

His fingers thread themselves into my hair. Unable to withstand any longer, the velvety tie succumbs to the intimate caressing against my ears and temples, eventually sliding down loosely.

–

[Tidbits]: the phrase used here is so fascinating– “耳鬓厮磨” (ěrbìn sīmó). the phrase itself literally means “(one’s) ear rubbing (the other’s) hair at the temple),” which generally dictates a very personal and intimate moment shared between lovers, BUT, it specifically refers to the lovers being childhood playmates. yeah, way to shove in knives oh-so-delicately 🤡

–

The sudden intrusion of light makes me uncomfortably close my eyes, but the person in front of me doesn’t give me the slightest opportunity to evade his presence.

His warm breaths caress my eyelids, and I’m overcome with a sensation as if my entire body is being kissed.

The delicate and closely woven incessant licks and kisses have long shattered my willpower, and at this moment, the person in front of me consumes all of my senses.

Each time I respond to his teasing advances, I’m answered with even heavier and deeper breaths from him.

My eyes slowly open, and I gaze into the moist and profound depths of his gaze. Even amidst the darkness of the night, I know that, from beginning to end, those eyes have always held me.

I have received his proof and also garnered deeper insights into my own heart.

He is the “treasure” I’ve yearned to find countless times throughout my journey of exploration and moving forward.

Even if everything remains unchanged forever, I’m willing to continue this pursuit relentlessly.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Anika’s Ramblings]

────

[lostgirlfandom]

I'm Not Okay

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!PlusSized!Reader

Warnings: Mention of bullying, plus sized reader, afab reader, angst then fluff

Words: 1.8k

Being away from Dean was a feat in and of itself. But this case was especially hard since he was gone longer than usual.  

Usually, he’s gone for maybe a couple weeks on cases, tough ones maybe a few weeks. But this one is going on two months. It made you worried and stressed, even though he called as often as he could to talk about your days or to have you investigate something. And when you were stressed and worried, you tend to eat more often along with binging shows to distract you from your thoughts. 

Finally, Dean called you one day. “Hey baby, we’re on our way back to the bunker. We’ll be there in a few days.” You could basically hear the giddy grin in his voice as he spoke to you.  

Your face broke out into a giant smile. “Yeah? I can’t wait to see you. I’ve missed you so much!” You did a small wiggle in excitement at the thought of finally seeing your man after so long.  

He chuckled and sighed in contentment. “I can’t wait to see you either, baby. Although I think you missed your own personal body heater” He teased you.  

You giggled. “How’d you know?” You teased right back.  

You heard Sam in the background, and you frowned a little as Dean yelled back at him. “Alight, baby. I gotta go, I’ll call you tomorrow, alright?” 

“Alright, love. Be careful... both of you!”  

“We will. I love you, sweetheart!” He said before a rustling came from the phone.  

“I love you tooooo!” Sam sang into the phone making you laugh. You listened to them fight with laughs falling from your lips.  

Finally, Dean took back the phone. “Alight, baby. See you in a couple of days.” 

You spoke through laughs. “Alright, babe. Love you.” 

After hanging up, you went back to watching a show on Netflix that had caught your attention for a couple of hours before getting up to cook something for supper.  

Once finished, you watched one more episode before getting up to take a shower and get ready for bed.  

Walking into the bathroom, you put on a playlist on your phone to listen to while you shower as you got undressed.  

Looking up into the mirror, you paused.  

Your brow frowned as you looked at your body. Is your stomach sagging more? Do your stretch marks on your breasts look more prominent? Have those scars always been that color?  

You gave a deep frown as you dragged your hands over your stomach, feeling the soft skin and sucking in your tummy while pressing the tissue into your body. Your hands went from feeling your stomach to your love handles and grabbing at them.  

Biting the inside of your lip, your hands made their way to your breasts. Holding the heavy tissue, you tried to push them up.  

You sighed and turned to turn the shower on and stopped as you saw the cellulite on the sides of your thighs and some on your ass cheeks. Your jaw clenched as the self-consciousness grew in your mind.  

You hurriedly got into the shower and tried to let the music and sound of water drown out the intrusive thoughts.  

You had always been on the heavier side, and you had always been a little self-conscious of your body. Especially, when you were younger, and your mother would always make these little passive aggressive comments about losing weight. And when kids in your grade would pick on you for developing earlier than others. After high school, you worked on yourself. You only worked out enough so that you were healthy and then when you use to hunt like the brothers you were in shape enough to hunt the things that go bump in the night.  

You met the brothers on a hunt way before finding the bunker. You hunted alongside them for years, and somewhere along the way you and Dean fell in love.  

At first, you weren’t going to act on it. But Dean did. Dean loved your body and worshipped you when you finally got together. He showed you love that no one had ever shown you before.  

He didn’t give a fuck about anything. He enjoyed what enjoyed. And you tried to mimic that in your life.  

And it seems those doubts were coming back.  

When you got out of the shower, you avoided looking into the fogged-up mirror as you dried off as much as you could before putting on your underwear.  

Now you walked into the room, forgoing the shorts and tank top you were originally going to wear to bed, you dug through your dresser for some baggy sweatpants and a baggy shirt.  

You curled up in bed and silent tears welled up in your eyes before you cried yourself to sleep.  

The next two days carried on the same. You ate less though, and you were binge watching more shows to distract yourself from your mind.  

Dean could tell something was wrong when he called you both days to check on you. You were giving him small answers and when he asked what was wrong, you just told him you felt like you were coming down with something.  

The day that the boys got back, he definitely knew something was wrong when you didn’t come greet him at the entrance like you usually do.  

He raised an eyebrow before looking over at Sam, who also looked confused at the missing piece. Dean sighed, “I’ll go look for her.” Sam nodded and followed down into the map area. Sam headed towards his room and Dean headed to your shared room first.  

Dean walked in and paused as he found you lying in bed with your back facing the door. His brow frowned in concern as he let his bag drop down by the door and shut the door behind him. You softly flinched at the sound of the bag dropping, but you didn’t look over as you seemed to curl up even further into a ball on the bed.  

Dean quietly walked over to the bed and sat on the side and put his hand on your side. “Baby?... What’s going on, huh?”   

You were silent as tears fell from the corners of your eyes down onto the pillow. You didn’t want to answer him. You didn’t want to speak, and you were afraid if you did, he would agree with you.  

He stared at you and then moved to take his boots off along with his flannel. He slowly moved to get under the covers with you. His hand slowly rubbed your back for a moment before moving to wrap around your waist to pull you close to him, but you tensed. He paused and grew more concerned. He let his hand rest of your waist and just rubbed up and down your side.  

“Baby... what happened while we were away?” He whispered into the room. Just being cautious of the tension in your body.  

You were still for a moment.  

You shook your head.  

Dean stared at the back of your head. It was silent as he let you stew in your head for a few minutes more.  

“Baby girl, can you please tell me what is bothering you? At least try to. I wanna help, but I have to know what’s going on.” He told you as he scooched closer to you. You didn’t tense up this time, but you were still contemplating if you wanted to tell him why you were stuck in your head. 

There was a lull in silence before you spoke up, your voice was raspy from the nonuse of that day. “I gained weight...” 

He frowned and stared at the back of your head. Dean couldn’t tell from all the layers on top of you.  

“So? You’re still my baby-”  

“Dean. My stomach looks so saggy and uneven that I feel ugly. My stretch marks are more prominent again... my hips look weirdly shaped, and I feel like... like I’m just so ugly.” You cut him off as you ranted for a moment. “I hate the way I look. I can’t look in the mirror without feeling disgusted with myself. I don’t know why you stay with me. I don’t know what you see in me.” 

Dean’s eyes watered up slightly as he listened to you. He swiftly wrapped his arm around you and pulled you as close as he could to his chest with his other arm going underneath you to full encase you in his arms.  

“Y/N... I know what I say won’t help all the way, but I get it... but I love you. Whether you are four hundred pounds or however you weight now, or if you were as skinny as a twig. I love you because you except me for how I am. I never got that from my dad. You make everything seem worth it. You make the tough days feel like they are worth it. You make all this bullshit we deal with on a daily basis, feel like we are making a difference in the world. The shit we do, is a thankless job but we do it anyway and you always tell me that I’m doing my best whether it was finding like the tiniest detail on a job or if it’s saving someone’s life. You make me feel so important... and I can never express everything I feel for you in words, but this is a start. You are beautiful no matter what. You just... You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.” 

More tears spilled down your face as you listened to Dean talk. His voice cracking every now and then from the pure emotion in his voice. His arms were enclosing you to him, if not he felt like you might disappear on him.  

“So, what if you have a more pronounced stomach or you have stretch marks or if your body is purple or if you looked like Jabba the Hutt. You are everything to me, Y/N. You are beautiful and perfect for me.” 

You went to move to turn around and face him and he let you lose for a moment to do that but then gripped you tightly to himself again. You wrapped your arms around his neck and put your forehead to his. You were still crying but because of his words and how your heart and mind felt lightened a little bit from the emotion that poured from his rant. His eyes were still watery and shined from the tears that didn’t fall but you still saw the love for you in them.  

Every inch of your body was against his, with your legs intertwined together. Your fingers dug into his hair, and you just stared at him for a solid second.  

You took in a ragged breath before whispering out. “I can’t promise that I’ll be okay right away... Thank you, baby. I love you so much...”  

He sighed out a ragged breath too before reaching forward and kissing you lightly on your lips.  

It was going to take a while for you to be alright but with Dean by your side... You think you can get to be okay with yourself.  

[givethemsmut]

The Pack | Chapter Seven

Characters: Dylan O’Brien, fem!reader

Pairing: Dylan O’Brien, Dylan x You

I walked over confused, offering my sweater out in front of me like it might protect me from Dylan. “Hey, my dad said you need my sweater? You okay?”

He was standing up, back towards the whole room, and not budging when it clicked that he was hiding his embarrassment. I was too busy watching her kiss him I didn’t even notice how he reacted to the scene. He was hard and it was showing.

My eyes slinked down him forcing me to realize how big it looked in his pants until now. My mouth fell open ever so slightly.

“My eyes are up here…” His eyes grilled into me but it was hard to focus with him standing there vulnerable. “Sometimes you act and your body reacts too.” His palms protected himself before snatching my sweater to place over his crotch.

“Okay, what do I do? I can’t exactly provide relief right now….” His hand pulled me closer to him as he adjusted himself. His hands went down his pants, adjusting himself, so every inch would lay against him instead of being so obvious.

My mouth dropped open even more, trying not to add insult to injury, just watching. “Or that. Okay. What do you normally do?”

He let our a sigh, “Take 5? It just happens. Your body doesn’t know you’re pretending.”

I slipped my sweater back on, once he was safely adjusted, “That must be awkward.”

He shook his head, “We’re both professionals. It’s worse when the scenes are much heavier.”

I squinted at him prompting an explanation and he continued, “Anything more than this. Longer. More intense. I’ve only done any of those.” He saw the worry on my face and put his arm around my shoulders, “Come here, she ain’t my type.”

I laughed as he pulled me in hugging me tight to him as some sort of affirmation of a relationship we didn’t have yet.

I walked back to the seat next to my father awaiting the second take of the same scene but I could tell my father was thinking and waved a hand to halt production. Standing up he called Dylan over, “I need you to be more aggressive. Push her down immediately. Her dress is short and we gotta avoid anything showing too much. Don’t be afraid to be enthused. Stiles is a virgin. This is the girl who gets him.”

Dylan shook his head but wasn’t afraid to speak up, “I don’t think this is his moment. She hasn’t validated his feelings. I don’t want to push it too far.”

My dad understood but ultimately this was his story, characters and decisions. Not Dylan’s. “I need you to start transitioning from a virgin to something more comfortable. The next 4 episodes are going to be tough on you as an actor and the character. Go get on mark.”

Sitting back down my dad turned to me, “Chance to leave now. We’re gonna film this same scene a few times.”

I shook my head no as Tyler walked up next to me. His voice dropped low and soft, “You’re gonna watch?!”

I told him I already did and he seemed shocked offering instead, “Let’s take a walk. I wanna talk to you anyways.”

I scanned the set for Dylan’s eyes but he was talking to his co-star probably about the scene’s direction. We walked outside just strolling away from the crew or listening ears.

“So you’re into my best-friend?”

He seemed unsure or unfinished but I answered anyways, “It’s still very new. I’m enjoying spending time with him.”

“You know he was with Britt for six years? He doesn’t date. Pretty sure he didn’t have sex in high school either. He’s not a player.”

Laughing, knowing this information already I rebutted his doubt. “I’m aware. He needs some fun after such a serious relationship ending, no?”

Tyler looked at me like he was trying to see through me but I was a closed book - with a seal and lock. “He doesn’t do casual. If he’s spending this much time with you, you matter. Weren’t you a virgin until my boy?”

I stopped walking and faced him, “I really understand the sentiment – best friend having his boy’s back and vetting me but my virginity and sex life isn’t your business. I could interrogate you about Alex but I’m going to respect her decisions, privacy and the relationship in whatever nature it is. I don’t wanna break his heart, rest easy. Are we dating? No. Are we having sex? Frequently. But that’s all I know, sorry.”

Tyler seemed embarrassed for asking, “Just go easy on him. He’s a good kid. I’ve heard him talk about you and I’m nervous you don’t feel the same.”

I told Tyler again how new everything was before excusing myself, avoiding details and searching for Dylan again. Once I found Dylan outside the stage looking around I felt relieved he was doing the same thing. “Hey! All done for now?”

His face was worried as he took my hand, “You upset? I promise I’m not into her.”

I let him know Tyler wanted to talk and he interrupted, “What the fuck. About what?”

I was honest with him and told him everything. I looked at him in a serious tone, “Can we go back to your trailer and talk? Privately?” He seemed destroyed already as he slid to the side letting me enter first.

I walked to the back where a fluffy bed was placed, kicking my converse off I sat criss-cross style in the center waiting for Dylan to join but he paced instead. He said louder than a normal tone, “Okay, so tell me. You wanted to talk. You’re really into Posey? The sex could be better? You can’t handle me being an actor and having to basically make out with other girls? Just don’t sugar coat it.”

He didn’t stop pacing when my eyes went wide with shock. “What the... Not into Posey, not even close to my type. Not sure how the sex can be better? I basically don’t stop thinking about you and the other half of the time we are having sex. And the acting is fine… I’m gonna call out of watching sex scenes… it’s making me territorial.”

Dylan stopped pacing and sat down next to me, “Okay then what is it. Every time Posey’s around you run or wanna end Shit.”

“I just wanted to talk about what we are…. Labels.”

Dylan finally let his mouth crack into a smile. Falling down against the bed next to me facedown his words muffled against the plush blankets, “That was mean. Like not feeding your dog mean. Obviously you’re my girlfriend.”

Cuddling by his side, everything felt comfortable. Once a PA came to fetch him I stayed back going over the script without even realizing I chose that over school work.

Maybe there was more of my dad’s passion in my than I realized.

D Y L A N ‘ S P O V

“Hey bro. Can you stop scaring my girlfriend?” I shouted towards Posey.

“Girlfriend huh? Not what I heard.”

“What do you mean? Why don’t you like her?”

I kept filling my plate with chicken tenders ands fries, not even looking at him directly while he explained. “You don’t know her man. Her dad is our boss. She was a virgin. A lot of shit already not adding up.”

“I don’t care her dad is our boss man, let that go. I stayed at her place last night… he’s knows about us.”

“That’s his only daughter, even if he knows, you think he’s cool with you pipping her down across the hall?”

“It’s not like that, she’s a lot like me… we want shit to matter. It’s not a quick fuck. She was kind of with this dude who pushed for it and she constantly rejected him because it was never right. Someone like that doesn’t just say yes to a guy like me for the wrong reasons.”

“What about Brittney?” Tyler asked as he shoved a burger down his throat waiting for the lengthy response.

“She cheated on me and you’re on her side? Seriously, dude?”

“Six years. Knew you’re family. Vacations together. Pets. All just over like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I can’t fucking change that. I’m not gonna sit here crying about what I did wrong while she is living her best life.” Exhausted just saying the words out-loud I let my head drop and Posey knew to move on.

His mouth turned up the corners like a villain with a plan, “You guys have been fucking like bunnies…”

“We can’t keep off of each other. She was running the scene with me last night and it turned into sex.” I paused, trying to find the right words and my face scrunched up painfully before I asked. “You ever made love? More than sex?”

“Once. My ex, happens when you date someone since you’re 11. You figure out how to fit together so much it’s hard to have anything else. Why?”

I shifted in place, still standing next to catering, not sure how to explain it or why I had never had that with Brittney. “I think we’re making love…”

Tyler stopped eating and looked at me, “What? Why do you think that? It’s still new and you’ve only dated two people.”

I kept thinking about all the sex we’ve had, all the details, I felt the shiver up my spine. “It’s not just sex. It’s not just rough, quick, no strings attached fucking. I don’t know if it’s cause she was a virgin or what but when I’m with her… it’s like… I don’t know man.”

Tyler put his hand on my shoulder, “Like cuming doesn’t matter? Like time stops? Like you’re drowning in her in a good way?” I shook my head while stuffing my face with food. “That’s not just sex. Damn bro. You’re in love with her?”

A PA on set decked out with a walker and clipboard interrupted us to let us know we were needed on the stage. I was relieved to not have to answer. I dabbed Posey and headed back to my trailer before heading to the stage.

She was asleep in my bed cuddled against my pillow, curled up like the only comfort in this world was me. I crawled into bed kissing random parts of her exposed skin until she moved around, walking herself up. Still not awake fully, I felt her arms wrap around my neck as she whispered, “Round two mister?”

Laughing against her mouth I responded, “They need me on set. Come on.” She slithered out of bed pulling on my sweats from the floor and I couldn’t be more happy.

R E A D E R ‘ S P O V

The day wasn’t over and I honestly applauded the whole cast and crew for working such long days without any complaints. Set felt more like a family, a slumber party, an all nighter with friends and I didn’t want it to end.

“What scene is this?”

He danced to no music right in front of me as I sat next to my dad, hips swaying and every bit of male stripper. “Some group shot. I don’t have any lines except two but I’m there!”

I couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably. Dylan was the comedian of the set and surprisingly a great dancer. I could tell my dad was watching out of the corner of his eye but he didn’t say anything.

“Magic Mike Three? All you.”

He immediately busted a sexier stripper move, “I’m awkward when it comes to being sexy.”

My dad leaned over, “Dylan go get on mark.”

He stopped dancing when he saw everyone ready except him and said, “Oh shit!”

My dad glared at me like I should know why but I was blinded by lust, love, whatever we were calling it.

Watching Dylan stand with the group, trying to figure out the plot twists or mystery on the screens set up next to my dad I had to bite my tongue. He was funny too. Another check on the pro side, if I was making a list.

After one of them messed up their lines the scene reset again. They ended up doing the scene 10 times until it was approved to move on. My dad leaned over when cut was shouted, “So what’s the deal? You’re constantly together, goofing around or having sex. Obviously you like each other. Do I need to be worried?”

Dylan came running up to me and kissed me. His lips tasted like cherries, his hands touching my face and I felt his legs woven between mine. He pulled away, “Okay one more scene. Be right back.”

A smile painted my face without me realizing when my dad sliced right through with reality. “Hey, ground rules. No making set visits a habit. He’s distracted. And no more sex while I’m home. Condoms. Use them. Are you on birth control?”

“Dad, I had no reason to use birth control before Dylan. Yes, ground rules, knocking is a good start. Work on that one first.”

Dylan had to do the make out scene again after the two scenes he finished because an angle was off. My called called Dylan over, “Dylan, the next 4 episodes are only going to intensify, I need you to be able to nail these types of scenes. I know you’ve had crushes, sex and these moments for yourself. Draw off those.”

Sliding off my chair taking his hand, “Dad, give him 5. I’ll pep talk him.” I dragged him with me behind some set work away from the crew and actors, almost everyone stayed behind just to cheer his big sexy scene on.

I let my fingers dance under his shirt. “What, what are you doing? I gotta bang out this scene.”

I kissed his neck gently, “I know. I’m helping get you excited, frustrated.” My hand unbuttoned and unzipped his pants as I kissed his lips, “Take charge babe. Lydia is finally letting you have her. What if Stiles let the moment slip away?”

I let my hand rub his penis over his underwear as he said, “Shhh” and kissed me with his tongue. He turned me around and pushed me again the prop set. “Dylan! Get on mark!” We heard shouted and he pulled away unwillingly putting his pants together.

Kissing his neck, “More later.” All the boys hollered and clapped as he came back to set. My dad told them to be quiet or leave. The scene happened again but Dylan improvised more lines for himself,

“Because if you die I’ll lose my fricken mind!”

Then the kiss happened, very tender and slow until he picked her up tossing her on the bed. It was hard to watch. They kept kissing now more deep and they moved around. I stood up and my dad felt my discomfort. I felt his hand on my arm as a silent don’t make noise or move too much. Dylan broke the kiss looking at Lydia,

“I love you Lydia. I always have.”

My dad stood up, “And cut! Perfect Dylan.” The crew and cast all clapped and cheered. Dylan gave high fives to everyone on the stage, down to lighting and sound. Plus a victory lap.

“You ready to go? We’re gonna get burgers on the way home with everyone. You down?”

My dad leaned over, “Nice work. You should be proud.”

Dylan smiled, “Your daughter is very inspiring.” He could tell I didn’t like watching him with someone else. As we walked back to the trailer to get his stuff I asked him, “How much worse does it get?”

He grabbed his jacket and hat from the couch with my pants and purse for me. “Watch the first time. It’s how I met Brit. That’s a good example. Clothes basically. Some touching. Your dad won’t make it 50 shades. He knew I didn’t wanna do any sex scenes.”

“Dylan” he stopped walking and turned around, “What’s wrong?”

I touched his shirt, “Don’t be too good at those scenes okay?”

“I’ll suck babe.”

[donotnomi]

BEHIND THE SCENE OF SLOW HORSES S4 WITH JAMES CALLIS

source: this interview (worth reading using your browser's translation tool)

I’ve already translated the most interesting and curious parts and made a snippet list here for you. It's spoiler-free. Enjoy!

Callis read for Whelan's role - had the chance to audition for the role of Claude Whelan. I was already familiar with the series, having seen the first season, which I thought was fantastic. So I knew what it was about, but I ended up joining the cast without even watching the second season. To catch up, I started listening to the audiobooks to get a sense of who my character was. 

Discussion with Will Smith about the different take of the TV show on the character - I haven’t spoken with Mick, no, but I did talk a lot with the showrunner Will Smith and the director Adam Randall. In a way, the role is exactly as it was written, in the sense that the character serves the same dramatic purpose, but they wanted him to have a very different energy. I think it was a change they planned in light of what’s going to happen in the future, in the next season. The key point is that Claude has no idea what’s coming.

Being a new entry on an already established cast - The people behind Slow Horses are very, very confident in what they do. This gives you a level of freedom that's hard to describe. There’s definitely a generosity of spirit on that set, a great sense of respect and camaraderie. I came in after they had already been working together for years, so everyone knew each other really well. It’s clear how much they like each other and how well they get along. They’ve built a bond that’s been growing for four years. As a new entry, being on this set almost feels like stepping into a force field. You’re surrounded by this incredible energy, generated by the fact that everyone around you knows exactly what they’re doing—and not only that, they love what they’re doing. It’s an amazing atmosphere.

Slow Horses set feels real - Sometimes, a scene can put you under pressure because of the vibe it carries. In the first episode of this season, Claude is in the control room during the bombing attack. You imagine yourself in this hub, with bombs going off in London, live on the screens in front of you, responsibilities flying around, and so on. I don’t know, on set they recreate these situations in such a way that everything feels incredibly realistic. When you're standing in front of that wall of screens with the images of the bombings playing out, it doesn’t even feel like you’re making television—the impression is so real. It’s fantastic.

Bikering with Kristin Scott Thomas on set - Kristin is an incredible person to work with—she’s amazing, and I think that’s pretty clear just from watching the series. She really gives everything she’s got to the role, absolutely everything. It’s hard to put into words what she does, because sure, the script already gives her a lot to work with, and she handles it perfectly, but then she adds even more layers of her own. This season, she has to babysit me, all while making sure it’s not too obvious. Being part of a dynamic like that is, of course, a lot of fun.

The Bus Ride scene with Diane - We were on a real bus rented by the production, but at a fake bus stop created by the set designers. It was so realistic that people passing by would stand there, waiting for the bus to arrive. Every time the camera moved away, I’d explain to them that we were filming and that it wasn’t a real bus stop, just part of the set.

[burnwater13]

Din Djarin, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Cara Dune, and Migs Mayfeld standing on Morak looking at the Imp base there (out of frame). Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 7, The Believer. Calendar by DateWorks.

Name that Band!

“What do you mean, ‘Name that Band’? That’s just a vid of me and the people who helped rescue you.”

Grogu sighed at his dad. Din Djarin was so literal at times. 

Grogu knew exactly who was in the vid he was showing his dad. He didn’t need his dad to tell them that some of these people helped him when Moff Gideon had sent the special battle droids after him on Ossus. He’d seen Fennec and Daimyo Fett two days earlier when they had vid night and he introduced them to the ‘Best of Diggle and Daggle’. That had been a lot of fun. The look on Fennec’s face when the giant sand fish crawled out of it’s cave… priceless.

“Grogu, where do you get these things? Did you sign up for some new comms site again? I’ve told you to stay off those things. They’re nothing but bantha scat.”

Wow. Someone was cranky.

“Peli.”

“Uff! I should have known. I asked her to show you how to perform basic maintenance on R-5. What did you two do with that time?”

Grogu wondered if he could fake his dad out with a non-answer answer and then thought better of it. Din Djarin was already cranky about something. His dad normally didn’t care about the stuff Peli and Grogu talked about while she was demonstrating cleaning or data collection techniques. They had actually discussed sensors and ranges and calibrations before they started down a rather fun and funny tauntaun trail.

“Sing.”

“Singing?! The two of you wasted valuable time singing all those old songs she knows? Did she even look at R-5 while you were goofing off?”

Yikes. His dad was really mad now and Grogu hadn’t meant for that to happen. He and Peli had been talking about certain sensors being too sensitive and Peli commented ‘Ya mean like when yer dad gets called on at a sing-a-long?’ 

Grogu had nodded and then he had begun to laugh. Din Djarin hated singing on a good day, although he did it all the time when he was in the privy or the ‘fresher. He hated it twice as much when it happened in public and was a special request as part of someone’s naming day celebration. Everyone knew that but they liked watching him get worked up and then stumble through the song with them. It was nice to know that even the hyper competent Mandalorian Bounty Hunter had something he couldn’t do as well as the average galactic citizen.

“Sensors.”

Again, the truth was the best Grogu could do. He didn’t think his dad was going to patiently listen to the whole story of how they started with a very deep technical discussion of sensors and how their settings made a big difference in how the complex tracking systems on the N-1 worked. Too sensitive and you were tracking scurrier fleas across the desert. Too dull and a bantha could step right in your path and you’d only notice when you were covered in fur. You wanted something in the middle. 

That’s when Peli had offered that how sensitive a device was depended on a lot of factors, like components, packaging, and price. Grogu commented that sounded a lot like people. That’s when Peli made her statement about his dad and Grogu had laughed. Peli had laughed too and said, ‘Just think of it kid, if he was in a band they’d call it Mando and the Wailers!” 

Grogu shook his head and signed to Peli, largely because he couldn’t stop giggling, that the band’s name would have been, “Din Djarin and the Drones”. Grogu had fallen over when he finally got that one out. Peli had loved it and started making up a song that they would have been known for. It had started out ‘I’ll bring you in cold, so cold, so cold, I’ll bring you cold, ice cold, froze cold’. Grogu had loved it and they spent the rest of their time singing songs that were based on things his dad had said and they made no sense whatsoever. It had been a lot of fun. 

When his dad came to get him later that day Grogu was so tired he ate his flash frozen frogs and fell right to sleep. The Mandalorian didn’t have a chance to ask him all about sensors and Grogu hadn’t told him about the song that started, ‘I like those odds, Dank Farrik, I like those odds…”

The next day they had traveled to Freetown to visit Cobb Vanth. His dad and the Marshal had so much to talk about that Grogu had gone to the cantina and spent time with Tanti and Jo. They’d listened to a lot of music and Grogu had taught them some songs he’d learned from Peli. 

Oops. He’d forgotten all about that. Was that why his dad was so annoyed? Grogu looked up the Mandalorian and coo’d thoughtfully.

“Cobb Vanth told me you have a very nice singing voice and I should really ask you to give me lessons. Now, what I want to know is why you’re so comfortable singing in Gal Basic with other people and I just get one word if I’m lucky?”

Dank Farrik!

To be continued…