#looking like spongebob in the wilderness

[inkcovens]

peak lesbian behavior was jackie wearing all these feminine clothes at home but packing her little boy collared shirts and sweater vests for when she's away from her family

[occult-roommates]

Bob's House

The day of the date Rudi had arranged with Marisa and Akva came. As planned, they went to eat at Bob's House, the restaurant of Marisa's family. Rudi was their waiter that night, and once they were done ordering, Marisa began talking.

Marisa: Ok so like, my parents opened this place a few years before I was born, when they first arrived in this country back in the early 90s. But they weren't doing super well financially, so they tried rebranding when I was around five, and since our logo is a pineapple, I suggested we rename the place to Spongebob's House. Obviously, they couldn't name the place after Spongebob, so they shortened it to Bob, and so here we are. Akva: Ah, ok...By the way, who's that weird guy with the thick accent that's just bothering people for cigarettes? Marisa: Oh, that's Anatoly, but everyone calls him Tolya. He's a guy who moved to San Mysh from Russia at around the same time my parents also moved here. He's been hanging around since day one, except for that six months period where he went to prison and almost got deported. He offers people to pay for their meal in exchange of cigs, but these day less and less people smoke so it's getting harder. Akva: Uh, so we're just gonna skip the "went to jail for six months" part? Marisa: Yeah, got caught with some drugs on him. But he's an integral part of the restaurant and our life to the point he's even my godfather, so my parents really went to bat for him. I don't know all the details though, I couldn't have been older than 10 when this went down. Akva: I don't believe he's old enough to have been an adult in the 90s, my parents were teenagers back then and they don't look as young as him. Marisa: Oh, that' just because he used to be a vampire for a while, got bitten shortly after moving to San Myshuno. He actually liked being one, but 2-3 years ago he accepted to do a drug trial for an experimental cure when he was really desperate for money and it worked.

It seems like every sentence that came out of Marisa's mouth was always wilder than the last, and who knows what she could say now that Rudi had poured them both a glass of wine. As Akva was about to start talking about her life, they heard the sound of plates being broken coming from the first floor, and a woman yelling in Tagalog.

Marisa: That's my parents. They don't get along very well, but they also don't believe in divorce. This is all because of our oldest line cook, his name is Claude, the guy you saw walk in earlier with the big red sweater and long beard. But they don't fire him cause he's been there since the beginning and he's extremely good. Akva: What did he do? Marisa: My mom. Akva: OH! Marisa: Yeah, he's my actual dad. But we all pretend like it's not the case. Also, the guy with long curly hair is my older brother, his name is Dante. Who, as far as we know, is my "father" actual son.

Akva sat there, in awe of how much of a mess the life at Bob's House seems to be. To think the one thing she wanted for her next relationship was for it to be drama free compared to the first two. Well, maybe Marisa is great and all and not messy like everyone she knows...and to be fair, she said nothing about her brother, so he might be normal too...But damn, this seems to be too much. Well, at least, she probably can't get her pregnant or won't shoot her if she were to break up.

Akva: By the way, might sound prejudiced of me, but at first I thought Anatoly was also a line cook. I don't know why.

Prev - Next

[icantseeinthemorning91]

Yn x Christian Bale smut

I’m sorry but I’m not going to give you a signal for when to smut starts….. GOOD LUCK

Yn x Patrick Bateman

You were at home dancing to Genius of love from the tom tom club when your favorite song can BREAK MY STRIDE from Matthew Wilder ( DONT JUDGE ME I LOVE THAT SONG) you started bopping your head up and down and started to sing “ last night I had the weirdest dream, I sailed away to China, in a little row boat to find ya “ while you were singing you didn’t hear the door open

Patrick’s POV:

I walked in to the sound of music playing loud. It sounded like someone was playing break my stride. I walked in the BIG ASS living room to the BIG ASS kitchen were I saw my wife bopping her head up and down sing surprisingly GOOD “ you said you had to get your laundry cleaned, didn’t want no one to hold you “ I chuckles at the lyrics when it said ‘ you have to get your laundry cleaned . ‘ that when she started to get louder in singing “ what does that mean, and you said, AIN’T NOTHING GONNA BREAK MY STRIDE AINT NOTHING GONNA SLOW ME DOWN OH NO I GOT TO KEEP ON MOVEN “ she sang “ WOW your amazing sweetheart “ I said practically screaming. She looked at in a shocked face “ heyyy “ she said turning down the radio “ I thought you weren’t gonna come home till 1:00 “ she said typically not looking at the time “ Babe it is 1:00 “ I said pointing to the BIG ASS Clock she had I swear I don’t know how she affords all of these things! “ oh my goodness “ she said sounding like a child “ oh babe “ I said well walking over to her putting my hands around her waist and kissing and biting her neck “ pat “ she said in her worried voice “ yes what happened babe “ “ I thought it was 8:45 that’s why I was cooking “ she said pointing to the pot with her eyes “ you were cooking at 1:00 babe, do you need to see therapy or go back to school “ I said putting my chin on her shoulder. She gasped A and said “ I’m not as dumb as SpongeBob “ she said walking over to the pot “ want some “ she said “ will what is it “ I said walking over to her “ Mac & cheese “ “ no that makes my tummy hurt “ I say kissing her head “ mmm ok love you hun “ she said kissing my cheek “ love you too “ I said as I gave her a Quick kiss on the lips “ why did you stop “ she said i looked at her and kissed her passionately.

[wavernot4love]

hi hello pinned post time (finally)!!!??

welcome!!!

basic about me stuff: you can call me nat, n, natalie, or any of my online monikers like wavernot4love (i tend to refer to myself using the latter quite often ,,,), they he, 23, upstate ny. big scene guy first. i am generally traveling around the northeast 4 live music whenever i can, & i draw stuff, write, n take pictures and sometimes i post that stuff!!!

five songs i've been spinning lately (i'll keep this updated):

music i mostly post about:

bands - ls dunes, my chemical romance, fall out boy, ag's projects, thursday, idkhow, twenty one pilots, pierce the veil, midtown, blink-182, bring me the horizon

albums - past lives, bullets, revenge, danger days, take this to your grave, from under the cork tree, so much (for) stardust, boom. done., blue sky noise, razzmatazz, regional at best, vessel, trench, selfish machines, misadventures

genres - post hardcore n pop punk stuff!!

other favorite music i just don't post here as much:

bands - all time low, coheed and cambria, turnstile, knuckle puck, movements, hail the sun, neck deep, paramore, origami angel, panic! at the disco, sleeping with sirens, knocked loose, the maine, death cab for cutie, the story so far, never shout never, the starting line, jimmy eat world, incendiary, city and colour, spiritbox, motion city soundtrack, drain, blessthefall, pup, andrew mcmahon in the wilderness/soco/jack's mannequin, green day, one step closer, taking back sunday

other music (primarily) apart from the "scene:" daryl hall & john oates, the guess who, styx, queen, matchbox twenty, third eye blind, the killers, joywave

genres - hardcore, metalcore, emo, that sort of indie folky emoey stuff you might associate with bright eyes or city and colour and the like

interests (besides specific bands albums etc) i am always down 2 chat about: warped + general pop punk/post hardcore/hardcore/metalcore scene lore, far out/proggy/straight up strange post hardcore (!), music influenced by other subgenres (hardcore influenced pop punk etc), traveling 4 shows, mixed bill shows, scene fests, surfing & moshing!, writing/talking music stuff, physical media like cds n magazines, photography stuff (specifically live music stuff), nature, traveling around the whole northeastish area (my home!!), long road trips, silly comedies (special props if they are from the 80s/90s), 50s/60s thrillers & horror movies, kirby, spongebob, gurren lagann, cowboy bebop, sword art online alicization, death note, the walking dead, the umbrella academy, supernatural, lost, evil, the twilight zone

random stuff i just find not chill & don't wanna see + stuff you won't see from me on here (idk dawg): going to shows & disregarding scene culture kinda stuff - basically being rude to opening bands, getting mad about moshing/surfing (unless someone's actually being a dick of course, always call that out), etc, just being mean/cliquey, the whole twitter kinda mentality i guess of getting mad at/overanalyzing/taking down folks over everything reactively w/o looking into a full situation or looking @ things rationally, sexualizing + shipping real people like bands (beyond their boundaries), overall just being weird about bands like they're ethereal beings instead of Some Guys (gender neutral), basically "celebrity" culture as that only really harms both bands and fans, that kinda stuff.

random extra wavernot4love lore: i grew up going 2 shows & fests like warped in the mid 2010s scene, starting when i was 13 (sup, monumentour darien). sws, ptv, mcr, fob, bmth, atl, & tøp were some of the first bands i ever really loved. i grew up on a LOT of 2010s pop punk, but over the past two years or so have been diving into the 2000s scene, especially in terms of post hardcore, much deeper than i had before!

i travel as much as i can for shows, oftentimes for the past two years or so, solo (i've grown a lot more confident in that & would always rec it over missing out as long as you take precautions! feel free 2 ask for tips)!!! i also love making stuff like bracelets, keychains, stickers, & pins to give out/trade at shows!!

always trying to make the scene an even bigger part of my life, like through art/design + live music photography + music journalism stuff. also really wanna work on learning proper vocal technique!!! i have always wanted 2 actually make and play music!!

always here to talk music, or be a friendly face if we're ever at the same show - just consider me a universal friend of the scene (that's certainly my experience at shows). always feel free 2 interact w my posts/become mutuals/reach out!!

some tags i use: #dunesposting #fobposting #mcr posting #idkhowposting #ptvposting #thursday posting #ls dunes you are so goddamn special to me (yes i sure do have two dunes tags) #post hardcore #wavernot4love talks ag tunes #wavernot4lovetalksmusic #wavernot4love gets to the gig #photo stuff #art stuff

last show:

8.20 - all time low forever brooklyn

9.17 - clancy tour (twenty one pilots) newark?

upcoming shows:

9.28 - clancy tour (twenty one pilots) cleveland

11.5 - terrible influence (dan & phil) toronto (alright not exactly a show in the traditional wavernot4love sense but i still felt it belongs here)

11.16 - impending gloom tour (idkhow) rochester

11.26 - real friends/can't swim buffalo

some shows we might've both been at (going WAY back): monumentour darien, entertainment tour rochester, night heat tour rochester, bandito tour buffalo + university park, razzmatazzmatour buffalo, thought reform tour syracuse, icy tour cleveland, swarm/return tour toronto1 + nj2, dunes toronto, adjacent fest, dunes toronto23, dunes millvale/pittsburgh, tourdust toronto + darien + camden, thursday syracuse '23, tjol tour reading, war all the time '24 tour buffalo, boom done buffalo, 2ourdust albany, gloomtown tour rochester + buffalo, thursday rochester '24

12.1 - pierce the veil syracuse

12.6 - ag rochester

yippee!!!

[calpalsworld]

Minecraft: the N00b Adventures - The Minecraft Storymode that Should’ve Been?

When I was encouraged to watch a minecraft animation because of its iconic villain named Gaylord_Steambath, I thought I was going to have to witness a Futuristic-Hub-esque CGI animation featuring a large cast of copyrighted characters such as freddy fazbear and spongebob. (You know what type of minecraft animation I’m talking about.) When I discovered it was actually an ugly looking 2D puppet animation hosted on n*wgrounds I thought I was going to have to witness a nauseating, offensive mess. But it was actually pretty okay.

Maybe I just feel so kind towards this series since I had low standards for it starting off. But thankfully, nothing offensive happened because it is pretty much a PG animation for babies who love minecraft.... besides a couple jokes and the fact that Milky_Dad was constantly doing drugs.... And the fact that theres a character named Milky_Dad..... (Best character tho I would love to study him! Very compelling!)

The animation was a mixed bag but overall good for a dumb webseries. The way the characters looked grew on me. Sometimes a kinda cool shot would happen during action scenes. The backgrounds were nice, although the characters were stiff and unexpressive. Honestly it was just exciting to see a Minecraft animation in simplistic 2D, rather than oversaturated hyper-rendered 3D. (Sometimes N00b Adventures would have things that weren’t 2D. Its mixed media. Its cultured. Its complex? Its art? Okay?)

The best part of the series was honestly the story. I expected it to be a disjointed lol XD random mess, but it was actually a 28-mini-epsiode Minecraft Epic about 3 kind-hearted noobs on their quest to free a hardcore server from the tyranny of griefer-turned-admin and rich bastard, Gaylord_Steambath, all the while  learning how to git gud and ultimately, SURVIVE.....! It was somewhat episodic, with different “arcs” as the noobs encountered threats like the Wither, Hackers, and Herobrine. But the overarching plot would always progress, since Gaylord_Steambath relentlessly trolled the 3 noobs throughout their travels.

My only big critique was that out of the three noobs, Pooplooser_69 and N00bly were extremely boring. They weren’t funny people, nothing funny would ever happen to them, and their personalities were dull. Comedy solely relied upon Fart_Garfunkel for some reason, who was *sometimes* actually funny, but became slightly annoying, as he was THE ONLY NOOB who ever did ANYTHING comedic. They could’ve at least made obvious jokes about N00bly being a dumb noob, or Poop being too serious! Come ON.

BUT THE ONE THING I COULDN’T STOP THINKING WAS.... Why is this better than Minecraft Storymode!!!?????? Sorry, thats a random comparison, but I couldnt stop thinking it. N00b Adventures seems to understand the culture and appeal of Minecraft much better than Minecraft Storymode. Characters had names like Fart. There was a guy with a green checkered bandana and emo hair-- AN ESSENTIAL STAPLE OF MINECRAFT CULTURE. They had cameos from actual Minecraft youtubers. The story was about how much griefers suck and are ANNOYING! It focused on what's appealing about Minecraft: the things you actually encounter in the game, and the WILDERNESS SURVIVAL. I wish Minecraft Storymode wasn’t so complicated, and was literally just a survival scenario about some idiots living (and potentially dying) in the canonical minecraft world while facing against asshole griefers... like N00b Life.... And for HEAVENS SAKE! Put a CHECKERED BANDANA in there!!!!

[seeksstaronmewni]

The Bear Roots of Burbank Cartoons: A Lookback at Boo Boo Runs Wild

5 years ago, [adult swim] aired the greatest of all Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episodes, “Boo Boo Runs Wild” (1999), on August 13th, 2016 A.D. at 4 AM.

Look and see, kids, how America’s not-so-average bear connects in the wide world of animation that produces many of the cartoons that you love in Burbank, Canada and more!

As and after I saw it, I knew that I found the greatest band of cartoonists out there, and that greatest band of cartoonists out there was none other than...

Spümcø, whose many creatives would end up working at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Cartoon Network Studios, and many other popular Burbank and Canadian studios that made the cartoons I grew up and beyond watching.

Obviously, the character design is rather different, but they still look like the right characters, even with the slight color changes...

and with their items of human attire out. Ranger Smith, on the other hand...

Ranger Smith is wildly off model, and probably on purpose, throughout the picture.

Only in one scene appears he with a more familiar face.

Now, I didn’t have to watch Wild Kratts (which, by the way, features 6 Spümcø Canada creatives) to learn that “there’s only one thing a bear likes more than raiding a pic-a-nic basket.”

As the title suggests, Boo Boo loses his temper when Ranger Smith restricts him from tearing bark and decides to go primal in returning to his bear roots: “From this day forth, I’ll not dress in the man’s attire, and I’ll not speak in the man’s tongue. From now on, it’s going on all fours and grunting for me!”

Boo Boo wreaks havoc for the trees with his natural bear roots.

Unlike past episodes, however, the artists went far wilder than the usual Hanna-Barbera cartoon, making the trees alive and screaming in pain! OH, WHAT TOURTUE! Not to mention how I love Boo Boo’s goofy/manical laugh, a beautiful product of John Kricfalusi’s voice (Yes; I know that he was a formerly abusive megalomaniac who still has ADHD, but God knows what cartoons would be like today—at least those produced in Burbank and Canada—if it wasn’t for the many layout artists that he led).

Also unnatural to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon is the extreme levels of slapstick, wackiness and graphic nature of cartoons since such shows as Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Beany and Cecil’s DiC reboot, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Boo Boo and now Cindy Bear are licking away at all of the honey... and bees... with insanely long tongues (may be that they’re sloth bears?). This left Yogi Bear practically speechless.

The mere sequence of dialogue between Yogi and Ranger Smith, discussing what to do about Boo Boo, involved HEAVY work in the storyboards by Vincent Waller. So many expressions that they couldn’t fit in each of Spümcø’s 3-panel storyboard pages!

As you see, in addition to Vincent Waller’s storyboards, John K. added extra poses (storyboard revisions more or less, but definitely layout poses) under the respective scenes. That way, Vincent could focus on telling and writing the story in rough pictures. (source of storyboards)

I also love the sound design. While it’s definitely true to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, John K. and the late Henry Porch were very creative with some weird, dated and out-of-context sound effects, similar to what they and Horta Editorial did on The Ren & Stimpy Show in the first two seasons. The production music (probably APM and Capitol Records) also gave it a vintage, nostalgic feel.

Ultimately, with the aforementioned abusive megalomaniac aside, Spümcø undoubtedly harbored some of the finest animators and artists ever. Such names as Bob Jaques (Spongebob Squarepants, Buy One, Get One Free*, The Baby Huey Show), Ben Jones (DC Super Hero Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Teen Titans GO!), Vincent Waller (Spongebob Squarepants, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog), Albert Lozano (Inside Out, A Kitty Bobo Show), Todd White (Spongebob Squarepants), Eric Koenig (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Madagascar, Cats Don’t Dance, The Simpsons, and The Tigger Movie), and Erik Wiese (Samurai Jack, The Mighty B!) are among the hundreds of creatives who ended up almost everywhere working in Burbank and Canadian animation.

Other names on the Spümcø team that one might recognize include Gabe Swarr (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Buzz on Maggie, Foe Paws, El Tigre), and even background artists such as Richard Daskas ( @rdaskas​ - Samurai Jack, Time Squad, Sym-Bionic Titan, Batman Beyond), Richard Ziehler-Martin (Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wacky World of Tex Avery), Hector Martinez (Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Timone and Pumba, Captain N, Evil Con Carne, Dora the Explorer), and Tony Mora (MAD, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, Pickle and Peanut). I mean: in short, these artists worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network Studios!

Spümcø’s production assistants on Boo Boo Runs Wild feature Matt Danner —a fantastic character designer, storyboard artists, director and producer, whose credits range from (Johnny Test and The Legend of the Three Caballeros to Team Hot Wheels and The Looney Tunes Show—and Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi. Brian A. Miller was an executive in charge of production, not for but probably in association with Cartoon Network.

Spümcø’s creatives, as I said, are all over the place in Burbank animation. Other shows that still air on @adultswim​ have ex-Spümcø creatives. For example: today’s re-run of Samurai Jack EPISODE XVI features Chris Reccardi (The Powerpuff Girls, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)...

Scott Wills (Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat)...

Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, Wander Over Yonder) and Jim Smith (YooHoo and Friends, Tom and Jerry Tales, McGee and Me)...

and Leticia Lacy (TRON: Uprising, Sym-Bionic Titan, Wander Over Yonder, Korgoth of Barbaria).

Even outside of Cartoon Network Studios, where most ex-Spümcø artists end up, @cartoonnetwork​’s The Amazing World of Gumball, from Cartoon Network Studios Europe (AKA Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe), features ex-Spümcø artist Charlie Bean (The Powerpuff Girls, Robotboy, Batman: The Animated Series, Timone and Pumba, Creature Crunch) on The Cartoon Network Europe Development Team.

One of Cartoon Network’s biggest and craziest hits, Teen Titans GO!, also features such ex-Spümcø artists as storyboard artist, director and producer Luke Cormican (The Buzz on Maggie, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Brickleberry, The Replacements, El Tigre)...

Gerald de Jesus (The Book of Life, The Ricky Gervais Show, TMNT)...

and Eric J. Pringle (Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, The Problem Solverz). What wacky cartoon filled with live-action images, unpredictable visual gags and extreme slapstick humor wouldn’t?

Relatively, you could even tune in to Nickelodeon, the original home of Spümcø’s ground-breaking hit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and see names of creatives associated with Spümcø and Ren & Stimpy, such as Zeus Cervas (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Spongebob Squarepants, Clarence) on today’s episode of The Patrick Star Show...

or even Gabe Del Valle (Mighty Magiswords, Spongebob Squarepants) on today’s episode of Middlemost Post!

Overall, Boo Boo Runs Wild introduced me to the cartoon studio whose works I took for granted and on which I was missing out all of my life, and I strongly encourage this generation to support this Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode, which you can watch RIGHT NOW on [adult swim]’s site. It was officially on their YouTube channel, but it was removed for unknown reasons. This short never even got a DVD or VHS release!

The last televised airing of Boo Boo Runs Wild on [adult swim] so far was January 6th, 2019 A.D., but Spümcø also produced “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith” and “Boo Boo and the Man” (based on true events in the life of John Kricfalsui) for Cartoon Network.

As I come to a close, it’s worth noting that layout Ed Benedict, an animator and artist whose credits go all of the way back to the 1930s with Disney and continued with MGM and Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios, originally worked on Yogi Bear episode “Yogi’s Birthday Party” as a layout artist, and reprised that very role for “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. What a legacy the animators and artists of this episode leave!

Always will I remember how Spümcø, whose legacy connects to my Cartoon Network-infused childhood, blessed me and graced me that fateful day, August 13th, 2016 A.D., with the ultimate example of the fine art of cartooning that is the Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. I was living in the moment, and I thank God for it.

“For years they have [been] asking me to make new Yogi cartoons, but I can’t even get a half a million [dollars] to make one, probably because I actually like the characters, but 60-70 million $ to make walking corpses is economical.” - John Kricfalsui on Yogi Bear (2010)

Another Ranger Smith, Boo Boo or Yogi Bear cartoon from the people behind The Ren & Stimpy Show is highly unlikely today, due to the abuse and harassment of John K. angering the world to the point of hating and condemning the man who helped to shape not only Cartoon Network but also television animation—and animation as a whole—with an undeniable legacy of artists and animators who deserve way more credit and respect than we perhaps thought of giving as kids.

Tweet version of this post here.

[mar-bluu]

Thank you so much @gendistic42​ for the prompt!!

Characters: Race, Buttons, Finch, Spot, Albert Ship/s: a little bit of Sprace Word count: 1250 Warnings: swearing, shitty writing and no editing

--

“So, what’re you dressed as, Race?” Race snorted into his cup of ‘dragon blood’ punch, he held his arms out and did a small, showy turn. He raised an eyebrow and gave a cocky grin. “I’ll give ya one guess.” The confused face of Buttons stared back. Buttons blinked slowly at him in the dim lighting then let out a long breath, scanning Race as his hands gestured vaguely to the other boy in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t find the right words, only small squeaks and the fragmented beginnings of sentences passed through his lips. Race rolled his eyes and swiped his hands up and down his costume and raised his voice to speak over the loud music. “C’mon, Buttons, you’ve got this. Who am I dressed as?” Buttons shook his head softly, his mouth still opening and closing as he tried to hazard a guess. “…I…. I have no clue.” He squeezed out. “Not one.” Race scoffed disbelievingly, a small confused smirk etched into his face. “Really?” “Really.” Buttons deadpanned. Race gave a short half-shocked chuckle and pointed to Buttons’ own cup. “Uh, ya are drinking the non-alcoholic punch right?” “Yeah.” The two faced each other in silence, each trying to process just what was happening. After a brief pause Race cocked his head to the side. “You’re not pullin’ my leg are ya?” Buttons shook his head again and chuckled. “No! Can you just tell me who you’re dressed as?” Race grinned. “I swear ya need glasses. Hey Finch!” he called out. Finch, who was sporting a pokemon black trainer outfit, turned around, talonflame plush swaying dangerously on his shoulder. “Yeah?” he asked. Race smiled smugly and puffed out his chest, gesturing to himself with his thumb. “Who am I dressed as?”

He was met with silence.

Finch stared at him through narrowed eyes, the coloured lights reflecting off the gym badges displayed on his chest. He took a sharp breath in and held it. “A flapper?” Race’s chest deflated as he stared into F’s eyes trying to find a glimmer of humour that gave away the joke.

He found no such glimmer.

“Are- are ya kiddin’!?” Finch shrugged. “…No.” Race drew his hand sharply to his chest in offence, sputtering at the pair of equally confused looking faces staring back at him. “I can’t believe this.” Race said, more to himself than anyone else, but Buttons reached out a hesitant hand and patted Race’s arm gently. “It’s okay…” he said slowly, “Not everyone’s costumes are easy to guess.” “Not easy to guess!?” Race gasped incredulously. “Are ya out of your mind!?” he gestured to himself again. “’Not easy to guess’?” Buttons and Finch shared a half-puzzled half-concerned look. Race couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He felt hot and cold at the same time, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, was this shock? He took a deep breath in and stepped backwards, away from the two other boys. “I can’t be here.” “What?” “I have to go.” Race whispered, turning on his heel, and shaking his head in disappointment. “Uh, okay?” Finch said, bewildered. “Enjoy the rest of the party?” “I have to go!” He repeated, shaking his head harder and walking away, leaving two very baffled friends behind him.

--

Race was running through everything that just happened in his mind, quietly yet frantically talking out loud to himself as he tried to make sense of it, almost choking on his own spit in the process. This had to be some sort of joke, right? Like they couldn’t just not know who he was dressed as! They couldn’t just not know this iconic villain! It wasn’t like he had made it difficult, what with a form-fitting black dress, bright red gloves- cigarette holder dangling between his fingers- large, fluffy white coat, and if that didn’t give it away, he had dyed his hair half black and half white. They couldn’t just not know Cruella De Vil! This had to be a joke. This had to be, and he was going to prove it.

--

It wasn’t a joke.

Or if it was, it was awfully well-coordinated, because not one person at this damn Halloween party could tell him who he was dressed as. Each guess was wilder and further off than the last, and he genuinely couldn’t believe it was a joke anymore. So far he’d gotten “fancy demon”, “drag queen ghost”, “a queen who’s doing a shit job of blending in with commoners”, “Mrs Wallace from down the street”- which Race had to admit, wasn’t too far off, and “the ‘chocolates’ lady from SpongeBob but sexy”. After the ordeal which Race could only describe as stressing, he was tired, and annoyed, and most of all pissed off that no one could tell he was Cruella De Vil. So there he was, sat in a corner, nursing a now half-empty cup of dragon blood as he sulked and stewed in his own bad mood, the loud music vibrated around the room and made the wall he leaned against shudder with every beat. He frowned at the sickly sweet liquid in his cup. His scrunched up face looked back up at him, only making Race frown harder. The tips of a pair of boots appeared at the corner of his vision, and Race glanced up. A ghostly sailor stood over him. Race sighed. “Hey, Spottie.” “Well that wasn’t quite the greeting I was expecting.” Spot smirked and extended his hand, which Race took begrudgingly, and hauled him to his feet. Once up, Race slumped forward, placing his face in the crook of Spot’s neck. He felt a sturdy hand on his shoulder pull him further into the embrace. “What’s got ya so bummed out, huh?” Spot murmured in his ear. Race rolled his head to the side and exhaled loudly. “’s nothin’ really.” Spot cupped Race’s jaw with one hand and gently moved his face up to meet his eyes, giving him a pointed look. Race sighed again, giving in to his boyfriends’ silent question. “It’s just-” he began with a whine. “No one knows who I’m dressed as!” “That’s it?” Spot asked. Race quirked an eyebrow. “Who am I dressed as, Spot?” “…” “Exactly.” He smooshed his face back into Spot’s neck in annoyance. “Oh come on, I’m sure someone has to know!” It was Race’s turned to give the pointed look. He sucked on his teeth, then clicked his tongue and looked over Spot’s shoulder. “Hey Al, who am I?” Albert turned around and squinted at him, assessing what parts of the outfit he could see. “I dunno, a 1940s prostitute?” he shrugged. Spot snickered and Race shot him a pouty glare. He slammed his head back into his boyfriend’s shoulder and screamed for a few seconds before lifting his head up, looking at the ceiling. “Everyone here is so uncultured! Why can’t people tell I’m dressed as Cruella De Vil!?” he shouted to the room. Heads swivelled in the direction of the sound and a round of small “oh”’s and sounds of recognition rippled out. “Ah yeah, I can see it.” “Oh that’s why his hair is like that!” “I still think he looks like Mrs Wallace.” Race sighed. “Next year I’m gonna add a nametag to my costume.” A voice sounded somewhere to his left. “Wait, you dressed up?” “God damn it!”

[mythgirlimagines]

ANON-CORRECT QUOTES

----------------------------------

Dream: (happily running up to Eldritch) Hey, hey, hey! Ritchie! I have a question for you! What made you want to become a conspiracy theorist?

Eldritch: (matter-of-factly, dropping his stutter) To make the world frown. I mean, the world fricking sucks and everyone is just so happy! When you're happy and satisfied, you don't change things, y'know. Everything sucks, and if people are smiling around like fools, then that'll never change! So, my mission is to make everyone miserable! No exceptions!

Dream: (on the verge of inconsolable crying) A-A-Ah?.....

Eldritch: (realizing what he just did, petting Dream's head and shoulders) N-No! No! Ex-Except you! Don't worry! Th-The world sucks, b-b-but that's b-because there are....t-those p-p-people living in s-subhuman ways, w-which they obviously shouldn't, and p-people aren't h-helping them! B-But YOU aren't like th-them! YOU'RE h-helping!

Eldritch: (taking Dream's hand) C-C'mon, w-we c-c-can go have f-fun at the a-a-amusement p-park with the o-other U-Ultimates!

Source: The Only Exception (ArchiveOfOurOwn)

Fanfiction Link: (http://insecure.archiveofourown.org/works/29931786)

----------------------------------

(During a meeting with the Brain Cells...)

Scar: (distressed) WHY, Demon of Wrath?! Why must you let the Demon of Heart usurp your position as High Lord of the Hope Gathering?!

Fusion: (matter-of-factly, to Nerd) What Scar is trying to say is, "Why have you given up your Kibo-Con leadership position to Myth?".

Nerd: (looking down) I know she pushed you guys to open up, and she always gets in over her head. 

Nerd: (progressively getting more flustered) She can be so f**king stupid, which I love-I MEAN HATE! And, in any case, she needs you three right now, which is sweet-I MEAN, I HATE IT, AND IT'S F**KING DUMB!

Purple: (confused, to Fusion) Wildering and contradictory...

Fusion: (shrugging, translating for Purple) Yeah, you lost us.

Source: The Owl House

Video Link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzOKokucxzo)

----------------------------------

Wet Sock: (arms outstretched for a hug) Awkward sibling hug?

Egg: (arms outstretched for a hug) Awkward sibling hug!

Wet Sock/Egg: (hugging each other, before robotically patting each other on the back) Pat. Pat.

Source: Gravity Falls

Video Link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hegox8IMr7o)

----------------------------------

Sparkle: (taking off one of her boots and showing off the inside of it) YOU SEE THE INSIDE OF MY SHOE? RED CARPET INSOLE! EVERYWHERE THE SPECTACULAR SPARKLE GOES, SHE'S WALKING ON A RED CARPET!

Source: Parks and Recreation

----------------------------------

(Before Myth and Wyre were accepting into Hope's Peak...)

Preteen!Myth: (happily) Hey, Wyre! Wanna hang out?

Preteen!Wyre: (rubbing the back of her head) Sorry, Myth. But I have to go to a very important dig!

Preteen!Myth: (sad) Well, what am I supposed to do all day while you're at your dig?

Preteen!Wyre: I dunno, what do you normally do while I'm gone?

Preteen!Myth: (about to cry) Wait for you to come back!

Source: Spongebob Squarepants

Video Link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=natDUTwI38o)

----------------------------------

Iris: (covered in egg whites, with a blazing kitchen behind her, smiling to hide the pain) Well, you know what they say! You can't make an omelette without setting your oven on fire!

Fusion II: (pulls out a fire extinguisher from the book she's currently reading, deadpan) Something tells me that's not how the saying goes.

Source: The Boss

----------------------------------

The Fancy One: (smirking, to Curious) I'm here to take your life!~★

Curious: (with a straight face) Let me ask Janon-sama.

The Fancy One: (confused) Wha-?! It's-It's not a choice!~★

Curious: (turns to Janon)

Janon: (wordlessly shakes his head)

Curious: (turns back to the Fancy One) He said no.

Source: Unknown

----------------------------------

I hope you like these quotes! Let me hear what you have to say about this week's freshly-made iteration of "Papa Fusion's Anon-Correct Quotes (2021 Edition)"! And don't forget to watch out for more content made by yours truly!

-Fusion Anon

---

Yes to ToH quotes lol

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Behind the Fic: TW:OPT - Chapter 72 - 77

This is it, guys. We’ve finally reach the end of “Break & Gosh”! Thank you so much for sticking around until now. Oh boy, we are way past 75 chapters. I don’t know if I should be proud or worried of myself.

So, this will be the last note before we continue to a brand new Arc!

WARNING: This will contain a bit of spoiler for the newest chapters of my fan fiction Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure. Click here to read the whole mini-arc from the beginning!

Before we actually start, let me tell you about the title of this Arc "Break & Gosh". Following the Nickelodeon TV Series parody title, this Arc was named after the show "Drake & Josh". I tried to find some word that time with the title and came up with this. I don't really like the title, but it sort of grew on me.

All of this mini-arc title were actual lyrics from Hyperdrive, the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds' English dub opening. I kinda forget why I chose this.

This arc itself can be separated into two: Leona's Therapy (72-73) and Magishift Rematch (74-77)

Following what I did in The Crimson Tyrant, I gave Leona two 'therapy' chapters, just like how I gave two pay-off chapter for Riddle. So we have the comparison:

Chapter 30: Early Summer-Rain Honesty!  =  Chapter 62: There's More To Be Seen Than Can Ever Be Seen!

Chapter 31: Take a Break and Get Away!  =  Chapter 72: I Can Hear You Breathin'! 

Chapter 32: Reigning Beast! =  Chapter 73: I Can See You Comin'!

However, unlike Riddle’s, the therapy chapters for Leona was more Leona-centric. While I can still put some filler content in Riddle's, Leona's chapter is exclusive for Leona (with Ruggie and Jonah)

Unlike Riddle, Leona's therapy was way harder to write because, again, I didn't experience the same thing as Leona. I remember being compared, but my usual response was like: "Suck it up." Meanwhile, I feel like Leona took that comparison to the heart which made him think that all his effort is for nothing.

The entire first half of “Chapter 72: I Can Hear You Breathin'!” was improvised. I didn't plan for Grim or Ruggie to appear, however, the plan had changed.

A reference to the canon, here, Ruggie also used [Laugh With Me] on Leona

I also feel like Jonah and Leona are way harder to connect than Jonah and Riddle. Jonah is easier to connect with people who are the same age as him than those who are older.

This also adds that Riddle was pretty much grateful that Jonah said he wants to be his friend back in. So, he could trust him.

This is where Ruggie came in in place of Jonah. Ruggie clearly knows Leona better and had been for the longest. Leona trusts Ruggie, and Ruggie still loyal to him.

Also, this is probably because Leona doesn't get involved that much in Octavinelle Arc, unlike Riddle who has quite a big role in Savanaclaw Arc.

Ah, yes. The chess allegory. I didn't make it, I looked it up from here. I know nothing about chess.

I also added some of Leona's motives for wanting to bring down Malleus.

More of Leona's past were added. None of these is canon.

I just want to point out that Leona's relationship with his grandfather was inspired by Simba and Mufasa's relationship.

Also, can I just point out that Leona never actually apologized to Ruggie for Thanos-ing his arm? Well, he says sorry here.

Almost didn't happen. But because I said I want to match Riddle's therapy, this chapter was written.

“Chapter 73: I Can See You Comin'!” is a continuation of the therapy arc, I just need Leona to see that acceptance from Ruggie because he's just too stubborn and closed-off.

I still really like the part where Ruggie is bowing to Leona. I'm a sucker for that.

The second half of this Arc was a mess, because: (1) This is my first attempt writing a sports scene; (2) Canon didn't give me that much info about Magishift; (3) I thought it was a good idea to mix Quidditch with American Football

“Chapter 74: My Heart Beats In Hyper Drive!” and “Chapter 75: Take a Shot at Me Runnin' Side by Side!” are supposed to be one chapter, but I decided to cut it off in half and switch some scripts.

We never actually knew how Ramshackle Dorm was build or the history of how it became abandoned in canon (hopefully yet), so I made up some stories again

When writing the sports scene, I also watch Eyeshield 21, because this is the first thing that came up in my mind when I heard 'American Football'.

Grim with his frying pan was inspired by that one meme

“Chapter 75: Take a Shot at Me Runnin' Side by Side!” had more world-building info about the (very poorly built) magic system. I made some notes about it in my Behind the Fic: Canon and Beyond. Read it here and here.

The Octavinelle gang wasn't supposed to appear, but then I remember a plot point way back in Jonah Argentum's Declassified Boarding School Survival Guide that I need to address, so the trio made an appearance here.

Epel was supposed to be Ace's mentor. However, because I want to see more of him in Pomefiore Arc, I ended up changing him with Floyd

I made up about Deuce and his past with baby chicks. I need to make-up something about Deuce's loves for baby chicks

Crowley is the Avatar

ADeuce are ROnah (Riddle/Jonah) shippers while the Leech Twins are JonAzul (Jonah/Azul) shippers

The actual Magishift Rematch in  “Chapter 76: It’s a Blur as I Go By!” is way better than the first sports scene I've written earlier, though I still feel it's a bit short spot the Spongebob reference.

The celebration though was a bit of a letdown. I really want to write more, but I can't think about it more.

I just realized that Jack never appears in this portion of the Arc, so I made up the last Savanaclaw squad scene because I know Jack still respect Leona after this.

Ah... The final scene. This is a remake of what happened in canon.

Then I realized that I never write Leona ending scene back during The Crimson Tyrant. It was because Jonah never made a contact with Leona except for that one scene in. However, Azul was present during this while celebration, so I feel it didn't come out of nowhere if I add that scene.

Overall, Break & Gosh is a challenging Arc. Needed way more planning than Jonah Argentum's Declassified Boarding School Survival Guide and felt like an actual Arc rather than a collection of one-shots.

I wrote a really long rant about The Rebel of the Wilderness and Break & Gosh.

[nodesiretogrowup]

ok, I think I’m ready for my in depth recap/analyse/review of today’s episodes, one by one

hopefully this shows up in the tag because my last few posts haven’t for some reason

Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!:

Frank-This season is about legacy. The first word we hear-LEGACY

The graduation ceremony took me back to my Girl Scout days. And is pretty accurate to the graduation ceremonies I did in scouts, though they had more levels. And the names of their ranks made more sense than the Girl Scout ones. Not sure how the Boy Scout ones work.

Poor Donald. Though from what we see in this episode, it might be better to not be a Woodchuck. They’re a bit...intense.

RETURN OF THE FANNY PACK

Launchpad’s notes were great. He totally wrote them, hence the grape jelly stain

THE LITTLE BABY SCOUTS ARE SO CUTE

The title is a lie. They’re trying to become Senior Woodchucks. And the challenge itself was called the Junior Woodchuck Wilderness Challenge

Poor Huey, that’s always awkward

DUCKTALES SAYS GAY RIGHTS

LENA SAYS GAY RIGHTS

Lena cheering Violet on was ADORABLE

The “I’m with Dad” shirts...chef’s kisses. I now want them to make NEVERENDING DAD JOKES

Vi’s little blush DAAAWWW

Why would Huey have seen her at scout events? I thought Violet had just moved to Duckburg, though I might be remembering wrong. Even then, Duckburg is a fairly large city she might have gone to events closer to where she lived

That fold out sash is DOPE

“DEWEY’S BROTHER!” Ouch, Launchpad.

Huey’s little wave

PROUD MAMA DELLA MODE ACTIVATED

DELLA’S IN THE THEME SONG! We all knew it would happen, but still. I NEED more Della/Launchpad interactions. They look like they’ll have a fun dynamic

He probably isn’t, but I’m gonna pretend that little asian scout is Russel from Up

Webby is a good friend

When Launchpad took Huey’s guidebook it reminded me a lot of whenever someone took the Journals away from Dipper. Complete with self doubt

Dewey is a horrible pep-talker

“Show the other nerds that you are king nerd.” Louie is actually a pretty good pep-talker. He could be a motivational speaker

I like Violet’s quirk of calling the others by their full name (ie Webbigail, Huebert)

Lena takes her new big sister role SERIOUSLY

I really like that the person Scrooge looks up to is a woman. And him sharing a room with his parents was a nice touch

“Story about Scrooge as a kid in 3..2..” Louie knows the formula (probably why he just accepted the sitcom lol)

The bee one made me laugh because alliteration...and bees

How did that map/painting work? It looked like she was actually holding it but the picture still looks fine after Scrooge peels the map off

“OOO, TWIST” I love you Della

I love the Tittertwill and its song and dance. I want it as my ringtone. And I want plushies. STAT

“I’m speechifying” I’m gonna use that next time someone interrupts me

I hope someone gets a good screencap of that post. I want to see what all is on there

Violet trash-talking is ADORABLE. She wants to fit in

“CALL HIM A CLOWN!”

When they tried handshaking...too cute! I don’t really like shipping the kids because of how young they are and that they haven’t had much experience in the crush/romance department...but Huey and Violet are adorable and I think they both have crushes on each other

I kind of wonder what Launchpad was doing while everything was going on. Also he looks SO HOT in that uniform

I didn’t notice it the first time, but all three groups took a different path. Neat

I got upset when Huey used his water bottle to make a compass. Now that lid is dirty and the rest of your water will spill

Violet dots her i’s with a Mickey. The note also made me think of the halfway there joke in an episode of Spongebob

“Do you feel appropriately razzed?” This girl is too sweet

Huey going back to pick up the note so he doesn’t litter

The little growls Donald was doing while swatting at the mosquito were cute. Also FUCK MOSQUITOS

Dewey INSTANTLY forming a connection with the bird is great

“Aw, they’re both cute” My thoughts exactly

“It’s JUST a mosquito, you should give it some of your blood”

I like that over the episode we see Huey continue to forgo the rules to try and boost his chance of winning while Violet follows them

WHY THE FUCK IS THERE LIGHTNING RAIN?!

In Huey’s panic he forgets what he knows. I feel like that’s gonna come back

“That was the smack-talking” Vi is extra adorable in this episode

Webby’s disappointment in the lack of actual giants, cute

Donald and Della should start a slapstick comedy duo

“YOU WANT US TO FOLLOW YOU ON A BRAND NEW ADVENTURE, WELL LET’S GO”

I love when Huey sings

Huey needs to see a therapist cuz that shit ain’t normal

I like him giving the guidebook a soothing, southern voice. Did anyone else think of Ratatouille when the book showed up? Like how Remy imagined Chef Gusto

“Well that’s a pickle of a different color” Oh southerns and your weird expressions

My sister kept saying that the bear looked like it was mixed with a hyena and I can totally see it. Maybe he’s a lost Wuzzle lol

“THAT BEAR DON’T CARE FOR BOOK LEARNIN"

“I’m the food"

VIOLET HAS A KNIFE

Even though I knew it would happen, I was still very disappointed in Huey for not helping Violet. That’s a dick move

“CURSE MY FLAWLESS SLAMS”

God, poor Donald

WHY DO YOU WANT YOUR FAMILY TO DIE, SCROOGE?

I love how blunt Louie is

“EVERYONE FOLLOW THAT BIRD” *Blue Bird of Happiness flashbacks*

WHY THE FLYING FUCK IS THE LAST MARKER IN A GODDAMN ACTIVE VOLCANO?! 

“Where you go I cannot follow” I love JW

“I DON’T KNOW, I’M GONNA THROW THIS ROCK” That’s how I solve my problems

HUEY’S LOSING HIS GODDAMN MIND

“I’m so mad I can’t even aliterrate”

“I’m cold and terrified, sounds like an adventure to me”

“Poppycock, whoever told you that?” “YOU”

“So let’s rewrite history” That was last season, Dewey

Scrooge doing the song and dance was great

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” “I DON’T KNOW, WHY ARE YOU IMAGINING THIS?!” That’s some fucked up shit right there

“Wait, there’s a failure badge?” I would like one

I’m glad they clarified that the challenge isn’t a one time only thing because I was confused

I like that this show included the lesson that it’s ok to fail. I still struggle with that to this day

Violet opening up to Huey is sweet. And offering to share the win. She’s a good noodle

“I thought this would be more climatic” BITCH YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ACTIVE VOLCANO! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

“I RESPOND TO AUTHORITY” And she just pats him on the head

“LAUNCHPAD?!” “LAUNCHPAD?!” “Hey, I’m Launchpad” COMEDY GOLD

I KNEW DELLA WAS GONNA BE THAT MOM! I NEED MORE OF IT!

“YEAH, CUZ YOUR A...” “Lena, please”

Launchpad giving Huey one of his failure badges is kind of adorable. Though I thought you could only earn one of each badge. Then again they have a failure badge so normal scout rules probably don’t apply here

Dude, that DEATH GLARE Della gives Launchpad. Something tells me this isn’t over yet. I hope this means Della is gonna see Launchpad as her Sitcom Nemesis while he’s completely unaware of it. Like DW and Gizmoduck

The Sabrewing family is ADORABLE and MOST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS

JW returning as a ghost. I’m not sure if that’s funny or dark

I feel like the Duck family finding the journal is...unfair in a way. Like Violet got to become the Senior Woodchuck but Huey and his family are gonna find tons of treasure/get rich and famous

I think we’ve got some future episode titles in there

I thought Goldie said she found the fountain of youth, why was it in the journal

“MY NAME IS DEWEY”

OMG FOWL!!! I think it’s funny that Phantom Blot is still wearing his FunZone mascot costume

And now we know what this season’s goal is

Seeing Della with her family was great. Like everyone has said, it feels like she was meant to be there the whole time. Her and Donald were great. It was nice to see them being all sibling-y. I heard that this wasn’t intended to be the season opener but you could of fooled me. This sets up everything so nicely for the season. Huey is going to question who he is and what defines him. We have a list of treasures to be discovered. And we see the FOWL are after those treasures too. This was a solid season opener that has me excited for the journey ahead.

[spocks-evil-godmother]

Quarantine tag! Thanks to @fromthemouthofkings 💜

are you staying home from work/school?

Nope! I'm an essential employee babey!!!! It's fine

if you’re staying home, who’s there with you?

My parents and my sisters

are you a homebody?

For sure. One of my yearly goals was to go to two social events every month but I did not accomplish it through no fault of my own!

what movies have you watched recently? what shows are you watching?

I watched Gene Wilder's Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory the other day. I have been watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Deep Space 9 with a friend as well!

an event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled?

I WAS SUPPOSED TO SEE SPONGEBOB ON STAGE 😭😭😭😭

what music are you listening to?

I am trying to broaden my horizons and expose myself to playlists made by other people! (Suggestions welcome lol) but yesterday i listened to Three Days Grace's One-X because i could

what are you reading?

Yesterday I finished Homer's Illiad, yay me. Right now I am reading Womanist Midrash by Wilda Gafney and plan to start Ayiti by Roxane Gay soon!

what are you doing for self care?

I am reading and watching tv a lot. Staying in touch with friends!!! You know

Tagging (if you'd like!) @silverbengal5272 @glare0322 @mellowstarscape @redhccdjay @scoobydoo-ghoulschool @will-make-more-mistakes-tomorrow

[fanbun]

The new episode of Spongebob ''Pineapple RV'' is already on YouTube, look at it and tell me what you think of it. if there are SquidBob moments.. ATTENTION! the video is in Polish

Thanks for the heads up! I enjoy listening to cartoons dubbed into other languages anyway. Although it would help to know what they’re saying lol.

The way Spongebob looks at Squidward and flutters his eyelashes during this part is pretty cute. Then later on in the episode Spongebob smells him as if he were a fragrant flower. I’m sure I’m missing stuff in the dialogue though.

As for the plot, it’s an episode where Spongebob and Patrick try to do something nice for Squidward to make up for being annoying/ruining his plans. I like that set-up because it redeems them a bit, even if their efforts don’t go smoothly. It’s not exactly shippy, but I love seeing them be genuinely nice to Squidward like in Enchanted Tiki Dreams.

What’s great about this one is that Squidward can’t bring himself to leave Spongebob and Patrick behind in the wilderness. And when he thinks they are being mauled by sea bears, he goes in with a karate chop to save them! I wonder if Squidward using karate is a callback to Squid Defense…

There’s also the fact that Spongebob gets the special flower for Squidward, allowing him to have a happy ending. It’s what he deserves.

[growingstronglikeahighgardenrose]

The Holiday part 4

Pairings: Esther/Babington, Georgiana/ Mr. Crowe, Sidney/Charlotte (in order of prominence)

Prompt: Merry Gentlemen/ Dance for the 12 days of Sanditon hosted by @sanditoncreative​ (way too late entry)

Synopsis: Babington, James Stringer, Crowe, Georgiana, Sidney, Esther and the Princey Regent prepare for Christmas Eve at Babington’s Scottish holiday home. As mysterious mistletoes keep popping up out of nowhere, the group of friends try to navigate through the more awkward moments as they’re striving towards their ultimate goal; to all go to bed as merry men on Christmas Eve.

Part four of my The Holiday series, can’t be read as a standalone.

Available on AO3

The students spent half of their next day studying for their exams, and half of their days exploring the woods and nearby cities, before returning to the Boat House for dinner and evening entertainment.

It was odd to think that no three weeks earlier, half of them had never even met. Their temperaments fit together.

Crowe and Princey being boisterous,

Georgiana and James being cheerful and encouraging of the bad behaviour of Crowe and Princey,

Susan and Sidney joining in on the holiday cheer brigade from time to time, but also regularly taking a step back to laugh at their ridiculous friends,

And Esther and Babington taking in their friends and quietly making funny remarks about them.

And just like the previous night, Babington found her on the parlour, pointed out a few more constellations to her, and had a small talk.

He could easily grow used to this, he thought.

The mistletoe wasn’t where it hung yesterday. He wondered where Georgiana had moved it to. He wouldn’t like to be caught under it with anyone in particular.

‘It appears we will be spared a good night kiss’, Esther smirked before venturing to the stairs.

‘Good night, Lord Babington. When we wake up next, it’ll be the day of Christmas Eve already.’

‘If that isn’t a great excuse to have breakfast with champagne, I don’t know what is.’

‘I’m afraid any more excuses to drink will start to be detrimental to our studies.’

‘Start to be?’

She rolled her eyes.

‘Goodnight.’

‘Sweet dreams.’

♦♦♦♦♦

‘They were the last ones to go to bed again, I think. Esther was outside when I went to bed, and Babington was the only other one still awake when I went to bed.’

‘You think they… You know?’

‘I’ve known Babbs for many years, he’s discreet but he wouldn’t be able to hide something like that.’

‘It’s clear she’s into him. Last time she let another man that close for something else than sex was.. Well. Actually I can’t remember her letting in another man since me, and she certainly didn’t warm up to me this quickly.’

‘Would your ginger friend ever initiate anything?’

Heads were shook.

‘Would William?’

‘He needs encouragement. He’ll approach women, but if they don’t give a clear sign he won’t try to do something.’

‘We’re going to need more mistletoes. If they don’t dare to do it on their own, we’ll have to force some intimacy.’

‘Operation Christmas wishes, mistletoe kisses is active.’

‘We’re not making this a thing.’

‘We are’, three voices replied passionately.

♦♦♦♦♦

The 24th passed in a flurry. Those with the least amount of exams left for a long shopping trip to get groceries for the next few days, and the others desperately tried to find some focus to get in at least a couple of hours of studying.

By four o’clock Georgiana announced that the working day was over, and the preparations could begin.

The couches were pushed to the sides and the large kitchen table was brought in and decorated with a cheap glittery tablecloth.

Esther commandeered the kitchen, and all were assigned with tasks.

Sidney, Babington and Princey were to cut vegetables, Georgiana had to peel the prawns, Susan was preparing the soup, Crowe and James got the long end of the stick and were allowed to go into the woods to chop some more wood, and Esther made sauce, meat and desert in advance. No doubt Esther had deliberately assigned the clumsiest and most hyperactive men with a task which would keep them away from ruining the Christmas meal.

When Crowe and Babington returned, they could hear the music from the outside.

The living room was deserted, and in the kitchen sat Princey, Sidney and Babington with their phones in front of them, on them pictures of certain appetizers they had to recreate.

‘Where are the women?’

‘Getting dressed’, Sidney replied.

As if they sensed being called, the men could distinguish women shouting and a sound on the stairs seconds before the oven started bleeping.

‘They can get it! Come back!’

‘I need to check to make sure! It might need an additional ten minutes!’

Esther stormed into the kitchen, wearing opaque black tights and a blue t-shirt. One eye was already sporting a winged eyeliner, and the other wasn’t.

Sidney closed Babington’s mouth, and James threw him an amused look. The man was completely besotted with her, it was nothing short of a miracle that Esther hadn’t caught on yet. She could usually smell a man’s interest from miles away.

‘Nice look’, Crowe grinned.

Esther faced Crowe, after closing the oven and turning the timer up an additional ten minutes.

She lifted her meat thermometer slowly.

‘I’ve gotten people into the hospital before’, she said ominously as she quirked an eyebrow.

Babington didn’t doubt it.

Crowe swallowed.

‘Easy there, pumpkin. The nearest hospital is quite far away. You really look good. I’m sorry, I was just laughing.’

She left without saying another word.

‘She once excitedly called out Charlotte’s name as she saw her walking down a flight of stairs. She’d succeeded for a course she thought she’d fail. Charlotte was startled and fell down the stairs. She couldn’t stand on her foot anymore, we feared she’d broken it so we took her to the hospital. She’d sprained her ankle instead’, James laughed after she’d left.

‘Well the way she said it…’

‘That was deliberate, airhead.’

The five men made quick work of the appetizers and raced to the only bathroom in the house. James was first, and the others blamed it on his youth. The others went to their rooms, to either wait for the shower, or accept defeat and put on their Christmas outfits. The men had collectively decided to put on awful Christmas sweaters on Christmas, and to suit up for New Year’s Eve. Babington was one of the men admitting defeat, putting on a fresh t-shirt and the sweater before being interrupted by Crowe.

‘Hey, Babbs, happen to have a razor? I forgot mine at home.’

‘I’m afraid I lost the charger of my electrical one two weeks ago, as you may have noticed’, Babington laughed as he rubbed the scruff on his cheeks. He was happy that he was blessed with a naturally full beard, he doubted patchy stubbles would look good on him.

‘Well Sidney deliberately grows a beard, and Princey has lasered his. Think James has one? He looks like a babyface, it would surprise me if he needed to shave every month.’

‘You can always ask.’

‘Shit. Okay, thanks. It’s what I get for skipping no-shave-November. No matter, what better place to look like a bushman than in the Scottish wilderness.’

‘Crowe, you barely have a stubble, don’t be dramatic.’

‘That’s worse. Beards are fine to kiss, I’ve heard,  but stubbles sting. I don’t want to blow my chances.’

‘Chances with… Georgiana?’ Babington guessed.

‘She’s just got that spunk I like. You can tell she’ll be a lively handful in bed.’

‘Wicked man. Well I wish you luck.’

♦♦♦♦♦

Babington looked himself over in the mirror, the large reindeer standing out on his dark blue sweater. He was no woman, there was little he could to get ready. His face was his face. He spritzed on a dash of perfume and left his room just as Esther’s exited hers. He hadn’t known in which room she slept, apparently it was right across of him.

‘Oh, could you help?’ she asked as she pulled back her hair. She stood almost as tall as him on her golden heels.

‘Sure.’ He took hold of her necklace, struggling with the clasp for a minute, before he could finally hook the chain.

‘Thanks.’

She turned around. She looked like a ‘40s movie star with her sleek straightened tresses, winged eyeliner, red lips and dress looking like molten gold, with a plunging neckline and billowing sleeves.

‘And?’ she asked, her red lips silently begging him to kiss her.

‘Gorgeous. Not that you’re usually anything else, but the time you ladies spent preparing yourselves instead of dinner was obviously well spent.’

‘No need to be so awkward. You can compliment me. I won’t be insulted. Come now, it’s almost six.’

Before he knew what was happening, she’d pressed her lips against his cheeks and strutted past him. He reached for his cheek as he looked up.

And yes, there hung the mistletoe. Right between their bedrooms.

He pulled his hand back, it was stained red with the oily lipstick.

‘That’s a cruel trick!’

He could only hear her laughter as she disappeared from view.

He quickly returned to his room to rub it off with a towel, before continuing to the living room.

♦♦♦♦♦

Three plates of appetizers stood on the large table, and everyone was standing, glass of champagne in hand, talking, as the stereo blared a classic Christmas song.

‘Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s play a game!’ James shouted upon noticing Babington.

‘I’m feeling like Never Have I ever. It’s about time we really get to know each other’, Georgiana decided.

‘I like your style, Georgie’, Crowe laughed as he pulled her onto his lap.

As Babington poured himself some champagne,  carrying the bottle with him towards the couches, he spotted James encouragingly patting Esther on the shoulder.

‘Guys, not only about sex, alright? It’s just boring and vain’, Susan decided.

Everyone agreed, and Georgiana kicked off the game.

‘Never have I ever watched Spongebob Squarepants.’

The group collectively moaned as they shared their first sip.

‘Never have I ever memorized the entire lyrics of Old Town Road’, James said. Crowe and Georgiana laughingly ticked their glasses against James’ before drinking.

‘Never have I ever heard someone else doing it’, Princey laughed.

Sidney, Esther, Susan and Babington drank.

‘Never have I ever been the one doing it’, Crowe confessed.

Georgiana awkwardly ticked her glass against his before drinking.

‘What, now?’

‘No!’ Georgiana shouted a bit too quickly.

‘We could though’, Crowe grinned.

‘I’m way too sober for that’, Georgiana simply huffed.

‘Never have I ever googled my own name’, Esther announced. Everyone drank.

‘Never have I ever flown in a glider.’ Babington was surprised to see Esther drinking as well. ‘My dad took me once, before he died’, she admitted.

‘Never have I ever stayed up all night’, James said. Everyone drank again.

‘Never have I ever sent a wrong person a text’, Susan laughed before everyone drank again.

The game went around another couple of rounds before it – inevitably – turned darker.

All the men and Georgiana admitted to smoking pot, James and Princey admitted to having been caught peeing against buildings, Crowe and Sidney admitted to having fled from the cops, stories were exchanged about how they’d gotten detention in high school, Princey’s fling with an underage girl came out, and Sidney had to tell about his brief boxing career.

And from bad behaviour, it turned to sexual behaviour. From going commando, to one night stands, from skinny dipping, to hickeys given, to public places being defiled. Babington couldn’t help but keep track of everything Esther drank for. Skinny dipping, being in love with bad people and one night stands had been things he had not been able to imagine her doing, but it turned out she had, and he found himself growing more and more intrigued as the game progressed.

‘Never have I ever known someone with gambling problems.’ Georgiana, Esther and James took a sip, before it was up to James.

‘Never have I ever been in love while the other person didn’t know about it.’ Esther and Babington both drank, together with James and Princey.

‘But isn’t that always the case? I mean, when you’re in love you only find out when one tells the other. Who can tell the exact second a person falls in love with them? That’s impossible’, Georgiana huffed.

‘But sometimes everyone can see, except the other person’, Crowe mused, throwing Babington a look.

‘Yeah okay, that can be true’, Georgiana admitted.

‘Sometimes you stumble into something, and you both only realize later on that you’ve fallen for the other. Never have I ever been cheated on’, Sidney sighed.

Esther shot upright, downing her glass before announcing it was time for soup and leaving the room.

Sidney gestured at the empty seat, silently begging for an explanation. James quickly followed her, offering to help.

‘Let’s not reference cheating. It’s taken her four years to get over Ed- … Her previous boyfriend’, Georgiana said, quickly stopping herself before she finished his name.

Ed? Edward? What Edward? She couldn’t possibly.

And with a horrible realisation, all the dots connected.

Esther had been together with Edward Denham, and must’ve found out about his philandering the night she’d cornered him. It had been exactly four years.

She’d been dating her stepbrother. He watched her as she exited the kitchen, carrying a large casserole of tomato soup.

She had fallen prey to one of the most awful men he knew, and in the most awful way possible. No wonder she felt hesitant to play the game. And no wonder the comment about cheating had made her jump.

Her shoulders were tense as she poured some soup into every bowl.

No wonder it had taken her four years to get over him. Having someone so close to her betray her trust with that many girls had to fuck up her faith in men.

No word was spoken about it anymore. Georgiana put on another cheerful song and Princey started telling them about an amusing adventure of his, pretending the awkward moment hadn’t happened at all.

♦♦♦♦♦

Babington attempted talking to her as he’d done the previous night, trying to catch her eye and joke about their friends, but she remained withdrawn, laughing without her smile ever reaching her eyes.

It was a shame she had such a hard time enjoying herself, as she’d put so much work in the evening, but to pay more attention to her, was to make her uncomfortable.

The other courses passed in quick succession, and before they knew it, the fish, roast turkey and cake had been consumed, and a tray of raisins in brandy was placed on the table. The lights were extinguished as the tray was lit to play snapdragon.

The men immediately made it into a competition. But Crowe, who’d been drinking as usual, quickly had to back out since his reflexes were too slow.

Georgiana quickly grabbed him when he yelped in pain. Dragging him to the kitchen, pressing a kiss on his lips beneath the mistletoe still hanging above the kitchen entrance, and returning from it, kissing him again, with his hand securely wrapped.

They didn’t really stop kissing afterwards.

‘Come on, Babbers, join us’, Princey laughed. Babington shook his head, nearing the table.

‘You shall all burn and it will be one hundred percent deserved’, Esther huffed.

‘Mother always told me to never play with fire… So like any good kid I respected her rules while in her house. Now I can make my own stupid decisions. No one’s going to stop me’, Sidney smirked.

‘Charlotte will love to hear.’ Sidney’s face snapped to Esther. She had filmed him as he’d snatched a raisin from the tray and talked about his mother.

‘No.’

‘Sent.’

Sidney groaned, taking a step back. James, Princey and Babington all stood on opposing sides of the table, and as they all grasped towards a raisin, they were blinded by Georgiana’s camera and Susan’s cell phone.

‘Damned all ye witches’, crowed James, rubbing his eyes and then moaning when it stung.

‘Babies’, Esther sighed. ‘Oh Sid, your girl answered.’

Esther twisted her screen towards him, Babington could see Charlotte frowning on the short clip.

‘But all particularly stupid decisions have to pass by me first’, Charlotte said, before she disappeared from the screen.

Rowdy cheers erupted. For the remainder of the evening, everything Sidney did, going from drinking from his glass of beer, to going to the toilet, earned a mocking ‘Doesn’t that have to pass by Charlotte first?’.

Charlotte, when she was notified of this by Esther, burst into laughter at her family dinner table.

♦♦♦♦♦

‘Alright merry gentlemen, time for dancing’, Georgiana decided after the fire on the tray had died.

‘But we’re with so few people’, Princey complained.

‘We’ll leave out the light. Eight is a perfectly acceptable number of people to start a party.’

‘Lady Susan, do you permit it?’ Princey asked before whisking Susan off onto the empty floor space intended for dancing.

Crowe and Georgiana started dancing as well.

Esther put small candles on every surface, illuminating the room with a warm and cosy light.

Bowls of punch and eggnog were placed on top of the table, as well as another crate of beer.

Glasses were drunk and laughter was shared. He gave up on trying to keep track of everyone’s occupations, simply allowing himself to join whatever activity he was included in.

He waltzed with Princey, lost a poker game, held a snowball fight with James against the united force of Georgiana and Crowe, and turned out to be the killer during a game of Clue.

♦♦♦♦♦

‘Fair maiden, it appears I have caught you underneath a mistletoe again. I’m afraid I must ask thee for yet another kiss, since I wouldn’t wish to curse thee for a year.’

‘How unfortunate, it seems I keep finding myself in these compromising situations.’

‘Perhaps I should take thee somewhere safe, away frome these devilish plants.’

‘Oh, my lord. That would be so knd of you’, Georgiana laughed as Crowe quite unsubtly took her hand and pulled her along with him to his chamber.

♦♦♦♦♦

Babington had just went to fetch a glass of water, when he spotted James sitting on the staircase, looking decidedly pensive, he found himself taking a seat beside him.

‘Quitting the merry gentlemen?’

The corners of his mouth twitched to attempt a smile. ‘Don’t know. Suddenly felt out of it, you know? Have you ever stood in a big group which was having fun, and suddenly you blink and start questioning everything?’

Babington nodded. James allowed his head to fall against the wall, hands playing with the empty bottle of beer.

‘Anything that could’ve caused it?’

‘No.’

‘Well… Yeah, actually. It was that game. We never should’ve played it’, he admitted.

‘The truth or dare?’ Babington guessed.

James nodded, raking his hand through his hair and getting his fingers stuck in a couple of knots.

‘Georgiana’s forgotten why we don’t play it in larger crowds. It’s something we only play amongst the four of us, if we play it at all.’

‘Why? Any bad experiences with playing the game?’

‘No, but we do have some bad experiences, which the game reminds us of. That’s the damned thing about the game, it always turns into sex and relationship statements… And if you’ve had as much bad luck in love as we’ve had in our first year, then the questions can become very unpleasant. When someone claims they’ve had sex in a certain place, and you’ve had sex in the same place with a romantic partner you had a bad split with for example… Or you’ve been in love with someone for some time, and see them drinking about being in love and having had sex with people that aren’t you… It can sting sometimes.’

The protruding face of the reindeer on James’ sweater rose as he took a deep breath to prepare himself for the next part of his speech.

‘Babington I’ve come to trust you. And I feel bound to tell you, for fear of becoming a victim of my own thoughts if I do not discuss them with another. Sidney’s your best friend, but Charlotte’s mine. I’ve been able to keep something a secret from my best friend, can you keep what I’m about to tell you a secret from yours?’

Babington nodded, curious but worried about what would come next. It was obvious Stringer had been struggling with the problem for some time.

‘Georgiana, Esther and I had a lot of bad luck in our first year. It hurt us so deeply, we had a hard time even talking about it with each other. It took us over a year before we could talk about it freely, and even longer before we could joke about it and play the game. We’re careful of mentioning things which could reopen old wounds. Some things are hard to explain to others, and explaining would reopen the wounds. I mean, you heard how many times the questions “how” and “when” were asked. I was in love with Charlotte for a while. She never noticed, and between the romantic tragedies of Esther and Georgiana, and Charlotte’s little flirtations here and there, they were too occupied to discover the truth. Except for Esther, of course. Esther always notices everything. She talked to me about it, comforted me, but kept it a secret.’

With shock, Babington realized he hadn’t seen her in hours. But it would be rude to ask for her when James was opening up to him.

‘But you’re not in love with her anymore?’

‘No, but the game did bring back those awful feelings of rejection and sadness. You see, there’s this girl.’

Babington couldn’t help but smile, and James shook his head.

‘Ah, I know it is silly but it’s only the second time I’ve been in love. She’s wonderful. But I’m terribly afraid it’ll turn out like last time.’

‘Why would you think that?’

‘Because she’s just as wonderful. So wonderful and accomplished you’re even surprised she’d be willing to spend time with you. Meanwhile I’m still poor young Mr Stringer.’

‘I don’t think you’re anywhere near a bad catch. As far as I’ve observed, you’re very nice to be around. Has she a similar character to Charlotte’s?’

‘Well… No.’

‘Does she dabble in little flirtations as well?’

‘Not that I know of.’

‘Why would you think she, who is clearly different from Charlotte, would fall for the same kind of man as Charlotte? Why couldn’t it be you?’

James shrugged.

‘That’s what I mean, I was lowkey insecure, but all these memories of Charlotte not even noticing, continuing to fall in love with others, it made me doubt myself.’

‘Just try. Those who don’t try shall never find out whether the other is interested. Staring and texting never got people very far, I’ve learned that through my many years of partying. One has to approach the other, or change the topic of conversation, if one wishes to get to the next part’, Babington smiled.

‘You’re right.’

They bumped their shoulders together.

‘But the same goes for you, Babbers’, James said as he stood up.

‘Me?’

‘All this staring and talking won’t get you far.’

‘Is it that obvious?’ He noted with a resigned smile. ‘Esther told me she wasn’t interested.’

‘She said that?’ James asked in amazement. He hadn’t known they’d talked about them being together. Had they all read the signs wrong?

‘Well, no. But she said she wasn’t flirting. And if you’re not flirting, you’re not trying to get together with someone.’

‘There can be a lot of reasons why someone wouldn’t flirt, like because they assume it would be unwelcome, or because they’re afraid. But what did she say exactly? If you can remember.’

 “It’s only flirting when we intentionally do it. And we’re not. And we’re just being thrown together because you’re the dad friend and I’m the mom friend.”

James laughed. Babington buried his face in his hands as James’ laughter only grew.

‘Dude. You’re going to tell me all that banter and stuff wasn’t flirting?’

‘It doesn’t matter how it sounds, what matters is whether she intends it to be flirtatious.’

‘Oh she’s flirtatious, alright. I’ve seen her reject a lot of men, and interact with many, when she flirts she’s fully aware of it. Has it ever crossed your mind that she simply assumed you didn’t intend it, and she was covering up for herself so it wouldn’t be embarrassing? Come on. Rule one of being in love: you don’t want the other to know unless you’re certain your feelings are returned. And with Esther, she wants to be really sure you care for her.’ It made a ridiculous amount of sense, but it was too good to be true.

‘Because she’s been cheated on multiple times by Edward?’

‘Yes. Wait. You- Georgie didn’t say a name.’ There was the confirmation for his suspicions. Wine had a way of loosening the tongue.

‘I was there the night she kicked Edward’s butt. She’d called him out for cheating on many girls. Never thought anything of it. But then when I learned she’d been single for four years, and her boyfriend started out with those first two letters… I don’t know, it was a wild guess. And it’s almost implausible since he’s her stepbrother.’

‘Yeah. It took her a year to confess. Apparently, their parents only got together two years before they had their accident. Esther was sixteen and Edward eighteen. When their parents died when she was seventeen, well, insert grief bringing them closer together. Edward insisted they’d wait until she was eighteen, meanwhile, he was at college, picking up girls left and right while she had no clue whatsoever. She’d hidden her relationship, and the nature of it, from us. We still don’t know any particulars, and I’m sure she’ll kill me if she finds out I told you anything. But it did scar her.’

‘I won’t say  a word. I pity her. He has betrayed her trust in the most horrible ways. I’m only glad to know that she’s rid of his influence now. James, thank you for trying to encourage me, but it doesn’t matter anymore I’m afraid. She’s gone. Isn’t she?’

That sobered James up. ‘Yeah, she left shortly after everyone started dancing. But there are still days left.’

‘Perhaps, on New Year’s Eve’, Babington laughed as they returned to the living room.

Sidney was gathering the glasses.

‘Ah, there you are. I thought everyone had gone to bed. Let’s do the dishes tomorrow, shall we?’

‘Has everyone else gone to bed?’ James asked.

Sidney nodded.

‘It’s four in the morning. We lasted a good while.’

Babington immediately started helping his friend.

‘You can go to bed James, three’s too much for the job.’

‘Alright well, if you say so. Good night I guess, or morning, as you wish.’

♦♦♦♦♦

Sidney and Babington carried the table back to the kitchen and put the glasses in the sink. Babington allowed Sidney to use the bathroom first. He didn’t know what motivated him, but he suddenly felt the need to go upstairs again. The evening had ended abruptly for him, which meant he was neither prepared nor willing to go to bed.

Perhaps he could gaze at the stars on his own. There were still a few hours of night left. Maybe it could relax him enough so he could go to bed.

The fire was still gently crackling in the hearth, and the room felt warm and cosy, the elated atmosphere of the past few hours still lingered. He softly pushed the couches back in place, but found the comforter missing.

Perhaps someone had taken it to bed with them.

He prayed the sweater would be sufficient, but the weather forecast had warned the temperatures would remain sub-zero.

The bench was unoccupied. It was strange, sitting there without her, staring at the moon on his own.

To gaze at the stars with her had felt so romantic and intimated under the cover of darkness, but to be alone with the billions of stars was a spiritual experience. He rose from the bench, descending into nature. The moonlight cast a special hue on the snow, and the stars reflected beautifully upon the lake. Cold permeated his skin, but he had no care, allowing the night to consume him, and fill him with wonder and cold.

Idly, he wondered why people had started worshipping a single God. Surely, anyone living underneath that awe-inspiring star-filled sky, experiencing the biting cold and scorching heat, suffering through love, and being burned by fire, had to admit that these were more logical powers to recognize. Man was but a plaything before nature, having no choice but to accept everything nature put him through.

He looked away from the sky, kicking a snowball which hadn’t disintegrated upon impact. With a smile, he turned back towards the house. A light was shining in the living room. Odd.

The woodwork of the parlour groaned underneath his weight. He was certain no trespasser could have been silent enough to sneak past him. Someone had to be up.

If anyone heard the creaking planks, he would be the perceived intruder.

He put another food towards the door. The plank creaked. The door flew open. It was Esther, still dressed, without shoes but with a knife which she was pointing at him.

‘Oh, it’s you’, she sighed, shoulders slumping as she let herself fall against the doorframe.

‘You’re still up? I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t scare you too much?’

‘Well, I assumed everyone here was asleep. So there were only two possibilities: either a Scottish rogue was about to kill us or…’ She didn’t finish the sentence, looking past him at the night sky instead.

‘Or?’ he inquired.

‘Or had come to seduce either me, Georgiana or Susan away like in one of those romance novels. I wouldn’t have minded to find a wild Jamie Fraser on the doorstep, but I prepared for the worst scenario.’

‘I’m sorry to destroy your Highlander fantasy, it’s only me.’

‘You can pass, you still fit into the second scenario.’

‘A seductive highlander?’

‘The scenario in which I wouldn’t mind the person at the door entering the house’, she replied with a smirk.

He entered and closed the door behind him, mimicking her posture by leaning against the other side of the doorframe.

‘So, what brings you to the living room?’

‘I’d been in my room, but I haven’t been sleeping. I didn’t even bother dressing for bed, I knew sleep wouldn’t come. Thought I’d come to check, see who was still up. I thought I was the only one, all the lights were out.’

‘Couldn’t sleep either’, Babington confessed.

She nodded, fingers toying with the knife in her hands.

‘And what shall your restless spirit do next?’

‘I had figured I might as well wash the dishes. I hoped it could tire me, and it would lessen the work tomorrow.’

‘You shouldn’t. We agreed on doing them tomorrow morning.’

‘I already finished, save some pots which are soaking with soap.’

‘What kept you up?’ he softly asked as he turned towards her. They weren’t far removed at all.

‘Nothing in particular. It was just a bit much, all the music and the dancing and the cheer. Georgiana and Crowe’s kissing, James and Susan talking, you were all having such a good time. I just knew I wouldn’t be able to get into the mood. So I spared everyone the trouble of feeling guilty for having fun while I obviously wouldn’t be able to join in. Perhaps I should ask for the role of the grandmother friend instead’, she smiled weakly.

‘And leaving me a single dad?’ he gasped. Which reminded him of the mistletoe which had previously been in this location. It still hung there. Esther became aware of it at the same time. Remembering James’ words, he decided he would risk it with a small peck on her cheek. But before he could as much as bend towards her, she pushed herself away from the door.

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know. Don’t pretend you don’t mind the mom and dad jokes, now that you know how tainted your mock wife is.’

‘Know what?’

He followed her into the living room.

‘About my love life.’

How could she know that he knew about her stepbrother? News could’ve impossibly reached her. Only he and James knew that he knew.

She came to a standstill in front of the fireplace. She’d put the music back on, it was silently playing in the background.

He knew he was treading dangerous territory. Whatever he said next would be decisive in how their relationship would continue.

‘May I ask what it is exactly that I am supposed to know and disapprove of?’

She didn’t look at him. In fact, she turned even further away from him.

‘Little Esther, having been in love but never having had a real relationship. Stupid silly goose, falling for a player who cheated on her with so many girls it’s a wonder she didn’t end up with mouth herpes. And still! The stupid cow needed years to recover from a superficial romance with a man she really shouldn’t have been together with in the first place. Now you know the truth, are you not disgusted? Afraid you'll be tainted by association? No doubt the full truth about my stupid mistakes will come out soon. And then everyone here shall look at me differently.’

She didn’t know that he knew his name. Perhaps he’d better keep it that way.

‘ Esther, we’ve all been fools in love. Everyone here has made decisions ranging between terrible and horrible concerning love and lust, no one is in a position to judge. Secondly, I doubt anyone will think badly of you. We’re friends. Friends don’t judge friends for things that happened years ago, especially not when they know how much you’ve suffered. Thirdly, you’re not stupid for needing time to get over it. It is only logical it would take time to start trusting men again. Is this what has been keeping you up? Fear of our judgement?’

She didn’t deny it.

‘I don’t give a damn about your past. I liked you back when I first met you, and I like you still, even better, now that I’ve learned more about you. That is what I base my judgement upon. The point of the game should be to trust each other with secrets, in the confidence that the others offer their secrets in return. That way, there’s a pact: you can’t call out others for the things they shared, since you can be judged for your secrets as well. You pretend like your past relationship is a reason for us to drop you, but why wouldn’t we drop Crowe for being arrested? Why wouldn’t you judge me for cheating on an exam? If they’d find out at college, I’d be expelled. Many of the things we’ve done were actually bad, your only gave your heart to someone. But the mistake made was his, by choosing to break it by being unfaithful.’

He couldn’t see her face, but he could see she brought her hands to her face to wipe away the tears.

‘Why are you always so awfully nice?’

‘I hope I can convince you that the world doesn’t always have to be a bad place where everyone is naturally unkind.’

‘I would like that.’

Babington noticed the music changing.

‘As it has become clear your hours spent in thought weren’t useful at all, might I suggest you catch up with our forms of entertainment? You might not have been in the mood for it, but you will find that simply partaking in it might change your mood.’

She looked at his outstretched hand with an amused smile, as if she couldn’t even believe she was agreeing to the proposal. But she took it, and he took her in his arms.

     I gotta take a little time, a little time to think things over  

     I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older  

     Now this mountain I must climb, feels like the world upon my shoulders  

     Through the clouds I see love shine, it keeps me warm as life grows colder  

Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, his hands on the middle of her back. There was the faintest of smiles on her lips as they slowly spun around the room.

‘So you have been doing this the entire night?'

‘There might have been the occasional snow ball fight.’

‘I’m sorry to have missed it. Who won?’

‘I did, of course. But I’ll be generous and admit that James helped a bit too.’

‘And who were your opponents?’

‘Georgiana and Crowe.’

‘You want me to believe Georgie lost a fight?’

‘They were no match for us, at least not after all the booze they’d consumed.’

The pitch changed, and Babington took that as his cue to take one of her hands and spin her around on her own.

A single breath of laughter left her mouth, but her smile finally reached her eyes.

     Can't stop now, I've travelled so far, to change this lonely life.  

     I want to know what love is, I want you to show me.  

        Their dance turned more animated, their arms pushing and pulling the other, playing with the ever electrically charged space between them.

Esther twirled away from him,  raising her arms as her skirts fanned out around her, she was a whirl of copper and gold. He stepped towards her again, catching her in his arms once again.

A hand trailed towards his shoulder, the other hesitantly nestling on his lower back.

They were a lot closer now, but she didn’t cower.

She didn’t make any inclination to start dancing again. And that’s when he realized, they’d landed right underneath the mistletoe hanging in front of the kitchen door.

     I'm gonna take a little time, a little time to look around me I've got nowhere left to hide, it looks like love has finally found me  

His eyes slid towards her lips. The lipstick had long since faded, but that didn’t make her mouth any less appealing.

If he wanted to test her feelings, he could kiss her on the cheek and slowly build their bond throughout the remainder of the holiday.

His eyes connected with hers. He’d started his day thinking she would never like him back, but tonight’s confessions had  unveiled turns and twists in the path of his destiny which he thought had been set in stone. Fate pushed them together one mistletoe a time. After three years of pining, it felt unnatural that the defining moment in their relationship would present itself so suddenly, and he felt awfully unprepared, his stomach an awful knot of excitement and dread as he resigned himself to his fate.

By the time morning chased away the mysterious dark cover of night, during which all happened which could not bear the light of day, he’d either be one of the happiest men alive, or the saddest.

The dice were thrown.

And his lips connected with hers.

The hand closest to his face, grasped for his hair and pulled him even closer to her. Her hips tipped forward, pressing against his thighs.

Lips celebrating, and minds rejoicing, they kissed for minutes on end, before the stereo shut itself off because it hadn’t been used in an hour.

A log crackled particularly loudly, breaking the moment between the two young lovers.

‘We should go to bed.’

Esther nodded in agreement.

‘We’ll already have little sleep as it is.’

He could faintly make out her smile, but as the fire had almost died out, there was very little light in the room.

They made their way towards their bedrooms. Both buzzing with excitement, but unsure on how they would continue from there on out.

‘Goodnight.’

‘Goodnight’, she breathed before taking the handle of her door.

He turned away, reaching for the handle of his door when he heard the sound of her door opening. He couldn’t resist a look.

Her sleek hair shielded a large part of her face, but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes as she wordlessly urged him to look up from where she was standing in her bedroom.

The mistletoe was still there between their bedrooms, and they were both standing on opposing sides of it.

They flew towards each other, the euphoria of young innocent love and sensual bliss making it impossible to separate for the remainder of the night.

[rohanime]

Swampcon

Honestly, I enjoyed Swampcon a lot more than I thought I would. This YouTuber I used to watch a lot made a video attending an anime convention a while ago and his video was pretty light hearted and involved messing with some of the people at the convention and just kinda making fun of it a little, while still maintaining a respectful attitude towards everyone in attendance and the event itself. Because of his video I expected to find the event a little funny, because even when we went over Otakus and watched Genshiken in class I never really understood the appeal of these types of conventions, but after attending my attitude completely changed.

Seeing a lot of the attendee’s enthusiasm towards the events going on and others’ cosplays was honestly just really refreshing as it was a new perspective on something I had pretty much written off. You could really tell how much work went into some of the cosplays, as when I asked a couple of the people how much their outfits cost and where they bought them, they described how their outfits were actually completely handmade, which really shocked me. I was completely ignorant to the amount of effort cosplaying really takes, as since I got the pleasure of volunteering at Swampcon as well I was responsible for helping guests find their way around Reitz. During one of my shifts, a couple of the cosplayers came up to me and asked me where the bathroom was and where they could get some water because they were absolutely drenched in sweat because of their outfits and one of them looked very faint like they might be super dehydrated or something. This definitely gave me a deeper appreciation for these cosplayers and what they do. I also did not expect to see so many cosplayers dressed as things outside of anime. There were a lot of people who dressed up as other pop culture characters such as Spongebob, the guy from Minecraft, and for some reason, a lot of Spidermen, which helped me grow a little more accustomed to some of the wilder outfits people were wearing. Before my shifts, I went to check out the art and merchandise they were selling and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. On the first day, I did not expect to buy anything so I did not bring any money with me, but after I looked through the art they had I found some stuff I actually really liked. The level of craftsmanship that went into some of these is insanely impressive, and I can definitely see why some of the Otakus spend all of their money buying these items and building their collections. On the second day, I ended up going back and buying a keychain as a memento for the experience.

One thing I found pretty interesting was how a lot of the people who definitely were Otakus did not know what the word Otaku meant. Obviously, the word is not English but since these people are so immersed within Japanese culture I would have expected them to know a word that describes themselves.

I can definitely now see how these types of events are influential in creating the Otaku culture, as it is a gathering place for people of all shapes, sizes, races, sexual orientations for them to come together and show their appreciation for something that they're just really passionate about.

One thing that kinda bummed a lot of people out which they complained to me about while I was volunteering was that so many of the panels kept closing and getting canceled. Everyone was mad about the AMV panel getting canceled, which I actually was excited to see as well as I can definitely see the appeal in those. On the second day, I got to volunteer at the Vocaloid panel. A lot of people were really excited to get in and the line wrapped around a good portion of the second floor of the Reitz, but to my surprise, most people only stayed for a few minutes other than the really diehard fans who stayed throughout. I guess this is a more niche form of the fandom as you have to like the songs so much that you don’t even care that it isn’t an actual performance by a person.

The sense of fandom that a lot of the people at Swampcon had reminded me a lot of my own fandom for the NBA and how we talk about our favorite players and buy their jerseys, and I feel like this connection was made a lot clearer when I saw it in person. I guess the only difference is that the Otakus are willing to put in way more effort to look like the people they are fans of, and also they literally want to be the people they obsess over while I think I can speak for most NBA fans when I say as much as I idolize players, when I put on a player’s jersey it’s not because I want to be that person I just want to show my support for the player, so I guess Otakus just go above and beyond in their fandom compared to other fandoms.

Overall, I really enjoyed the event as it really helped broaden my perspective on these types of events and the reasons that the people at the events dress up and are so excited to attend the events. I definitely have an elevated level of respect for all the cosplayers out there and the Otakus that made all the merch and art available at the event, and I’m happy that I decided to volunteer as it got me more involved in the event than I otherwise would have been if left to my own devices.

[tzalmavet]

omg i wanna hear that dream

Sure thing!  But it’s kind of long and look out it gets rather unpleasant towards the end, so here goes:

The story in that dream basically started when Mr. Krabs fired Spongebob from the Krusty Krab.  There wasn’t a specific reason given for this, but I knew it was some kind of petty, counterproductive, cheapskate Krabs-type garbage.

BUT, instead of screaming, crying, and begging for Krabs to re-hire him, Spongebob started his own restaurant!  It was a beachside eatery with a thatched roof, and a very tropical, tourist-appealing vibe (think Florida).  It actually got even more popular than the Krusty Krab itself!  It had much friendlier service, and a gorgeous location.

Speaking of locations, I was there!  And boy, having seen it “firsthand”, I can tell you: that beach was really pretty.  The sand was clean white, but not blindingly so.  It was a day that the sharks were migrating (yep… I just rolled with it), and the bright blue water was clear enough to see them;There were millions of friendly sharks in that water.  Hammerheads, Great Whites, Nurse sharks, you name it– the sharks were all there.  They were all swarming and swimming in curving loops, and they were going fast, too.

The palm trees were really lush and green, and the air was full of butterflies, hummingbirds, and these ethereal… jellyfish, I think?  They could’ve been ghosts.  There were also these huge rare tropical tortoises that were blue and white, and my sister got to touch one.

Back to Spongebob’s restaurant, the Batter had to work there!  Yeah, he did not sign up for that job.  I think the reason he was forced there was to distract him from his mission.  The Batter absolutely loathed working there.  Like, with a burning, seething hatred.  He couldn’t stand the place.

(NOTE: this little part of the dream was presented in a vertical four-panel black and white comic format. It looked a bit outside my drawing skills, but I knew that I was the one who drew it)So one night, the Batter’s standing at the edge of the water, steeping in uncontrollable rage against the restaurant, when Zacharie comes up behind him.  Zach asks him a question, and the Batter says how much he hates that place, the restaurant (unspoken, Batter itches to burn it to the ground, and Zacharie knows this).

Zacharie laughs and tries to lighten him up (in that particular panel, he was tugging the corner of the Batter’s mouth with his finger in that “ha ha you should smile!” way), patting him on the back and whatnot.  The Batter was still pissed, though, so Zacharie asked him to come over to his place and have something nice to eat for dinner.  Which was almost definitely like… some pile of meat that wasn’t cooked all the way.

Despite his anger, the Batter decided to follow Zacharie to his beach house for dinner (THE COMIC ENDED HERE).  But, it was with that dinner that Zacharie snuck something into Batter’s food that would make him forget his mission and keep working at the restaurant.

Maybe it was the Queen’s idea, maybe it was Zacharie’s idea, but it wasn’t ethical, that was the atmosphere.  “But what choice do we have?” was the reasoning.  So long as Zacharie kept the Batter consistently drugged, he wouldn’t even think of his purificatory mission, and would work for Spongebob.

And so the Batter became a beloved (albeit somewhat eccentric) employee of Spongebob’s restaurant.  Every so often, he’d hit two “test your strength” meters with his bat, and how hard they were struck determined the amounts of mayonaisse and ketchup that would go one burgers during that time, respectively (they weren’t called Krabby Patties for copyright reasons).

All was going well!  But one day, the Batter decided to take a break to hunt and eat some of the wildlife “as he was intended.”  He ran off into the beach wilderness, and no one knew where to find him.

Queue Zacharie starting to panic, and rightfully so; he could’t drug the Batter if he couldn’t access what he ate.  Spongebob, unaware of his scheme, tried to keep things running smoothly.

Within a week of living off the land, the Batter started coming down from his dosage, and not pleasantly.  His head hurt, his thoughts grew loopy and erratic, and he staggered around disoriented and hardly aware of his surroundings.

A night during this stupor, the Batter slipped into a window in someone’s summer home and ate their baby.  He absentmindedly wandered back to the restaurant, still chewing a severed arm, and it really killed the mood for everyone.

The sharks got scared away, and the ghosts/jellyfish dissipated from the air.  Things got real quiet, and Zacharie cautiously led the Batter away from the scene.

What was the baby’s mother going to do about it?  Were the police going to come?  Were things ever going to return to normal at the restaurant?  Spongebob sat on the porch of his establishment, face cupped in his hands, staring out anxiously at the water.

But at least the Batter hadn’t burned the restaurant down.

THE END, that was where I woke up.

[jaywings]

For the character introductions thing--how about Sans?

Ooh, I wasn’t expecting Sans. Okay, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to work this so I’ll just dive in! I hope I’m doing this all right because I’m actually not great at analysis

-

It’s a cutscene, but due to the nature of the game it’s not really cinematic so it’s a bit limited in what can be done. The walk through the forest after leaving the Ruins is already creepy, with no music and only weird, atmospheric sound playing. It leaves the player expecting something to happen and, indeed, you start to get signs that someone is following you- a heavy branch breaks after you pass it and you catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure in the trees.

Then you’re forced to stop at a bridge while someone, still in shadow, slowly walks up and stops right behind you. You’ve effectively been cornered. When he speaks, his text shows up slow, deliberate, with every letter spaced out and no accompanying “voice,” differing greatly from the previous characters you’ve met.

He identifies you as a human and tells you to turn around and shake his hand. Frisk does so, but slowly, as though reluctant. And then… there’s a whoopee cushion.

There was around twenty seconds from his first appearance on screen to the handshake, and suddenly everything the player assumed about him was turned on its head because, whatever they were expecting, it probably wasn’t this. The whoopee cushion sound effect goes on for a good few seconds. When it stops, goofy, casual music starts playing; Sans is revealed to be a short, grinning skeleton wearing a blue hoodie with his hands stuffed in the pockets, his text now has a deep “voice” that’s been likened to Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants, and his text is now all lowercase in comic sans font.

This character is a walking joke. Nothing about him is serious, not even the way his text is written. Clearly, the creepy buildup was just part of a prank, because even as he keeps talking to you he’s preparing to use you to play another prank on his brother. He knows you’re a human but he doesn’t care. He’d rather goof off than do his job.

I’m only taking around the first minute of a character’s intro in order to see what we learn about them. For Sans, this ends at around the time he tells you to go hide behind the conveniently-shaped lamp.

What we have learned about Sans:

Well first of all we learn that this world has living skeletons in it 

Sans can be creepy and intimidating when he wants to be (which comes into play later, especially during the “You’d be dead where you stand” scene)

He has a brother who’s much more interested in capturing humans than he is

There is a clue to his teleportation (coming up from the direction of the Ruins when you were the only one who came out of there), though on a first play through the player might not notice that

He was able to recognize you as a human immediately, so he knows what they look like

Frisk seems to be wary of him, hesitating to turn and shake his hand

The player really has no idea what to expect from him. We’ve been warned about monsters wanting to attack us. Now, as soon as we leave the Ruins and Toriel, we’re being followed by someone in the shadows. The buildup to Sans’s reveal presents him as a possible threat, but he doesn’t attack, so we don’t know for sure whether he’s an enemy or not. It could go either way. After all, Flowey is the first character you meet in the game, and he seems to be a friend but turns out to be a threat. Perhaps this character, the first one we meet outside the Ruins, seems to be a threat but turns out to be a friend.

And then everything about him turns into joke. It’s all a complete reversal of all assumptions about him. So all the creepy stuff was just a prank… right?

It reminds me of that story about Gene Wilder, where he wanted to do a somersault after hobbling out of the building with a cane, so that the audience would never know whether he was lying or being truthful.

He’s very casual, relaxed, not fazed by much. The first words out of his mouth after the reveal are that he just played a prank on you. He doesn’t take anything seriously, calling your being a human “hilarious”; he’s supposed to be watching out for humans but he doesn’t need to see them come to any harm, and he lets you go right across the bridge because his brother did a bad job trying to keep people out

After this intro, the player sees Sans as someone to sort of joke around and have fun with. However, he’s also shown his scary side, so when it comes up later it’s not completely out of nowhere