#not that she has to always be likeable in her songs of course but still just a strange one to highlight i feel

[jakeperalta]

"I'll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade ocean wave blues come" -> "you don't get to tell me about sad" is an.. interesting progression

[shakingparadigm]

For the ask game: Hyuna!!🔥

HI TOON THANK YOU!!

favorite thing about them:

Man, what's not to like... she's just a fantastic character all around, probably the most likeable character in my personal opinion! I love her perserverance and her incredibly strong sense of self. Her character design is also just so incredible, probably the most unique and distinct character in the cast (shades?? almost 6ft?? abs??? a prosthetic leg???)

She's just so badass.... save me noona......

least favorite thing about them:

I don't really have anything that I dislike about Hyuna honestly. Maybe a cause of concern would be her habits of drinking and smoking but hey she's grown and reclaiming her freedom so really she can do whatever she wants with her life!

favorite line:

This might be a weird one but "A bird is set free​" from All-In has always stood out to me. It carries a certain feeling and just perfectly encapsulates Hyuna. The shot that's presented during this line is one of my favorite Hyuna frames too.

(Honorable Mention: "c-cheers!" man I love Hyuna.)

brOTP:

MIZI AND TILL!!! I love the idea of Till acting as an adopted little brother to Hyuna (is this a Hyunwoo coping mechanism? Who knows). Of course her fellow rebels Dewey and Isaac as well! I also think Hyuna and Ivan would get along (suprisingly enough). She'd have a hard time figuring him out at first, but eventually they'd warm up to each other and probably be gym buddies or something.

OTP:

Hyuluka is the given of course since they're paired together.... while I don't have any particularly strong feelings about it in a romantic sense I find their relationship incredibly interesting to analyze and think about. Hyuluka and Ivantill are really in the same boat of obssessive perfect guy x rebel who does not like them back 😭

A ship that I genuinely do find adorable (and super underrated) is offrec/actor Hyuluka!! Offrec Luka seems much more chill and down-to-earth but also kinda jaded because he had to go through the whole idol thing which he hated. Offrec Hyuna is bright, innocent and the youngest of the cast which I find really cute.... there's this one offrec fancomic I like where Luka gets flustered because Hyuna approached him and then immediately deflating when he finds out she just wanted an autograph 😭 cute

nOTP:

Honestly haven't seen many other Hyuna ships besides Hyuluka.

random headcanon:

Hyuna has accidentally seriously fucked people over with her voice mimicry talent. At one point she was begged to stop doing it because she kept freaking people out.

unpopular opinion:

Okay, this one is a bit long and kind of less an opinion and more of a story, but I will admit that at first I really did not like All-In. LISTEN TO ME OKAY SAVE THE GUILLOTINE FOR LATER.

I fell off of Alien Stage after ROUND 5. I saw ROUND 1 and ROUND 2 and while I found them interesting, I didn't really think about them that much. ROUND 5 was the only one that caught my attention enough for me to come back to the video maybe 4 or 5 times after my first watch, even searching about Alien Stage on social media and stuff. Still, I wasn't too invested yet.

When I saw All-In freshly released on my Youtube page I was like "oh hey it's this thing again. there's a new one? okay" and out of curiosity I watched it.

I don't know what it was, but something about All-In just did not click with me at first 😭 I remember feeling as though it sounded kind of dissonant? Like something was a bit off with the instrumental, maybe it sounded a little low in volume or something. The rhythm of the song threw me off a little and I could not for the life of me explain why. This is purely personal by the way, I'm no professional music analyst or anything, it just seemed weird to me personally at first.

But that's the thing. Because I found it so strangely off, I kept coming back to the video (it helped that the visuals were absolutely banging). Everytime it showed up on my homepage I would just sit there and watch it entranced like a zombie and I couldn't even explain why. At one point I woke up at 1AM, opened my phone, and watched All-In completely unmoving expressionless unblinking in the dark of my room, then shut the phone off and immediately knocked out again. Once again I cannot explain this. That video had me in an absolute chokehold no joke. Eventually I started to understand it more and it really grew on me, to the point where I played it in the shower on loop and then proceeded to start the rest of my days with the damn thing. I began to get curious about the deeper aspects of Alien Stage, took the plunge, and now we're here.

Anyways, that's the story of how my opinion on All-In went from "this sounds kinda off" to "this is the best thing to ever be created by human hands". All-In is now one of my most favorite ALNST songs and Hyuna absolutely killed it in her debut video. Sorry I couldn't understand the true extent of your genius back then queen, but at least I do now.

song i associate with them:

Eight by Sleeping At Last

When I see fragile things, helpless things, broken things,

I see the familiar

I was little, I was weak, I was perfect, too

Now I'm a broken mirror

But I can't let you see all that I have to lose

All I've lost in the fight to protect it

I can't let you in, I swore never again

I can't afford to let myself be blindsided

favorite picture of them:

It's come to my attention that Hyuna was being taken away by the guards. I didn't notice because she just looked so cool in this shot 😭

[danjaley]

Das Leben der Hochgräfin Gritta von Rattenzuhausbeiuns

My favourite book in elementary school (and I still like it today)

In my last book post I wrote that I first heard of Anne of Green Gables when the girl who bullied me in elementary school presented it as her favourite book. So I thought I might show you the book I held my presentation about.

Das Leben der Hochgräfin Gritta von Rattenzuhausbeiuns (The Life of Gritta, High Countess of Ratsareathomewithus) is a fairy-tale-novel by Gisela von Arnim. It was written in the 1840s but only rediscovered and published in the 20th century. It was adapted as a screenplay and simplified children's book by GDR author Christa Kożik. This was the version I read aged eight and loved to pieces. I also saw the film once, but I didn't love it as much as the book. It has some very good songs, I remember.

The story is about Gritta, a girl countess who lives with her father, an inventor, at their run-down castle some time in the 18th century. She loves to read and she's friends with the Queen of the rats which populate the castle in abundance. One day a runaway spoiled noblewoman takes refuge with them and Gritta's father falls head over heels in love with her. They marry and Gritta is sent to a horrid convent school. There she discovers a plot: Young girls are sent to the convent. Once they're there, the nuns find ways to grab their inheritance and keep the girls locked away. This was the fate her stepmother ran away from. Together with ten of her friends Gritta escapes from the convent.

Here the two versions take slightly different paths. In the modern one, the girls live at an abandoned farm for one summer until they return to their homes. Gritta proceeds to the capital city, where she finds her family again. They've lost their remaining money and have gone to sell an invention to the king: A catapult throne that will save him in case of revolution. A twist that you rarely meet and I really loved: Poverty and the birth of a son have turned Gritta's spoiled stepmother into quite a responsible and likeable person and she apologizes for her behaviour. Gritta had already met the king's son while she was on the run. He smuggles her into the palace of his naive and gluttonous father. There she reveals to him the doings of the corrupt royal advisor, who is also at the bottom of the convent's plot.

While this was a quick summary of the simplified version, the original runs absolutely wild. After the girls escape the convent, they go on an adventurous journey, which becomes increasingly fantastical. Some episodes seem prototypical of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Finally they get shipwrecked and build up a new life. But their "lonely island" is in fact a valley near the capital. Here the story in which Gritta reunites with her family and saves the kingdom comes back in. In the end the girls set up an alternative convent according to their own rules. Except for Gritta, who in this version actually marries the prince and refurbishes the kingdom, but of course stays their friend.

I think if I'd read this as a child I would have loved that the focus stays on Gritta's girl-gang. They have so many more adventures here. I always thought the modernized story dismissed them too quickly. Not sure what I would have made of the fanciful nature of their adventures. One of my favourite characters today is Wildebeere (Wildberry), one of the girls, who starts out as a botanist, but is later adopted by wood-elves and becomes a sort of forest spirit. And I'd certainly have struggled with the over-the-top 19th century language. Though that makes up the poetry of it.

I've kinda outgrown the modernized version today. As a historian I can't help noticing the GDR mindframe. Indeed the original was written before the 1848 revolution and pokes some acid fun at absolutist monarchy, aristocracy and the church. That's the most likely reason it wasn't published. But the adaptation presents the messages rather bluntly - to children who don't have the foggiest idea what were the problems in 1848.

On a related note, I feel today that the modern book made Gritta a bit too sassy. She's much more gentle in the old one and as so often this clashes in scenes where she's supposed to be insecure. Some scenes actually get funnier with her acting all demure, like the one where she locks the king in a cupboard. Also, I'm all for the concept of becoming an independent spirit through reading. But as a book-historian I can tell that you don't become a cheeky kid by reading a library full of 18th-century books.

What also fascinates me today is the story how Gritta was rediscovered in the archives in the 20th century. The manuscript had been scattered over several bequests and wrongly attributed to Gisela's famous mother Bettine von Arnim. I kinda envy the guy who pieced it together. But I should be content with my lot, because that's exactly the sort of thing I'm doing in my PhD project right now.

Actually this book relates to the McCarrics in two very peculiar ways: For one thing, Gisela von Arnim was the great-granddaughter of Sophie von la Roche, after whom I named Marianne's family.

Then, according to my mother, my first two stories ever were two endless nonsensical serials I always updated her on, aged around three. The first was called The Lady of the Rats' Castle. Sadly I don't remember anything about it and my mother says it didn't have any rememberable plot. Possibly she bought me Gritta because of it.

The other was called The very Elegant Scottish Girl. I remember I started this one because I loved my red tartan skirt and my father had told me that in Scotland everyone is always dressed in tartan, even the men! So I thought this country must be the epicentre of nobility and elegance. I just love that these two titles still reflect my literary activities to the present day.

[ilikedyourablogithere]

My Dislyte 2023 Awards

Same as last year

Time to rant about the things I liked this year

if you had things you liked this year go ahead and make your own post

anyways

The Element of The Year

Flow

From Intisar to Liam, 4 or 5 Star, every Flow Unit this year has been a banger and very useful

Pantheon of the Year

Greek

while not my personal go to, it is very obvious this was the Greeks year. Having the spotlight on them through out the various stories and bounties

My Favorite Character of The Year

Falken

you don't get any points for guessing Falken is my favorite esper of the year again. And if you're disappointed he's my pick for another year... tell the dev team to make a character I will like more than Falken ?

But it's not that hard to see why. He got his Universal +20% Speed lead, great in boss fights, the new equipment gave him even even more viable builds you can make with him and of course his divinate allows him to do what he does even better

There was more fun to be had with this guy than last year and for that... he's the best

Best Boy of the Year

Javid

Was once told good cops don't end up staying "good" cops. They usually either end up quitting or worse happens to them

and Javid is no exception to that

As chief marshal he ended up forcing a whole marshal department to defend the citizens against a monster swarm, sending them all but him to their death. Meant to die along side them he somehow survived and now riddle with guilt of surviving he's been imprisoned where he also keeps the citizens safe and the miracle a bay

It takes alot to stand by your values especially during the bad times. And that's the thing I like about Javid, he stands by what he mean. He believes in fairness even when if means he ends up on losing side of being fair. He could have left and abandon everyone and everything and saved his own skin but that wouldn't have been fair to all those who died now would it?

He's not winning any popularity awards tho, he's still a hard ass stick in the mud at the end of the day. And his fairness can border on cruelty but that's part of what make him interesting

Best Girl of the Year

Ain

Tragically there no deep reason for choosing her, she's simply a kind person. She has a bit of a temper and apparently a bit of a prankster in her but she's part of her community and is making it a better place for herself and those around her.

From helping those down on their luck, sharing her knowledge and passing down what she knows, being a cat lover or simply being a quirky event in another's life. She's very much a part of her community

It's something the majority of us can do and even strive to make a part of our own lives

She's very inspirational and for that she's 2023s best girl

Husbando of 2023

N/A

yee same as last year, no one has resonated with me like yet. But I'm always open to being surprised

Waifu of 2023

Aquafresh

my dearly beloved who is named after a toothpaste brand for some reason I will never understand

She's so mysterious ... by which I mean I do not understand this npc

Best Billboard Event of 2023

Sea and Song

I mean it made me feel

Norah is an excellent main character with a relatable story of an artist who lost her art mojo

The npcs were very likeable and just make you want to help them and save the day

and while my like of Anna has greatly soured since her released Norah sure make her seem like a cool person and while their ending is sad, I'm glad they got to see each other again

Pretty satisfying end to the Cube Miracle arc

Best Track of 2023

Without You - Northside Nate

it's song that fills in a spot in the musical taste buds that rarely gets satisfied

Best Boss of the Year

Barros

an interesting esper, on one hand he's doing his best with what he can get his hands on the help his lil' nephew. But on the other hand "doing his best with what he can" is him gambling the rest city's citizens to accomplish this and seeing how he's the mayor...it's probably for the best to stop him

Also he's a pretty cool 2 part boss fight

I'm surprised they haven't put him in towers or cube miracle or something

But ya that's my best of 2023 awards for dislyte for anyone who was curious

[allinmycorner]

It's Season 33!

I didn't get a chance to watch the premiere live as I was on vacation in Disney World. I was off having fun in Hollywood Studios instead. But I'm back, I've seen it and there's still a good chance this will be a double post with the second episode.

But for now, let's get the season started!

The show opened with a big number featuring all our pros and the new troupe members. It's great seeing the troupe getting some love again. While they've been there in the background, it's time for them to shine again. After all, many pros started in the troupe and so who knows who will be the next breakout star from this group?

Alfonso and Julianne are back to host while our judging panel again is comprised of Carrie Ann, Derek and Bruno. Thirteen stars are competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. No one was eliminated in Week 1 so we get another week to get to know all 13 better.

So let's meet our stars as they dance to their personal anthems!

Chandler and Brandon: I'm not too familiar with Chandler as I don't watch Pretty Little Liars or the Zombies movies (though I do watch the Descendants ones) but I do like her. She's bubbly and sweet and has a good connection with Brandon. Her tango to Chappell Roan's "Hot to Go" has set the bar for the season - Carrie Ann even set so - and I look forward to seeing how she progresses. I'm definitely rooting for her.

Dwight and Daniella: They really like pairing Daniella with tall contestants, don't they? I think Jason has been the closest in height to her. If Iman towered over her, Dwight is practically a giant next to her at 6'11. Thankfully they had the salsa first so that allowed Dwight to ease into dancing before they had to worry about hold. Daniella has gotten better about letting her contestant shine and this was no different. Dwight is definitely an early frontrunner and showed "This is How We Do It."

Joey and Jenna: Have we ever had a Bachelor and a Bachelorette on the same season before? Anyway, Joey opened the show with a cha-cha to "Dancing in the Country" and did a pretty good job. It's hard to be the very first contestant out and he handled it well. He shows promise and has a good connection with Jenna, which is always important. I think Joey will make the Bachelor franchise proud.

Stephen and Rylee: Stephen captured America's hearts during the Paris Olympics and was the first contestant announced, getting people excited. I know we left the word "adorkable" back in the 2000s but he is the living embodiment of it. He is not afraid to be a giant nerd and to be just so likeable. He and Rylee are a good pairing and he handled his jive to "Don't Stop Me Now" very well. Of course there's still things for him to improve but I think he could give Dwight a run for his money.

(Also don't worry - the show has confirmed the glasses he throws off in tribute to his move in the Olympics are prop ones and that Alfonso holds his real ones during the routine).

Danny and Witney: Welcome back, Witney! It's nice to have her back in the ballroom and she is already doing well with NFL star Danny. They had a tango to start off their time on the show, dancing to "A Bar Song (Tipsy)." I'm not sure the song really lent itself to a tango but they had a pretty good routine anyway. Danny is showing promise and hopefully he can improve as the weeks go on.

Jenn and Sasha: Jenn was the last contestant added to the show. Sasha was not even going to perform this season but I'm glad he is. Fresh off her heartbreak after her choice on The Bachelorette didn't work out, Jenn is ready to dance her troubles away. I think choosing "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus was a good choice and she showed promise with her cha-cha, especially as it seems she had less time than the others to rehearse. Will we have a Bachelor and a Bachelorette going head-to-head for the Mirrorball Trophy? I guess only time will tell.

Phaedra and Val: Phaedra has confidence and is fun to watch. I think Val is a good foil for her and will be able to help her harness her energy and passion to help her improve as a dancer. She already had some moves with her cha-cha to "I'm Every Woman" - even Derek felt the sensuality she brought to it as Bruno had to remind him he is married. (I imagine Hayley laughing at home and nodding along). Will she be the first Real Housewife to claim the Mirrorball trophy? Her competition is tough and so to quote the great prophet Magic 8 Ball: "Answer hazy."

Anna and Ezra: And we come to Anna. I'll be honest, I was not pleased with the decision to include her in this season. Dancing With the Stars can be a second chance for people but I didn't think it was right for her. However, I decided to see if she would surprise me. She did not and I realized the issue I had - she showed no remorse. We saw more remorse from Olivia Jade than Anna. I feel bad that she is Ezra's first partner as a pro but he is doing his best with her. Her cha-cha to "Espresso" wasn't bad even with her ankle monitor but when Carrie Ann noted that there was a noticeable shift in the ballroom's energy when Anna came out, I doubt the votes will be there to keep Anna. She might only be saved depending on how Eric and Reginald do next week since she does have some dance ability.

Brooks and Gleb: I like Brooks. I think she might be holding back in the package so hopefully she gets more comfortable soon but otherwise, I like her. I also like her and Gleb together and that they handled the tango to "Piece of Me" well. I do wonder if they had the same problem as Danny and Witney in that their song choice may not have been a good fit for the tango but they did their best. It's Week 1 so I think we can be a little lenient on the contestants for now.

Ilona and Alan: Every so often, Dancing With the Stars introduces me to someone I wish I had known before because they are awesome. This season, I believe it's Ilona. She's likeable and relatable and challenging our concepts of femininity. I'm glad she chose Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" for her cha-cha. She felt a little stiff but I chalk that up to nerves and I think that she'll get better with Alan's guidance. I hope so because I want to watch her for a long time!

Tori and Pasha: Tori reveals that the producers have been trying to get her on Dancing With the Stars since the very beginning but she's turned them down until now. However, her divorce changed everything and she wanted to show her children that you can pick yourself up again. She and Pasha dance a foxtrot to "Trustfall" by P!nk and it's an appropriate song choice. I think she has some work to do but she could end up doing well if she puts in the work.

Reginald and Emma: It's Carl Winslow! You know, I once saw him on stage in "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden. He played the Ghost of Christmas Present and was great in it. He reveals he used to dance as a child and wants to get those skills back. He has a lot of work to do judging by his salsa to "Motwonphilly" but since he's in his 70s, it's understandable that he needs a little more time. He's a lot like Barry Williams so maybe he'll have a long run too.

Eric and Britt: Eric was a little stiff in his cha-cha to "Old Time Rock and Roll" and needs to get some lessons from Barry. Even Reginald moved a bit more than him. Maybe it was just nerves and Britt can help him loosen up. Or else he might be the reason Anna gets to dance another week.

And that ends the first episode of Season 33! It's shaping up to be another good one, with one big exception. But we'll see how that plays out.

Next time, our contestants will celebrate the movies on Oscars Night and someone will go home. See you then!

[orchideous-nox]

I couldn’t decide on a character so I’m just asking for both lmaoo,,, Aurora and Peter 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 25

< 3 some of these are more relevant to either character than others so feel free to take some liberties there lol

Of course you made this difficult for me ugghhhh

Peter

5 - What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

i'm not falling for the expected answer. I'd mentioned in a headcanons post that I think Pete would listen to Madness so I'm gonna go with Baggy Trousers. Either that or Not Strong Enough by boygenius specifically for "always an angel, never a god". Possibly Fat Funny Friend by Maddie Zahm? I know it said first song but I just needed to add more.

6 - What's something you have in common with this character?

Hitting hard already, damn. I think I can relate to Peter never feeling like the first choice. He's never the best friend just a best friend, never the special one, he's never unique or inspiring, he's just Pete. I've always felt like this too and we're not going to linger on this, don't worry if we're friends I'm not selling you out to Voldemort.

7 - What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Not a lot. I think making Peter friends with Marlene pre-Hogwarts is something I really like. I've spoken about this before I think but it's a common enough headcanon that I think I can say the fandom did this right. Most other things I'm not a fan of when it comes to the fandom's treatment of Peter, but I have spoken in length about that before.

8 - What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Oh wonderful, I didn't see that this was the next question. Like I just said, the fandom's treatment of Peter as a character leaves much to be desired to put it nicely. I've spoken about the fatphobia and reduction to being a background underdeveloped character that Peter has suffered, how people don't give him a personality because they don't want to make him likeable and he's often the only character made aroace to avoid shipping him because he's also canonically the only fat character in the Marauders.

14 - Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I don't knoowwwww, I'm bad at aesthetics and I don't know how to describe it except just....suburban dad-core. Man's rocking polo shirts, he's popping the collar like my stepdad does, he's wearing cargo shorts and has multiple pairs.

15 - What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

PEBILL (or ratseer if we're feeling fancy)

25 - What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

When I was a kid I hated Peter but that's because I always loved Remus, whereas now I've grown to appreciate that there was a time before the betrayal when they were all friends, because that's how it has to be for the betrayal to work. He's not just a rat, he was Wormtail.

Aurora

5 - What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I am struggling with this because I'm still acclimatising myself when it comes to Aurora. The way my brain was like "what songs mention stars" and came up with A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay which is just a shit answer but it's the answer you're getting.

6 - What's something you have in common with this character?

Autism. I also like stars.

7 - What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Make her more than just a background character. Like she is one of the few canon people of colour in the fandom and I like that people want to give her more of a personality.

8 - What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I haven't really seen anything about her that I disagree with or despise so I'm going to assume this one was in there more for Peter's sake. I'd like to see more of Aurora though. Like we see her in the films, we know she's a teacher, so why is she so rarely used?

14 - Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I don't want to lean into the obvious but celestial (again, I'm bad at aesthetics). She wears a lot of blue and gold, maybe like jewel tones

15 - What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

I like starrynight which is Aurora and Severus, but I guess I don't hate Aurora and Pandora, but it's not like my top ship because I ship Pandora with other people normally.

25 - What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I can't remember my first impression of her, just that I didn't know who she was for the longest time because they never used her in the films so I was like "who's that teacher sat next to Dumbledore?". But now I like her, I think she's cool and has lured me in with her shiny stars. My neurodivergent is showing....

Anyway, thanks for the asks dickhead < 3

[allamericansbitch]

just my food for thought: taylor's approach to promoting ttpd feels very much like big kpop releases (with the street pop-up, doing very limited promotions beforehand but dropping album versions with different names and even having photocards in her album and the album and lead single mv to drop on the same day ) and i understand that it also harks back on the generally short attention span people have with music these days, and saying that i miss her old rollouts doesn't mean she just has to bring them back because i want that, but i also would have loved a bit of a gradual build-up.

i honestly don't mind that the majority of people know who and what that album revolves around, since that is another thing i as one person can't change and i know that doesn't matter to me when i listen to the songs, but i honestly don't look forward to the fact that people will dig through the album for the most scathing lyrics, post them for viral moments, and then move on in a week or two bc then their attention will go to something else. this doesn't even feel like a real 'era' because the era is basically non-existent, which says something when taylor has marketed herself as the queen of album eras. i just wish she'd build on the theme of the album more, make it more of an era and work to make the songs just breathe for a while, you know?

while midnights wasn't my favourite album she ever did i genuinely really liked it (and same on the love for glitch!) for the way she wrote the album and the central theme of it being her contemplating her life, her actions, and her relationships - but all of that got lost in the wash like three months later and we never returned to looking at the album that way. you and the other anon were so spot on in saying that once it got the "heartbreak album" stamp (which ,,, it legit doesn't feel like a heartbreak album to me and still doesn't?), people never really came back to it or to listen to the songs and see anything else in them. i enjoy taylor's music and i like coming back to songs weeks, months, and even years later, as with any artist i listen to, and to see how i feel about them now. but it feels like that is never happening again bc the promo tells the majority of people one thing, they will listen to the album for two weeks except for two stand-out songs that become general faves, and then it's back to engaging with the commodity of the brand taylor swift, which to me feels like defeating the purpose of releasing an album aka a big body of work to stand on its own through time!

i don't know if that makes sense. in any case i love the discussions on your blog. feels like there is an entire different discussion about artists not being perfect humans, not even being likeable sometimes, and these people still releasing art that you as a listener (or watcher etc) will relate to and/or enjoy. i don't have a clear answer how to engage with that or how to look at that but the space and conversations on your blog have definitely made me keep thinking about it though it's something i have been pondering on for most of my adult life.

ah, sorry for this wall of text! i just really, really enjoy the open conversations on your blog and your general view on things. i don't know i feel on friday, but if you just want to discuss songs (if you listened, of course, if not that's also fine, i just enjoy seeing you post) i definitely love doing that even as just one of the anons on here. thank you for always putting your honesty and your love for music forward, sarah, it's why you're one of my favourite people to follow on here. 💜

i just wish the promo for this album made it feel like she was actually excited and proud of the album because right now it doesn’t. she’s not doing anything for it, and if she is, it’s being outsourced to other companies who are the actual ones doing the work (spotify with the library or the lyric messages, or instagram doing the countdown) so it really comes off as like she doesn’t care to put the effort in herself leading up to it.

And the thing about everyone moving on like a week after, you’re so right. it’s obvious a universal issue, everyone’s attention span is getting shorter everyday, but with taylor and swifties… it’s so bad. every release is forgot even days afterwards and the fans ask for another one. fans are speculating that she’s gonna drop rep tv the same day ttpd comes out… like they’ve already anticipated that they’ll move on the same day after getting it so they want more. and i feel like, while it’s impossible for taylor to fix the global attention span issue, i feel like proper promotion would help combat it within the fandom. like her releasing a first single a month or two before the album comes out would build anticipation, but also force people to slow down. here’s a teaser but now you have to wait, teach the fans patience kind of thing.

and that last part made me tear up that’s so sweet to appreciate what i have to say. i’m so happy you enjoy following me. messages like this are the exact reason why i love to have my inbox open and have these amazing, mature, open minded conversations and it sucks im gonna have to close my inbox for a short while when the album comes out but i will definitely post my opinions once i spend some time with it! ily anon thank you 💗✨

[elequinoa-world]

Saw The LA Little Mermaid tonight and here are my thoughts:

non spoilery tldr; scenes under the sea bad, above the sea really great, halle bailey is freaking amazing and relationship with prince eric top tier chef’s kiss

overall had a fun time especially in second half when she’s human

Full uncohesive thoughts under the cut:

Cons

the underwater scenes were so dark and lacked severe colors, fun, life. all the underwater world looked too realistic and bare compared to the cartoon version, especially showed during the under the sea segment, it was so lackluster compared to the original... they could have made a real world with lots of colors and fun patterns but no, they went realistic and it’s very meh i hated all of it

the original songs are so much better than the LA ones BUT i saw the movie in french dub because my mom doesnt speak english so i’m pretty sure the english versions are at least better than that (but in french they lacked so much soul and RYTHM omg sebastian where is your groove?? and ariel’s VA was so bad i didnt like it, and Eric’s new song was so freaking weird because Jonah was out here pouring his soul into the acting and the french VA did not match that energy lol it was very cringe, same for the eureka rap son wtf was that)(i wanna point out that french dubs are usually very good so im very disapointed with this one, they did not get the right tones accross)

ursula’s introduction. W.T.F. you know how the basic of writing is show don’t tell? well they went the exact opposite direction with her and she gets not one but TWO monologues where she explains her villainous thoughts so you know exactly why she’s the vilain and how she’s gonna villain in her next course of villainous actions BRRR so bad

ariel’s sisters were underused they barely had like one line each, why even put them in the movie?? simone ashley you were robbed she didn’t even get one closeup in the final scene smh they should have done more with at least ONE of them (indira cough cough) so we could explore more of ariel’s connection to the underwater world? one of the sister could have helped instead of sebstian/eureka? idk the sisters are important characters in the original tale, they could have done something with that...

Vanessa was also less of an impact compared to the cartoon but I don’t know if that’s bad or good... It makes the ending a bit rushed imo, less heart-breaking than I remember, but it also removed the dumb idea that Eric would genuinely marry her lol so idk

Ariel only got ONE dress i’m so mad (no, the last one doesnt count it’s just a RECOLOR im so pissed)  THEY DIDNT EVEN SHOW THE SCENE WHERE SHE WALKS OUT OF THE WATER WITH HER REAL LEGS I WAS SO WAITING FOR IT i need to calm down but i’m definitely mourning the silver dress, the pink dress, the blue dress, the pajamas, the wedding dress.... GIVE ME BETTER COSTUMING FFS

they cut the cook’s song to add others and i’m not sure i agree with that decision. You know which scene would have used a song? The one where Ariel and Eric dance in the market. This should have been a fun song. *shrugs*

they need to stop with the bad CGI. they could have gone with practical effects on so many things and it would have improved the movie so much more. Ariel’s hair was the worst, it moved so unnaturally at times it really took me off. (while when she’s on land it’s so cute)

Pros

Halle Bailey.

She’s amazing and even if the french VA didn’t do so good Halle’s performance still shone and she was really really great i really mean it. She’s gorgeous, has the right emotions, she made Ariel much more likeable. I always thought of cartoon Ariel as a bit of an unlikeable brat with teenage angst, but Halle turned her into a real character and it felt more genuine that Ariel really wanted to be part of that world (wink wink) She felt more in power, with an actual personality, like the movie was really hers. They did change the final scene and have Ariel kill Ursula alone which makes more sense and satisfying BUT i’ve always liked about the cartoon that Eric and Ariel defeated her together so I would have liked him to be a bit more present during the final fight, making it longer and have more impact too. Cause it was really short. Plus they have amazing chemsitry so it would have been good.

Eric. Their relationship. They fleshed him out more and they did it well. I love that they’re kindred spirits, the way they talked all night was so good, you really felt the connection and it was so cute. Really well done. I was really sold on their relationship. All their scenes together, I wanted more more more <3

The kiss the girl scene was so so nice, the way she made him find out her name??? the cutest shit ever, felt so genuine and cute, and you could feel the tension and L O V E blooming YESSSS

Ariel’s new song when she’s on land was a nice addition (better in english i’m guessing)

Eric’s kingdom, all the land scenes, the colorful market, it felt so alive and fleshed out compared to the underwater!! I loved the castle, the palm trees, Eric’s room, loved it.

The Queen was a nice addition to balance Eric. Grimsby was the best wingman. Good doggo Max, loved that Ariel saved him too.

I don’t care much for Triton, he was as he was in the cartoon I guess. Not less, not more. I don’t understand why they made Ursula his sister if they did nothing with it. Meh. Also they did not use the weird worm thingy transformation so when he “died” and came back it was a bit lackluster too. With the “soul corruption” of the wormies we had a better visual outlet for what was happening I believe. Here it felt too hollywoodian to have him come back like that. Or at least have Ariel bring him back if you’re gonna use the trident to do so??

Ursula, once her BAD introduction scenes passed was nice, her song was the best I thought... (remember, in french) good performance if not as good as the cartoon one that is immaculate so hard to top that

Ursula’s lair was MUCH better than the rest of the underwater. They had moe fun with it and it showed. Lights, danger, spooky, some creativeness finnally!!!

I liked the use of a scale from her fishtail to seal the deal, a nice change. Made more sense. Liked also how they emphasized why she stole her voice (siren’s powers, but also metaphorically, a nice touch)

Flounder was cute don’t listen to the haters

Eureka was also fun and less annoying than cartoon version

Sebastian was... Sebastian but without the original flair. (rip Henri Salvador) though i’ll admit he’s probably the one that made me laugh the most

overall, when they tried to replicate the original cartoons scenes it felt lackluster compared to it, but when they went off-book with the new land scenes it was amazing, they should have gone more off-script, this movie would have benefitted from it, they had the right actors to do so. (and i really wanted more scenes on land, and i want to know the lore of this kingdom and who are Eric’s parents??, more of the queen, the king, how is the relationship between the two worlds going to evolve?? this is a huge freaking deal, expand on it please!!)

so long story short, right actors, wrong creative decisions, fun movie overall, adds more character, but could have done. SO. MUCH. more. Disney has the budget for it, be bold ffs and bring back the COSTUMES o m g they gave their all with cinderella and gave up after that smh i blame you emma watson we could have it all

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 15 April 1954

Well, what a treat. Two songs in a row that reached Number 1. Not that that always correlates with actual quality, or that good songs don't occasionally languish further down the charts. But it's still generally a decent indicator of quality - even when I don't like them, Number 1s seem to generally be fairly solidly-made tracks, or they have been, so far.

Such a Night - Johnnie Ray (peaked at Number 1)

Well, then. I didn't really know this track, and frankly, I think I probably ought to have known it! It's good, a saucy little toe-tapper, and I found myself dancing round my kitchen to it, which is always a good sign.

We've also not hit rock and roll yet, but there are signs of it coming round the corner, for sure. It's all over the speed of this, plus the violently slapped double bass, the tinkling piano, the vague hints of electric guitar, and the backing singers' repeated "doo-de-oooby-ooby-oo" and "doo-waah-doo-wah" riffs, which I think are doubled by a saxophone, or easily could be?

We've also got a bit of rock and roll attitude - it keeps it carefully above the belt, with a lot of lyrics about kissing, but don't be misled, there's a steamy little number undearneath all that, too, especially with Johnnie's moands and "ooohs" throughout. It's almost performatively coy, "that kiss in the moonlight" serving as the fig-leaf on this otherwise overtly suggestive song.

With all these rock and roll signifiers, it's possibly unsurprising that this song has its roots in old-school rhythm and blues and the emerging doo-wop scene. It originated with the Drifters, after all, and I can already imagine them doing a good job with it. Elvis also did a version of it, after Johnnie's, and I think I might have heard that version before? Elvis, of course, famous for being white but playing "black" music - and I know that Johnnie Ray had a similar thing going on, where a lot of people who just heard his voice on the radio assumed he was black. It's artists like these that lay the groundwork for modern pop and rock music, all resting on a solid foundation of black 1940s and 1950s R'n'B, and here, it works very well.

It doesn't hurt that Johnnie sells the lyrics with an emotional intensity that he was apparently well-known for. You don't get the sense that he actually takes it seriously, though. He's putting on a front as this sly but likeable horndog - but it's definitely a front, and knowingly done. He plays a man who's had "such a night" with his lover, and is eager to tell you all about it, how "just the thought of her lips, it sets me on fire" and how "I gave my heart to her in sweet surrender", before staying together until dawn, "kissing". Oooh, Johnnie, you lovable scamp, you ;)

We continue and learn that this mystery lover's gone now - she vanished, sneaking out at dawn - but Johnnie's very keen to remind us of just how well he remembers everything that went down, and how he'll never forget it. It's weirdly insistent, actually - is this another layer to the song? He's so insistent that it does make it sound like he's compensating for something, almost over-eager to convince you that yes, he really did spend a night with this lady, he definitely didn't make it all up, nope, nuh-uh, not a chance. It's an interpretative stretch, for sure, but I think it adds to the song, not going to lie - especially knowing that Johnnie in real life probably wouldn't have been that attracted to this lovely lady. "How well I remember, I'll always remember" indeed. Methinks Johnnie doth protest too much.

And it's all held together by a string of borderline obscene "oooh ooooh" moans, as well as his almost feverish delivery of "such a night" which elevate this song from a decent little number to an actively very enjoyable rocker. A bit like Secret Love last week, this is a song that's grown on me a lot as I've listened!

What a treat! Not a completely forgotten song, but one that I think deserves more airplay than it seems to get. As I said, the more I listened, the more I enjoyed this, and I think the hints at rock and roll that you can see in it are fascinating. It's so nearly there, and I can't wait!

Best song of the bunch, yes it was, yes it really was: Such a Night

[cutielatias]

finally we/I played true colors (i was owning this for a time, because we played this in August,and now it's already December😅💦) the text is some reactions and thoughts that I/we had while playing the game

"jeez,comparing alex to sean,sean actually sounds like a genuine nice person (she is a jerk😒) now i know why i liked/like sean (i will no longer complain about him,ha-ha😂,no, just kiddin,i will)"

"for someone with the power of "empathy"alex sounds more like a manipulator than an actual empathy person,she uses other's emotions to get what she wants/make they say what she wants,that feels wrong"

"what this game/franchise have against reserved people?!💢alex is so jerk with that diane,and i hate it!she so jerk with her💢(the woman is just keeping/doing her job😒)"

"i thought that alex was starting to become more likeable on ep3, but then i read her diary(diane's part)and the laptop part (at the ending)no,no, she still jerk😑"

"the cop looks like cody from "it takes two" haha😂,(diane is may😂😂😂)"

"i didn't understand nothing of alex past life/the old phone messages😕 (and by the way whata heck was that with that isaac guy!!?that was weird, was very obvious that the guy want something more with her, it's not possible that she couldn't read the guy's mind and sense that he wanted to hook up with her(I doubt that she can't sense lust💢)i mean, i think she kinda wanted too😒,but,idk why but the impression that i have of this situation is that alex and the guy were hooking up and in the middle of that, alex reads/feels the guy emotions during the s*x, and the thoughts were kinda wild (but in a red flag way)and that made her kinda uncomfortable,and she gets weird with the guy,and then she blocks him,ugh~😑,fuckin weird situation"

"almost faint when i saw that mexican letter (and not in a good way)i was worried that would be something do to with sean and daniel💦 and thank god that was not💨"

"the ending super coherent with us😂, were the olds that stayed on our side, me and ana have something that we always have more affinity with older people(and vice versa)"

"it even gives me a little feeling to look to this menu image, I remember the day that we finished the game, it was even a little melancholy to look/get out of the menu, I like the menu song, the music is nice✨(i like the instrumental/menu version more but the voice version is ok too) , and by the way no one gonna talk about the fact that the group that plays the song has a Portuguese name "novo amor"maybe cuz is nothin important😂😂😅 its just a name😅💦,but i find funny cuz this game seens to have a "big" brazillian fanbase so i thought someone would say something, but no, no one says nothin(i don't know if is the brazillian portuguese now thinking can be the portugal one) just an useless funny fact😅😂(at first a thought that "novo amor" was the song's name, but the songs name is haven, "novo amor" is the singer)"

"I didn't find true colors a copy of the others "life is stranges" like people were saying at the time(of course, that some of concepts are very similar from the preview ones😅,i do noticed that, but they did in a different way), for me it's kinda different from the others, it's not like the first or the second and neither to before the storm (which I thought was more likely because both were by decknine)"

"i thought that after i liked the second one if i played another game of the franchise, i would like it too(cuz i'll be honest i never really liked this franchise, i find the concept interesting, but i didn't like the characters very much) but after that I liked the second one, I thought that maybe I would't roll my eyes with the franchise anymore, but no, I roll my eyes with true colors as the same way as I roll with the others, it's reallys only the second one that I put up with/the one that has the spark, it's as if the feeling that I feel with this franchise always still the same, it's only the second one that I like/liked,like imagine that you are someone who doesn't like coffee, but one day you drink a certain coffee and you like it , and with that you think, now that I liked this coffee, maybe I don't have problem with coffee anymore, but no, you drink the other coffees and you still don't like it, it's just that one coffee that you like/liked(crazy example but its the only one that could think about it😅😅😅)"

[actualbird]

0/////0 do u have any spicy marius thoughts? the more luke or luke AND mc involved the better.... the thought of this threesome grabbed me by the balls and simply will not let go. do u see marius actually being interested in luke, or just bitter and in denial abt him being so likeable?

[n/s//f///w text in answer]

hello anon!!! ive actually been thinking about marius/mc/luke ever since i wrote “instructions unclear...” but i have a...very convoluted and long winded vision of how it would actually happen

if u want the gist: marius in love with mc -> marius/luke FWB -> luke/mc -> marius heartbroken over BOTH OF THEM -> communication happens -> marius/mc/luke happy ending

if u want the Full Story and are willing to bear with me for a bit, i imagine it like this:

despite being the youngest of the NXX gang, marius has fucked before. he's fucked a bunch, actually. it's fun and he's good at it so for a while he treats sex like the rest of his hobbies, but the thing is that That's All Sex Is To Him. by the time he's 21, he's got a good number of casual one night stands in his pocket, but deep down, he....kinda wants more than a quick roll around in the sheets. he wants to not have to slip out of their bed before they wake up, he wants to make breakfast for them when they wake up, he wants something more than the song Temporary Bliss by The Cab.

and then he meets mc and for the first time in his life, he's in love.

he's never been in love before so he kinda sucks at expressing sincerity, resorting to making himself look like a massive tool most of the time, but mc, god bless her, still likes him in spite of that. in marius' heart, a deep and fragile yearning he has no idea how to show and, well. marius isnt used to not being good at things. marius doesnt like not being good at things.

enter luke pearce.

to answer your question, anon, i do think marius in this scenario would be interested in him, but for a period of time, that interest is muddled by bitter jealousy. because come on, luke pearce, who is made of fucking sunshine and rainbows and is a super spy and is mc's childhood best friend, like, how the hell is marius supposed to go against that? marius hates luke! he hates him! //insert entirety of "instructions unclear..." to express the point im getting here but moving on from that like

marius does eventually, begrudgingly, come to terms with the fact that he's attracted to luke, but that actually makes his feelings situation worse because he can (at least on a superficial level) see that luke has got even MORE GOING IN HIS FAVOR.

//distressed marius noises

but here comes the kicker. one day, luke approaches marius, and huh, he's nervous, he's fidgeting with his key, he's---

luke: can you have sex me?

marius: WHAT

---HE'S PROPOSITIONING HIM????

luke then goes to explain, quite embarrassed, that he has no sexual experience whatsoever---which comes as a shock to marius, what with how luke looks like how he Looks Like---and that he wants to learn how to do things. luke doesnt have many friends (vyn scares him, artem is a virgin too, and aaron, just, no, oh god, no) and marius asks "okayyyy, why not mc?" and luke blushes and goes "she's...kind of who i want to be good for..."

marius, at this point, is feeling a lot of emotions. on one hand, theres a very very hot man asking for a fuck. on the other, this man wants the said fuck to be better when he gets with the woman marius is in love with. the logical thing to do would be to reject luke, because duh, but marius...marius doesnt like not being good at things. for a while now, he's had to deal with being bad at love, but now, there's an opportunity to show his competition that he's got advantage in this arena?

needless to say, marius says yes. and thus begins marius/luke Friends With Benefits funtime.

marius is very smug, every time he and luke have sex. he cant help that rush of power he feels when he one ups luke, when he takes luke's cock down his throat, when he hears luke's punched out moans. he loves seeing luke out of his element, whining and flushed and destroyed. they have a LOT of sex, in this point of the story, all under the flimsy guise of "teaching luke". marius talks luke through how to kiss, how to touch, how to fuck.

"you need to up your stamina," marius says, getting down on his knees. "lesson for today is don't come for as long as you can, got it, super spy?"

"got i----oh my fucking god, Marius!"

the tables turn eventually though because luke pearce is a fast learner, and soon enough, marius isnt in control all of the time anymore. luke pushes back, luke uses his knowledge of marius' body against him, luke makes marius see fucking stars.

this would have been all well and good, marius is used to casual sex afterall, but luke pearce, as we've established earlier, is nice. he's nice. he doesn't let marius leave his bed in the middle of the night because he's cuddling marius like a squid the entire time. he always makes breakfast for marius before he leaves in the morning because over the course of the FWB thing luke learned marius' tendency to skip meals out of corporate induced stress. luke always holds marius, holds him as if he's something worth more than his dick and what it can do, and marius realizes, day by day, that he has made a terrible mistake.

marius is bad at love. and he just had to go and fall in love with luke pearce too.

//makes vague hand gestures because im starting to run out of steam so i'll speed this bit up. plot happens here where luke and marius stop doing the FWB thing because marius feels the need to distance himself. luke is hurt, but accepts, and then somehow luke gets with mc which causes an Angst Bonanza for marius because he's heartbroken as hell over the BOTH OF THEM. somehow somebody realizes theyve all been idiots and the three of them have a conversation where they actually communicate, and then they all get together and live happily ever after.

and have awesome threesomes, yes, but i didnt realize this answer got this long and now im too tired to describe the threesome kJBKSJBKFGSD

anon, i would like to apologize to you, because you asked some very simple questions and i gave you this trainwreck of an answer that's....holy fuck, 1000+ WORDS LONG?? IM SO SORRY

but also, anon, how dare you for this. now that ive written all of this out, i am possessed by a need to make it a full fic. how could you do this to me. 

[starlene]

I briefly discussed this with @chazmina​ back in, what, February, and wrote a note to myself that I should make a post about it... well, I guess time’s a construct and it’s always better late than never, so here goes.

The Problem with Emma/Jekyll in Jekyll & Hyde the Musical

So. I’ve never really felt any chemistry in between Emma and Jekyll in J&H the musical, and whenever I watch the show, I have a rather hard time trying to get invested in their relationship. I wanted to write a little post exploring why that might be!

First off, because coming from me, someone might think this is the case – I don’t think it’s because I ship Utterson and Jekyll. The way I ship those two (namely, a semi-unrequited mess of mostly bad feelings) doesn’t really get in Emma/Jekyll’s way. If anything, having an impending wedding to someone else enhances my Utterson/Jekyll experience. And hey, you know what the meme says, Jekyll has two hands... and he effectively uses them both to hurt many, many people. :)

But, thinking about Emma...

The musical, of course, does what every other adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde does and gives Jekyll and Hyde separate girlfriends. And at first glance, the whole situation with Emma and Lucy is built on some very tired stereotypes: you have the goody-two-shoes rich blonde for the good guy and the promiscuous poor brunette for the bad guy. The musical does little to combat this – but for me, the things it does make the situation worse, actually.

The Problem

When we first meet Emma in the engagement party scene, we soon find out she’s not quite what you might expect. Sure, the writing’s ham-fisted at best, but even so – instead of a demure little wife-to-be, Emma is rather sassy. She’s also broken off a relationship before, apparently simply because the man didn’t appreciate her for who she was. And now, she’s marrying a man of her own choosing, even if there are people out there who don’t approve of the match. Pretty advanced for (our stereotypical vision of) the Victorian era.

I think in some other story, this would be great! A quick-witted, self-confident lady to balance off the scientist with lofty ideals. However, in J&H the musical... first, the musical takes pains over showing us why Emma and Jekyll are a good match – come on, they badmouth the stuffy party crowd together! – and then, we see Jekyll take his leave of this fantastic woman to go ogle at dancers in a local burlesque house.

(Sure, sure, it’s a bachelor party cliché to hire some strippers, but even so. He doesn’t even hesitate. Maybe it makes a little more sense whenever they’re using the script where it’s Utterson’s idea to go to The Red Rat, but it doesn’t seem like many modern productions are based on that.)

Then, of course, Jekyll runs into Lucy, and we’re supposed to believe he sees something in her right away. Something, you might assume, that’s altogether different from whatever he sees in Emma.

Sure, the obvious thing that pops to mind first is that Lucy is sexually available in a way Emma is not – but then again, it’s six weeks to go unti Jekyll and Emma’s wedding, so soon enough, Emma will be too. (And even back in those days, I guess if they wanted to get it on right there and then, they could. I repeat, it’s six weeks, so even if they got a baby on the way right away, she wouldn’t be showing until after the wedding.) So maybe instead, Lucy understands Jekyll mentally in a way Emma does not? But if she does, what was Jekyll and Emma’s big song about knowing and loving each other as they are about? Are we supposed to think it was insincere? Or are we supposed to assume that Jekyll assumes that, unlike Emma who knows and loves Jekyll, Lucy would also love Hyde as he is? (I guess that might be it, I’ve previously talked about this with someone who was an advocate of that theory – but it’s still a lot of assumptions stacked on top of each other without ever making the situation quite clear.)

This all leaves us with a rather weird situation: Jekyll is in love with and getting married to Emma, who loves him back and is very likeable. At the same time, Jekyll finds Emma lacking somehow, because when he gives way to his repressed urges, he immediately goes to cheat on her with Lucy.

Of course, you could use a setup like this to argue, say, that you shouldn’t except any single relationship to fulfill all your dreams, and that monogamy is not the right lifestyle for everybody – but this show is decidedly not smart enough for that, and the extremely stereotypical way the women are otherwise handled doesn’t really allow for enough nuance to argue something like that. From a storytelling point of view, in a show like this, you’d except something a bit more overt.

The Solution

To fix this, here’s what I’d do:

I’d still write Emma as a feisty, likeable character – but I’d add in a couple of lines where the engagement party guests whisper about her embarrassing breakup with Simon and how she’s getting on in years, so it’s good she’s settling down with someone, even if Jekyll is way beneath her.

When it’s time for the big Jekyll/Emma duet, then, I’d write it in a way that makes clear something’s not quite clicking in between them, that they’re not quite in tune with each other (maybe literally.) There would be some clever lyrics implying that, while they’re dreaming of a harmonious future together, their exceptations of what their marriage will be like actually contradict each other. Maybe Jekyll doesn’t even understand Emma’s sense of humour, and when she tries to make some sassy remark about a party guest, he just stares at her, nonplussed.

And then, when Jekyll and Utterson leave the engagement party for The Red Rat, you could have Jekyll confessing he’s a bit worried about how balancing his work with the duties of a family man is going to work out. And Utterson’s all, hey bro, I hear you, but it can’t be that bad, I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but once she inherits her father’s fortune, [insert ka-ching noise]... and then you could have Jekyll sheepishly admitting that Papa Carew’s fortune is something he indeed considered when proposing to Emma... but John, don’t get me wrong, it’s also that I’ve never met any woman I like as much as I like Emma, and isn’t that a perfectly respectable reason to get married to her?

And boom, then Jekyll meets Lucy, and she’s the one. He knows it immediately after seeing her: what he feels for Emma is nothing compared to this, this is the woman of his dreams, the only one for him, and no matter what he does or who he marries, he’ll never be able to put her away from his mind. (Shhh. I know it’s saccharine. I guess at heart, I’m a tragic romantic.)

Then, Jekyll’s dilemma becomes this: he knows that by breaking up with Emma, who’s already scandalised everybody by breaking off an engagement with Simon Stride, he would destroy her chances of ever getting married, and he cares for her enough that he doesn’t want to ruin her. He knows that by now, it’s his gentlemanly duty to go through with the wedding. What’s more, he obviously knows marrying a prostitute would destroy whatever credibility he still has in the London society – and if he ever wants to advance his career and make a real difference in the world, he cannot have that. He knows that a connection with the Carew family, and in time, Papa Carew’s fortune, would greatly help him to reach his professional goals.

And maybe Hyde treats Lucy badly not only because she prefers Jekyll to Hyde, but because somewhere deep inside, Jekyll and therefore Hyde is angry at her for existing – for destroying what would’ve otherwise been an okay-ish marriage and an okay-ish life. Because now that he knows her, he knows how true love (and lust) feels like, and a lukewarm existence simply will not do anymore.

What do you guys think? Does this make sense to you? Or if you really like Emma and Jekyll’s relationship in the musical and don’t think it should be changed, why is that, and what is it that I’m not getting about it? :D

[eagles-translated]

Can you rank the main 5 characters from your most to least favourite? Kinda curious to know what you think!

Absolutely! My answer to this question got longer than I expected (is anybody really surprised that I got sidetracked by such a simple question as this?), so I put a keep reading line on it. Hope you enjoy!

Elias has always been my number one favorite since season 1! I just really like his goofy and sweet demeanor, despite the whole "macho jock" thing the writers were going for with the character.

My second favorite would probably be Amie, but the reason she's ranked highly is mostly because I'm not a big fan of the other three mains. I don't mean to start any fan wars here but I didn't like Amie's behavior in season 2, so that kind of made me like her less as a whole (you are of course allowed to disagree with me on that).

To be completely honest, the acting falls flat for me sometimes too. I don't mean that as a personal jab because I was pleasantly surprised to see how natural Yandeh Sallah acted in Skitsamma compared to Eagles.

There's just something off with the acting when it comes to Amie. For example, the scene in 2x10 where Amie confesses her crush to Ludde. The whole season has been building towards this moment. Amie's been so confused over her feelings for Ludde while they've been writing their song together, and she's realized that the feelings she has for him are romantic.

There are several things this love confession scene should show—Amie's hopefulness over the feeling potentially being mutual, her anxiety and fear over asking Ludde how he feels, and the absolute heartbreak that follows when Ludde says he's not in love with Amie, but with Felicia. And yet none of these things seem to be present. The delivery is really, really flat. When the episode aired I said that I thought it sounded like a prank call and I honestly still feel that way, because there was barely any emotion behind it.

The same could honestly be said for Edvard as well because there are similar problems with his acting as well. The other three mains, even if I don't enjoy their characters as much, probably have the best acting chops out of the whole cast (specifically Alva and Sarah).

So, back to the rankings! I would have Felicia in a solid third place. I don't find her that relatable but I've always felt really bad for her considering everything that's been thrown at her. As I mentioned before, Alva is a really good actress as well so that's a bonus when it comes to bringing the character to life.

Ludde is in fourth place. I disliked his treatment of Felicia in season 1 and never really understood the hype for him. He's gotten a lot better since then and I don't have a lot against him now, but I guess I just find him boring.

Klara is my least favorite character right now. I don't hate her but I just find her a bit confusing. Obviously nobody liked season 1 Klara, but I also have a hard time understanding Klara's recent character development.

I sort of wish they'd stopped developing her after season 2. I liked the development she had there and it still felt realistic for a teenager. Obviously Klara was bound to change after the death of her father, but it didn't have to be so drastic.

Now she's this boss businesswoman who barely has any flaws and just goes around doing good deeds for everyone. She feels like a 30-year-old tossed in with a bunch of teenagers and it's just bizarre. I don't like what they're doing with Klara in season 4 by having her run around and help everybody else to make the character more likeable to the audience. It's frankly annoying and makes Klara feel like a plot device more than her own character.

[renjunfromthestars]

more than

Pairing: Mark + reader, Bestfriend! Mark, Childhood friend!Mark

Genre: Fluff, angst, honestly a little bit of crack LOL

Song recs: Best friend + Untitled + Waiting Room (Rex Orange County), Sofia (Clario)

Warnings: Mild swearing and mentions of alcohol

Word Count: 7.0k (my longest fic yet, wow!)

Summary: You’ve known Mark for all your life, and it only takes one drunken night (plus a little intervention with Haehcan) to think that you wouldn’t mind getting to know him a little better...

Notes: The fact that I actually had the patience to sit down and to write something above 3k words,,,,absolutely astounding, amazing, unique, never been seen before…. Mark is a little awk and always works so hard (poor bby), so imagining him as a super stressed pre-med major and oblivious best friend absolutely wrecks me thank you goodbye

----

When you first meet Mark, you’re eight years old, and it’s at church. He’s dressed in his Sunday best: a light blue button up, khakis, and shiny dress shoes. He looks stiff as your mother introduces you two, with his shirt buttoned all the way to the collar.

It’s not that you dislike him, but you think he might dislike you, with the way he avoids eye contact, eyes tracing the floor, your shoes—anywhere but your face.

You see panic flash through his eyes when his mom gently pushes him towards you, telling him to take you inside and reserve a spot in the pews while she catches up with your mom. 

He shuffles awkwardly, and wordlessly, you follow him into the building.

The pews are almost empty, with the bulk of them being filled in the front by the old people that usually have nothing better to do on their Sunday mornings. Although your local church is on the smaller side, it feels unusually large with rows of empty pews, almost eerie. You shudder at shadows the walls make with the stained glass, and hurry to your usual spot towards the middle.

If Mark notices your apprehension, he doesn’t say anything. He’s oblivious, actually, not noticing your absence until he’s almost at the end of the rows. When you see him stop and search for you frantically, you stifle a laugh. 

He eventually finds you, and after shuffling awkwardly between the pews, makes his way to you. 

“This is kinda far, isn’t it?” he murmurs.

“Huh?”

“I mean,” he stammers. “I usually sit closer to the front. ”

You peer at him from the side. “You actually want to pay attention?”

He scratches the back of his head. “Well yeah, isn’t that the point?”

“I guess,” you say, looking at the ceiling. With the sprawling arches and patterns, the designs are pretty, you think. 

“You should at least try, it’s kinda interesting,” when you turn your head to look at him he turns away. “Only if you want to, of course.” he adds, fidgeting with his hands.

When you tell him that maybe you will, you see him crack a small smile.

It becomes a routine, almost every Sunday, with you and Mark sitting next to each other.  Whether it’s closer to the front or the back, it’s a whole debate. You usually give in, because when you walk in, Mark is already waiting for you in the front. 

….

“Do you still go to Church?”

You’re laying on a green bean bag in Mark’s dorm room, procrastinating on the midterm paper you were supposed to get started on, well, a week ago. 

You think for a second, hand raised to rub your chin, just to tease him. “What’s church?”

“C'mon dude, are you serious?”

“Barely,” you say, standing up to move to sit on his bed. “You should really get a new bean bag, it’s kinda deflated.”

Mark ignoring you, reaches over from his desk to fluff up the bean bag. “It’s because you sit on it so much.” 

“Are you calling me fat?” and before he can defend himself you finally answer him, “I stopped going in like, middle school. It would be hard even if I wanted to, to find a whole new congregation, and I’m just busy. Also, it’s so boring, I could cry.”

Mark perks up. “Not if you go with me.”

You groan dramatically, and Mark chuckles. 

“Good to know that you haven’t changed since you were eight.”

It’s just your view on church, that hasn’t changed since you were eight. First thing things first, you were 19 now, going on twenty. You’re in University now, your second year. It’s been a blur assignments, partying, coffee and term papers- you don’t have time to think about anything else right now. Except maybe actually starting your paper but-

Mark interrupts you midthought, breaking the silence. “Are you still with that guy?”

“Huh? Who? Yuta?”

“Yeah,” Mark responds sheepishly, avoiding eye contact.

You roll your eyes. “No, we haven’t been together for a while. It wasn’t that important so I forgot to tell you.”

You can tell he's surprised about how unusually calm you are for talking about your first serious breakup, but he doesn’t say anything, instead just scratching the back of his head awkwardly in typical Mark fashion. “He was an asshole anyway,” Mark murmurs.

“What did you say?” you ask, acting shocked. “Mark Lee? Talking shit?”

Mark, embarrassed, refuses to repeat it. 

“I’m just saying, he wasn’t the right person for you.” he protests.

“As opposed to who? God himself?”

“I can think of a few,” he sighs, but you aren’t paying attention, instead laughing your ass off on his bed.

“You’re insufferable,” he says, standing up to open the door. “C’mon let’s go, I’m hungry. I know you’re not starting that paper anytime soon.”

…

It’s a routine, seeing Mark on Monday afternoons for lunch. Not Friday, because you were busy getting wasted, and consequently not Saturday, because you were too hungover. Not Sunday, because Mark had church, and you, well, were busy praying to God that you would be able to finish all the work you’d neglected over the weekend as a result. 

“I still don’t understand why you choose the worst day of the week for this,”  you say over your Kale caesar salad, pushing the leaves around aggressively. The University had a lot of healthy options, which you were grateful for. Grateful for you were not, were for the student loans you had to pay off every month, the exorbitant amount you partially owed to all the local and expensive organic produce the meal plan featured for the sake of being sustainable and health conscious.You could really give a rat’s ass about whether your salad was organic or not; if your weekends said anything about you, no amount of kale could help you (or your liver).

“It wasn’t really up to me,” Mark points out. “Maybe if you weren’t too busy being-”

“Ta ta ta,” you tsk, waving a finger around. “I, unlike you, actually have a social life.”

Mark frowns. “I have a social life.” 

Mark definitely had a social life. He was popular, even. As popular as you can be, being a preoccupied Pre-med with perfect grades. Mark is likeable. It’s not like he doesn’t have the opportunity to go on weekends if wanted to, he just chooses not to, deciding to slave away at biological functions, orbitals, and lab results instead. Even now, as he takes his glasses off to clean them, you notice the imprint they leave on his face from how long they’ve been sitting on his face, and doesn’t take you long to find the dark circles that grace the skin under his eyes: he’s exhausted.

You frown too. “You should really get out more Mark. You seem stressed.”

Mark gives you a small smile after putting his glasses back on, and then resumes typing on his laptop. “I don’t know how going out would make me less stressed,” he says, distracted. “I would only be more stressed, knowing the work I have to do.”

“Yeah, but you're pretty organized.” You point your fork at him accusingly, kale falling to the side. “Don’t you usually finish things early too?”

“Yeah, I do.” he admits,  and before you can press onwards you’re interrupted by a girl you recognize to be his lab partner.

Goggles in hand, you can see the marks they leave around her eye area, but she’s somehow still annoyingly beautiful, with her glossy straight hair and long eyelashes, but that’s not why you dislike her. She might be the most stuck up girl you’ve ever met. 

“Did you do the calculations yet?” she says, turning to Mark. ignoring you. It’s only when you cough in your seat that she turns to you. “And hello, (y/n).” An afterthought.

“Hello Yebin,” You give her a wry smile. “How's the lab?”

“The usual.” she glances at Mark, who seems to be doing some finishing touches on said calculations. “How’s Chem 2?”

Boy, does she really grind your gears. 

“It was fine, I actually placed out because I took it in high school.” Not to mention, it was a class for freshmen, and you were in fact, now a sophomore. 

Before she can say anything back, Mark claps his hands in celebration. “Done! Sorry it took me so long, I just had to double check some things.”

“It’s no problem,” and with the way her voice drips with a sickly sweetness, you want to gag. It’s so painfully obvious. “Are you still down for tomorrow?”

Poor Mark, always oblivious, stops typing on his laptop and looks up in confusion.  “Huh?”

You silently laugh at the expression Yebin makes when she realizes Mark has no idea what she’s talking about. “For our study session? The MCAT is just months away.”she reminds him.

Mark remembers. “Oh yeah, about that, I was thinking we could also invite-”

“Great!” she chirps, “See you tomorrow!” and with a flash of her white lab coat, she's gone. 

Mark scratches the back of his head. “I guess she had somewhere to be.”

You roll your eyes for what it seems like the 100th time this week, anymore and they might be permanently stuck to the back of your head. “She definitely likes you.”

“Who? Yebin? No way.” 

“Yes, Yebin, and yes way.” You fling a walnut from your salad over to his side, and he cringes.

“What is your problem?” he grumbles, and resumes typing on his laptop.

You drop the subject, because you know any talk on girls is completely lost on him. As you set aside your salad, you peer over at Mark, palm supporting your face. He’s focused, eyebrows slightly furrowed, with his lips mouthing over silently whatever science journal he was reading on his computer screen.

Mark has always been good looking, you think. You don’t know why you’ve never really noticed it before. His nose bridge gently slopes over his face, and his jawline is sharp, having lost his baby cheeks years ago. He works out often too, although he barely talks about it (maybe out of fear you’d tease him for being a gym bro). And with the way he’s so adorably awkward,  It’s no surprise really, that every girl friend that you’ve met of his seems to be completely smitten. 

Shaking your head, you snap out of it. It’s dangerous to think of Mark that way, you think. You’ve known him too long.

“My problem? I think you’re the one with the problem here. I’m surprised your hair isn't completely gray by now.”

Mark ignores you, probably mad at the fact you tried to start world food war three with him with a walnut.

“Hey.” you flick at his forehead to get his attention, and he flinches. 

“There’s a party this weekend at Johnny’s fraternity, you should come.” Johnny, being both your long time mutual friend (who’s demeanor is way too nice to fit the stereotypical frat boy image, really) who has since stopped asking Mark out of respect for his “med school grind”. 

“I’m already planning on it,” he responds, and you’re surprised. 

“Since when do you actually accept party invitations?”

“Since yesterday, because I’m tired of Haechan bothering me about it.”

You silently cheer, of course, you expect nothing else from Haechan.

…

“I never knew it was so hard to get booze.”

“It’s not hard if you’re 21.”

Scoffing, you turn your head to face the boy across from you. As if he can feel the burn of your gaze on his forehead, Haechan stops typing on his Macbook and lifts his eyes to meet yours. 

“No shit Sherlock, but last time I checked, we both weren’t 21.”

The sun had set a half an hour ago, and despite having spent the whole afternoon together, you and Haechan have had yet to come up with a way to secure the drinks you promised your friends for tonight’s pregame. With both of you being certified schemers representing your respective friends, you guess it wasn’t that big of surprise that the responsibility was left on both your shoulders. It beat scavenging alone, and spending time with Haechan wasn’t so bad either, when you two weren’t trying to kill each other. 

It was already late, and Haechan had deemed Ubering to the nearest packer store that sold Soju (the sweet sweet liquid of choice) was too much work. You on the other hand, had dismissed that option for a completely different reason. The issue in question was the flimsy, borderline pathetic excuse for a fake ID Haechan planned to use at the packer store. 

“Hey it works!” he protested. “You just act like you’re already legal and they don’t even card you. Easy.”

You roll your eyes as Haechan theatrically reenacts his last trip to the packer store.

“I asked him how he was doing, and he told me school sucks. I say to him, ‘Tell me about it,  thank god this is my last year!” and as if to emphasize his next point, he flicks his wrist in the air, ID snuggled between his index and middle finger. “And I was on my way. No issue at all.”

“That’s because he didn’t even see your fake I.D stupid. He would’ve called you out on your bullshit in an instant.”

Out of all the different options available, you could not fathom why he chose his fake ID to show that from all the places in this world, he was from freaking Hong Kong. There were fifty states to choose from, other English speaking countries, and he chose to pose as an  international student on a student visa. He could most definitely look the part, but after looking at the ID he proudly slaps on the common room lounge desk, you deadpan. The yellowish tint to the card was way too suspicious to be taken seriously.

“I wish we could just ask Mark,” you sigh, and Haechan looks at you like you’re stupid.

“He’s 20, ya dimwit.”

“I know, that’s why I said I wish. You have serious hearing problems.”

Haechan stops typing on his laptop to shoot you an especially heated glare, and you’re reminded again why he’s #2 on your fight list, right above Yebin. First place was taken by the girl you almost actually fought at that one University party a town over, wherever she is you hope she’s having a terrible day.

“If it were not for the rules of this land, you’d be dead right now Haechan.” 

Haechan places his head in his palms, and flutters his eyelashes disgustingly. 

“But you love me.”

“Yes, as much as Mark loves social events. Speaking of Mark, how on earth did you get him to leave his cave?”

“It didn’t take much,” and before you can call him out for lying, he shushes you.

“Okay, maybe a few days of nonstop begging.” Haechan says as his eyes dart across the laptop screen. You raise your eyebrow. “And I might have threatened to release pictures from the photoshoot his mom made him take when he was younger.”

“I expected nothing less from your evil, evil, mind.”

He scoffs. “Hardly. Just resourceful.”

Resourceful he is, because Haechan is the one who ends up finding a plug for the alcohol that night. 

…

A can of four loko, a bottle of soju, and a few shots later, you should be hammered, wasted even. But after 14 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days into college, your tolerance is pretty high, so you’re really just plain drunk. Even so, you’re a little messy (no surprise). You’re not in a state to be trusted with any errands, so you don’t understand why Haechan asks you to pick up Mark along the way to Johnny’s fraternity. 

“Why do I have to do it?” you whine, putting your hand over your forehead, and Haechan only laughs at your dramatic display of despair. 

“Because Johnny messaged me that Mark isn’t there, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting him flake on me this time. ”

You point a finger at him, and he stifles a snort when you’re off by a couple inches. “Letting him flake on me, me, me as in you! It’s not my problem.”

But there’s no use in arguing with Haechan, and you know it. That’s why you find yourself stomping your way up the second floor of Mark’s dormitory like you’re in elementary school again, having just been scolded by your mom and being forced back into your room.

You knock at his door impatiently, and it feels like forever until you hear some shuffling, and see the door knob twist open. To be honest, it’s probably just a few seconds, but time is different when you’re intoxicated.

Before you even see him, it smells faintly of  shampoo and detergent, so you’re not surprised when he opens the door and you see his hair is still half wet from the shower. He’s definitely party ready, and when you mean party ready, he’s wearing the same loose black tee and grey joggers he wears to sleep. His socks don’t match and you try not to laugh, because it would be a bad look for you, to show up intoxicated, and apparently crazy. 

“Oh (y/n), what are you doing here? Oh shit is today Friday? I totally forgot, Haechan is going to kill me-'' He looks at you and then pauses, scrunching up his nose. “Have you been drinking?”

“No.” you say sarcastically, but it definitely falls short of Mark because he looks at you like he does not believe you. Good, because he shouldn’t.

He sighs, and ushers you in his room. It’s dark, with the only light emitting from the little steel lamp on his desk, which is covered with his notes, pencils, a textbook, and some highlighters. When you finally make your way to his bed (with difficulty) he sighs again, and you silently scold yourself for having that mini drinking contest with Haechan. If you thought you could handle your alcohol well, Haechan was an absolute monster. 

You nearly screech when Mark flashes a mini flashlight in your face, and he tells you to calm down before someone thinks he’s committing murder. He holds your face still with his index finger resting on your cheek and his thumb lifting your chin. You try your best not to squint when he tells you to, instead focusing on his face. He’s so close, you can feel his warm breath on your face. If you weren’t already so flushed from drinking, you suspect you’d look beet red now. 

“Well, your pupils still dilate normally, so I don’t think you have alcohol poisoning-”

The world is moving a little, so you plop backwards on his bed— albeit a little harder than expected because he rushes over to you and looks concerned. 

“-but I don’t think that’s the problem here.” he finishes. 

Your eyes are closed, mainly because his bed is really comfy. “I’m here to pick you up.” and as if to emphasize your point, you wildly start pointing in all directions, hoping it would land on him. 

You open your eyes when you feel him grab your finger and turn it thirty degrees to the left, just  stopping at his chest. Your sense of direction must be really bad, because it turns out you were pointing at nothing. 

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere for awhile”

“Noooooo” you wail, and Mark lets go of your hand to sit back down on his desk, and unsurprisingly, begins reading his textbook again. How he is able to focus with you in the background, you don’t know, but it must have taken years of practice.

At this point, you decide to take matters into your own hands. You shove yourself off the bed and grab his arms from behind him. His roller chair scoots a few inches before he stops it.

“You’re not exactly making great case for yourself here”

“Stop making excuses!” 

You aim straight towards the armpits, and you’re confused at the lack of reaction, so you reach over to squeeze his knee. Almost immediately, he crumples over, almost falling off the chair. 

“Can you-” he says mid laugh, “please” he gasps, “Stop that!”

You respond by attacking his other knee, and it’s over. He falls off his chair and you go down with him. The difference is that he recovers quickly, and starts tickling you back in revenge. 

You’re sensitive, so it feels like you’re dying. You try to use his arm as leverage to push yourself up, but next thing you know he’s toppeling over you. You close your eyes and wait for your head to kiss the cold hard floor but it never comes, because Mark's hand cradles your head, breaking the fall.

When you open your eyes, he’s closer than ever before, noses touching. Lips a mere centimetres away and in a weird embrace, you resist the urge to close the distance. 

Mark has always been good looking, especially now, so close to you. You don’t know why you’ve never noticed it before.

When he pulls away he’s flustered, and for the first time, so are you. 

It’s an awkward silence, with you still on the floor as he stands up, rubbing the dusk from his knees. He scratches the back of his head and offers you a hand 

“Let’s head out,” he says.

“Yeah, let’s.” you echo. 

…

Although Haechan berates you for being more than a little late to the party, he’s overjoyed that you somehow managed to show up with Mark. Not that he didn’t have faith in you anyways, he tells you. It’s just that Mark is married to his Biology textbook, and she runs a tight ship. By the time you reached the frat with Mark, you’ve sobered up enough to enjoy yourself normally, 

It’s when you wake up in the morning, that you’re not okay. It’s not okay, because you dreamt of Mark, and that’s weird, because you and Mark were just friends, right? And you always will be. 

It’s not a big deal because friends dream of friends. Dreams are a product of your own desires environment, you tell yourself, it’s perfectly normal because you spend so much time with him.

What is not normal, is when you see Mark the following Monday, and are worried about it. You’re nervous the whole time, and it gets worse when you slide the little watermelon filled tupperware container across the table in apology for last Friday. He likes his watermelon cut up into little cubes, you remembered (why do you remember?), and you avoid his eyes, pushing a stray piece of hair behind your face. 

Mark, oblivious as usual, doesn’t really notice anything until 10 minutes in, as if your lack of rambling surprises him. Munching on the cubes, he asks if you’re okay.

“Yeah, I am.”

No you are not. You are utterly fucked. 

…

“But you need to promise me you won’t judge or make fun of me for it”

“Just say it already, Jesus.”

“It’s just so embarrassing.”

“Oh my god, are you in love with me?”

“No!” 

When placing your hands in your face, Haechan grants mercy on you, patting you on the back instead of teasing you further.

“I don’t know what else could be so important that you need to talk to me in person. Unless…. it’s about Mark?”

His hands stop soothingly rubbing your back and instead starts slapping it, waiting for you to laugh along with him. When he doesn’t get a response he gasps. Turning his head sideways to face you, he pries your fingers apart.

“No fucking way.”

“Right?” you moan.

“I was just joking, but I can’t say I didn’t expect it.”

You remove your hands from your face and look at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Like, you’ve known each other forever. You spend a lot of time together too. Someone was bound to catch feelings eventually.”

You don’t respond, instead choosing to sulk.

“You know I’m right. You just don’t want to admit it because you’re the loser in this situation.”

Right he is, because you’ve been avoiding Mark for the past few weeks like the plague. You’ve told him that you’ve been busy with your final term paper (you’re not, you’re an engineering major why would you have one?), and although he was a little confused, he was probably also a little thankful because the MCAT was only a month away. 

As you tell him about your plight, Haechan listens thoughtfully, “mhming” and “ahh-ing” at all the right places.

“I don’t see how ignoring him helps you at all. I would say to just talk to him about it, but it’s Mark, he probably hasn’t thought about you that way at all.”

“Thanks,” you grumble. “So I’m basically one of the boys.”

“No really, mans might as well be the anemone from Nemo, I’ve never seen him interested in anyone.” Haechan sighs. “This is a tough one.”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something, but I might have to get creative.”

“I’d like to see you try Hyuck.”

…

It’s 9pm Sunday night, and there’s a knock on your door. It’s strange you think, because it’s a Sunday, and it’s a little late to be doing anything.

When you open the door, there he is, Mark Lee in all his 5’9’ glory, with a little bag in hand, in it your favorite milk tea. 

“It’s Sunday.” you say, intelligently. 

Mark just chuckles. “Yes it is, and your point?”

You step aside so he can walk in, and you’re embarrassed at your current state. For once, you’ve finished your assignments early, so you’ve spent the past four hours in your pajamas watching K-dramas and snacking on honey chips. You must look like a bum.

Mark on the other hand, always looks good, even in some old dress slacks, and an old t-shirt with some holes in it. He smells faintly of antiseptic, so he must have just come from a volunteering shift at the hospital. 

“It’s nice of you to drop by,” you poke the straw into the bubble tea. “And thank you for the bubble tea.”

“You’ve been busy recently so I figured you’d need it for the caffeine content, but it’s not like you sleep anyway.” he jokes. “How’s the term paper going?”

“The term paper? Oh right, the term paper. It’s alright,” you lie. “Just a couple of pages left. Beats having to take the MCAT though.”

Mark looks tired, with his hair slightly overgrown and his dark circles hallower than usual. You feel bad—he has a habit of overworking himself; you’re usually there to check on him but lately you haven’t, and he’s kind and thoughtfull enough to bring you something because he thinks you’re stressed.

“Yeah tell me about it,” Mark takes a seat next to you on your bed, head hitting the wall with a soft thump. “It’s going to be all over next week though, I can’t wait. I’ve missed you though.”

Busy silently cursing at yourself for the way your heart flutters at his admission, you forget to respond. Mark frowns, places his hand on your thigh in an attempt to soothe you, and it has the opposite effect—you think you might go into cardiac arrest. 

“Is something wrong?”

“N-no.” you stammer. “Just stressed. ”

Mark makes things worse by leaning in closer, gently placing the back of his hand on your forehead. “You’re kinda hot.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, like I think you may be running a fever.”

He hops off the bed, and rummages around in his little black bag, and pulls out a thermometer. He places a little sleeve on the end, and motions for you to open your mouth. When it beeps, he takes it out of your mouth and looks at the result.

“Your temperature is fine, but you should rest. I’ll see you soon okay?” He pats your head. “Take it easy, I know you’ll do great.”

…

You might not have a term paper, but what you do have is a physics final. 

The desk area is littered with eraser dust, crumpled paper, and half filled styrofoam cups of coffee that have since gotten stale. You swear to god that Physics was a subject meant to torture, not enrich the lives of college students. At this rate, you were seriously debating dropping out to become a stripper. 

Haechan, not sensing your dismay, disrupts your plans to drop out by telling you something that puts a damper on the rest of your day, as if Physics wasn’t doing that already.

“Have you noticed that Mark’s been hanging out a lot with that one girl lately? What’s her name? So-bin, Yee-ben, Ben 10, ”

“Yebin,” you snap. “And don’t ever disrespect Ben 10 like that again. ”

Haechan lifts his hands up, “ I agree she’s a total bitch, but man is she hot.”

“Aren’t you supposed to make me feel better, not worse?” 

Haechan’s face softens and for once in his life, looks a little sorry. “All I’m saying is if you don’t do something soon, someone might do it for you. I overheard her saying something about her and Mark going to spring fling together.”

He’s not wrong, but Mark, at Spring fling? At a Darty? Willingly? His idea of a good time was studying.

“You’re kidding,” you scoff.  “As if he’d be caught dead at something like that.”

“I don’t know (y/n). He doesn’t really have much else to do now that the MCAT is over.”

Right, the MCAT. He took it last week. You mentally slap yourself for not asking how it went. 

“Speak of the devil.” Haechan says quietly, motioning behind you.

There she is through the glass, Yebin, pulling a seat next to Mark, not before sneaking up behind him and planting a fat kiss right on his cheek.

…

Maybe if this were a movie, you’d cry all weekend and he’d make it up to you; But this is real life, so you secretly cry for a week and sulk for the rest of the month, blaming your puffy eyes on seasonal allergies (In real life, Mark can’t make it up to you because he did nothing wrong. He’s also not even aware that you like him, but that’s besides the point).

Despite Haechan’s attempt to convince you that it could’ve been just a friendly kiss, a greeting kiss, a whatever kiss, you insist that you’re done with your little crush, that it had shriveled up and died. Although not so convinced, Haechan drops the subject all together and instead resorts to comforting you in his own way, which mainly just consists of making fun of you about other things.

Mark is a touchy subject, and you’re still avoiding him. Why? You don’t really know. You know it’s not fair to Mark, who is probably very hurt and confused at your lack of communication. Nonetheless, he doesn’t question it, and is so infuriatingly mature with his emotions that you suspect that he even respects it, because he stops texting you after a while. 

You feel bad about stonewalling him, leaving him in the dark, but really, what would you say to him? 

“Sorry-I-haven’t-been-talking-to-you-it’s-just-that-I’m-in-love-with-you-and-I’m-butthurt-that-you-have-a-girlfriend-of-course-it’s-not-really-your-fault-but-”

You shudder at the thought, because it’s just plain embarrassing. 

But really, you’re not the best at expressing your emotions—you’ve never been. Frankly, you’re tired of expressing your emotions because it never got you anywhere. Not with your mom, not with your dad, and definitely not with Yuta, who you dated for a year and half a year just to dump you like you were nothing. 

It’s not worth it, to put your emotions on the line for anyone, not anymore. You locked your heart away a long time ago, and you were a fool to let it come out last time, and you like to think you learn from your mistakes.

At least, that’s what you think, until you return home one Sunday night from the library and see a little cup of your favorite milk tea at the door, with a straw neatly balanced on the top. 

…

When spring fling rolls around, you still haven’t spoken to Mark, and if your friends catch on, they don't mention it. They know by now that you prefer to deal with things alone, to digest them for what they are and then promptly moving on—you know, like processing a death. 

It doesn’t really matter, you think. You and Mark have always been friends, and will always be friends. Nothing more, nothing less. And when you get over yourself, things will be fine. 

But really, how can it be fine when your whole world stops every time Mark looks at you?

You try not to dwell on it, even now weeks later. You’re busy getting ready to go out, blotting your lipstick on some tissue paper in your friend Yuna’s bathroom. 

“(y/n), you look amazing.”

When you turn to look at yourself in the mirror she’s right; The mascara you put on your lashes really brings out the color of your eyes, and your skin (thanks to Yuna’s highlighter compact) is literally glowing. You feel really pretty.

You turn to smile at her. “Thanks to you.” you tell her, and she gets bashful, pushing you out of the seat and ushering you out the door. You make it down stairs no problem, but she calls you as soon as you walk out the door.

“Yes, I have blotting papers with me, and no, I am not dating Haechan I’ve told you thousands of times-”

“What about me?” 

You turn around to find Haechan leaning against the dormitory wall, already waiting. 

Embarrassed, you tell her you need to go and hang up the phone. 

“How long have you been standing here? Hopefully not too long.” You apologize, but he assures you it’s all right.  

“Are you sure your friends are fine with you leaving them early to go with me?”

“Yes Haechan, they’re just happy that I have someone to go with.” you sigh. “Almost too happy.” 

He laughs, after looking at you, he pauses. “You look nice.”

“You do too, Hyuck.”

If you didn’t know any better, you would say he seems embarrassed at your compliment. 

When you walk into the venue, you’re not surprised at how spacious it is. You’re used to your school going all out, from the kale salads and now, spring fling. They might as well call it spring semi-formal, because everyone is dressed their best. 

You see Johnny at the end of the punch table, and he waves, motioning for you two to join him. 

“And my favorite couple,” he greets you two, and you almost smack him upside down the head. 

“Relax, I’m just kidding.” and he leans in for a hug. “How are you (y/n), I haven’t seen you in a second.” 

“I’m good, just been super busy. You were so right, Professor Kim has been really keeping me on my toes in Physics 430,” you laugh. “Every time I walk into the classroom I can feel my life flash through my very eyes.”

He laughs, and you all laugh with him. Johnny tends to have that kind of effect on people.

“How’s Mark?” he asks, and you cringe. “It’s been a while.”

You laugh nervously  “ I haven’t seen him in a while either.”

“Oh really. Don’t you see each other every week?”

“Well we used to,” you panic. “Just not anymore because, you know, I-”

“Because you’ve been so busy,” Haechan finishes.

Johnny gives you two a strange look but continues talking anyway.

“Well that’s life. Poor boy’s been studying for the MCAT like his rent is due tomorrow.”

“More like everyday.” Haechan snickers. 

Johnny doesn’t hesitate to flame Haechan for his insolence, and begins teasing him for almost failing Calc II (Calc II was kind of hard you admit but that is an admission that will die with you), meanwhile, you’re whisked away by Yuna and her entourage. You glance at Johnny and Haechan, who bid you farewell with a nod of their heads.

It’s fun, you’re having a great time dancing, and eating mini hot dogs on a toothpick (you guess your university had to cut corners somewhere). When Roxanne plays, you and Yuna go wild, nearly knocking over a waiter over with a silver tray. You have so much fun, that you forget that Mark Lee exists until you make eye contact across the floor. 

It's no surprise that he’s with Yebin, who looks annoyingly prettier than usual, with her makeup all done and satin dress. She’s pulling him in the opposite direction, but Mark seems to pay no mind, instead staying in place, looking at you. A moment passes, and you see him excusing himself. When he begins to head your direction. You panic. 

Before you can even react, you feel an arm wrap around your waist, pulling you close. When you finally turn to see who it is, you’re nose to nose with none other than Haechan.

“What are you doing?” 

“Just go along with it,” Haechan whispers through his teeth. Your hands are pressed against his chest, and he grabs one of your arms, placing it around his neck.

“Go along with what? Have you lost your mind-” 

Before you can finish your sentence, his lips press against yours and your mind goes blank. He tastes like peppermint and aftershave, with his lips soft in the center and just a little chapped around the edges.  

When you two finally part, Mark is nowhere to be found, and you don’t know how to feel. 

“Haechan I-” you stammer. “I need to go.” 

You hurry off, and he doesn’t follow you. 

…

When you’re outside, it’s  cold; the air is brisk and definitely doesn’t help steady your breathing, it only makes it harder. It’s a lot to process, Mark, Yebin, Haechan. It’s a lot, and you feel like you’re in emotional overdrive, with all the feelings you’ve been trying to keep in for the past few months coming back to bite you.

You sit down at the edge of the fountain outside the venue, and you nearly get soaked. It misses you by mere inches, with the ceramic fish looking at you almost mockingly. You don’t care, with all the thoughts running through your head right now, you think you might go insane. 

You don’t know how long you’ve been sitting there at the fountain when you feel something wrap around you, warm like it was just taken out of the dryer. It smells familiar, like cologne and faintly of antiseptic—it smells like Mark.

You don’t look at him when he sits down next to you, legs open, hands crossed. And he doesn’t look at you. It’s radio silent.

“So you and Haechan, huh.”

“So you and Yebin.” you echo. 

Mark looks at you for the first time, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh that.” He shuffles awkwardly. “I don’t really like her like that.”

Your head raises in surprise, and you face each other for the first time in months.

“I thought you guys had a thing.”

Mark scratches the back of his head. “Well we do, but it’s just in her head” he says, and you can’t help but laugh. “She came onto me last week, so I finally set things straight.” Noticing your reaction, he just shakes his head. 

 “I don’t think it worked though,” he adds.

“I would think, you’ve always been too nice for your own good.” 

“I just didn’t want to hurt her feelings, you know?” he murmurs. “I feel terrible.”

“You’re not a terrible person just because you don’t like someone back.”

“Maybe not, but I believe not wanting you and Haechan to be together does.”

It takes a moment for his words to register within you, and even after you process them, you’re not sure what to say.

“We don’t like each other like that.” you interrupt him.

Mark looks visibly confused. “Then you and Haechan aren’t??” his voice falters.

“No more than you and Yebin. I promise you it’s not what it seems like.” you tell him and it finally clicks. You’d have to thank the idiot later. Right after you slap him.

Mark doesn’t question it, not even when you start crying. You don’t question it either, unsure of why you’re crying. 

“You’re so stupid,” you sniffle. “I’ve liked you for so fucking long.” 

Mark pulls out his pocket square to gently wipe the tears from your face, and places his hand on top of yours. 

“You’re ridiculous, you know that? You could have just said something.” his says softly

“I didn’t want to ruin anything. We’ve always just been friends.”

“I think we’ve always been just more than that.” he says, leaning in, hands cup your face gently. 

 “Just took some of us a little longer to realize.”

....

“That was very nice of you,” Johnny says. 

“Yeah. Very nice.” Haechan echos. 

“How long has it been, that you’ve liked her for? Three years?”

“Two going on three.” 

Johnny lets out a low whistle, and looks down at the younger boy worriedly. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Haechan glances at you and Mark through the glass, outside the venue. With Mark whispering in your ear and you laughing, you seem so happy; happier than you’ve ever been with him.

“Yeah, I am. More than okay.”

[evakuality]

Mia, episode five

1.  One thing Druck is super good at is these aesthetic shots.  This whole opening bit reminds me of the scene with Amira when she’s praying in her room.  Lots of beautiful shots of the room, curtains and stuff, which are just super pretty with a few hints of colour.  I dunno, this is just an aesthetic I like and I appreciate that Druck caters to me.  Mia is so cute, too!  Like both the way she looks and also how kind she is.  She still doesn’t really like Alex a lot (though you could see in that montage from the previous night that she’s warming up to him) but she still feels like she should leave things looking nice.  These little post-it notes are sort of cute too, and you can see that she thinks they’re sweet.  I don’t like this Bjorn though.

2.  Interesting that we get a clip specifically one week later.  I have no idea how that must have felt while this was live, and I’m really glad that I didn’t have to live through these long gaps in any of the things I did watch in real time.  This one was reasonably low key though, so maybe the wait wasn’t as agonising.  If you didn’t know who Bjorn is (I’m assuming the Niko character) then nothing in the last couple of clips would have felt all that alarming.  But Mia’s so flirty here - that one conversation at his house must have really charmed her.  Pity we didn’t really get to hear a lot of it because he still hasn’t charmed me!!  And actually that ‘show a montage of how things are going while a song and/or other conversation plays overtop’ is a huge thing Druck does, I think.  I feel like in some cases (Matteo and David after their first pool kiss moment, for example, or Hanna and Jonas breaking up) work quite well.  But here, I think we needed to hear more of Alex to actually believe that Mia would be this flirty with him.  For me, this is too big a turnaround from her very cold manner with him at the piano and an actual proper look at that conversation might have helped.  But also, I am super biased because William and so maybe a more reasonable person might like it okay.  This bit with Linn is weird.  Genuinely creepy, and I’m not sure why they’re setting her up to feel like this.  Maybe some sort of hint of the creepiness to come with Bjorn (I’m assuming it’s coming, anyway).

3.  I don’t get this bit with all the pictures at the school.  I assume it will become obvious later but I’m not sure what exactly they were trying to do with this.  You’d think they run the risk of having the whole Abi chaker clan thing shut down - if this happened in my school there’d be so much trouble.  A groups of kids once put post-its all over one teacher’s room and they got in SO much trouble for it, and that wasn’t obscene like this is.  This thing here seems so targeted at the Abi thing, using their plan specifically, that it feels like someone outside the group wants them not to be allowed to run their theme.  Or someone in the group who wants a different motto maybe.  I don’t know, but it feels very mean and very specifically directed at this group of people.

4.  Hmmm, I’m with Leonie on this one.  I’d be giving Carlos the super evil stare too.  It may be ‘funny’ to some of these people, but given that there are younger kids at this school (I assume, right?  They still have classes running for the smaller ones at the end of Matteo’s season, allowing their prank to go ahead) this is sure to go down really badly with the school itself.  I’m rolling my eyes at the ones who are outraged that the school is considering reporting it - what did they expect?  Also, surely they can figure out who was doing it - people were literally throwing handfuls of the pictures over the stairs.  Surely they could work out who it is.  It’s pretty clear that Alex still thinks this is funny and I’m losing patience with him.  Every time it seems like maybe he’s getting less gross he goes and acts like this again.  Bleh.  I’m not often rooting for Leonie and feeling for her, but wow today I really am.  This is shitty and she has a right to be angry.

5.  Ew, Alex, why are you stalking Mia again?  She’s made it pretty clear she’s not happy with you.  Turning up out of the blue like a creep isn’t a good way to go about winning her over again.  His ‘we were drunk, what can you do?’ is so... stupid???  They’ve lost money from this, the school is really angry, they could easily have some pretty bad consequences and he’s all ‘meh, it was a drunken prank’?  I know money isn’t an issue for him, but there are issues here beyond the money.  I’m also kind of annoyed that everyone keeps suggesting she’s upset because she’s jealous.  I’ll be really annoyed if the show carries on this way - this isn’t just a silly little prank, and people have every right to be angry and annoyed.  Diminishing it to jealousy isn’t cool.  Is Leonie also jealous?  The people who are angry and upset they’re being blamed and their money has been taken?

6.  I do love scenes where the whole girl squad is together.  They make me happy and I miss seeing them together so much.  But OMG, Alex is blackmailing Mia again????  I mean I guess it worked the first time so why wouldn’t he?  But this is seriously shitty behaviour.  Honestly, in clip one I was mildly starting to warm to him with the post-its and all, but he’s managed to speed run right back into ‘asshole’ category.  This was the problem in the og as well - William was such an asshole, that in order to make him likeable, we had to see a much more genuinely villainous character.  Alex is still super dislikeable and so we need someone ‘worse’ to make him look palatable, which I assume is coming.  We’re halfway through - we should like him by now.  I dunno.  Maybe some people do?  But he still has done nothing to make me think he’s nice or someone who Mia might be attracted to.

7.  Oh a long Friday clip?  Almost half the episode?  I guess it’s going to be a rough one for Mia then.  More reflections again - her whole face in the mirror now, but it’s surrounded by graffiti.  I’m always fascinated by the way mirrors and reflections work, and it’s fun to see Mia slightly obscured in her mirrors even now.  It’s not as disjointed as it was at the start but it’s not a fully clear reflection either.  I may not like the way Noora/Mia’s story goes but I do like some of these things which show the progress.

8.  I feel kind of sorry for Jonas, because that break up wasn’t his choice.  But seriously, he seems to be blaming this on Hanna a bit and like ????? He chose to make her feel small and unworthy through her whole season.  She’s allowed to try to figure herself out outside of him and his wants and needs.  Eh, I know he’s hurting and all, but that’s actually his issue and he shouldn’t be pushing it on her.

9.  This scene with Mia and Alex bothers me.  He still seems to have no idea why she might find his actions (selfish and self-serving and filled with blackmail) offputting.  ‘I fixed it, so we should totally be together now’ is such an immature and childish take on this.  These types of guys need to grow up and learn that they can’t just buy and/or coerce their way into whatever they want.  I like the way they decide to have Kiki walk past just as Mia has to choose whether to say she doesn’t want Alex or not.  It adds a poignancy to it and Mia obviously chooses to stick by her friends.  I do wish it felt more conflicting, like if Alex genuinely had changed or had shown he has depth or something it would be a bigger ‘wow she’s rejecting him for her friend’ but instead he’s still such an unpleasant character that I don’t care.

10.  I’m not sure why Mia does the brushing off of the makeup - I feel like it made more sense when Noora did it (I mean I watched it once a very long time ago so who knows, but my memory is that it was her way of trying to reject being ‘pretty’ and having guys liking her because it was messing her up).  With Mia, I don’t understand.  Someone help me out?

11.  I still don’t get what Mia sees in Alex.  Again, I know I have a really big bias against him because of William and I know it was always going to be tough for him to be someone I care about.  But even so, this feels like a huge whiplash when she says of course she likes him.  I’d get it if we’d seen any of his development, but every time he took a mini step forward he shoved himself right back into dislikeable territory.  Once again, I mourn the actual conversation between Mia and Alex.  This all feels far too fast, and the fact that this is suggesting his blackmail is all good is very worrying.  All the post-it notes in the world can’t make me think he’s nice enough to want to kiss.

Overall, I didn’t really like this one.  I feel like the pacing is still off; I don’t believe the speed at which Mia has fallen for him and honestly it hasn’t been very long since Kiki was with Alex and had her heart broken.  The fact that Mia even saw her and told him she doesn’t like him only to turn around immediately and change her mind is strange to me.  Mia has always come across as a caring person who tries to do the right thing and help out her friends.  That she has apparently no qualms at this point is difficult for me.  They’re acting the hell out of this, but I can’t buy it.  Unfortunately.  Sadly, because this is based on a very flawed original, I don’t think it’s going to make me enjoy these two.  There are things that I’m interested in seeing as we go forward but most of those have zero to do with Alex.

[morning-might-arrive]

Here’s the continuation of my last post. Thank you so much to everyone who liked and reblogged! This is becoming a lot longer than I thought, so there will be another part soon. Feedback is appreciated!

A series of misunderstandings involving a limousine and Spectra’s blog lead Jackson to the realization that he has way more friends than he thought.

Wednesday

Jackson sighed as he silenced his blaring alarm clock. 7:00 am. As he walked to the bathroom to get ready, he was suddenly struck by a memory.

“It’s nothing personal, normie. You just look like such a freak.” Manny told him as he shoved him off of the lunch table. Jackson looked towards the other mansters, but they said nothing. So they all agreed. Even Clawd. 

He cringed. He’d had to eat lunch in a bathroom stall that day. He looked at his reflection, desperately wishing he could change it. He sighed and got dressed. He had to leave early since he now had no car and his parents weren't home. He plugged his headphones into his phone. Holt had gotten them into this situation, only fitting that he deal with it.

Holt Hyde cursed under his breath as he walked to school. Although the weather was warming, mornings in March were still frigid. He sighed in relief as he approached Monster High.

“Heya there, sweetpea,” Operetta drawled in greeting as Holt waltzed through the front doors of the school. 

“What’s good, Oppy?” Holt responded, his usual loud and energetic self even at the early hour.

“Just peachy keen like always, hun. Say, you seen the Ghostly Gossip lately?” She asked.

“Nah, we usually stay away from that garbage ever since that story about us and Frankie. Humiliated the poor ghoul and almost tanked our relationship. It really ain’t cool what they're doin’.” He replied nonchalantly. 

“Oh. Okay. Well sugar, you know you can tell me anythang you wanna, right?” She continued.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks Oppy.” That was kinda weird for the rough and tumble ghoul to say, but honestly Holt was just glad their botched attempt at dating didn’t mess up their friendship. Oppy was a cool ghoul. 

“What’s the word, cool cats?” Came a new voice.

“Johnny!”

“Johnny.”

Johnny spirit sauntered casually down the main corridor of Monster High, and students jumped out of his way as if he had the plague. He put his arm around Operetta’s shoulder. “Hey, babe.”

Holt snorted. “I’ll never get why everyone lets you float around like you own the place.”

Johnny shrugged. “Guess they don’t have a choice. Besides, I never see you doing anything about it,” he replied with a bit of challenge in his tone. Holt rolled his eyes.

“You know you don’t scare us, Spirit. Anyway, it seems like Oppy’s got you on a leash without our help.”

Johnny bristled at that “Y’know Hyde, I’m gettin’ real sick of-”

“Why don’t we scamper on down to the catacombs and finish that new song we been workin on, sugarpie?” Operetta cut in. She really didn’t want to deal with a fistfight this early.

The couple walked away and Holt made toward the auditorium. He found the symphony on stage setting up and dashed up to join them, plugging his guitar into its amp. Jennifire was nearby greasing the corks on her clarinet. He huffed and sat down next to her.

“Another run in with the phantom pianist?” She asked, not even looking up.

“That guy is such a jerk!”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You boys are so easily provoked; I may never understand it. My brothers were just the same. He has done not to insight your anger.”

Holt really hated to admit it, but she was right. Johnny really didn't scare Holt, and he knew a little better than to try that tough guy act on Jackson. Plus, it was kinda funny seeing guys like Heath and Manny faint when he walked past them.

“Your emotions run like wildfire, I am very impressed you came to terms so easily with your end.” She continued.

Wait. What. “My what now?”

“Of course, it must be so hard for you to talk about. I am sorry.” A tear fell from her eye and promptly turned to smoke upon hitting her face.

“Jen, are you okay?” Holt asked, facing her.

She smiled. “Yes, I will be okay. So kind of you to think of me.”

“Okay, Okay, enough chit chat. Places people!” The director yelled as he approached the stage. Well. That was weird. Holt took his place in the stool beside the amp and looked up as the director began counting them off.

After an awkward hour of rehearsal, they were dismissed to second period. Holt emerged out into the crowd of students in the hall. Jennifire was nowhere to be found, so he made his way toward the art room. His Spotify playlist suddenly changed to a song by Pierce the Veil. He pulled out his phone to skip it and saw he had a message from Jackson. He scoffed. If D-low had told him what was wrong, would he be asking? JJ could be so oblivious. Maybe it was just a normie thing. 

He took his usual seat in front of his canvas and continued his painting for this week. 

“Psst, Holt.” he heard a whisper. He turned and met the shiny magenta eyes of retired popstar Catty Noir. “We’re turning up at Cleo’s place on Saturday, you in?”

“Yeah totally- oh, nevermind. We can’t make it, we kinda got a...thing that day.”

“Oh,” she said, looking kind of taken aback. “It’s that soon?” 

“What was that?”

“ I said I’ll see you soon!” she hastily corrected herself as she got up and turned in her painting, promptly leaving the art room. Man, everyone's acting off today. He touched up his work and quickly followed suit.

He basically had the rest of the period to himself, so he decided to riff on his guitar for a little bit. He couldn’t do it in the building anymore ever since that one time Headmistress Bloodgood caught him, so he moved to the front steps and set his bag beside him.

“Hey Holt!”

Holt turned towards the front of the school. “Frankie Fine-Stein! Where have you been hiding?” Her skin glowed a light mint green and her eyes sparked in the sun. Just as bootiful as ever. She sat on the step beside him.

“I was actually just in the library. I found this book about the original Jekyll and Hyde. It was way harsh; It said that Edward Hyde trampled a child in the streets of London, is that true?”

“Nuh-uh! Those stuffy normie’s didn’t like that grandpa’s were different so they dragged their reputation through the dirt!” Holt declared passionately. “Some of the people they charged him with killing didn’t even exist in the first place! Then they made Dr. Jekyll out to be a complete basket case and threw them both in jail! That is until they got bailed out by our great-great-grandma, Lucy.”

“Oh, man. I didn’t know any of that!” Frankie replied. She actually knew all about it, she had heard the exact same thing from Jackson before. They were both incredibly salty about the smear campaign launched against their great-great-grandparents that made their family flee to America in the first place, and you could hardly bring it up around them without a passionate rant. Frankie felt a little bad about bringing up something she knew was a sore subjet for them, but she had to make sure Spectra and the other ghouls didn’t get caught. It was for their own good, right?

Her phone buzzed in her lap and she glanced down. “Spectra got something, meet us back in the library.” Clawdeen. Frankie jumped up. “Sorry, Holt, I really gotta go.”

Holt watched her go in curiosity. He checked the time and quickly jumped up himself and dashed back inside the building. The only way to not be late now was to go through Section C, the so-called “vampires only” hallway. It really irked them when other monster’s used it, but he didn’t really care when it was either that or detention. As he made his way through he felt someone glaring at him, and met eyes with a large group of the former prep-school vampires. He braced himself, but instead of giving him grief like they usually did, they just let him pass. They were acting weird, but so was everyone else. Oh well, he didn’t really have time to think about it now.

Holt’s third period was Chemistry 2 with Mr. Hack. No thanks. Science was never his strong suit. Plus, there was seriously something off about this particular teacher. He just took a little too much pleasure in the cutting open of living things for Holt’s liking. He pulled out his phone.

“Keep an eye out. Today’s been weird, Bro.” He typed the message out and then disconnected his phone from his headphones. The world went dark.

Jackson blinked a few times. What was that ringing sound? “Oh, shOOT!” He bolted through the closest door- which just happened to be the right one- and took his seat as the bell finished ringing.

Mr. Hack passed out a hefty amount of worksheets to the class. “Okay class: no whispering, no talking, no looking around, no coughing or sneezing, no you can’t use the bathroom, and if I catch you on your cell phone the whole class gets detention. You have until the end of the class to complete the worksheets or it's a 0 for today.”

Everyone groaned. Good old Mr. Hack. Charming and likeable. Jackson tried to ignore the stares and whispers in his direction as he did his work. He knows he’s different, don’t they ever get tired of reminding him? Were they all paying more attention to him than usual, or was it just his imagination? He blazed through his work in about 20 minutes, it was just some simple thermodynamics equations. He looked up and noticed that Mr. Hack was asleep. Typical. Half the class were on their phones and the other half were talking amongst themselves. He pulled his phone out and saw Holt’s message.

Huh. Maybe it wasn’t just his imagination then, everyone was acting a little odd. Granted, every day at Monster High was pretty weird. Last week they had lost their school crest in a rollerblading contest and the school nearly toppled over, so maybe he could just ignore whatever this was.

The bell finally rang for lunch. He set his work on Mr. Hack’s desk as he jolted awake and practically ran from the room. He shot Clair a text

“Okay, transportation is set and decorations bought. Am I forgetting anything?”

“Measurements, goofy.” She responded almost instantly.

“Oh, right. I can get a tape measure from the woodshop teacher and get them during lunch.”

“Have you told the other monsters about Saturday?”

“No. I just don’t know how they’ll react, y’know?”

“Aren’t they always telling you about how you don’t belong? So why would they care?”

“Yeah you’re probably right. It’s just a difficult situation.”

“Yeah, I hear you. Let me know how it goes.”

Looking down at his phone, he didn’t notice Draculara until he bumped her as he passed.

“So sorry!” He exclaimed. 

“It’s alright.” She reassured him as she walked away. She made her way to the library where her friends were already gathered around in a circle. Spectra floated in the center.

“What’s this all about?” Draculara asked.

“While Frankie had Holt distracted, Spectra looked in his locker.”

“Well what did she find?” Cleo demanded.

“Just this. It appears to be a receipt for some kind of car rental.”

Clawd glanced at his phone. “Heath says Jackson is in the boys locker room right now taking measurements of himself and writing them down.” He told the group.

“Then what Spectra said is true.” Fraknie finally admitted. The room fell into extended silence.

“Well we can at least show Jackson he means something to us.” Draculara spoke up.

“Yeah,” Frankie agreed, “we can do something nice for him and Holt.”

“What are we going to do? Hijack the gym and throw a huge party during lunch?” Cleo asked sardonically.

“You’re on a roll Cleo! It’ll be closed tomorrow, but we can do it Friday!” Clawdeen agreed.

Cleo smiled. Very well then. Friday would be a day for the monster history books.