#oh yeah i watched the barbie movie recently

[the-meme-monarch]

(wakes up in a cold sweat) barbieland is a dark world

[cosmicpearlz]

celebrity crush

summary: you make your debut on the tonight show with jimmy fallon to promote a movie and end up spilling the beans about your celeb crush.

pairing: percy hynes white x actress!reader

…………………………………………………………………………….

when you were finally asked to be on the tonight show, there was no way you were passing that up. since you had just finished filming the barbie movie, your stylist decided to put you in a dress from valentino’s hot pink collection. the dress was long sleeved, laid off the shoulders and had lots of rhinestones all around. paired with the matching hot pink stockings and platform heels. you felt like this was the best outfit your stylist ever put together but you tend to say that about every outfit.

“now welcoming the lovely and talented y/n!” as you walked from behind the curtains, you waved to the audience with a bright smile. you quickly give jimmy a hug and sit down on the chair.

“hello hello hello!”

“y/n, so how have you been? you recently finished filming the barbie movie, right?” the screams that the audience did made you chuckle while nodding your head.

“i’ve been good jimmy just hanging out at home with my cat. but yes, i did finish filming the barbie movie and i’m so excited for you guys to see it!”

“what was it like? where you nervous at all?”

“it was so amazing and the cast is genuinely so sweet. i definitely was a little nervous being that i’m one of the youngest out of the adults but everyone just made me feel so comfortable.”

“i love that! now, we don’t know much about you but is there anything you care to share with us tonight?” you take a sip of your water glass before you started talking again. you needed a moment to think about what to say quickly.

“i tend to keep most of my life private because i’m just naturally a shy little bean about somethings,” you, jimmy and the audience share a laugh.

“but in all seriousness i’m just like you guys,” you pointed to the audience. “i have celebrity crushes and over fantasize about things that make me happy. i even named my black cat loki because i really enjoy marvel movies and stuff like that.” you could hear the audience clapping and it made you smile to yourself.

“so the celebrity crushes, who is it?” jimmy leaned on his arms that rested on the desk with his head in his hands. immediately you hide your face into the palm of your hands.

“ah jimmy i can’t say that. there’s too many to count!”

“okay, just tell us one of them. who have you been recently crushing on?” you uncover your face and let out a loud playful sigh.

“you guys know the show wednesday, right?” the audience screams once again and you nodded your head.

“and you know xavier thorpe in the show?” your smile was getting bigger by the second because of the way the audience just somehow screamed even louder.

“yeah, so i have a crush on percy hynes white. there i said it!” jimmy leaned back in his chair with laughter.

“oh my goodness, you have a crush on percy?”

“yes! i mean who wouldn’t? have you literally seen those gorgeous green eyes or his smile with his dimples,” you dramatically started fanning yourself to get the point across that you really found him attractive.

“that is not who i expected you to say!”

“what can i say? i’m just down bad for that man. i’m so down bad that after watching wednesday, i went and watched some of his other projects.”

“so you’re that down bad?”

“yes jimmy, that down bad. but you guys can’t tell him! i don’t want him to think that i’m weird!” you bit your trying to hide how nervous you were now. jimmy laughs and shakes his head.

“right after this break, we’ll be back with y/n! we have a fun game in store for you guys.” you waved at the camera with a smile before it cut off for break.

-

it was about two weeks later and you didn’t think of the interview anymore. if you were being honest, you were too engrossed into your book that you started and didn’t even notice how social media was currently blowing up.

“y/n did you look at twitter recently?” sadie sink, your best friend said sitting down next to you on the couch. she had came to visit you since she was also on a work break.

“no why?”

“girl, you caught percy’s attention!” you snapped your head towards her looking away from the tv.

“WHAT?”

“yeah, he went on the tonight show and apparently talked about you!”

“there’s no fucking way. when did this happen?”

“last night.” you quickly pulled up the interview on tv and grabbed sadie’s hand in need of comfort.

the interview

“so percy, we recently had y/n on here two weeks ago. did you happen to see what she said?”

“no, i didn’t get a chance to but i know i kept getting dm’s about it.”

“since you haven’t seen it, we’re gonna pull it up on the monitor and watch it together!”

“let’s do this.”

on que the monitor starts playing the previous interview of you rambling about how much you liked percy. when the video ended, jimmy turned his head to a slightly blushing percy.

“so what do you think about that?”

“first of all i’m really honored to her celebrity crush because have you seen her? she’s literally stunning and two, i wouldn’t mind getting to know her.” the audience freaked out even more than they did for your interview with jimmy.

“did we just match make on the tonight show?”

“maybe. just maybe,” percy smiles a little more making his dimple pop right out.

end of interview

still holding sadie’s hand, you looked at her with your jaw dropped. you couldn’t believe that percy had said that.

“okay wow. check your insta dm’s to see if he messaged you y/n!” you let her hand go and grabbed your phone opening instagram. percy had followed you back and did in fact dm you.

“OH MY GOD SADIE SADIE. HE DM’D ME!”

“well what does it say?” she was excited for you being the main one to hear about the crush you had on him the most.

from percy hynes white (@percy)

hey, i’m in nyc for a couple of more days if you’re down to hangout. just let me know!

“sads what do i say? he sent it a couple of hours ago.”

“don’t be stupid, plan something!”

to percy hynes white (@percy)

i’d love that! how about we go to central park and figure it out from there?

you hit the send button and internally screamed in your head. within minutes, your phone buzzed on your legs. you and sadie share a look before you picked it up.

from percy hynes white (@percy)

sounds great. it’s a date then :) though, can i have your number?

you decided to heart the message and dm your number to him. sitting your phone down once more, you shook sadie’s shoulders in excitement.

“sadie he said it was a date!” she smiles while jumping up and down with you.

“my best friend got a date! my best friend got a dateee!”

now you just had to figure out what to wear.

-

the day for the date finally came and you were buzzing with excitement. the night before, you did a fashion show for sadie and picked out an outfit. settling on a pair of light washed ripped mom jeans, a white and black oversized sweater and your black nike air max 95’s.

“okay babes, i’ll be here with loki. call me if you need anything,” sadie hugs you and pushed you towards the door.

“i love you sads!” you yell out to her quickly before making sure you had everything in your tote bag and running out the door.

you make your journey on the subway to central park. it wasn’t long but that didn’t stop you from reading your book on the train with some music playing in your ears. once the train stopped at your stop, you got off and went to text percy.

to percy <3

hey, are you here yet?

from percy <3

yeah, i just got off the train. where are you?

to percy <3

lol same but i’m right at the park entrance!

you looked up from your phone to see the long brown haired boy looking left and right across the street. you quickly began raising your arm in a waving before he found you. the smile that graced his face was truly a sight to see. he jogs over to you and immediately pulls you into a hug.

“hi stranger,” you looked up at him returning the smile he had.

“hi stranger. let’s go take a walk and get some food, yeah?”

“i’m okay with that.” you guys walk into the park and followed the long trail.

“so i hear i’m your celebrity crush,” you laughed while looking down at your shoes.

“yeah, is it weird for you?”

“weird? why would it weird to have a pretty girl say that i’m her celebrity crush?” percy nudged your arm with his. “if anything, i’d say the feeling is mutual now.”

“percy, you can’t be serious.”

“oh i’m absolutely serious. you’re very pretty and talented as hell.” you looked down with a smile on your face again.

“you’re pretty too,” you gaze up at him to see his face with a blush adoring his cheeks.

the two of you continued the walk just talking about any and everything. your arms kept brushing besides each other before you made the move to interlock your hands together. percy didn’t seem to mind it briefly squeezing your hand.

“what we thinking for food percy?”

“burgers and fries?”

“you had me at a burger,” peering up at him with a grin, leading him to subway station entrance for the b train.

“i know this really good burger place but it’s around rockefeller center if that’s okay.”

“i’m down for it. i honestly dread for when the night has to end,” he rubs his thumb over your hand making you look down again. you’ve never felt this connected to someone in such a short amount of time. little did you know percy felt the same way, he was drawn to you and he liked this newfound feeling.

you tugged his hand and walked down the subway entrance stairs. once you both swiped your metro cards, you leaned on his shoulder with your arms around one of his waiting for the train to come. unbeknownst to the both of you, a couple of fans had silently spotted you guys and decided to start taking secret pictures.

-

the dinner was nice and you had enjoyed his presence. percy even paid for both you and him but you told him the next time that you were paying. he was the perfect gentleman and you knew just from one date that you were definitely going to fall harder than before.

“i had a great time with you percy.” you said while holding hands just like earlier in the day.

“i had a great time with you too. i’m not sure i want to the night to end.” he looks into your eyes with that beautiful dimpled smile. just as you were about to respond, you felt water drops on your head.

“did you feel that?”

“feel what?”

the rain started coming down heavier making you squeal. percy is quick to firmly tighten the hand that was holding yours to run with you to find shade from the rain. once finding shade under a building entrance, you guys were soaked with water head to toe. laughter and heavy breathing was all that was heard from the two of you.

“that’s so cliché!”

“what it raining in the middle of our date?”

“yes percy. it felt like one of those romance movies,” you were looking around watching the rain pour down. percy had turned his attention to you just staring at you thinking about how pretty you looked.

“wanna make it even more cliché?”

“huh?” you turned back to him finding his face dangerously close to yours. when did he even move closer? not that you were complaining.

“can i kiss you y/n?”

“yes.”

he places both of his hands on your cheeks tilting your head upwards pulling you into a kiss. it started off slow then gradually got more intense. your fingers tangled into his wet hair pulling ever so slightly to push him more to you. the kiss was mainly teeth and tongue as you guys desperately consume each other. in that very moment nobody else mattered. just two souls that were drawn towards one another with a kiss that seemed to confirm every feeling even if it was only one day.

“woah, i don’t even know what to say.” your whisper fell upon his lips as his nose nudged yours.

“don’t say anything. just kiss me again.”

[transmasculinizing]

HIP HIP HOORAY! THE COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN USING THE LANGUAGE OF HEART BUTTON. iv permission to be annoying!

so this has been brought to my attention after seeing the reaction to the new robin movie announcement. elseworlds has really fucked up dc fans understanding of how adaptations work im so serious.

im not saying this bc elseworlds stories r bad. quite the opposite i love these comics (batman n dracula trilogy u changed my brain chemistry ily bbgrl) no im entirely talking about elseworlds as a brand. i am talking about how these stories r marketed bc it has done irreparable damage im thinking.

so the thing about dc? they want u to know what a characters whole deal is. batmans real name is bruce wayne and hes a rich orphan who protects gotham city. superman is an alien whose planet blew up and he landed in kansas as a baby where he was given the name clark kent and was raised on a farm then he moved to metropolis to become a reporter. these characters have a certain way they hav to be and their stories r supposed to be. if ur adaptation of the story strays to far from this no problem we'll just label it as elseworlds. except not really they dont always do that.

case in point: the new robin movie that was literally just announced and doesnt even have a trailer yet. yeah well theyre making jason and dick around the same age. people cant be normal about this. "oh this will be so many peoples first introduction to the characters and this isnt how theyre supposed to be!" calm down. this is an all new version of the characters we havnt seen before. the point of an adaptation is not to be identical to the original. at that point just read the original. what do i mean by this? well-

another large franchise i love is godzilla. literally the only thing the godzilla movies and shows have in common is they have a giant lizard in them. you dont need to know what this guys whole deal is to call yourself a fan. do i highly recommend u watch the original 1954 movie and learn a bit about the history of the franchise if u got into it through some of the more recent godzilla media? yes but obviously i cant force u to do any of that. a lot of these movies straight up do not take place in the same universe. theyre different godzillas. one godzilla isnt "destroying" peoples perception of what godzilla is because its different from the original movie that has a completely different godzilla.

none the less before people jump to conclusions i want to make 1 thing clear: learn the rules before you break them. there have been changes made to the story before that i think r disrespectful to what the 1954 movie originally was. its easy to skim past if u dont know the characters history. for example in godzilla king of the monsters 2019 (and im not dunking on u if u like the movie bc i do also. that doesnt mean im not above criticizing it however) they have the only Japanese character get killed off by using a nuclear weapon to awaken godzilla.in this usamerican adaptation.of a movie that was made.as a metaphor for the bombings of Hiroshima.yeah that is a major yikes.

so yeah this is what i mean when i say learn the rules before you break them. it can be obvious that u either dont like what ur adapting or missing the point or just straight up havnt watched or read it none the less one adaptation doing things differently doesnt automatically mean its disrespecting the source material.

i think dc really shoots itself in the foot by making it so you have to know what every characters whole deal is and if u stray to far from that its labeled elseworlds. then when something isnt labeled as elseworlds fans get pissed at how inaccurate it is. monsterverse isnt marketed as "an alternate universe where godzilla is a million year old alien" its just godzilla. now u could say comparing this to godzilla is unfair because hes barely a character. hes a giant lizard and directors r supposed to play around with him like a barbie doll. so heres another comparison that ive already made a bunch

in mainline tmnt idw comics the turtles r reincarnated from a bunch of kids in medieval japan. this is not in any other version. in mutant mayhem the turtles go to school. this isnt in any other version. adaptations usually flip back and forth on if splinter is mutated hamato yoshi or hamato yoshi's mutated pet rat. the 4 main turtles personalities vary widely depending on adaptation bc "leader, angry, smart and funny" arent personality traits so much as they r quirks. depending on how old someone is they might have a different idea of what the lore of tmnt is if they arent super into the franchise and only know the show/movies/comics they grew up with. this is really not a big deal at all. two people having different ideas of what a character is like bc they were exposed to them from different adaptations is not as big of a deal as dc fans pretend it is. before the the tim burton movies a lot of peoples perception of batman came from the 66 show and that 1 is.very different from how the average joe would think of batman today. and that wasnt the end of the world either! again people can and should learn the history of these stories but complaining about how bad a version of the story a newcomer might like is bc its not like the one u like isnt going to make them wanna look deeper into the franchise. we should be calmly approaching these newer fans and giving recommendations and reading list if they show interest in a character or story

like literally there is a lot of criticism u could make about yjtv but it boils my blood how much bad faith criticism iv seen that can just be summarized as "this is not how this character should be". because i guess there r just definitive versions of characters now

look im not even saying if an adaptation is different u still have to like it. i actually hate a lot of adaptations bc theyre different from what i like. but the opposite is also true. there r adaptations i like bc what they do differently. something being different doesnt automatically make it good or bad is what im trying to say so now that brings us back to elseworlds.like not sorry it shouldve stayed dead.not the stories just the name elseworlds. i really dont like dc bringing back elseworlds. the whole concept just feels creatively limiting. these are just different continuities and should be treated as such. there being a certain way a story should be written and having to warn people if u stray to far away from that story and getting yelled at if u dont is what i mean! do u see the issue here am i making sense

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

Someone PLEASE make an English Dub of Buratino's Return (obscure Russian movie)

Okay, so I heard about this Russian cartoon animated movie recently, and it's got this Wild Thorberries-Rugrats-ish art style and the songs slap! The one that's gotten really popular was the one with the singing Barbie dolls, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2CSmp02Emk in this video here (turn the captions on). I heard the name of the movie is actually Возвращение Буратино which translates to Buratino's Return apparently. It looks amazing! I love talking toy themed movies that are NOT Toy Story. It doesn't look as amazing as Raggedy Ann & Andy Musical Adventure but it looks good enough to watch and enjoy. The thing is, the subtitles on the original Russian movie, the English subtitles SUCK! I got them saying weird things like "Oh yeah Obama" when she was apologizing to the other doll, and apparently the dog's name translates to "Potatoes" which... is actually kinda cute not gonna lie! If the movie gets dubbed, they should keep it!

Yeah, so the whole "dubs vs subs" thing is ridiculous. Dubs are obviously way easier to watch and understand. If you're hearing impaired and need subtitles, that's one thing but if you're not and you want to watch a movie, it's way easier to watch a dub. Plus, subtitles aren't always accurate and sometimes make things sound more awkward. Like, the dubbed versions often make more sense. Plus, subtitles go fast and you can't always pay attention to little details if you're watching it with subtitles, it's too distracting. I wholeheartedly believe that dubs are better all the way! If you don't speak English or Russian, maybe it can be dubbed in your language too! There needs to be a Spanish dub, French dub, Japanese dub, whatever language you might speak! The only language I speak is English, so that's why I'm trying to get someone to make an English dub. By the way, the English captions for the Мой Портрет - Трафарет video were an exact translation, I feel like the dub would change it up.

My friend wondered about the songs being ruined in the dub, which I would be worried about too, but they could hire a translator and songwriter to work together and make the lyrics make sense but also rhyme. Even if it was a fan dub, they could still get enough permission and help to make it a good dub without ruining the songs.

Another thing, let's talk about this not being popular in Russia, where it was made. I mean, it came out in 2013, the same year as Disney's Frozen! It didn't stand a freaking chance in theaters! Frozen literally took the world by storm... a snowstorm, that is! (haha, funny joke). Plus, a lot of non-English spoken movies don't get an English dub until years later. 2013 was 11 years ago, but who said it's too late for an English dub. Especially, now that the Barbie doll stencil song is becoming popular online. I also haven't actually seen the full movie, I just skimmed through it on YouTube to get a grip of what it's about and apparently it's about talking toys but they have to escape from a bad guy who wants to destroy them and turn them into the same "evil" toys to create a bad future of children. I also found out that apparently Buratino is Pinocchio and I like the idea of a non-Disney Pinocchio movie, because Pinocchio has been around for like 150 years, way before Disney made it into a creepy a** animated movie and they shouldn't take copyright of Pinocchio. There's also that other Russian movie "Pinocchio a True Story" where Pauly Shore voices Pinocchio and Tom Kenny voiced Geppetto. Also, this movie Buratino's Return was animated in 2D form, when a lot of early 2010s movies were 3D. I'm not sure how that effected the marketing and who wanted to see it but I'm almost sure that a lot of people were more hyped about Frozen or other popular movies.

Here's something else I found, apparently it was also based off "The Adventures of Buratino" which is a really old story, and I think this 2013 movie kind of looks like a creative twist on that story, kind of like what Disney does, but also kind of makes fun of Disney as well. Basically it looks like they're basing a story off old fairytales Pinocchio and The Adventures of Buratino, just as Disney does, except they're changing the things about Disney that isn't woke and making fun of the things that are wrong with Disney. I know a lot of you probably hate it when I talk crap about Disney, but I always give my side of how I feel and let you have your side. With enough convincing and understanding, hopefully we can understand both sides!

Anyway, feel free to chat with me about this in the comments! I'm always happy to hear opinions, even if they're different from mine. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi Laurie! 💛

You know what's coming, hehe 👀

I saw this in another fandom and now I'm sending the same question to a bunch of Jake girlies (gn) because it’s so interesting seeing everybody’s answers!

Who are your Top 3 Jake boys and why? Is there a specific piece of art (fic, gif, fan art, etc.) for them that you like a lot?

hiiiiiiiiii!!! 💖 i do know what's coming teehee! i love his characters so much. even if the movie is not up my alley, his character always stands out. i'll watch everything he's in just because i'm obsessed (except spirit untamed, it is against my principle to support this horrible version of spirit the stallion of the cimarron) i just love them like they're just so neat i love them so much. OKAY TIME TO CHOOSE.

Elwood Dalton

i cannot believe that davis was dethroned as my forever ultimate favorite character but he was. dalton is so special to me. i've been obsessed with him since the very beginning when i was looping videos to get his full name and start writing for him immediately. so he's been living in my mind rent from for a LONG and i hope he never leaves. i lost count of how many times i've watched the movie (especially the scenes with laura!!!), it's so good. i'm already seated for the sequel idc what people say i want it and i will love it! also, i love how dalton ressembles billy and lou! the scene where he punches the guy to death and tell him how he will perish was so hot like like welcome back lou bloom you were missed <3 dalton is funny, and suicidal and caring and violent and what more could i ask? yeah okay i could ask to use his titties as pillows to fall asleep on.

my absolute favourite dalton creations are the wonderful gifs that @stephendorff made! i proclaim myself as their biggest fan when it comes to jake's gifs because oh my god the talent!!! i adore the parallel gifsets, so let me link you to a bunch! omg me when + nice hoodie + so bloody yum + i will cover these men with hello kitty bandaids + need both of them at the same time.

Detective Loki

he's an obvious one! jack twist, donnie darko and detective loki must be the most well loved characters in this fandom FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. i love loki. i'm convinced deep in my soul that he would absolutely despise me. i can't shut up, i'm clingy as fuck and we'd spend most of his rare free time watching barbie movies. but it could be nice! i'd pack him his lunch, i'd learn to iron his shirts, i'd follow him to his barber and beg the man to give me the same haircut... like, we'd have a good life! aside from getting eaten alive by the constant fear that loki is in danger but shh. i love loki so much, i love all of the mysterious details about him, i love that jake played such a big part into building this character.

there are SO many amazing fics for detective loki, and rightfully so! he deserves it! in my opinion, @det-loki is the best writer. star captures loki in such an unique way, her writing feels like deleted scenes & extra footage from the movie. i know i always recommend star when it comes to loki fics but if you've ever read what she's posted, you would do the same! @charliehoennam has also posted some amazing det loki fics recently that i cannot recommend enough!!! here are the links: cat n mouse, dinner date & the dinner party (my personal favourite!).

Tommy Cahill

when i watched brothers, i conveniently just... skipped the military scenes. so the movie was all about tommy and i loved it. wow what a sweet romcom. i just love him. he's fun and sweet and he has had it so rough with his family that treats him like a black sheep. his father is acting like tommy is the failure when the only failure i'm seeing is a parent who failed to love his child like he deserved. AND I WOULD GIVE HIM ALL THE LOVE HE NEEDS! endless unconditional love. all he wants is to have a family of his own and be happy and become a better person. i have no doubt that he has what it takes to achieve his goals. he's my beanie baby and i love him to the moon and back.

controversy alert! but... i'm not mad at tommy and grace for kissing (skipping most of sam scenes helps a lot) but like... he was nice to grace for the most part, he helped her with the kitchen, he was so fun with the kids... he can't do anything wrong you know? i have horrible morals, i'm aware. so i'll just link to the video of the kiss scene because i love it and i love watching it and i wish it was me.

my top 3 usually fluctuates, but i'd say that overall, it's the same five characters that are on rotation. dalton, loki, tommy, davis and right now the 5th position is switching between john kinley & jerry brinson. i do want to say that i was pleasantly surprised with how much i liked anthony swofford and brian taylor when i watched their respective movies, i didn't think i'd enjoy their characters much but it might be time to retire my #1 bald!jake hater title. it was so hard to choose though. i feel bad for the ones i left out. i love you danny! and billy! and donnie! and adam! and holden! and okay fine i'll shut up. i know i've told you already, but this was such a sweet initiative to go around and spread some joy!!! thank you for doing this, and for sending it to me as well! 🥰

[barbiecrocs]

Hard to hate.

Eddie Munson

tags! enemies to lovers, no piv, no spoilers for s4, oral (female receiving), fingering, teasing, pet names (princess), name calling (dingus), hair pulling, cumming in pants, underage drinking

I think that's it. Lemme know if I missed something.

WC.5433

Barbies note...So I mention the Cityman Nokia but that came out in 87 so the story is set really early 87 and they are abt the graduate. Ik the time line doesnt make sense, but dont worry abt it😝. Anyway, enjoyyyy

You loved your friends, and it's been a while since you've last hung out, but what you wouldn't give right now to be home alone with a bag of hot fries and some horror flicks. Yeah, sure you said, "Steeeeeeeevie, we should kick it at your house tonight." Making finger guns at him while everyone piggybacks off of that thought. Robin butting in, "Fast times?" She nods with two thumbs ups directed at an unamused Steve.

 "Ugh, again?" Nancy complains, rightfully so. 

"What, it's a good movie." Robin gestures to you as back up, but you put your hands up in defense, not wanting to pick sides. It was a good movie though, but at the same time, it was worn out.

"No, that movie is so run through by all of us. How many times have we rented it from Family Video now? For heaven's sake, I'd rather watch a horror movie at this point!"

"Wow, Nancy. Daredevil, you. Maybe we a porno instead or something. Eddie wouldn't mind, nor would Steve." She teases. 

And that's where you exit the convo. At the name drop of Eddie. Your eyes flicker around the video store, eye catching titles such as Nightmare on Elms Street, Sixteen Candles, and Fame pop out at you before you catch Steve mouthing a Fuck you while giving you the jack-in-the-box middle finger. Cranking and cranking until it pops out. You give him a playful smirk and an eyeroll, typing in the 'F•r•i•e•n•d•s' group chat that's name was always being changed to some joke like 'Brad's bud-lings' or Linda's Bralette. All Fast Times references made by Robin, each one deserving an eyeroll. "HANG OUT AT STEVE'S TONIGHT!!" you relay. Even though the only person you'd be informing is Eddie and maybe Chrissy if she reads the group chat. Only popping in to say hi every few weeks. 'What could possibly be keeping her so busy?' The question always circles your mind before being brushed off. 

Steve's phone pings, looking down at it in hopes that it doesn't say what he thinks it says. Nope, it says exactly what he didn't want it to say. He glares at you, gently bumping shoulders with you when he walks over, inching his way down to your ear. "I hope you know that you're driving them." He taps your shoulder for fake comfort, not understanding the big problem.

—

 The feeling of a headache coming on from the noisy car says it all. You should've taken the warning when Steve dished it, too bad you didn't know. Nancy and Eddie talk loudly in the backseat, trying to hear each other over Madonna's 'Material Girl' that Robin put into your car's DVD player. 

 'A couple more blocks. Just a couple more blocks and I can just chill at Steve's house and watch movies or whatever he has planned this time. Maybe we'll watch Fast Times again, it never gets old. Or something new like Pretty in Pink, yea that came out recently.' The thought relaxes you before Robin brings back all the stress, placing a lukewarm beer on your skater denim thighs. Your favorite low-rise jeans. They were a dark wash color, a perfect fit and were tattered with embroidered stars with a little distress.

 "Care for a beer?" She asks, a tad too loud for your close proximity, "Oh my god Robin, for the last time, NO.  And you reek of beer, get back." She rolls her eyes at your order, "Ugh rude! Don't be such a bummer, just take the beer. See? Here, I'll help you since your hands are full." She drunkenly puts the unopened beer can to your lips, tipping it up and down. "Huh, nothing's coming out, strange-", you grab both of her wrists with one hand and turn down the volume, "Robin! For heaven's sake please put it down, you're blocking my vision. Gosh, who the hell let her sit in the front! Guys mind giving me a hand? Geez!" You continuously swat Robin's hands away while trying to keep a steady steering hand. "Princess, you let her sit in the front. Remember? So, you did that to yourself." 

"Okay well, I wasn't expecting much help from you anyway. And stop calling me princess, dingus." 

"Stop calling me dingus, princess." He retorts with a chuckle in his voice. That motherfucker, he probably gets off on stressing and teasing you.

 Nancy grabs onto the back of your seat, pulling herself towards you, "Nuh uh, no, not today. Both of you shut up. You're acting like children. Why do you hate each other so much anyway?" You both shut up, waiting for the other to give a response.

 You didn't answer because you didn't actually hate Eddie. You only acted like this because he hated you first. Well, you interpreted it as hate. He would just straight up ignore you. You used to have a crush on him, giggling like a little schoolgirl when he'd pass you in the halls. You thought that maybe he was just dense, but then your best friend Chrissy exposed your little crush to him. Yet, he still did nothing about it. 

 None of that mattered your junior year though. You decided to put yourself out there like Chrissy did. You were social, prettier, and had the school's hotshot, Jason Carver on your arm. He wasn't your type, but everyone kissed the ground you walked on so why complain? Why complain about the times he would chew with his mouth open? Why complain about the times he'd brag about how your tits bounced when he fucked you? Totally leaving out the part where he only lasted 30 seconds of the "pounding" he gave you. You'd always rant about it to Chrissy, both of you rolling your eyes and snickering when he'd talk about it.

 Through Chrissy, you met Steve, Nancy, and Robin, all your best friends to this day. Y'all would go out for milkshakes, watch movies, go to the mall and have a blast. Things were settling down nicely for your senior year. 

 But then, Eddie wormed his way back into your life through your shared friends and classes. Suddenly, ignoring and hating him was starting to get exhausting. How could you hate someone with good music taste? You'd act disgusted when his trashy drug den of a van pulled into the school's student parking lot or Steve's driveway. Then you'd notice Metallica's 'battery' pouring out the speakers of his car and can't help but bob your head.

 Then there was his sweet and smile. His smile was angelic. All the leather studded jackets and band patches in the word couldn't dim the brightness that is his smile. It was a little crooked, but his lips were perfect.

 And his hair– God, his hair. How much you longed to curl your fingers in his soft frizzy locs. Run your fingers through and grip it at the scalp while he devours you like a starved man– No. You are past that phase and over him. But as you'd like to think, none of that mattered anymore. You broke up with Jason, still had your friends, and still didn't like Eddie. If only you knew that Eddie never actually hated you either.

–

You swallow hard at the question that sits tensely in the air between you two. He notices your silence on the topic, a smug grin easing its way to his face, "Cat got your tongue?" You can hear the teasing sarcasm in his voice, practically oozing out his mouth. "Oh yeah? Why don't you answer it? You have a mind and mouth of your own." Glares exchange through the rear view mirror before you break away.

 "Nancy, please." You plea, not waiting for Eddie's clapback. Nancy sighs, not wanting to hear you both argue like kids anymore. "Okay. Come on Robin, you've had enough time in the front seat." She skillfully maneuvers Robin out the front seat and buckles her into the back with them, all in the blink of an eye. "Thank you." You give her a sickly sweet smile and shoot Eddie a nasty look. A couple more turns and you arrive at Steve's house.

 "We're here, kids. Get the hell out of my car." You joke. "Let me remind you to never have kids." Eddie chuckles. You try your hardest to seem indifferent from that and the banter you had with him in the car, but your demeanor still slips from under your hands. "Right, says the druggie and seller. Plus, I don't think your house is in living condition for kids or anyone ever." You slam your car door, locking it and marching up to Steve's door with a tired look plastered on your face. 

"Hah, she called you a druggie. Me personally, Eddie. I wouldn't take that." Robin laughs, leaning on Nancy's shoulder as she pulls her out the backseat. Eddie punches her arm, "Yeah whatever. And you know damn well that you'd take that." 

"Yeah, I would." She bites her lip in thought.

You bang on Steve's door again, pulling out your phone to call him since he still hasn't answered the door. You guys have been standing out on the porch for what, 5 minutes? "Knock again, maybe you didn't do it hard enough." Nancy suggests. You knock again, putting your ear to the door. "Oh wow, look at Sherlock over here." He taunts and you flip him off. "Shut up. There's music blasting through the door. No wonder he can't hear us." "Okay well, can you make him hear us, because Robin's really heavy." Nancy readjusts Robin on her shoulder while you dial Steve's number on your Cityman Nokia. "Well, aren't you updated with the times?" Eddie glares at your phone. It had just dropped at the beginning of the year. Within seconds of it ringing the door flies open with a casually dressed Steve leaning against the doorway and a turkey sandwich in his hand.

 He takes a bite, "So how was the drive?" A genuine question that you can't help but lean into his chest, head first. "Haha, very funny. You knew damn well what you were doing when you said I was driving." You put more of your weight onto him and he pats the top of your head for comfort. "Oh haha. Lemme guess, Robin road in the front?" You nod, "Damn, drunk?" You nod again as he looks up from the top of your head to Robin. "Damn, want a sandwich?" You nod once more. "Can we please hurry this interaction up or give me a hand." Nancy gestures to Robin. Steve finishes his sandwich and shuffles you inside.

——

"Mhm! Oh my god, Steveeeee." You moan, dancing in your seat. "This is so good!" Eddie rolls his eyes at your chipperness. The entirety of bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and turkey all toasted on one sandwich. Steve laughs, enjoying your enjoyment. "Glad you like it. I usually have mine with chips, but I ate the last bag yesterday."

 "That's fine. Got any pop?" You bounce happily in your chair before your mood is abruptly ruined by Eddie interjecting from the other side of the island. "I'm sorry, what? Pop? You mean soda? Hell, I'd even take soda pop or fizzy pop, but just pop?" You stop dancing to give emphasis to you not liking his tone or the fact that he was talking to you in general. "Yes, just pop. Steve knows what I'm talking about anyway. Isn't that right?" You put a hand out waiting for said drink to be put in your hand. The refrigerator opens and closes and the cold drink is placed into your palm then you shove it in his face. It was Coca-cola. Eddie sighs, fingers rubbing the space between his eyes, not bothering to continue the argument. "Dingus." You say under your breath, cracking open the can. 

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Steve pauses, rounding the counter and plopping down on the floor across from Nancy and Robin. "Because I don't have a movie planned."

 A sharp gasp comes from Robin. "No Fast Times?"

"No? That movie is worn out anyway. Maybe another day though." He says, getting up to look at his movie catalog before Nancy excitedly jumps up. "YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING. IT'S SO WORN OUT." She says, earning a silent laugh from you. You catch Eddie glaring at you once more. "Why can't you ever take your eyes off of me? I always catch you staring." You say, finishing your sandwich. "Because, I'm just so in love. Your beauty is captivating, my love." He says, almost making it sound genuine, but the hint of sarcasm gives it away. "Oh, watch out. You almost made me fall for it." You finish your sandwich and join the others in the living room.

"How about marry, kiss, kill?" You suggest, taking a memory foam pillow from the sofa and sitting down at the coffee table. Robin suddenly takes interest in the convo ever since getting shut down for the movie. "Ooooh, good one. How about we add fuck, too. Just to spice it up." 

 Eddie joins the rest of you in the living room, plopping down on the sofa between Nancy and Robin as she starts the game. "Hmm. Nancy, you first. Jason, Fred, Chance, and Steve." Her face scrunches up with every name drop, the look of disgust written all over it. "Fred?! You just had to put that one in there." She pauses, shooting Robin a devastated look as you snicker. Oh the betrayal. Robin rolls her eyes, finally starting to come back to herself after all the cups of cold water Nancy shoved down her throat. "Oh come on, spit it out." 

"Alright, fine. This is speaking as if me and Jonathan aren't together, okay? Marry Steve. Kill Jason. Kiss Fred. Fuck Chance." The group's eyes go wide with surprise. "Have you always thought about killing my ex?" You tease, looking offended, but you really weren't. Hell, you'd help with the murder. "Yes! Oh my god he's such a dickhead. I talked to him for the newspaper and he was sunshine and smiles during it, then turned around and tried to tell me how to do my job after. Saying stuff like," She pauses, clearing her voice to mimic his dopey voice. "Oh, don't forget to add the part where I'm captain of the basketball team and how many shots I scored in the last game." Mind you, the question I asked him was, "How do you feel about the bullying incidents and what would you do to prevent it?" Since he's supposed to be one of the school leaders. Ugh, he just gets on my nerves. I'm so glad you dumped his ass because I cannot stand by and let one of my friends date a literal piece of shit on the floor." Her manic rant stops as she places her hands back on her lap, not realizing she was using them to talk in the first place. 

 "So…Um, fuck chance huh?" Steve says, picking the conversation back up. "Yeah. I've talked to him a couple of times for the newspaper club and he's really nice. Plus he's got nice hair and facial structure." She waits for responses, but everyone just looks around in agreement. "Okay, Y/n." From the way she says your name, you know she's about to fuck you up with this one. "Gareth, Eddie, Andy, and Patrick." "Ugh. Two people each from the 'freak' and 'dickhead squad.'" You ignore the glare from Eddie and put your elbow on the coffee table in front of you, leaning into your hand in thought. "Okay, I think I got it. Marry Gareth. Kiss Andy. Fuck Patrick. Kill Eddie." You close your eyes and list all of them on one hand, some laughs, some eye rolls, specifically one from Eddie. "You'd fuck Patrick but Kill me?" "Yeah, I was shocked. Eddie is very fuckable." Steve says while Robin agrees, getting a sideways look from Nancy. "Not fuckable by me of course. I just meant that as a compliment if I was straight. You know?" She clarifies. "He's got a cute face, nice hair, and he's the perfect height. I wouldn't mind being married to that cutie pie. I feel bad though because he's probably so innocent, he looks it too. I'd ruin him with our relationship." You laugh. "Oh well. It's not like I wouldn't love doing that anyway." "Yeah right. As if my princess could ruin anyone." Eddie stares you down from the couch, thighs clenching from his whole demeanor and 'my princess'. "Don't call me that and I'm not yours." You say in a hushed tone. "It's fun to watch you deny that nickname. I know you love it, princess." He inches closer to you.

 "I don't." You inch.

 "Do." He inches.

 "I hate it as much as I hate you." You inch.

 "I also find that hard to believe." He stops inching closer, anymore and you'd be kissing. You totally didn't want that. Robin would've joked around and said 'Kiss already!', but she didn't want the death glare and possible death that would come with it. She could see it now, both of you hovering over her as Eddie chokes her out and you high five him. Her face going blue and vision fading to black before going to the light or who knows maybe she was going to hell. She prayed she wouldn't. But this isn't about her, and that never happened, only in her drunken coming sober thoughts. Where it shall stay.

You both hover over the coffee table as the rest watch. He leaves you speechless, no clapback, not even a huff. Only a broken glare, but your silence says all he needs to know. You slam your hands on the table and walk away, visually startling everyone, but Eddie. He doesn't even flinch. "Don't you walk away from me!" Eddie follows after, his long legs mindlessly stepping over Robin's feet with ease as you two bicker. "Don't tell me what to do! You're not my dad." You storm the hallway, stepping into the closest room, being a guest bedroom. You try to shut the door in his face, but he's right behind you, hot on your heels. He gets a foot in the door as you shut it, luckily for him, his platforms are thick so it didn't do much damage. He flings the door open forcefully, sending you back into a dresser. He slams the door loudly.

"Should we do something?" Steve looks down the hallway from where he is. "Can you see anything?" Robin askes, but he shakes his head. "The door is closed." Nancy rubs her temples, "I feel like we should do something, but I don't wanna be the one to get hurt. Like what if they turn on me because I get in between their 'lovers quarrel'? I don't wanna find out." They both nod their head in agreement. "Yeah, I say we step in if we hear stuff being thrown or like actual violence. Right now we should be on standby." Steve announces as if it was a real plan. In reality, they just didn't want to interfere.

 Eddie cages you between the dresser and himself, so close you could feel his uneven breath on your face. Your bodies glued against each other, his leg separating both of yours, and brushing against your cunt. His hands on the outside of yours, chests almost touching if not the height difference. Both of you stand idly in this position, calming your breathing, taking a moment to assess the situation you've gotten yourselves into. You try to move from under him to clear your head, accidentally rubbing your cunt with the thigh that separates your legs. A moan almost slips, but you bite your lip, hoping he doesn't notice. He does. "Hm? Got something to say princess?" He hunches over you, easing down to your level. "Fuck you!" "You'd like that wouldn't you?" His leg shifts again, feeding your entrance and clit that delicious friction it hasn't had in a while. You let out a muffled curse, "You want my attention so bad." Eddie's face contorts into fake confusion, trying to brush it off. "What?" "You heard me. Always making little quips even when I'm not talking to you. When I am talking to you, you always tease me. It seems like you love talking to me. You can't get enough of it. If you hated me as much as you say, you wouldn't call me princess. It seems like I'm not the only one that enjoys that nickname." You smirk, seeing his composure crack before quickly recovering. "So, you do like that nickname?" Your face turns hot from embarrassment. Oops, you didn't realize you had let that slip out. You got ahead of yourself and your mouth ran faster than your brain. Now it's at the finish line and you're sitting there looking dumb at the start. "I, I don't." You don't even know why you're still lying at this point. You've been found out.

 "We both know that's a lie." His lips find your neck as he lifts you onto the brown hardwood dresser you've been pressed against. He settles his hips between your legs. "Fuuuuuck. Fuck you." You begin to trip on your words, every sentence comes out with a stutter in it. "Just say the word and this can all end." Your train of thought evaporates when he finds that sweet spot on your neck, stamping hickeys that will definitely show with your clothing choices. He notices your silence and starts to pull away, afraid that he overstepped. "Don't! Don't stop, please." Your begging goes straight to his groin and your arms wrap around his neck, ensuring that he won't go anywhere. "Oh? You sound so sweet for me, princess." You give in, not complaining about the nickname and focusing on the growing heat between your legs. It was just a stupid nickname that you might or might not think about in the shower while you imagine his head between your thighs. 

He takes his hand from your hips and slides it under your shirt, groaning when he's found with a bra. "What, can you not get it off by yourself?" You reach a hand behind to help him before he slaps it away. "No, I got it." He skillfully unhooks with one hand, your eyebrows lifting in surprise as he laughs. "I'm not a virgin and a loser. I pick and choose my struggles, okay?" He pulls your shirt above your head to be met with your breast. They sit perfectly on your chest, perfect size, perfect for your body, perfectly soft. He groans lowly while teasing your nipples, your tits fit perfectly into his cold ring-clad fingers. He plays with them like a kid with their first slinky, completely mesmerized, squeezing and squishing them together. His hot mouth encases one of your taunt nipples as you fight the urge to slip your fingers into his hair. "Go ahead. I know you want to." It's almost as if he read your mind. "I know you love the curls, all the girls do." You roll your eyes. "So, grip it if you need to." He smirks up at you through full black eyelashes, trailing his kisses lower to the waist of your jeans, which you didn't know he unbuttoned. His fingers slide against the skin of your hips, looping around your jeans and tugging them down your legs. Leaving the wet area on your panties exposed to him. "Well, would you look at that? You've soaked right through them." His words fluster you, but before you can reply, he's grabbing you by the back of your knees and pulling you closer to the edge, your ass only half way on the dresser now. He drops to his knees, your legs thrown over his shoulders, clutching one by the back of your knee again. He levels with your soaking cunt, giving it an experimental lick, not for you, but for himself. He slides your panties off, letting out a groan from the sight. Your beautiful pussy, glistening because of him. He runs a thick finger up your puffy folds to your clit, rubbing gentle circles as he watches your chest heave from pleasure.

 Eddie continues to mindlessly tease your sensitive clit. Pulling muffled and bitten back moans from you. You hoist yourself up, trying your best to roll your hips farther onto his face, but he holds you down. "Eager now, are we?." He nips around the area you need him the most. Kissing and licking your thighs. "You must want to get your hair pulled, whore." He bites at your thigh harder than before. "Says the one getting her pussy eaten by her "sworn enemy". Isn't that ironic?" "Oh shut up. You haven't even-" Your tongue gets caught in your throat blocking the moan that dares to leave your lips. 

It was supposed to be a petty lick to make you shut up and appreciate what he was giving you, but he couldn't believe how sweet you were. The lust clouding his brain, his dick hard and leaking precum, pressing impossibly hard against his jeans, all factors working together to drive him more crazy. He starts to lap at your pussy, slurping and suckling the juices as you try to pull away from the sudden pleasure, but the grip on your thighs tighten possessively. You glance down at him to see his eyes, pupils blown wide and clouded with lust. He's eating your pussy like a starved man, sloppy and the bottom half of his face soaked with your juices. He's wrapping his lips around your clit, sucking kisses to it when he slips a finger in you. God, your walls are so velvety soft and what he wouldn't give to be in them. His fingers could be in you for hours, past the wrinkling stage.

Loud moans and curses erupt from your throat, hoping your friends in the other room didn't hear. That somehow the loud noises went unheard or they were suddenly deaf. They didn't. They can and did hear everything.

"So… So, I guess they're not fighting anymore." Nancy pauses, picking stubborn threads from the old couch. "Um, yeah… So uh. PIZZA! Yea pizza, y'all wanna go get some pizza? I mean I didn't make either of you a sandwich earlier. You must be hungry." Steve tries to carry the convo while Nancy and Robin nod their heads in agreement. "Yup! Haha, absolutely famished." Robin says, really playing it up. "Yeah! I mean, like when was the last time we ate? Three days ago? Haha!" A heavy silence sits between the three of them, then Steve grabs his keys. "So! Um, let's go get that pizza!" Fake smiles emerge from all of them, trying to act like two of their friends weren't in the next room fucking. "Oh, Shot-"

"No Robin. You're not riding shotgun."

"Aw man."

 The loud shutting of the front door can be heard by you and Eddie, but you didn't care and apparently he didn't either. He begins to give your pussy little kitten licks. Fuck, is he teasing again? What is his problem? You're already dripping and desperate for him. He is enjoying this all too much. 

 You grab him by the hair, eliciting a moan and shove his face in your cunt. "Eat." You demand as Eddie looks up at you through those fucking eyelashes again. His hands resting on your marked up inner thighs. You weren't the only one enjoying the view, though. You thought you looked absolutely crazy right now, chest heaving unevenly, a sheet of sweat coating your body, your shirt sticking to your breast from the sweat and pupils blown out just like Eddie's, but he was loving it. If only he could pause time and save this image forever or had the artistic ability to paint this moment how he sees fit. The image alone could make him cum in his pants. You panting over him, fed up with his teasing and finally putting him in his place. He obeys, using the tip of his nose to rub circles on your clit as his tongue plunges in and out of you. Your head falls back against the mirror behind you.

 Both of your hands pull his hair as you roll onto his face, desperate moans pouring out of your mouth. He continues to moan into your pussy, coaxing you closer to your orgasm with vibrations. Your eyes shut when he slides two fingers in you, not wasting any time on delaying your orgasm. His efforts have your legs shaking in his grip as you gush on his face. He watches intensively, eyes flickering between your fucked out but satisfied face and your spasming pussy. Your precious moans turning into whines of his name as he fingers you into overstimulation. He slips his fingers out and slurps up the rest of your essence. 

 Your eyes open when you feel his lips on yours, tasting a bit of yourself on him. You moan into the kiss, giving his tongue the opportunity to explore your mouth. Your hands move to his chest, pushing him back to slide off the dresser. You push him backwards towards the bed and drop to your knees. Placing one hand on the wet tent in his pants before he grabs it.

 "I want to." You assure him before he says anything.

 "But you don't have to."

 "But I want to."

 "I said you don't have to."

 "I said I want to."

 "Fine! I don't want you to then." You look at him in confusion before he continues.

 "I don't consent. I won't let you." You narrow your eyes at him before dropping the topic. "You're a weird one, Eddie Munson." You start to gather your clothes and head to the bathroom. "Oh, can you change out here?" He says, ushering ahead of you and shutting the door. "Oh, okay?"

Eddie shuts the door behind him, his eyes falling on the situation in his pants. He manically searches the bathroom for a rag he can use to clean the cum out of the inside of his pants, luckily it didn't soak through yet. Yet. He undoes his studded belt and lets his pants fall to the floor, finding a rag and scrubbing the best he can with hand soap. He can be heard huffing and puffing from outside the door, "Hey Eddie. Lemme ask you a question." He nearly jumps out his skin. He thought you already got dressed and left. "Um okay? Shoot."

"How come you hate me so much?"

"Oh princess, I never hated you." He tries to multitask, but fails terribly and almost slips on the bottom of his pants. Luckily, he grabbed onto the sink.

"Oh yeah? Well, you always ignored me. Chrissy told you I had a huge crush and you still didn't make a move or try to talk to me."

 "Oh yeah. That. To me you were such a sweet girl. I thought you were too good for me and you'd leave me in the dust with nothing but my heart to hold." He stops scrubbing, reminiscing about the said times. 

 "You were too good to be true. You were too good for me. You were top of our class and you already had colleges knocking at your door. I didn't have dreams that big. I didn't want to dim your light." He trails off, starting back to scrubbing.

"Why didn't you let me make that decision? I should get to choose who I hang out with." He can hear you stepping closer until you finally lean against the door, back first he assumes. 

"I just wanted the best for you." He takes a dry towel and soaks up as much of the wetness as possible. Almost dry. He fits his pants back on, opening the door slowly to ensure you had enough time to move. 

 Then he feels a fist against his chest. "I hate you, you know." He smiles down at you, "From someone that was rubbing their pussy on my face, I don't believe that." You both walk out the door into the hallway to be met with the smell of pizza and your group of friends plus Chrissy. "Oh hey! I ran into these guys at Domino's." She grabs a slice and holds it out to you two. "Pizza?" 

[realmackross]

PARTIES: @notstinky, @realmackross TIMING: August 3rd at Mistwood Park SUMMARY: Waka Waka Waka Waka....Howdy Partner! WARNINGS: None!

Mistwood Park was bubbling with life; the rumbling sound of voices like a swarm of insects hung over the clatter of legos and occasional fits of laughter. Thea could pick out bits of conversation: people who had gotten narratively invested in their lego creations, people who were complaining about the heat, someone who thought a lego hot dog was a real hot dog and now had a chipped tooth. Thea had come down to watch people build their lego creations for the contest tomorrow, mesmerized by how tiny blocks could form blocky recreations and works of art. The creations ranged from lego animals to spaceships (Thea liked those best). Someone had even built a large lego castle with a winding, maze-like interior. Thea, who maintained that the most creative thing she was capable of was color coding her notes, was impressed. 

Thea walked through the park, approaching the end of the displays where a large lego Pac-Man stood, built up from hundreds of yellow legos. His accompanying ghosts and circle pellets were still being made, but she thought the scale and accuracy of the Pac-Man was impressive enough. Having walked through all of the entries to the lego building contest, Thea turned to leave when her body crashed into another’s. “Oh!” she squeaked, holding out her hands to catch the stranger if they fell. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was….” Thea trailed off. That was a familiar mess of blonde hair. In fact, that was a very familiar set of features. “Oh my god…” she blinked. “Wait a minute, are you Zoey Ross?” 

—

It wasn’t Mackenzie’s plan to go look at Lego sculptures in the park. In fact, the last time she had played with a Lego had been years ago, but she couldn’t stay cooped up forever after the Barbie Nightmare Sleepover fiasco. In fact, she had only recently cleaned her house. But it was nice out and instead of living life as a complete hermit, she opted to go see other people’s talent with small plastic bricks that hurt like a motherfucker when you ran one into your foot. But being dead, did this mean she was immuned now?

As she let her eyes wander up and down the rows of colorful bricked creations, she was caught off guard by a hard thud, which resulted in a Roblox type of noise escaping her mouth. If it hadn’t been for the person who bumped into her, catching her, Mack would have hit the ground, “Hey, it’s no problem. I-” Before she could finish, Mackenzie heard a squeal of recognition, but with the wrong name. It had been a while since anyone had called her Zoey. Her fellow actress on Dropped dawned the same last name, which always made for an interesting conversation after the fact, when she would have to explain the mix-up. “Uh, yeah. That would be my co-star. I’m actually Mackenzie Ross, no relation to Zoey, but I see you’re a fan of the show?” An uneasy smile crept across her features.

—

Thea didn’t watch a lot of TV, she didn’t watch a lot of anything. It was hard to stay interested when it wasn’t animated or filled with enough gore to make her sick; either she liked shows and movies intended for children or things that no child should ever watch. “Oh, um…” She willed recognition to come to her. This was not Zoey Ross, she told herself. This was someone called Mackenzie Ross. And Mackenzie Ross was famous for… Thea didn’t know. She might as well have been talking to a rock and not The Rock but a literal rock. “Oh, are you two sisters?” Thea asked with a smile. “Um, actually, I didn’t like the show. I thought it was kinda…” Thea waved her hand in the air. “Um, like unseasoned chicken.” She paused, flushing. “No offense though! I’m sure you were great in it! Not that I remember who you played—I remember Zoey Ross—but maybe it just wasn’t for me!” Thea’s hands flew around her body, trying to keep up with her rushed words. 

“W-what brings you to the LEGOs?” Thea gulped. “This, um, this Pac-Man is really nice.” She gestured to the large yellow LEGO sculpture beside them. “Um, it’s not done yet, but when they run the contest tomorrow I bet it’ll be a hit! W-what do you think, Ms. Ross-but-not-Zoey?” 

—

Mackenzie had never been so insulted yet entertained in her life. Unseasoned chicken. That was a new one, and as much as she wanted to be upset by the comment, she just couldn’t. Would this person still consider Dropped unseasoned chicken, if she had known that I had died on the set? She pushed the thought from her head. “Uh, no. We’re not related. She was just another person that worked on the show. And you know, not everybody’s gonna be a fan. I’m just not sure I’ve ever heard it be compared to unseasoned chicken before.” She laughed.

Glancing over at the huge life sized Pac-Man set up next to them, she admired the dedication it took to build it, “I think somebody has a lot of talent, and I would hate to make that thing angry if it ever came to life.” It was a LEGO sculpture, and that couldn’t happen right? I mean she knew this town was weird, but still…It was made from plastic. “And you can call me Mack.” She looked back over to the woman who was clearly nervous.

—

“Two people who worked on the show had the same last name and weren’t related?” Thea could imagine the nightmare of it. To ease the trauma she assumed Mack’s had with her last name, she smiled softly. Not that smiling ever eased any trauma, but it was the only thing Thea could offer. “I just mean it’s bland,” Thea elaborated despite the fact an elaboration wasn’t needed. “Like it wasn’t funny. For me. Or good. In my opinion. Or entertaining. To me.” Thea shrugged. “My favorite show is NOVA. Y’know? The science documentary show?” She paused, there was probably a reason she didn’t find anything live-action entertaining unless it was educational or a gore-fest.

Thea’s attention snapped away from Mack as a WAKA burst through the air. Thea stared at the Pac-Man, whose mouth was now closed. Strange. It must have always been closed, now that she thought about it. The sound must have been programmed into the stand; authentic Pac-Man noises. She turned back to Mack. “I don’t think it’ll come to life. that would be weird,” Thea laughed. “What? Would it chase us around and try to crush us under its large lego mouth?” She smiled, shaking her head. “Did you move here to lay-low?” Thea asked. “You couldn’t have picked a more normal town! I’m pretty sure, like, nothing bad happens here.” Just as she said it, something. behind her snapped. 

—

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad considering we mostly went by our first names.” She smiled softly and wanted to keep smiling, until the insults just kept coming. The woman had definitely gotten her point across with the unseasoned chicken comment leaving Mack feeling much like Maddy from Wild ‘N Out. If this woman had said something about the actress putting raisins in her potato salad or liking mayonnaise, she was out. “Uh, yeah. Science is cool. Have you thought about talking to this guy that works at the university? His name is Gael, and he loves science. You know, it might be a little more entertaining…” Mackenzie was gritting her teeth by this point and forced a smile back onto her face.

It had come as a relief when she noticed the woman’s eyes shift to the statue rather than staying focused on Mack and insulting the show she worked so hard on and had literally died on. But Mackenzie hadn’t noticed any odd movements from the statue, since she had been so invested in trying not to slap the science out of Thea. “Yeah, it would, but I feel like stranger things in this town have happened.” The comment about the giant Pac-Man crushing them in its mouth did somewhat worry Mack though. But she couldn’t let the worry of something as silly as that- “Uh…I don’t know your name, since you were more concerned about giving me your honest opinion of my show, but I would move away from the statue if I were you…” Mackenzie motioned towards the Pac-Man that was now hovering in the air off of its stand, as she slowly began to back away.

—

The mention of university made Thea frown. If she hadn’t been bit, she would have graduated this year. Without a cure, without any semblance of control of the wolf, there was no way she could go back to school. She filed the name ‘Gael’ away, regardless, and missed the forced smile and annoyed tone; she was too far gone inside of her head. Thea picked at a loose thread at the end of her sleeve. “Um. Yeah. Maybe. Thanks,” she mumbled. 

“Thea,” she responded, still trapped in the labyrinth of her thoughts. Was it a left to clear them or a right? WAKA. WAKA. No, she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. WAKA. WAKA. What was that about Pac-Man? Man, these sound effects were really loud. Thea turned around, her nose scraping the lip of the LEGO Pac-Man. It WAKA’d once more, pinching her nostrils. “Oh,” she said. “Oh, yeah. You’re right. We should run.” She pulled her nose free and grabbed Mack’s arm, pulling her along just enough until she was sure the actress was running too. Behind them, the Pac-Man shut its mouth with a thunderous WAKA and screeched like a rusted hinge when it opened. The ground shuddered where it carved a line through the earth, hungry for the flesh of two young women. “I don’t think this is supposed to happen!” she called out. 

—

Mackenzie’s eyes grew wide as the giant LEGO creature nibbled on Thea’s nose. Her legs continued to slowly carry her backwards, until she noticed that the woman had finally started moving away from the thing, but before she could really process it all, Mackenzie felt herself being tugged forwards by Thea.

Hearing its loud WAKA booming behind them both, Mack continued to press forward, but the neuropathy in her feet seemed to slow her down. It was a brief nip on the tush that seemed to give her the inspiration she needed to force herself to move faster. And luckily for her, running out of oxygen wouldn’t be an issue. But that thing was HUGE, and if they both didn’t pick up the pace, it was probably going to end in two flattened people and one large Pac-man destroying downtown Wicked’s Rest.

“THEA! Look!” As she continued to move forward, Mackenzie spotted a castle completely made of LEGOs that was actually rather big considering what it was made out of and where it was located, “Maybe we can hide in there!” Without giving it much thought, she turned left and started running towards the drawbridge gate. If they had needed a mote, the Pac-man could certainly lay the groundwork. But Mack’s mind was on the opening that lay just a few hundred feet ahead; no thought given on if this would be a trap in itself!

—

Running out of oxygen was, however, a big issue for Thea, who couldn’t figure out how to breathe while her pulse cleaved through her body, splintering her bones from the sinew. Her feet thumped on the ground and she tried to remember how running was supposed to feel and supposed to happen and where her feet were meant to land and what her arms were meant to do. Her body moved but her mind hadn’t caught up with the logistics. Mack pivoted left and Thea stumbled as she followed, searing her palms on the gravel before she kicked up and bolted after the blonde. Thea wasn’t out-of-shape—cardio exercise was a constant in her life—but she watched Mack run like a movie star: no sweat, no heaving. Well, she supposed, Mack was exactly that. That was so unfair; Thea probably looked like a personal-sized tornado had swept across her body and Mack looked photoshoot ready. Rich people sucked.

Thea pushed herself into the LEGO castle, diving through the threshold like a baseball player hitting home plate. “Close the doors!” she called out over her shoulder. “Close those intricately made LEGO doors!” Really, the craftsmanship was something else; not only was the castle big enough to house two adult sized women, but it seemed to stretch on into more rooms and halls. The walls were adorned with block sconces outfitted with red LEDs. Thea took only a moment to consider how that was wired. “Are we…” Thea gulped. “Are we safe?” She couldn’t hear the hungry yellow monster anymore. 

—

Mackenzie had managed to slip inside, but seeing Thea barreling towards her like a bull during the Running of the Bulls alerted her to sidestepping just in time to not get smacked. But the Pac-Man was still following closely behind, and at the woman’s request, Mack used all of her strength to close the doors just in time before the thing could WAKA them to death.

“That was so fucking close!” The zombie collapsed to the floor in relief, but also because both running and closing well made LEGO doors that were lifesize had been nearly impossible for one person, “And those doors are surprisingly heavy to be made out of just plastic blocks. Geeze!” Mack looked back up at Thea, who seemed winded, “You okay, Bud? You look like shit.” A small smirk slipped across her lips at the enjoyment of finally getting to insult the brunette back; glad they were both safe, but still getting some pleasure. “So what do we do now? Just hangout here, until that thing outside gets bored and moves onto someone else?” She looked towards a window, only to see yellow slowly floating past which made her quickly look away.

—

Thea couldn’t help it; as Mack collapsed on the floor, she peered over her, inspecting her skin. She wasn’t sweating, she wasn’t flushed—what kind of a personal trainer did she have? Thea’s heart hammered in her chest and she strained to hone in on Mack with her erratic hearing—she wasn’t very good with her strange, new senses, mostly the world was a jumble of too loud, too stinky for her—and found that she couldn’t hear anything from the actress. Well, she wasn’t good at picking up heartbeats anyway. Once, she thought she might use her new senses like a lie detector and found herself listening in on the gurgle of intestines instead; bodies made a lot of weird squelching noises she’d rather not focus on. Thea stumbled back with a flush. “I don’t look like shit!” She blinked, gesturing at Mack. “Not all of us can have…uh, whatever you have going on. Like, you look like those girls in the sportswear ads? Like Nike and Adidas and stuff? You know how they’re doing sports but all their hair is tidy and they’re not sweaty or red? That’s you.” She was too exhausted to hide the amazement in her voice.  

Thea pushed herself off the ground and dusted off. She smiled at Mack, holding out a hand to help her up. “Maybe we can check this place out? I kinda want to see what all the rooms look like. It seems like they built a lot of stuff! That’s neat.” Gone, as if it had never existed, was her fear of Pac-Man. Thea was proud of her ability to deny, forget and repress; if Nike made ads for that, she could totally star in them. 

—

A compliment from Thea? Wow! That had surprised Mack, but maybe it was because of the defeat in Thea’s voice from being winded, “You know? I think that’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me since we met. I’ll take it.” Any chance to mess with the woman, she was going to take it after being humiliated by her earlier. “And hey, Thea? I was in a Nike Ad once. I’ll show you the pictures if we ever get out of here.”

Taking Thea’s hand, Mack pulled herself up and followed suit dusting off her pants, “I’m down. Besides, it’s not like I really want to go back outside right now considering you know what is lurking around the building.” She hated to think of that thing chasing them again and chomping down. Mackenzie didn’t know how much more running she could take, despite not being winded. “Whoever constructed this thing must either be a genius or practice magic. Can you imagine the time it took?” She started to move forward taking in every delicate plastic brick that had surrounded them. “How many Legos do you think it took to make this place?” She looked over at Thea.

—

“Thanks! I guess I…wait…” Thea squinted. “What do you mean ‘first nice thing’?” She thought she was being friendly. Still heaving, she searched her pounding brain for memories of their brief conversation. Yes, in there somewhere, she had accidentally insulted her acting talent. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a mediocre actress?” she said, thinking more out loud than talking to Mack. “Not that you are one! I just mean, like, if you were. Hypothetically!” Her hands shot up again, waving wildly in the air. “I don’t want to see you in a Nike ad! You’d be half-naked, probably, and I don’t want to see that. I mean, not that you’re not attractive. I mean—it…” Thea gulped, flipping around and storming down the lego hall. If she physically moved on, then perhaps they could emotionally move on and forget she said anything. 

“There’s no such thing as magic!” Thea called back from over her shoulder. “That’s silly! This is obviously like, hard work and science, or something.” At the question of how many LEGOs were inside the castle, Thea started running calculations in her head. The length of the hallway, and the length of a LEGO, and the height of the room… And then she heard it. 

It was inescapable. 

“Howdy Partner.”

The roof of the castle snapped and pebbles of LEGOs rained down on them. The smiling face of a giant LEGO Sheriff Woody peered down. Thea stopped walking. “Mack,” she said, “I think we should just run out of the park now.” 

—

Mack took pleasure in witty banter with Thea. She couldn’t help but snicker under her breath, and then there it was again; an insult wrapped up in a nice pretty compliment. By now, Mack had just come to accept it. And instead of further carrying on the banter, she let it go as she watched Thea move forward.

This day had certainly turned out much different than she had expected it would, and despite the fact that they were almost eaten by a giant Pac-man, Mackenzie had found herself grateful she had decided to venture out since things had seemed to settle down. But almost as if the Gods of Wicked’s Rest had noticed her getting a little too comfortable with her surroundings, Mack quickly heard the boom “Howdy Partner” only to look up to see a giant Sheriff Woody loom down at them both.

For once, Mack had actually agreed with Thea, and without hesitation, she snatched up her new frienemy’s hand ready to haul ass out the back half of the castle to freedom and safety with the goal of them both living to see another day.

—

As Thea ran, she spared one glance at the giant Pac-man and another for the giant Sheriff Woody and one for Mack, who was still not sweaty. As they moved on from the pack, and the giant legos turned shrunk into the horizon, Thea wondered if after mercilessly insulting Mack, they could still be friends.

[denimbex1986]

'Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy — she the star of “Barbie,” he of “Oppenheimer” — have shared an experience, one unique in film history. On July 21, 2023, their two movies came out, and instead of cannibalizing one another during a time when box office receipts were sluggish, they actually boosted each other, creating the global phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer.”

On paper, the two movies couldn’t be more different. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” produced by Robbie’s company LuckyChap Entertainment, is the story of the world’s most popular doll, who, after going on a journey to recover from an existential crisis, becomes a woman; Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb. What they have in common, though, is that their directors made wholly original films, ones guided by their inventiveness, and it was the innovative spirit of “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” that in turn inspired audiences to be creative and participatory in their fandom for both films. The memes, the double-feature TikToks, the costumes people wore to go out to theaters again and again to experience Barbenheimer — after COVID had nearly destroyed in-person moviegoing — “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” proved joy is still to be had (as well as profits, with the box office for “Barbie” at more than $1.4 billion worldwide, and “Oppenheimer” recently crossing $950 million).

In other words, Robbie, sporting a “Barbie”-inspired pink polka-dot shirt with matching heels, and a darkly clad Murphy have a lot to discuss when they meet for Actors on Actors — a rendezvous during which Murphy professes he now knows what a meme is, after famously claiming ignorance about them in a 2017 interview.

CILLIAN MURPHY: Congratulations on your reasonably successful film. You’re a producer on the movie as well. How did you know a “Barbie” movie would connect with audiences in the manner that it did?

MARGOT ROBBIE: Yeah, 90% of me was certain that this would be a big deal and a massive hit, and 10% of me thought, “Oh, this could go so badly wrong.” It was all about Greta Gerwig. And it was like, “If it wasn’t going to be Greta, then, yeah, this could have been an absolute disaster.”

MURPHY: She was always your first choice?

ROBBIE: I just wasn’t going to let her say no. It was about six years ago we got the property. We got it out of Sony, set it up at Warner Bros., got Mattel’s blessing to let us produce, then went after Greta. Obviously, I didn’t know it was going to be the cultural phenomenon that it ended up being.

MURPHY: When did you realize that?

ROBBIE: It was all the way along. The fact that it’s Greta Gerwig, people are like, “Greta Gerwig and a ‘Barbie’ movie, what?” And then the pictures of Ryan Gosling and me Rollerblading on Venice Beach came out and went even wider than I was expecting. I’d been thinking big for it, and it still turned out bigger than I expected.

But what about you? Did you think so many people were going to watch a movie about the making of the atomic bomb?

MURPHY: No. I don’t think any of us did. Christopher Nolan was always determined that it would be released in the summer as a big tentpole movie. That was always his plan. And he has this superstition around that date, the 21st.

ROBBIE: Do all his movies come out on that date?

MURPHY: In and around the 21st of July — they always come out then.

ROBBIE: It’s a good date. We picked that day too!

MURPHY: Yeah, I know.

ROBBIE: One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects. And he was like, “I think you guys should move your date.” And I was like, “We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.” And he’s like, “We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.” And I was like, “We’re not moving!” I think this is a really great pairing, actually. It’s a perfect double billing, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.”

MURPHY: That was a good instinct.

ROBBIE: Clearly the world agreed. Thank God. The fact that people were going and being like, “Oh, watch ‘Oppenheimer’ first, then ‘Barbie.’” I was like, “See? People like everything.” People are weird.

MURPHY: And they don’t like being told what to do. They will decide, and they will generate the interest themselves.

ROBBIE: I think they were also really excited by the filmmakers. People were itching for the next Chris Nolan film and itching for the next Greta Gerwig film. To get them at the same time was exciting. You’ve done five movies with Christopher Nolan now, right?

MURPHY: This is six, actually.

ROBBIE: So you like the guy? A big fan.

MURPHY: It seems to work. This is the first time playing a proper lead role for him. There’d always been supporting parts over the years — it’s 20 years we’re working together. Emma Thomas, his wife, the producer, she called me because Chris doesn’t have a phone. So she put me on to Chris, and he said in his very understated British way, “I’m making this movie of Oppenheimer — I’d like you to play the part.” I had just finished something; I wasn’t doing anything. I did realize then that it was different than the other jobs I’d done with him, because it was the story of Oppenheimer’s life. And then when he eventually gave me the script, it was written in the first person, which I’d never read before, and so I —

ROBBIE: The script was written in the first person? The big print would be like, “I’m going to put the cup down and walk towards the door”?

MURPHY: Exactly, exactly. Which I’d never read before. And so it was very clear that he wanted it to be truly subjective storytelling. And that did add to the feeling of “Oh, fuck, this is a biggie.”

ROBBIE: Why do you love working with him? And why do you think he loves working with you? I know you’re going to have to maybe be really humble and be like, “I don’t know, why does he like me? I can’t understand.” Take a guess.

MURPHY: With Chris, it’s just the work. He’s not interested in anything else other than the work and the filmmaking. And he’s incredibly focused, and it’s incredibly rigorous.

ROBBIE: When he called you and said, “Movie about Oppenheimer,” were you like, “Gotcha”? Or were you like, “Who’s that? I should go read a book.”

MURPHY: I knew the very basic Wikipedia level. I knew about the Trinity tests, and I knew about the Manhattan Project and then obviously what happened in ’45. But I didn’t know what happened afterwards or anything like that.

ROBBIE: So you read a lot to prep. What else did you do?

MURPHY: Walk around my basement talking to myself.

ROBBIE: Really? I prep like a psychopath as well. Did you have a thing that would get you into him?

MURPHY: Physically, there was loads of pictures of him, and he always stood with his hand on his hip. He was such a slight man, but he always stood with this very kind of jaunty angle. So I nicked that pretty early as a physical thing. And then Chris Nolan kept sending me pictures of David Bowie, like in the Thin White Duke era, with the big voluminous trousers.

And how about you? Such a difficult character. It’s this kind of 20th-century icon, but not a real person. How did you figure it out?

ROBBIE: It was so weird prepping Barbie as a character. All my usual tools didn’t apply for this character. I work with an acting coach, and I work with a dialect coach, and I work with a movement coach, and I read everything, and I watch all the things. I rely on animal work a lot. I was maybe 45 minutes into pretending to be a flamingo or whatever, and I was suddenly like, “It’s not working.”

I went to Greta, like, “Help me. I don’t know where to start with this character.” And she’s like, “OK, what are you scared of?” And I was like, “I don’t want her to seem dumb and ditzy, but she’s also not meant to know anything. She’s meant to be completely naive and ignorant.” And Greta found this episode on “This American Life,” where it was a woman who can’t introspect, who doesn’t have the voice in her head that’s constantly narrating life the way we all do. This woman’s got a Ph.D. and is extremely smart, but just doesn’t have that internal monologue.

MURPHY: Is she happy?

ROBBIE: Yeah, totally.

MURPHY: Is she happier, do you think?

ROBBIE: Oh God, I wondered about that. She kind of thinks about exactly what’s in front of her — a spotlight to what exactly is in front of her at the time.

MURPHY: Well, that’s perfect, right? We should talk about the costumes. So you’re clearly still not sick of pink then?

ROBBIE: No, I’m not done with pink yet. Yeah, the costumes were incredible. I mean, you just can’t have a “Barbie” movie without the color pink. And everyone really got on board with that. I’d make a “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” day. Do you know that reference from “Mean Girls”?

MURPHY: I had forgotten that reference.

ROBBIE: On Wednesdays, they wear pink. And so if you didn’t wear pink on set, you got a fine. And then I’d donate it to charity. It’s always the guys, I feel like, that are like, “Oh, finally I have permission to wear pink and get dressed up!” It would get crazier and crazier until Ryan would be like, “I think I need a mink.” It would just get insane.

In my opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world. There are the people who are obsessed with “Peaky Blinders,” and then there’s the people who haven’t seen “Peaky Blinders.” I obviously sit in the first category, so can we please talk about Tommy fucking Shelby for just one minute? I mean, that was years and years of your life.

MURPHY: Yeah, it’s like 10. That was also a 10-year adventure. We started shooting at the end of 2012.

ROBBIE: Is there going to be a spinoff movie?

MURPHY: I mean, I’m open to the idea. I’ve always thought that if there’s more story to tell …

ROBBIE: Please do it. Please! Obviously, I’ve now revealed that I am a big fan of yours, not just “Peaky Blinders.” I also love your sleep story on the Calm app. But because I’m a fan of yours, I have watched a lot of your things on YouTube, and it’s out there on the internet that you are not that aware of memes and things like that. First of all, is that true? And second of all, if that is true, were you even aware of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, or were you just blissfully unaware because you use a dial-up phone or something?

MURPHY: I have two teenage boys. I do know what a meme is. Now I know that there are memes about me not knowing what a meme is.

ROBBIE: It’s a great meme. It’s like the “Inception” of memes. A meme within a meme.

MURPHY: Genuinely at the time I did not know. But people forget that was a long time ago.

ROBBIE: I might not have known back then what a meme is. I’m not that tech-savvy.

MURPHY: Exactly. And I think children started that stuff, right? Now that it’s become this sort of meme that’s eating itself, I am aware. But it’s mostly because of people either sending it to me or showing me and saying, “Look, you gotta look at this.”

ROBBIE: You see any of the Barbenheimer fan art?

MURPHY: I mean, it was impossible to avoid any of that stuff.

ROBBIE: Weren’t there some great ones? People are so clever. People kept asking me, “So is each marketing department talking to each other?” And I was like, “No, this is the world doing this! This is not a part of the marketing campaign.”

MURPHY: And I think it happened because both movies were good. In fact, that summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema, and I think it just connected in a way that you or I or the studios or anybody could never have predicted.

ROBBIE: You can’t force that or orchestrate that.

MURPHY: No, and it may never happen again.'

[zalrb]

I feel so validated when I come to your blog. My roommate says I hate everything because I’m a contrarian; she doesn’t seem to get that I want to like new shows, movies, and books. Now that I’ve been exposed to better things, the old things don’t cut it anymore.

Like, I’m sorry, Bridgerton is not fun or messy or entertaining. All the characters are insufferable except for Lady Featherington and you cannot conflate racism or classism (in the case of Monterey or Mondale or whatever his name was) and expect me to care about either.

I know you don’t like Austen, but I recently read P&P and I realized that was what Bridgerton ought to have been (minus the sex). There was genuine tension over propriety and finances, I could get invested in the main characters, and it made me laugh at times. Although it’s not something I’d normally have read, I surprisingly did end up enjoying it, and I understood why it’s considered a classic. I just wish Bridgerton would have done the same thing for me. And then expand from Bridgerton to whatever Netflix show is trending lol. I’m not the main character of the world or anything; I just wish there was more new good TV.

Yeah, as someone who doesn't care for Austen, I am definitely aware of the fact that many people try to build upon or recreate Austen, particularly P&P, but don't seem to understand what Austen actually did or they only take one aspect of the novel/her novels while ignoring everything else so it becomes an unenjoyable, superficial knockoff, and when things like that happen, I'm like, I'd rather just read/watch the original thing instead of this watered down mess.

And what people don't seem to get when you don't like the majority of things on TV, it's not a place we like to be. I love television, I love movies (I'm not including books in this because there are always books to read), these are things that inspire me and help with my own original work, I miss when I was enraptured in what I was viewing. I miss when I watched something and it would stay with me and/or I had to make a million vids of it. I wish I could like Bridgerton as much as other people do, I wish I could watch Barbie and go oh yeah this was so good but it's not hitting for me, that's just the way it is, most of current media either bores or frustrates me.

[tododeku-or-bust]

who would you consider your artistic inspirations/muses? (is that the right term? :P)

Hmm. I'll answer who and what. Well, The Weeknd and Lil Nas X are responsible for like half my fics lmao. Whenever Abel drops new music my creativity spikes like mad, I HAVE to write. Specially when it's new albums. Music really does encourage me to write, because I imagine while I listen.

Um, really any cute picture inspires me to draw. Philia is like my lil barbie doll; soon as something pops up "oh she'd be so CUTE" and then it's on the art list. Same thing happens with me and Patroclus fr. So yeah, looking at potential references spark ideas.

Sometimes a concept from a movie can do it too. Like I was watching the John Wicks (fun movies, well made, abysmal writing) and I was really attracted to the idea of The Continental. The concept made it into my recent self indulgent fic.

[lisascumslut78]

would you tell me about your wips 👀 if i looked at you like this 👀 until you told me 👀

OKAY!! finally had time and energy to do this i'm sorry 😭

okay so. most of these are like. darna/darlentina/reginarda and a few odd ones (surprisingly, almost all this is filipino. huh.) but anyway.

let's get the darna/darlentina/reginarda wips out first!!

5+1 things darlentina or five times narda saves regina and one time she doesn't.

this is my baby. the very first fic i've written for this fandom and it's very very special to me lsdkjfsld. i add to it little little by little every once in a while but i dont think it's nowhere near finished (sorry!!) it's basically a rewrite of the whole show so, you know, it's going to be a big one lmfaooo. i'm going to take what i want from canon and throw the rest in the trash. still deciding if i want it chapter by chapter or just one big oneshot thing. hm.

fake dating au

yeah fake dating. although not in the way you'd expect. regina thinks narda and darna are dating. so to keep regina off her back and from finding out she's both, narda thought it'd be a great idea to throw off regina by letting her think she's dating the superhero. this was funnier in my head. this one's a very recent wip, had the thought while in the middle of class one day lmfao

woman of her dreams (yeah no im not good with this)

okay so. basically regina keeps dreaming about this girl since like. she was a child. up until adulthood she keeps dreaming about her. she never has a name, only vague flashes of her facial features, her hands, her smile etc. semi-canon. narda is still half alien, but they dont meet the same. until they do meet and regina's so shocked she falls off the balcony.

gala smut

basically what the title says lkdjflfdfg. i remember working on this when the first few weeks the show was airing and like i was running on pure emotion that time. what a time indeed. well anyway. they fuck in a bathroom. so yea.

a scene rewrite

there was just this really really annoying scene in the show that i just. had to fix ya know? like. girl. she would not say that. so yeah.

friends with benefits au

was once again driven by pure emotion with this. bc like. that would be so so good. it'd be so angsty and like. i haven't really read anything like it in the fandom before so!!

regina almost dies

yeah so if you haven't seen the show regina dies (but only briefly) and like. i wanted to fix that because of how stupid they set it up like. GIRL. she was too far from that tree to pierce her oh my god???

ALRIGHT. i think i'm done with the reginarda wips. on to some other ones i have :D

i'm just going to list some of them off since i don't really remember where i wanted them to go lmfao.

chapter two of my lilanette fwb

lilanette childhood friends au

lilanette secretly friends au

a barbie oneshot

needifer x mean girls au

okay. with this one, my sister and i suddenly had a brain fart thinking what if jennifer survived and needy moved to chicago or something and attended northshore. fucking insane i know. it was supposed to be a collab thing but my sister didn't really want to anymore so i'm mostly the one working on it.

rookie exes au

okay so. rookie is a filipino movie about the new kid who doesn't play volleyball (she only plays basketball), joins the volleyball team, and falls in love with the team captain. the captain dislikes her at first but, you know, her swagless looks and cringe fail autistic personality eventually captivates her. you know, basic shit.

it's a very... feel good movie i would say. it didn't really resonate with me as much as i was hoping it would but, it's a good watch, i think.

i wanted to imagine them not too far into the future but they're not together. (though, the movie leaves us with an ambiguous ending regarding their relationship, first off) i just love exes aus. ough. oh yeah it's sapphic.

this is entirely too long omfg. i doubt it'll be an interest to anyone but maybe a couple of people but!!! yeah i kind of wanted to share this too. kinda.

[tonguetyd]

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR THE TAGS @a-s-levynn and @channelsoph !!! May your beds be cozy and your kitchens smell like fresh baked bread.

last song/album:

song was Intergalactic Planetary by Beastie Boys, album was Sundowning by Sleep Token (tho I am about to put on XOXO by The Maine while I do some room cleaning/laundry)

favorite color:

purple. and also teal (but like the blue end of teal). and also green. she's not good at decisions.

sweet, spicy or savory:

sweet!

last tv show:

fboy island. because it is the greatest shitty reality dating show ever, and i love it

last film:

uhhhhhhh...Barbie...???? it's been a very long time tbh since i watched a movie. i may have watched Princess Bride slightly more recently but even still it was months and months ago

last thing you googled:

maknae meaning (hi @littlequeenofthemangoes 's tags lmao)

relationship status:

beyonce's single ladies hand dance whoa oh oh

current obsession:

besides the band thing? im assuming you mean besides the band thing cuz that's just an ongoing...yeah. anyway i've found myself on Tudor History tiktok a lot over the last year or two, and that's always a fun rabbit hole to fall into. FUCK THE HENRYS! THE BOTH OF THEM! BUT NUMBER 8 IN PARTICULAR! WHAT A TERRIBLE MAN!!! i may have cried at the queen's gate when i was in london last april because of how poorly women in history have been continuously treated, im normal i swear.

I'm 99.9% sure I've seen all my mutuals who I would tag in this have already been tagged by other people cuz i am laaaaaate to the game, but if you're like "hey i would like to do this and nobody's tagged me" consider yourself that .1% and consider this me tagging you :)

[elizabeth-mitchells]

for the film buff asks: 4 & 27 💕

thank you for asking!! 💖

oh god sudden panic realizing i do not have good answers. everyone look away pls

4. Top 5 directors?

Mike Flanagan, Guillermo del Toro (these two i'm confident in tho), Celine Sciamma, James Wan (the first 2 conjuring and 2 insidious movies? yeah), Great Gerwig (yeah i'm affected by rewatching barbie)

27. Top 5 actors?

like... men? :( let me pick random ones from my favorite movies or recent ones i've watched... Edgar Ramirez (just for being venezuelan he gets #1), Patrick Wilson (i just watched insidious 5 :D), oh Pedro Pascal (sure why not), Mason Gooding (idk i think he's fun in scream), uhhhh i recently rewatched bop so Ewan McGregor?

[positivelybeastly]

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑!

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑(𝐒): I would say . . . hunter green. Yeah, I know, it's probably a surprise that it's not a shade of blue, but I find green to be just immensely relaxing and soothing to look at.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑(𝐒): Sour. I like lemon sorbet, I like lime cordial, I like sour candies, I like sour. I also enjoy anything with a shit ton of garlic and cheese on it, because of course I damn well do. Also fortune cookies.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂: Oh boy. Uhhh, hmm. I actually really dig movie and game soundtracks? Like, I adore James Horner's score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, I love the energy behind Resident Evil 2 Remake's escape music, I feel soothed by pretty much any Studio Ghibli soundtrack. If I had to pick a more conventional genre, I suppose classic rock/prog rock or new wave?

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄(𝐒): Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Skyfall, Airplane!, Moulin Rouge!, Princess Mononoke, the 90s Gamera trilogy, Moonlight.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Doctor Who (specifically the revival series 1-4), Sharpe starring Sean Bean, Chernobyl, Andor.

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆: "The Fear," by Lily Allen. Also been vibing to "Charmless Man," by Blur, "Level of Concern," by twenty one pilots, "Dead Man's Party," by Oingo Boingo, and "Touch-Tone Telephone," by Lemon Demon.

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: Uhh, I'm guessing this means last thing I finished? My boyfriend and I just finished Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. It was incredible. Episode 9 is a musical. I know all the words now.

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄: Last thing I would've seen was the Barbie movie in cinemas. It was incredible. I cried. I also recently rewatched GoldenEye, because it's basically my comfort movie.

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆: I don't tend to read a ton of books, honestly (yeah, I know, Hank would be ashamed), but I think the last thing I was actively reading was an unofficial of the Resident Evil series. If you count comic books, I'm currently reading the classic J.M. DeMatteis run of The Defenders.

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆: The 90s Spider-Man show, on and off. I'm also probably going to carve out some time to watch season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks in a binge, and also the final new Doctor Who 60th anniversary special thing. Wild Blue Yonder was incredible.

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍: Staying alive? Christmas, mostly. I have a lot of shopping to do and not a ton of money with which to do it. I'm also on-again, off-again working on my Irredeemable Beast fic, but I've kinda stalled on it a little bit. Maybe I just need Ben Percy to release another affront to my very being to give me some new energy to go off of.

tagged by: @themckaytriarchy

tagging: Anyone who would like to do it. :)

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi there! Love your blog 💕 How and when did you get into Jake? What was your first film with him? The film that made you become a fan? Thanks!☺️

hiiiii! thank you, i'm happy to know you enjoy it! oh my god, you're giving me another opportunity to ramble? you're too generous! 🥰❤️ short answer: i started mostly around 2019 and the movie that did it for me is demolition. long answer? this novel i wrote below!

my first jake movie had to be prince of persia although i have no memory of watching it as a kid. i just know i did because my dad played the video game and this sounds like a movie he'd watch too. when prisoners came out on dvd in 2013, i asked my parents to rent the movie because i liked hugh jackman as wolverine. if wolverine is funny, that means prisoners will be funny too, right? WRONG. i was so wrong. i spent almost the entire movie hidden under a blanket, i remember the stares my parents gave me. i was so embarrassed. but i also remember that one good looking man on the screen, wink wink (or well, blink blink) the only jake movies i watched after that were love & other drugs and brokeback mountain. both made me cry, so i loved them. i would stay up late (back in the day when i thought midnight was late) and watch them on television. other than that, my life used to be a sad dark lonely gyllenvoid.

ah, the glorious day when i saw the poster for spider-man far from home. i took a photo, i made sure to crop the guy with the cape, i didn't care for him. pff. i wanted spider-man! i kept telling myself that there was this one dude in the trailer that reminded me of someone, but i couldn't replace him. until i connected the dots!!! that hello quentin / yeah hi honey scene had me shaking in my seat. i came home, i tried googling his name in five different spellings until i got it right. i asked a friend at the time if she knew about jake because i had this new crush on him and she was like "this crush isn't new, you just forgot he existed" (i was juggling with other famous hot men who are double my age, i was busy). so apparently i was into him and i didn't even know about it! anyway! i started looking through jake's tag for gifs and photos, then for fics, then i thought it'd be nice to make a blog to appreciate and reblog the fics (this is when i became a fan of nat and maria from afar! and now they're my friends and i love them so much). a few months after that, i was like sure why not maybe i can write my own stories too. i made this blog at the end of 2019 and here i am, five years later!!! my obsession for jake is stronger than ever.

i stuck to mysterio and jake fics for a while, his filmography was intimidating and it lacked in barbie movies so i was not THAT motivated to get through it at first. i kept an eye on movies that played on television for something he could be in and i found one: enemy. i know jake recently suggested enemy as one of the first movies of his to start with but i could not disagree more. the spiders? yeah no. enemy was my enemy. i saw that it played on a different channel, in english this time, so i gave it a shot. i was intrigued... i went to his wikipedia page and picked one of the shortest movies in his register: demolition. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i loved demolition so much that i watched it twice in the same evening. demolition is the movie that got me hooked. i couldn't understand how underrated it used to be, people barely brought it up! it almost made me forget the spider debacle of enemy, i just wanted to see more of jake.

i'm almost through with his entire filmography now! it's taken me a long time, but i'm proud of myself for watching so many movies that are out of my usual taste. it made me discover so many sides of jake's talent and so many characters that live rent free in my mind. if i could go back in time, i would still choose demolition as the great leap into the jake gyllenhaal multiverse. you didn't ask for all this rambling but shhhh details. i'm curious to know your answer to this question too!!! thank you again, anon! 💖💖💖

[mlem-wooloowoo]

I don't usually do tag games and I have a huge backlog I will never have the energy to work through (sorry friends :c)

BUT!

In the light of recent events (me going back to Italy, starting my first full-time job and hopefully graduating soon) I understood I need to catch up with friends so here we go

Thank you @bright-thehawksflight for the tag :D It's nice to hear from you <3

last song: a pyrotechnical brass cover of "Gli occhi miei" by my favorite brass band ever, Mnozil Brass. The original song was sung by Dino (yeah, for real) in the year 1968. Fun fact: this song was translated into English with the title "Help Yourself". link to the cover (the best part is arguably that it does not have lyrics).

last film: Barbie, at the cinema! (oh my god how long ago was that. My life has been pretty busy lately). I never have the energy to watch movies at home... I need to make time for them and go to the cinema! I was pretty curious about Oppenheimer but it was a 3h movie with no break so I gave up.

currently watching: nothing, as usual, even though I got curious about Il Giovane Montalbano and watched a few episodes on TV with my mother. I think Good Omens is probably interesting but I don't think I will ever watch it by myself, I'm waiting for friends to egg me on and do a rewatch with me :D

current obsessions: ahem... probably the Netherlands... uhhh I can't stop thinking about that country for one second even though I came back like 2 weeks ago. I kept on biking everywhere, I'm trying to find sambal, sesame oil, ketjap manis and gerookte tofu, I broke my streak on Duolingo but I plan on buying a proper texbook. I also want accessible and modern public transport, a generally progressive, queer-friendly and kink-neutral public opinion, clouds in the sky, less pollution and wind. And I will miss the linzenburgers by Jumbo. The good part is that now I'm near my friends and family now but it's so so hard for me to let go; I'm still shocked I have lived in 2023 for six months and now I'm back in 1993.

Tagging @caffeinateddiscoverer, @amongthesebarrencrags, @math-is-just-tautology, @eosphorusss, @lestogrifoni and @ley-med (only if you want to! It feels pretty awkward to tag people when I'm famous for never doing tag games... sorry Cat ^^")