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scribblerreviews · 1 month ago

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Top 25 Christmas Films (15-6) (2024 Update)

15. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970)

Of the retro Christmas animations, Rudolph and Frosty receive the most attention. But this stop-motion by Rankin/Bass holds a place in my heart. It tells the story of how Santa came to be through delightful songs, innovative animation, and charming characters. The story follows through a few different arcs, and the songs will stay, at least for the holiday seasons.

14. Elf (2003)

Will Ferrell movies in the 2000’s could often be hit-or-miss, with humour ranging from wild, to cringey, to downright offensive. But Elf is head and shoulders above the rest; Ferrell plays the “fish-out-of-water” role well, perhaps his best performance, and he balances comedy and sentimentality without making either feel lesser. The rest of the cast also play off each other well, and the blend of the magical Christmas story with family issues works to create a pleasant rewatch every Christmas.

13. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Is it a Halloween movie? Yes. Is it a Christmas movie? Also yes. But what’s more important is that it’s a spectacular animated movie with whimsy and darkness in tandem. Directed by Henry Selick (his debut!) who would also direct James and the Giant Peach (1996) and Coraline (2009), this innovative stop-motion animation made itself a classic through Burton’s imaginative story and Danny Elfman’s earworm tunes. Whether you choose to indulge at Halloween or Christmas, this animated classic is always a good choice.

12. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart star in this funny and smartly scripted classic that would be the basis for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail (1998). Sullavan and Stewart are two employees at a leathergoods shop in Budapest; they can’t stand each other, but they are also anonymous letter correspondents slowly falling for each other. The script is both funny and sharp, and we get to spend time with the charming leads and amusing side characters.

11. Gremlins (1984)

Once again, I hear you saying, “This movie just uses Christmas to kickstart the plot and have neat set-dressing!”. And maybe that’s true. But sometimes, you get tired of the usual routine and want something more out-there. Joe Dante’s comedy film (written by Chris Columbus) about the gift of a Gremlin and the chaos they can cause. The 80’s effects are top notch and the score has an earworm effect. The Black Comedy vibes against the Christmas backdrop provides a number of great set-pieces, and come on, Gizmo is just too adorable to not love.

10. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

While Dickens’ story appears earlier on the list, the Muppets version is by far my favourite. The songs are fun, the technical puppet work spectacular, the script witty, and the feel of the movie all work wonders. Michael Caine makes a great Scrooge, and seeing the Muppets transposed into this classic story is both hilarious and charming. This is a Christmas classic that both children and adults can sit down and enjoy.

9. The Holdovers (2023)

This film, a retro throwback visually, aesthetically, and narratively, is like putting on a cozy Christmas sweater. There’s a comfortable warmness in the familiar, it’s a bit scratchy at times, and you get sad because you think about your grandma who knitted it and she passed away peacefully a few years ago. The film is a balancing act between humour and sadness, but does so with sincerity and charm to provide a movie which touches the heart with the performances and embrace of life.

8. Die Hard (1988)

Ah, the quintessential “is it really a Christmas movie?” movie. John McTiernan’s film is set during Christmas, but more than just the setting, John McClane’s adventure is a redemption of sorts (though the thematic analysis of Die Hard is surprisingly deep) and Christmas is a time for renewal and change. But whether it is or not, Die Hard is more than a mindless action flick. McTiernan’s camerawork is fantastic, always following or flowing with the action but never feeling overdone. The script keeps the action flowing with enough space to breathe in-between that also gives McClane and Gruber fantastic back-and-forth dialogue. Bruce Willis in the role of McClane, set against the 80’s muscle-men of Schwarzenegger or Stallone, was a smart move. He’s not a hulking mass of man, but a feasible yet quick-witted lead who has to use brain and brawn. And it’s hard to not talk about Alan Rickman’s fantastic performance, cementing himself as a brilliant villain actor for years to come. If you’re looking for something action but also Christmas, get ready to… Die Hard.

7. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people–a middle-aged alcoholic man, a transgender woman, and a teen runaway–find a baby in a dumpster. They decide that they should try to find this baby’s family, leading to a series of spectacular events on Christmas night. It’s not a conventional Nativity story, but this Christmas story about found family, shared struggle, and Christmas miracles is touching and heartwarming. While this Satoshi Kon film isn’t his usual tale of fiction bleeding into reality, the plot focuses on how miracles can still exist, even if they are a bit fantastical. Using beautiful animation and exaggeration, this film builds on the importance of connection and working through struggle together. This is a worthy addition to any Christmas list; frankly, Satoshi Kon’s whole filmography is worth watching.

6. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

What else can be said about one of the most classic Christmas movies of all time? Frank Capra’s classic film gained popularity after it went into the public domain, but the sentimental, touching story is worth the watch. Jimmy Stewart is one of my favourite actors of the 1940’s, and he gives perhaps one of his best performances. The story, told through flashbacks and potential futures, is inventive and showcases how we all can make little differences that have big effects in the world and people around us. There’s also plenty of humour and while the film is sweet, it doesn’t fall into being saccharine. Whether you’ve seen it before or have never watched, there’s magic to be found in this movie where an angel can get their wings.

#Christmas #Christmas movies #Christmas films #Top 25 #film #films #Santa Claus is Comin' to Town #Elf #The Nightmare Before Christmas #The Shop Around the Corner #Gremlins #The Muppet Christmas Carol #The Holdovers #Die Hard #Tokyo Godfathers #It's a Wonderful Life

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darkness-falls-tarot · 2 months ago

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Natalie always deluded herself, she always knew that Evan didn't want anything serious but she was fine with it because she liked so much the attention and fame she was receiving thanks to him . She wanted him at all costs and she deluded herself that everything was fine and there was happiness between them. She refused to see reality, she dreamed too much. Now maybe she understands

As far as this goes some girls or guys will say things like that. “Oh yeah I’m not looking for anything serious either.” In a hope that the person will change tune and be like “You know, this person I’m with is amazing. We should actually be together because I can’t live without them.”

But life isn’t a Nora Ephron movie or something; and if someone says they’re not wanting seriously then listen. These people will hookup with others while seeing you because they think you don’t care. If you want serious say it and don’t lie.

While many feel some anger towards Natalie I do feel bad because she was hoping Evan would love her if this is true in anyway and to have this backfire after months of her life wasted is sad.

#tarot reading #celebrity tarot #tarot #answered asks #anon ask #evan peters

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fahye · 2 years ago

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the thing I am most sad about your podcasting hiatus is not getting any new random book/fic/media recommendations from y’all!! I mean I’m still working through what you’ve already recommended. but it’s not the same

anon, this is ALSO a thing I dearly miss about the podcast! okay, let's do some recs from the absolutely enormous amount of books I've read recently. gonna keep this list to the first ones that come to mind from the last few months or we'd be here for hours:

nightbitch by rachel yolen - this is uhhhh semi-horror litfic about a new mother who believes she's turning into a dog. it's furious and brilliant and bloody and deeply weird and I fucking loved it. (though I WILL say: content warning for the violent death of a pet.)

the half life of valery k by natasha pulley - a soviet nuclear physicist in the 1960s is sent to work in a strange town that is also a radiation experiment. unlike her other books this one isn't speculative, but it's emotionally and character-wise one of the best (THE ROMANCE!! ugh) and the historical detail is fascinating.

heartburn by nora ephron - a short & hilarious novel about a food writer who discovers her husband is having an affair when she is seven months pregnant. did you know nora ephron is a genius?? I feel like I'm the last person to discover this fact. this would make a fantastic double feature with nightbitch, actually.

starling house by alix e. harrow - I KNOW I KNOW it's not out until halloween 2023 but listen: this book changed my life. an absolutely superb contemporary southern gothic horror romance (just go with it) about poverty and hidden sins and a girl going to work in a creepy house. preorder it now, and while you wait, read summer sons by lee mandelo.

the spare man by mary robinette kowal - a smart and slick sci-fi take on the noir detective novel, starring a wonderful heiress engineer with chronic back pain who has to solve a murder on a spaceship after someone frames her new husband. also has SO many cocktail recipes in it, which I feel more books should adopt.

cuckoo song by frances hardinge - nobody can write creepy fantasy like hardinge, and I think this is her creepiest. it has some amazing magical worldbuilding on the grim side of whimsical, and very fraught siblings, and it will turn your mind subtly inside out. technically...middle grade, I guess? whatever. read it.

I kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston - yes! finally! I had been putting this one off because I'm just Not A YA Reader generally, but had a great time with it. both very scathing and very kind about a specific christian high school experience in the american south, and full of queer defiance and joy.

and finally, I've also been slowly rereading the vorkosigan saga by lois mcmaster bujold, which is tied with the discworld for my favourite series of all time. nobody can combine adventure and devastating character like bujold.

#ask replies #book recs

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onceuponaoneshotfanfic · 2 years ago

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Around the Corner (Part 8)

Oliver puts his plan into action and the Reader makes a surprising- and wonderful- discovery.

Oliver Wood x Ravenclaw!Reader

3.3k words

Part 7

Warnings: lots of fluff, dialogue taken directly from ‘You’ve Got Mail’ because Nora Ephron is the best

A/N: Here it is, the finale! Thank you so much for reading. This might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. I’m really sad to be done, but I’m super excited to share this story with you 💕

A few more weeks passed of Oliver sending letters back and forth with Y/N. He took care to avoid the topic of meeting during that time and provided only non-committal answers to her questions.

In the meantime, he enjoyed his budding friendship with the girl he now willingly admitted he was absolutely infatuated with. The two found themselves spending a lot of time together; sometimes they talked about the pen pal situation, with Oliver coming up with more and more ridiculous explanations about who the pen pal was, but more often than not they talked about everyday things like quidditch, their classes, what they did at home during the summer. And Oliver relished every opportunity to get to talk to Y/N as himself, no hiding behind letters; just Oliver.

This new normal led to a Saturday morning sitting by the lake, enjoying the bright sunshine and no impending quidditch matches or tests. Oliver had set down his sweatshirt on the grass for Y/N to sit on and laid himself down on his back, propped on his elbows. He glanced up at Y/N, pretending that he wasn’t soaking in every drop of her beauty.

“Alright, what’d he say?”

A smile spread across Y/N’s face as she unfolded her latest letter. “Read for yourself.”

Pretending he had not just written this exact letter, Oliver skimmed the parchment quickly. “This afternoon?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t too obvious in his acting. Y/N nodded enthusiastically as Oliver handed the letter back to her. “On the quidditch field. How romantic.”

“He knows it’s pretty much my favorite place on the grounds,” she explained, folding the note back up and sticking it in her jeans pocket.

Oliver gazed at her, admiring the slight flush in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eye, thinking about how he’d grown to love so much about her these last few weeks; the way the stuck her tongue out slightly when she was deep in thought, her knack for just the right trivia fact or book reference to sprinkle into a conversation, the head tilt she swore she did not do when she was focused on whatever task was at hand. Then there was her confidence, whether on the quidditch pitch, in the classroom, or just goofing around in front of her friends; her bold kindness, not soft or gentle like other people Oliver knew, but an aggressive love she showed to the people she cared about; and of course, her physical beauty, which he’d always begrudgingly admitted to noticing, but now fully basked in. All these things combined into one incredible person that Oliver wished he had known all these years. Merlin, he’d wasted too much time.

As he studied her, Oliver began to wonder. “Can I ask you somethin’?”

“Hmm?” She looked down at Oliver, smiling what he now thought of as a dazzling smile. “What’s up?”

He thought a moment, choosing his words with care. “D’you ever think, if you weren’t you, and I wasn’t me, if things hadn’t been broken for so long…” He trailed off with a shrug, looking up into her eyes, seeing the same pondering expression he knew his held.

She hummed thoughtfully and turned her gaze to the lake. “We would’ve been friends sooner,” she supposed. “Best friends, probably.” With a shrug, she looked back down at Oliver.

Oliver sat up now, nodding. “Best friends,” he echoed. He met her eyes, searching them for a reaction as he continued. “And one day, I would’ve looked at you, and something in my head would just click.” He snapped his fingers. “And I’d ask you out for a butterbeer, or ice cream, or dinner… and I wouldn’t have been able to wait until the end of the date to lean in for that first kiss.”

There it was, the very thing he was hoping for: a deep flush in her cheeks, her eyes widening slightly with each word out of his mouth.

“Oliver…” she sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear; a nervous habit of hers, Oliver had discovered. She let out the smallest chuckle, clearly lost for words.

He continued. “And we would’ve never been at war, we’d never played those stupid pranks on each other, or said a cruel word to one another. The only thing we’d fight about would be whose common room to hang out in on a Friday night.”

A tiny smile formed on those lips Oliver found himself staring at far too often. “Now, who fights about a silly thing like that?” she asked quietly.

Oliver shook his head gently. “Some people. Not us.”

“We would never,” she agreed.

“If only,” he sighed, almost too quiet to hear.

A pause filled the air, along with the electricity between the two of them. Somewhere in the distance they could hear the sounds of people chattering and hanging out, but in this moment, they were in a world of their own. Oliver almost wished he could freeze this moment, where they were on the same page, both wishing they could somehow turn back time and do things differently. Do things right.

She cleared her throat, starting to get up. “I… I should go, er, get ready-”

Oliver took her hand, urging her to sit back down. “Well, let me ask you something.” Y/N resumed her seat, her cheeks still deep red. Oliver took a breath before continuing. “How can you forgive this guy for standing you up, and not forgive me for this tiny little thing… of making your life miserable since we were twelve?” His hand reached up to gently touch her cheek, which was just as soft as he expected it to be, if not a bit warm. He dipped his head, looking up at her through his lashes. “Oh, how I wish you would.”

They stared at each other, Oliver’s hand still on her cheek. He could see the rapid calculations going on behind her eyes, the same way she would look around the quidditch pitch to find an open teammate to pass to. He could almost swear he saw some tears there, too.

She swallowed hard. “I really have to go,” she finally whispered.

Oliver let go. “Yeah. You don’t want to be late.”

When Y/N stood up, Oliver could see her legs shaking slightly. She bent down and picked up Oliver’s hoodie, handing it to him. “I’ll see you later?” It was more question than statement.

“Of course,” Oliver answered with a small smile, taking the balled up sweatshirt. “I want to hear all about your meeting.”

The tension in Y/N’s shoulders relaxed a bit. “Really?”

Oliver nodded. “Absolutely. Believe me, Y/N, I want you to be happy.”

“Thank you, Oliver.” She turned and walked away briskly, her head down, arms crossed. About halfway across the grass, she turned and looked back at Oliver, who offered a tiny wave.

Once she turned back around and continued towards the castle, Oliver checked the watch on his wrist. He jumped up; he had somewhere to be as well.

“I have nothing to wear,” I grumbled as I dug through my trunk, poking through various pairs of jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters that were tucked in among my uniforms, undoing the house-elves’ meticulous folding.

“Want to borrow something of mine?” Penelope distractedly offered from her spot on her bed, where she copied notes from a textbook, watching my panic with only vague interest.

I shook my head. “You don’t have anything to wear either.” Closing my eyes, I paused my search and turned to face Penelope. “Crap. I’m sorry, Pen. I didn’t mean-”

She waved me off, unbothered. “You’re fine,” she chuckled. “You’re nervous.”

“Very,” I admitted, turning my attention back to my trunk. “Seriously, what is wrong with me? Why do I have such rubbish taste in clothes?”

“Okay, okay, I’m here to rescue you.” Maggie stood in the doorway, hands behind her back. “Wear. This.” With a flourish, she revealed the same little blue dress I’d worn to the party in the Gryffindor common room.

The tip of my nose grew warm just thinking of that party. “I dunno Maggie…”

She shoved the dress at me. “You look great in it. I remember the look on Wood’s face when you were wearing that thing. And he wasn’t the only guy looking. I promise, you’re gonna knock this boy’s socks off.”

I stared down at the dress in my hands. It was a cute dress. And there was no denying, especially after this morning, that Oliver had clearly liked the way I looked in it; shouldn’t this guy like it too?

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled, suppressing a grin. “I’ll wear the dress.”

About fifteen minutes later, I stared at myself in the mirror, unable to help admiring how I looked. The dress was even more flattering that I remembered, I’d put on a touch of makeup, and Penelope had done something miraculous to my hair. I slipped on a pair of sneakers, which Maggie assured me was just cute and casual enough.

I gave a quick twirl in front of my friends. “What do we think?”

“Approved,” Maggie declared, giving a thumbs up.

“Very cute,” Penelope agreed, a smile on her face.

With a deep breath and a wave to the girls, I walked out the door and began what I knew would be a long walk to the quidditch pitch.

Oliver sat on his bed, parchment in hand. Of all the letters he and Y/N had exchanged, this was the one that mattered the most. He’d read it so many times he lost count; but he just had to read it once more.

Dear Oliver-

I’ve got to tell you before I explode: I’m mad about you. Absolutely over the moon.

You’re the best-looking boy in our year, by far. You have the most beautiful eyes, and your smile lights up any room. When you look at me, I feel like I could melt. And when you talk to me, I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest.

I’ve liked you since our very first day of Hogwarts. I don’t think you remember the first time we saw each other, but I remember it clear as day. You were looking for a seat on the train, and our eyes locked for a brief moment. You didn’t sit with me, but I wish you had.

I don’t know if you like me back, but I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re amazing Oliver. And I know you’re going to be a famous quidditch player in the future. I can’t wait to watch you play in the Quidditch World Cup someday.

I’m not going to tell you who I am- yet. Maybe someday I will. And maybe someday you’ll like me as much as I like you.

-Your Secret Admirer

Oliver smoothed the parchment carefully, letting the words wash over him. She’d liked him so much. It was painfully clear looking back; that little twelve-year-old girl used to talk to him every chance she got, asked him questions she definitely already knew the answer to, and he’d caught her staring at him on more than one occasion. He remembered now how, after he’d cruelly read the letter in front of everyone, she stopped talking to him. When he tried to tease her the way he often did, she’d snapped at him. He then decided she was a stuck-up snob, and thus their war began.

But there it was, in his hands, proof that, at least for a moment in time, she had been desperately in love with him. And Oliver was ready to find out if she could be again.

Has the pitch always been this far? I asked myself as I walked. Somehow, in my quidditch robes with my teammates, it had always seemed like a short stroll from Ravenclaw tower or the Great Hall. But now? I felt like I was hiking across the country.

On my way I saw some people out and about, enjoying the day; I ignored the curious glances from some classmates who were clearly thrown off by my not-so-typical outfit choice. In the distance, I could see the familiar stands and hoops, so I focused my attention there instead of the looks on people’s faces.

Despite the excruciatingly long walk, I stood before the entrance to the pitch much sooner than I had anticipated. My palms became wet as my face warmed up. Would he be there this time? Or was I about to be disappointed all over again?

For the millionth time in the last few weeks, my thoughts tiptoed away from my pen pal to Oliver Wood. He was the first boy I’d ever written a love letter to, after all. Part of me wondered if I’d done the right thing by the lake, choosing this meeting over him. I shoved down the queasy feeling in my stomach, willing myself to ignore the question.

Instead, I walked boldly onto the field, eyes scanning the green for any sign of life. I was a bit surprised to find that no one was hanging out in the stands and that none of the teams took advantage of the free day to practice; in the back of my head I supposed that only Oliver and I were that excessive.

It felt strange to walk around an empty pitch, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the quiet moment, the calm before the- no, not storm. Something better. Much better, I hoped.

Please come, I begged internally as I walked in a circle in the middle of the field. Don’t let me down again.

As I turned around, I spotted a figure strolling through the entrance of the pitch. My heart nearly stopped as I paused mid-step. With a deep breath, I steadied myself and tried to make out the figure walking towards me. After a moment, I saw them perfectly.

“Oliver!” I called with a laugh. “Come on, get out of here.”

As he got closer, I recognized the expression on his face. It was the one he wore when he had something serious to do; a quidditch match, a big test, asking Professor McGonagall to get the twins out of Saturday detention so they could play. And now he wore it as he approached me, one hand behind his back.

When he stood in front of me, I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing-

“Your favorite holiday is Christmas,” he began slowly. “George Harrison is your favorite Beatle because you think ‘Here Comes the Sun’ is the most beautiful song of all time. You make your mum send you photos of your dog every week because you miss him so much. You played football from the time you could walk, and you and your dad go see a match together every summer.”

“What are you-?”

Before I could finish my question, he pulled his hand out from behind his back, revealing the library’s copy of Pride and Prejudice. “You’ve read all of Jane Austen’s novels, and you’ve read this one every year since you were twelve,” he continued. “And you laugh out loud at Mr. Collins’ stupid comments at dinner and you think ‘I send no compliments to your mother’ is the greatest insult of all time and you cry every time Mr. Darcy says-” He took a deep breath. “‘If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.’”

My body was frozen as he gazed at me expectantly. This recital of facts were all things I had told my pen pal in my letters.

My pen pal.

With a gasp, my hands flew to my mouth as realization dawned on me. For once in my life, I was standing in front of Oliver Wood, speechless. He gave a deep nod as he saw the understanding in my eyes and reached into the book for a piece of parchment.

“And you wrote me this letter in our second year,” he explained slowly, his eyes searching mine for a reaction as he held up the parchment. “A letter I obviously didn’t deserve. And I was cruel, and I hurt you. And you understandably hated me.” He let out a small chuckle and shook his head. “So, now I’m standing in front of you, half agony, half hope, wondering if we could, at the very least, be friends? Because you’ve become one of the most important people in my life, and I dunno what I’d do if- if you stopped talking to me.” He took a deep breath, now finished with his speech. Waiting for my answer.

Before my thoughts could even begin to settle, I lifted myself onto tiptoe to wrap my arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. My twelve-year-old self was dancing in circles as Oliver’s lips met mine and his hands found my waist, pulling me closer. His lips were soft against mine, the way I always knew they would be. He let out a small hum into the kiss, the vibration from his chest sending a chill down my spine. He pulled back, planted one more peck on my lips, and smiled at me.

“So you’re not mad?” he asked, leaning his forehead against mine.

“A bit annoyed at myself for not realizing it sooner,” I admitted, laughing. “When did you know it was me?”

“That day at the Three Broomsticks,” he explained. “I saw it was you and… well I almost ran away honestly. But Percy scolded me into going inside.” He bit his lip. “But I was still too cowardly to tell you who I was. ‘m sorry about that.”

I shook my head, which was still reeling. “I don’t blame you,” I assured him. “We… we were awful to each other. It’s like you said this morning, if only things hadn’t been so broken…”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Just means we have some lost time to make up for.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m game if you are.”

“Have you ever known me to back down from a challenge, Wood?”

Oliver laughed and let go of me, throwing his arm around my shoulders as he led me off the pitch, the book in his free hand at his side. “Come on then. I think I still owe you a drink at the Three Broomsticks.”

We strolled across the green grass and out of the pitch, both of us smiling, breathy chuckles escaping every time we looked at each other- which was a lot. His arm felt good wrapped around me, as if it belonged there.

“Y’know, I’ve got about a million questions,” I informed Oliver as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“And you know I’ll answer all of ’em,” he assured me, planting a kiss on the top of my head, ignoring the gawking stares of everyone we passed by. I knew it would be a while before those stares died down.

“That was a very pretty speech back there,” I teased.

He chuckled as we made our way towards the familiar path to Hogsmeade. “Thanks. Been practicing it all week.”

“Yeah, I especially liked… oh what was it you said?” I feigned thinking for a moment. “‘Half agony, half hope’?” I asked with a smirk. “You also read Persuasion, eh?”

Oliver laughed and pulled me closer. “What can I say? You’ve turned me into a Jane Austen fan. I’m tackling Northanger Abbey next.”

“I told you she’s the best,” I said with a dreamy sigh.

Oliver stopped, wrapping his arms around me like he had on the quidditch pitch. “Yeah, but I think you’re my favorite writer.” He kissed me again; I wondered if I’d ever get used to the fireworks I felt when our lips met. “Promise you’ll still write me love letters?”

“Promise.”

#oliver wood #oliver wood fanfic #oliver wood fanfiction #oliver wood fluff #oliver wood x reader #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanfic

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amongmydove · 3 years ago

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tag created by @sumrot <333

i was tagged by @engel222, thank u sweet angel!

i did this tag once before so i’m gonna pick my current faves ☁️🌲☕️🕯✨

top 5 favorite movies:

1. Sleepless in Seattle (1993) dir. Nora Ephron

2. When Harry Met Sally (1989) dir. Nora Ephron

3. You’ve Got Mail (1998) dir. Nora Ephron

4. Matilda (1996) dir. Danny DeVito

5. The Northman (2022) dir. Robert Eggers

top 4 favorite songs:

1. Moonlight on the River - Mac DeMarco

2. Entropy - Beach Bum

3. Alien Blues - Vundabar

4. Chateau - Djo

top 3 favorite essentials:

1. books

2. iced chai latte

3. weighted blanket

top 2 favorite books:

1. All The Lovers In The Night - Mieko Kawakami

2. In The Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

favorite quote of all time: “Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”

- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith

i tag anyone who would like to do this, please do, it’s so fun! 🤎

#tag game

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terrainofheartfelt · 4 years ago

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"It's you, it couldn't be awful"

A Playlist For Dair Appreciation Week, Day 7 - Fave Quotes & Lyrics

I haven’t the faintest idea how to make gifs (seriously I think all of you are witches) so I made this playlist, because there is nothing I love more than scrolling through my spotify library and just projecting all over it.

Track listings and links with opinions & lyrics under the cut, because this thing is long, because I have no restraint.

(Note: I intentionally left off all tswift bc if I didn’t, we’d be here all day)

Section 1: The Bops

Little of Your Love - HAIM

A bop that embodies the energy of the 4b arc, and an energy of “Oh for crying out loud, Humphrey”

You’re just another recovering heart / I wasn’t even gonna try / you wouldn’t even give the time

Stop runnin’ your mouth like that / ‘cause you know I’m gonna give it right back

Hate That You Know Me - Bleachers

It’s “You owe me ten / You owe me twenty!” & “I was hoping it would go away / I was humiliated” & basically all of While You Weren’t Sleeping, tbh

Some days I, I wish that I wasn't myself / No luck! / And I hate that you know me so well

I Like Me Better - Lauv

Heavily featured in all y’all’s gifsets—and rightfully so!!! It’s also like the perfect counter to the previous song.

To not know who I am but still know that I'm good long as you're here with me

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

It’s about Blair roasting Dan for filth and him being completely charmed by it.

when you laugh / I forget that it's about me / But it's alright / Yeah, cause being your punchline / Still is something

No Reason to Run - Cold War Kids

In the perfect version of the show that lives in my head, this is the end credits song that plays as the two of them frolic in Rome.

I have evolved like a fish growing legs / Woke like a lightbulb clicked in my brain

You Make Lovin' Fun - Fleetwood Mac

The song for the couple that fucked in an elevator. Bless the work.

Sweet wonderful you / You make me happy with the things you do

No Matter What You Do - covered by Jakob Dylan and Regina Spektor

The energy is “I have a lot of affection for you but you are so annoying.” And this is the obligatory post-breakup s6 song.

No matter what in the world you do / Hey, I'll always be in love with you

Don't Take the Money - Bleachers

I see so much love for tswift on this website (valid) but I feel like the world as a whole sleeps on her collaborator Jack Antonoff bc he is brilliant and his act Bleachers has some of my favorite songs ever. Like this one. Antonoff has said before that the title phrase is more metaphorical than literal, like an idiom that means don’t take the easy way and give this up, because it’s genuine. Real “I want to have a sleepover with you” vibes.

Somebody broke me once / Love was a currency / A shimmering balance act / I think that I laughed at that

In the Morning - Nina Simone

It’s about the domesticity! And the “Our relationship is our world”! And the “we’re young and still have so much life to live so everything’s gonna be okay.” did i title a smut fic with lyrics from this song maybeso.gif

Please be patient with your life / It's only morning and you're still to live your day

This Must Be the Place - Talking Heads

This is a canon dair song bc @mysteriesofloves titled a fic after this song, them’s the rules. But for real, this is such a good one. The lyrics are intentionally scattered, a little bewildered, like “how did we get here? how did this happen? who found whom?” and finally “who cares? we found a home in each other.”

The less we say about it, the better / We'll make it up as we go along

Cleopatra in Brooklyn - Frank Turner

Chosen for the title obviously, but the lyrics capture the royal/5b arc pretty well, I think. The narrator carries this tongue-and-cheek comparison of the woman he’s singing to to Cleopatra through the whole song, comparing himself to Marc Antony, and ending with this really earnest kind of declaration. I’m obsessed with this songwriter he’s a genius please give him a listen.

These people are adjectives to your proper noun

I'll come find you when your fortunes fail you / I'll die with you when the gods desert you

Morphing into Section 2: Pure Vibes

Walking on a Dream - covered by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

The original is by Empire of the Sun (and omigod I just realized the coincidence), but I first heard it covered by McMahon, and he’s one of my favorite musicians of ever so I just love his rendition. And this song is sort of like...about finally deciding that the reality of love with someone is so much better than the idea of it.

Thought I’d never see / The love you found in me / Now it’s changing all the time

Wake Me - Bleachers

Jack coming for my life yet again. This song is so romantic but also so melancholy? Which is such a Daniel Humphrey Vibe.

And I'd rather be sad with you / Than anywhere away from you

All I Want - Joni Mitchell

I’m a white girl with a mother who grew up in the 60s, so I love Joni. And this song is so bubbly and joyful, but it’s also about a relationship between two imperfect people and wanting it to work anyway. Big “Despicable B” vibes!

All I really want our love to do / Is to bring out the best in me / And in you, too.

Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars

A friend in undergrad got me into the Civil Wars by showing me their live videos, and they have such incredible musical chemistry - like, the synchronicity of their ensemble is so good that it even comes through on their studio recordings and it makes these simple lyrics hit SO HARD.

You're just lonely / You've been lonely too long

NFWMB - Hozier

Ok, this had to be like the first ask I ever sent @bisexualdanhumphrey bc they wrote this fantastic meta post about Hozier and Derena but I said: “consider: NFWMB is a Dair song.” And they said, “You right.” I stand by it, and that’s why this song is on this list.

If I was born as a blackthorn tree / I'd wanna be felled by you / Held by you / Fuel the pyre of your enemies

Friday I'm in Love - covered by Phoebe Bridgers

This song - especially this cover - gives such Secret Friendship Arc vibes a la the end of 4x16...the inherent romance of eating pizza and falling asleep on the couch together

Always take a big bite / It’s such a gorgeous sight / To see you eat in the middle of the night

A Case of You - Joni Mitchell

Queen Joni again. Like! I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints. & The “You’re the star of Dan’s book” of it all in these lyrics!

I remember that time you told me / You said “Love is touching souls” / Surely you touched mine / ‘cause part of you pours out of me / In these lines from time to time.

Longing to Belong - Eddie Vedder

This is my thinly veiled attempt to tell more people about this: a song written and performed by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on ukulele, that is actually the softest love song in the history of western music.

All my time is spent here / Longing to belong to you

Bones - Josh Record

Okay, so, that Moment on the Couch at the end of 5x02? That’s this song.

And darling, when your feet are cold / Wait up, I'm coming home / And all of you I will hold / My love will clothe your bones

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey

The song for when you reach the end of plausible deniability - One all consuming paralyzing thought & You need to go back to Brooklyn - and it scares the heck out of you.

There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did

You and Me - You + Me

You can be flawed enough but perfect for a person

Section 3: Songs for Dancing in the Kitchen with Your Lover at 1 am

Cigarettes and Coffee - Otis Redding

The “Dan and I have a real connection song.” It’s about the romance of commonplace things when they’re with the right person.

But it seemed so natural, darling / That you and I are here

I'd Be Waiting - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

It’s “I just want to spend the day with you” but in like, slow-dance, sexy harmonies format.

If you ever get lonely if you never did

Never My Love - covered by Jakob Dylan and Norah Jones

The “Words of Affirmation” love song they deserve, and an underrated love song from Laurel Canyon, imho

What makes you think love will end? / When you know that my whole life depends / On you

Dancing in the Dark - covered by Morgan James

Okay so these lyrics are such Dan lyrics to me, it’s charmingly self-aware and self-deprecating. And this cover by Morgan James turns this staple rock song into something ~sexy~

I'm dying for some action / I'm sick of sittin' round here trying to write this book / I need a love reaction / Come on, gimme just one look

Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You) - Aretha Franklin

They’re literally always making each other laugh! It’s about feeling safe enough to be uninhibited and unselfconscious in your joy.

To make you laugh / I would be a fool for you

I Fall in Love Too Easily - as done by Chet Baker

No one, but no one sounds as sweet or as smooth as Chet. I know it, you know it, Hozier knows it. And this song and it’s titular thesis is so Them, it’s such a central part of their respective characters, and one of the things that makes them compatible.

My heart should be well schooled / 'Cause I've been fooled in the past

For Me Formidable - Charles Aznavour

Due entirely to this fic (Part II of a god tier s4 au) This is the end credits song for their full feature length Nora Ephron romcom.

NSFW Honorable Mention: Dinner & Diatribes - Hozier

it’s the definitive “men get pegged” representation, iykyk

#dairaw21 #playlist #i may have gotten a *little* carried away...#i regret nothing #dair

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the-world-unseen · 4 years ago

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Fic Writer Interview

@kurikaesu-haru tagged me! fun!!!

name: theworldunseen on Ao3

fandoms i write for: basically just jb, but i keep playing with writing a little Rebecca/Keeley Ted Lasso fic...

one-shot: Cruel Summer is the fan favorite oneshot, but obvious reasons. Send your thanks to Taylor Swift. I'm also fond of the Gilmore Girls-inspired Christmas one.

two-shot: the only two-shot i have is from 2017, when i wasn't even really in fandom! it's not ground breaking lol

most popular multi-chapter: far and away it is All Choked Up, which...I am grateful to this fic as the thing that got me into fandom and convinced me that I could write fiction and people would enjoy it! But I would change a lot of things now, and I'm sure it's only as popular as it is because I was updating while season eight aired.

actual worst part of writing: describing actions?? if i could, every fic would be a nora ephron movie of people eating dinner and discussing their feelings.

how you choose your chapter titles: almost always songs that i was listening to when writing. I Owe It All To You they were from the songs they danced to in the chapter.

do you outline: very vaguely?? like i might write the beats down as: "arguing, kissing, more arguing, break up, sad convo" or something, but not in any detail

ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: will i ever finish my survivor au? u will not believe how close to done it is lol

callouts @ me: there was that one person who was pissed i wrote a fic where brienne had an abortion but everyone came to my defense which was very nice. and they were wrong so. who cares!

best writing traits: little quips! dialogue!

spicy tangential opinion(s):

too many people are obsessed with writing/reading a very flat, easily evil cersei. i'd rather not include her or barely include her instead of making her very comically and transparently mean

brienne is not confident about the way she looks but she is VERY confident about other things and i hate when that's not true in fic

i don't think brienne would be sexually dominant unless she and jaime had been in a relationship an extremely long time and gotten comfortable!!

Tagging: idk who did this already but if u didn't, do it!!

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entertainment · 5 years ago

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Entertainment Spotlight: Beth Dover, Orange Is the New Black

Actress Beth Dover has been extremely busy for the past few years. You probably recognize her as Linda Ferguson from Orange Is the New Black, but she has dozens of acting credits to her name; Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, The Oath, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and New Girl, just to name a few. Her most recent means to make you laugh? Medical Police, a spin-off of the Adult Swim comedy series, Childrens Hospital, where she will reprise her role as Nurse Beth.

We got the chance to ask her about acting, her experience on OITNB, and what’s on her phone. Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite character arc or storyline from OITNB?

Taystee, hands down. Danielle Brooks is an absolutely phenomenal actor and she brings an intensely sad and upsetting storyline to life with such beauty and grace. To see how unfair Taystee’s life has been and to see her struggle with her own reality of life in the prison system for something she didn’t do, yet still try to bring light to others, made me cry uncontrollably while watching it…and I had read all the scripts!

What’s the most memorable thing that’s ever happened to you on set?

Well, I was pregnant and trying to keep it from everyone in season 4, so I remember asking to add blazers to a lot of my outfits.

If you could be in another movie or show with your OITNB castmates in the future, what genre would it be and what kind of roles would everyone play?

Well, Emily Tarver (who plays C.O. McCullough on the show) and I are writing a horror/comedy together. So, I would have to say that would be the genre. There will be a lot of screaming and running through the woods moments for everyone, for sure.

What’s the funniest photo that you have on your phone right now?

Emily Tarver put my head on a stick so I could be there for the cast photo. Now that’s true friendship right there.

What kinds of scripts and characters are you drawn to?

I’m drawn to all kinds of characters. That’s what makes being an actor so much fun. You get to play pretend and live in someone else’s shoes for a while. Best job in the world.

If you could spend a day in the world of any book, movie, or show, what would you pick?

The world has been super scary lately, so I think getting to be in a Nora Ephron rom-com from the ’80s or ’90s would feel nice. I’m going to go with When Harry Met Sally, because it’s my favorite rom-com and I would get to hang out with Carrie Fisher.

How does your background in improv comedy impact the way you approach a role?

It allows me to stay loose and be in the moment, even within the parameters of a script. Improv has been the best acting class for me in so many ways. Improv gave me permission to use the aspects of me that make me interesting and put it into a role. Also just being present with your scene partner and “yes and-ing” their energy is invaluable. That sounds like dorky improv speak, but it’s true!

If you had a catchphrase, what would it be?

“Don’t be a dick.” I actually have this phrase printed on a reusable grocery bag. I’m probably scaring my cashier every time I shop.

How would you describe OITNB to a five-year-old?

A nice lady goes to jail for something bad she did a really long time ago, but once she’s there, she meets lots of fascinating people with crazy stories! Of course, now I’m just making jail sound “fun” to a 5-year-old. I’m bad at this!

What subject would you love to be an expert in?

Whatever subject it would take to get Trump out of office. And this is not a subject, but I’d love to be an expert at playing piano off the cuff at parties. Those people are fun.

Thanks, Beth! The seventh and final season of Orange Is the New Black is now streaming on Netflix.

Photo: Jessica Castro

Hair: Dallin James | Make-up: Beth Follert | Styling: Matthew Peridis

#entertainment spotlight #orange is the new black #oitnb #beth dover #netflix #netflix spotlight

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eurynome827 · 4 years ago

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When You Met Chris Beck

For @the-ss-horniest-book-club Romcom Drabbles!

Pairing: Chris Beck x Reader

Word Count: 1,670

Warnings: Language, mention of sexytimes and angst following.

A/N: Direct dialogue from the movie When Harry Met Sally will be in italics, but there's a lot paraphrased to match this scenario and if you are as familiar with this movie as I am, you will hear the original in your head as you read. All credit to the genius of the late, great Nora Ephron. If you've never seen this movie ....please do as soon as possible. It is the greatest romcom ever.

"Chris Beck. It's nice to meet you," he said smoothly, and you took his outstretched hand, shaking it and introducing yourself.

"So," you shook off the pleasantries, jumping right in. "As you know this lab project will take 12 hours. I've taken the liberty of sketching out where we can each take breaks, and which parts of the project should be completed by a certain time, and," you paused at his slight chuckle, looking up from your notebook. "Something wrong?"

"No, no..." He waved you off, that smirk still on his face. "You're clearly very organized. Don't let me get in your way."

Your eyes narrowed. "I hope you're planning on doing your part of this project."

"Hey," he said quickly, clearly offended. "I'm just as serious as you about being here. I'm just a little more relaxed than you are."

Ignoring the 'uptight' implication in his words, you threw yourself into the project. You gave him one word answers to his questions, and dodged his personal queries as best as you could.

"Are you seeing anyone?" He finally came right out with it and you sighed, not even looking up at him from the microscope.

"Look, Beck, I don't really want to talk about my personal life. We're not friends."

"Ouch. Why don't you want to be friends? We're going to be in this training program together for two more years, you know."

"On different career paths," you clarified. "There's a good chance we don't see each other again after tonight."

"Well, have a nice life then, I guess."

Your boyfriend handed you a champagne flute and you sipped it gratefully. The welcome home party for Ares III was not your usual scene, and you were grateful for his support. You pressed a soft kiss to his lips, and pulled back to see a face you hadn't seen (in person at least) for years.

"I thought that was you!" Beck clapped your boyfriend on his shoulder and they shook hands, catching up for a few minutes. Every once in a while Beck's eyes would wander over to you and a tiny look of confusion crossed his face. Each time you met his eyes directly, just daring him to remember. Finally, he said his farewells, gave you one last lost look, and wandered away into the party.

"Thank goodness he didn't remember me. I had to do a 12 hour lab project with him in training and it was the longest night of my life."

Your boyfriend looked curious. "What happened?"

"He wouldn't stop asking me all these personal questions and finally I told him we weren't going to be friends."

"Twelve hours with someone is a long time. Maybe he was just being polite." Holding his hands up and stepping back in retreat, he grinned at you. "Just playing devil's advocate!"

"Okay, okay. Maybe I was rude, but it meant a lot to me to be accepted to this program and I never want to be narrowed down to 'someone's girlfriend'. No offense," you winked at him.

Beck found you again later, leaning against the bar waiting for a refill, and greeted you by your full name.

"Did you ask someone, or did you finally remember?"

"Who could forget that 12 hour project?"

"You did, an hour ago."

"Are you always this direct?"

"Always." You cleared your throat, and attempted a smile. "So...how was space?"

Beck choked on his drink. "I'm sure your daily briefings told you everything the news didn't. Maybe they missed one thing," he beamed at you. "I'm getting married."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Who is she?"

"You know her, Beth Johanssen."

"Oh." She'd been on the mission, too. "Well, good luck to you both."

"Thanks," he nudged your shoulder with his, "how about you two?" He asked nodding over at your boyfriend.

"Still can't stop yourself from asking personal questions, hmm?"

"Ah, right, I forgot. We're not friends," he picked up his drink and winked at you before walking away.

At the soft sound of a throat clearing, you looked up from the journal article you were reading, put down your cup of coffee, and stared for a moment before speaking. "Dr. Beck...hello."

"Hi," he gestures to the empty seat at your table. "May I?"

"Of course," you watched as he sat down. He looked different, was acting different. The light in his eyes was out. "I didn't know you'd transferred here."

"Yeah," he breathed out slowly. "I needed a change."

"How's..."

He shook his head, cutting you off. "We're getting divorced."

You nodded, looking over his changed appearance. His eyes met yours.

"How's..." He started and stopped as you sighed and bit your lip.

"We just broke up."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. I'm sorry, Beck."

It was the quietest and most sincere conversation you two had ever had. He picked up his own cup of coffee and took a sip before asking, "so what happened with you guys?"

A long lunch of sharing sad stories became dinner...became friendship.

Best friends.

You helped him decorate his new apartment. He helped you bring home your Christmas tree. The two of you spent so much time together there almost wasn't time to see other people, but then you both did and told each other your terrible dating stories.

An attempt to set each other up with your other best friends backfired spectacularly as your best friend and his best friend fell for each other instead.

You were stuck with each other.

"Hello?"

Your tearful voice filled the phone line. "Can you come over?"

"What's wrong?"

"He's getting married!"

"Who?"

"MY EX."

"I'll be right there."

You opened the door, sniffling into a tissue, eyes red-rimmed and full of unshed tears. He followed you back to your bed, holding you while you cried and explained that even though you had thought he never wanted to get married, he had just never wanted to marry you.

"What's wrong with me?" You wailed.

"Nothing." Beck brushed his fingers through your hair.

"I'm difficult. I'm too structured and hard to deal with."

"But in a good way."

You laughed, despite yourself, and nuzzled closer to him. "Can you hold me for a little, please?"

He did - and when one thing led to another you both should have put a stop to it. You were vulnerable and so was he, in his own way. In the morning you could barely look at each other, and he dressed quickly and left.

Even though you agreed that it had been a mistake, a tiny bubble of resentment began to grow and grow inside you, filling up your veins and stretching from your fingers to your toes. When he finally confronted you and was met with your fury, he replied with indignation.

"You were laying there looking at me - don't go, hold me - what was I supposed to do?"

"Are you saying you took pity on me? Fuck you!"

The sound of your hand slapping his face echoed throughout the room.

You hadn't spoken in weeks.

You screened your calls relentlessly.

"The fact that you're not answering leads me to believe you're either (a) not at home, (b) home but don't want to talk to me, or (c) home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy. If it's either (a) or (c), please call me back."

One day, there was something about his tone of voice that made you answer the call.

"Hey, hi!" He sounded like an excited puppy.

You answered him flatly. "What do you want?"

"Um...are you going to the NASA mixer next week? Because I am, and if you are...we always said we could go together to those things so we wouldn't be alone..."

"I can't do this anymore, Beck," you cut him off. "I am not your consolation prize."

You hung up the phone without another word.

Standing in the corner by yourself at the NASA mixer, you finished your second glass of champagne and sighed. One more round through this room and then it's home with a bottle of wine, comfort television and your own self-loathing.

You stopped short in your tracks on your way to the door as Beck appeared, leaning in the doorway out of breath, as if he had run here. He spotted you, and rushed over, and you couldn't make your feet move. You were frozen in place as he approached.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking, and the thing is, I love you."

You blinked.

"What?"

"I love you."

"How do you expect me to respond to this?"

"How about, you love me too."

"How about, I'm leaving."

He grabbed your arm and you were too shocked to try and shake him off. "Listen to me! I'm sorry about what happened. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how much I wanted you and then I was scared to lose you, and then I was an asshole and I lost you anyway. I can't be without you anymore, you have to believe me!" Your eyes filled with tears as he spoke, and you watched him - he was full of that light, the light that had been missing, and you knew he was telling you the truth. "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

You shrugged away from his hold, only to pull him close with both arms and kiss him, somewhat indecently, in front of all your colleagues at the NASA mixer.

Beck: The first time we met, we hated each other.

You: No, you didn't hate me, I hated you. The second time we met, you didn't even remember me.

Beck: I did too, I remembered you. The third time we met, we became friends.

You: We were friends for a long time.

Beck: And then we weren't.

You: And then we fell in love.

#HBC Romcom Drabble Challenge #when you met chris beck #chris beck x reader

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nowily1 · 4 years ago

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The Most Famous And Greatest Food Quotes Of All Time

Start getting hungry with these great food quotes from some of the most famous foodies of all time, curated by the Nowily review team.

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” -Julia Child

“First we eat, then we do everything else.” -M.F.K. Fisher

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” -Ernestine Ulmer

“Age and glasses of wine should never be counted.” -Unknown

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.” -David Auerbach

“Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures.” -M.F.K. Fisher

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.” -Paul Prudhomme

“I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them, but never the potatoes that went with them.” -Nora Ephron

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” -Julia Child

“I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.” -W.C. Fields

“We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly.” -Anna Thomas

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” -Barbara Johnson

“People who love to eat are always the best people. - Julia Child”

“My doctor told me I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people.” -Orson Welles

“The secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” -Mark Twain

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.” -Lewis Grizzard

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” -George Bernard Shaw

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart.” -Cesar Chavez

“My weaknesses have always been food and men — in that order.” - Dolly Parton

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” -J.R.R. Tolkien

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” -Harriet van Horne

“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” - Jonathan Swift

“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” -Alan D. Wolfelt

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.” -Jim Davis

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” -John Gunther

If you love food you will love all the great content you can find at Nowily today. Be prepared to get hungry!

#books #ebooks #nowily review #nowily reviews

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roaringgirl · 4 years ago

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Book club - February

As previously, books read in February, as I continue to devour novels like when I was 10 and had no friends and nothing to do.

Did not manage to finish any of the books I was stalled on in January. Maybe next month. But I did keep the ratio of men and women authors at roughly 50/50, although with a smaller proportion of women authors than in January. Next month I have to read something published before the 20th century.

1. Dan Simmons - Hyperion (1989): Really enjoyed this! It’s basically a book of science fiction short stories with a fairly tangential linking narrative. I don’t feel much urge to read the rest of the series because the main plot seems incomprehensible, but this was a fun set of science fiction stories.

2. Jeannette Ng - Under the Pendulum Sun (2017): Absolutely love how much the plot of this can be predicted depending on what you know about Newmanism and Anglican eucharistic disputes.

3. John Haywood - Northmen: The Viking Saga, 793-1241 (2015): Honestly this was a little dry - I think it’s way too extensive of an overview. Fascinated by the bits about the Vikings in Russia and the Byzantine Empire, though, which is really what I wanted to read about.

4. Walter M. Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959, sort of a reread although I read it when I was 12 and don’t remember it at all): Set in a monastery in the Southwestern US after nuclear war plunges the world back into the dark ages. I liked it a lot, and would recommend if you enjoy vintage sci-fi. If not, not.

5. Larry McMurtry - Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (1999): Loved this. A set of essays and recollections half about reading and half about his hometown in Texas. I was really struggling to read at the beginning of this month and this absolutely reminded me of how much I love reading.

6. Nora Ephron - I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (2006): I read this one evening while cooking then in the bath and do not recall it strongly, but I do think it was a fun bath and I made a very nice meal (squid with spinach and broad beans in an anchovy sauce).

7. Irmgard Keun - Gilgi, One of Us (1931): A massive sensation when it was first published because it involves unemployment, sex out of wedlock, abortion and single motherhood. I’m not sure the translation was great - big chunks of it were rendered in irritatingly phonetic dialect as an attempt to capture the Cologne dialect.

8. China Miéville - The Scar (2003): I read Perdido Street Station last month and again, while it’s definitely baggy I absolutely love how closely British politics and society of the early 19th century is rendered in this sci-fi world.

9. Nora Ephron - Crazy Salad (1975): This is a much more substantial collection. Enjoyed it a lot, both as a cultural artefact and because it’s funny.

10. James Meek - To Calais, in Ordinary Time (2019): Struggled to get into this at first but ended up loving it. It reminded me of the actual medieval literature I’ve read sort of like Nobber (Oisin Fagan) did - they’re utterly different books, apart from being about the Black Death, but they both have a slippery alienness and strangeness to them.

11. Dee Brown - The Fetterman Massacre (1962): Excellent study of one incident in the Indian Wars (Brown later wrote Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - this is probably of less general interest, but is very very good).

12. W.S. Graham - The Nightfishing (1955): I love Graham’s poetry but have always struggled to say anything vaguely interesting or intelligent about it.

13. Francis Spufford - Golden Hill (2016): Really fun novel - a (drastically trimmed and more concise) take off of 18th century picaresque novels, set in Manhattan in 1746.

14. Deborah Levy - Hot Milk (2016): Don’t have a lot to say about this - it felt very... insubstantial? Plus a tendency for characters to unconvincingly (cod-)psychoanalyse themselves.

15. Sylvia Townsend Warner - Summer Will Show (1936): What a strange, wonderful book! From the summaries I’d seen I thought it was going to be a fairly insubstantial comedy, which it emphatically isn’t. Probably, with the Golding below and Graham above, a candidate for my favourite book of the month.

16. William Golding - The Spire (1964): The Dean of a medieval English cathedral becomes obsessed with the building of a 400-foot spire - which the cathedral doesn’t have strong enough foundations to support. Nightmarish, claustrophobic.

17. Lucie Britsch - Sad Janet (2020): Whatever. Insubstantial sad-girl MFA lit. Made me appreciate Ottessa Moshfegh more.

18. Jim Crace - Harvest (2013): One to add to my growing sub-genre of ‘nightmarishly claustrophobic historical novels recounting a spiral into disaster’.

19. Mona Awad - Bunny (2019): I hated this. This is pretty unfair because I knew early on that I wouldn’t like it, but it just got worse and worse and worse. If you’re going to attempt to skewer poorly executed post-feminist sub-Angela Carter magical realism MFA writing, I would suggest that you should not yourself turn out a piece of poorly executed post-feminist sub-Angela Carter magical realism MFA writing. I realise I keep using ‘MFA’ pejoratively in these, but it’s just such a good shorthand for this kind of writing.

20. Torrey Peters - Detransition, Baby (2021): I was kind of torn on this - there are a lot of things I liked about it formally, but Peters keeps positing fantasies of eroticised violence and subjugation to men as key to womanhood - she clearly wasn’t being entirely serious but I found those parts upsetting, enough to detract from how much I enjoyed the rest of the book, which I did a lot. I don’t know!

21. Sarah Waters - The Paying Guests (2014): Exactly what I expect from a Sarah Waters novel and, therefore, fun. I think this middlebrow 20th-century mode suits her.

22. Marc Morris - A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain (2008): Very readable popular history, which is exactly what I wanted. I preferred his book on the Norman Conquest but I think that’s just a period I’m more interested in.

#book club

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banjodanger · 5 years ago

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine(2009)

I’ve got a lot to talk about, so I’m going to jump right in with a very unpopular opinion. This may SHOCK and OFFEND certain readers, but I’m not one to shy away from speaking my mind. More sensitive readers should beware, however, because I’m not going to shy away from rattling cages and saying what NEEDS to be said!

So, ready yourselves, because...

Origins is not the worst X-Men movie.

There. I said it. PBBBBBBTTTT!

I’m not arguing that this was a good movie, hell, there’s a good argument that this isn’t even a competently made movie. But this movie is also responsible for some of the absolute best movies to come from Fox’s X-Men. First Class and Days of Future Past are two of the absolute best movies of this series, and it’s doubtful the other two Wolverine solo movies would have aimed as high as they did if this movie hadn’t been so widely mocked. If you go back to watch this movie, try to keep in mind eight years later this series would get nominated for a screenwriting Oscar. Whatever your opinion of awards, that’s a hell of a turnaround, considering the story this movie tells is like three separate stories stapled together. Finally, however much this movie misunderstands Deadpool, it was right on in casting Ryan Reynolds and eventually gave us better Deadpool movies than we could have hoped for. It shouldn’t go unnoticed that both of those movies use Origins as a solid foundation for jokes. I’m not going to talk too much about Deadpool in this movie, because I plan to cover it in more detail when I get to the first movie.

But I’m not discussing those movies, I’m discussing Origins, and Origins is not very good. The CGI looks cheap and outdated, not just by the standards of the time it was released but by the standards of five years previous. And the movie makes said terrible CGI hard to ignore because, to quote the philosopher Michelle Branch, it is EVERYWHERE. Most people are quick to bring up Wolverine’s claws effects, and they should because they somehow look worse than any of the three previous movies and it’s the most easily noticeable. I’m not expecting them to have Hugh Jackman actually fighting and jumping around on top of a nuclear vent but it looks like they’re doing it in front of computer wallpaper. That hill outside the Hudson’s farmhouse literally looks like the default Windows XP desktop. I’m surprised Agent Zero isn’t hiding behind the recycle bin. This isn’t to say I don’t expect lots of CGI in my comic book movies,but I expect better when someone is dropping over one hundred million for a guy with metal claws to fight a mute with impossibly long sword fists.

I could ignore all the bargain basement effects if there was a good story, but there isn’t one. There’s about two or three stories and they’re all bad. Gavin Hood wanted to make a throwback sevnties-style revenge movie, completely self-contained and R-rated(Hey, does that sound familiar?), but the producers wanted extra characters they could spin off into their own films. And as much as I want to excoriate them for that, I can only get but so mad. This was a big franchise that was approaching ten years since its first film. They were looking towards the future and that’s what their job was. The problem is that failure to find a common ground comes through on the screen. Some of the strongest scenes are between Logan and Victor, to the detriment that most of the other characters who come off as unnecessary cameos. That boxing scene between Logan and Fred Dukes could be a thirty second phone call without really losing anything.

It’s disappointing, too, because a lot of the performances in this movie aren’t bad. Believe me, I wanted to hate Will.I.Am. I was going to drag him and talk about all the terrible music he made but...he’s not bad in this movie. I’m not going to say he missed his calling by not becoming an actor full-time, but I enjoyed his performance and wish the movie had used him a little bit more.

My humps is still one of the worst goddamned songs ever.

Gambit was great in this movie too. Taylor Kitsch had this bizarre run of putting in good performances in hated movies. After this, he did John Carter then the second season of True Detective. That’s a shocking run of bad luck, and too bad to, because he’s good in all three. We missed out not getting at least one more movie with his take on Gambit, because he gets maybe fifteen minutes of screentime but he manages to be memorable, charismatic and charming.

Helicoptering with a bo staff still isn’t part of his goddamn power set though.

And I’m not going to forget Liev Schrieber, who makes an absolutely compelling villain. The only problem with his character at all is that he puts such a great performance that it stretches belief to imagine this is the guy that becomes a silent henchman in the first movie. There’s simply nothing in his performance to suggest they’re the same person. It would be like if the twist of Phantom Menace was that Darth Vader was originally Jar Jar Binks, or if they hired Nora Ephron to write a Hellraiser prequel.

Even the Scott Summers we get in this movie is pretty good despite looking like a guy that steals copper wiring out of abandoned gas stations. Although I really question why Gambit watches them run off and I guess just assumes they’re being abducted by a good guy.

That leads me into the whole problem with prequels. Things happen in this movie and characters seem to live simply because earlier movies dictate that we have to see them again. It simply does not make sense for Kayla to leave Stryker alive. She has every reason to kill him, but she doesn’t, because he needs to be the villain in X2. Gambit doesn’t chase after the kids because they didn’t want to have him interact with Professor X. Sabretooth survives because he has to fight Wolverine on top of the Staute of Liberty while making no reference to their apparent relationship as siblings, or any words of any kind. This movie is awkwardly shoehorning itself into the lore established by the previous movies and it results in characters saying and doing things that go against what this movie seems to lead up to. The ending of most of those seventies revenge flicks was a bloody murder. Here, Stryker hurts his feet a little. It’s just not the same thing.

Ok, are you ready for the problematic parts?

Let’s start with Native American representation, because it ends up being a pretty big part of this movie. Lynn Collins’ Wikipedia says she claims Cherokee ancestry, so I’ll give the movie credit on that, but as near as I’ve been able to suss out, the myth she tells does not exist outside of this movie. First off, Wolverines do not howl. At all. They’re not wolves, they’re related to weasels. They’re small, vicious bastards. That information was readily available in 2009, by the way. Furthermore, the information I can find says that the moon in Native American mythology is predominantly gendered as male. Now, that’s not a blanket statement. This was the research I was able to conduct, and mythology, as with a lot of oral traditions, are a pretty mutable thing. Given that I was unable to find any mention of this myth that didn’t quote it from the movie, I feel pretty comfortable calling this myth nonsense.

Hey, what’s your tolerance for fatphobia? Because that’s going to impact how you feel about Blob’s character. Look, from his very first appearance he’s been a fat joke. That’s it. He’s a rude fat guy whose mutant power is being fat, hell, part of his power set is described as a “personal gravity field.” So while I can’t blame the movie entirely for this character being problematic, you’ve got to ask why they chose this character as the one that had to stay true to the comic book. He was in poor taste when he was created, when this movie was made, and now. And I absolutely can blame the movie for making him a fat joke.

At least they didn’t go the Ultimate comics route and straight up show him eating another character. Small blessings.

On a more final note, there’s that very strange character choice in the beginning credits. I know that they want to illustrate early that Wolverine doesn’t view violence the same way Sabretooth does, but why would they choose nazis as the villain in that moment? Even if they weren’t the most enjoyably killable villains in history, the last three movies have made the atrocities of the Holocaust a huge emotional linchpin of a major character. So it comes off as a genuine shock that this movie would use, in its introduction, a moment of sympathy for these very same villains. So you needed to show Wolverine with sympathy? Have a bar fight in France after liberating the country. Have them fight in the Korean war. Maybe Wolverine mourns a kid shot on the front lines. There’s a hundred choices that don’t involve Wolverine getting sad over a bunch of nazis.

So, why don’t I think this is the worst X-Men movie? I’m clearly not calling it a forgotten classic, and I’m not recommending you watch it unless you’re a weird completionist blogging about your arrested development on Tumblr. Sure, there’s some forgotten performances in here that deserve some consideration, but the movie is mostly a mess, a result of too many cooks with diverging visions. There’s a good revenge flick here, but it gets buried and muddled by a desire and knowledge that this movie has to simultaneously explain the past that led to the first movie and set up future installments. It tries to do too much and ends up not doing much of anything. I followed up on some of the people involved in this movie. Obviously Ryan Reynolds had the last laugh, but it still took seven years and a leaked teaser. Hugh Jackman learned from the mistakes in this movie and the rest of the Wolverine movies are pretty great. Gavin Hood, who got this job after being nominated for a foreign language Oscar, directed another big-budget flop with Ender’s Game. However, earlier in 2020 he apparently bought a four million dollar house so I don’t feel bad for him. Also, the flop of Ender’s Game could possibly involve Orson Scott Card being a vocal and unapologetic homophobe. Seriously, what is it with beloved fantasy authors and hate towards LGBT groups? You can conceive of wild, uncharted space and magical realms but the idea that two guys love each other is too far out?

Next in the series, from failure comes success, as we meet Xavier and Erik as frenemies and launch a million slash fictions.

#xmen #x men movies #movie critique #movie critic

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rachel-hathburn · 5 years ago

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(( DOVE CAMERON, 23, SHE/HER, BISEXUAL)) [Y]? NO, THAT’S [PENELOPE WASH] BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE CALLED THE [THE WISEACRE ]. I’VE HEARD THEY CAN BE [DRIVEN && UPBEAT] BUT ALSO [JUDGEMENTAL && HIGH STRUNG]. THEY CALL OCEANSIDE THEIR HOME WHEN THEY AREN’T TOO BUSY BEING A/AN [ELEMENTARY TEACHER]. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THEM, YOU CAN ALWAYS PICTURE [SHARPENED PENCILS, THE FIRST BREAK OF DAWN, PAINTED NAILS]. – MEGAN, EST, SHE,HER –

LINK TO HER WANTED CONNECTIONS

>Penelope Wash| Pen, Penne, Penny, Princess P, PP, Poe<

Pronunciation

✎{PEN}-{EL}-{OPEE}

Age

✎23

Gender

✎FEMALE

Race

✎WHITE

Languages

✎ENGLISH- (A bit of french from one college class)

Height

✎5′8 (I know Dove is pretty short but I see Pen being on the taller side)

Birthday

✎ SEPTEMBER 15th

Zodiac

✎VIRGO

Blood Type

✎ O+,

Alignment

✎NEUTRAL/NEUTRAL

Spirit animal

✎COUGAR;

Leadership

Standing Behind Convictions

Confidence

Clever

Awareness

Learning Proper Use of Power

Messenger Between Human and Divine Beings

Balance

Steadfast

Responsible

Dependable

Family History

Penelope didn’t always live in her neighborhood or house she does now. She actually used to live in a far bigger house with her Mother, Father, and Older Sister. Her Mother and Father were the farthest thing from the nurturing type and treated their daughters like robots, always coding them to perform at an unachievable level; Her older sister Prim however didn’t find it so unachievable and was exactly what their parents always wanted. Prim went on to become a neurosurgeon and once she got to job moved out to Vermont, their parents deciding to follow with her. Penelope was left on her own basically at 19 and a half, with nothing but a crippling understanding that she was useless and began to forever deem herself that way. She tried to contact her parents and sister but seeing as none of them ever really took a liking to Pen, she never got a response back. Penelope was given everything in life, finically, and never really was taught how to support herself. It wasn’t long until the girl began getting heavily into the party scene which inevitably brings about a lot of negative inhibitions, however the girl struck gold with meeting the people she’d soon come to live with in the Animal House. These people soon became her family and she enrolled into a community college, got her degree in education, and landed an amazing teaching job at a near by school. ~• •~

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"Above all, be the heroine of your life. Not the victim." — Nora Ephron

Age of Appearance

✎Pen always tend to look a bit younger at first glance, especially without any make-up on, however her height and demeanor change that once you actually speak with the girl.

Body Type

✎Pen likes to take care of herself, she tends to keep busy with the chaotic house she lives in and with her work.

Skin Tone

✎Pale, blushes easily.

Complexion

✎ Freckles on the top of her nose, faint.

Birthmarks

✎She has a birthmark right under her rib-cage, someone once told her birthmarks are how you died in a past life, and she been convinced she was stabbed there ver since.

Scars

✎She has one large scar on her arm, a burn from back when the animal house began and she drunkenly tried to make stir-fry for everyone.

Cosmetics

✎It’s rare for someone to see Penelope with out her face done.

Outfit

✎She dress in a way that makes her look put together and classic. However she does step it up and go all out when going out on the town.

Accessories

✎She has a necklace from when she was little that never leaves her skin.

Body Modification

✎She has gotten lip fillers before and keeps up with them regularly.

Are they confident in the way they look:

✎Yes, Pen is secure in her appearance and takes pride in her looks.

~• •~

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“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”– Lao Tzu

General Temperament

✎Penelope is generally a bit cold off first impression, unless you’re close with her or are one of her students. However once she warms up to you the girl is very caring and attentive to your needs.

Happiness

✎Penelope finds her happiness through helping her students learn, she says theres nothing better than when a kid is struggling and then finally grasp the concepts, it is one of the most rewarding things to the girl and a big part of why she loves her job so much.

Sadness

✎There are many things that make the blonde sad, however only a few that really rock to her core. Poverty, kids coming in without supplies that are needed, and climate change are some of the more impersonal ones. Her family is 100% a home run of sadness.

Anger

✎Penelope gets angry when people are extremely reckless, which is ironic because she used to be the poster child for recklessness, I mean she is living in the animal house after all. But as she's grown up, the girl has done a big 360 and now is one of the most responsible people in the neighborhood. As she gotten to be the teacher to many of the children living around other close neighborhoods she finds it disrespectful when people are reckless outside of their own homes.

Confusion

✎Penelope is confused about what to do with her living situation. The girl wants to move and get a smaller place of her own but she knows some of her room-mates would fall off the deep end without the structure she brings to the house, and even though the girl puts on a tough mask, she is a softie at her core, especially for her room-mates who she deeply loves.

Favorites

Animal

✎She loves big cats. period.

Flower

✎forget-me-nots, when Pen was little the name used to make her cry, but they’ve come to be her favorite flower of all time.

Weather/Time of the day/Season

✎For someone living in California it’s hard to imagine her favorite weather not being clear and sunny; but yet, Pen likes the cold. Nothing makes her happier than when their little town finally starts to cool off a bit.

Food

✎Penelope is good a cooking, she can’t make anything extreme but she’s learned how to whip up a nice dinner and usually does so for her house.

Drink

✎Nothing makes Pen happier than a spiked lemon-aide.

Colour

✎Pink! If that isn’t obvious.

Country

✎All she has ever known is california, but the girl has always been fascinated by paris, hence why she took up french in college.

H͟a͟b͟i͟t͟s͟

Social skills

✎ Penelope is a natural at schmoozing and knowns how to put on charm when she wants to.

Insecurities

✎Penelope is insecure in that fact that she never feels proud of herself, her accomplishments never really feel like they’re enough and she is always striving to be useful or helpful to someone so she doesn’t get left behind. But she’d never say that out loud.

Hostility

✎Penelope tends to be very forward when she’s angry, but through working with elementary school kids she has learned how to calmly talk through her emotions, or so she tries.

Fears

✎Being completely useless.

Drives|Motivation

✎Penelope always feels like she has to prove herself, even if the only person she’s proving anything to is herself, and that keeps her driven and motivated.

Dreams|Aspirations

✎To have a family of her own and to make sure her students get the best education possible.

~• •~

First Words: ball

What emotions to the attribute to their childhood: rejection

Morning Person or Night Owl: morning person

Significant Childhood Memory: Pen’s parents bringing her and Prim to the amusement park because they both got straight As

Current Residence: Animal House

Occupation: Second grade teacher

What do they smell like: Vanilla and rose

What words or phrases do they overuse: “Okay- got it, thanks.”

Do they have a catch phrases: “Can you- not.”

What is their greatest accomplishment: Their job

What smells remind them of their childhood: The smell of pencils

What was their childhood ambition: To please her parents

Do they believe in love at first sight: No

Do they believe in true love: Yes

Have they ever had their heart broken: Yes

Are they ticklish: Very

Can they keep a secret: Absolutely

How do they display affection: Words of affirmation

Are they okay with PDA (Public Displays of affection): Yes, a tasteful amount

Are they a virgin: No

How do they want other people to view them: Successful

Are they competitive: Yes, very.

Deadly Sin : Envy

Heavenly Virtue: Diligence

Are they a minimalist or a hoarder: bit of a hoarder with classroom supplies

Where do they go to feel safe: in their room

Where do they go when they’re angry: the beach

What password do they use for everything: penpalpenny333

What is their favorite day of the week: wednesday

What do they keep in their pockets: spare erasers

What is their most treasured object: she has a necklace she wears 24/7

Do they have any pet peeves: slobs and slow walkers

How confident are they: 5/10

How generous are they: 10/10

How creative are they: 9/10

How honest are they: 6/10

How loyal are they: 8/10

Are they manipulative: She for sure can be but only if there is a calling for it

How predictable are they: Pen has her moments where the retired party animal will randomly appear but other than that her schedule is pretty regular

How do they flirt with people: by trying to appease them

Book smart or street smart: A healthy mix

Do they prefer being hot or cold: cold, pen loves the cool weather

What do they think is the worst thing you could do to another person: Abandon them

How do they deal with stress: By doing one million things at once

Are they comfortable crying in front of other: Only a select few, and even then its rather uncomfortable for her

What social justice issue would they be most passionate about: Proper education for less fortunate kids.

If they could change one thing about themselves what would it be: Pen would change her inner need to please and accommodate those around her.

Sexually Explicit Questions:

Are they a top or a bottom (Or do they switch): Definitely a secret bottom there is no doubt.

How important is sex to them: Like on a scale?? maybe a 6

Do they believe it is a mostly emotional act or a mostly physical act: Pen thinks it can be both

Turnons: Caring people, acts of service, when someone is trying not to smile.

Turnoffs: Ignorance, Toxic Masculinity, and people who hate children.

#os.intros #eee im so pumped #plzzz mssg me and plot w pen!!

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