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taeguboi · 5 years ago

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BTS HC - Lockdown

In which each BTS member lives with y/n

I’m hoping these imagines might lighten the mood for anyone who might be feeling a bit lonely right now.

Please see the end of post first if you need some context or wish to see the notes

Has good balance of me time and us time

steps back when you both need space

sitting in the back yard on some chair reading a book

taking in the sun

The restrictions don’t hinder him from making sure you both get plenty of sun and fresh air

it isn’t much but in week 1, he gave the back yard a little tidy up

turned it into a place to chill out

so there aren’t any flower planted or decor

but it makes all the difference

there’s chairs, a table and a parasol

to you, this is perfect

Spot of tea under cooler weather

or orange juice under the sun

Board games at the table in the back yard

you tried cards once out there but even just the slightest breeze...

“Goddammit!!!”

The card games are for when it rains

or for when neither of you quite feel like going out today

He swears you’re cheating at UNO

you swear he’s just really bad at it

turns out he keeps saving those wild 4 draw cards too long

which you gather over his last 3 rage quits

because he just slings the cards, revealing them to you

“You play it too safe” you tell him

so he plays it a bit less safe

“Yes! Finally I won!”

“OH! Look at that!” you smile

he smiles back because of how proud you...

“...it’s sunny again!”

‘Goddammit y/n...’

Shopping trips together

not so helpful when the rules get stricter

“One adult at a time please...”

oh dear

who goes in?

so you go in

“Crap! Namjoon has the shopping list!”

this period of time really shows how you complete each other

pretty much every day you each think

“what would I do without him/her?”

Random talks

he tells you about this one book he read

and now you want to read it

so you do

and you can’t take your eyes off it

you find a new love for reading

so sometimes when you both need me time

you remain in the same room, just reading a book each

Every day you feel enlightened

almost sad at the thought of going back to normal life

because you won’t have as much time for yourself

Jin

Everyone is suddenly having the time to cook from scratch

imagine Jin’s frustration since he did this all along

so when certain things he usually gets aren’t in stock

“Oh for crying out loud!”

you sometimes have to calm him down when shopping

and since only 1 adult in at a time it’s like a really awkward phone call

you’re just stood outside alone like

“For Christ’s sake Jin! Calm down!”

but he makes every meal taste great anyway

“Sorry it doesn’t have the usual...”

“Jin, please!” you reply

because it’s still really yummy because

“you’re still the best cook in the world, okay?”

“Okay fine...” he sighs “Thank you”

can I just add here food is the only time you both get hysterical at each other

He still low key hoard particular ingredients when he FINALLY can get them

and you have to explain how irrational he’s being

“We don’t need SIX tubes of tomato puree!”

“Jin... How are we going to use up all THIS fruit and veg before it goes off?”

But he’s not selfish, no

if he’s in a shop and sees someone elderly, he helps them out

“Would you like me to reach that for you?”

“Do you need any toilet paper? There’s 2 packs left - here”

“Here’s my number; let me know if you need me to run any errands for you”

ahh you’re lucky to be living with such a gentleman

Daily walks in the park to feed the ducks

“This is the best kind of exercise” he tells you “...relaxed and where you can connect with nature”

some of the ducks at the beginning of the lockdown are a bit nutty

Jin may or may not be low key scared of that one goose

“I swear it’s giving me the evils”

it may or may not have chased him the second day in

“Wahhhhhh!!!”

*Jin running away in the distance*

You cooked for him that evening

“Honey, I don’t know how to put this...”

“Aw sweetie it’s okay about what happened in the park; I mean you were the one holding the bread and...”

“oh no no” he replies. “this meal is awful”

r00d

but it’s okay

you knew the minute you offered to make dinner it wasn’t going to turn out well

so you both agree the kitchen will be his space to work his magic in during lockdown

and he somehow gets better than he already is at cooking

just woowwww

foodgasm

but neither of you get podgy

Lazy exercises together

chair exercises watching the tv

small periods of jogging in the woods

“oh wow, what’s that?”

you come across some random squirrel

and all of a sudden trips to the park for that daily walk

it turns into a nature watch

bird watching

luckily he forgets about the angry goose

Sometimes talking about what you miss

and then promising to do all of those things when everything is back to normal

so many plans

and it helps you both stay optimistic

because you just created a bunch of stuff to look forward to

Suga

Late night movie marathons

and accidentally getting into a routine of late mornings late nights

Cooking together

because neither of you want to do it

but someone has to

can’t live on instant food for all this time

Night time walks

less people, less danger

please don’t yell at me if we’re not supposed to do this in real life I haven’t actually been out that late during lockdown hahaha

it’s only around a few blocks

but deep talks, you know

There may not be much room in the back garden

but you have a ball and a hoop

basketball together

he teaches you to shoot better

“yes! I did it!”

*he hugs you from behind*

sorry that was gay

He’s actually quite chill about the whole lockdown situation

almost like he forgets the circumstances sometimes

“I think I might nip down to _____’s house today...”

“Uh, Yoongi, remember?”

“Oh yeah”

Detective series marathons too

the two of you trying to figure out whodunnit

sometimes even low key bets or light arguments if you disagree

a mildly sore loser when you’re correct

smug af when he is correct

Evenings lounging in the back yard with the drink of your choice

some quiet music on

random hypothetical conversations and questions about life

“what if...”

“what happened to...”

“don’t you think that cloud looks like a goldfish?”

Board games that keep the brain stimulated

why is he so good at scrabble

you can’t recall a game you’ve won

but no monopoly

not after the last time

“I want a divorce!”

“We’re not married”

“Yet”

tbf you might as well be an old married couple

because there’s those films you just watch over and over

close to unlocking the power of mind reading

“want a cup of tea?”

“omg I was about to ask that”

Some days you get on each other’s nerves a little though

so you each occupy yourselves with little chores

and even though you weren’t in the mood to do anything together

you’ve just made the house look great in a day as a team

and you’ve got everything you need just in time for dinner

“I’m proud of us”

“I’m proud of us too”

J-Hope

Picnics in the back garden

much better than one in the park though

there’s no packing involved

there’s cushions

sometimes low key fine dining

your favourite is the one evening picnic the other day

you had been shopping alone for the essentials

and he wanted to surprise you

he had set up a makeshift table out of a few old crates

did the cooking

the pasta dish was lovely

there was even dessert

okay the dessert was M&S

fairy lights

seriously you swear you weren’t out for that long how did he manage all of this so fast?

wine

staring at the stars

and there were blankets too

dozing off until early hours of the morning

finally coming indoors at like 2am

sleeping in til noon oops haha

then binge watching some random show together

and now it’s your new favourite

For some reason you have a big stock of popcorn

watching any old crap on the TV as an excuse to eat it

like there’s 3 films on this afternoon that sound shite

but you’re going to watch them all anyway

and the third one is actually really good

more popcorn more films

“we should probably go out at some point...”

whoops it’s been like 4 days now

and now it’s raining damn

fuck it, you go out anyway

dancing in the rain in an empty park

followed by shivering on the walk home

he gets in the shower first

but then runs a lovely hot bath for you

candles, bubble bath, the works

just so you can have some relaxing time to yourself

so thoughtful

lockdown doesn’t mean needing to compromise on showing you love each other

Jimin

You’re not quite sure how you got pulled into this

but Jimin decided to make use of his YouTube following

Virtual dance classes

and fun little exercise sessions for all the family

He does the dance classes solo

but he loves to flaunt you to the world even in lockdown

“Today joining me for this session... my lovely significant other, y/n!”

at first you felt uncertain and a little conscious

but thanks to Jimin your confidence grew

He helps you stay positive during a tough time

and you even feel like your self improvement has been going amazingly well

he even inspires you to make your own channel

to show the world what you love; [insert hobby/interest here]

people love the both of you

they go to Jimin’s channel to keep fit and happy

and your channel just fills them with joy

But not everything revolves around the virtual world

Care packages for all of your friends

food and other essentials get mailed to the ones that lost their jobs

and for the ones still working, a bundle of stuff for their mental well being

and a little drawing with rainbow colours in each

and a positive message

Woolly jumpers, cushions and hot chocolate

sweater paws

Sometimes in the evening you doze off

like you fall asleep just as you are

and you wake up to the smell of food and a blanket over you

Sometimes you miss your friends

and Jimin hates to see you down

so he organises a big surprise

his hands over your eyes as he walks you into the living room

“surprise!” you hear over the laptop

and then Jimin hands you some gifts

he asked them all a few days ago to send you something meaningful

and your heart just melts

and you may or may not cry a little in front of your friends on the video call

you just have to do something in return so

You make the living room all nice whilst he’s making a video in the garden

wow you’re actually quite proud

the lighting is just right

the improv decor is actually somewhat aesthetic

“Honey, why’s it so dull in here..... Woah, what’s this?”

“Dinner’s ready” you smile

and you have a gift for him too

you can’t wipe the smile off his face when he sees it

a scrapbook of memories between you and him

which you look through after eating

“We’re going to make more memories like this once this blows over”

Lots of online socialising

Calls with his friends

which you always end up being a part of in the background with your commentaries

Cute online double dates with Jimin and/or your best friend

Will try everything and anything to kill the boredom

“look what I found in the bargain bin at the supermarket!”

“Tae, I’m not really sure I’m in the mood to take up crocheting...”

but actually it turns out to be more fun that you thought

he has his little ways of making everything fun

one day you guys just find some random paints in a cupboard

and WOW

he’s so good at it

such beautiful landscapes

Makes sure that you both maintain some sort of routine

“best make sure we have an early night lovely”

“why? it’s not like there’s much to do tomorrow”

but no matter how sceptical you may be at times

he’s determined to be your sunshine

he helps you stay sane

makes everything sound productive

“because tomorrow we are going to make a playlist for when we walk, feed the ducks, go shopping, learn how to make a new dish...”

makes you a cup of tea just because

or breakfast in bed

the perfect companion

caring about even the people he can’t physically be with

“we haven’t heard from _____ in a while; we should drop a phone call or something”

but it isn’t just a phone call

it’s also a letter in the mail a few days later

plus a painting for the close friends

Dressing up really formal for a home date

3 course meal, courtesy of the microwave

then a slow dance in the living room

always the romantic

“tonight was amazing... will I see you again?”

“you are terrible Tae, you really are!”

such a joker

he keeps you smiling through it all

Jungkook

Tries to get you to go on daily jogs with him

“Can’t I just walk?”

“Come on, y/n; get those endorphins running through you!”

you try like once

*wheezing*

nope

Nintendo switch

Not that I have one welp

I can just imagine it okay

Lots of active games

thrashes you at Wii Sports Tennis

but you whoop his ass at Bowling

he does most of the shopping

so that he can go for a jog first

and also so he’s not out too often in any one day, two birds one stone and all that

Doesn’t quite always get the shopping list right….

“Jungkook?”

“Yes?”

“I wrote 1-2 bananas… You’ve brought back 12”

blames your handwriting

Small bits of banter like this keep you both sane

and he eats all those bananas in like 2 days

“What? There was no cereal in the shop”

someone teach this boy to cook please

*brings back like a crate load of instant noodles*

at least it means you’ve come up with something to pass the time

teaching Jungkook some basic meals

maybe beginning with breakfast first thing in the morning wasn’t the best idea

“Jungkook! I said keep an eye on it!”

“I did”

and he literally just watched the bacon burn instead of regularly flipping it over

bless

Singing to you whilst snuggling on the couch

bliss

meme-y dances before bed time

like you’ll be sat in bed maybe watching tv / reading

and something moves in the corner of your eye

oh my word Jungkook

*insert all the meme-y dances you have even seen him do*

the biggest dork

can’t stop laughing at his own silliness afterwards

jumps into the bed and puts his head on your shoulder

falls asleep like this quite fast

well you aren’t surprised since he’s always so energetic

Small campfires in the back garden

the best marshmallows you’ve ever had

and it’s so much fun

campfire stories

usually people have a guitar around the fire

not Jungkook though, no

*serenades you with a ukulele purposely singing out of tune*

has you in stitches

people in the neighbouring houses hear the laughter and some think it’s insensitive to be laughing so much

but seriously, if you can’t laugh, what can you do?

So I thought I’d make a post around the strange times many of us are living in. Whilst I get that some readers may not be in a situation like mine (UK) so a quick bit of context for you even though I made the location / country ambiguous in my writing. The circumstances explained in the imagines though are of course based on my experiences in England.

Right now, we are limited in what we do; only essential shops are open, (supermarkets, pharmacies, etc,) the country is being advised to go out as little as possible, (only for food shopping, medical reasons and exercise,) social gatherings aren’t allowed, our death rate has been increasing due to the virus (even our prime minister has it,) and our NHS is overwhelmed - currently more than 10,000 being treated as I’m listening to the news and writing this note.

I hope everyone is staying safe and doing the right thing by staying indoors and maintaining social distancing.

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reallytenaciousphantom-verified · 4 years ago

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Jane the Virgin

my mother and i watched this as a quarantine binge and I loved it! Jane the Virgin was, for a long time, one of the shows that i didn’t watch, but i followed. I knew most of the big plot points (aka, Michael!) and what not. But it was such a different experience to actually watch it. I just wanted to make a list of all the things i loved about it.

1. The communication. Throughout the show you keep seeing the characters talk and talk through their issues in (mostly) healthy ways. I love that. It felt authentic. yes, there was so much drama (it is a telenovela, afterall) but having the characters be not-stupid was really nice. And because of this, all the characters grow

2. the fact that negative emotions are not seen as evil (aka, Xo’s jealousy). Particualarly with Xo, we see her being petty and jealous on many occasions (i.e. when Ro still works with River after she makes a move on him in season 5). what makes it so great is that Xo calls out her feelings her self (sometimes, and sometimes in retrospect) and even admits that feeling like that doesn’t feel good. but being jealous and angry aren’t immediately bad things, they are normal and working through and with those feelings is just as important as realizing that walling in them is bad.

3. Petra. To be honest, she is one of my favorite characters. she really grows alot and, unlike jane and alba, she knows she is changing and makes and effort. her growing to understand consequenses as not something (else) you have to fix but something that you can’t fix was really cool.

4. Jane’s virginity. After jane lost her virginity/had sex with michael she felt lost. of course, having sex /when you decide to have sex is a personal choice and shouldn’t ever be shamed, however, for people in Jane’s situation when your whole identity revolves around your virginity and your concept of purity - the toll it takes on you after you are no longer “pure” is real and extremely hard to come to terms with. I appreciated the complexity of this storyline and that it wasn’t brushed over. I also appreciated that after she was no longer a virgin, the title card changed for each episode. that was a nice touch. both because it was funny and because it meant that jane wasn’t defining herself by sex anymore.

5. honestly, so many other things. Rogelio and his personality and “follow your dreams” goal (and how hard that is in general, and with the added struggle of being a poc), the dealing with complex family dynamics (aka, step siblings), Petra’s bi storyline, the unwillingness to flinchaway from therapy, depression, antidepressants, and other medications, petra’s mother, the bilingual aspect, immigration, Jane’s long term anxiety due to rose, Luisa’s struggle (though this was seen minimally, you know she was traumatized, and we see first hand how hard it is to remove yourself from this kind of situation (even if this one was sort of unbelievable)) and so much more.

Things I wish I had seen more of:

1. Rogelio and Michael’s friendship AFTER Michael got his memories back. even, for example when Michael and Charlie came back to talk about the life rights, i wish Jane or michael had mentioned michael seeing rogelio before he leaves town again.

2. Jane’s “fight” with Jorge (season 5). Jane is upset that her Abuela (Alba) is waiting on her new husband’s (Jorge) hand and foot. Jane asks Jorge for support when dealing with Mateo and his newfound ADHD. When jane asked, it is true she had an internal bad attitude about it, however, she approached Jorge with respect and gave him the option to say no or offer different soloutions. jorge told alba. (side note: i can’t help but think that Alba over reacted because she does have a temper, as we see throughout the series, however, i believe that if Jorge had an issue with jane he should have told her directly or had a sit down with Alba and jane to talk about boundaries). the reason this bothers me and the apology jane makes to Jorge seems like an inappropriate resolution is because, yes, the house is now Alba’s and Jorge’s but it is also Jane’s. Jane should not have to apologize for asking for help. She should have apologized for her attitude (sorry if i put you on the spot/made you uncomfortable - is there a better way to approach topics like this in the future?). Because, yes absoloutly jane made mistakes in this situation, but also she shouldn’t be punished for struggling. I don’t know why, but this bothered me a lot. i don’t think it would have in another show, but this show does so good at being honest and making sure that the whole entirety of the situation is seen (aka, alba saying “why is it okay i take care of you but not Jorge?” and admitting that jane can’t see the entirety of the relationship - was really well done) but this particular thing bugged me. i know jane needed the push to move out, but i felt there was more to this than what we saw.

i did not proof read this so y’all are stuck with it as is.

#jane the virgin #jane the virgin short review because i like it so much #petra solano #jane gloriana villanueva #rafael solano #rogelio de la vega #xiomara villanueva #and the whole family

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daincrediblegg · 5 years ago

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Can you please feed us some GORGEOUS Gen x Arthur hc's ????? Because we love you and we love Arthur and we stan our OTP. Please and thanks xp [I got'chu, boo

Genevieve x Arthur Fleck Headcanons

lmao LMAO LMAO ok so... idk what this is??? this is just how we are irl. ain’t no real scenario around it, but it still serves as a basic breakdown of our relationship as it’s unfolded the last 7 months or so. Thank you for giving me a platform to share this lmao. Sorry if it’s cringey and personal as hell, but hey, that’s life, and y’all know I don’t give a fuck by now.

We met in October. I’d snuck into a showing of Joker with my dad after the premier of Zombieland 2, and watched his story unfold. I couldn’t get him out of my head the whole night. I saw him again a little less than a week later, and I’d realized I’d wanted more. We’d agreed to meet for coffee the next day.

The next couple of weeks was just pure fascination with each other. I poured my heart into learning everything about him, and he seemed so genuinely interested in learning all he could about me too.

Even though I was going through what’s easily been one of the most harrowing mental health crises that I’ve ever experienced… he fell quick for me, and hard. And I did too. He… he made me feel like I wasn’t alone. We were leading very similar lives (minus, y’know, murder- on my end), and knowing that he felt my pain when it seemed like not a whole lot of people really did… it made me feel seen. And it didn’t take long for things to get really heated. We’ve been together ever since.

He’s the one that got me to start taking my medication. I’d never been on antidepressants, and I was a little scared of the side-affects since the only other ones I’d tried made me dizzy and out of breath (and I’m a massive hypochondriac on top of all the other shit I’ve got going on in my head). But he convinced me that I was worth living for, and that was the little push I needed. I knew I wanted to get better, but he’d convinced me that I could.

I drew him a lot those first few months we were together. His physicality still entrances me to this day. His elegance, yet this almost distinctly cartoonish poise and his innocence… he inspired me a lot. More than I had been in months. He’s shy about being the subject of a lot of my drawings… but he lets me anyway because he’s amazed at how it shows how I see him (which is fucking beautiful, like a disney prince thank you very much).

We spent a lot of those first few months just lying in bed after a long day of writing and drawing, holding each other close and talking. About everything. It all felt so freeing to me that I could say just about anything to him and have him actually listen without judgement. And sure, he has his opinions, but he doesn’t dismiss mine.

We did so much together too. We used to go to movies (not just his lmao), we got hot chocolates together and walked around town during christmas time.

For Christmas he gave me a beautiful necklace- a pretty blue/green pendant on a gold chain (that y’all might’ve seen in some of my selfies- and I wear it DAILY) and a silver bracelet with little red roses and garnets on it. They’re some of the best presents I’ve ever gotten.

I gave him a scarf (that I’d worn out to work for weeks so that it’d smell like me at his request) and some chocolate.

I was also dealing with quite a few health problems those first few months, so he’s well versed in all my medical bullshit lmao.

I’ve got a weird bladder that just constantly feels infected (even though it’s actually not most of the time), which means that we can’t have penetrative sex sometimes (but we’re just as happy to touch each other in different ways even when I can’t stand to go all the way).

I was still having some panic attacks when I was on a higher dosage of my medication, and he’s very good at bringing me down from them. He holds me close and tells me to breathe slowly and deeply with him until I calm down and start to feel okay- even when I get super fidget-y from it. I can’t begin to thank him enough for helping me through it all as he has.

We don’t argue much. We see eye-to-eye where it counts, so we hardly ever get into moral disputes. But when we do it’s usually when I’m in a depressive rut and I’ve gone distant. He’s never raised his voice at me when it happens, but some heated conversations have spawned from it. And I’ll admit I’m not the most eloquent with these things sometimes. And I’ve said things that I didn’t mean to hurt him but just to say with honesty. He knows I have doubts sometimes. He does too, but we’ve been able to work through them well enough-better than most I imagine.

We uh… we have a lot of sex. No surprise.

We’re virgins (well, technically. At least with the opposite sex). We’re horny. We’ve got high sex drives and we’re not afraid to take it out on each other.

I’ve had a lot of body anxiety in the past, but with Arthur it feels even more non-existent than it’s ever been. He really loves my body. Not in a fetish-y way like a lot of guys have hinted at in the past. When I’m with him I really feel like his desire for me comes from love, that my body isn’t just a thing to get him off, but rather that he desires me for who and what I am, and I haven’t really ever felt that even with any of the other FICTIONAL guys I’ve been with before.

And he knows that I love him just the same. Body and soul. It’s a total two-way street. And we never feel the need to change for each other one bit. For that I’m so grateful god I could fucking cry.

And it’s made me do a lot of things that I kinda didn’t want or thought were inaccessible to me before I met him. I fucking wear lacy bras and matching panties (for the first time in my life!!!) on the reg because Arthur said that I deserved to have them if I wanted them (not to mention that I look beautiful in them to him), and now I’m coming around to the idea of putting on a little makeup ‘cause it makes me feel really pretty and Arthur agrees???? Like this MAN has really made me flourish for the better tbh I love him so fucking much.

Before the pandemic he used to meet me at my regular haunt to watch me work after his gig for the day. He’d sit across from me and watch me fumble around with all my outlines and notes, sometimes taking out his own journal himself while he steals some of my coffee, taking my hand and running a thumb over it idly.

He really enjoys my screenwriting. My writing is very exciting, he says. He’s really supportive of my career choice, even though it’s still a long ways off from being anything tangible or serious. And he’s very supportive of the things I’ve written about him too. He doesn’t mind as long as some things get to stay just between us (and by and large he says I’ve done a pretty good job of that lmao).

I sing for him a lot. We dance together too. I’ve always been a singer for as long as I can remember but being so depressed so long I didn’t really as much as I’d have liked. But for him I sing just about every day. Lotta swing-jazz numbers like from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and Caro Emerald. Some classic rock like Elton John and Billy Joel and Jethro Tull. He says he likes the way I sing their songs the best. Idk if I agree with him, but I believe him.

He says we’re a dynamic duo in a way. Like since he dances and I sing, we’re a complete show. It’s the cutest fucking shit he’s ever said to me

We kind of agreed to get married once the lockdown’s over. Neither of us really proposed to the other, exactly. We had been thinking about it for months (we’ve been talking about it since Christmas lmao- he’s said he wants to marry me so many times), but the first few weeks of this lockdown thing were really hard on me. It all felt very harrowing with everything changing all at once.

And it was really touch-and-go for us. It was harder for me to feel him. And sure it had been hard before but it was… not quite as bad as this was. I almost thought we were done.

But he stuck around, and helped me through it as much as he could despite how numb I was feeling. And he was still there when the dust settled, even stronger than before. So I told him one morning that I wanted to get married when all of this was over, and he agreed.

So once the shelter in place order is lifted, we’re gonna go to the same jewlery shop he got me my favorite necklace, and pick out some rings. I for one am very excited.

And until then we’re perfectly content to enjoy this break from our normal everyday lives with each other. Even though it’s been harder for me to write we’re pulling through this whole thing just fine.

#personal #my writing #arthur fleck x egg #joker x egg #FOR REAL THO OTP???? YOU GONNA MAKE ME CRY FAM #lmao feel free to ask about us more especially with some specifics (within reason ofc)#thank you for being supportive of me doing this hun omg I could crie

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starcountesseevee · 4 years ago

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A Rocket Coincidence (Part 25)

Part 24 / Part 26

Kali woke up with a start, wincing at the sudden flare of pain in her back as she sat up on the couch. Her and Mara, who was still asleep on the other end of the sofa, had stayed up way late last night binging movies until the early hours of Valentine’s Day morning. She was glad they had closed Simply Yoga for the day, there was no way she would be able to teach a class like this. Extracting herself from the tangle of blankets she got up and tucked Mara in a little more before quietly slipping off to her room. She felt bad for her friend, Kali knew all about being single on Valentine’s Day although it was probably worse to be newly broken up with as well.

Kali’s stomach rumbled as she went to plug in her now dead Pokegear but damn did she not feel like cooking. Peeking back out into the living room she saw Mara was still asleep and decided to surprise her with some treats from the cafe around the corner. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and brushed her hair into something that was half way normal before sneaking past the living room and out the door. The place was a little more crowded than Kali would have expected for the morning of Valentine’s Day but fortunately they were still well stocked and Kali headed back home with a selection of pastries, muffins, bagels, and spreads to go on any of them; carbs were just the thing to mend a broken heart after all. As Kali headed up the back stairs she was stopped by a young man in a delivery uniform.

“Hi, I’m looking for a...Kalysta O’Malley?” He read her name off a clipboard.

“That’s me.”

“Great, can you sign here, thanks.” After she finished signing he handed her a long skinny white box and took off. Kali glanced at the back door but decided to peek in before she got inside. Opening the long box revealed a single red rose with a small card tied to the stem in a pink ribbon. ‘One rose for one girl in one city.’ Kali couldn’t help the butterflies in her stomach and the grin on her face as she tucked the card away and went inside. Cliff hadn’t been able to come back to town, which worked out well as Kali could spend the day with Mara, but they did have a call planned for the evening so she wasn’t entirely bummed out.

“Hey, where’d you run off to?” Mara questioned as Kali walked in.

“Good morning to you, too.”

“Are those pastries I smell?” Mara ignored the sarcasm and got up with the blanket still wrapped around her to see what Kali had brought home. “Are these from Sweetwater? You are the best.”

“Yeah, I know.” Kali grinned.

“What’s in the box?”

“Oh...it’s just a little something from Cliff.” Kali tried shrugging it off.

“Come on girl, let me see! Just cause I’m single doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for you.” Kali grinned and excitedly showed off the rose before finding a vase for it. She was glad Mara was in a better mood this morning. As they cleaned up breakfast the two were surprised by a knock on the door. Kali went to answer and was doubly surprised to see another delivery man holding two bouquets of roses, one red and one yellow.

“Hi, I’m looking for...Kalysta O’Malley.”

“That would be me…” Kali was bewildered but signed and thanked the man before struggling to bring both over to the kitchen counter. “What in the world?” She questioned as she opened the card from the red roses first. ‘But you deserve more than one, sorry I couldn’t be there. Happy Valentine’s Day.’ If it was physically possible Kali would have melted into a puddle on the floor right there.

“Well?”

Kali handed Mara the card as she reached for the one on the other bouquet. “Oh, wait. This one is addressed to you!” Mara eyed her curiously as she took it.

“For being such a great friend to Kali.” Mara read aloud before rolling her eyes. “Someone is trying to earn some brownie points with me.”

“Oh come on.” Kali playfully nudged Mara with her elbow. “It’s cute, admit it.”

“Okay fine.” Mara grinned. “It was very nice of him.”

Later that evening Kali propped her tablet against a pillow then checked her reflection in the mirror one last time; Mara may have helped her doll up a little bit more than usual since it was Valentine’s Day. After getting settled on the bed she opened the video call app and waited for Cliff to join, it only took a few moments.

“Hey dollface - wow you look gorgeous.”

“Thanks.” Kali blushed. “I got the flowers, they were lovely. Mara says thanks too.”

“I’m glad you liked them.”

“I do.” Kali smiled as she eyes Cliff’s choice of attire, or lack thereof. Wherever he was he was sitting in a chair and was shirtless. Not that she was complaining at all.

“How’s Mara feeling?”

“She’s alright. She’ll bounce back.” Kali tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as conversation lapsed. “So, how’s work?”

"Work is fine."

"It's always just fine."

"You know I can't talk to you about it."

"But why not? What's so secretive about Team Rocket that it warrants such a vow of silence?" Cliff arched a brow in a silent response, the look on his face clearly saying what did I just tell you? Kali rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Guess that's why you're such a big shot, huh? So loyal." She teased.

"I would think that's a good quality to have, right?"

"You're cute when you're right. So then...why'd you join Team Rocket? Can you at least talk about that?"

Cliff was silent for a long moment. "I suppose there's no harm in that. I didn’t join until I was a teenager.”

“Okay?”

“My mom was a hard worker and my dad, well he seemed to bounce around jobs a lot. But my mom made good money, she used to sell real estate like big time real estate sometimes even to celebrities. I remember this one time we got to meet Leonardo DiCacnea when she couldn’t find a sitter for me and Fay so she took us to the house showing.”

“Wow, really!”

“Yeah, he was a really cool guy. Anyway money seemed to go out faster than it came in, we were always broke, and when we were dad got...violent. I…” He paused, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath.

“Hey, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Cliff met her concerned gaze and wished they were having this conversation in person.

“It’s...okay.” He continued after a moment. “My dad was a drinker, he’d go out and sometimes not come home until late. As I got older I figured that’s where the money was going. So one night I followed him. I wanted to know what he was spending mom’s hard earned money on, it wasn’t fair. And that’s when I found out he was gambling it away, on lots of things apparently but most nights he went to an underground pokemon battle ring. I watched him gamble away mom’s money and got so mad!” Even now Kali could hear the anger creeping into his voice as she watched him ball his hands into fists. “And when I confronted him…he just laughed at me. If boss’s -Giovanni’s- men hadn’t stepped in I don’t know how far I would have gone. It was Giovanni that calmed me down and talked to me like I wasn’t some dumb kid. Then he offered me a job. I could help my family, get us out of debt, and away from my dad all at once. So I took it and never looked back. I pretty much owe the boss my life for that.”

“I’m so sorry you went through all that.”

“It’s life.” Cliff shrugged. “Shit happens. From what you’ve told me you didn’t have it much better.”

“I mean mine was good until my mom...passed. It wasn’t till after that my dad started drinking but I was pretty much an adult at that point.”

“Dad’s, huh?” Cliff tried joking to lighten the mood, it was Valentine’s Day after all. “Anyway, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down. So how about you tell me a little more about what you’re wearing and how it comes off?”

Kali still felt sorry for him but went along with his question. “Oh, this? You see I can pull this tie right here…”

Part 24 / Part 26

So there isn’t really any information on what Cliff’s backstory is so I made one up! Hope you liked it! If we ever do get an official one I don’t know if I’ll change it or not, I guess it’ll depend on what it is. Also wow, I never thought I’d be posting a Part 25! A big thank you to everyone reading this! And to @rubystartrail for always helping!

#cliff pokemon go #pokemon go #pokemon go cliff #pokemon go fanfiction #leader cliff #team rocket leaders #Team rocket cliff #team go rocket #team rocket

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ren-c-leyn · 5 years ago

Text

QnA tag game

I was tagged by @hyba to play this. Thank you very much.

rules: post your answers, and tag some pals.

1. When did you first learn you enjoyed writing?

Honestly, I used to hate writing. It wasn’t fun, it was boring school essays and annoying prompts on exams. That being said, I had always enjoyed storytelling, and had been telling stories since before I could remember.

How I reconciled that gap between the written and the spoken was I went through a really shitty period of time in my life and I took up poetry to help vent. And it was so freeing and fun that I kept with it.

I had been doing that for a while when I decided to try writing some fantasy story that popped into my head, though I can’t quite recall why I bothered to try. It wasn’t a very good story, but I filled up like an entire notebook with it and started writing it on another, and I discovered ‘hey, writing can be fun... if it isn’t about something boring.’

And over the years, fantasy has over taken poetry. I still write poems from time to time, but not like I used to.

2. Tell us about the first project you ever wrote.

It was one that tried cramming way too much into one story, but there’s elements of it that I still use a lot of. I can’t remember the exact plot I had in mind for it, because it was all over the place, but I remember there being some sci-fi, a lot of fantasy weirdness, and a chosen one who was both angry and horrified that her world ended when she had the power to save it, because no one knew what she was or that their world was in danger. It never got finished, but I had fun with it while I was working on it.

3. How does your favorite media shape who you are as a writer?

In ways I don’t even realize it did, I’m sure. Particularly since I binge read without really analyzing the writing techniques of people. My writer brain turns off and reader brain takes over. Which many people say is bad, but it works for me. That being said, I can draw some obvious parallels between things I’ve read and my own works.

I know that Tolkien was a big influence for my ‘this string pulls on this person’s string, which does that, which leads to a poor hobbit having to lose his finger to throw a cursed ring into a volcano and save the world’ kinda plots. I also enjoyed his world building, but, and this is just my opinion, it slowed the Lord of the Rings triology down a lot and made it a little clunky to read. So it taught me both what I kinda wanted to see in my world building, but also how I didn’t want it to come out in the story. Plus, The Hobbit is the book for me. It is one of the first ones I got when I finally learned ‘oh, reading can be fun’ (because child me hated reading like she also hated writing boring essays), and it’s the one that got me stuck on fantasy.

Douglas Adams, there are many who will probably consider it a crime I have not read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and yet still list his name in this, but my favorite book of all time is probably The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, and it was the way the characters existed and the hidden easter eggs that I’m still finding like 7 read throughs later and the pacing and red herrings. I learned from and loved a lot about that book alone.

There was also J.A. Jance, the author of many of the murder mysteries my grandmother loaned me, and it was from her and other mystery authors that I finally, finally figured out how to set up suspense and tension. They were also really good studies in character motivations and how a character’s mindset can change the way they perceive the world and the things they notice and miss.

Video games is another thing I know has influenced me. I like story and lore rich games. Dungeons and Dragons is another thing I play a lot of and has followed me through my writings. The stories that get told can be every bit as awesome as a book, and the mechanics are also part of what helped me learn to structure my magic systems. Because if the wizards didn’t have rules, who would play a fighter who does? The same idea got translated into my writing very early on, ‘if I don’t give my wizards rules, why would warriors exist?’

And I can keep rambling, but I think I’ll leave it at this for now ^^

4. What’s something you’ve wanted to write, but aren’t sure you could? (A tv show, a genre, a style, a time period, a video game, etc)

I had an idea for a fantasy world inspired by various Asian myths, and even had a basic map drawn out in my head and some ideas for a magic system, but I’ve been too terrified to actually do anything with it, and it’s been so long since then that I don’t remember anything about it. Plus, I had no plot to use for it at the time.

I also wanted to write a mystery, but when I tried I found that while I has suspects and everything, I couldn’t think of the crime or how the heck anyone would just kinda figure it out from a bunch of random things normal people could just play off or not notice XD

5. What is the thing that keeps you from writing the most?

Procrastination is sometimes a problem, and I do occasionally need to kick myself in the shin. But there’s also life and plot snags and just days when a story isn’t working for me.

6. How do you deal with an inner editor?

That depends. Sometimes the inner editor saves me a lot of headaches later, and sometimes a tiny mistake can break the flow of writing. I normally don’t have an issue with fixing things on the spot, but on nights I need to focus on writing I just keep myself from reading back.

7. How long have you been writing?

I mean, they make kids write really young for school, so begrudgingly that long. Creatively and for fun? I’m not sure. I can’t quite recall how old I was when I started with the poetry. But considering the notebook I have the earliest pieces in is falling apart, I think it’s been a long time. lol

8. What is your general writing process? Do you write chronologically? Do you do a lot of planning?

I normally get this idea that shows up out of the blue as a daydream or a random thought. Then, there’s at least a month. If it’s still there, it gets considered. If it’s grown and expanded into something resembling either a world or a plot by then, it’s probably getting written.

After the idea finally bugs me enough, I’ll start world building and building a bare-bones plot, complete with bare-boned characters. I never flesh anything out completely, since I do most of that while I write and having strict outlines suffocates my story.

If the world building, characters, and whatever I have of a plot are interesting, I’ll start chronologically and keep moving from there.

9. Assign a scent to your writing style.

A scent for my style? Um... that’s kind of a weird question and I have no idea how I would even begin to think of an answer for that. Like, how do you translate comma usage and word choice into a smell? I mean, I use roses a lot in my stories, so maybe that would work?

10. One book you hope everyone reads?

I have to agree with hyba that I hope everyone just finds their version of the book. The one that gets them through a hard time, the one they really need, and that that book won’t be the same for everyone.

11. What is it about your least favorite genre that makes it your least favorite–and how might you change that to better appeal to you?

Oh that’s simple, it’s because horror does it’s job. That’s it. It’s nothing particularly about the style or anything besides that the genre is what it is.

12. Design a “collector’s edition” for your first novel. Include items that might be of interest to your audience.

Never thought about it, but I guess I could throw in the world map I drew for The Plight of a Sparrow into it.

13. If one thing was real from your project, what would you want it to be?

Nothing in particular? I can’t think of anything that would make sense to transfer from my projects to the real world, because I don’t want magic to be real, because my magic systems tend to be brutal, but also, we have stuff like or better than a lot of what doesn’t run off magic. Maybe some of the creatures would be cool, but I don’t know how that would affect ecosystems.... probably not for the better.

14. What’s something you always include in your work? Do you have any other Easter eggs?

As far as easter eggs, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. If I do, it probably wasn’t intentional.

15. What is your favorite passage from your own work?

I still am not really comfortable with sharing things out of my WIPs on here. As far as things I’ve written for the blog itself go, there are quite a few pieces and passages that turned out really good. I think one of my favorites is from a really old piece I did back before I was doing fusion stories. It’s from this one specifically, if anyone would like to read the full tale, it is a grim one, though.

The very edge of the forest was about as welcoming as a gallows. Crows watched us hungrily, like we were dead men about to sway. None of them made so much as a peep as their dead eyes followed our trek through the knotted mess of brambles, ivy, knotted shrubs, and gnarled trees. We hacked at the plants, and they hacked right back at us. We traded blows like it was a war. hatchet and sword blows countered with sharp thorns and parried with thick branches.

I’m going to leave this an open tag, jump in if you’d like to. =D

#tag game

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angelinuhh · 6 years ago

Note

Hi there A! Could we get a public review from you? Thank you so much and we hope that you have a breathtaking upcoming week! ~ Admin Catie

DISCLAIMER: this review is onlyreflective of my own opinions and is intended to provide constructivecriticism. there is no obligation to listen to or agree with anything said.

OVERALL:

the reality tv junkie in me loves this concept of this rp. and, asI look around, this typifies exactly what I love about the genre: characterdevelopment, fast-paced events and, of course, a healthy dose of competition. Ilove your color scheme and your theme. for a contained theme, I found it incrediblyeasy to navigate—which was a real and true blessing. however, I do think that there are still many things to improve, Ithink a little more consistency and editing in your descriptions and overallaesthetic could really elevate your rp and make it more accessible andattractive to prospective members. I also would like to see a change in yourrules, both in policy and in tone. overall, I wish you guys the best of luck.

PLOT:

I really do love the rp idea, but I do think the plot page leavesa little something to be desired. For appless rps, especially ones withoutblurbs on the sidebar, you really do need something that is concise, both eye-catching and attention-grabbing, all the while getting to the point. while the content you have on this page isn’tbad, you have a long-ish block of text that can read a little dry at time.

I’ve taken the liberty of editing your plot to take on a more activetone to show you what I mean. while you have no obligation to use it, you dohave full permission to:

There is no greater motivation in theworld than money – and nowhere is that more present than in ParadiseIsland, MTV’s new reality television show. Sent to a private island inpairs and forced to compete challenges and tasks set by the producers, contestantsoften find themselves doing things they wouldn’t normally do, all for a chance at$750,000.

Here at Paradise Island, the fun never stops. With 24/7 Streaming, viewers are given a real-time seat to the drama,the romance and more! While binge-worthyshows are great, the 12 million daily viewers know the truth: they never have to find something new towatch again.

After a rigorous application process, including video essays about why theywould like to be on the show, interviews and even a test challenge was preparedto see which finalists caused the most drama or had the most chemistry, thehundreds of potential applicants were narrowed down to just 40. The producersrandomly assigned each contestant into pairs and, for the duration of the show,these partners were to share a room in the mansion and work together to win thegrand prize.

But what happens next—will loveblossom? Will greed step in? Witha 1/20 chance of winning the $750,000, most of the contestants will do anything to get their hands onthat money, but there can only be one pair of winners.

Who will be victorious in the first Paradise Island?

paradiseislandhq is anappless 23+ pairedmuse roleplay based on reality television. Contestants have been sent to aprivate island and must work in pairs for the chance to win a grand jackpot of $750,000w/ additional prizes. We focus on weekly character development tasks &challenges, plotting between members, in-character drama, and. of course- vacation vibes! Applicants are free toapply for a wanted connection partnership or to have one picked at random foryou!

If you would like to take a crack at it, here’s what I tried to fix.

Have a more ACTIVE TONE

thisis a purely stylistic choice, but i would suggest varying up sentence structureand utilizing your bold and italic keys a little more as most people in thegenre do.

Try to avoid going on tangents

Inthe beginning, you start with the motivator of money above all and thenimmediately move to love and status, thus weakening the power of your opening

Ialso did not particularly think the tangent about streaming services in thethird paragraph was necessary. Your goal is to emphasize that the show is 24/7—you don’t necessarily have to explain that.

Is it… $750,000 or $750,000+, because both were used. That needsto be clear.

The first thing I always look for is the synopsis at the bottom,but yours is a little bit long.

Iwould center it as well. You can do this by entering into the html and putting , I think.

Side note: make sure your navigation tab’s blurb matches the one on this page.

I also spotted a couple of grammar errors. Your biggest and mostfrequently repeated error is run-on sentences and a lack of commas.

RULES

bh, your rules page was a hugeturnoff for me. I don’t think it was your intention, but it was very blunt, alittle wordy (ik ik… im legit the most wordy person on earth) and read kind of…rude. A a potential applicant and as a reviewer, I just- I wasn’t feeling itand would likely be very wary of applying because of it. There are also quite a few run-on sentenceshere, so watch out for that.

I’m not going to rewrite the whole thing, but here are a few specificchanges I would make and alternate wordings to your statements.

Edits

(++) I would put in a HOW WE RP section and add in the stuffabout the tasks, points and challenges. Because that should not go underinclusivity. I also do not understand how it works and I need much moreexplanation. I can guess, of course, but I shouldn’t have to. You need toclearly outline how this rp will be run and how tasks will be delegated and pointswill be awarded. Vaguely stating that there will be challenges and points andwhatever will not work.

(++) Your muses section is very confusing. Especially the agebut also the diversity part. I understand that you feel strongly about this,but I brought it up to some friends and many of them were just as confused as Iwas. I read your FAQ and things did not get any clearer. If I were you, I wouldsimply say “all muses and fcs must be older than 25. Please aim to make yourcharacter’s age believable with your faceclaim.”. And that, “to encouragediversity, if you have more than one character, at least one must be POC.” Asyou have it, it is very murky and kind of defensive?? almost. Like I reallywant people to be over 25, but I guess they can play 23, but also they canactually be 40 but they can play in their 20s. It’s convoluted and I get alittle frustrated trying to read it. In my opinion, you just have to pick asingle age and go with it.

I feel like your unfollow rule is extremely lenient for one ofthese rps. It may lead most of your members being inactive before they getunfollowed.

Alt wordings (some suggestions)

Although it is expected that in-character partnerships will needcharacter development, please make an effort to interact with all member.Bubble RPing is NOT permitted and we aim to make an inclusive environment whereall muns can explore their characters.

Youroriginal statement really put the onus on the RPer like they’re already doingsomething wrong.

We are happy to oblige with hiatus or semi-hiatus requests. Lifecomes up and we want all of our players to be comfortable. However, we onlyaccept these requests through asks that come through our inbox.

Reallythe CAPS and the Do not inform by im… don’t really feel like you want me tocomfortable.

We allow small/medium gifs. Please do not use large gifs. In orderto be accessible we do not allow gif icons under 90x90. >>>>In order to be accessible, large gifs and gif icons under 90px are not allowed.We prefer small/medium gifs.

Feel free to cause in character drama. However, no OOC drama willbe tolerated !! >>> While in-character drama can be fun, OOCdrama will not be tolerated.

idk why but those exclamation points were felt in my soul, man. Sdfjdkf. Look, it’s just a little intimidating.

ACCESSIBILITY :

I knowthis sounds like a small thing, but I really am impressed.Container themes are notoriously hard to navigate but I had little to notrouble going through yours. If your rp grows, that muse tab is going to behell to update so I admire your commitment.

My onlycritiques are that

youneed to finish updating your nav so there are no broken/nonexistent links—whichI’m sure you will do

on your/map page, you have ‘wanted connections’ spliced so both wanted and connectionare links.

I’dmuch rather see a page with all the tags to track than just having them floataround on the navigation. But this is totally up to you to change.

AESTHETIC/GRAPHICS:.

Lovethem. Whoever did them, mostly, did a good job in maintaining the color scheme.My only critique is that I’m not really feeling the headers for, like, the plotpage and the wanted connections…etc. These harsh black borders and script fontsstand out a lot and, while the images are nice, they have a completelydifferent color scheme (dark blue-ish tones to the warm and tropical orange ofthe rest of the theme). I wish they would! Because otherwise, I really do likewhat you have here.

MORE.

I would edit or remove the first question onyour FAQ.If anyone asks the question, you can say to promote age diversity andthat’s reason enough. As it stands, the question and the answer just makes me confusedand, some of the statements like “actors over 25 have more resources” is justuntrue.

thebiggest flaw that I see in your RP is inconsistency and occasional lack ofclarity. here is a list of things I’ve found that varied from page to page.

1. Sometimesthe jackpot is 750,000. Sometimes it is not.

2. Theblurb on your navigation does not match the blurb on your plot page

3. Yourefer to this rp both as appless and semiappless.

TLDR; what i would like to see changed, vaguelyin order of most of least importance. Feel free to ignore any or all of these.

REDO your rules page to include a HOW WE RP detailing thepoints, tasks and challenges

CHOOSEa clear and consistent ruling on your age bending/limits. It might make senseto you and promoting age diversity is very admirable, but, look, we’re alldumb.

EDITyour rules page to be… more affable. It’s not bad as it, but it just helpspeople get through it.

i wrote a few alternate phrasings you can look at

EDITyour plot to be more engaging and concise to really grab people’s attention.

i wrote something above that you may use

DOUBLE CHECK all your pages to make sure that you don’tcontradict yourself in various places.

as a last note and reminder, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE ANY OF MYSUGGESTIONS. There is no ill-will from me to you. As always, this is notintended to be hate and I genuinely want the best for you guys. However, I amterminally cursed to be nitpicky. I’ve done my very best to make sure my adviceis constructive, but please call me out if you find any of this offensive orcrude.

I genuinely like the idea of the RP and appreciate the work you’veput in. Seeing Dev Patel used--- makes my day. Thank you for your time andpatience.

If you have any more concerns or questions, please feel free tocontact me.

#rpt #rp review #rpo #rpc #paradiseislandhq

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tatooedlaura-blog · 7 years ago

Text

The Madness of Punch

the series read as follows:

Superman … Monday … Cheezy Pouffs … Bacon … Stumbling … Trail Mix … Punch … Friday … Preparation … Uncle Mudler … Normal … Backseat … Mudler-sense … The FBI … Unthinkable … Patience … Elephant Jokes … Cooking … Rickety Tables … Mr. Skimmer … Bert and Ernie … Midnight Confessions … The Moon … Bright Sunshine … Graying Skies … Darkened Night … Possibilities … A Thing with You … Humming and Thrumming ... Warped Cosmology

@today-in-fic

____________

MRI taken, fish fed, email answered, thumbs twiddled, Mulder phoned, brain picked by aforementioned phone call, groceries shopped for and mother retrieved, they headed to the appointment.

An hour later, they settled in the car, quiet for a moment before Maggie spoke ...

amusement lacing every word that followed, “so, basically, you have polyps in your sinuses and vigorous sex will break the blood vessels in your nasal cavity?”

This was possibly worse than when she innocently asked her mother, after hearing Bill talking to one of his friends, what 69’ing was, “I should have left you in the car.”

“Oh, no, dear. Then I would have nothing to share at the card party Thursday.”

“Don’t make me make you walk home.”

Maggie moved her hand to Scully’s arm, squeezing it tightly, “honey, believe me when I say I am overjoyed to hear that the worse things you have are fatty growths and too much sex.” Moving on, she clicked her seatbelt, “now, do you think we have time for milkshakes before you need to leave for the airport?”

Key in ignition, dignity thrown out the window, Scully grinned the grin of someone with fatty growths and too much sex, “plenty of time.”

&&&&&&&&&&

Mulder collapsed into guffawing giggles that left him gasping for air, “oh … good … God … shit, I can’t breathe … I would have given almost anything to have seen that.”

She shoved his feet over to make room so she could sit on the already creaking bed, “it was an experience but who really cares as long as that’s what it is. I’ll get the polyps taken care of when we get back and we’ll just have to have less vessel-breaking sex in the future.”

This sent him right back into laughter the likes of which finally had her putting her hand over his mouth, trying to get him to shut up given it was after 11pm local time and they were going to get thrown out of the dump that was ‘MeadowLodge Suits: Drive up, sleep in, get out’ if they didn’t quiet down. Yawning while she waited for him to calm, “by the way, I like that you didn’t even attempt to get two rooms, then lie about sharing.”

“Skinner isn’t an idiot. He’ll keep it quiet though and Dennis down in billing has been asking about us for years so he’ll shut up as well. Why waste money when we don’t have to?”

“Then why didn’t we stay at a better hotel with all this money we’re going to save?”

Mulder looked around the aesthetically unappealing mustard yellow décor, “what? You don’t like this?”

Moving to pull on pajamas, “just once, you’re going to let me book the hotel.” Once dressed, Mulder watching intently the whole 30 second process, she returned to the bed, “give me the five minute rundown, please.”

&&&&&&&&&

Case done by the following Monday afternoon, Skinner shipped them to Wyoming, mosquitoes the size of Scully eating her alive while they tramped the outskirts of Yellowstone, looking for a bank robber attempting to hide in the woods. At least this time, Mulder didn’t mention a nice trip to the forest.

As an aside, they traveled over the Old Faithful and shared a pizza in view of the geyser, Mulder, for what it was worth, snapping a picture of the top of the spout so he could show people how tall it was. Scully looked at him until he cracked, “what? I want to see just how many people give me that look before they either laugh me into oblivion or gently correct me in what they hope is the nicest voice possible.”

“You’re special, Mulder, you know that?”

Ringing his arm around her neck, he smiled as he kissed her temple, “just ‘cause I’ve got you.”

&&&&&&&&&

And suddenly it was the end of July, Skinner finally letting them home after varying degrees of cases and assholes and scary type fellows. Walking into Mulder’s apartment, he dropped their bags to the ground and turned to her, “it’s Thursday, Scully.”

“It is Thursday.”

“You know what Thursday is.”

“The day after Wednesday, last I checked.”

He could give her the Look like nobody’s business and she loved it, “I need some Punch.”

Shaking her head, she moved towards the bathroom, “call Mom and see when the festivities are happening.”

And he did and it was good.

In less than an hour, after a quick shower together and some general fooling around, which they had chosen not to do while on cases, they pulled up to Maggie’s, Mulder rushing up the walk and inside, leaving Scully behind to lock the car and be amused.

She found him breathing deeply the scent of homemade cooking and motherly love, grinning like the proverbial idiot. Maggie was already walking slowly towards the pair, boots gone, braces on, crutches present. Mulder hugged her the moment he could, Scully following soon after, “how are the ankles?”

Looking at her daughter, “it feels strange and I’m nervous without the boots but the end is in sight and that’s something.”

All moving into the kitchen, the ladies greeted them as if returning from a three-month long expedition, Betty going as far as declaring how much they’ve grown since they last saw them. Scully hugged her, “Mulder needs punch.”

With a grin, “we already have two glasses ready and places for you at the table.”

Mulder studied the seating arrangement, “why are we not next to each other?”

Janet, piping in as she shuffled Roswell cards courtesy of Mulder’s kitschy souvenir binge on vacation, “because, from what I recall, the punch makes her floppy and we need someone who can handle their liquor to catch her.” Pointing the deck at him, “that, my friend, is not you.”

He really couldn’t argue.

&&&&&&&&&&

Scully was asleep on the table by 9:18pm, head resting comfortably on the wood surface, the game happening around her, Lillian tucking her hair out of the way whenever it drifted across the playing area.

Mulder, on the other hand, somehow managed to hold total punch annihilation at bay even though total inebriation still occurred, his plan of one gulp of water for every two sips of punch failing miserably. His tongue was blue as midnight, which he continually shared roughly every 5 minutes and Betty, beside him, had to keep gently nudging his cards closer to his chest so the entire table, at least, couldn’t see them. When that round had finished, she turned to him, “Fox, would you like some more pie?”

With an enthusiastic nod, he moved to get it himself but Maggie held his arm while Betty retrieved the dessert. Thanking everyone at the table for their part in pie presentation, he took his first bite, waving his fork in Maggie’s direction, “she makes the best pies.”

Maggie caught the fork before it went in her eye, returning it and the attached hand to the table, “Janet made this one.”

“Then Janet makes the best pies, too.” Another bite later, “Scully doesn’t like pie. I don’t understand. I mean, she keeps trying pies but she just doesn’t like them. I’ve tried her with apple pie and cherry pie and peach pie and pumpkin pie and chocolate pie and I mean, my God, the amount of pie I’ve wasted on that woman is astounding. Peanut butter pie and blueberry pie and every time, she just takes a bite and looks like she’s gonna die and then slides it over to me to finish.” Turning towards Maggie again with the fork, “what did you do to her as a child? Did you force feed her rhubard pie or mincemeat or something? How could you raise a kid who doesn’t like pie?” Maggie tried to answer, defend her dessert choices for the past 34 years but never got past taking in a breath before he plowed ahead, re-addressing the table, Scully’s prone head and the air in general, “I love pie. Any kind of pie. My sister Sam used to make pretend pie and she always knew I’d eat it ‘cause she called it pie. She’d serve it up in her tea set, make me sit in that damn little chair and scoop up forkfuls of fake pie. At least she’d serve fake ice tea with it so that was something. She would line up her stuffed animals and dolls and just go down the line, feeding everybody pretend pie and pretend cookies and fake cake … once she made a pretend pot roast for us but then took it away ‘cause she said she’d accidently burned it and it tasted funny.” Taking a deeper swig of his Punch, “she stopped having her tea parties about a year before she disappeared but even on that last day, that afternoon, before we had the fight about the TV and before she floated in the air, she made a real pie for me … she made it with Oreos she’d smashed up and pressed into a pie pan and put frosting on as filling. She cut it and served it and brought me a glass of ice tea and told me she’d make me real pies from now on because she was going to be a chef and learn how to make all the pies for real so she’d always have something I’d like to eat.”

The table, right down the line, Maggie, Janet, Lillian, Betty, Ellie and Ruth, all had to fight various stages of sighs and sympathy, all wanting to hug Mulder tightly, all wanting to make the life of their Fox better.

He didn’t notice any of it, fork feeding himself another mouthful, “I think she would have been a good cook. She loved reading cookbooks. She’d get up on a stool when our mother was gone and study the buttons and dials on the stove, look inside the oven, make me come explain to her how the gas to the burners worked. She is irritating as hell sometimes but for a little sister, she’s not too bad.”

No one corrected his present tense usage for his long-gone sibling but Ellie quietly scooted his cup away as he continued, “I think that when Scully and I have a kid, I’ll buy her a tea set and explain the stove to her, feed her all kinds of pretend pie and see if maybe she wants to be a chef.” Aiming for the third time at an astonished Maggie, “you’ll have to teach her how to make meatloaf and pie and lasagna but,” swinging the fork around to Betty, “you will not be teaching her how to make the Punch. You will make the Punch and I will drink the Punch but even when she gets to be 40 or 80 years old, she will never be old enough to see the Punch.”

Looking around at the women, he grinned a blue-tooth smile, “why are we not playing? Did I win?” Glancing from the fork in his hand to the near empty plate in front of him, “I like pie.”

Twenty minutes later and after another piece of pie, sans diatribe, Mulder gave into annihilation, entire body dropping slowly against Betty, his last words being, “I should get Scully home to bed.”

Betty, supporting his dead weight admirably, gestured for assistance and soon, FoxNDana were both snoring peacefully on the table. Maggie took them both in, her glance sliding between, then to her cohorts, “how should we get them somewhere to sleep for the night?”

Studying the situation, Ellie suggested they start with Mulder. It took all of them to get him up, move him, pull down the sheets on the adjacent bedroom, lay him down, set an hopefully unnecessary wastebasket by the side of the mattress, be amused by his arm searching for Scully.

Returning to the kitchen, they expected to move Scully next but instead, found her sitting up in her chair, tears evident on her cheeks, the saddest look on her face they’d ever seen. Maggie held still on her crutches, “Dana?”

Scully sniffed hard, swiping her cheeks but not answering until Maggie asked when she’d woken up, if everything was okay, to which she finally responded, “I woke up when you asked him if he wanted pie.”

The ladies had a concrete-enough, vague notion of Scully’s personal life, complete with abduction, infertility and gunshot scars to collectively and quietly gather bags and shoes, calling hushed goodbyes while Scully sat there, guilt-laden at having chased away her mother’s friends with her insanity. Once the front door shut and Maggie returned to her, Scully waited for the inevitable, ‘what’s wrong’ but instead received a gently hand to her back and a quiet, “did you know he wanted to have a daughter with you?”

#msr #samantha #the truth behind the punch #diatribes about pie #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #My writing #Life part 2 series

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nirah10 · 7 years ago

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[Heads up: Infinity War spoilers ahead! I’ll mark where the spoilers are so that you can skip those parts if you want]

From Abby,

Six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six Americans have died while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. My dad was one of them, he died in 2007 while serving in Iraq. About two hundred thousand civilians and eighty thousand fighters from Afghanistan and Iraq have also died. War is ugly, brutal and there will always be losers on both sides, no side and no man walks away unscratched from war.

Two of my brothers are currently serving overseas as well, they followed in our father’s footsteps. My twenty-five-year-old brother is currently on the ground in Iraq, where our dad died eleven years ago. Our other brother, who is twenty-three, is currently in Syria. I’m seventeen and still in high school but worry about them both every day.

Comic book superheroes annoy me. As a lot seem to glorify being a solider and the action and endurance that is needed for that kind of life- but don’t really show the other side of it.

They show the bravery and the battles and the superheroes walk about making sacrifice, but no one ever actually dies. Small side characters that don’t get more than a couple of minutes screen time, people killed in the first five minutes of the movie that the main character loves but the audience doesn’t have time to get attached to for character building purposes and villains die, but the death of central characters in these movies are very rare- despite a brutal enemy, the soldiers often being reckless, and very low odds, they always seem to get through out much damage.

Which I find problematic for several seasons.

Life is valuable. So, so valuable. But bad things do happen and people die. My dad died. He was brave and he died. My brothers joined up to the army, and they know they might die. Yet they did it anyway. One of my brothers will often write me letters, and sometimes he will describe to me what music he wants at his funeral if he died- there is a joking tone to the letter, but there is a deepness behind them as well. My other brother is less open with talking about it, they both have different coping mechanisms to cope with that anxiety.

War and violence is not light- there is always pain and death on other sides. Unlike the wars in the superhero movies, the death and pain is never just on one side. The sacrifices are real.

That’s what I find so troubling about the Marvel movies. They talk up the sacrifices, show bravery, take crazy risks but we never see the reality of those sacrifices. They are always insanely violent films, but despite all the heroes walking about sacrifice, they still always manage to walk away. Even in movies like Captain American: Civil War, all the Iron Man movies, the Superman movies and the other eighteen or so Marvel movies, no one really central to the story or the team really get hurt. And if they do die, there seems to be a ‘reset button’ to bring them back. I hate the re-set, bring them back to life button.

Maybe I just sound like a bitter teenager. But I really hope they don’t just re-set the whole Infinity War film series. I feel like they can’t just all walk away.

[Spoilers begin here!]

A lot of my friends are critical of Avengers 3 and think they will let everyone come back, in Avengers 4, but I don’t think so though.

I’m guessing they will have to bring certain heroes, like Spiderman back, because he has another Spiderman movie coming up. But I don’t think it will be as easy as stealing the stones back and turning back the clock.

Film theory here:

They really built up the idea of an Iron Man/Spiderman father and son like relationship in the last three movies: Civil War, Homecoming and Avengers.

Iron Man has been active since 2008, has had three of his own films, three Avengers films and has appeared in about five other Marvel universe films.

I think they might retire Iron Man in the next film, and they might have been why they have been pushing his bond with the fifteen year old Peter Parker so much. Most of the other Avengers are not really on speaking terms with Tony, but he has that loyal little kid.

I think Iron Man is going to scarifie himself to bring Spiderman back.

I’m sure Spidey is coming back, because of Homecoming 2. I don’t think it is going to be as easy as it is in other Marvel Films though. I think Iron Man, the most famous Avenger of all, who has had the most screen time out of all of them, might permanently die, and I think it will be tied into his relationship with Peter.

And it might not just be Tony. The young Avengers, like Black Panther, were killed off while the originals, like Captain American survived. I think they might do a swap in the next movie.

Marvel has been accused of having a ‘problem with death’ as they keep on binging people back. I think they know this and know everyone is expecting all the Avengers to come back. I think there will be real death and sacrifice in part 4 though, I don’t think they will just ‘re-set’ it like some of my friends do.

[Spoilers are done! ^_^]

What do you think will happen?

Any theories?

Also, with the way you have talked about not liking Moffat’s re-set button, I have a feeling unlike Marvel you are not afraid to kill characters, and I am nervous but kinda excited (but mainly nervous), because I think you might be the type of kill of main characters as well as side characters like Dex (RIP).

I always talk up a big game about wanting more central characters to be killed off, but I am really, really nervous as well. Because I have kind of fallen in love with some characters; Harry, Nista and Kel in particular. Just please don’t hurt my three babies. Those three will be okay right?

Also, this is my last year of high school and I started reading your story when I was in grade ten- wow how time passes. I love this series so much. I used to hate Kel and now I really kind of love him.

Dear Abby,

I’m so sorry to har about you dad. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us.

I’m not a fan at all of how popular it is these days to just “un-do” death. I get it in some situations, especially sci-fis, where it makes sense but it seems like I see resurrections on TV now more than I see legitimate deaths. I think authors are robbing themselves by doing that as well as doing a disservice to their fans. By constantly bringing characters back, their decisions and the risks they take have no real value. Nothing is really a sacrifice and nothing is really a risk. The fear and grief associated with death is completely swept away because audiences are just thinking to themselves “they’ll be back”.

I believe in consequences. I believe in characters, hero or villain, being held accountable for the choices they make and for facing the consequences of the things that they do.

With the characters I have, there are obviously some resurrections that happen. The Time Lords can regenerate or heal others and Jack is immortal. Because of this, I sometimes use “death” as a way to cause a change or reveal information and, when I do so, I don’t try to present it as a real death. The characters expect the Time Lords to regenerate, everyone knows that Jack is immortal, and when Kel “died”, he was immediately healed (conveniently wiping out Harry’s ability to regenerate or heal again for a while). None of those were meant to be death scenes; they are scenes that are there to bring about change in either the characters or the plot. If I ever give you guys a scene in which a character dies and it isn’t immediately made clear that they’re coming back somehow, they’re dead. Declan is dead. He is not coming back. When the time comes for other characters, they’ll be dead too.

To me, the return-to-life thing started as a cool twist that could be used to bring a surprise happy ending but now it seems to be a cheat code for writers to have their characters do whatever they want, have a big dramatic scene, and then immediately erase the consequences. Most of the time, I see it as lazy rather than clever. The constant deaths of Amy and Rory meant that their final episode, in which Rory “died” three times and Amy “died” twice and their final “death” was really them just living their lives out away from the Doctor like normal people, didn’t stir any emotion in me whatsoever. Watching The Princess and the Frog made me cry so hard I had to use my inhaler and I still can’t talk about the ending without tearing up but I did not care in the slightest when Amy and Rory left the show.

I don’t think Marvel has been lazy so far. I think focusing on individual Marvel movies is missing the big picture. They’ve been setting up a very long story and there wasn’t a point in introducing heroes that died before the “finale” of that story. I do think (and hope) that there will be very real consequences for the characters by the time it’s done.

Thank you for sticking with me for so long and I’m so glad that you’re still enjoying the story. I’m also glad to hear that you’ve come to enjoy the characters so much, especially Kel!

I won’t tell you who lives and who dies but I would like to remind you that there are definitely things out there that are worse than death. “Alive at the end” doesn’t necessarily mean “Safe”.

#hello friend #submission

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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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Cobra Kai Season 3 Review

Well this is definitely one way to start the new year

New Season, New Dojo, and the third season of Cobra Kai was definitely something I wanted to binge right away and y’all gonna hear about it.

Spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 3, watch it because it’s definitely good

So yes, I did enjoy it. I mean it’d be hard not to at this point, Cobra Kai remains one of my favourite spinoff shows ever. It’s not without its flaws, or cheese, but when it’s great it’s great and that’s how we’re gonna run it down.

To start, let’s get the downs out of the way first

What wasn’t so great

Circumstances by misinterpretation It’s a general peeve of mine in movies and shows when conflict is made because characters don’t talk to each other properly or they take what someone says another way. In Cobra Kai’s case this annoyed me the most with Miguel and Tory’s conversation in Episode 6, Tory had a chance to be a much more conflicted character but they made her revert to being ‘all angry’ because she thought that Miguel said she was crazy, there’s also Robby in Episode 8 - who himself is in no position to act like he wasn’t snaking in on Sam back at Season 1 - who decides by one look that Sam and Miguel are back together and then angry at her for not letting him punch Miguel. I get that kids will take things the wrong way a lot but sometimes it’s just a lack of creativity, forced conflict and all just to push more characters into Cobra Kai.

Wherefore art thou, characters? Aisha in the last 2 seasons was frankly a symbol of how to work Cobra Kai’s mantra in a healthy manner. So it stung plenty even before Season 3′s trailers to know that Aisha would not be reprising her role. It was a bit of a crude write-off and I have no idea why we wouldn’t have brought her in, she could’ve left Cobra Kai but also struggle to stop Sam’s aggression or even helped Miguel’s rehab. Likewise being without Stingray did remove a lot of comedy elements, they weren’t pivotal losses but considering we brought back minor characters like Brucks, Anthony (who is in like 1 scene, lost a lot of weight though so good on him), Cousin Louie, Sid, Trey, Cruz, Armand and Yasmin does make you ask questions. In the same vein, we didn’t really introduce anyone new, that girl Tory beat looked like she could’ve been decent and we could’ve had more new characters enter via Johnny’s new dojo but it’s not a big deal.

Johnny is a 2 Time Champion too, why do people forget that? Daniel may have the fame, but Johnny was also a 2-Time All Valley U18 Champion, so when the all valley guy goes to Daniel saying ‘we need the two time champ’ it’s a bit annoying, because Johnny is that guy too.

Johnny’s Choice Right so Elizabeth Shue is hot and Ali is ‘the Ali’ but Vanessa Rubio/Carmen is hot too, there is a connection there not only via Miguel but a genuine attraction is still there too. Basically going on a date with Ali the day after sleeping with Carmen was that cliché daft move and it kinda undoes a lot of Johnny’s character progress over the last 2 seasons to be his own man, rather than a reflection of who he was. I mean yeah we got him to realise it right at the end but he was still going in for the kiss and you can’t undo that.

Sam vs Tory While I’ll get into the Sam progression in the good parts, but the feud of Sam and Tory never has clicked with me. I know it was the whole love quadrangle thing but it just feels like in Season 3 they were forcing it a bit much so Sam could have a Karate Kid 3 moment but Tory is not Mike Barnes the Badboy of Karate. She’s an angry girl but it just feels a bit weak to continue with this feud, especially when it’s because...uh...yeah. I mean it can’t be about Miguel anymore, it needed a lot more substance to be a worthwhile feud.

Daniel the Saviour I wanted Johnny and Daniel to team up and beat Kreese, not Daniel beating up Kreese to save Johnny. It was the problem I had with Season 2′s main fight where the Miyagi-Do lot had all the major wins in the school fight, Cobra Kai is not Daniel’s show, it’s Johnny’s, and it just grinded me the wrong way that the big moment that would finally unite the two together was off the back of Daniel defeating Kreese alone, especially since this is the second fight Johnny has had with Kreese interrupted before he could get the win himself.

Thankfully that’s practically all I have, and none of these kill the enjoyment at all, it’s just that if I was reviewing the script, these would be my editor’s notes. So let’s gush about the great stuff

What was BADASS about it Just to preface, this is not all in ranking, some of it just leads into other points and stuff.

The Cobra-fication of John Kreese The Kreese flashback was very well-done in showing the audience how Kreese became the man he is. There’s of course the multiple swerves which we will get to but we almost humanized Kreese at times especially when using it to keep Tory on the side of Cobra Kai. Kreese in present day too is just, so good. Easily one of the best villains in tv right now, he’s like a supervillain in the real world: conniving, slimy and manipulative, and unlike Johnny and Daniel he has awareness outside the 80s vacuum, as shown when he gets to Amanda too. Kreese will forever be the top villain of the franchise, and every episode he’s in he shows it. I also like to say I like how Cobra Kai’s origins are the other side of the coin to Miyagi Do’s. Both developed from a martial art in a foreign land, brought back to the homeland of the learner, the only difference is that Cobra Kai was born in war and never learned peace, while Miyagi Do was born in peace and had to adapt in war, this can also be the key factor on what could save Cobra Kai: adopting and adapting in peace, but Kreese is never gonna allow that because of how emotionally numb his regret, guilt and torture has shaped him to be like.

Terry Silver is coming back! When I saw the ponytailed soldier not get named I was a tad annoyed, shouting ‘just admit it’s Terry Silver!’ but boy did they swerve me XD Turns out Terry Silver was ‘Twigs’ all along. Not only that but the finale implies that he will return to back up Kreese in Season 4...he better still have that ponytail.

Miguel and Johnny return to their roots While ‘Eagle Fang’ is intentionally a ridiculous name, Johnny going back to zero allowed Johnny to restore not only his character but his paternal bond with Miguel on his road to physiotherapy. The moments of recovery - while a little fast tracked - felt earned and it also restored Miguel to his kinder and softer self, even to the point where Daniel feels comfortable around him to chat and get along with. Overall it’s good to root for the main characters, and between the shenaniganry of Johnny’s obscure methods and Miguel basically training Johnny to be a normal human being leads to some entertaining moments and some nicer character moments, especially when Miguel starts calling Johnny out on his bullshit.

The many faces of Trauma The theme of this season seems to be dealing with trauma, which of course works in line with the show theme of confronting the past. Sam dealt with trauma the most having suffered PTSD from the whole school fight and it was a good display of how the fear can paralyse you. While it does feel a little weird given how she won that fight it was definitely something to give her character. There was also the confrontation of Miguel’s injury by Sam, Tory, Johnny and Miguel himself, Johnny and Daniel’s downfall in the wake of their dojo war, Hawk and Demetri having to re-encounter Kyler, baggage came for every character and they had to handle it in different ways; Sam particularly went from being very aggressive to compensate before returning to focus after having to confront her fear of Tory.

The New Quiver To add to the long list of Kreese’s manipulations, Kreese decided to overhaul his class with people he better liked, which called for the return of Kyler as well as increasing the aggression of Tory and Hawk. His final masterstroke being twisting Robby’s mind and turning him to Cobra Kai, setting up our primary antagonists for Season 4.

Good Character Redemption Several characters get the chance to redeem themselves in Season 3. While some don’t take that opportunity, the ones we do get are Yasmin, Cousin Louie, Chozen and Hawk. Yasmin’s one was a little undeserved I think, but being less of a bitch isn’t a bad thing, Cousin Louie’s was small but his dedication to family was on positive display now rather than his over the top insufferableness in Season 1, we’ll get to Chozen in a minute because it’s Hawk’s redemption that gets the most impact. While he definitely doesn’t deserve instantaneous forgiveness for his actions in this and the past season, seeing Hawk finally wake up and realise that Kreese is using him and that his change has gone too far was a fantastic moment, I wasn’t even sure he would do it until I saw it myself, finally Eli is back.

Amanda falls down the 80s Rabbit Hole One of the common compliments of Daniel’s wife Amanda is that she seems to be the only sane person in the middle of this karate war. She at least tries to keep Daniel grounded to the real world things, but the incident at the Golf n Stuff completely turned Amanda to confront Kreese. So now Amanda is all in, because she’s had to deal with Kreese’s trickery and manipulations, while we will grieve the loss of Amanda being the ‘Straight Man’, it’s cool that she’s now in this whirlpool of Karate 80s Supremacy Wars.

Ali with an Eye for Psychology Elizabeth Shue’s return as Ali provided us with a lovely episode and a bit where Johnny and Daniel got to relive some of their greatest and worst hits over the first Karate Kid film. While I say making Ali not to blame for the break up with Daniel is a bit pandering the fact that she bridges Daniel and Johnny to be civil with each other is poetic, given how she’s technically the lynchpin of their entire rivalry. While I may not have liked how close Johnny was to making moves on her, getting the reconciliation through Ali was a nice touch and does complete that arc.

Daniel’s Okinawa Adventure The Okinawa portion was probably the second best highlight of the season. I’ve stated enough my love of Part II in previous posts but the nostalgia really hit it right. The return of Kumiko was absolutely beautiful (side for a moment where it kinda looked like she and Daniel were reconnecting, because as I said I like Amanda too so there’s conflicting feelings there) and her reading Miyagi’s letters was extremely emotional. The return of Chozen was great too, I was waiting for the part that he broke his stoicism and they picked a perfect moment for it, Chozen showed a lot more humility as an adult especially that lowkey note that he may’ve considered suicide. Also being happy to train Daniel the pressure point tactics and being relieved by Daniel’s forgiveness was nice to see. And it all comes around with Yuna, the girl Daniel saved from a typhoon, who fixes their sales dealership and thus Daniel’s company, thanks mostly to Kumiko. Overall, the Okinawa portion is great and Kumiko is great too.

WE FINALLY GOT DANIEL AND JOHNNY WORKING TOGETHER I almost put the LaRusso house fight as a down point because it didn’t reach the same heights as the school fight, but I had yet to see what the actual final fight of the season was and ho boy. We had already done the ‘false hope’ episode of Daniel and Johnny working together early in the season when they were chasing after Robbie, so having the ‘break bread’ moment near the end meant there was nothing to stop them to continue working together. Daniel getting the final fight aside - I think the roles should’ve been reversed and we saw Daniel’s reaction to his house and Miyagi’s picture being destroyed, go for Kreese, see Robby and then Johnny for the save for what he did to Miguel - the final third of the last episode was like a straight up video game in the best way. Got that character twist in Johnny seeing Robby drink the Kool-Aid before going straight for the boss fight, and it is like a video game boss fight: Stage 1 of health in the back room, Stage 2 of health in the main dojo having changed tactics and having to fight the side grunt then Stage 3 of Health outside the Dojo with Daniel. It’s all very well done and culminates in the setup for Season 4, Daniel and Johnny working together, the All Valley stage to determine whether Cobra Kai continues or if it disbands forever, that’s the way to end it.

What to hope for in Season 4? Season 4 can go either way because we don’t know if Season 5 will happen. If it does I do see Robby taking the All Valley to keep Cobra Kai alive, while we do have rivalries in Miguel/Robby, Sam/Tory, Hawk/Kyler it does seem like we just need a couple more rivals to get through, we’ll also see if we can set up feuds for Daniel and Silver so he cannot interrupt the Johnny/Kreese rivalry again - I think Johnny is owed that win. Expect to see Tory and Robby get together as the ‘from the block’ power couple and Daniel and Johnny to have some growing pains. I do wonder what their alliance name will be, I am very curious because they dangled it over us, I wonder if it’ll just be something simple like ‘Karate Kid Dojo’ but we’ll only find out next year.

Notwithstanding is the return of Twigs the Ponytail Silver, but I do wonder if Mike Barnes the Badboy of Karate will show up, alongside Jessica (Part 3′s kinda but not Love Interest) and Julie (from the Next Karate Kid). You have to wonder where Johnny and Carmen’s relationship will go to, I want to hope that Johnny doesn’t screw it up considering that like Amanda to Daniel she keeps him quite grounded. I also hope for more mending with Hawk, not only with the Miyagi-Do but with Johnny himself, because there is a lot of Johnny in Hawk. I wanna hope that there’s a chance for Tory and Robby to see sense but unless it’s the final season I would not hold my breath.

In the end the best thing to look forward to is that it will be awesome, given that it was greenlit a year in advance and continues to be a wave of nostalgic joy. Season 3 kicked off 2021 in a good way, striking first, striking hard and giving fans no mercy...but in a good way.

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schwinns2ndlaw · 7 years ago

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listening through a new brain (2015)

prologue: frogs have so much spring:

homeless lady/grace singing in the prologue reminds me about how she, being homeless and really having nothing, ties together this theme of mortality, and life’s strangeness, and being grateful for what you have despite the circumstances.

gordon hasn’t “finish[ed] one song,” so i wonder how long he’s been employed with mr bungee

rhoda and gordon’s bickering/conversation feels really familiar between them. i wonder how long they’ve been friends; i hope since college,,, i have a lot of love for rhoda being the pillar of Work Ethic and advice and support and being a little bit bossy

prologue: 911 emergency/i have so many songs:

from the second song bill finn sets up a picture of normal gay culture (ex: the reality of having to worry about hiv, “mr bungee’s homophobic”) and i have so much love for how candid and unapologetic he is about telling lgbt stories. he is gay and jewish and goddamn his work is gay and jewish and that’s beautiful

heart and music:

i love what they did with the transition from i have so many songs to heart and music with the pulse ox.

also i gotta love the classic bill finn rhyme of horses & divorces. fucking iconic

one thing here that distinguishes anb from his other works, is, i think, how the songs are structured as an album. though falsettos and a new brain are both sung through, a new brain’s core songs are much more apparent, the first of which being heart and music. also bc they’re the only ones on the obc album but still. it’s interesting to see how he handles transition songs in a new brain. imo, the transitions in anb are weaker than his other shows: falsettos is more continuous, and 25th annual putnam county spelling bee has a different format (there’s dialogue), plus has transitions for comedic purposes (the goodbye songs)

mother’s gonna make things fine:

mother’s gonna make things fine has a manic comedic quality to it and ana gasteyer pulls it off really well. i esp like her blocking for that part

trouble in his brain:

“the invincibility of gordon michael schwinn” is a really interesting line to me. mimi and rhoda both say it — it’s a well known thing among those who know gordon. i wonder if this ties into gordon’s well-known desire to have a [musical] legacy or if it’s applied to other parts of his life?

be polite to everyone:

be polite to everyone is kind of a jam for a hallucination. i like jonathan groff’s acting choices in it (in the boot) that further clarify that he’s hallucinating because im dumb and found anb at like 1am a while back and didn’t get things at first. i just… accepted that mr bungee was there tbh

i’d rather be sailing:

the instrumentals in i’d rather be sailing are so soothing. it’s 11pm and aaron lazar is singing me a lullaby and all is right in the world. god, what charming, gorgeous voice, and what stellar execution. i have such a soft spot for aaron lazar after his performance in a new brain; it’s a charming role and he pulls it off with such decorum and sincerity. also i just fucking love roger. okay i was going to analyze this bit but it’s just a really sweet love song and i sometimes think about how this is the closest thing that william finn has written to a love song for his partner, and like,,, Y’all I Love This Song

(also. the piano [though it’s not marked as a specific dynamic in the sheet music] high note he sings at the end is stellar.)

family history:

family history is honestly really funny. that’s all

gordo’s law of genetics:

i love the slight changes to this arrangement in the revival recording but i will not rest until “why is the smart son always the gay son?” “schwinn’s second law” is put back in the recording. i wonder why they cut that?

also the blocking in this part is super cute i love the rolling chair and jonathan’s conducting and “air drums”

and they’re off:

i binge listened to and they’re off and then set it as my alarm and now I’m a little tired of it and that makes me sad :’(

STILL it’s a BOP and i love the rhyming in it and everyone sounds so good. this song is overlooked in its exposition of mimi; it gives insight to the circumstances that shaped her as a person. and they’re off gives an explanation behind her anger at gordon’s fatalistic behavior

last note for and they’re off: groff’s vocals are great here - i can feel the love he has for this song and this score

roger arrives:

i love roger arrives for all of the character dynamics it brings

roger is: -loved by all (“hallelujah” - mimi, which, like, same) -looking fit -damned appropriate -a strong emotional pillar -a dreamboat, and that’s the tea!

roger and gordon’s first irl interaction is so comical and quirky and real. i’m a little peeved they omitted rogers “no” (and a few other phrases from the performance) in response to gordon asking if he left after he found out. the first time i listened through i thought roger might’ve actual left afterwards and was ready to throw hands

roger rolls with gordon’s insanity with such stride and :’)

the whole “he looks good”/“he looks pale”/“he looks better” showcases everyone’s different outlooks on the situation and god knows i live for characterization through song

ROGER’S LITTLE STINT/IMPLICATION IN “GO GET DINNER. ROGER HAS ARRIVED” IS FUNNY HONESTLY. there was a youtube performance i watched where the roger - idr which video - emphasized this joke more. it was hilarious and i wish aaron lazar had leaned into that a bit

just go:

i love how unique roger and gordon’s dynamic is. it feels quirky and unique and real and honestly. also the two get some gorgeous melodic lines and harmonies

“sometimes when you talk, i feel so damn woozy” roger wins at romance

tl;dr gordon: you will get these hands if you stay roger: love you too

mri tomorrow:

LET ME JUST TALK ABOUT “time to go to sleep. you’ll be brave as zorro” I HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER BILL FINN USED ZORRO AS A DESPERATE RHYME (PROBABLY) BUT I LOVE THE IDEA THAT ROGER IS AN OLD SCHOOL COMICS NERD

also in the boot, gordon just gives roger a /look/ after saying this and i love it. he probably uses outdated phrases of speech too

poor, unsuccessful, and fat:

JOSH LAMON IS A COMEDIC FORCE

“my sister is a receptionist” bill finn. where is gordon’s sister? what is she doing (besides being a receiptionist)? her brother’s in the hospital c’mon

“thank you for coming/ thank you for going” another example of this sort of underhanded humor. i like the sort of theme around Visitors in the hospital room and the people you surround yourself with in crisis

sitting becalmed in the lee of cuttyhunk:

sitting becalmed in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in the lee in

i desperately need someone to make an edit where “in the lee” never ends it’d be so unsatisfying and i’d love it

“oh yeah fuck it i hate the sun” jonathan groff does a really good job of portraying sarcastic characters,, this role suits him so well

HOW MUCH COMPLAINING DO YOU THINK ROGER HEARS ON THE DAILY THOUGH

“we got the picture” “i get the picture!/that wasn’t bad at all” i actually like this though??? like the first inklings of gordon’s epiphany at the end & him valuing life for what it is

this cast all has such great voices

crainiotomy:

I LOVE THAT FUN HOME WAS THE SHOW THE DOCTOR WENT TO IN THE REVIVAL. MY LESBIAN ASS IS SO HAPPY ALSO HOW OLD ARE THE DOCTOR’S KIDS IF THEY’RE SEEING CHICAGO

an invitation to sleep in my arms:

one of my favorite songs on the album.

the orchestrations behind it are really soothing and there are the most gorgeous harmonies at 2:27. desperately need someone to duet this with

whenever “mr music” is mentioned i think of like some 7 year old running around in a magician’s hat using a magic wand as a conductor’s stick

rhoda means so well

“i get distracted so damn easily” cut to gordon not being able to write a note of a song as soon as roger walks in. also cut to gordon forgetting what he was supposed to be writing also imo gordon probably has adhd

give roger and gordon more duets, or at least treasure the ones they get… that’s all i ask

ALSO I LOVE HOW FAMILY ORIENTED MIMI IS, like she is such an advocate for the belief that life is worth living and worth treasuring the important people in your life

also, the interactions between rhoda and mimi are some of my favorite

change:

such a good solo for high voices??? super fun and belty

i love that bill finn writes women just as dimensional as his other characters (though i wish he wrote more female-headed works i suppose. that’s just a hope of mine in general though)

the yes song:

the yes song takes me on like 7 different emotional arcs

“or when someone says “would you like to lose your virginity”/someone with whom you have no affinity” sondheim is SHAKING

“yes i will go to my grandparents to israel” is a line that can only really be appreciated by watching it goddamn

WHERE IS HIS SON??????

in the middle of the room (part i):

sometimes i think about how jonathan groff got into a car accident during the lyric “and i’m waiting for a car to come along and kill me”…. like how ICONIC???

ana sounds so concerned and on the border of falling apart in the recording i love talent

throw it out:

throw it out is a really versatile song,, like the tenderness at the beginning, the later comedic aspect of mimi desperately trying to find something to blame for gordon’s illness.

“‘HOW TO MEET A SAILOR’ GOOD SON” IM GENUINELY CRYING WITH LAUGHTER IG WE ALL KNOW HOW ROGER AND GORDON MET I LOVE A LYRIC

in the middle of the room (part ii)

this bit is so frantic. also it scared the shit out of me in the production when they brought out that drill oh my god

a really lousy day in the universe:

HEY THIS IS ILLEGAL ESP IN THE BOOT HE LOOKS LIKE HE’S ABOUT TO CRY

that aside, it’s a very pretty song

also, the fact that a new brain is partially autobiographical is wild??? like, bill finn’s partner had a therapy session with a homeless lady. what a wild conversation to relay back to him tbh

brain dead:

more commonly known as the resident banger of the anb ost

i don’t have a ton to say about this but lesbians (myself) do love a song that slaps

jonathan groff NAILS the phrase “what i am” it’s Gorgeous

the music still plays on:

mimi is such an incredible character don’t sleep on her wtfff

i think that the music still plays on gives a really interesting perspective both into mimi’s life, especially with the lines, “i was brash; i was bold,” and “married too young, and divorced far too old”

“the music still plays on… as my men depart” i think this line is interesting in that it emphasizes that mimi doesn’t want to be left alone. her divorce really affected her — it’s mentioned several times and she’s regretful. and right after it she feels stupid for feeling vulnerable. we see that later in the song, and the theme shifts into moving on, as the music (& life) still plays on

don’t give in:

hey so don’t give in is so fucking cursed both because of the beginning and jonathan groff mumbling “spaghetti”

you boys are gonna get me in such trouble:

RICH IS UHHH UNDERRATED

love the sound effects

title is Too Fucking Long

i’d rather be sailing (reprise):

“i choose to live” is such a powerful statement. it actually reminds me of the foreward to one of our choral pieces, named after the poem “invictus”

the lyrics “i am the master of my fate. i am the captain of my soul" from “invictus”, and the remark “just as death is inevitable, so is life” remind me so strongly of this reprise

the homeless lady’s revenge:

“i feel about eight”/ “don’t hyperventilate out on the street, normal, lively, and sweet” i love A Dynamic

“the life is wonderful”s are so nice… their voices blend so nicely

“half these books with my name on the cover”/“some with the name of your lover” i can’t believe mimi threw out ROGER’s books too oh my god. also a shared library…. sweet

roger’s attempt to persuade grace is very charming and her reaction is priceless and i love it so much. grace is such a chaotic force (insert prayer hands emoji x100)

also gordon’s “what!?”

the vocal arrangements in this is really nice in that everyone has in character, funny reactions, but the song still has lovely melodies and still feels like a song, not a filler. william finn really out here writing conversational theater at its peak. i definitely like these songs of his (like roger arrives, an invitation) because they don’t really get old and are so full of character

time:

“i give you time to value what you’ve found”

also let roger say “my love” not “my friend” oh my godddd

time and music:

yet again, a new brain showcases the beauty that is jonathan groff’s and aaron lazar’s vocal blend

and wow the vocal arrangements during the last half of time and music! holy shit! and it doesn’t even let up during the end of i feel so much spring!

i love the end of this show; its message is so hopeful honest

tl;dr listen to a new brain and talk to me about anb i have so many thoughts

#a new brain #william finn #musicals #jonathan groff #anb #mine #nobody asked for this but here i am.... desperate for anb content so im making it myself

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anditendshowyoudexpect · 7 years ago

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these two look so good side by side that i can’t help shipping John Smith and Wyatt Prince, whoever the fuck he is - and i’m not even sure they’re going to share a scene. so different and both so handsome, it melts my heart. but poor Jason, he can’t even really talk about his character before Amazon finally lets us see the new season, and Rufus can talk about John Smith for hours - and i can listen to him talking about John Smith for hours (or to him talking period). once RS gets going, there’s no stopping him, he digs into Obergruppenfuehrer (Oberstgruppenfuehrer!) and into the relevance of TMITHC so deep and with such gusto, it’s contagious. i mean, look at Jason watching him. it’s the same look i usually have, watching RS, minus the sheepish grin.

i can’t make a full transcript, because i can hardly make out most interviewers’ questions, but that’s okay, the answers are pretty self-sufficient.

JOM: disclaimer up front, because there’s just a lot of things i can’t talk about, unfortunately. my journey really on this has been about how i fit into this incredible world that has already been created, you know, i had the time. and i really enjoyed watching season 1 and season 2, i watched them sort of like a fan would, you know, i binge watched them, so i’m really just finding a way into the world for my character. the writers have come up with quite a rich backstory, so i’m able to use that, especially as the story deepens and he does and says certain things that will affect the actions and the choices are made. i can say though that he’s not a Nazi, y'know, he’s Irish, his name is Wyatt Price, or at least that’s one of his names, and we discover him in the Neutral Zone. but he won’t stay in the Neutral Zone forever. so that’s just about all i can tell you.

RS: he’s not someone who’s ambitious for ambition’s sake, and for me that’s very important, that distinction. he’s someone who… for reasons that he believed were the right reasons, no matter how misinformed or skewed that was, he picked the side that he thought was the safest for his country and then realized, quite over a bit of time, that he’d aligned himself to something really terrible. his way of coping with that was just to pull the mask tighter. so, he has these feelings and he realizes, at the same time that he’s going higher and higher up in that world, his downs only grow because of what’s happening in his life, but the downs that were always there. and one reason why it’s an advantage for him to be more powerful - he has no choice but to get more powerful, because of what’s going on in his family, his genetic makeup, they’re coming for him, unless he makes himself completely safe. so he has to, in one way, align himself ever closer with the machine that’s asking to take his children one at a time. so he doesn’t feel good about that, it’s very very complex for him. so, that’s the journey that kind of continues, he continues (makes gestures indicating upward movement)… and for me, the more powerful he gets, the more difficult it is to find drama - because you don’t want him to be so powerful that he can just fix it all. but there’s always someone more powerful, there’s always someone out there to get him, and as far as i’m concerned, i hope there always will be, otherwise it gets a bit dull, you know.

RS: when i first read the first episode of season 1, i had grave doubts. because he seemed so… i mean, it didn’t have a scene with anyone who wasn’t hanging upside down in chains, which is not normally a good sign. and… i mean, it might be on a weekend, but generally not in a TV show. and the fact that he’d been added compounded my suspicion that this might be a kind of one-dimensional creation to kind of anchor the evil of the show. so i spoke to Frank Spotnitz, he was in Paris at the time and he said, well, actually there is a second episode already - because it was written as a two-hour first night. and in that second episode, you saw him with his family, relatively, you know, calm, a father, you saw a gun fight from his perspective. and i was told about these potential upcoming stories, and what appealed to me was the idea of him as a kind of an every man who’d taken the wrong path. and nazism, as far as i’m concerned, is designed to bring out the worst in people. not just bad guys, but it takes people, and it makes Nazis of them. and it gives them opportunities to look away from certain truths and blah blah blah and that’s how it can happen. and i’ve always pushed for that, and that’s what’s been… and occasionally scripts would come in and they’d veer towards classic villain, and i always try to find something to… you know. it’s a balance.

I: i watched the trailer for the new season, and what i find interesting is you’re introducing this concept of a multiverse…

RS: i think it’s more of a clip that a trailer, isn’t it? just to be clear, this doesn’t represent the whole show. i mean, i’d love it if it did, but there’s other people and stuff… apparently.

I: but you’re struggling with accepting what’s been told to you. is that a way of keeping the anchor of reality?

RS: absolutely! i mean, if i… you know, sometimes in scripts, especially if there’s any genre side to it, you can go into a thing when people accept the jargon as a given, they don’t do what they would do in real life. i mean, you watch a vampire movie… it’s different now, since Tarantino. before then, people would say, oh, it’s a vampire. vampire? what’s a vampire? and you say, what fucking world are you from? have you not seen films? by the same, it’s the opposite that’s true, you know, when someone introduces interdimensional travel to someone from the 1960s. they’re not going to have seen all these shows, they’re not going to know, they haven’t seen… Lost. so it’s very important to get out of the shortcuts, avoid the shortcuts of writing and of acting, because, you know, you’re going to take the audience in there.

I: as actors, does working on a show like this make you look at current events, the political events differently, in a different light?

JOM: well, it makes us look at them in a different light but i think the idea is to remind people… well, the idea is just to make a good show, but i mean, i think the show serves to remind people that these things could still get worse, and this could still happen, and why we’re still talking about Nazis. i wish we were talking about Nazis as if they were something that just happened a long time ago…

RS: yes, i often say to people, like, you know… people say, oh, your show’s really current, and i say, well, i could do with being in a less current show in a better world, frankly, i’m not that keen on being of the moment in my TV choices… but i think what’s also very useful about this show, it’s from my perspective, is to tell the story of how you can bit by bit, incrementally get used to horrors and distract yourself with the minutiae of your life, and this way these things are possible, you know. the natural ability we have, which is, for a good reason, to get used to stuff, to find our balance… if that becomes too strong, then horrors are possible.

JOM: when horror becomes mundane… it’s very dangerous.

RS: absolutely, that’s how Germany… you know, Germany did not contain all of the worst people in the world in a particular period. it could happen anywhere, because people incrementally… look at what people get used to! look at what is shocking one day and then, “ah, yeah, it happened again”, to - doesn’t even come up in a conversation. that happens in a matter of… weeks. you go from the worst thing you’ve ever heard to not even mentioning it in a room. and that’s just how it’s current, i suppose that’s how. but it was true in 1962 when he wrote it and it’s still unfortunately very true now.

and some goofiness

JOM: yeah, i played Batman in a few of the DCU original animation feature films… it’s completely different, you know, standing in front of a microphone, using completely different drawers of your toolkit than when trying to play a character in flesh and blood

RS: different tools from your back belt

JOM: yes (chuckles), thank you, Ruf

#rufus sewell #tmithc #john smith #lord oberstgruppenfuehrer #jason o'mara #transcript #nycc2017

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shegotguiltallinhergrin · 7 years ago

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22 things I wish I knew before I was 22

1. Find solace in your alone time. I know you don’t like clichés, but the only real person you have, IS yourself. Nobody will ever know you like you do. It does not matter if you live with 7 siblings or if your social group consists of 25 people you speak to everyday, when the sun sets and the streets turn quiet, the only person you’re left with is your raw self. Stop going out every single night just to get away from your thoughts. Embrace them. Tackle them. Social standards dictate that loneliness is bad and unhealthy but at 22 I’ve only just fallen in love with loneliness. Eating along. Sleeping alone. Going to coffee shops alone. Your mind will become your best friend.

2. Lying to the mother is never on the agenda but if it shields her from sleepless nights and worrisome days, then don’t be sorry for it.

3. South Asian mentality will predispose you to only assume a very few career choices are worthy to be appreciated. Doctors, engineers, lawyers etc. It is also those very few career choices that make for good marriage proposal material: “he’s 25 and he’s got a really good job mA, he is a barrister”. Break out of these cultural tendencies as soon as possible.

4. No matter how tired you are, don’t go to sleep with make-up on. Your skin is not going to be happy in the morning and then you’re going to wonder 2 days later why your skin is acting up and then you’ll wear more make up to cover it and then you’ll cry and it will just become an endless vicious cycle.

5. Read. Read. Read. You used to love reading. What happened? Whether it’s for a first class answer in university or just inquisitively. Whether you want to drown in non-fictional facts or simply fall in love with a fictional world. Just read. It will broaden your mind and make you feel at peace sometimes.

6. Don’t be a statistical “woman” driver. If you’re going to have a car crash, then so be it driving like a fucking racer boy.

7. Check your bank account more often.

8. Remember, keeping secrets makes you your own person; it gives you something that is solely your own knowledge and by not telling your best friend, it will keep you sane sometimes. Like who you spoke to til 4am last night or how you set your toaster on fire. It’s the little things sometimes that help you draw a line between who you are and what the world is asking you to be.

9. Please try not to adopt a cat because it will die one day and you will be heartbroken beyond repair. Also cat food is expensive so please stop feeding every cat you see.

10. Call your friends once in a while, they miss you.

11. Stop driving so much at stupid o’clock when you’re angry/upset, it’s not helping anyone. You’re just wasting fuel and you know it never makes you feel better.

12. For God’s sake, start wearing your heart on your sleeve. You’re so closed off from people that you have no idea of the consequences it entails. You can’t understand that letting people into your life can sometimes be a good thing. I know that you think you’re saving yourself from heartbreak and misery, but by being reserved, you’re doing the opposite of what you hope for. Love/lust is definitely not part of the independency that you so desperately want, but would it hurt to ask someone how their day was? Show an interest in their life? Maybe it would be nice to find out that they cannot stand sushi or that they take 2 sugars in their tea but 3 when no one is looking? Hmm? Also, cut men some slack. Apologise more often and let them buy you pretty things if they want to.

13. Having/obtaining a degree/masters might make your parents/future arranged marriage in law’s happy, but if it doesn’t make you happy, don’t do it. People need pharmacists, but they also need photographers and barbers and graphic designers and Asda managers. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel crap for your choice of education or choice of no education.

14. Never buy the books on your recommended university reading list. eBay them. Depop them. Library them. Maybe even sell your pussy in return for them. But don’t buy them.

15. Don’t be a fucking hero. If you’re not physically/mentally well, it’s not your responsibility to take on someone who is physically/mentally unwell. It’s never your responsibility. Get your shit together first. Also, stop being there for everyone when you know you couldn’t call them at 3am if you needed a lift to the hospital. Stop being so nice to people that don’t deserve your kindness.

16. People do things for their own selfish, selfless, stupid or even evil reasons. They do not owe you an explanation for any of those reasons.

17. There is always someone else. Always. It’s never exclusive. Never. Be smart. Forever.

18. Instagram is ridiculously bad for your self-esteem. You don’t need to scroll down picture after picture of what you think the “perfect female” looks like, whilst contemplating whether you should get a nose job, lip fillers, laser hair removal. I know you have this alternative “ideal” personality in your mind of what you should be. How you should look. How you should feel. But you’re fine. You’re a solid 6/10. Get off social media and go do something productive.

19. Boys are the fucking worst. Manipulative and unapologetic. Users and abusers. Liars and cheats. But so are females. Don’t ever, ever underestimate the damage a female can do.

20. It’s so important to pay attention to your siblings at home. Whether it’s asking how school was today or what they did when they went out with their friends. You need to pay attention to their lives and play an active role in theirs.

21. Binge watching a TV series from 9pm to 6am and then waking up at 3pm is not an adult thing. Establish a normal sleeping pattern. Please.

22. Whenever something negative happens, your life comes to a grinding halt and you’re so bad at dividing attention to things that actually matter. But everything carries on. Sheep don’t fall off the hill they’re standing on. Cows don’t suddenly become good at camouflaging. Grass doesn’t just stop growing. People don’t stop walking. Cars don’t just stop for a man who is driving 100mph. There are no sudden power cuts because of your bad mood. Trains don’t just randomly stop in the middle of nowhere whenever you have an argument. Transcription and translation don’t stop from happening every time you’re upset. People don’t stop their conversations because you hurt yourself, and hurricanes certainly don’t pause for a second until you get over a thought. A drug addict doesn’t stop in the middle of snorting cocaine. Baptized citizens and hardcore atheists don’t stop in the middle of their argument because they sense that somewhere in the world a 22 year old female is contemplating religion. Not everyone dramatically changes their moods whenever your mum calls you useless. Neurons still work, so do busses. Coffee shops carry on making coffee, and take-aways carry on supplying high cholesterol. Nothing ever changes, nothing stops. And neither should you. Breathe and get over it. There’s so much more to life then you believe there is right now.

#turning 23 soon and the thought of being older has taken its toll on me #there are a lot more things but 22 seemed like a nice amount #personal

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athousandmilez-blog · 7 years ago

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Secrets Secrets → 014

Tagging: Miles Sterling & Nick Vaughn.

Timeframe: Friday, December 1, 2017.

Location: Miles’ apartment.

General Notes: Miles is back in his own apartment. When Nick comes over for another attempt to get through Stranger Things season 2, their best kept secrets are shared.

Miles realized that, in hindsight, it probably would have been smarter to stay at his mom’s house for just a little bit longer — if not for himself, then for her. They were both having a hard time. But he hated being so dependent on her and stressing her out. Plus, he needed to get back on track at some point; it might as well have been sooner rather than later. So he was back in his own apartment with Scout, promising Quinn that she’d be informed if he needed absolutely anything. And then there was Nick, who was also worried but never pushed him, which he appreciated more than words could say. Miles liked being with him, though, of course, so he wasn’t alone too often. He liked to have Nick there, sometimes to keep Scout company while he napped (which was still often) or just to hang out with him. He was pretty sure Nick liked it, too. He still had his own stuff going on that Miles wanted to be there for him through. So it was a nice thing they had going on, especially considering their whole take-it-slow thing. As far as Miles was concerned, that just meant they weren’t seeing other people, and when they were together there was no hesitation with anything. And that was just fine with him. Now Nick was here because they were finally going to get through the second season of Stranger Things. They had plenty of time with Miles out of work during the day, and Nick mostly worked nights. “I swear season three is gonna come out before we finish this one,” Miles commented as he entered the living room where Nick was, cupping the mug of hot chocolate he’d just made in his hands. “Also, there’s totally hot chocolate in the cabinet that I didn’t think to offer you because I’m a terrible host.” He shrugged at his own words, sitting down and putting the hot mug down on a coaster on the table in front of him. “Let’s go ahead and say it just slipped my mind. You can’t get mad at me because I have a concussion.”

Nick: Things had been surprisingly normal once Miles got home from staying at his Mom’s house. As normal as they could be, anyway. Nick had been hanging out with him a lot lately, and it was almost like how things used to be. There was no weirdness or weird passive aggressive comments toward each other. Miles was doing well, and so they’d just been hanging out. It was a little different now, but it was good. He wanted to be there for Miles in case he needed him, but being around him also helped to keep his mind from racing. It was a win win. Nick grinned when he came out to join him, and shrugged. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Just more to binge.” He wouldn’t mind watching ten straight seasons of Stranger Things. Provided he didn’t have a life, anyway, which he unfortunately did. “I’m not offended.” His eyes followed as Miles set his down on the table. “I’ll just drink some of yours when you’re not paying attention.” He teased. “Saves me a trip.” He wasn’t really kidding about that.

Miles shrugged. He had a point there. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But we can hardly find time for this one, so I don’t know how well that would work. Unless we both quit our jobs.” It wasn’t like his job paid incredibly well anyway. But he still needed it so he wouldn’t starve. More so Scout didn’t starve, though. “Ew. I don’t want your cooties,” he teased right back, grimacing in mock disgust at his words. Though in reality he wouldn’t notice, or even care if he did. “Luckily for you, I don’t think what I have is contagious, though.” He loves hanging out with Nick. It was easy, just like it had been before everything went to shit. He was just glad things could be okay again, albeit in a slightly different way. He pressed play on the episode, finally ready to sit through it and finish off the season to be on the same level as the rest of the world. “Whenever I watch this show, I think about how much better off these kids are than me. Like, we were pretty awful when we were twelve, you know? Even if we could dance.” He shrugged. “These kids already have it made, though. My future career plans are not quite as exciting.”

Nick laughed at that. “I wish we could get paid for watching Stranger Things. I know I’d quit my job so fast.” He mused our loud as he leaned back into the cushions of the couch. Nick used to like his job okay. It had his flaws, but he had friends there and he was good with the clients. Lately, though, it had been more and more difficult to get through his shifts. So the idea of being able to bum around all day and still have money in the bank? He was in. “You’ve never complained about my cooties before. Maybe from now on we should just keep our distance so you don’t get infected.” He was only joking, of course, something enhanced by the wagging of his eyebrows. He turned his head to the commotion on screen. “Yeah, I know.” He paused. “At least we had dance though... and I had dreams. I wanted to be an alien hunter, so these kids are pretty much getting to live my dream.” He was serious. “What are your future plans? You know it’s not too late to go to acting school and join them.”

Miles nodded. “I mean, technically there are jobs that are sort of like that. Like...video game testers and stuff. Is that a real thing? It’s gotta be, right?” If not, maybe he should make it a thing. He was all for playing video games all day. “You’re still at the bar or whatever? How’s that going?” He was genuinely curious. Nick didn’t really talk about work much. Granted, Miles didn’t either, but tutoring wasn’t very exciting. “Fine, but don’t come crawling back to me when Murphy won’t watch Cupcake Wars with you.” It somehow always went back to Cupcake Wars. “I want to teach. English, probably.” It was the one thing he could really stick with. “You know, you could still be an alien hunter. You just gotta learn some astrophysics or some shit to go into space.”

Nick: “I think so. After we’re done with Stranger Things remind me to check Craigslist for job listings.” That’s how he found his last job, after all. “Yeah, I am.” It was always awkward for him when Miles asked about his job, because it wasn’t really something he was purposely trying to hide. He just didn’t know how to tell him at this point, and now that they were doing... whatever it is they were doing, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d take it. “It’s been going alright. I asked them to reduce my hours for the next couple of weeks so I could take a break.” He shrugged. “Less money, but it’s nice not having to work every night.” He shrugged. “How’s your thing going?” He asked curiously. “Not my fault Murphy thinks he’s cooler than me. He’s wrong, but he still thinks that. Maybe I’ll just put out an ad for other Cupcake Wars fans.” He wouldn’t. By this point, it was practically their thing. “Really? Not dance?” He asked, even if being a dance teacher kind of sucked because you’d have to deal with all those competitive kids. “That’d be cool though. I could see you doing that.” And he could. Nick thought he’d be a good teacher. If he was this patient with him, he’d be good with a room full of kids. “Yeah, maybe.” He grinned. “Or I could just start my own YouTube channel where I amature-ly hunt for them. That way I don’t have to go to school.”

Miles raised an eyebrow. “That’s not too trustworthy. But hey. You do you.” He wouldn’t judge his choices. He nodded as Nick talked about his job. “What do you do there? Are you secretly a bartender and you’ve just never told me you have that skill?” He was teasing, but he totally would give him shit for not making him good drinks all the time. “Eh. Maybe dance, but not as like my day job, you know? That seems like more of a side gig for me. It’d be fun, though. You could teach dance too, you know.” He laughed at that, nodding firmly. “I’d subscribe. Let me know when that becomes a thing. You can even have my pretty face as a guest star. I need to be compensated, though.”

Nick: “It’s safe, all the serial killers on Craigslist are already caught.” He smiled at his own joke. “Um, no. Not exactly, but I’ve helped out at bar before.” He fathered his thoughts. “I’m an... entertainer, I guess. I keep the customers happy and talk to them so they are more likely to drink more and tip bigger.” He said honestly, because that was the honest to Gods truth. “It’d be a good side job for sure. I guess I could do it. We could go into business together if we wanted to. But I don’t want to get competitive and hate you again like when we were kids. That’d be kind of sad.” Nick laughed. “Will do, you can be the guest star soundtrack. As long as your pretty face gets me subscribers — you’re in. What do you want? ‘Cause all I can pay you is hilarious jokes and probably Oreos.”

Miles: “Your logic is flawed, but I’ll let you find out for yourself. You’re never gonna learn if you’re not taught a lesson.” Nick’s description of his job had Miles quirking eyebrow, and he turned his attention away from the screen to focus on his friend. “An entertainer? What, are you a stripper or something?” he asked jokingly, the laugh evident in his voice. “Well, that was serious business. High school musicals are no joke.” It was true. “Hm. I think I’ll decide on a regular basis. You know, whatever I’m feeling that day in return for my appearance. Because it’s going to be a big deal. Everyone’s going to count down until your Miles Mondays.”

Nick: “Well I’m not dead yet.” But he’s come close to it a few times, so perhaps Miles had a point. He was hoping Miles wouldn’t question him any more about his job, but as he literally hit the nail on the head, Nick realized he should have been more vague. He wanted to deny it just because he was used to denying a lot of things, but he told himself to stop overthinking it. To be honest because he said he would. He didn’t answer for a beat, before nodding slowly. “Yes.” He risked a glance over at him in an attempt to gauge his reaction, and he could only hope that it wasn’t bad. But if Miles wanted to, like, keep hanging out with him like this — he needed to know so he could decide for himself if this was a dealbreaker or not. It would be for a lot of people. “I guess that seems reasonable. Just let me know an hour beforehand so I can scrounge together the payment. Miles Monday’s? That’s cute, but about that... I think we need to change your name for the channel. I’m sorry but Miles just isn’t edgy enough for an alien hunter sidekick.”

Miles: “Let’s keep it that way, yeah?” It was a genuine request, despite the joking subject matter. He noticed Nick’s pause and then his confirmation of Miles’ guess. Immediately, Miles assumed he was kidding, because it was Nick. Why wouldn’t he joke about something like that? But he didn’t laugh, just looked at him, and that was when it dawned on him. “Oh.” That was why Nick never talked about work or was vague about it. He was...a stripper. And Miles was going to be the last person on earth to judge him, of course, but he certainly didn’t expect it. “Sorry. That was rude.” More than anything, he was glad Nick was honest with him. That meant more than anything else. “You...you really like, take your clothes off? And dance for people?” He hoped he wasn’t offending him. He was just caught off guard, mostly. At the comment about his name, Miles laughed rather loudly. The irony in that statement got to him. If only Nick knew that the reason he went by Miles was because his actual first name was even dorkier. Then it hit him, the realization that Nick had told him something he obviously didn’t bring up to just anybody, and the thought alone made his heart swell. Enough that the smile slipped off his face, and he wondered if now was the right time to share his secret that no one else knew. “It’s...funny you bring that up,” he said quietly. “And in the name of being open and honest, I have to tell you that—that I haven’t been entirely honest with you about something.”

Nick: “I’ll try my best.” He replied, and it was a joke but he also didn’t want to die. “Yeah...” He said in return, because he wasn’t sure what else to say at that. Was that a bad oh? Nick couldn’t be sure. Miles was clearly shocked, that much was evident. But when he apologized, Nick relaxed some. He didn’t look disgusted, and that was more than he could ask for. He risked a joke. “No... I dance for compliments. The money is just a bonus.” He smiled slightly before answering for real. “But yeah. Sometimes I get the occasional person who’s lonely and just wants to talk to me. But for the most part, it’s the other stuff.” If Miles had questions, he’d suck it up and answer them. He knew it was a tough thing for people to wrap their minds around. That’s why he didn’t bother telling them at all. At Miles’ admission, he raised an eyebrow and angled his body more to face him. “Yeah? Who did you kill?” He asked teasingly. “Or are you just married?”

Miles could tell Nick was feeling hesitant, understandably so. Opening up to people about that sort of stuff was hard, when it was something most people would certainly judge for. “Well, compliments are good, too.” He grinned. “Hey, a job’s a job. And you must be good at it, right?” A strange compliment, perhaps. “But thanks for telling me. I think it’s cool you can stick with something you’re good at.” He paused. “Do you go by a different name there?” He certainly wasn’t going to be able to judge for that specifically. There was his own thing now, and Miles didn’t know why he was so nervous. It wasn’t as serious as those things Nick was jokingly suggesting. But to him, it was a big deal. “No one knows,” he started, shaking his head slightly. He looked Nick in the eye. “I mean, other than my parents. I’m pretty sure even other people in my family have forgotten by now. Not even...Greg or Helen or anybody.” He paused and took a breath. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if he hadn’t been hiding it his entire life. But it was the time to be honest. “My name isn’t Miles.” He shrugged. “I mean, it is but it—it’s my middle name.” It felt so weird saying it out loud to someone. “They just called me Miles when I was really little so I wouldn’t get confused with my dad.” He bit down on the inside of his cheek.

Nick felt relief sink in the moment Miles spoke again. He wasn’t reacting negatively like he thought he would. He was being nice... and strangely supportive. And Nick didn’t know why he thought he’d be anything other than that. He hasn’t judged him for that before, or anything really. That’s why he was his best friend, wasn’t it? He laughed loudly at that comment and shrugged again. “I don’t know if I’m good, but I guess if I were bad they would have gotten rid of me by now.” His amusement slowly wore off. Not because he was worried or scared, but he was embarrassed. “Um, yeah. I don’t know if you want to hear it though. It’s kind of embarrassing.” That was a given. He stopped talking and listened as Miles told him no one else knew his secret. And it kind of worried him; it was obviously a big deal to him. He tried to follow along as he explained, and he didn’t entirely understand at first. “Okay. So you’re not Miles.” He repeated, a smile finding its way back on his face as he began to understand, though it wasn’t mean spirited by any means. “Okay, so you’re named after your Dad...” His grin grew without him being able to control it. “His first name or middle name?”

Miles nodded. “Right. So you’ve gotta be good. Does this mean you’ll strip for me if I throw ones at you? Not even in a sexual way. I just wanna critique you.” Now he was sort of just being an asshole, but oh well. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me. But I’m totally going to find out eventually.” He could promise that. Talking about his name was a whole other story, though, and the genuine downright happiness on Nick’s face made him blush. He could feel his neck and his ears and cheeks get warm as they obviously flushed red. “His middle name is Miles. He’s a junior.” He sighed. “My grandpa is George Miles Sterling, Sr. My dad is George Miles Sterling, Jr.” Miles paused, meeting Nick’s eyes. “Say hello to the third. George Miles Sterling...the third.”

Nick: “I didn’t know you were an expert in the art of stripping. Are you sure you’re qualified?” He knew Miles was teasing him now, but he wasn’t offended. Just mildly embarrassed. “But it depends on how many ones you’ve got.” Nick raised an eyebrow at him. “Good luck because it’s a secret to everyone.” He was only kidding, and he almost told him, but then the secret about Miles’ own name came out and distracted him instantly. He could see Miles blush and knew he was embarrassed, but Nick couldn’t keep the dumb grin off his face. “I...love that.” He was being 100% honest. “Why do you hate it so much? It’s sweet, it’s a family name. George Miles Sterling. Huh.” He paused, still mulling it over. “—-Can I call you George now?”

Miles: “I mastered the art when I got that sponge bath in the hospital. Did I forget to mention that I gave her a lap dance afterward?” So clearly Miles was very qualified. “I have quite a few. So that’s a yes, got it.” Miles groaned, burying his head in his hands, despite the fact that Nick was telling him how much he loved the name. Of course he liked that it was a family name, but he was Miles now. Not George. “It’s just so lame,” he muttered, finally lifting his head again. “Plus, it’s been so long. My whole life I’ve been Miles. George is just like...my lame middle name. Except it’s my first name. I think I was very briefly called George, but it was just too confusing for everybody.” At that, Miles glared at him. But it didn’t last very long. “You can call me George if you tell me the name you use.”

Nick: “You did fail to mention that. Maybe when you’re all healed up I could talk to my manager about giving you a try. I’ll need a replacement when I find a job as a video game tester.” He rolled his eyes at him playfully. He knew Miles would joke about this forever now. But somehow he still didn’t regret telling him. “I don’t think it’s lame at all. I like it.” He didn’t know why, but he did. Miles suited him, sure. But in an odd way so did George. “I guess I can see why you’d be used to Miles though.” It’s not the same thing, but he hated when people called him Nicholas. So he guessed it was kind of similar. After a small beat, he answered him. “Dalton Oliver.” He would have told him anyway. Nick leaned forward and without overthinking it, he pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth that landed half on his cheek. But he hadn’t been aiming anywhere in particular. “So George it is.”

Miles: “Sounds good. It’s better that we don’t work together, anyway. You know, because I’m obviously better at the whole stripping thing. So I don’t want any animosity between us.” He had certainly missed joking like this, that was for sure. “Well, I think it’s lame.” Not that Miles wasn’t, but it was better. When he finally told him the name, Miles grinned. “Okay. Now that is a name.” He wasn’t sure where it came from, but the idea of Nick using an entirely different alias at his job amused him. He was still grinning when Nick kissed him, and that alone had Miles laughing lightly, his emotions suddenly very much heightened. “I might let it slide, but I can’t promise I won’t throw in a Nicky every once in a while in retaliation.”

Nick: “Yeah, good thing. I’d hate to have to live up to your skills. You know, you’re going to have to come up with a name for yourself so your crazy fans won’t be able to stalk you.” It had been too long since they’d been able to joke and just hang out without being low key mad at each other. It was so nice, and Nick couldn’t be more happy about it. “I know you think it is. But think of it this way, you could totally start a solo George Michael cover artist career under your real name. And everyone would just think you’re trying to be clever. No one would know.” He was still teasing, and he gently slapped his arm to show him as much. “It’s a name.” He nodded. He could have chosen worse. Some of his coworkers had insane names. “Oh god, Nicky.” He grimaced lightly. “You know what, fine. It’s worth it. Do your worst, George.” He wouldn’t use it a lot. Clearly it bothered him. Nick still wasn’t over it though, this was the best thing he’d heard all day.

Miles laughed, shaking his head at their ridiculous banter. Not that he didn’t love it, though. “Well, I would have used Dalton, but...I think it’s taken.” He grinned at Nick, nudging him with his shoulder. Needless to say he wasn’t paying any attention to Stranger Things once again. “Too bad I can’t sing. Otherwise, sure. Perfect plan.” He nodded firmly to emphasize it. But when Nick actually called him George, rather than just threatening it, Miles groaned, tipping his head back. “You’re annoying,” he muttered. “I changed my mind. I can’t take it. No amount of Nicky’s in the world could make up for that.” It really wasn’t that bad and he knew it. He was just dramatic. And he certainly preferred to just be Miles. “Keep it up and I won’t hesitate to call you Dalton in public. I’m sure some of your...customers are running around places we frequent.”

Nick would maybe regret telling him his actual alias later on, because now Miles could retaliate when he called him George. He really screwed himself. “You could do Dalton Double and only come in when I call out. Like an understudy. Just don’t be surprised if people constantly compare you to me.” The conversation itself was ridiculous, but that was a good thing. It was easy to talk to Miles, even when the topic was embarrassing. “Dang. I could’ve been your manager and everything.” Nick grinned again as Miles groaned in annoyance. “Okay... Okay. Fair enough.” He made a face at the thought. There was nothing worse than when someone recognized him. Definitely not on his list of top ten funnest occurrences. “Blackmail isn’t fair you know. You don’t want to be there when someone recognizes me. It’s awkward and sometimes they ask for private dances to be funny and no one laughs.”

Miles: “No, I need my own brand. I’ll think of something. Maybe if I ever actually consider becoming a stripper. But I’ll leave that to you for now.” Miles shrugged. “You can still be a manager. Maybe for my video game testing business.” He was totally going to go far with that. “Then no more George and the blackmail don’t even be necessary. Give and take here, my friend.” Miles laughed at the thought of it. He couldn’t picture that situation. And he thought it was awkward when he ran into someone he tutored or someone he had gone to school with. “That’s not funny because you know they’re not kidding even if they claim to be. Maybe I should be your manager. Or bodyguard. Keep the creeps away. Clearly I’m in top physical condition to do that.” Except he wasn’t at all intimidating as a six-foot-two lamp post.

Nick: “Fair enough.” He laughed and nodded. “As long as we split the money 50/50, I’m in.” Nick realized he’d probably called Miles George more in the past five minutes than he had been called in his whole life, so he figured he’d give him a break. He wasn’t a complete asshole, even if he did like the name. “Okay, Okay. No George.” At least not all the time. “Which means no Dalton for you.” He laughed and nodded as his friend spoke. “Some are kidding. Some aren’t. A manager would be nice though. But I’m not sure if you’d be up for making sure all of those lonely Moms keep their distance. They get crazy. You might get mauled.”

Miles shook his head. “I don’t know if I’m down with 50/50. We’ll talk.” It was his business venture, after all. Miles nodded at that. “Deal. No George, no Dalton. Anytime I hear a George it’s fair game, though.” He paused. “In all seriousness, I’m glad I could tell you. Now you’re part of an exclusive club of very few people on the planet who know my secret.” He shuddered slightly at the idea of such a situation going down. “Man. When you put it like that then I don’t know. Is it always moms?”

Nick let out another laugh and nodded before he got slightly more serious. “I’m glad you could tell me too. I promise I won’t let the secret slip in front of anybody. I wouldn’t blow your cover like that.” He promised. “For the record, I’m glad I could tell you mine too. Only a few people know what I really do — Murphy’s unfortunately one of them ‘cause he saw glitter on my shirt one day and started asking questions. So I better not catch you two talking _shit_.” He was joking, he didn’t care because Murphy already talked shit about it to his face. He was used to it by now, just not public. “No... sometimes it’s Dads. But they’re just sad. I get a lot of party groups too. Our biggest tippers are for sure the Mom’s though. They get the most into it.”

Miles: “Thank you. I appreciate that.” Miles reached forward for the mug he’d long since forgotten to sip it while he listened to Nick speak. He stopped himself from laughing and doing some sort of gross spit-take. “Glitter. Wow. I really think I need to see this. Am I invited? I promise I won’t even ask for a lap dance.” Because he wouldn’t take it seriously at all, especially not compared to Nick’s regular very lonely people. “I don’t know what the confidentiality policy is like there, but I would really appreciate never finding out if my mom or dad wind up there someday. I sort of feel bad for those moms, though. Doesn’t that job sorta make you sad?”

Nick smiled at him in response. But then the conversation turned to glitter, and he rolled his eyes again. “I mean, don’t expect me to hand you a written invitation or anything. But I can’t exactly tell you no. Just remember, if you accidentally bump shoulders with someone or something, you won’t be able to get that glitter out for weeks.” Nick wasn’t even sure where it came from. It’s not like he rubbed it on himself before a shift. “Uh, I can verify that neither of them have ever showed up.” Thank God. “And on the off chance that somebody’s parents do ever end up there... I’m going to be too busy pretending it never happened to even breathe a word about it.” Ain’t that the truth. “Sometimes, yeah. It can be sad. I don’t always like I. Especially since they expect you to, like, exploit that and suck them dry of all their money. It’s kind of fucked up.” It wasn’t exactly the best business in the world. “But then sometimes you get people who are just there to have fun, and they’re funny and respectful. So it’s not all bad all the time. And as I said, it’s good money.” Especially with how hard it is for anybody to find a job lately. He was lucky he found something that was able to pay the bills.

Miles sighed. “Well, that’s disappointing. I was hoping to get one of those fancy invitations they do for weddings and stuff. ‘You are cordially invited.’ That sort of thing.” He thought that would be good for business, for sure. “I’ve never really seen you all glittery. You must have some very efficient showering techniques before you see me. Or are you secretly getting sponge baths behind my back?” The worst offense. “Good to know. I appreciate that. But it all just seems like such a strange system. To each his own, though, right?” It wasn’t Miles’ business how people decided to spend their money. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about it. Probably for much different reasons than those people, though. I want some of those numbered cards judges use during competitions to hold up.”

Nick: “Oh, yes. ‘You’re cordially invited to the stripping of Nicholas O Vaughn, widely known as Dalton Oliver and beloved by many. Please RSVP and bring your crispest singles.’ I bet you’d love getting that in the mail.” He laughed, realizing he was doing a lot more of that now that things between them were good again. “You sounds like you want to see me all glittery. I’m a pretty expert showerer, though. I say no to the sponge baths and just attempt to do them myself. It keeps me humble.” He joked. “I guess so. And it keeps a roof over mine and Murphy’s head. So I can’t complain too much.” He snorted lightly at Miles. “You really want to judge my stripping that bad? You really must want to tear down my confidence.”

Nick: “See? That’s what I want. Christmas gift ideas.” He’d have to fight the urge to get Dalton embroidered on something for Nick’s Christmas present. “I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be amused by it. I could always just glitter bomb you but I wouldn’t get the full effect. I’m happy to hear you’re not stealing my nurses for sponge baths, though.” He nodded — that was certainly true. Other people’s sometimes strange interests gave Nick a job. “Nah, man, I want to build you up. Tens across the board. I’ll make sure everyone knows who the top dog is around there. Let’s just hope they don’t find out how biased I am.”

Nick: “Maybe I’ll suck it up and sprawl one out on a napkin if it means that much. I mean it’s either that or a Starbucks gift card. I still need to decide.” He was only joking. He hated giving impersonal gifts, but he also hadn’t thought about what to get people yet. And Christmas was right around the corner — fuck. “I’d never steal your nurses. That’d be going against the bro code and I don’t do that.” He shook his head. “You’re so thoughtful, how have I lasted this long at work without you to hype me up? That’s an issue, though. People will get jealous and complain that I’m getting special treatment. Then you’ll be banned from the club and have to find another one to do your judging at.”

Miles placed a hand over his heart. “I’m so touched. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone to write an invitation on a napkin for me.” In all honesty, he probably would get emotional over it, despite his joking about it. “I don’t know how you’ve lasted. I’m a very important asset to your growing career. Frankly, I’m offended you didn’t ask me sooner.” He shrugged, leaning forward again to put the cup back on the table. “No one has to find out. We just have to pretend not to know each other when I’m not doing my judging. I just hope they don’t dig up scandals like the wedding — then my days posing as a fair judge are over.” And they just couldn’t have that happening. “It wouldn’t be as fun at a different place because I wouldn’t know someone there.”

Nick: “Eh, just for being you.” Maybe as a joke he’d write one up for him. Of course if anyone else saw it he’d never be able to live it down. “I didn’t know that you had an inner dance Mom laying below the surface or maybe I would have.” He idly watched as Miles put his drink back. Without giving it too much thought, he leaned forward to pick it up himself for a small sip before gradually setting it back down. If Miles complained about cooties again he’d just have to remind him that his tongue had literally been in his mouth at some point. “The last thing we need in our tutoring and stripping careers is a scandal. You can come on the condition you act like you hate me so no one suspects we actually know each other.” That probably wouldn’t be too hard for him, Miles would just have to recall their High School days for inspiration. “True. But I mean, I could give you the names of some nice strippers to talk to so you have more of a network.”

Miles: “I knew I was special.” The lighthearted conversation was still so relieving to have. Miles looked back at the TV, but he really wasn’t paying any attention. Of course they were going to have to start over again. And take a vow of silence next time. He could see Nick drinking from his mug out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t bring himself to even care enough to make a smartass comment. “Hm, I could probably manage that. I’ll just pretend you won’t stop calling me George. Then it won’t be too hard.” It could potentially become reality, too. “Networking is very important, so that’s a great idea. You give me some numbers and I’ll get to work on forming some professional relationships.” He sighed contentedly, tilting his head to look at him. “Giving me all your favorite stripper names. You’re just too good to me.”

Nick: “Try not to get too cocky about it.” He’d pretty much forgotten about Stranger Things completely at this point. Their conversation had completely taken over. Nick wasn’t complaining about it, though. One day they would really have to watch it though, this was getting ridiculous. “Funny. I haven’t called you George in a whole five minutes so there’s no reason to be salty.” Nick teased, lifting his legs up to Criss cross themselves as he turned to fully face Miles, the show clearly forgotten. “My favorites? Well that narrows it down to about three. I was just going to give you the best dancers. They’re a little morally questionable, but hey, most artists are.”

Miles: “How could I not be knowing I’m the favorite?” Miles rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the playful smile on his face. “It’s only a matter of time. I’m just preparing myself ahead of time.” He subconsciously twisted his own body to do the same as Nick turned to face him. Miles laid his arm across the back of the couch, resting against Nick’s shoulder and fiddling with the fabric of his sleeve there. “Morally questionable I can handle. It is stripping, after all. No offense. More power to you and everything.” Miles respected the whole taking ownership of his own body thing. “I can’t really provide you any helpful connections in return. Unless children struggling with schoolwork can somehow be beneficial to you.”

Nick: “Now you’re just putting words in my mouth.” But he wasn’t, really. Miles was one of his favorites, he just didn’t say it. “Preparing to hate me? Well I guess that’s smart.” Nick smiled to himself as Miles started to toy with his sleeve, and subconsciously he leaned a little bit more toward him. “None taken. It’s a little shady. That’s why I don’t really talk about it.” That, and the fact that he was a male stripper was a little too awkward to just being up in normal everyday conversation. “Maybe not the children, it’d be weird for me to have a bunch of kid connections. Their parents is another story, though. If they’re stressed out from having to deal with their kids school issues, just send them to me.... not directly me. But where I work.”

Miles: “But am I wrong?” Miles asked, quirking an eyebrow, because he was pretty sure he wasn’t. “Just preparing for the G bomb.” It was bound to come when he least expected it. “I don’t blame you. But at least now you have someone to vent to about work stuff. And I’ll do my best to relate. I am your hype man, after all.” It was only fitting. Miles pulled his arm back to just have his elbow propped up. “Sure, will do. I won’t give them your name. I’m not about to pimp you out to people. I feel like I get dibs, anyway.” He wished he could say it with a straight face, but he couldn’t help but grin.

Nick: “I didn’t say that either.” He laughed loudly at that. “There will be no G Bombs. Not where anyone else could hear, anyway.” He wouldn’t blow his secret. “Well. Thank you. I appreciate that. You probably don’t want to hear half the stuff that happens. But that’s nice of you — I’ve never had a hype man before.” His grin widened at Miles’ own words and shook his head. “You’re dumb.” But the lightheartedness made him happy. The fact that they could joke and just be around each other despite everything. He’s always wanted that. “You never called dibs, you know.” Nick leaned in to kiss him gently, because at that moment he felt like he could. “But you can have them. I don’t want to be pimped out to just anybody anyway.”

Miles nodded firmly. “Exactly. So shush. I appreciate you not blowing my cover, though. I lead a very important life as Miles.” He just couldn’t risk it. “I think I can handle it. I’ve seen some things.” He really hadn’t. But he was still pretty sure he could deal with the stripper horror stories. Maybe he’d end up eating his words, though. He was about to respond when Nick kissed him, and Miles automatically lifted a hand to rest on his cheek when he did. He almost didn’t want it to end, and he found himself leaning forward even more when it did. He pushed himself back when he noticed it. “Well, dibs. Now it’s official.” He shrugged. “I don’t see anyone else trying to in the meantime. Unless you have suitors I don’t know about.”

Nick: “Yeah, and you don’t want to get confused by two different names and have an identity crisis.” Nick rose an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What things?” He asked, half amused and half curious. The kiss ended all too soon, but he had to pull back to speak or the mumbling might’ve ruined the mood. “I’ll have you know that I have plenty of ‘em, thank you. I told you, all of those single Mom’s aren’t shy about what they want.”

Miles raised his eyebrows, waving a hand to emphasize that was his entire point. “Exactly. It’s too confusing. So George doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned.” Miles shrugged a shoulder, mulling it over in his head. “Things I can’t repeat, obviously. They’re too disturbing.” The actual most disturbing thing he’d come across was Greg Miller in his entirety, so he’d keep his mouth shut. “Well, give me names then. I guess I need to throw hands.” Assert his dominance and whatnot. Which was quite minimal. “I’m still curious about that whole atmosphere, though, so you can expect to see me at some point. I’ll be the one cheering you on.”

Nick had seen some things he didn’t want to necessarily share with anybody, but the fact that he could talk to Miles if he wanted was nice. “Right, fair enough.” Nick laughed loudly. “Are you sure you can take them? Especially Susan. She likes to brag about the fact that she does yoga every day.” His laughter died off and he shook his head. “In all seriousness, you probably wouldn’t like it there.” Nick didn’t even like it there and he worked there. “I can’t stop you if you decide to stop by. But I don’t think it’s your type of place.”

Miles stretched his arms up over his head. “I can take Susan. I’ve done yoga before. She’s nothin’ special.” Although yoga was intense. Miles couldn’t do it more than once with his mom. He’d barely made it through that first one. “Hey, you don’t know my kind of place.” Except he totally did, and he was right; Miles would hate it. “I like to think I’m at least tall enough to see over some heads. And I can’t foresee many people hitting on me.” Lily had only initially done so because her friends had egged her on. “So I’ll be okay. I just might need to bring some hand sanitizer.”

Nick: “You know, I’ve never had anyone try to compete with white suburban Mom’s for me before. But I can’t say I hate it.” Susan was pretty strong, but she was nice so she’d probably have mercy on Miles. “Suit yourself. You most definitely will be hit on, though. The second the vultures see you it’s on. You have to flirt with the customers so they’re more likely to want a dance. Sorry, buddy.” He didn’t necessarily want to see Miles there, because it wasn’t really a place he could see him actually enjoying. But the thought alone was also kind of hilarious.

Miles: “What can I say? You’re worth it.” Miles was just glad he didn’t have to think twice about saying things like that anymore. Nick knew what he meant to him and he had no problem voicing it to him. “I think I’d pay for a lap dance but then spend the whole time just asking if they’re okay. Strippers are people, too.” He was still teasing, and he showed it by grinning again. “I probably will never end up there, though, honestly. I hope you won’t be too sad that I’ll never visit you at work. Hopefully you won’t miss me too much.”

Nick: “I’m glad you think so.” They were both clearly joking, but Nick knew the sentiment was still there. And while before he’s tried so hard to ghost over it and pretend that it wasn’t there, now he was welcoming it. “And what would you do if one started crying on you mid lap dance?” He grinned back. “Well thanks for acknowledging the fact that I am actually human. I wasn’t sure otherwise.” He knew the chances of Miles ever showing up were slim, because he’d have to know the name of the place he worked for one thing. But hearing him voice it was a relief. Truth be told, he never wanted him to see him like that. “It’ll be tough but somehow I’ll manage. I guess you’ll just have to stay busy with your baby tutoring jobs.”

Miles: “Of course I do.” He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t. “I would hold them while they cried. Damn, Nick, I’m not a monster.” He was still playing around, but he totally would. He was the one who’d ask, after all. “No problem. That’s what I’m here for — reminding you of your humanity.” Sort of. “I am quite busy with them already. Maybe I can find some time to squeeze you into my schedule, though.”

Nick smiled slightly before laughing at Miles commentary about the strippers. “Maybe you should just skip being a teacher and move straight to therapist. Then you could help all the strippers you want.” Honestly, Miles would probably be good at it. “I thought you were here to just watch Cupcake Wars and Stranger Things with me. Looks like you have multiple uses.” He absentmindedly reached out to playfully tug on Miles’ sleeve while they talked. “Well you did say you were the master stripper. Maybe you could just tutor me in that so you can be on the job and around me at the same time.”

Miles: “I’d be a great therapist. Except I think I might cry along sometimes too.” Miles tended to get sympathetically emotional about that sort of things. “Oh, I have plenty of uses,” he said, raising a hand to wave off the notion that he didn’t. He looked down at Nick’s hand on his sleeve, and Miles scooted closer to him, letting his knee bump against Nick’s leg. “Hmm. I think I would be okay with that. I don’t think I’d be complaining about work at all.” He leaned forward to kiss him again, because he just didn’t think it would be necessary to stop any time he wanted to now. He couldn’t held himself. It was all in the name of being honest, after all — and he’d be lying to himself if he pretended not to want to kiss him as often as he did.

Nick: “At least your patients will know you care. That alone would probably be therapy enough.” Honestly, if he ever had to go to therapy, he’d way prefer someone who was too emotional over their patients than someone emotionless. That’d just be nerve wracking. “Clearly you do.” He noticed Miles knee bump his, and that they seemed to somehow keep getting closer and closer. But Nick didn’t exactly mind. “The only thing is that you’d probably have to work for free. That okay with you?” He teased before noticing Miles begin to lean in, and getting the picture, he leaned in to meet him half way. His hand dropped to lay flat on Miles’ leg for support as he stretched his neck to meet him half way — not thinking twice to kiss him back.

Miles: “I guess you’re right. So maybe I have a fallback career after all.” He wasn’t sure if he could handle it, but it was certainly something to think about. Jokingly, of course. “Maybe I could deal with that. I’d have to be compensated in other ways, though. Like you could stock my fridge for me. That’d be hot.” He’d love to not have to do any grocery shopping. He was aware of Nick’s hand on his leg, and Miles brought one of his own over to grab it. He could get used to this, especially the fact that nothing negative was going to come from it afterward, no matter how many times he decided to do it. It was fair game and he loved it. He pulled back reluctantly, keeping his face close. “Or that.”

Nick: “It’s good to have options.” Nick certainly wouldn’t want to do that for a living, though. He could barely handle his own problems, let alone a bunch of strangers’. “You know what would be hotter? Me not doing that and just mooching off you after you do it.” Nick was only joking, naturally. He actually liked grocery shopping, it meant he got to choose the food. He smiled into the kiss as Miles reciprocated and covered his hand with his own. It wasn’t anything crazy, but it was nice. And he found himself wanting to lean back in for more, much like earlier. “Or that.” He agreed quietly, before following his instincts and leaning back in once more for another, unfortunately brief, kiss. “I like doing that.”

Miles nodded. “It’s better than my original backup plan of just begging on the street for spare change.” That probably wouldn’t get him very far. “Mm, that doesn’t sound nearly as hot, actually.” It required effort so he was uninterested. Miles grinned at Nick’s reaction, followed by another quick kiss. “I do too,” he agreed quietly, nodding to make his point. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.” It was still exhilarating. He wasn’t sure if that feeling would go away, but he didn’t particularly want it to.

Nick: “There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s my plan.” If his whole ‘millionaire by the time he’s thirty’ plan doesn’t pan out, of course. “Says you. Don’t kink shame me.” The joking atmosphere slowly wore off as they kissed. “Is that a good thing?” He asked with a slight smile, because he knew it was.

Miles: “I say we team up, then. They’re probably more likely to give to two of us, right?” Or maybe that would just drive people further away. That seemed a bit more likely. “I think we’ll have to come up with some sort of compromise here. Which, like...the best I can come up with is we split the work half and half, which is what we already do in our respective homes, so...good job. Keep up the good work.” It worked just fine so far. “You know the answer to that,” Miles replied, matching his grin, “but I’ll humor you anyway. It’s a good thing. I don’t think I want to get used to it.”

Nick: “Right. That or it’ll be easier for one of us to get away when they end up calling the cops on us.” Probably not their smartest plan, admittedly. Hopefully they just became millionaires and wouldn’t have to go that route. “Glad we had this talk, then.” He grinned in amusement. “I’m not used to it, either.” He admitted, and it still was a little difficult for him to say these things out loud, but he was trying to make more of an effort to. “But in a good way.” His hand toyed with the fabric of Miles’ pants absentmindedly. “Still getting used to the fact that my best friend wants to kiss me.” He cracked a smile, but it was the truth.

Miles: “Well, if one of us gets away, then at least we’ll be able to bail the other one out. Count your blessings.” The easy solution would to not do anything worthy of going to jail over to begin with. But where was the fun in that? Miles watched Nick’s movements, the way his hand was just barely moving and tugging at the fabric of his sweatpants like Miles had been doing with his shirt earlier. He recognized the inattentive nature of the movement, just something to do that wasn’t at all awkward for either of them. It made his chest feel warm. He just loved their new situation. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. It was a positive change, at the very least. “I’ve been wanting that. It’s just expecting it to happen and knowing that it’s okay to do it,” he clarified. “I think you’re going to have an issue keeping me away from you now that it’s not exactly unfamiliar territory. So...I apologize in advance, but not really.”

Nick: “We’d make a good homeless team.” He nodded in agreement, because they would, even if it wasn’t exactly the worlds greatest plan. The following conversation should have been awkward for Nick, and it was to some extent simply because he wasn’t used to it. But Miles being so open and him being able to be open back made him feel lighter than usual. For once he wasn’t allowing the negative thoughts to get in the way. Not right now, anyway. Right now, he was just happy to be there with him. “I thought I made it obvious that I don’t want to keep you away from me. ‘Cause we’ve already tried that and it never works out.” He had no hesitation about admitting that. “So I’m not sorry if you’re not sorry.”

Miles: “I think we’d make a better team, like, not homeless. So I think our bigger goal should be to keep it that way.” It certainly wouldn’t be a difficult goal to reach. At least, Miles hoped so. He was still taken aback by Nick’s next words, mostly due to the fact that this would have ruined things for them a short time ago. And maybe there was still a chance for that to happen eventually, but at least it was much less likely now. “I know,” Miles agreed. “But now you’ll just officially have a harder time getting me off your back. Whether or not you actually enjoy it is your business.” Miles was glad that he did, though. “In return, I promise not to hold a grudge when you clearly drink from my mug even though I don’t recall inviting you to do so.”

Nick: “Of course. The whole homeless thing is just a ‘just in case’ thing.” Nick nodded in agreement. “Thanks for the heads up. But I think I can handle it.” He hoped, anyway. He hoped he could handle this newfound thing between him and Miles without somehow messing it up. Nick laughed, not realizing Miles had noticed. But of course he had. “I warned you I might. And you never said I couldn’t.” Admittedly, though, couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed by being caught. “Besides, since you’re my new stalker now, I should have rights to your hot chocolate.”

Miles: “Right. Just in case.” Still, he could do without having to get to that point. “Glad to hear it.” Miles didn’t think he’d be that hard to deal with. He’d do his best. He shook his head at that, unable to keep from smiling. “You’re a douche. I told you that you could go make your own. It’s literally right there,” he reminded him, gesturing toward the kitchen that was merely a few steps away from them. “Keep it up and I’m gonna send Scout chasing you out of here.” He turned to the TV again, frowning. “At least then maybe I’d actually watch this show. Shit, man. It happened again.”

Nick could only shrug, nearly guilty. “It always tastes better when it’s somebody else’s.” Plus, he didn’t want more than a taste of it. Why waste a trip to the kitchen and a whole packet of hot chocolate for that? “Please don’t, I feel like you’ve secretly trained her to rip people’s throats out. And I like my throat.” Nick turned his head to the TV when Miles did, and couldn’t help but smile slightly. “I don’t think this is working out. How many more times are we going to try before giving up?”

Miles shook his head. “Unbelievable. I know for a fact your mother didn’t raise you like this.” He could make some educated guesses, at least, based on what he knew about her and the Vaughn children when they were growing up. “Please. You know her. She’d only be able to suffocate you with kisses.” Thankfully, Miles had never had a need for Scout to chase people off. But she’d never quite been herself around Greg. It reminded Miles how dogs truly have the best judge of character. “I think if we’re going to do this we need to just stop listening to each other,” he said, but it was much easier said than done. He picked up the remote to pause the episode. “I need to catch up, man. We really need to shut the hell up.”

Nick: “No, but she accidentally taught me to be sneaky, so she never knew. I just wasn’t trying to hide it this time.” His Mom was the no nonsense type, so Miles was right about that. “I mean, I didn’t want to die. But being smothered to death by dog kisses doesn’t sound too terrible.” Better than being mauled to death, that was for sure. “Okay... okay. You’re right. No more talking.” Nick nodded, trying to keep a straight face. “Let’s try this one more time. We can pause it like every three episodes to get all the words out.”

#014

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jswdmb1 · 5 years ago

Text

Video Killed The Radio Star

“We hear the playback

and it seems so long ago

And you remember

the jingles used to go”

- The Buggles

My mom asked me to help her set up an Apple TV a while back, and it made me realize how far we have come as far as entertainment options go. I remember the day my dad came home and announced he saw that they were installing cable TV lines in the neighborhood. He was about as excited as I have ever seen him. It meant we increased our channel roster from about five to over thirty! There was a network that played sports 24 hours a day! We could watch movies at home uncut and uninterrupted. I wanted my MTV and now I got it! It may seem quaint to someone who wasn’t there at the time, but it was an incredibly cool and mind-blowing experience when you consider how our viewing experience exponentially changed with the installation of that little black cable.

As I was setting up the Apple TV, and all of the incredible options that come with it, I did not feel the same as that day in 1983 when I could now watch Nickelodeon and Australian rules football to my heart’s content. Sure, the explosion of viewing options within cable and streaming services are just awesome, but sometimes it seems too much. The immediate gratification of it all is disappointing as well. The concept of binge watching seems to take away from the anticipation we used to have from the episode we waited all week for (or all summer for a cliffhanger). That anticipation would start with the show’s theme song, which I feel is a real lost art. Just the act of hearing that familiar tune along with credits and scenes of the stars of the show was almost as exciting as the show itself. It may make me seem old and out-of-touch, but I really miss those days when we lived without DVRs and on demand viewing and got real theme songs to kick off your entertainment viewing experience.

But instead of rueing over days long lost, let’s celebrate some of those old shows (that ironically are all over Hulu and Netflix) that were not only great programs, but had the type of theme songs that really made you feel good when they came on. It meant something that you waited for all week was about to arrive, and for an hour or two you could lose yourself in a world away from your own. I now present to you my ten favorite tv theme songs and their shows, in no particular order:

1) All in the Family - In fall of 1973, CBS put forth what is considered the finest lineup on one night in television history. On Saturday nights, people stayed home for three straight hours of unparalleled entertainment. This was the start of it all at 7:00 (all times I give you are Central). There was no better lead off than Edith and Archie sitting at the piano singing “Those Were the Days”. How cool is it to have your lead actors sing the theme song live. All In the Family was so great it had a separate ending theme. You can read plenty elsewhere about the groundbreaking episodes that went on in between, but the theme music from this series gets us off and running.

2) Rockford Files - This show always opened with a unique montage of a client of Jim’s leaving a message on his answering machine. What followed was what I consider the best music composition on the list. Written by Mike Post, it is a funky, hard driving and timeless theme just like the Pontiac Firebird he drove. I like this song so much it is often in my normal rotation on many of my daily playlists. The program was great, for sure my favorite detective show of all time, but I would tune in just for this song.

3) Hill Street Blues - This is another Mike Poat theme, but couldn’t be more different than Rockford’s theme. Jazzy rather than funky and smooth versus hard driving, the piano of the song seemed to sum up everything this show was about. I recently caught up with some episodes on Hulu recently and forgot how ahead of its time this show was. Before Hill Street Blues, police dramas tended to tie things up neatly before the hour ended. This show, like life, didn’t always work out so well. The sadness of the lives in the people in the show is tinged throughout the theme. But, you also hear some hope in the final chords, and I think that what the show was all about. It told us that life could be a grind and full of despair, but there are also a lot of good people trying their best to ease suffering and make this world a better place. That’s a lot to pack into one theme song, but this one hits all the right notes.

4) M*A*S*H - This was in the 7:30 slot on the CBS Saturday lineup and was put there to boost its ratings in its second season. As hard as it is to believe in hindsight, the show struggled to find its audience in its first year. For many folks, the opening theme was their first introduction to this unique medical/war comedy/drama. Like the show, the theme (titled “Suicide is Painless”) was taken from the 1970 movie of the same name. The TV version dropped the lyrics and became one of the most instantly recognizable themes ever. The show that followed is very good too. I must confess that I am a bit of a M*A*S*H aficionado and the second season was one of their best (I’m partial to the McLean Stevenson/Wayne Rogers episodes). If you haven’t watched the show in a while, give a couple of episodes a spin (now on Hulu). I’ll bet dollars to donuts you are whistling the theme the rest of the day.

5) WKRP In Cincinnati - A terribly underrated show with an equally underrated theme, the quirky gang at WKRP were always good for some laughs and DJs spinning great records. While the theme song is fantastic (“...baby just think of me once in a while” is such a great line), the real soundtrack of the show was the late 70s/early 80s rock and roll in the background of each episode. Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, you don’t get those songs in the reruns, but the crazy storylines and big laughs that come with them still make this series worth your time. As a side note, the lyrics in the theme at the end are pure jibberish. The writer of the song used nonsense words as placeholders but the producers kept them in as a bit of an inside joke about how hard rock lyrics are to understand. I think that perfectly sums up what WKRP is all about.

6) Mary Tyler Moore Show - Who can turn the world on with a smile? Mary no doubt did it every Saturday night at 8:00. I have vague memories of this show the first time it came around as first run episodes, but found it later in reruns and discovered what a true gem it is. The characters were quirky and unique without being oversimplified and the acting of the supporting cast was brilliant. Any show with Ed Asner, Ted Knight and Betty White is going to end up being our gold. As for the theme song, I think it is the most hopeful and happy on the surface, but it always struck a sad note with me. There always seemed to be a back story with Mary in the show that we weren’t always getting that hinted of difficult times before she got to Minneapolis. The song echos that and her throwing the hat up at the end seems to tell us that no matter how rough things were, or might end up, she’ll keep that smile on her face. Not a bad lesson for all of us to follow.

7) Three’s Company - In the interest of full disclosure, I did not watch this show when it first aired. It was banned from my house by my mother because it was “stupid”. Once I left the house for college, I wanted to start trying new things and testing my independence in this world, so the first thing I did was devote every weeknight from 10:00 to 11:00 to the Three’s Company reruns on Channel 32. What I saw was certainly a bit stupid but far from a waste of time. Arguably, the show included some of the finest physical comedy of it’s day and was a great showcase for actors like John Ritter, Norman Fell (Mr. Roper) and Don Knotts. Admittedly, the premise and some of the themes of the show have not aged well, but I never saw anything but an intent to have fun and provide a few laughs. That was conveyed in the theme song which was as light and airy as the breeze coming off the Pacific while standing on the pier in Santa Monica. For me, just the sound of that song brings back a memory of living in the college dorms and starting off an independent life full of promise and possibilities. Each episode of this show felt the same even if each could have been solved in the first two minutes with a simple question or statement like “No, Mr. Furley, Jack is getting a Mexican pot to cook in, not the kind you smoke”. I guess though, that wouldn’t have been all that funny.

8) Barney Miller - This one is on here purely for the bass line. The notes are unmistakeable and leads into a full jazz combo with killer lead guitar. The funk you hear in the theme follows along with the show. The detectives at the precinct seemed to take what initially seemed to be mundane aspects of police work and turn every epsiode into a funky life lesson. I read somewhere that real cops think this is the police show more true to life than any other they have seen. I’m guessing it was because they drew up characters so real to the point where you would think of them as people first and not some exaggerated character as most police are drawn up on TV. The whole thing just worked and really was quite funny. The episodes hold up very well in reruns as well, so if you have never given it a try, I think you’ll find that it is as good as any other cop show you have seen recently.

9) Bob Newhart Show - Anchoring the CBS Saturday night 8:30 slot is another jazzy instrumental that is a great theme, but in this case the show behind it was the real gem. Just like Barney Miller, The Bob Newhart Show took the fairly mundane aspects of life - whether it be at the office or at home - and mined them for laugh after laugh. For those who are finds of Mr. Newhart (Loyola, Class of ‘52), this is no surprise. Bob could literally turn a phone call into absolute hilarity. His choice of profession on the show was perfect as well - for those who don’t know he played a psychologist. As someone who has spent a lot of time in the offices of mental health professionals, I can tell you first hand that the only portrayal that I have seen that is true-to-life is the one on this show. The group therapy sessions are always the real gems and this show nails exactly what they are like. I can’t it explain it much further, just go get a copy of the first season of this and watch it and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Also, this show gets credit for one of the best wacky neighbors - Howard the pilot played by the incomparable Bill Daley. Of all of the shows on this list, this is the one that I would recommend you check out before all others.

10) The Love Boat - The show was pretty lame though I can be talked into watching anything that could have Sonny Bono, Vincent Price, and Chart as guest stars on the same night. The theme, however, was a winner. Sure it was cheesy, but it fit the series perfectly and always gave me the impression that I would know I made it in life if I could take a cruise on a boat like the Pacific Princess (I haven’t so I guess that I’m still waiting to make it). Another reason that I love this show is that I have fond memories watching it with my Grandma when we would occasionally stay over at her house on Saturday nights. Her smart comments about all of the washed up actors and how bad they looked or untalented they were was the real entertainment of the evening. Plus, just the fact that she let us stay up late to watch it was a real treat in it of itself. She would make us popcorn and let us have a soda and we could just live it up. It’s funny how the most simple things in life end up being the most memorable. I’d give anything right now for an hour again with her and that show. Gosh, what fun.

Honorable mentions include the themes from Hawaii 5-0, The Golden Girls, Cheers, Sanford & Son, The Greatest America Hero, Good Times, The Odd Couple, Welcome Back Kotter, and Miami Vice

Now, I know that I’m being a real old-timer here by bringing out these ancient shows, but I will challenge you to a different binge-watching experience before passing judgment on my list. Just You Tube the ten opening theme songs/credits that I list here and watch them in order. You don’t even have to watch whole episodes of these shows (though if you the time you should). I guarantee that you will get a feel for what it was like when these shows were first on the tube. Or, if that’s too much work, I made you a playlist with a few other favorites:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2J8rLlC3FIAvaCLmQg95vT?si=fpgJ8wYaSH-V0M0gP12rvA

I am now at the ending point of this post. It’s always hard for me to come up with a good finish to one of these. I now realize that I need a good theme song. I guess that is going to be hard to convey in written form and also because I don’t have one, but hum something catchy in your head and play it across images of the great times you just had reading this blog.

Until next time....

Jim

P.S. - The last hour of “The Greatest Night in Television” on CBS was occupied by the Carol Burnett Show. A fantastic program, but not my favorite theme, so it did not make the list. Still worth checking out if you find it on somewhere if only to watch the cast crack up at Tim Conway’s antics.

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