#some of the line deliveries in thus show are genuinely so funny

[vibrantvenus]

No one told me molly was this funny. I'm gonna kill you all.

"no the dogs aren't gonna-ᵃʳᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵒᵍˢ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵈᶦᵉ"

[dianapana]

SH Day 9 – Never Have I Ever

@sasuhinamonth

Rated T, Modern AU, OOC

Oof , for this one ideas just wouldn't come to me, so once again I looked through older stories I never finished and found this one which I thought fit to a certain degree. I didn’t really wanna go the normal route of the game itself, so I just interpreted the prompt as a new experience. I hope you enjoy, ~Love, Dia

It wasn’t uncommon for people to randomly sit down at his table, especially if those people were girls. They’d stumble onto the seat and act like it was all an accident, like they didn’t see him and thought the table was empty, or that they tripped and ‘landed’ on the seat. Other times they’d ask if they could sit because there were no free tables anymore, granted this last excuse happened to be true once or twice, but usually, it was just a lie and the two would sit in awkward silence for a few moments staring at each other with a number of empty seats all around.

However, the person sitting across from him was a girl he saw around the diner quite often, urgency written all over her face. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, but the situation didn’t faze him at all, thus he continued eating, putting 2 French fries in his mouth and slowly chewing, waiting for her to state her reason and purpose.

“I need you to pretend we’re here together” Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. “My ex just walked in and I’m not in the mood to deal with him. If I’m here with someone, in this case you, he’ll either leave me alone or he’ll at least leave sooner.” His eyes moved to a guy that was just walking to the counter still obvious to his ex-girlfriend. “Please…” her eyes were begging him to help.

Sasuke sighed and pushed his milkshake her way. “It’d be strange if we were here together and I was the only one that had ordered something” Her pale eyes lit up like Christmas trees.

“Thank you so much. I’m Hinata by the way” She gave him a genuine smile. He nodded her way.

“Sasuke. I’d shake your hand but that would look strange since we’re supposed to be here together.”

For a second, silence fell over their table but Hinata started giggling at what he just said, her laugh could have also been intertwined with nervous laughter for it was a little too loud for Sasuke’s own liking, either way, he couldn’t help but smirk her. Naruto would freak if he saw Sasuke talking to a stranger, a girl no less, and not only that, but he was actually putting in the effort to help her and maintain a conversation. He had never willingly had a conversation with a stranger before.

Sadly Hinata’ sudden laughing fit turned the attention of a white-haired guy, also known in Sasuke’s head as the girl’s ex, to them. The said guy looked their way, moment in which Sasuke noticed the myriad of feelings showing onto his expression, he seemed to go from hopeful to confused to slightly irritated and then settle for putting on a fake smile and strolling their way.

“Hinata, long time no see, how are you?” The ex-boyfriend looked at her and gave Sasuke a not-so-subtle glare. He took in their table before raising an eyebrow and immediately asking another question, essentially cutting Hinata off before she could answer his first question. “Matcha milkshake? I thought you hated those”

“Oh, I used to yea, but I think they changed the receipt here. I tasted one sip from when Sasuke ordered one last time and it was pretty good, so today I wanted to see for myself” She said smoothly and took a big sip of her, well…his milkshake. “And I’ve been pretty good. How about yourself?” She smiled way too sweetly at him.

“Uh…can’t complain” He took another second to examine them again. “Well, I was actually thinking maybe we can get together and have dinner sometime next week?”

“Dude, you don’t ask out a girl when she’s already out with another guy, that’s just fucking messed up” Sasuke said, without actually meaning to his voice got deeper and he glared at the ‘ex-boyfriend’. He didn’t care that he and Hinata weren’t there together for real, it’s a universal rule you don’t ask out a girl if she’s there with a date, that’s just a douchey move.

Hinata was grinning at him from behind her hand, her eyes glittering with amusement. Sasuke had to admit something to himself, the strange girl was pretty, but she was even more beautiful while she smiled.

“Chill dude. I didn’t think this was a date” he said raising his hands as if trying to say he meant no harm. “I mean who the fuck brings a date at this shitty diner” He whispered under his breath, but both Hinata and Sasuke heard him and their moods turned pretty dark. Sasuke’s instinct was the punch the guy’s lights out, another new feeling he hadn’t experienced, at least not because of a girl. He is usually in control of his emotions and rarely loses his cool.

“Sasuke wanted to go have a sweet picnic in the park near my house, which was so thoughtful and sweet, but sadly the weather didn’t agree with him because it started raining. That’s when I remembered how I wanted to taste the milkshake, so I proposed we came here to wait for the rain to stop.” Sasuke had to admit, her lying skills were top-notch, her story had a natural flow to it, she composed a strong and believable narrative with pretty much no holes, her delivery too added to its credibility, fot she spoke with such ease. Hinata reached for his hand that was on the table and squeezed it while spreading her web of lies. Sasuke noticed the ex-boyf rolling his eyes, and a part of him felt utter satisfaction from the jerk’s annoyance.

“Whatever. I gotta bounce anyway. See you around” He turned and started walking out the diner without waiting for a reply. Sasuke snorted when he noticed that the ex didn’t even purchase anything. He was lost in his own world of trash-talking the guy but was got distracted by the petite girl in front of him that whispered not so quietly “I fucking hope not.”

“Well, that was fun.” He smirked at her. “Let me guess, bad break-up?” Hinata sighed and ran both hands over her face.

“The worst. It was a set up and we went on a few dates which were fine I guess, but I just didn’t really want a relationship at the time, or at least not with him. Either way, the break-up itself took like 3 hours cuz he just wouldn’t accept it.” She took another sip of his milkshake and gaged. “Oh god, I forgot how awful this tasted.” She said more to herself, it didn’t take her a full second to turn beet-red.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry this is yours. I d-didn’t mean to drink from it, it just happened. Let me buy you a new one” She got onto her feet but Sasuke grabbed her wrist and forced her to sit back down.

“Don’t worry about it. You barely drank any”

Had he been in his right mind he’d tell the girl to buy him extra fries too for the trouble and then he’d tell her to scramble. But for some reason or another, he didn’t want her to leave just yet. He pulled the glass back to him and drank from it just to prove to her everything was fine.

“I don’t understand how you can drink that. It’s not even sweet” Her nose wrinkled in disgust, Sasuke didn’t throw the world ‘cute’ around easily but she looked adorable.

“I hate sweets. So, this is perfect” Her jaw dropped, she looked like he had just said he hated puppies and his mother. Hinata blinked a few times, closed her mouth and opened it to say something, closed it back again. She looked genuinely confused, like someone that hated sweets wasn’t meant to exist.

“I-I don’t understand. How can you hate sweets? T-They make the world a better place. Don’t tell me that after a shitty day you don’t go home to eat a gallon of ice cream with a dozen of cookies because I will not believe you”

Now it was his turn to gag just thinking about the amount of sugar in the ‘snack’ she described. His reaction repulsed her.

“Oh wow. I’m perplexed. I had no idea people like you existed”

The fact that she said it with straight face made him believe she honestly didn’t think that what he said could be true, which for some reason he found extremely funny.

“Huh, you learn something every day.” She said with a smile, it seemed she had gotten over her confusion and found the whole conversation quite as amusing as he did.

A waitress came over to take Sasuke’s now empty milkshake glass.

“Would you like anything else?”

“Could you please bring me a veggie burger and a blueberry lemonade? And some fries too” She ordered and it relieved him that she did, he hadn’t had a lunch companion besides Naruto in a while.

“I’d also like some fries and another matcha milkshake”

“I’ll be right back,” The older woman said and left right away. When he turned back to the girl before him, she was staring at him with a small smile on her lips so he raised an eyebrow at her.

“I was sure you’d tell me to leave, or tell the waiter you’d like the bill and left yourself.” She put both of her hands on the table and played with her bracelet. “I’ve seen you around the diner. You’re not the…most welcoming face here and I’ve also saw you get up and leave on multiple occasions when someone sat at your table”

Her cheeks were a shade or two darker and she didn’t look at him but rather looked at her fidgeting hands. She was embarrassed for admitting she noticed him way before this encounter, she was nervous that she had crossed a line. What she said was true, he knew he wasn’t the nicest person but he did genuinely enjoy her presence, also he’d been in a number of situations where he would have liked someone to pretend to be there with him so he’d escape an acquaintance or a fangirl. Plus, the very same day Naruto told him he should do an act of ‘kindness’ a day or his karma would turn bad. He didn’t believe in the nonsense his blonde friend talked about, but when she sat down she looked in so much distress even he didn’t have the heart to tell her to leave.

“You’re right, But, you looked frightened, I’m not heartless,” He said in a neutral voice and Hinata blushed even redder. His lips twitched upward. Where did her confidence and acting skills go?

“I-I-I didn’t mean you are heartless…just…umm, uh” she was at a loss of words.

“It’s fine. You didn’t offend me” Hinata looked up at him relived.

“I didn’t? Oh, that’s really good, because I didn’t mean anything rude by what I said” her shoulders relaxed and her blush faded, not completely she was still a bit flushed but not quite as red as before.

“Since you knew there was a chance, I’d leave why did you sit here?”

Her smile softened a little. “Have you ever seen a person and had the urge to talk to them? For them to be your friend? I don’t mean to sound creepy, but every time I saw you here, I always wanted to talk to you, I just never had the courage. I guess the situation gave me the opportunity to do so. And I’m quite glad because, I don’t know about you, but I’m having a pretty good time talking to you” her cheeks flared even redder with each confession, for some reason admitting her thoughts in front of him was embarrassing. “Oh, just so you know, I’ve never done this before. I just had a pretty bad day and didn’t want it to get worse by having to be in his company for long.”

Their talk continued for a while longer until finally, their food arrived. The older waitress placed their orders on the table.

“There you go. Enjoy your food”

“Thank you” Hinata nodded at the waitress with a smile.

“I have one more question.” Sasuke said as Hinata took a sip of her lemonade, but gestured with her hand for him to go on. “What happened? When he was here you were a very smooth talker, but when you thought you offended me you seemed to be drowning in your own words”

Her blush came back and Sasuke decided he quite liked how she looked with it. She played with the tips of her hair, rolling it onto her finger. “W-when I was little, I was extremely shy, I couldn’t even look at strangers, my parents entered me in acting classes in hopes that I’d get over it. It didn’t really go as planned. I’m a lot better now, obviously but I still get anxious easily. Even so the acting classes did help me, when I’m in a crisis I seem to calm down and I’m able to collect my thoughts” She looked a bit over his shoulder in deep thought. “It’s like a defence mechanism but it doesn’t always work. Case in point when I o-offended you, which I’m sorry about again”

“I see…also you didn’t offend me, I told you this before. You only stated your opinion, which was true by the way”

She smiled at him once more and they started eating, it wasn’t complete silence, they made small talk asked about normal things, hobbies, friends, school and all that. Once they were finished and Sasuke asked for the bill since it was getting pretty dark and the rain finally stopped, he noticed her playing with the bracelet again.

“Something wrong?”

“Huh?” she looked up at him confused.

“You were fidgeting your hands like you did before when you were nervous. Is something bothering you?”

Hinata opened her mouth. They had spent about 2 or 3 hours together and he was able to pick up some of her habits already. He did seem like the type of person that paid attention, he was quiet but observing. Without meaning to she associated him with one of those old people from the park that sit on a bench and watch everyone pass by, like they don’t belong to this world, they just witness it, they are watchers that see the smallest details.

He didn’t know what she was thinking about, but her smile was beautifully tragic, she seemed sad, or at least contemplative.

“I was just thinking how much I enjoyed our…lunch? Dinner? And was wondering how awkward it would be to…a-ask for your number m-maybe?”

He also liked when she stuttered a little. “I don’t see why not. I enjoyed myself as well”

If only Naruto saw him give his number to a girl, the blonde would never let this slide, which was also why he’d never tell his blonde best friend about the petite blue-haired girl that made his ordinary day a little bit extraordinary, she proved that sometimes doing things you’ve never done can have a good end result, in this case talking to a stranger and pretending to date led to a pleasant evening and hopefully a friend and maybe more.

[iamanartichoke]

Last night I ventured into the plain old #loki tag for the first time in forever, and of course it was filled with all the trailer reactions, etc, but one thing I kinda zeroed in on was how that “I’d never do it again” clip is being so positively received - by which, I mean that the majority of people seem to genuinely think it’s absolutely hilarious and even looking at it from an objective standpoint, I don’t see why it’s funny? 

Like, yes - the “joke” is that Mobius calls Loki out on Loki “betraying” people all the time (not even going to touch how Untrue that is) and Loki is offended. It’s not that I don’t think it’s funny bc I don’t “get the joke.” It’s just that I don’t think anything about the setup of the joke or the delivery of the line is particularly amusing. Certainly not “the height of comedy” and “LMAO” funny. 

Even if I agreed that Loki had betrayed everyone (thus giving the joke merit), I don’t think the joke landed where it intended to land. 3/10, nice effort, I see what you were going for, but it didn’t quite work, guys, sorry. That’s my reaction regardless of the meta (or wank, depending on your pov) of whether or not Mobius’s line is even valid. 

Now, Once Upon a Time pretty quickly devolved into an overall dumpster fire after season 2ish, but there were genuinely good arcs/moments throughout it (I am apparently the only one on the planet who really enjoyed the Frozen storyline), but season 1 was the pinnacle of that show’s run. And Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin was a huge part of what kept it reasonably decent for several seasons. I have a ton of respect for Robert Carlyle as an actor in general; he’s one of the greats. Always gives 110% to his roles. Would consider him and Tom to be actors of the same caliber. 

And I just keep thinking of this moment in Season 1 where Rumple shows up to Belle’s castle and there’s a whole standoff and someone is like, “He [Rumple] is untrustworthy, evil, etc” (I don’t remember the actual line) and Rumple is like, 

^^ I think that’s funny as fuck. 

The acting choice here is like the perfect balance of “subtle” and “visibly (amusingly) offended.” It’s meant to make you laugh for a few seconds and then continue on. And it’s in-character, bc both the audience and the characters know Rumple is full of it, that he’s kinda gleefully being a villain at this point, and so his being “offended” here is funny on an ironic level of like, “Well, I never!” while knowing full well that the mistrust is deserved. 

And I could go into a whole other level of how Rumple isn’t really evil, either, and actually he has a ton in common with Loki as a character, now that I think about it (morally grey, complex, tragic background, etc) - but, the point is, the combination of the narrative (”Rumple’s a villain, he’s being called out on his villainy, and he’s amused by it”) and the subltety of the reaction (”Wow, it’s so rude of you to be 100% correct about my moral character) makes this a solid joke. 10/10, would LOL again, etc. 

Contrastingly, the first part of what makes this similar scene in the Loki trailer kinda cringey is that first of all, there’s some kind of cognitive dissonance overall in Loki’s arc, wherein he’s done bad things and people keep framing him as the villain, but then when he’s called out on being the villain, it’s always for things he didn’t actually do. So the context of the joke is a little murky. But then, second of all, his reaction veers away from the subtle and right into the very in-your-face “How dare you imply I’d do something that I’m not even sure I have a history of doing, obviously I’d never do that again!” 

If he (Tom, that is) had delivered the line a little less like the class clown and a little more like Rumplestiltskin, I’d go with it. If his response had been something like a totally dry, “Um, that was one time” or something, I’d go with it. If his facial expression had given us any insight into his genuine reaction to the comment, I’d go with it.

^^ I genuinely can’t tell if he’s offended over being called out, offended bc he hasn’t stabbed people in the back, both, neither? Besides “LMAO Loki you little shit,” how is the audience supposed to interpret this? 

If someone who thought this joke was great would like to explain what I’m missing here to me, I’d be glad to hear it. I do want to reiterate that I get the idea of the joke, but please feel free to explain to me how it successfully landed for you and what it is I’m missing. 

Hi, my name is Charlotte and I like to write hundreds of words analyzing a three-second joke because that is my idea of a good time, nice to meet you. 

[softly-savage-mint-yoongi]

Allotrope

Genre: Idolverse Pairing: Kim Junmyeon (Suho) x reader Warnings: one night stand smut? It gets angsty and fluffy and more smutty as the plot continues. Chapter 1 Words: 9k.

The first time you met him, you knew who he was.

Or rather, you thought you knew.

You knew him as a leader of a group of younger brothers. A teller of Dad Jokes and generous giver to his members. A man who knew just how devastatingly handsome he was but somehow, didn’t let it go to his head.

You knew him only as Suho, not Kim Junmyeon. He told you as much during your first conversation.

You tried to prove him wrong. He wanted to hope you were right.

A typical Friday night. Where most might consider the hour ‘late’, you thrived. Nearly eleven thirty as your feet worked quickly and gracefully, weaving between other staff members. Friday nights had a love hate relationship with you.

You loved them because it was the easiest night to make bank, with the wealthy coming out of the woodwork to perch themselves daintily at the best restaurants in the city. You made good money working here any night, but you could easily walk away with a few hundred more on Fridays. Especially during the holidays.

You hated them because with the wealthy came the pompous, and you hated their attitudes. Too entitled to care how busy you are with your life and assuming that just because you work in a restaurant, you’re never going to amount to anything. The degree you’re so busy finishing when you’re not waiting tables will mean nothing.

If they weren’t pompous, they were egotistical. Men and women, all too giving with attention and cheesy, whispered promises of a good time that made you swallow bile and cringe. They paid well, but the money always felt gross.

As a veteran, having worked this gig the entire duration of your college career thus far, the celebrities didn’t phase you anymore. You were not here for them.

The giddy excitement of greenhorn servers working high profile tables is what set them sinking before they knew it. It went to their head. Not for you. It was dull enough that you simply did the job. That isn’t to say you didn’t generally enjoy the atmosphere when you served someone famous that was a decent human being. Sometimes they would tell you how much they enjoyed you treating them like they weren’t famous, too.

They appreciated how real you were, and you appreciated that they said so. You always tried to see that there is more to people than what they showed on the surface.

Why tonight was any different wasn’t something you had been expecting. When your manager came to you about a group of idols coming to dine in thirty minutes, nothing was nothing new. It wasn’t unusual for larger groups to ask for a private space, which your restaurant could certainly accommodate.

The time of their arrival was just the same as every other. You had hosted and served many groups over the years, but couldn’t ever really recall serving EXO. Perhaps, if they had dined here at all, it was while you were away.

With a fellow veteran and your closest friend, you greeted them. Easily, they appeared tired but happy, wearing comfortable oversized sweatshirts and athletic pants. Various hats or none at all adorned their heads, and their masks were removed once they finally settled into their seats.

Their manager sounded kind, apologizing in advance for any trouble the rowdy men may cause prior to taking his seat at the staff table in the room. You assured it was no trouble at all and got to work.

As someone heavily influenced by music, you knew who they were. You might even say you were a fan, but not die hard. Being a die hard fan lost its glimmer when you’ve been disappointed often enough in how little humanity is left in too high a percentage of people with just as much money and power as them.

So why did this feel different? Not unpleasant, but a persistent buzz in the back of your head making you pay more attention to them. Their leader, stage named Suho, was lounging at one corner of the table, fingers tapping lazily at his temple while he watched his younger brothers taking jibes at one another with a smile so fond it made you look twice.

He didn’t seem to notice and you carried on, bringing their copious drinks and appetizers. The largest one, Chanyeol alone seemed to devour an entire plate of wings before asking you politely for another with stars in his eyes.

When their meals arrived, Junmyeon looked up to your face with a phrase of polite thanks on his tongue, but it seemed to die as his brows rose and then his forehead creased.

You caught the way Sehun snickered beside him. Something funny you weren’t attuned to. Fearing embarrassment, you ignored them, briskly completing the delivery of their meals.

Taking Soohyun, your partner, by the arm, you turned away.

“Is there something on my face? In my teeth?”

He frowned, brow furrowing deeply as he leaned around to look at your face more critically, inspecting further when you showed him your pearly whites.

“No.”

“Oh.” The air was pregnant with words you didn’t say.

He laughed a bit at your response, “Why are you frowning suddenly?”

You huffed, tapping the end of your pen against your lips, “Just confused. Junmyeon acted like there was something on my face when I set his food down. Sehun laughed, too.”

“Y/N.” he said sternly.

You didn’t bother to look at him, instead losing yourself in your thoughts and absentmindedly checking your watch.

“Hey.” he said again, gently shoving his elbow into your arm and laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Don’t hit me, okay?”

Rolling your eyes, you placed you hands on your hips and raised a brow at him.

He sighed in defeat, “I don’t think he expected someone so pretty.”

The sound of your garbled revolt at his pure and utter bullshit was loud enough to make one or two pairs of smokey eyes flick toward you curiously. The two more observant of the group, Minseok and Kyungsoo, turned their eyes back to their meals after briefly meeting yours to confirm nothing was wrong.

“I’m serious, Y/N! You’re very pretty, almost too pretty.” Soohyun said.

He deserved the playful punch to his ribs, “Thanks for the backhanded compliment.”

The older man only continued laughing. Having your answer that it was in fact, not you, approaching the table again was normal.

You took a second Soju order for Chanyeol and Baekhyun, but a cool finger stopped you before you could leave. Normally, you would feel upset that someone physically touched you without asking. Something about the gentle touch sent a shock up your arm. Something warm and light and peaceful and not gross at all.

“Um, excuse me.”

You whirled, finding the man who had lost his words earlier staring up at you kindly.

“What can I get for you Mr. Kim?” you asked politely, pen at the ready against your leather notepad. You put on your best air of nonchalance.

He paused briefly, “You know who I am?” he inquired.

You nodded, “You’re Kim Junmyeon.”

Simple, was the way you said it. As if that were the truth and the only truth that mattered to him. The stare he fixed you with was unusual, and you couldn’t place the intent of its depth.

He recovered, dropping the intensity and falling into his charm, “Don’t you mean to say Suho?”

You were not here to take the bait, but you took it anyway. Something in his smile told you he was genuinely interested in your answer.

“Well, Suho is part of who you are as a whole. As Junmyeon.”, you clarified with a pout.

He nodded, sweeping a hand through his hair. He challenged you, “I see, I see...”

Immediately you took that as a bad sign, “I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

His eyes snapped back to yours and holding the warmth of his stare was easier than looking even your parents in the eyes.

“Not at all, but I’m afraid you only know Suho. Not Junmyeon.” His tone was teasing.

What were you supposed to say to that? It would be too easy to agree, but you didn’t do easy.

“Everyone can have their own opinions. Agree to disagree.”

He laughed. Genuinely, he barked out and it touched his eyes. Enough that Sehun turned away from his food to watch.

“Fair enough. I’m sorry I’ve kept you from work. I’ll let you get back to it.”

“My work is to serve you right now, so I think you’re fine.” you assured with an honest smile of your own. Nothing about his presence or demeanor set your alarms off. You had never experienced someone with this much influence that didn’t give you alarms of ulterior motives.

With that, you parted to take care of the drink orders several of his members had placed.

The next hour continued on this way. Taking care of their tables with Soohyun by bringing drinks and Chanyeol’s endless love and appetite for chicken. The louder boys, the Beagle line, were all several drinks in and entertaining the table.

It might be a white lie to say their antics were not also entertaining to you whenever you were present, but the way Junmyeon kept catching your eyes with his own was quickly taking over your down time at their table.

Now, you liked to think yourself someone who enjoys others company. You’re a consenting adult and have had your fair share of experiences, both good and bad, both relationships and one night stands because you understand that your life is incredibly busy and you deserve to have some fun.

However, you had never considered even entertaining the idea of sleeping with someone you met on the job. You had never met someone who’s advances were not ultimately unappealing or downright creepy while being here. It was quite strange, how natural it felt. How obvious it was that he seemed to be struggling to put this gravitational pull into proper thought as well.

There was something trusting and warm about the way he watched you.  Almost protective, like the guardian angel his name was true to. The way he appreciated your presence was tender and not exactly unwelcome. Perhaps a bit unexpected, but you didn’t mind it. He would go on his way once he and his members were finished dining anyway and then you might never cross paths again.

You were aware Junmyeon was extremely smart. Smart enough to realize it was going on one thirty and the restaurant patrons were dying off. Smart enough to let you catch his subtle tells. Tells such as you watching him chewing his lip while he looked up what time your establishment closed with his phone on the table.

Tells such as the way he seemed to lean toward you or ask you specifically if he needed something but respecting you enough not to touch. Anything to engage you specifically in conversation. Tells such as the way his eyes seemed to bore into you from across the room, or the way he visibly bristled when Jongdae a little too obviously checked you out from across the table while you took an order for cake from Yixing.

You noted he hadn’t had a drop of liquor the entire night. Opting for water through the meal and hot tea toward the end. Happily shocked, you smiled delightfully when he snuck out his black card and handed it to you, asking if you would please put their bill on it.

When his members whooped and hollered with thanks to him, he took it well. He didn’t do it for show. He did it to treat his brothers as an act of love.

You returned his card with the leather fold for him to sign, smiling. “That was kind of you.”

His charming, joking smile appeared again, quirking a brow at you and letting his fingers intentionally touch yours during the pass of the leather booklet.

“Kind of who?” he asked with a raised brow, the index finger of his free hand rubbing across his bottom lip.

With a playful roll of your eyes, you answered, “I suppose of Suho. I thought you said I didn’t know Junmyeon.”

He smirked at you, nodding in acquiesce.

Parting from him, you began to clear the remaining dishes. The group began getting up, stretching and putting on coats with whines of content fullness and protest at having to move. Proclamations of how tired they were, drooping eyes and full stomachs. A few with their arms draped around one another in camaraderie as they began to file out.

Just as you returned from the kitchen to collect more dishes, they began to say their thanks and goodbyes, following some of their staff out of the room. You bowed to each and every one of them with thanks and the normal phrases to kindly please return.

Sehun and Suho were the last of the line, with Sehun not having said a word more than he had to. Junmyeon on the other hand, with half of a smirk tucked into his cheek, thanked you directly as he left. His eyes, that rich deep brown, bore into yours with something that made you blush. Something that insinuated it wouldn’t be the last time you saw him.

Soohyun collected the check from their table and told you that he would see off the remaining table of their staff while you cleared a bus bin of dishes.

The moment you turned the corner, Soohyun came rushing into the kitchen nearly on your heels.

“Uh, I think this was meant for you.” he coughed, clearing his throat and holding the receipt toward you.

Written on the back were six simple words that sent you into a fit. You noted how pretty his handwriting was.

‘Would you like to find out?’

You flubbered for words, opening your mouth several times but nothing came out. Heat poured from every orifice on your face and you looked at Soohyun with wild eyes.

“He-”

Soohyun laughed, thick arms folded across his thicker chest, “I know.”

“And I-”

“Deserve to have some fun.” he finished for you, leaning his torso forward and locking eyes with you.

The face he was making at you was nothing but sincere and absolutely serious. You were frozen.

“Their manager is waiting for your answer. Go ahead if you want, I can finish up.”

You sat for a moment, thinking. You were still unnerved a bit, distracted by the way you’ve been rendered so completely shaken by the feel of Junmyeon’s stare. As if he were still staring into you. Underneath the feeling of being shaken, most noticeably was the lukewarm feeling you shouldn’t do this because it gets tricky with famous anyones.

Below even that layer, burning like magma beneath the Earth’s surface, was the pure want for him. You were at a loss, trying to remember when the last time was you desired someone so greatly. How badly and how long it has been since you’ve given in to your basic needs.

“Should I?” you ask Soohyun, and his reaction tells you he wasn’t expecting you to hesitate.

He smiled again, one hand coming to rest on your shoulder, “I think you should do whatever you want to and not regret it.”

You glared at him, “That’s not helpful, and shouldn’t you be more protective of me? You’re practically my big brother! Shouldn’t you be upset and telling me he’s a creep?”

At your admission, Soohyun laughed. He often laughed at things. “While most of the time that’s how I feel, I think we both know this time was different. I’ve never seen you so comfortable and electric with someone like that, famous or not.”

The weight in your gut lifted. He was right. Soohyun was typically your go-to friend when you wanted to go out and get drunk and maybe take someone home. He was there to have his own good time, but he always watched your back and got you out of uncomfortable situations.

“Just be safe, and text me when you get home.” he clarified with serious eyes.

“Thank you for this.” you whispered to him before turning to walk back into the private dining room.

True to what Soohyun said, their manager was loitering awkwardly by the door, his attention snapped to you the moment you whirled back around the corner and into view.

“So, how does this work?” you asked, rubbing your arm and looking away. The sound of your own voice made you cringe.

The manager chuckled lightly, “Well, I don’t really know. None of them do this kind of thing very much, if ever.”

You balched at him, “Really?”

He smiled at you, nodding, “Really.”

“Okay, so...” you trailed off, almost more apprehensive. Was he just saying that or was that really the case?

“I think the best way, is to give you my cell number. We go our own ways, assuming you’re leaving work now. When you’re ready, come to this hotel,” he handed you a card before continuing, “and when you get there, text me and take the main elevator to the seventeenth floor.”

“Oh.” you voiced, “That sounds reasonable enough.”

The manager smiled again, “I think it goes without saying that you have to keep this to yourself and anything that happens involving Suho, correct? Lest there be legal matters.” You could tell he didn’t mean it maliciously, but he has to say it to protect his idols. He seemed like a good man with only EXO’s best interests in mind.

“Absolutely.”

“Great. I’ll take my leave then.” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiling at you kindly, “Thank you again for taking care of them here. I know they can be chaotic.”

“Oh, I don’t think they were at all!” you chimed pleasantly.

The manager’s face flashed with something sly he wanted to say but instead he chewed the inside of his cheek and said nothing when he left.

_______________________________

Just a little over an hour later, you were nervous as ever when you heard the elevator ping loudly, opening it’s smooth metal doors to the seventeenth floor. The hall was fairly quiet, sans for the ice machine humming in the vending machine niche a few paces down.

A door opened somewhere down the long hallway and you recognized the familiar figure of a middle aged man walking calmly toward you. He had since changed into something more comfortable, wearing a hoodie, sweat pants and socks.

You felt awkward as you stood there in your leggings and oversized sweater and the discreet overnight bag strap suddenly felt like it was digging unbearably into your shoulder.

Your hair was still half wet from your shower, dangling loosely around your shoulders, and you shifted from foot to foot, deciding at the last moment to move toward him. Your were tremoring with every step. Luckily, you could blame it on the cold. “Good evening, miss Y/N.” he said quietly.

“Good evening.” you returned with a small bow.

Further down the hallway a door opened and pretty, boyish laughter you remember hearing a lot at their dinner table rang out before it was promptly slammed shut again.

The manager sighed, closing his eyes momentarily and you stifled a small giggle, the easiest way for you to release some nervous energy. Your trembling fingers remained hidden beneath the paws of your sweater.

“You seem nervous.” he said flatly once the noise ceased, his hands stuffed into the front hoodie pocket.

You smiled, but didn’t try to lie, “I don’t do this much either. It’s always a nervous experience.”

“It’s not because he is a celebrity?” he asked, voice laced with curiosity. He squinted at you, adjusting his glasses, as if your answer would be his judgement of your person.

Lying never got you anywhere. You did your best to always be honest, “With all due respect, I see famous, rich people whenever I work. He isn’t any different in that regard. But most of those people...” you trailed off and looked to the floor as if the words you couldn’t find might have been written there.

“I’ve learned to be a pretty scary judge of character. Junmyeon didn’t give me any of the alarms I usually get from people who possess the same power he does.”

The manager nodded, his lower lip protruding slightly at your remarks.

“I think you’re in pretty good hands then. His room is this way.” You must have been given his seal of approval.

He turned, leading you back down the corridor with the dimmed hallway lights to room number one seven two three.

Before he knocked for you, he cleared his throat, “So if you need anything I’m right there.” twisting to point to a door two rooms down and across the hall.

“Have fun, okay? He’s a good guy.” came his whispered goodbye, swiftly knocking on the door with two firm raps before turning to make his way back to his own room.

You watched him go, and just as the manager’s door closed, the one in front of you opened.

A waft of warm steam gently passed you, catching your attention to see the bathroom was just inside the room, wide open with the light on. Standing right in front of you was Junmyeon.

His hair was wet but combed back and to the side, and he was shirtless. That was all you could assess before he was quickly but smoothly dragging you inside so he could close the door, away from prying eyes.

“Sorry.” you muttered, eyes glued to the floor. You liked to think you could work through your nerves pretty well but the warmth that spread up your arm from where he had your wrist was making it difficult not to lock up.

He smiled prettily, “Hey, it’s alright. You don’t need to be sorry for anything, okay?”

Slowly, your eyes climbed back up from the floor, starting from the tiny dark spot on the carpet where his hair had just dripped.

You noted, much to your liking, that he wasn’t wearing anything more than an untied pair of fitted sweats. There was a towel around his shoulders. Making eye contact again must have assured him in some way that you weren’t going to run.

He moved away, “Make yourself comfortable, I’m just finishing up.” The towel became a frenzy at the back of his head while he scrunched it over and over, trying to soak up the moisture.

Removing your shoes while you observed him going back to the bathroom, it dawned on you. The back of his neck and his ears were red. You weren’t the only one who was nervous.

It made you laugh, in a burst a bit too loud, considering the buzz of the music he was playing was far too quiet to elicit such a reaction.

The light in the bathroom flicked off just as he emerged, a boyish grin tucked into his cheek, “What’s so funny?”

You let yourself sit on the bed, rubbing your face with both hands, “Nothing.”

He wasn’t having it, laughing gently along with your smile, “Oh come on, I feel like I’m missing out.”

Junmyeon was stepping closer now, standing and looking down at you with a soft smile that put a crease in his eyes.

“It’s just... it feels ridiculous to be nervous about this. I was taught that laughter is best for combating nerves.”

“Hm,” Junmyeon hummed, “Whoever told you that must be very wise.”

A tiny pang of sadness flickered across your face before it disappeared, “He was.”

Junmyeon caught on immediately, his smile fading to watch you intently, stepping closer still.

“Who?”

You smiled up at him, “My Dad.”

You had to admit, part of Junmyeon’s charm was how attentive he was to others empathetically. Instead of being unnerved about it, you felt as if his ability to see into you was a source of warmth and comfort. He never looked away from your face.

“I’m sorry.” he whispered, his fingers hesitantly reaching to tap against the top of your thighs softly.

Your smile broadened, “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

There was a pause where you watched his fingers quietly, tapping innocently against the tops of your legs to the beat of the music.

“Y/N.” he called you, and it was beautiful hearing him say it so pleasantly.

“There are a few things I want you to understand, but it is best that I tell you directly instead of it coming to you through my manager.”

You froze up, immediately thinking something bad, “Okay.”

He looked down at you, leaving his fingers splayed against your leggings but no longer moving, “First, let me say I never do this kind of thing. I don’t have the time to get involved with it, let alone attend to my own needs. There’s a lot riding on my shoulders and it’s just really getting to me and I wasn’t really looking for anything like this but you just came out of nowhere and I-”

You put a finger up to his lips, “Junmyeon, stop. It’s okay, I get it. Me, too.” You were giggling again.

He sighed, taking your hand in his from his lips and holding it.

“That leads me to the next thing I wanted to say. You are in no way required to do anything. Just because I asked you to come here and we’re intending to r-release some... frustration, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” he quipped, brows knitted together again.

His skin was painted in a pretty blush. Your eyes remained glued to him, fascinated in watching it slowly creep down his neck. It pained you to look away from his abs when you replied.

“I appreciate that. I suppose what I’d like to say is we’re both adults and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be. I’ll admit I don’t do this often either, between work and class I don’t have the time to pay attention to my own needs.”

Your smile was wistful as you spoke, and Junmyeon with his thumb, caressed the back of your hand he was still holding.

“I think it’s pretty obvious there is mutual attraction. We’re just acting on it.” he murmured against your palm. You swallowed thickly, nodding.

Something heavy festered between you as the last of the words faded away with finality. Subtly, the hand remaining on your thigh tightened it’s grip, your knees touching against his legs.

Junmyeon looked at you with that penetrating stare again, but your light melted his gaze into a different kind of intense. You stood your ground by focusing on how nice you thought he smelled, fresh from his shower.

“So what is there for us to be nervous about?” he whispered, taking the advantage you gave him to step closer by inching your legs apart for him.

His face was close and you could smell his mouth wash. You realized he was waiting for an answer.

You tilted your head toward him, your lips barely breathing the word ‘nothing’ before he was on you.

He placed your hand against his chest and it felt as if you were touching the Sun. His skin was scorching beneath your fingers, the delicate blush still blooming across him like a rosy sunset.

His mouth felt warm, balmy. Wonderful yet cautious. He was taking his time, just sampling your lips slowly, gently, perhaps waiting for you to stop him. Inwardly you might cringe at how awkward this was. As if it were a first kiss with a crush playing seven minutes in heaven during a high school party. Except... it didn’t feel like that at all. You were both experienced, only new with one another.

A new song came on his shuffle and you both smiled, nearly laughing into each other’s mouths when you recognized it as one of his own songs.

You took the opportunity to separate from him, hauling the strap of your bag over your shoulder. He politely took it from you and placed it on the chair near the foot of the bed before coming right back to you.

Not so hesitantly this time he stepped into you against the bed, pulling your thighs around him. Every touch seemed to quell the strength of this force between you. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but you felt better touching him than not. There was no awkward placement of hands upon one another’s body like a virgin experience would be.

His kiss was passionate this time. Slower, but deeper, with his brow furrowed, he tried to find what you liked and you stumbled through finding a pace and a style that you both liked. Not too much teeth or tongues. He pulled your lip gently between his and the tiny sound of surprise from you fueled him further.

Making out, let alone kissing, was never perfect between a pair for the first time, and your head was swimming with how attentive he was to figure out how you liked to be kissed. What made you breathless. You hoped he could feel you were trying to do the same for him.

The tame swipe of your tongue against his lip created the opportunity to go further, tangling his tongue with yours in such a way that pulled a quiet moan from his chest. Now you were getting somewhere, just feeling and not thinking.

Junmyeon’s hands were urging you backwards, up the bed. He almost smacked your nose with his forehead trying to keep connected, kissing you while he climbed onto the plush linens after you.

He smiled, mumbling an apology while extending one well sculpted arm toward you, catching your leg and leaning over you. He sank down, dark eyes trained on you lips.

Your legs automatically separated to make room for him. He pulled the one in his grasp up to his hip while you let the other match it.

The feeling of his erection pressing into your center sent a soft moan from your lips. His own, plush and red from kisses activity dropping open and his forehead creasing.

“Junmyeon.” you whined. You hated to admit it, but kissing was always one of your favorite things. With any partner, if they were a good kisser, you were putty in their hands.

“Huh?” he cooed, trying his not to show you how much this affected him, too. You were just two people who had neglected your needs for far too long. Two people who were doing something about it. Two people who conveniently had a free schedule for the next six or more hours.

You said nothing in return, instead pulling him down to have his lips working against yours again. Taking note how he nearly purred with your fingers in his hair at the nape of his neck, you tugged delicately.

It only seemed to fuel Junmyeon further, shuffling closer on his knees and adjusting the angle to roll his hips against you.

You moaned against his mouth, that felt too good. An explicit pleasure to you both, he did it a second time, moving his lips to your neck to stutter out a groan.

“Can I take this off, please?” he begged, fisting the huge sweater surrounding you. He seemed personally offended by it clearly wanting to be in the way instead of where he thought it belonged, on the floor.

Before he pulled it up, he checked with you, and it made your heart flutter at his kindness. He was making sure you both felt like equals in this space, even if sharing this kind of thing was temporary.

Junmyeon helped you to sit up, taking the hem of the pink sweater and pulling it over your head. He was too busy tossing it toward your bag to notice what you were up to. His eyes were wide but in awe when he turned back to you with one arm twisted behind your back.

Then suddenly you’re sliding the black fabric down your arms and tossing it away, only to throw yourself back down against the soft bed. Junmyeon was lost, with his eyes hooded and his tongue poking out to wet his suddenly dry lips.

“You’re so pretty.” he commented, letting one palm slide up from your hip over your stomach and further still, catching the underside of one breast and giving it a moderate squeeze.

You relished in the attention he gave them, leaning his head down to lick. You hissed through your teeth when he pulled back slightly to blow coolly against the wetness he left behind. The soothing relief of his molten mouth against it was immediate and he made you arch into his face further when he brought his other hand to your side and ran his fingers teasingly over your ribs.

He couldn't help the groan spilling from his lips when you put your hands in his hair again and ground your hips up into his. He switched his attention to your neglected nipple, biting before releasing it, smacking the flesh of your breast lightly, in awe as it bounced softly.

You hissed, “Ow, you bit too hard.” with a pout, which he promptly kissed away.

“I’m sorry.” Junmyeon whispered, a sheepish grin splitting his lips.

It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t unpleasant. With a hand gripping your hip tightly, the dark haired man rolled into you further, emitting a growl that only fueled him to grind harder against you by your soft moans.

Your fingernails scraped down his scalp and further, across the top of his back as far as you could reach.

“Fuck.” driped from his lips in a strained voice and you blushed, certain the word has never sounded so sexy to your ears.

He released your breast, too focused on the attention you were giving one another through your clothing. His brows were knitted together again, lips open prettily as he sat up to pull your hips flush against his crotch.

“I can feel how hot you are even through all these layers.” he purred, fingers tracing down your center but avoiding where you wanted him most.

All you did was whine in response, instead reaching out to dip your fingertips into the band of his sweats.

He moaned, “You want it?”

“I want you.” was your reply, biting your lip and running your fingers over his abs appreciatively. His stomach twitched beneath your butterfly fingers.

He grinned, cocking a brow, “Want who? Suho? Junmyeon?”

You grinned back at him, “Whichever one is going to let me take all his stress away.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he began, understanding painting his face, “I don’t think I’ll last enough for that right now, but I’d really like to taste you.” The moan that left you at his words alone whipped a wolfish smile onto his face.

He broke away to move off the bed briefly. Pulling a box of condoms from a convenience store bag, he set them on the night stand before curling a finger at you with a smile.

You were awash with lust as you watched him, unmoving until his voice, gravely with want, broke you from your reverie.

“C’mere.” he plead.

Finally, you obliged him, moving to lay at the side of the bed. Your hips rose easily to aid him in removing your leggings, your panties right along with them, and Junmyeon was moaning before your legs were even free of them.

He sunk to his knees, his warm palms gentle but firm in their parting of your thighs for him. You mildly protested, fighting him just a little because you could and you wanted to.

“Sweetheart... please. I can practically taste you from here, don’t tease me.” he asked, laying his cheek against your folded knees.

You laughed, loosening your muscles to let him have you. He took his time, and somehow, you found you were not surprised. Everything about him was gentle and sweet, even for a one night stand. He was not overly eager just to get himself off, and the thought sent heated butterflies through you unexpectedly. You couldn't imagine him being anything but wonderful to anyone he shared a bed with, no matter how long.

His lips were pressing chaste kisses against your inner thigh and you gasp when his fingers were suddenly there, slowly running through your folds. You whimpered, hearing him speak something softly but not sure of the words.

Junmyeon hummed happily at the feeling of your arousal so easily coating his fingers. He used two skillfully, parting you and running the flat of his tongue up to your clit.

Your body melted and a cry sprung from your chest. His assault was not slow, lapping at your nerves and living off of the sounds you were emitting, put on a platter for his delightful tongue to indulge upon.

He twisted his wrist, slowly sinking one finger into your heat and you absolutely keened. The coil in your abdomen tightening suddenly and you were panting out “Yes, please, more.” before you even thought about the words.

A dark chuckle reached your ears from between your legs and  Junmyeon fingered you with just the right amount of curl to his fingertips. Somewhere in your pleasured bliss, the thought that he was in no way even moderately inexperienced floats in your mind. It wasn't your place to care, but you were glad that he knew what he was doing.

The sound of his mouth on you had you inching closer and closer to paradise already. He pulled his hand back and slowly concentrated on adding a second, pleased to find you were ready enough to take both easily.

“Such a good girl.” he praised, sucking your clit harshly.

You cursed, “Junmyeon...” You were hyper-aware that your face was on fire. Is it even possible to feel yourself blushing in your eyeballs?

You could feel him smile against your core, his hair mussed from your fingers. He hummed in response, increasing his pace just to hear you whine loudly.

“So close, Junmyeon...” you huffed, your thighs on either side of his head beginning to tremble. You felt impossibly tight, abdomen curling in on itself with your fist in the linens at your side.

The handsome man between your legs never stopped, only pausing to praise you further when he feels your walls beginning to tighten around his fingers, “That’s it. Come on, sweetheart.”

It was all it took when he stood up and braced one arm on the bed to lean over you. His thumb replaced his tongue on your clit and the awed expression on his face put you over the edge.

Your voice was a mixture of a cry and a moan, teeth clenched and thighs quaking. Your hand reached out, clasping around his forearm and holding on while his fingers worked you through your orgasm.

“Fuck you’re so fucking pretty when you come.” he growled, kissing the side of your neck and nipping at the flesh.

Once you relaxed, he pulled his fingers from you and watched his own hand with rapt fascination until you broke him from his thoughts.

“Junmyeon...” you cooed, a happy smile on your lips. “Want you,” you clarified when he looked up at you.

“Good girls get what they want. How can I deny you when you say my name like that?” he said, cocking one eyebrow at you and yanking his own pants to the ground.

You had seen your fair share of nicely shaped men with nicely shaped appendages, but nothing quite as nice as Kim Junmyeon. The abs were free for all to see, but his thighs and what was standing at attention between them was another experience entirely.

Not the biggest out there, but for his stature you would definitely call him well endowed, which was more than enough for you. He was flushed there, too, his member a darker shade than the rest of his golden skin. Neatly trimmed hair framed the base.

He reached immediately for the box on the nightstand, tearing one packet off the line of them. “Sorry they’re not fun ones. I wasn’t sure if you were allergic so I played it safe.” he said, focusing on rolling it over himself in one motion.

You didn't mean to laugh but why were you absolutely not surprised that he was the caring type. The type to, while thinking about fucking a stranger for a one night stand, took into consideration a potential allergy while making a condom selection.

“I’m not, but thanks for checking. You’re too sweet.” you said, still a little high from your orgasm.

“I can’t help it. I take care of eight brothers for a living...and I sing once in a while.” his answering smile was sheepish.

You tucked away his statement for later discussion. You knew he was so much more than that, but it would ruin the moment and you admitted to yourself you really just wanted to get lost in pleasure with him.

So instead, you assured him, “I don’t need you to take care of me right now. I need you to fuck me.”

Junmyeon was stunned, one hand holding your hip and the other his cock. His eyes were hooded and they closed as he let out a deep breath, swallowing hard. You had an inkling your words affected him in the best possible way.

“I think I can do that.” he said just as you felt the head of him rub against your wetness, lubricating himself further before pushing in without any further words.

You groaned loudly, a pleasured hiss filling the space between you. “Fuck.”

He was still, biting his lip with his eyes half closed, trained on you. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths while he fought to remain still.

“I’m okay.” you told him, rotating your hips against him with your lips dropped open.

Your eyes zeroed in on his face, tongue poking out to run across his pretty lips before he slowly withdrew himself from you, only to slide in again.

He repeated the motion, grabbing your leg and hoisting it up, over his shoulder. His arm wrapped around it to keep you against him tightly, and he turned his head just enough to kiss your calf where it rested beside his head.

Junmyeon leaned heavily into you while he thrust, slowly testing which angle is best to bend you for your mutual pleasure. How far could he bend you so you would feel him as deeply as possible.

When he hit the right one, you cried out, pleasure soaking your features. He groaned above you, sinking his cock into your greedy heat with a force that you absolutely basked in.

“Yes, yes, please, just like that.” you begged. His wolfish grin returned, all white teeth and dark brows. Darker eyes, hooded, and pretty pink lips.

The pretty pink blush that paints his skin matched, you thought. You watched him move in pleasure, a vein becoming prominent on the side of his neck. The sight of him like this made your stomach tighten again.

He groaned again, feeling you clench around him. It was in that moment, with his hips digging into the underside of your thighs, that he bent you completely. Large hands pushed your thighs down into your chest and it changed the constriction of your walls around his cock.

“Is this okay?” he mused through his breath. Uncertain if your increase in pleasure was from the angle or happiness at his devotion to bedroom equality, but you moaned regardless, nodding at him. It was too difficult to speak with your chest being constricted like that.

He smiled, whipping some misplaced hair from his eyes. “Good girl.”

You whimpered at his words and your hands wrapped around your own legs, keeping them in his requested position. Now freed, he brought a hand between your bodies. You could feel his palm and fingers splayed against you, your center clenching with white hot pleasure when his thumb pressed into your clit.

Junmyeon didn't slow his thrusts. Instead, his head was turned down, focusing intently on the image of his cock disappearing into the tight, hot wetness of your pussy. His lips were dropped open and his jaw was tight.

His chest and abs were tight, too, heavy breaths pushing from his lungs in a pant.

Suddenly, he sped up. It pulled a moan from you. Too quickly now the orgasm you had slowly seen coming from a distance was closing in, sinking deep into your gut like lead.

“I want you to come all over my cock, sweetheart.” he confessed hotly, increasing his efforts to make you do so.

Your answering whine was a confirmation that he might just get his wish. His hips slowed a little against you. Your eyes caught his tongue poking out as he swiped his thumb against it. It added more wetness against your bundle of nerves when he brought it back to circle repeatedly.

Junmyeon teased you now, nearly pulling himself out all the way so only the head remains, shallowly thrusting into you in a lazy manner. He was grinning down at you, but you could plainly see the battle in his rigid posture that he was enjoying teasing but desperate to be buried back inside your warmth.

Your gut felt heavier, the spiral coiling tighter in your abdomen. “Junmyeon...” you whimpered at him, your core fluttering with how nearly empty he had left you.

“Yes?” he asked, one brow tilting up at you. His eyes pulled up to your face and he smiled genuinely at your fucked out expression.

You tried to speak words but they came out jumbled, a hot mess of incoherent letters that Junmyeon assumed meant you were going to come soon by the way your thighs were begging to tremble just so. You had spread yourself wider in an attempt to welcome him closer to you.

He removed a hand from your leg, letting it carve a scorching path up your body to pluck at your newly freed breast again. He rolled your nipple between his fingers and the yelp you released made him chuckle. You did not mean to blush harder, but his voice stirred the lava in your belly hotter.

Junmyeon bit his lips, groaning, “You’re so sensitive here,” he commented, teasing the nipple again just to hear you cry out, “I like that.”

The pleasure became too much for you to stave off any longer, and you froze up in his arms with a high pitched cry. He grunted, burying himself to the hilt and releasing a long moan. He released your clit from the torture of his thumb.

The pace he set immediately is hard, forcing himself between your walls, releasing tiny pants of breath for every powerful squeeze around his aching cock.

“Fuck, fuck fuck sweetheart. Yes, fuck... yes.” the words dropped from his lips in erotic praise had you twisting, the unbearable pleasure overstimulating your body.

Junmyeon became uncoordinated, grabbing your ankle and opposite hip to keep you still beneath him. “You can take it.” he growled, teeth clenched and moaning between his bitten lips. His brows furrowed hard as he drove into you repeatedly with messy thrusts. He didn't realize he was holding his breath or that there was a tick in his jaw. You realized, as he fought to deny himself his high, he looked angry.

The glutton for punishment in you sighed, clenching once more around him with aftershocks of your own orgasm subsiding. That put him over the edge, spilling all of his breath into the air between you at once. He threw his head back, thrusting one, two, three more times before he went as deep into you as possible and stilled.

Junmyeon’s head rolled forward on his shoulders, those pretty lips open in fucked out bliss. You wanted to kiss him, badly. His flushed chest was heaving and he shuddered visibly, eyes screwed shut in bliss.

Slowly he sunk into your body, curling himself over you as the pleasure peak left his body weak. He wasn't looking at your face, but you were staring at him. You kissed the tip of his nose and smiled, watching as he lifted his head to stare right back with a smile so pretty you could almost blame it on your shortness of breath.

You whimpered when he pulled his softening cock from you, and the full warmth of it with him. Unmoving, you watched him remove and tie off the condom before disposing of it in the waste bin beside the armchair.

He crawled back to the bed, scratching at his chest. Your eyes met and you both smiled. You knew you should leave but was it over? Did he need a few minutes to recover? Did he hate it?

Junmyeon was watching you field these questions in your head, deciding instead to just pull your relaxed body to him.

You began to speak, but he shushed you with a mellow kiss, “Thank you for that.”

“Oh.” is what came out, instead of anything useful. Your bewildered expression made him laugh against you.

“What?” you tried, pouting.

He handled you into a comfortable position, situating your body against his side and pulling your arm over his stomach. Absentmindedly, your fingers felt right at home running softly across his abs. “I don’t think you were expecting me to thank you?” he questioned with a scoff.

“No, I just... well I don’t know. This is always the confusing part. Do I leave, do I stay? Do you want to do it again, will you marry me?” You were both laughing at the ridiculousness of the last question.

“Don’t laugh, I’ve been asked that question immediately after sex before.” you said, digging your fingers into his ribs. It only made him laugh harder.

“I wasn’t going to ask you that.” he hummed.

“Good. I won’t have to break your heart when I say no.”

He balked, feigning hurt, “You would say no?!”

“I mean, celebrity or not, we did just meet today.”

“It’s not a no, though...” you heard him trail off.

You patted his chest with the flat of your hand, giving him your best fake smile, “It’s still a no, sweetie.”

You both laughed again, and he kissed your hair with a sigh, “For now, just rest here with me, if that’s okay?”

There was something in his tone that told you he was lonely, and suddenly some of his earlier comments came rushing back to you. It hurt your heart to think about. You could read between the lines, he was saying he didn't want to be alone.

“It’s,” you paused, looking to the digital clock on the charging station beside the bed, “five eighteen in the morning. I don’t have to be at class until eleven forty.” Suddenly, you gasped, raising yourself on your elbow to stare at him, “Do you think I’ll make it on time?”

Junmyeon lost it, snorting loudly. He pulled you back down and kissed your face before wrestling you to curl against him again.

So you relaxed. Lazily, both too tired to get up or clean up. Instead, you found your eyes closing as you listened to his steady heart beating within his rib cage. Your palm felt the gentle rise and fall of his stomach with his breath. You didn't realize how calm and warm it made you, pulling you deeply into slumber. You hadn't fallen asleep this easily in so long.

You jolted awake by the sound of a notification from your phone. Looking around, you noticed it’s nearly nine in the morning. There was just enough light from the dull, cloudy December morning to assist your eyes. A shiver ran through you when you remembered you were naked. Your eyes snapped to the side, realizing Junmyeon was still sound asleep with one arm behind his head, the other flat against the linens at your back.

You felt like you should go. It was not too early to get a cab back to your apartment and he probably wanted you gone by the time he woke up, anyway. It was just casual sex and a nap. Too bad you didn’t get to have a second go at it.

Quickly and as quietly as possible, you dressed, hunting for each piece and throwing it on haphazardly. Without turning on the light, you checked your hair in the bathroom mirror, stuffing it all into a cap you brought in your overnight bag.

Your phone pinged again. Checking, it’s two text messages, both from Soohyun.

SH: I hope you made it home safe????

SH: I just got up and realized you hadn’t messaged me. I don’t care about the deets, I just need you to tell me you got home, Y/N.

You smiled, keying in a quick reply.

Y/N: I’m fine. I am leaving his hotel now, should be home by nine thirty.

One last look over your shoulder at the sleeping idol sent you on a roller coaster of emotions you normally did not get with such detached partners.

It was a one night stand, nothing more and nothing less. Just two mutually attracted parties releasing their sexual frustration upon one another.

But... you had never stayed to sleep with any of your past escapades, as few and far between as they might be. You had never been made to feel like you were an equal participant. You had never felt so light afterwards that you were comfortable enough to sleep.

You had never been paid so much attention and not just a warm pussy for someone to lick and then stuff their dick into, no matter how good they fucked. You had never been treated like they were generally interested in caring who you are as a person, and you had certainly never connected with someone where it all felt natural. Not in a long time and never with a one night stand.

Junmyeon was different, and you thought about how grateful you were for last night during your ride home. You don’t know why you felt sad. Not for yourself, but for him. It hurt to know, now that it was over, how badly he craved to not feel lonely.

[bi-bobbysoxxers]

Heyy y'all! I was tagged by @meiyanaalexia Thanks for the tag, fam!

Rules: List ten of your fave female characters from your ten fave fandoms and then tag 10 other ppl!

This list is by no means comprehensive or a ranked list, as i think all my fave characters are equally bad betches, in their own right xD alright let's get to it!

-Tamari and Lady Tsunade (Naruto/Naruto Shippuden)

Tamari's one of the more cool, levelheaded female side characters in naruto and idk, she's very much Gaara and Kankuro's rock, and idk, i like that. I view her as a very strong female character, and i think she carries a lot of badass masculine energy. Plus she's a badass fighter as well. (((And she's hot but that's beside the point lol))) I like Lady Tsunade a lot, but i admit, i wasnt a fan of her at first. But now that I'm seeing her character unfold in Shippuden, I like her a lot. I like the concept that she's kiind of a grouchy, reluctant leader of the leaf village, cause that makes her seem like a very reliable leader, in a way. I think she's hella underrated as a strong character, tbh. Plus i like that she's a healing ninja, cause it seems so opposite to her outward personality. The more i watch naruto the more i'm really liking more of their female characters, tbh.

Quotes!

Tamari: "Sharpen your karma at sunset."

Tsunade: "People become stronger because they have things they cannot forget. That's what you call growth."

-Lucy and Kiyoko (Bungou Stray Dogs)

oh wow, uh, not gonna lie, i really like this anime more for most of the male characters, but Lucy and Kiyoko have alswas been in my faves list. I didnt really understand Lucy's character in season one but as the plot thickens, so does her issues with wanting to morally become a better person, but still being fairly new to learning to become selfless. I think a lot of people can relate to her because she can be fairly emotionally erratic, and she struggles with the whole "forgiveness thing." But later on you see that all she really wanted was a true family and friends that value her. And i think that's something we all want, deep down. Also, her powers are highly unnderrated and badass and i love how she is slowly becoming a protector for ppl like Atsushi, which really shows her growth as a character.

I also put Kiyoko on this list because i think she is equally as good of a female character as Lucy is, but for dif reasons. I loveeee the whole concept of "initially bad" characters soon wanting to become good. There's a simplicity in her character that i think models Atsushi's in a way, i mean they're both damaged, but both yearn to do good and make a comeback with the chances they've been given in life. If Lucy was a Tarot Card she would be the Fool. I also love how steadfast she is in her newfound family and how much she believes in everyone in the ADA now. It's very wholesome and pure :3 also i love her and Atsushi's relationship, it kinda reminds me of me and my BFF's ride or die relationship, lol.

Lucy: "Make sure you survive...Then come back for me. I'll be waiting."

Kiyoko: "I saw a bright world. I cannot go back to a time when I didn't know such a thing existed."

-Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)

Ugh, there's so many things about this character that I have always loved and adored. Her character design, her quiet whimsical weirdness. Her determined loyalty to the people that accept her. Her lovely simple wisdom, at times. Like Harry said, Luna is just "...coooll." She kinda reminds me of me when I was a teenager but way cooler lol.

Luna: "My mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us, in the end."

-Lara Croft (Tomb Raider movies and videogames)

Laura is....a simple character by design. If anything, the plotlines and video game design of the Tomb Raider franchise are way more intricate. And yeah...there's her misogynistic character design (Note: the impossibly snatched waist and bOoBiEs in earlier games.)

BUT. I still stan her for a multitude of reasons. Growing up, there were may more princess characters than female warrior characters and ya know, I'm really glad I was exposed to Lara Croft movies and the Tomb Raider: Legend video games as a kid. I think Laura taught me that you can definitely embrace your feminine side and still be a badass and follow your dreams. Even now, after me finally figuring out i'm not cis, i know, that she's still an icon for most kids out there. And for me too. She was a symbol of bravery, intelligence, as well as still being a character of emotional depth, grieving the loss of her parents while vowing to continue to do what she loved, which is exploring. Cultural and moral problems with her character aside, i still find both her and her stories very inspirational, both as a bigender queer person, and as a designer.

Laura Quotes: "The line between our myths and truth is fragile and blurry."

"The extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are."

-Scorpia (She-Ra)

Oh wow, i could go on for days about how much i love thus character. If you're queer or fun in any capacity you've probably watched the final season fo She-Ra by now and spoilers aside, i just love the journey this character went on from start to finish. Scorpia is so genuine and nice, and sometimes that puts her in situations where she has to make hard decisions. And idk, those decisions just made that character so much better for me. On a lighter note, Scorpia is great queer rep, especially for butch lesbians, lesbians, trans ppl, androg ppl, and gender nonconforming ppl. She's always said things that have resonated with me as a queer person and aside from that, she's a very excitable and fun character. She just excudes so much curiosity and joy that you really can't help but like her, lol.

Scorpia: "I am brave, strong, loyal, and i give great hugs!"

-Sypha (Castlevania)

Altho I personally don't view Sypha as a cis woman, (I see her as nonbinary or agender), I think the way characters treat her in the show is indicative that in that period, they view her as a woman. So i figured I could put her on this list as well lol. Anyways, uhhh wow, Sypha is great, there's so much I love about her that it's hard to put into words. I love that she regards herself as a "scholar" of magic, but still views herself as a heretic, I just find it pretty funny and very sexy of her lol. Aside from that, I think Sypha is a great character who always seeks out logic where there usually ends up being none. I love her cheeky remarks to both Alucard and Trevor, and I love her can-do attitude. At the end of the day, she's one of those characters you love just for her great energy she carries for herself within the show. There's really no rhyme or reason to her, she just, is. She subverts many female mage character tropes as well, being a natural badass. Also her god jokes are so damn funny.

Sypha: "See?? God hates me!?

-Aunt Sarah (Derry Girls)

Okay first of all, if you havent seen Derry girls, pleaseeee watch it, holy shit it's the funniest show i've seen in a longass time. Second of all, my friend and I are still going thru the show, but Ajnt Sarah has started to become one of my favorite characters. She's one of those very aloof characters that you kinda ignore at first but then her character just has these amazing one liners and she really grows on you. Also she is very caring about her family and she's cute as hell???? I'm sorry but like her aesthetic is just on fuckin point, like??? Go off babe?? Anyways yeah she's cute.

No quotes for her since that might ruin some of the better punchlines if you end up watching the show lol.

-Marga (Cable Girls)

Yeah, if you want a really good 1920's drama that focuses on women, go give Cable Girls a try! It is very poetic in its direction lol. Anyways, Marga is one of the "new girls" at the beginning of the show and she is just, so earnest, and genuine, and pure. And I love her. She's very nice to the other girls working and she's got some great one liners. She's that timid, cute character that slowy comes out of her shell throughout the show lol.

-Kiki and Sheeta (Studio Ghibli)

I loveee Studio Ghibli films, and one of my two fave films of Miyazaki are Kiki's Delivery Service and my ultimate fave, Castle in the Sky. I adore Kiki as a character because she is your quintessential cute witch, and her journey with finding and grasping her full powers are very relevant to me, and my journey with upholding my creativity as a designer. As well as being a great movie with a great lessom for all artists, Kiki is a very passionate and genuine character, who's resilency has inspired me in hard times. I love her relationship that she has with other ppl as nd creatures, especially with her cat Gigi. She's cute, i love her lots.

Sheeta, I love for different reasons. Sheeta is one of those rare instances where a quiet protagonist, really works. I love her calm and humble, yet powerful energy surrounding her. I love her background, and how there has always beem magic inside of her, even if she's not a practicing witch. She is so very humble and a very introspective character. There's not a lot of female protagonists quite like her. Plus she's adorable as well, lol.

-Aunt Hilda, Zelda, Prudence, and Lilith (CHAOS)

I'm not gonna get into super specifics since i love all these characters equally, but I will say that all these characters absolutely MADE this series for me. I personally found Sabrina's character very annoying and slightly egotistical (i mean she's allowed to be i suppose,lol) but these characters were just so much fun!

I love Aunt Hilda for her soft personality and great revenge comebacks. I love Prudence for her aesthetic, character design, and amazing characrer development throughout the series. I love Lilith, for being both a BAMF and. MILF, lolz. And finally, i absolutely adore Zelda's character, for being so poised, calculating, blunt, and yet so very badass and loveable xD I love everything about her character, tbh.

There's so many good quotes from each character, so just watch the show, lol.

Andddd i think that's it! Sorry this was super long, I wanted to state my reasoms for why these characters were on the list, lol. Hope you liked some of my character analysis, feel free to screech with me about shows anytime lol. I'd love more good show recs!

You def don't have to go as hard as I did on this but I tag:

@heathen-beast @iquotetheravennevermore @sweet-communist @gardiewithyou @sawayakakuns @shortlady72 @thatonegirluniverse @thatlowkeyhipster @letting-and-living @beauxxxtifullies @catastrafey

Anyone else can participate if they feel like it! Have fun lol. Let's love our great women characters lol.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Good Place: Employee of the Bearimy (4x05)

So much fun! As always!

Cons:

Derek is a really funny character, and I'm genuinely amused by his antics. But with that said, I'll admit that I don't really get what his purpose is, in the larger scheme of things. If he's just there to be comic relief, I guess that's fine, but he kind of feels superfluous to the story that's being told. I'm prepared to eat my words. This show has certainly surprised me in the past. But right now, he's kind of just shrug-worthy for me.

Pros:

I've been complaining about Tahani not having much to do, and then we get this episode, where we discover that the character herself is having some anxiety about her usefulness! Great timing. While the others are all planning big things to proceed with the mission, Tahani is basically tasked with babysitting the humans and being a party planner. She's insecure about the fact that this is all she seems to be good for. But Eleanor, in a very Eleanor-ish style, tells her to suck it up. She reminds Tahani that cultivating an environment for these humans to bond and form friendship is literally what is going to save all of humanity. Tahani has lived a life of privilege, and she's never had to fight very hard for what she wanted. But now, she's realizing that she wants to do something more "worthy" with her time. I loved this element of Tahani's characterization, because on the one hand, it's great that she wants to expand her horizons. And on the other hand, Eleanor is sure to point out to her that her current skills aren't worthless. There's real skill and knowledge required to host events like Tahani does, and that shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

Eleanor and Tahani's scenes together also had what might have been my favorite exchange of the night. There were a lot of funny lines, as always, but for whatever reason this one was the one that got me the most:

Tahani: "What am I, Welsh?"

Eleanor: "Are you? I don't know. No, right?"

Kristin Bell's delivery was just so great!

We also see Chidi being pushed out of his comfort zone. This is partially out of necessity, as Eleanor and Tahani need to hide the way the neighborhood is malfunctioning with Derek in charge, in Janet's absence. But this is also good for the overall plan of our heroes - Chidi changed and improved last time because he was forced to confront the problematic elements of his old habits, and really stretch those boundaries for himself. Even if in this case all he needed to do was go to a cabin and spend some time with his friends, that's honestly no small accomplishment. Take it from an introvert with some social anxiety - just getting out of the house and trying something different can feel like a huge win sometimes!

And then we've got the Bad Place plot, where Jason and Michael mount a rescue mission to bring Janet home. I've already stated my less-than-fond feelings towards Jason and Janet as a romantic couple, but I must admit that his determination to get her back was quite lovely! I also liked seeing Jason and Michael as a dynamic duo. It's not a pairing we've explored all that much, and their comedic chemistry was excellent! Once again, even though Jason is a darling little idiot, he actually doesn't screw everything up, and instead proves integral to the plan of getting Janet home safely. I like how he purposefully calls Janet "girl" so that she will say "not a girl" and thus confirm her identity. That was actually so smart!

And Michael kicked ass. He tried to give a pitch to the other demons of the Bad Place about why what they were doing was wrong - if this isn't part of maintaining the balance of the universe, then clearly they should reevaluate! Of course they don't suddenly defect and agree with Michael's perspective, but there is some confusion in the air, as some of the demons seem convinced that Michael and Jason's presence is all part of Shawn's presentation. I loved that they basically just created a bunch of very public chaos, and then ran off with Janet, turning demons into goo as necessary. That was a lot of wacky fun!

This show in general is wacky fun, but it has such a heart to it, that underpins and imbues everything with so much meaning. I love it so dearly and will be sad to say goodbye in just a short while!

8/10

[mochibuni]

I watch a lot of YouTube, and I think some great and quality YouTube channels, and I really feel like putting out some goodness today. So here is a list of my YouTube watch list, with descriptions and why I think they're worth watching. Updated 3/16/2020.

GAMING

brutalmoose - Ian's reviews tend to be around edutainment games and old PC games, which he delivers his brand of comedy in a dry and deadpan tone. Which is hilariously contrasted by the comedic editing of his videos, some the most creative I've ever seen. I can't even adequately describe a typical video from him, other than it's creative and hilarious. I enjoy his style so much that I'll watch his reviews on 60/70's educational films.

The Completionist - Once a week Jirard chronicles his journey and struggles in 100% completing a video game. His reviews are earnest with a touch of comedy, but largely trying to accurately convey the sense of the game and his experience with it. He does, however, make bad decisions like 100% completing Hyrule Warrios and Fire Emblem Blazing Sword, which of course it's fun to laugh at his agony.

Game Theory - I usually stick to MattPat's videos, but all of them are quality in both editing and substance. However I enjoy MattPat's style and delivery the most. Even if I 100% don't agree with his theory, I 100% enjoy listening and watching him talk about it. He has energy and a great sense of humor, his voice really sells what he's presenting, but I also find a kind of mellowness to it that I enjoy just listening to. He also hosts a live stream with his wife playing games together, and they are adorable to watch.

Kshaway - If you're a League player, you probably already know about Kshaway. He makes the Wood Division series, chronicling everyone and his own fails and bugs with the game. His video style has no voice overs, just well timed music and text for the punch line.

Did You Know Gaming? - They do what they say, offering 5 to 10 minute videos with lesser known facts and production history on video games.

Pokemon Rusty - Made by Dorkly, this is a parody series following Pokemon trainer Rusty as he attempts to become a Pokemon Master in all the wrong ways. It is graphic with very adult humor, but I laugh ridiculous amounts at each video.

MOVIES AND TV

Film Theory - The sister channel to Game Theory and it does the same thing, only this time it’s about tv shows, movies, and web series (remember Salad Fingers? Mattpat made a great video series about it). They also do Did You Know Movies from time to time.

Be Kind Rewind - One of my new faves, she follows the history and culture surrounding movies by discussing female Oscar wins and their cultural significance.

Folding Ideas - Foldable discusses film theory and larger themes usually with movies. His 50 Shades series is probably my favorite, followed by how he accidentally made colonialism in his Minecraft server.

Jenny Nicholson - It’s like listening to your best fandom friend rant and rave with you at 3am in your bedrooms. Jenny has a very lowkey tone and attitude wrapped in a very silly and dry sense of humor. She talks about movies and theme parks. Her review of Avatar Land is probably my favorite.

Lindsay Ellis - I’m not even sure where to being with Lindsay’s work, I adore every video she’s made thus far. It is all film critical theory, but like talking to your smart and sarcastic fandom friend who goes out of their way to explain critical theory concepts.

New Rockstars - These are the guys going over every trailer, every second of a movie looking for easter eggs and fodder for their theories. Really great if you’re into superhero blockbuster movies.

OTHER MEDIA

Comicstorian - I love this channel, they break down comics (either series or single issues) and read them dramatically with visuals. Periodically they also give complete histories of comic book characters, especially when there is a universe reboot.

NerdSync - Somewhat similar to Comicstorian, NerdSync delves into the history and stories of comic books. They’ve moved down the path of being more history based, which is great for me since I know little about the American comic book industry. 

Sideways - Remember the music theory video about singing in native languages using Moana as an example? Yeah it’s this guy’s channel, and while he has few videos, all of them are great. My favorite is his analysis of Rogue One’s score.

Atop the Fourth Wall - Linkara reviews comic books, but I largely come here to watch his retrospectives on Power Rangers.

THEME PARKS

Magic Journeys - Largely a Disney centric channel, Mig V and Lovely Jannell explore any and all types of food at the Disney parks, largely sprinkling their videos with relevant Disney history. They’re expanding to other parks in the area, but Disneyland and California Adventure are where they film. Mig edits their videos wonderfully and I greatly appreciate the bits of history he provides. Jannell also makes sure to try a variety of dishes for those with dietary restrictions and has recently branched out into trying kid’s meals. They also started a Disney Foodie group on Facebook.

Defunctland - This channel talks about the history of now defunct theme park rides.

Theme Park History - This channel also talks about theme park history, defunct or currently running.

Expedition Theme Park - Okay sometimes you just need multiple channels of the same content. Another theme park history channel.

FOOD/COOKING

Laura in the Kitchen - Laura cooks largely easy to make, no hassle meals and deserts, and is warm and personable at the same time. I’ve tried many of her recipes and each have come out very well. I also find Laura very endearing, with her genuine love of food and cooking coming through in every video.

Maangchi - Maangchi is the adorable and sweet host of her Korean based cooking channel. She provides step by step instructions, with tips and tricks, on several Korean dishes. She also talks about her time in Korea, relating dishes to stories of her life there. I have made several of Maangchi’s recipes as well, but I’d watch just about anything from her as she’s sweet, funny, and has a soothing presence to her. She’s basically everyone’s Korean Mom.

Strictly Dumpling - Mike Chen talks all about his favorite Asian food, largely Chinese, as he travels around exploring and eating at Asian restaurants. And when I say Chinese, I mean that he talks specifically about provinces and the differences and types of food each have. He also has a variety of cooking videos and traveling videos. Mike is informative, energetic, and hilarious, with a little bit of Chinese humor peppered in that makes Dan laugh.

How To Cake It - If you’ve seen the gif set of the realistic watermelon cake, then you know what Yolanda can do. She makes elaborate cakes ranging from multi-tier to recreating non-cake objects. Yo gives step by step instructions on how she makes her cakes and also sells baking supplies and cake inspired shirts on her website.

Binging with Babish - A charming and dead pan cooking series recreating food from various media. This channel became a must for Dan based on the sense of humor alone.

Destination Flavour - A mini series that aired in Australia, you can find the whole series on YouTube and I highly recommend it. Chef Adam Liaw travels to 9 different prefectures in Japan exploring the local food, culture, and recipes.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - An older documentary about the history of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Britain, also all on YouTube. I love this documentary, it’s very thorough and I learned tons about British food and eating customs that of course influenced my own culture.

Lofty Pursuits - Based in their candy store in Florida, watch the workers at Public Displays of Confection make pulled hard candy.

ARIKITCHEN - A Korean baker with super cute bakes and a personality to match. Most of her videos have English subs.

Christy Carlson Romano - THAT’S RIGHT, REN STEVENS/KIM POSSIBLE HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL! It’s usually cooking videos where she invites celebrities she’s worked with to make fanservicey foods.

CULTURE

CGP Grey - This channel is rarely updated, but goes in depth into cultural and political ideologies and misunderstandings in an easy to understand way. His videos are worth a watch if you’ve ever been confused about “once removed” family members or don’t understand how the electoral college works in America.

Begin Japanology - An ongoing NHK series exploring Japan, each 30~ minute video explores one item in depth, from sushi, to mushrooms, to the importance of umbrellas in Japan. These videos are in English and are also dubbed, though many of them have deleted audio in places due to copyright restrictions.

Japanology Plus - The sequel and current version of Japanology that continues to explore Japan and sometimes revisit old videos to update them.

Lunch On! - Also provided by NHK, it explores what the Japanese eat for lunch and the history and culture surrounding those dishes. The segments also tend to explain and explore the background of the people they’re following for lunch, such as the balloon industry or bus scheduling.

ARIRANG TV - A Korean channel, it provides a variety of subbed and dubbed videos about Korea. I usually just watch the food videos, but they also have videos about current affairs, media, and variety programs.

Crash Course - If you haven’t seen this show before, it’s mini video essays hosted by John Green discussing history, literature, science, and so on.

MISC

Buzzfeed Unsolved - Another Buzzfeed series, this time exploring the supernatural with a believer and a non-believer. This series is just hilarious, the supernatural cases are presented in a matter of fact way with visuals, but often intercut with commentary from the two about the cases that brings a nice comedic tone to the otherwise serious video.

Bright Sun Films - Jake’s current video series explores buildings and establishments that were abandoned, their history, as well as projects that were cancelled. Most videos are about the Disney Corporation, but also include Target in Canada, Blockbuster, and the McDonald’s Barge. His videos are well researched, great visuals, and his voice and personality are great to listen to.

AKB48 - 48g is one of the biggest music franchises in Japan, based on the idea of Idols You Can Meet. Since the COVID outbreak in Japan, AKB has been streaming their daily theater show on YouTube. If you want to relax to some cute Japanese pop for a few hours, check out their VODs.

Laura Price - Laura is a professional artist and most of her videos are either about her life as an artist or tips and tricks on art.

Royalty Soaps - Soap making! I find Katie really relaxing to watch and listen to, and she often talks about her soap making process.

Safiya Nygaard - Quirky and adventurous, Safiya tends to make beauty and fashion try videos, and some travel videos as well. Safiya is probably one of those YouTubers you need to watch a video of to see if you’ll like because her channel is all about her and her husband’s Tyler’s personality.

The Try Guys - Four very different guys who try things together. I’m assuming you all know who the Try Guys are, but.

Watcher - Shane, Ryan, and Steven left Buzzfeed to make their own video channel and brought many of their ideas over from there. Shane and Ryan continue to be a delight together in just about everything they do. So far my favorite is Shane’s Puppet History Theater.

ENGLISH SUBS

AIDOL - One of the last English subbers, though they update infrequently now. This links to their DailyMotion account as AKB videos are largely removed from YouTube quickly. If you enjoy the older AKB generations, this is a great resource of older subs.

Animegg.org - My go to English subs place if Crunchyroll doesn’t have what I’m looking for. Their adds aren’t evasive and they accept adblock.

[movieswithkevin27]

Find Me Guilty

Sidney Lumet's Find Me Guilty tells a story that is almost too absurd to believe. Sent to prison for thirty years on a variety of charges, Jackie DiNoscio (Vin Diesel) is given a chance to turn state's witness against his friends in the Lucchese crime family. However, he refuses. What ensues is a nearly two year trial involving Jackie and the rest of the leading members of the Lucchese crime family in New Jersey. Complicating matters is the fact that, not only are all defendants being tried at the same time, but Jackie has opted to act as his own attorney. Funny, terrifically acted, and an engrossing drama in its own right, Find Me Guilty is so ludicrous and absurd that it just has to be true.

At the heart of this film's success is the performance of Vin Diesel. Starring as Jackie DiNoscio, Diesel is in pretty much every shot aside from the brief moments shown from the prosecution's discussions about the case. Otherwise, this is Diesel picture. Casual, likable, and magnanimous, Diesel easily sells DiNoscio as a man who can be rooted for without endorsing what he did in his life. We see him as an honest and laid back who is one of the few men caught up in this trial who admits what he has done. There is no hiding that he is a bad man who did a lot of wrong, but DiNoscio is uninterested in hiding that information. Instead, the trial is personal for him as he tries to defend himself (and his friends as a by-product due to the nature of the charges) and examine how some of the people he trusted could betray him by testifying. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, Diesel nails Jackie in the more emotional scenes of cross-examining his cousin and in the more comical moments of him playing up his charm to the jury. In all, Diesel manages to make this mobster into a man who the audience is comfortable rooting for, which is perhaps the great accomplishment one could give his acting. He is honest, he is raw, and above all, he is intensely real. Diesel shows all sides of this man - his anger, his philandering, his drug use, his drug dealing, and his love of friends and family alike - and makes him into a genuine and, somehow, good hearted person.

A lot of this is due to the film's great script that is very natural. Sidney Lumet's films obviously ride on the actors and the natural dialogue given to them with Find Me Guilty being no exception. The film is not one that is ever particularly stagy and the dialogue captures this perfectly. Jokes delivered by Diesel or one-liners rely on his natural charisma in part, but also in the film's dialogue that makes these lines never come off as written. Instead, they include the imperfections, the awkward phrasing, pace, and delivery, of a natural in-the-moment story or joke. In a similar vein, the script manages to balance this ambitious endeavor of showing the lengthiest trial in the history of the federal courts quite nicely. The film never feels crowded or abbreviated. It includes the important moments, the important conversations, and the important characters, without ever allowing the picture be weighted down with too much information. Rather, it shows us what we need to know, shows how it fits in, and then never belabors the point or clutters the rest of the film. It is an unfussy, focused, and stripped back that covers what it needs to without ever dipping into excess. It builds the character of Jackie - both personally and professionally - and it shows the important days of the trial, the crucial conversations, and the relevant cases. It is a film that may be slowly paced and possibly overlong, but it is not filled with much clutter whatsoever, making it one that is hard to argue should have been cut down.

What really captures the eccentricity of this film perfectly is often the way in which Lumet opts to capture the action. Typically, courtroom dramas are shot with a heavy array of close-ups or medium shots. While this is occasionally still true in Find Me Guilty, Lumet largely relies upon a handheld camera or extreme high-angle shots to showcase the action in and out of the courtroom. Deep focus in the prison shows Jackie walk into his cell in the distance as other inmates closer to the camera mill about on their own. The same in the courtroom shows defendants as they laugh or fidget in their seats. In the hallway, a handheld camera gets stuck behind a crowd of observers as they all cram into the elevator with the deep focus giving us the belief that we too are stuck behind this massive throng of people. In the car as Jackie is transported over, the handheld camera whips between Jackie and the cops like a person's head would. As Jackie argues his case, Lumet often uses the aforementioned high-angle shot, creating a feeling of the audience being no different than another observer, sitting high up in the rafters of the courtroom. The same is continued in the prosecutors office with Lumet's high-angle shots creating a fly-on-the-wall experience. In essence, as this is a true story, Lumet creates a feeling similar to that in Dog Day Afternoon where he used grainy camera work and deep focus to create the feeling we were watching news coverage of the incident. Here, he makes the audience feel as though they are watching it first-hand or being given a behind-the-scenes look courtesy of a hidden camera.

Lumet's camera work also provides an interesting perspective on the power structure of the film. Sent away for 30 years and now being approached by the feds to flip on his friends, Jackie's lawyer comes to meet with him. Capturing the lawyer with a medium close-up and Jackie with a medium shot, the lawyer naturally takes up much of the frame and, thus, becomes the more powerful figure. This continues as Jackie meets with the DA and is captured from a distance, sitting all alone with a longer-than-medium shot. The DA, however, is always in the foreground with the intimate camera work to match. As the case proceeds, however, things begin to flip. The high-angle shots used to capture the prosecution puts them in a position of vulnerability. By contrast, Jackie now receives close-up treatment with the camera coming from the point-of-view of witnesses he is questioning. Other scenes give him this slightly low-angle look as he begins to win back some control over the trial against the prosecution. This flip in how they are both captured and interestingly subtle technique used by Lumet to demonstrate the power balance of the film and how it changes over the course of the trial.

A funny, too-absurd-to-be-true-but-is story, Find Me Guilty benefits greatly from an excellent performance from Vin Diesel plus typically strong and unique direction from Sidney Lumet. The film loses steam over the course of the picture with jokes and lightness coming less rapidly, thus causing the film to drag quite noticeably. Fortunately, the film beforehand is just good enough to overcome its issues with length.

[fourteenacross]

hamilton chicago: friday, may 19

 AS PROMISED! Show notes! About the Eliza Company!

(Previous Ham show notes: May ‘16, July ‘16, October ‘16)

Pre-show notes:

There were so many stairs! Which wouldn’t have been a problem except they didn’t sell all the merch upstairs and didn’t SAY THAT until we were already up there, so I ran a marathon to get a gd hoodie. idk how those Great Comet kids do that every night, jesus

The stage is smaller or at least SEEMS smaller--more narrow. Thus, some of the choreography seemed different.

This will be the bougiest thing I type in this review, so brace yourselves: they had different signature cocktails and they did NOT have a gin cocktail and while their Hennessy cocktail was FINE, I was a little bummed.

In overview: I LOVED this cast and most of them are now my second favorites after the OBC. They were PHENOMENAL. I’m so jealous of all my buddies in Chicago who are so close to this cast.

Cast: Alexander Hamilton: Miguel Cervantes Aaron Burr: Daniel Breaker Eliza Hamilton: Ari Afsar Angelica Schulyer: Karen Olivo George Washington: Jonathan Kirkland Lafayette/Jefferson: Chris De'Sean Lee Mulligan/Madison: Jean Godsend Floradin Laurens/Philip: Jose Ramos Peggy/Maria: Samantha Marie Ware and the rest of the cast

Song-by-Song

Alexander Hamilton: It was weird not having the wild applause after each actor’s entrance, not even for A.Ham. There was nothing wrong with that, it just threw me. I could tell IMMEDIATELY that Daniel Breaker’s Burr was going to be unique. There wasn’t as much emphasis on my FAVORITE DUMB DETAIL of this song, the coat-books-bag hand-off.

Aaron Burr, Sir: Daniel plays Burr as a little more irreverent, and a little closer to ~*~historical Burr~*~ rather than Leslie’s more sleek and refined Burr. His “talk less, smile more” was almost sarcastic, and that really set the tone for him. The whole time that AHam is ranting and babbling, he looked more and more like he was trying to keep his distance, like he was already exasperated. The intros for the gang were PERFECT. They were different from the OBC, but still in the same style.

My Shot: THIS WAS SO GOOD. The moment I knew this cast was going to be something else. This song was a perfect encapsulation of Hamilvantes--frantic and desperate and defensive and ready for shit. José was a perfect hype-man, his Laurens’ recklessness really shone through, like this was what he was always primed to do and he finally found someone willing to encourage it. Chris Lee was SO funny and his accent was PERF. I’d say better than Daveed’s, but I’ll get to the issues with that later. We had an understudy for Mull/Mad, Jean Godsend Floradin, and he was SO AMAZING--he was small and somehow had all that big Hercules Mulligan personality inside of him all the same.

Story of Tonight: I will admit that this song was not as queer as I’m used to/wanted it to be. AHam did a lot more hanging off of everyone as opposed to just Laurens. Of course, no one will ever gay this up as much as Lin and Anthony.

Schuyler Sisters: SAMANTHA WARE THO. Peggy is so frustrated and angry with her big sisters at the start and that was perfect. Karen is AMAZING she brings a very different energy to Angelica in this song, more...I don’t know, like she’s rushing out there to learn, whereas Renee played it more like she already KNEW these things, but was bringing her sisters out to see it for themselves. Also, Daniel’s Burr is so full of himself and such a smarmy asshole and I LOVED IT.

Farmer Refuted: Seabury was so tiny! José Amor was just swallowed by the costume. He played the character younger and less condescending than Thayne does. Miguel had an almost angry edge to his delivery, or maybe more sarcastically vindictive. Whatever he did, it was super funny.

You’ll Be Back: This was funny? idk, I’m not into these songs as much as other people, they’re funny, but it’s kind of just one joke?

There were audible gasps during the transition, which furthers my conviction that it’s one of the three best things in the show that you don’t know about if you haven’t seen it.

Right Hand Man: Jonathan Kirkland as GWash was really good, but it took me a couple minutes to decide that/connect with him.Very commanding and frustrated in a very different way than Chris Jackson. Older seeming. I noticed for the first time the very specific desertion choreography leading up to “are these the men with which...etc.” I LOVED Daniel’s delivery of Burr’s lines in GWash’s office, particularly “from a distance.” “We keep meeting” was played for laughs explicitly, whereas on b’way I always feel like people laugh at it even though it isn’t necessarily delivered as a joke. (This line always scans as more creepy than funny to me on the cast recording.)

Winter’s Ball: Weirdly, this was the gayest number in the show? AHam and Laurens are hanging off each other basically up to the second the “ladies!” bit starts and did not seem like, totally convinced this was something worth their time? It was an interesting choice.

Helpless: My party was divided on their feelings on this song and Ari, but I came down strongly on LOVED HER. I wrote a little heart next to this number in the notes in my bullet journal. She was so cute and I loved her voice and she was perfectly bubbly and in love. Karen’s delivery of “I’m just saying...etc” was AMAZING and totally new and I loooooooved it.

Satisfied: I WOULD KILL A MAN FOR KAREN OLIVO. Her performance is basically like she’s having a conversation with herself, posing a question/problem and trying to come up with any possible solution where she wins. Like she’s working through this problem and realizing she’ll never win. It was much more...idk, interactive than Renee or Mandy? There was a lot of her delivery and face that was more animated. Her “so this is what it feels like...etc” was AMAZING, incredible, genuinely amazed and shocked that she was stymied by this guy’s brain. It’s definitely my favorite performance of this song ever. Worth the whole goddamn Chicago vacation on its own.

Story of Tonight (Reprise): Cute. “She’s married” was SO good. They were both so into it--Burr was smug and knew exactly what he as getting away with and AHam was almost proud of him for it XD

Wait For It: Daniel’s more rakish, funny Burr makes this song even more poignant, like a look into what’s beyond his jokey exterior. I connected with it SO deeply.

Stay Alive: Lee was pretty funny. I’m pretty sure Lafayette gave him the finger as he ran off, which made me laugh.

Ten Duel Commandments: Again with the “not as queer as it could be.” (Sorry, my gay, depressed, stressed out self over-relates to historical Laurens’ gay, depressed, stressed out self, so Laurens’ subtextual gayness is important to me.) (And a lot of feelings about the decision to make it subtextual in the libretto, if not in the OBC’s performance, but I won’t get into that.) (Altho I will say something about the letter hand-off at the “note for your next of kin” made it seem like the letter was specifically intended for AHam? Something in the look they exchanged on the hand-over.) José was SO tiny next to Robert Walters as Lee??? And, surprise, I loved Daniel’s delivery of E V E R Y  O N E of his lines. 

Meet Me Inside: GWASH WAS SO BIG AND AHAM IS SO LITTLE. Like, one of the few things I knew about this cast going in was that Miguel is the tiny!Ham, but Jonathan Kirkland is SO TALL! I loved AHam losing his shit, but given how scrappy and defensive Miguel plays the character for the rest of act one, I kind of expected more? GWash played it almost as if he wasn’t firing AHam, just sending him home to think about what he’d done and see his wife and cool off.

That Would Be Enough: Ari has a great voice and I love how physically affectionate she is with AHam. It felt so natural and really added to their chemistry.

Guns and Ships: Burr’s intro is SO EXCITED like he couldn’t wait to tell us about Lafayette. Like I said earlier, Chris Lee’s accent was better than Daveed’s, BUT because it was so good, I have a feeling some of the lines were indecipherable to people who didn’t know the words, despite the fact that his rapping was very crisp.

History Has Its Eyes on You: I never really noticed the signifigance of Washington handing over the sword before. It definitely felt like Washington was making sure AHam really thought long and hard about his new responsibilities before giving it to him.

Yorktown: INCREDIBLE. Mulligan’s verse was SO GOOD. This number always gives me chills and this was no exception. I always want to jump up and cheer and they def fueled that today. Also, the “immigrants” line got applause and cheers, even though a lot of the other applause/cheer lines didn’t not.

What Comes Next: This was fine.

Dear Theodosia: Very sweet on both their parts. Their voices really sound wonderful together.

Tomorrow There’ll Be More of Us: The cramped staging of this really threw me. AHam could have reached out and touched dead!Laurens. José played it kind of wistfully smiley which didn’t 100% work for me, which is probably good in the long run considering how wrecked I was watching Anthony.

Non-Stop: SO GOOD. At the beginning-- “after the war” etc--it was like AHam was trying to show up Burr in all his line deliveries. At the start of the courtroom bit, Burr looked at the audience like he was looking into the camera on the Office and it was amazing. “Constitutional convention” was adorbs--he started normal and went full on squeal by the end. “You’re a better lawyer than me” was SO GOOD, like he showed up just to announce that after steeling himself and Burr was so over it and I LOVED IT. The end was so perf and intense, specifically the “isn’t this enough”/”he will never be satisfied.” And AHam’s “look around, look around” is always one of my favorite lines.

Intermission: I am SO GOOD at bathrooms, guys, I was in the ladies room before the lights even came up all the way and out in time to grab a drink before dissecting the show with my buddies.

What’d I Miss?: Good, but not as good as I wanted it to be? Lots of little flourishes that made it his own, but not over the top enough for my preferences. (I’ve previously seen Daveed and Chappelle, so my preferences really err on the side of VERY OVER THE TOP). He kept poking Madison with his cane to get his attention, which was cute. His “I can’t believe that we are free” hit particularly hard for some reason--it might have been the angle I was sitting at and how the slaves were framed in the view from that side. 

Cabinet Battle #1: GOOD ALL AROUND A+ EVERYONE.

Take a Break: I really liked José’s approach to this number more than Anthony’s. Anthony hangs a lampshade on it, José leaned into playing a nine year old, and that works better for me. The audience LOVED Eliza’s beatboxing. And Karen and Ari are SO. GOOD. TOGETHER.

Say No To This: Samantha Ware definitely plays Maria as more complicit in the blackmail. You can tell she LIKES AHam, but she’s also an adult who knows what she’s doing the whole time. I LOVED that play on it--very different from Jasmine, but equally nuanced and interesting.

Room Where It Happens: SO GOOD. I know I keep typing that in all caps but IT’S TRUE especially when it comes to Daniel’s Burr. It’s like he so genuinely was shocked and needed to figure this out. There was so much energy at the end and his final verse with slightly different choreography was sooooooo great.

Schuyler Defeated: Good job everyone.

Cabinet Battle #2: “France” was so good, like Madison wasn’t sure if he was supposed to reply once the mic was in his face. He almost missed it. A+.

Washington On Your Side: THIS WAS GREAT. I loved TJeff’s fast verse in the middle, his realization that he needed to resign made him wide-eyed and bowled over. Madison directed his “which I wrote!” at TJeffs and Burr, when he’s directed it off stage the last few times I’ve seen it, like he was finishing an argument with people and then wandering into this song. Burr was def stirring shit at the start when he went up to TJeffs.

One Last Time: ALSO SO GOOD EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD SORRY. I loooooved GWash’s “talk less” which was much more sarcastic/bemused than Chris’ frustration on that line. His GWash overall had that much more fatherly feeling to him. His riffs at the end were amazing--he went full gospel and he def had a powerful enough voice for it.

I Know Him: Good, etc.

The Adams Administration: King George is much more involved in this number than he’s been any other time I saw it. I didn’t dislike that? I’m neutral on it.

We Know: Good. One of my other fave lines is in this song and I wasn’t super into the delivery of it, but overall it was suitably foreboding.

Hurricane: Beautiful. I really felt it on the heels of AHam’s desperation/defensiveness in Act 1. I totally get why he would do this, even more so than usual. And there was def a little spite thrown in with his other reasons, just for good measure, which is #relatablecontent.

The Reynolds’ Pamphlet: Samantha Ware’s forced “haha NOTHING TO SEE HERE” smile added to the “she’s complicit” vibe. José was great, King George and TJeffs were HILARIOUS.

Burn: SO FUCKING GOOD. SHE WAS SO ANGRY AND UPSET. I LOVED IT. Her “I hope that you BURN” at the end gave me chills and seemed ten times more vengeful and furious than any other performance I’ve seen, which I am INTO. Give me more furious, vengeful Eliza.

Blow Us All Away: mostly fine. Philip could have been a little suaver. “Everything is legal in New Jersey” was great, I have yet to hear a bad delivery of that line, though I may be biased.

Stay Alive (Reprise): SHE SCREAMED A LITTLE! Not the full on shriek, but a tiny anguished scream and that is ALL I WANT. It totally worked for me and was one of the two things I REALLY missed from Lexi’s performance.

Quiet Uptown: Not as emotional, and not in a bad way. Everyone was a little more in control, which is a legit way to play it--more numb than hysterical. As a result, I stayed more together than usual. Karen has a great voice, obvs.

Election of 1800: Burr was all exhausted for the whole thing and I loved it. I loved his eavesdropping on the voters. Madison’s delivery of “you worked on the same staff” was great. I kind of wanted more from Burr’s face after he lost b/c he was SO EXPRESSIVE for the rest of the show. The “because I’m the President” bit was good overall, though no one will ever beat Chappelle’s delivery of that line. Burr sucking up to TJeffs and the way TJeffs and Madison broke away to have that conversation like Burr wasn’t right there. Loved it!

Your Obedient Servant: FUNNY esp because Burr is SO MAD and then so sweet on that closing lines. His "Sweet Jesus" was great. 

Best of Wives, Best of Women: I teared up. Ari and Miguel had such lovely, loving chemistry.

The World Was Wide Enough: Very good on all sides--Daniel killed it. I teared up on “Eliza!” as usual, which started tears #1. Tears #2 is “They say Angelica and Eliza.” I never noticed before how everyone gathers around Burr at the end. The end of the song was so painful and emotional, I lost it again on “The world was wide enough...” it was SO full of emotion.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story: I BURST into tears on “Eliza!” here too. and then just sobbed through the end. Karen was SO angry at the start of the song and that worked so well. And Ari did the look and the gasp and I am CRYING AGAIN JUST THINKING ABOUT IT (Lexi also didn’t do the gasp when I saw her and I’m slightly bitter). Then I cried for like, five solid more minutes.

Cast

Miguel Cervantes: He’s SO TINY? SO. TINY. His Hamilton is SO angry and scrappy. He def plays Ham as defensive of everything. He was incredible. He had amazing chemistry with Ari and Karen and José and a great rapport with Burr and Washington. He was SUPER flirty with the girls. His delivery of “I’m not stupid” was fab, said very plainly and directly. He had SO MUCH emotion during things like “Yorktown” and “Non-Stop.” The way he taunted Burr in “Room Where It Happens” was great--you could see his slow slide from “I want to be this guy’s friend!” to “my asshole frenemy.”

Daniel Breaker: I would kill a man for Daniel Breaker? Holy shit, I loved him so much. Like I said, his Burr is more sarcastic and funny, more personable, more goofy, using sarcasm to keep everyone at arm’s length. He was definitely invested in AHam and the gang, but kept himself at a distance. His face was AMAZING, his facial expressions were worth the price of admission. He really connected with Burr in “Wait For It.” He was so angry and betrayed at the end, and watching that drift into regret was beautiful. His “WAIT!” was chilling.

Ari Afsar: I LOVED HER. Great transition from innocent and excited and enthusiastic and lovestruck to more mature to stoic and angry. She was very physically affectionate with Ham and their love was very believable and sweet. She did the scream and the gasp, which, as I said, are so important to me. During the finale, she perfectly melded the innocence and joy of act 1 with the maturity and determination of act 2. Eliza is a kind of thankless role and it’s difficult to put enough into it to shine, I think, but she nailed it.

Karen Olivo: I WOULD KILL A MAN FOR KAREN OLIVO. She’s maybe my favorite Angelica? I liked her better than Mandy, whom I LOVED, and maybe even more than Renee. I need to listen to/watch Renee again. But. WOW. Her “Satisfied” is so different--her whole interpretation of the character is so different! Her Angelica is much more animated and nosy and involved. She had amazing chemistry with Miguel and with Ari. “Schuyler Sisters” was WILD and ENERGIZED and excited. When she came out for WLWDWTYS, I was honestly shocked by how fierce she was.

Jonathan Kirkland: I was a little unsure of him when he first came out, but he totally sold me. His GWash was incredibly paternal, something Chris flirted with, but there was definitely a delineation there between family and duty. Jonathan plays it much more familial, which was really cool and obvs hit my found family buttons like whoa. You could tell how genuinely he cared for AHam as a person. He was more amused than annoyed by a lot of AHam’s shit. He also felt OLDER than the rest of the cast, but in a different way than Chris did.

Chris De’Sean Lee: SO GREAT. His French accent was so good--better than Daveed’s--and his rapping was A+. He’s definitely my second favorite Lafayette. He was very playful. His Jefferson was very good, but not as good as I wanted it to be? There was a little something missing in comparison to Daveed and Chappelle.

Jean Godsend Floradin: He was an understudy and I was SO SURPRISED because he really owned the role! He was tinier than the traditional Oak!sized Mull/Mad in my head, but just a fierce and scrappy. His verse in “Yorktown” was intense and he was so funny as Madison. He had great partner-in-crime chemistry with Laf/Jeff.

José Ramos: His rapping voice was incongruously deep! But he really established the angry shit-stirring recklessness of Laurens. His Laurens was FIRED UP to kick ass and take names. He was also SO SMALL compared to everyone but AHam, but ESPECIALLY compared to Lee. “Ten Duel Commandments” was so funny when they were back to back. He was fierce, though. His death scenes were a little too wistfully smiley to me, but still better than Thayne’s Musical Theatre Smile death scenes. Philip was GREAT--he leaned into the tininess at the start of the act. He was great during “The Reynolds Pamphlet” and his interactions with AHam were great.

Samantha Marie Ware: REALLY GREAT. I saw Sasha Hutchings as Peggy/Maria and was not so impressed. It’s a tough, thankless role and hard to make something of it, I think. Jasmine, of course, completely turns the role into a highlight of the show, but it’s not easy. Samantha NAILED IT. Her Peggy was almost argumentative in “Schuyler Sisters” and her Act 1 interactions with everyone, esp the sisters, were great. Her Maria was AMAZING. She played Maria as at least partially complicit, but with mixed feelings and it worked SO WELL for me. 

AND THAT’S THAT. We didn’t stage door because we literally forgot that was a thing, we were so pumped from the show. Let me know if you have any questions, I am HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM to the best of my ability! 

[moniquewhatley-blog]

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It is actually extra a facts activity to understand that Jane indicates God is actually merciful or that Alexander means defender of males or even that George indicates planet laborer or that Erin implies off Ireland. For instance, finding out a listing from new words or even lexicons can be built through very subjective analyses from these terms or even groups. They gain from songs and rhymes that give the basis for comprehending just how foreign language works. Influencer marketing is actually a platform where significant people in a details business are actually made use of to connect with the mass quantity from consumers in a relevant way. Some of her renowned designs features that of a necromancy recorded Khmer on the back of her shoulder. The Unicef Gift Outlet possesses an excellent assortment from attractive memory cards as well as gifts that help their work. However if you are single in Washington DC and are actually trying to find concepts of the very best locations to come across males and females that you can possibly have a future with, listed below is a review from the kinds of locations individuals are actually encountering and also their standard effectiveness cost. Smirking before the delivery is an additional adverse way to utilize comical quotes as well as will spoil a lot of the result from the declaration. Care should be actually had when making use of comical quotes of the attribute that they perform not become simply biased, as an example. To reside a genuinely purposeful lifestyle indicates that you recognize the numerous facets that create you 'You' and that you value and also regard that you are and all that you have come to be. Ultimately for job to become meaningful you must examine it in a broader situation to observe that you are actually creating a contribution to culture as a whole. This model carries out not restrict the amount from words or form of terms, yet merely the quantity of syllables. Eventually, when our agents assessed the distributor literary works, they were actually currently familiar with the product so the literature was actually much more meaningful and also retention from discovering considerably better. She was inspired to transform her typical signature lucky even more personal and also relevant, and thus this publication was actually birthed.

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Composing Cinquain Verse

The following time you are actually invited to a baby shower or even christening, offer a gift that is going to be meaningful to the moms and dads, as well as something the kid will certainly treasure as she develops. Although there are lots of information to become analyzed, keeping the reason for the party initially, your little one's rite of passage - his/her First Holy Communion, as the focus will definitely aid guide your selections as well as thought and feelings. Simply you will definitely know exactly what is very most proper for your family and this exclusive opportunity, and that by itself, are going to assist you to consider a celebration that is actually private and also meaningful for your little one as well as your guests. You could locate that you could attract inspiration off quotes or anecdotes you discover in the sample eulogies for a bro that you discover. Imagine your own self, on early morning, opening up the home window to a gorgeous snowfall capped mountain where the sky is so new this will instantaneously invigorate your feeling. E. One group of men was given access to a physical exercise program and also checked pair of opportunities over a 6-month period for soul wellness. If you don't understand the instructor well, that does not indicate you can not still locate instructor presents to sustain charitable organization. His purpose is that can help as many people as possible, attain identical or even much better end results as well as to show them how they can easily know their complete ability, both personal as well as expertly and also in order to help all of them reside a meaningful lifestyle, where they are actually fulfilled in all regions. A straightforward guideline is that the closer the connection in between the contributor and also the results, the a lot more relevant the info. The gent concerned had actually been actually observing my daily quotes for about eight months. Yet a lot more essential compared to its own beautiful look, the brochure was a strong marketing device. While writing a remembrance poem yourself is constantly a relevant venture, there are many remembrance rhymes accessible that may accurately and correctly show the message you're attempting to communicate-whether this be one of sorrow, hope, or even recognition. However if you are single in Washington DC and also are actually looking for ideas from the best areas to find males and females that you might possibly possess a future along with, here is actually a rundown from the types of places individuals are actually meeting as well as their basic success price. Smirking just before the delivery is yet another negative method to make use of amusing quotes and will wreck the majority of the effect of the statement. Treatment must be actually had when using comical quotes of this particular attributes that they perform certainly not end up being just prejudiced, as an example. Meaningful use looks everything about recording that the physician is actually doing whatever essential to ensure the individual is actually being actually alleviated overall individual and certainly not just for his/her presenting grievance. Quotes targeted at undermining, or even teasing a person's bodily attributes, mobilities or even ideas need to never be used, as they make the quoter appearance intolerant as well as little rather than entertaining. Yet when they looked inside, neither could possibly find what was actually purposeful for them. Naturally, there are actually much more attractive names to decide on including Alpana (Gorgeous), Bimala (Complete), Chahna (Love), Devanshi (Spiritual), Fulki (Glow), Grishma (Warmth), Ipsita (Wish), Kala (Art), Lalima (Beauty), Mitali (Friendly), Nirali (Other), Panchali (Princess or queen), Sarayu (Wind), Usha (Dawn), as well as Venya (Adorable). In phases 2 and 3 from the meaningful usage motivation plan, nurses are affecting and also doing even more of the records. Terms tend to be actually incredibly elusive as well as lead various minds to various significances based upon their very own assumption as well as theory of factors. A Poem Traveled down my Arm is actually a collection from poetry and also sketches put together by Alice Pedestrian. Yet another idea is to offer your bridesmaids a wonderful locket as well as earring readied to match their gown, and also to incorporate the matching arm band to the gift for your house maid of tribute. Cheryl Salto enjoys assisting to create events significant as well as individual as the proprietor from providing services for offering a significant online collection from Communion as well as Event favors forever's exclusive events. Thus every single time opportunity you are seeking some ideas of love, you can easily just visit your beloved compilation from impressive as well as significant quotations. To get in contact with your notions on significant job take down every little thing that comes to mind regarding what the standard consensus of the condition relevant work is. That may be practical to document titles from individuals which seem notable and also why. Uses may start along with the DOPU model, and if the circumstances broaden past Meaningful Use with HealthVault, they may at that time change to make use of a file authorization-based version. Definitely ur post provides enough strength to anyone to enhance their lifestyle i am delivering a lovely smile to u likewise. Thus to choose a little one label that is meaningful in a genuine method, its own absolute best to link the label to one thing the kid will come to worth as she or he matures. That is actually why giving your kid the title of an adored grandparent or even someone coming from family tree is actually very purposeful. The individualized photograph mug will definitely be a great present alternative for your buddy as well as at the same time you can deliver presents to Philippines to convey your delight from the affair. Therefore depending on your mood now, you appreciate a wide variety of gorgeous, motivating affection quotes offered for you for free on lots of web sites. You can utilize these brand new romantic passion prices estimate to reveal your passion as well as surprise your companion in any affair - birthday party, Valentine's Time, or your wedding anniversary. Hilarious quotes are fantastic for making use of as the gag line of a prank, yet they are additionally capable to illuminate your day as you deal with the truth or absurdity of exactly what was mentioned. The adage behind the production from these life quotes is actually to encourage and also encourage humanity on the course from success. Today, there many sources online enabling you making your gift even more beneficial and momentous by supplying you along with range from x-mases greetings expressions that may be included along with your gifts. If you're participating in the Medicaid program, you can Embrace, Execute, or even Upgrade (AIU) an approved EHR or even show purposeful use of one in your first year to gain rewards. There is certainly not a recognized rulebook on just how you discover your meaningful work and resulting success. Our company have several sorts of romantic quotations - coming from funny, funny, wise, sweet and meaningful ... to saddening quotes, split, uplifting, difficult, as well as even more. Individuals certainly not merely discuss Xmas gifts with each other however additionally impart their Christmas time wishes as well as notifications in different and one-of-a-kind techniques. Vacationing generally really isn't economical, but it undoubtedly does not have to cost a lower leg and also an arm to explore an area like Fla, known for stunning weather condition as well as stunning coastlines. These lovely styles were conformed due to the local rug weavers, as well as the Herat Petition carpet was born. If you loved this write-up and you would like to receive extra facts with regards to yellow pages uk twitter, inforeti.it, kindly stop by the website. Brand names ought to start making dedications to individuals, as opposed to promises, and consider on their own as allowing platforms that lead folks to obtain the end results that are significant to them. Although some sorts of hilarious quotes are actually considered to become politically incorrect, this is often what makes them prominent for a time. You should know, though, that regardless of whether you find specifically good funny quotes to contribute to your pep talk, a number of your audience members are going to simply certainly not acknowledge the quote as entertaining. So as to retain clients and create a maintainable business, you have to keep in touch along with people in a meaningful technique. Include fresh, free of charge web content to your site like newest posts, internet tools, and prices quote along with a single item from code! The everyday usages from words in our usual language are flags, indicators or even signs of our overall mood.