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koalatydm · 4 years ago

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Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast Episode 5 - The Deluxe Elf Interview with Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry

Transcription Part 1 of 2 (includes Wonderstorm questions and Kuno's questions)

[Transcriber's Notes: This took me SO LONG to transcribe, like multiple hours and I'm only halfway done... But I will make it through at least this one episode because I want fellow Moonfam enthusiasts to have a text source, not to mention make it easier for deaf/HoH people to follow along. I guess I'll tag @kuno-chan since she said it was OK at the beginning of the podcast, sorry if I'm bothering you!]

KUNO: Hi guys, so I have a personal request for this particular podcast episode if you guys could tweet, post, both at least one piece of information that you learned from this particular episode, that you love, that inspired you, that you thought was cute, whatever. Like, I really—one thing that really tends to happen is that people listen to the podcast and they kinda just go about their day. We don’t actually see the information circulate through the community, which we really try to have creative questions—questions that are fun and explore the characters in different situations. And it would just be really, really cool—it would mean a lot to me to see this actually circulate through the community, actually circulate through the fandom, and see, you know, it would be awesome to see it be inspired—to inspire fan works, fan fiction, fan art, especially fan art. I just—we talked like a solid hour at least—really like a solid hour about Runaan, Rayla, Ethari, that family, um, and Moonshadow elves a lot. We talked a lot about that. And I think this is information that a lot of people really wanted, even if it’s in largely headcanon form. But Devon and Iain were so gracious and we talked so much about that family, and including Ruthari, and of course some Rayllum in there. So if you guys could live tweet, or even just one tweet, at least one tweet. Tag us, tag me, tag Hailey, tag @HotPotion, even if you send it directly to me on Tumblr, that’d be awesome and we’d retweet, reblog all your stuff. It would be good for the podcast and I just really want to see this information circulate through the fandom, so at least one tweet. Alright, um, let’s get to the episode though. Thanks! Hope to see you guys on social media about this.

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KUNO: Alright, hey everyone, this is the Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcasts with your hosts Tamika and Hailey, and we are here with Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry, two writers on The Dragon Prince at Wonderstorm, and Devon being actually the recently announced lead writer at Wonderstorm, so say hi everyone!

DEVON: Hi!

IAIN: Hi, this is Iain…

DEVON: Hi, I’m Devon… (laughs)

KUNO: And so we have a ton of stuff to get through today, um, a lot of questions, so—but we’re going to ask Iain and Devon a little bit about themselves first, since I think—I’m not sure if this is the first interview they’ve really had, personally, so uh, Hailey do you want to start—head that?

HAILEY: Um, yeah, sure. Uh, could you tell us about your roles at Wonderstorm?

IAIN: Uh, sure, uh—I’m also a writer at—official title “Senior Writer” at Wonderstorm. I was one of the writing team on the show, not quite as early as Devon, who was basically employee 1 after the founders but um, I joined sort of, end of 2016 when season 1 writing was really starting to get rolling, and was you know part of the process all the way through all the seasons. Uh, and since this—it’s such a small start up company, all the writers take a bunch of other, like, production roles on the show. Like, throughout all three seasons we’ve done, like, continuity notes work, we’ve given feedback on like every step of the production process. And then the other kind of side things we have, like you know, very top secret game that we’re making in here. And like, kind of straddle the line between the show writing and the game so that that’s all kind of on point and feels like it’s in the same universe with the same characters as The Dragon Prince, but ah, can’t say too much about that just yet.

DEVON: Iain does a lot of—a lot of secret work (laughs). Um, yeah as for me, I’m also a writer on The Dragon Prince and my—I was a Senior Writer until very recently, and now I’ve been made into a Lead Writer, which means I just get to flex a lot. Um, but I started in, I think the very, very end of 2015 when Wonderstorm was first getting off the ground as like a tiny, tiny startup. And we were basically four people in a room about, I don’t know, like 20 ft by 10 ft. It was really, really awful—

IAIN: Really smelly.

DEVON: Really smelly, really tiny, like only a skylight for a window, it was great. And I—so I was involved in like the earliest of brainstorming for the show. I helped sort of like put together a lot of the pitch deck when we you know took it around to studios and like, I named like most of the characters—is like my most self-indulgent claim on the show cause I got to do a lot of really silly stuff. Um, but yeah, and then I like help out on a million other fronts at Wonderstorm too because we’re a small company and—yeah, the funny thing about the—the small tasks we have, like you mentioned continuity checks. Um, we often had to make sure that Callum’s backpack and book and Rayla’s bindings were always correct, and that was kind of, the funniest and most intense, like, stage of production ever. Cause you would, you know, watch one shot and then the next shot would come up and Callum’s backpack would have disappeared. So we had to be like, “OK, let’s give Callum backpack back on.”

IAIN: Yeah, and it’s not just for accuracy, but like, the way fandoms operate, like, we just knew if Rayla’s binding reappeared sometime, it wouldn’t be viewed as an error. People would be like “WHAT DID THE KING GET UNKILLED WHAT HAPPENED OVER HERE”.

DEVON: No it was just the—

KUNO: Oh, yeah.

IAIN: Woo!

DEVON: —continuity’s way harder than anyone thinks it is (laughs). It’s a lot.

KUNO: Oh bless you guys for knowing that though cause we—we totally would. Like, think, there was a point I remember saying that they changed Viren’s eye color because they didn’t want too much continuity with Rayla’s eye color and I feel like we were really that close to having a ‘Viren is Rayla’s real father’ issue. We really were. Somebody had to have thought about that issue (laughs).

DEVON: I actually think there is—there’s still at least one shot in the show where Viren has the wrong eye color and if you can find it, congratulations (laughter in background). That’s where we missed—missed it. So it’s in there somewhere.

KUNO: Xadia CSI (IAIN laughs). So you two are married, um, can you tell us what it’s like being married writing partners?

IAIN: You wanna go?

DEVON: Um, yeah, I mean it’s—we actually knew each other professionally before we dated, so it wasn’t like we—it’s sort of like, it was easy for us to—to remain work partners because that was how we existed in the first place. Like I met Iain when I interviewed him for a job and I—he was great (IAIN laughs), he was fun, he was all right.

IAIN: Apparently I passed.

DEVON: But um, so yeah we had a professional relationship before we had a dating—‘dating’ relationship. Um, so it’s strange because a lot of people will say like, “Oh, that’s probably terrible. You probably, like, become absolutely sick of each other” but somehow we’ve managed to—to have like, two relationship patterns where when we’re at work and we’re working on writing stuff we have this very professional thing going on and then at home, we’re just married idiots and we have a lot of fun. So like, I don’t know, I’m never tired of you, personally.

IAIN: No, (DEVON laughs) yeah I mean when we’re writing it’s generally like, Devon’s the one on the keys uh, you know, putting the words in and so on, and it will kind of bounce back and forth between like, I’ll have the idea for the—how the scene should flow and I’ll kinda narrate bits and then we’ll go back and smooth things over. But I mean, I could imagine that with some people it would get tense, but I think Devon and I, we’re just absolutely the most comfortable with each other and neither of us takes it personally when it’s like, “that line that you pitched isn’t working” or “this joke could be funnier”, anything like that.

DEVON: It’s usually Iain who’s—cause I usually type cause I type really too fast.

IAIN: She’s really too proud of her typing (laughs).

DEVON: I type super fast, it’s my only real talent, but—like I’ll just sort of go off on some sort of like incredibly unnecessary, long description of something and Iain will sort of let me get about like four or five lines into this unnecessary nonsense and he’ll just sort start going like, “OK so like, do we really—do we need that? I mean, you know, could we sort of parse this down a little, a little less, a little less”. And then I, just like, “Ugh, fine” (laughs).

IAIN: But um, every word she writes is great.

DEVON: Mmm (skeptically)

IAIN: It’s perfect.

DEVON: Completely not true. Also in our scripts I think like—

KUNO: Aw.

DEVON: —in terms of the way that we work professionally, I think like a lot of my strengths are in—in really almost self indulgent levels of drama and he can kind of pull me back from being too indulgent on those fronts. And then I think that Iain is objectively absurdly funny and so when you kind of look at our episodes usually everything that’s pretty funny and lighthearted and like the sense of levity often comes from you and then if there’s anything that just feels really painfully sad it’s probably me?

IAIN: I’m the funny one.

DEVON: (laughs) It’s true.

KUNO: Aw, I feel such a connection to you Devon, because I’m actually, episode 3 was actually one of my favorite ones because I love all that like domestic stuff. I love just kind of like—oh, I don’t know what you call the trope, like a safe house trope where you go somewhere, you’re still kind of in the adventure but we’re in a space right now, a narrative space where people are safe, if that makes any sense. Like you—if you’ve ever seen How To Train Your Dragon, like (T/N I don’t know what was said here, sorry!), the base is the safe place, that kind of thing. So, I totally get that, I actually see—episode 3 was one of my favorites outside of pretty much every episode where Rayllum was a thing. (laughter from multiple people)

HAILEY: The whole season basically (laughs).

KUNO: Pretty much the whole season, um. I think there was one more question about two.

HAILEY: Yeah sooo.

KUNO: Before we get to the elves.

HAILEY: Yeah, definitely. Uh so it was mentioned that you’re now lead writer, Devon, and can you tell a little bit more about what that entails if you can, and how that’s been going?

DEVON: Yeah, I mean… I actually don’t know what I can say about it, um… I think it—it means that uh, for future Dragon Prince stuff I’ll sort of like take a bit more of an active role in leading the—the development and the storylines and things like that. It also means that from a company perspective um I’ve been kind of involved in some other side stuff that Wonderstorm is quietly looking into developing and um I help a lot with other IPs that we would love to make a real thing someday and that’s kind of all I can say about it I think or I’ll get in trouble.

HAILEY: All right, that’s great, that’s good to know, thank you.

KUNO: The Dragon Prince 2 (laughter from multiple people). I’m totally joking everyone that’s not a thing so don’t take that for—

HAILEY: Wow.

KUNO: I’m joking.

IAIN: Two dragons.

DEVON: The Dragon 2 Prince.

KUNO: Yeah. OK also if there’s anything that you guys say that you want redacted this is probably not going up for another week because I have to get our reaction episode out. So anything you guys think about that you’re like, “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that” just message us and we’ll redact that. Yeah, cause we know that—

HAILEY: Or just say it. Just tell us, like, what’s—

DEVON: Hopefully we have some self-control but—

KUNO: Okay, so we are going to get really indulgent here and I think this is going to be really in Devon’s wheelhouse. We have a lot of questions and a bunch of the scenarios so try to get through as much of it as possible. Um so the first question is can you tell us more about the Silvergrove? What is the government system like in Silvergrove? Who runs it? If you could tell us that is that the only—at least like the leadership role? Um, is that the only Moonshadow elf village? And also do they actually get any real daylight because I noticed when the illusion thing happened it just got shady and I’m like, “They might be taking this Moonshadow thing too far”. Like the elves—do they really like that much? So like tell us about the Silvergrove and where Rayla grew up.

IAIN: So I guess it’s probably worth just starting off with a kind of blanket like, ‘if it hasn’t been in the show, we can’t say it’s 100% fact. A lot of this is just gonna be what kind of we thought, rough shape of things happen in our heads—‘

KUNO: Yeah, absolutely.

IAIN: —going into the writing and so on. So you know, don’t come after me with any, uh, fandom lawyers, anyone. But um yeah, I guess like it’s sort of—it’s most useful for us to think about it in comparison to how the Sunfire elves, like clearly they have very structured society. They have a queen, obviously, and they have large cities and so on whereas we think Moonshadow elves live in, as you saw, much smaller communities. And I think the Silvergrove is not the only one of those, it might be one of the better known ones where clearly the best assassins come from. But uh, I think are other ones out there, um, and maybe even Moonshadow elf people do not know where all the other ones are. Obviously the Silvergrove is hidden and maybe they don’t even have access to all the other ones. So I think there’s a sort of community run vibe to things. I think you know when they decided to—to ghost Rayla, and before that Rayla’s parents, I think that was probably a ‘let’s all come to a consensus before we make a decision about something like this’. I think, Devon, if you want to talk about the kind of like sunlight vibes things, because that was a big part of your driving force behind how this episode looked and felt.

DEVON: Um… well… first, I will say that it was potentially from the top down a complicated visual decision to have episode 3 take place in a Moonshadow elf shady forest grove and also the kingdom of sunlight.

IAIN: Yup.

DEVON: It created a couple production problems in terms of like the way we wanted the Silvergrove to look was very like evening themed and cool colors and you know shaded. And I had this really sort of self indulgent thing where I really wanted it to be as close to night time as possible and yet the story line in Lux Aurea was clearly taking place in the middle of the day. So we came to this sort of compromise that you know it is technically daytime through the whole day and there is enough tree cover that it’s already pretty shadowy but also I think there is some magic at play that’s sort of like generally um shrouds the whole thing in more of like a night time vibe. And my inspiration for that was I’m a big World of Warcraft player, or was I don’t super play a ton anymore but I really loved Ashenvale and some of the night elf regions and they had that similar thing that no matter what time of day it was it always felt like at least dusk or like this sort of like ever—ever shaded feeling. And I indulgently kind of wanted that to be where Rayla came from. So that’s what that’s about.

IAIN: Yeah and I think they’re magical beings. They don’t need vitamin D from the sunlight or anything like that. They’re totally fine if they just get moonlight every so often.

DEVON: But yeah, don’t write a script that has, you know, moon themed place and sun themed place at the same time. It was a… questionable choice (laughs). But I think it turned out—

KUNO: Yeah, ‘cause I was wondering—I was wondering—I was like “Okay” because a lot of the stuff you run through—you run the okay, if I were to write a fanfiction how do I use this. So it’s like, do they just never like—if they like—if Callum were to say live in the Silvergrove would he just have to get used to the fact that like it’s just never totally bright daylight or unless you leave the Silvergrove in the forest, uh, and like—that type of—is that what’s kind of like going on, they just like their shade?

DEVON: I think they like their shade. It’s like Scotland in the winter.

IAIN: Oh yeah, except we all get miserable by around about February when we haven’t seen sunlight in several months. But um yeah, I think it’s kind of like yeah, a combination of ‘oooh, magic’ and also just extremely, like, thick tree cover in the deepest parts of the forest. But I don’t think you have to travel too far. But uh, I think there’s a reason why everyone in that town was a Moonshadow elf and there were no Sunfire elves or random humans just like, chilling and living there. I think only the most goth of kids would be able to live in the Silvergrove without going a little bit mad.

DEVON: I mean you only have to go as far as the adoraburr field which clearly still gets a significant amount of daylight.

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: And you said there’s not really like a leader. They do as a community, but is there anyone that like makes decisions, like is there anybody that like if they were to go to somebody, like if they have like village leadership decisions. And obviously, um, blanket statement that all this we assume is kind a little bit of headcanon so it doesn’t have to be like for gospel, but you know for purposes of writing stuff.

DEVON: Um the way I thought about it—well, to back up a tiny bit, there was actually a version of the story where there might have—this was super, super early on, we were thinking about how the story might play out and we talked about there being potentially another Moonshadow elf leader type character that they would meet who, you know, was the one who ultimately called for the Ghosting decision. But that didn’t really fit the sort of, like, very personal nature of the story we wanted to play out with Rayla specifically. Um but thinking about that and the way that we were, you know, trying to shape it—I would imagine that like the assassins are sort of like a specific group that live in the Silvergrove which is otherwise—it’s not all assassins, like, not everybody there is an assassin. And I think that means that like you know Runaan was the leader of the assassins so he might consult with the leader of the blacksmiths who may be someone over Ethari but maybe it’s him now who might consult with the other general leaders—I don’t know. Like I think it’s more of a counsel of different groups than one single authority. It just seems like that would be a better fit for Moonshadow elves than the sort of like very, very strong-army, structured, high-and-mighty feeling that the Sunfire elves have, so, does that make sense?

KUNO: That totally makes sense, a little bit like an oligarchy, I think I had the idea that like they sound like they like a counsel. Like it sounds like a elven conciliatory.

DEVON: Yeah I think like someone might say, like obviously something horrible has happened and Rayla is exactly the person we thought she was. I’m calling for a—a ghost vote. And then you know—

IAIN: With a cooler name than that.

DEVON: No I think it’s canonically, I’m sorry—

IAIN: Ghost vote?

DEVON: The canon is “ghost vote” now.

IAIN: Okay.

DEVON: But yeah, they would all sort of like weight in kind of like a town hall scenario about of like why this is obviously the correct call and they would all sort of like have to come to some sort of agreement about what to do versus the Sunfire queen just being like “mph, time for the light, light decides!”

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: Okay um the next question being almost a little on that, does Ethari regret, um, what does he—does Ethari regret doing the banishing spell now that he knows the truth about Rayla?

DEVON: Oh absolutely 100%. But I don’t think he would have the power to—to reverse it. Like I think he could do a quick charm to help reverse it in the moment just to speak with her but ultimately it would take a lot for him to undo it and I’m not—we haven’t talked about what he’ll get up to in the meantime, but I don’t know he would be able to pursue it so directly—I’d have to talk about it, I think it would be an interesting side thought to think about how he might pursue redeeming her in the eyes of her people knowing what he knows, but—

IAIN: Yeah I think given that we said it would take everyone to do it collectively and make an agreed decision it would similarly everyone would have to understand the truth and go back on it and ‘oh I saw her one time and she said she didn’t do anything wrong probably isn’t enough to overturn that. But yeah I think he probably felt some regret even at the moment, but you know he’s in some of the worst grief of his entire life and he’s not going to make perfect rational decisions. And I’ve seen you know some people were slightly upset that he got so angry with Rayla in the moment of seeing her but I think like when you first see the person that you’ve tried to convince yourself sort of took the most important person in your life away from you, you’re gonna feel a big mess of feelings and it will bring up some grief that maybe you thought you were just—just starting to get over, so ah. Yeah I think hopefully he can turn that around in the years to come but they’ve all had a rough time. They’re at war. It sucks (DEVON laughs). Don’t go to war, kids.

KUNO: Hailey did you want to ask the next one or did you want me to?

HAILEY: Sure I can ask it. Could you—so I mean—you mentioned a stuff—a couple things about their government system and whatnot, but is there anything else you could tell us about Moonshadow culture, like what their day to day is like, and what it means to be a Moonshadow elf?

DEVON: Um I do think that a lot of the fandom I’ve been pleased to see has picked up on this sort of idea of a fairly rigid culture and you know there’s a lot of importance placed on things like honor, loyalty, and the ability to commit to things. And um I think that could come off as pretty strict but I actually think it comes from the place of valuing a close knit community. And I think, like, to the idea that we said like they probably have some kind of counsel instead of some single authority kind of ruler. It’s—I think their day to day would be very much going about their business in ways that support each other you know? Like does that make sense? It’s—you go to the blacksmith and he does work for you and it’s friendly and conversational but it’s productive—it’s all very for the good of the community.

IAIN: Yeah I think early on in season 1 even Rayla says that you know they’re not really meant to show their feelings. So I think everyone kind of commits to doing their task for the good of the village and doesn’t gripe about their day to day until something bad happens as the entire series to this point has been driven by. But um yeah I think they uh—they’re just committed to having a good, small, close knit village life and all supporting each other the best they can. And then occasionally the dragon queen tells you to go kill someone and that’s your job so you better go do that without complaining about it.

DEVON: I think we use the words “reclusive yet intimate” in the article we put up about the two moon creatures, the moonstrider and the shadowpaw. And I liked that a lot because I think they’re reclusive in the sense that they’re a little bit shut off from the wider world and they’re um isolationist in their preservation of their own culture but they are very close to each other and that is something that they hold at such an—like a preciousness level but it’s also a bit extreme, like if you betray that in any capacity like obviously they take that very seriously. And so it’s a double edged sword if you will, to have a community that supportive and that close but also your ability to perform all of yourself for the good of that community can be your undoing so—

KUNO: No I actually kinda get that um ‘cause I’m Pacific Islander so I think we’d call that what you’d call a collectivist society where it’s like the needs of the group supercede needs of the individual so I kinda like I—it’s not the extreme I think that they are because they’re very like reclusive but um I kinda live like that in a little bit of way. It’s what I grew up with. So I actually totally get that which might be why I like that so much (multiple people laugh). Um so the next question would be how does the banishing spell work that, um, that was used on Rayla politically and magically? I think we’ve talked a little bit about politically already but magically is—I’m assuming it’s a collective decision or does each person, like, opt in? Like could Ethari have opted out of doing it or did we—did they all have to agree?

DEVON: I think everybody have to agree?

KUNO: And how is it broken?

DEVON: I don’t think you can opt out?

IAIN: Um I think ‘how is it broken’ is something we definitely want to save for—for the future uh we really hope that Rayla manages to undo that. In terms of I think that it’s just culturally ingrained that you wouldn’t opt out. Um I think they would probably just argue forever until they manage to come to an agreement. So I—yeah I don’t think there’s you know half the elves in that village who are seeing Rayla and were like “Oh hey Rayla how’s it going?” I think uh they all came to the collective decision. That’s kind of the political angle. Um sorry, what was the other part? Magically how it works?

KUNO: Yeah? How would you do it?

IAIN: I—again, you know if it’s not in the show it’s not canon, but I sort of inspired by how the entrance spell works where they do a dance and there’s a ritual and I imagine it’s kind of similar. Like I think there’s a lot of that kind of like ritualistic style of magic and it’s kind of like what you see when they put the flowers out onto the water as well. There’s you know a collective dance probably involving a lot more people, a lot more cool intricate runes that happen only with a much more somber mood than the fun, happy times of Callum and Rayla dancing around in the forest. Um so yeah it’s probably—I would imagine it’s probably tied to some whatever the saddest phase of the moon is and that’s when they all get together and really somberly and really sadly uh commit to never seeing this person again. At least that’s the part of the plan. An interesting question that I think could be something that fanfiction writers such as yourself could get into is has any one of these ever been broken before or have they all been pretty sure that they would never need to go back on it? Is that going to be something that Rayla is going to figure out for the first time ever or is there a precedent for this happening. And we don’t have an answer right now but I think that would be a cool story to think about and write.

DEVON: Oh man I love the saddest phase of the moon idea. Imagine if they do it at the new moon because it’s like the moon’s face is hidden forever. Whoo.

IAIN: Whoo.

DEVON: Sad.

KUNO: Maybe we’re birthing things while we’re doing this interview. I actually think it would be like Callum does the Historia Viventum thing and it would be so—cause now I’m just imagining this whole village doing this sad dance which is the Banish Rayla dance essentially. And like that would be so sad for Rayla to witness that just for the drama of seeing her entire village decide to just not see her ever again. And that’s like wow, I’m so sad now.

DEVON: I love sadness.

IAIN: Yeah Callum just crushing a series of Moon Opals to show such a clip show of all of Rayla’s saddest history moments (laughs).

DEVON: Oh god.

IAIN: That’d be great.

DEVON: Thanks Callum.

KUNO: Thanks Callum. Um, she’d love him anyway. But um okay so some of my favorite stuff, what was it like for Rayla when her parents had to leave her to live with Runaan and Ethari and what was that transition like for them all? How old was like Rayla too?

DEVON: This was one that we’ve had a couple different ideas about so this is another one that’s like heavy not quite canon bubble. Like if we actually end up doing a story that involves some of these details it’s likely to change and be slightly different but the versions that I’ve liked have involved her being pretty young. And because honor is such a you know key part of Moonshadow culture I think like overall it was something that she felt you know sad about because she knew that she wasn’t going to be directly seeing her parents very often anymore. And—but it was uh such a huge honor that she felt you know pride in what her parents were being selected to go do. You know, act as Dragonguard and serve as these sort of like honorific, um, warriors that left the collective of the Silvergrove to go represent Moonshadow elves in the service of the Dragon Queen. And I think she had—she grew up being told what an honor that was and how much pride she should have in her parents because that is such a special thing. And then I think like it speaks a lot to how proud she was when she believed that they ran away and abandoned that duty because you know, how could they? If that was their reason for leaving her when she was a child and then they ran away from that job, like, how important could it have really been? And then you know, I’m sure that makes her feel very, very small. It made her feel so hurt that she told Callum at first that they were dead so she took it pretty hard.

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: But I think the other thing about it that we’ve sort of kicked around is that like, Runaan and Ethari were Rayla’s parents’ close friends and I think she was familiar with them enough that she didn’t feel like she was being you know left with two strangers. It’s sort of just like, you’re going to be under the care of people who are already very, very close to you and care about you quite a bit.

IAIN: Yeah I think with like Moonshadow elves in general the thing I think about a lot is like the good and evil that comes from suppressing your true emotions to show a different face to the world and I think we see a lot of that in Rayla. Like I think she probably committed pretty hard to Ghosting her parents because she had this like big mess of like sadness that she’d left but at least the soft landing of Runaan and Ethari to live with and so on. But believing like this sadness is worth it because they’re doing something so noble and then the betrayal of that—it just came out in kind of a messy like toxic way, right, where now she’s committed to becoming an assassin at a really young age in a way Ethari doesn’t agree with and so on. But I mean on the other side I think having a strong handle on your emotions is often one of Rayla’s strengths right? Like we saw in episode 5 of this season after she’s going through a whole lot of stuff, both her family situation and this new development with Callum, she’s just able to like operate as a cool badass extremely cool assassin without letting any of that affect her. But you know I think there’s balance in how you handle your feelings and how you externalize them in a good way that people can learn from, but sometimes you gotta—you gotta work (laughs).

KUNO: That makes sense. Oh well yeah I always had this personal headcanon which I kind of like incorporated into my fanfictions where she felt abandoned by her parents so in a way it’s kinda like slightly—kinda like that except it was all those feelings that have been repressed from years and years basically came out when she felt like—like the abandonment came to like the head when she felt like they had left because they had ran away—they kind of like ran away like from her.

DEVON: Oh yeah, absolutely.

KUNO: In a way—their duty to—

DEVON: I think that validates the suppressed feeling, you know.

KUNO: Yeah, since their duty to the Dragonguard was in it’s own way more important and that’s something that was like okay because it was an honor but since they ran away it’s like obviously it was more important in a terrible way, if that makes any sense?

IAIN: Yeah I mean I think it’s like she did her best and she’s trying to be a grown up but it’s hard at a young age to accept that you know there are meant to be higher callings than a bond between parents and children, right? Like that’s hard for her to grasp and she probably didn’t express that openly ever really. But I think it really did help that she had two genuine loving father figures ready to accept her with open arms even if one of them did train her to become the best assassin of her generation, which again I wouldn’t advise to—to most parents out there.

DEVON: I do think like even that was considered, you know, honorable. It was you know, you’re going to—not only are you going to get to live with Runaan and Ethari, like Runaan is the leader of the assassins, or at least maybe at that point in time he wasn’t the leader but he was very up and coming. I don’t know, it could be either or, but that I think was probably something that she fully embraced and fully wanted, like you know, ‘this is my purpose in life, this is my calling, my parents have gone off to do their calling and it’s a great honor for them, and this is my path and what I’m going to do with myself’. And that didn’t end up being true but it was probably a comfort to her at the time.

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: That makes a lot of sense. Moving on, okay, this, we’re getting real indulgent now—do you know what Ethari and Runaan’s wedding was like and what are Moonshadow elf weddings are like in general?

DEVON: Um, I have a, so a lot of the dancing stuff is because I have an enormous soft spot for tropes involving cute dances, like, just a huge, huge soft spot. And the thing that comes to mind is, if you’ve seen the movie Prince of Egypt, which is such a weird reference—

KUNO: Yeah, I love that.

DEVON: —the scene where he and the girl, I forget her name, they do the thing—

KUNO: Tzipporah.

DEVON: —with the ribbon and they do the cute little dance with the ribbon. For some reason that’s what I think of when I imagine what a moment in their wedding would look like would be a dance with a ribbon that they sort of use to—you know, Moonshadow elves love ribbons, I guess, but this is a good ribbon! It’s a love ribbon. But anyway, that’s just my idea. I love that specific—that song that, “Through Heaven’s Eyes”, it’s during that sequence but that—

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: —would be my go-to inspiration for like, it’s like that and then you know, everybody dances with them because Moonshadow elves like to dance.

IAIN: Yeah, I kind of like the idea of the—there’s a lot of these symbols that are sometimes extremely sinister. I mean I think Ethari even kinda calls this out when he shoots the—the Shadowhawk arrow to inform the queen that her son is in fact alive. But like, Moonshadow elves believe that death and life are not good and evil, they’re mirrors of each other and an important part of the cycle. And you know, the moon has cycles and that’s an important part. So I think thinking about all the rituals and stuff that they have, which initially you’re introduced to as ‘let’s go murder someone party’, like if that was—there was a kind of inverse to that that was a big part of their wedding ceremony I think that would make a lot of sense to Moonshadow elves because this is two people binding their lives together forever. Binding for a shared purpose in a good way and not the grim ‘let’s go kill Prince Ezran’ kind of way.

KUNO: Yeah. Cause naturally this is involving like several ships so I’m like, I had to ask that. And on the piggyback of that, as detailed as possible, can you describe courtship customs for Moonshadow elves?

DEVON: Oh man.

KUNO: I mean like dating—dating customs, like a headcanon even if it’s just headcanons.

IAIN: Devon is deep in thought (laughs).

DEVON: I’ve never—like for some reason the—the headcanons that I’ve thought about are more specific to like, Runaan and Ethari than I’ve really sort of like branched out into thinking about how Moonshadow elves do this in general. So I imagine there’s intended—there’s some formality to it, I would imagine, in that like, because they’re so, you know, purposeful and thoughtful with how they express their feelings if at all, I think it would be, you know, exchange of gifts like small favors and making your purpose known in a way that starts small but has purpose. So I think like, there’s versions where Ethari would put extra detail into the work he was doing for Runaan which you know, could be perceived as a sign of affection or Runaan was coming to Ethari asking him to work on his weapons or metalcraft stuff a little bit more than was necessary and—stuff like that, where it’s a bit stiff and difficult but I think like once—once there is clear reciprocation I think there can be more of an open discussion about it, does that make sense? But I think Runaan probably struggled with this a whole lot, like, ‘cause he’s—did I, it might have been you who I responded to on Twitter but someone asked me something along these lines and I think Runaan had a really hard time even with this first sort of like simple offerings of affection because that’s just him. Like he sort of takes that aspect to an extreme. Like he has a hard time being like “here is the way I wish to express myself in a soft way and not with a—a sharp object. So I think Ethari had an easier time because he’s just more naturally soft (laughs).

IAIN: Yeah I sometimes think that Runaan is the most Moonshadow elf of all Moonshadow elves, but like, you know, it’s—

KUNO: I was gonna say that.

IAIN: Yeah, um, you know when they have such a hard time showing their feelings and they sometimes feel like they’re not supposed to and so on, and so Runaan is trying to pick up on the tiniest possible hints through professional exchanges and so on. And I think when it’s actually time to confess that there’s a feeling there you would, I think especially Runaan would have to be 100% sure and then do it entirely in private, the most private situation possible where there could be no possible spies who could see this if it was going to go wrong because that would just be the end of his entire life, obviously.

DEVON: Yeah he would bind himself to his own death (laughs).

IAIN: Yeah, that’s it. Gonna assassinate myself because I confessed love and it didn’t get reciprocated. That’s that.

DEVON: It’s over.

IAIN: So yeah, lot of—lots of awkward advances where they’re trying—trying to have the escape hatch of “Oh I didn’t really try to suggest that I liked you, this was just me asking you for a professional favor by let’s never speak again”.

DEVON: And then he comes back the next day (DEVON and IAIN laugh).

KUNO: Oh my goodness. Uh I felt—I—I kinda like headcanoning now that Ethari tells Rayla all this “how I met, you know, your surrogate dad” kind of stuff. Like, and that’s how she—she’s like, this is how you do love apparently.

DEVON: I do think that like, yeah, he had a much easier time and probably picked up on stuff. And to me there’s a side of Ethari that you don’t really get to see in the episode because he’s very sad. I think he’s a—he does have a playful side and I like to imagine that while Runaan was doing his, like, really just not-the-best attempts to display affection early on, like Ethari would pick up on them but not necessarily give the full signal back. And he played a little bit oblivious but he absolutely was—he’s just more emotionally in tune. So I think, “Oh hey, you’re back again, wow. I thought I did fantastic work on your blades last time. I cannot believe they’re already dull!” Like and he just sort of like, he knows—he knows there’s something there.

IAIN: I think like this kind of gets echoed in Rayla, like where Callum in an effort to pick her up and be honest about how he feels that she’s just an incredible person. Like to her that’s like, ‘person being entirely open with their feelings in a positive way? That’s a love connection!’ And then it goes wrong for one entire episode and then it turns out that Callum was also not fully aware of how he was feeling and so on. But I think like, yeah, I think that’s why she was like immediately “Wow, this is clearly meant to be romantic and this is—this is going exactly the way I want!” and then it didn’t. But then it did! So we’re all happy.

DEVON: Aww.

KUNO: I am! I’m certainly happy. Um—uh let’s see—the next one is—okay. What was Rayla like as a child growing up in a household she did—household? Um, she mentioned going to school and we’d love to know how baby Rayla fared as a student and just a child growing up in the Silvergrove and what that experience is like for a Moonshadow elf child?

DEVON: You want—you want me to do this one?

IAIN: Go for it.

DEVON: Yeah, um, I think Rayla was feisty (laughs) in a word. I think she—for some reason there’s a scene in the beginning of Korra where she’s already mastered like, three elements and she like comes out punching. I kind of think about that when I think about baby Rayla. She knows she’s—there’s that end credit scene where she’s got the two sticks and she’s posing with them and Runaan’s sort of lifting one of them up and I’m thinking like, okay so sheg’s like, from a tiny, tiny age thinking like, “I’m gonna be the coolest assassin the Moonshadow elves have ever seen!” and she’s like rambunctious about that almost, because you know, as a child you don’t really understand what the ramifications of that are but it’s considered like a highly, highly valued, honored position and so she’s obviously like, “Yeah I’m gonna do that and I’m going to be the best at it and there will never be any complications whatsoever!” In terms of Moonshadow elf childhood, I think with the way that I would think about it is—we talked about the sort of community aspect. I imagine Moonshadow elves have pretty, like, what’s the word, like, a lot of general education, sort of, like, “this is what weaponsmithing is like and this is gardening and raising crops and things to provide for the community” and so I think they would have a lot of ‘school’ that covers a lot of just like, life basics because you are expect to find a place that contributes to the collective whole. Does that like—?

IAIN: Yeah, I think like it’s also lucky for Rayla that a big part of Moonshadow elf culture is what we would call PE. Like I think she excelled at striving to be an assassin warrior and so on. Especially like, she’s trying to live up to her parents who at first were honored Dragonguard and you know, Runaan as well. I think in terms of like, more academic stuff like if there was Moonshadow elf history lessons and “let’s go out and understand the, you know, ecology of the Moonshadow forest” and stuff I think she was probably a bit kinda like, rambunctious and not super paying attention and running off and not really giving it her all and so on. Um, you kind of get that impression from early on where she knows what Primal sources are and she’ll explain that to Callum but like, when she’s talking about ‘how do you do that Moonshadow form thing’ she’s like “I don’t know, it just feels right”. Like I think that’s—she did everything very intuitively and focused on the things she cared about and understood and kinda did what she—did what she could on the other subjects, I guess, but didn’t care as much.

DEVON: Yeah I feel like if you imagine the kid that is going to grow up to be an artist is doing doodles on their math homework and just sort of like doing the math homework but—but you know, clearly the effort is being placed elsewhere. I think it’s that but she was excelling at PE and assassin training and therefore fell very, very easily into her supposed path.

KUNO: The—this isn’t on the thing, but did—did she ever—did she ever really have any friends? ‘Cause she doesn’t really mention—ever mention friends. I—maybe that has to do with the whole assassin thing where if she wasn’t learning being at school she would probably doing assassin stuff with Runaan or assassin training stuff—I guess not really assassinating. But um did she have really friends growing up?

IAIN: I think if she had friends they were not super close. And I think she valued her alone time. There’s a sweet moment early in—well end of season 1 where she like tries to cheer up Ezran by saying that fitting in is overated and I think she felt that a little bit. Um and you know I think there’s some amount of when you’re being trained in the art of an assassin like you’re probably somewhat taught to—to keep people at arm’s length a little bit, right? And I think she—she took that to heart. So I think that’s a big part of why when she was first traveling with Callum and Ezran there wasn’t that much trust between then and it was kinda like, it was Ezran honestly that bridged the gap being most empathetic number 1 child. And yeah, I think having a close friend is relatively new to her.

KUNO: Makes sense. Like just few, not the many. Um okay then next question before we get to Hailey’s batch of them are um, what are Runaan’s feelings toward Rayla as of right now and everything that’s happened since season 1? I understand he’s in a coin, he’s in a finacial crisis, he’s probably not thinking about it too hard—

DEVON: Oh my god (laughs).

KUNO: But you know, like he’s gotta be—you know he’s not doing anything right now, I’m assuming, so like what would be his feelings about her at the moment?

DEVON: I mean he’s got a lot of time to think, wherever he is. I think like—I got into this a little bit on Twitter in a self-indulgent rant at one point where I think he went through a lot very quietly during the first few episodes of the show where he very, very much wanted Rayla to succeed, even if he wasn’t necessarily like being the dad on the sideline of the soccer game, like, cheering for her. But he thought this was her moment, this was her time to prove that she really was more dedicated to you know, her cause and her people than her parents were because they had, you know, been the subject of such shame. And then ah, everything goes the way it does, I think he has a brief crisis of, “Is this my fault? Did I fail to train her well enough? Like, was Ethari right?” Because he always thought she had, you know, a softer heart. And I think like those are the types of things that he’s still stewing on, um like did—”did he overstep? Was it something—was he so eager to give her the opportunity to prove herself that he, you know, ultimately put her in a position where she could not succeed?” I think like, the other thing that I mentioned on Twitter was I think he took her off the mission both because he very, very much wanted to give himself and the others a chance to complete the mission even if it meant their deaths. But it also meant that Rayla had the chance to survive even if it was potentially going to be misinterpreted and she’d get slapped with the Ghosting, I think he believed that her alive was better than everybody being dead. So I think like, he’s got a lot—a lot to work through and I think like—I think he feels guilty. I think there’s the smallest part of him that he has the—again, a lot of time to potentially stew on and reflect on is he does feel like he put her in a position that was, you know, not fully taking into account the type of person she was and more projecting onto her the type of person he wanted her to be and gift he wanted to give her of redeeming herself in the eyes of her people for her parents. And I think he’s gonna have to work through that. Poor dude.

KUNO: That’s so sadly heartfelt. That’s so sadly heartfelt. Here I am thinking that he’d be, like, maybe a little angry with her, ‘cause obvious reason, but now it’s like, oh he feels guilty. Like, “Oh, okay, let’s just slap the angst on, okay”.

DEVON: I mean, I think like—

KUNO: Yeah, mm-hm.

DEVON: Sure he’d have some anger, like, “Awgh, I gave her everything. I gave her the exact opportunity she needed”. But I think like the guilt and the reflection leads to the “Maybe I—maybe it was me who stepped too far here”.

IAIN: Yeah, I mean another part of it is like, we don’t know what it’s like being trapped in the hell coin dimension, right?

DEVON: Oh I do. I—I mean—

IAIN: Oh you do?

DEVON: It sucks.

IAIN: Oh it sucks?

DEVON: When it happens to me on the reg (IAIN laughs).

IAIN: But you know, does it feel like an eternity is passing? Does it feel like no time has passed? Is he in eternal pain? Because if it’s like real bad—

KUNO: Oh my god.

IAIN: —in there I can imagine that like yeah there’s definitely some of those kind of anger feelings that you don’t want to feel in but you do sometimes, right? Like it’s like, if he has a snap moment of “I wouldn’t be in here if she hadn’t gone off and disobeyed our orders and, like, lied to me and so on”. So if he ever comes out uh don’t know what side of the emotional coin he’s gonna land on.

DEVON: Ohhh, please leave.

KUNO: Oh my god.

DEVON: Get out, oof, ouch.

IAIN: Finger guns.

DEVON: I do think like that sort of complex—

KUNO: It sounds—

DEVON: —emotion is just, I don’t want to give any time to that pun, we’re moving on. Like that sort of complexity of emotion and relationships is something that I really like in the show overall. Like you said earlier, you saw some people that were a little bit upset that Ethari was so willing to lash out at Rayla at first and I think like to me that was always part of the big, big thematic of the show, which is this sort of endless cycle of people being willing to hurt each other and not forgive each other and not, you know, accept that you can choose peace. It’s, you know, it’s—Runaan having that impulse to anger is a very natural thing and it doesn’t—I don’t think it necessarily makes him a bad person for feeling that. And I don’t necessarily think that Ethari having his moments of grief lead him to actions that are ultimately like, regretful, like I don’t think he would want that to define him in the long run. Like those are very human things but those are the things as we acknowledge them and as are—so long as we are capable of recognizing how flawed we are and how violent and…

KUNO: Messy.

DEVON: Messy! Thank you, that’s like, I was going to say like churning, messy is good. Like messy emotions can be and how they can like, dictate the way we treat each other, um, but forgiveness and patience and acceptance are ultimately just so much more powerful than those negative perpetuating lashing outs. That was an inelegant way of ending that screed, but yes.

KUNO: I actually really love that um ‘cause I from the beginning I’ve loved their father-daughter relationship so I love how complicated it is, ‘cause the truth is you know every parent-child relationship is a little complicated, except theirs is a little more complicated with assassination going on in the works, the family trade. So I love that it is this complicated ‘cause I know I remember in the beginning where people were like you know—you know she does have a dad. And it’s like I know she has a biological dad but until I am told otherwise that’s her father. I don’t care and I love their relationship so I love that that really reflects that. Another—the next question out of me before we get to, um, Hailey’s, which are all about different elves, is um, course I have to ask, my policy is one Rayllum question per interview. Um what are Runaan’s feelings—whah, no, whoop, how would Ruthari and Runaan react to Rayla’s relationship with Callum considering he’s not only a human but a human prince? ‘Cause as far as we know Runaan really hates, um, humans and I’d love to see that story later, both individually and as a couple. Because as far as I know, Ethari probably doesn’t know that their in a relationship unless he sensed it?

DEVON: Oh man, I—I think you should take this one, but I do want to say that I saw one comment on Tumblr at one point where someone said that they wished that Ethari had said something to Callum along the lines of like, “Take care of her”. And I want to travel back in time and pretend that was in the script ‘cause I think that would have been really, really nice. And I do think like, he picked up on the fact that Callum was important to her even if it—he didn’t necessarily read it as romantic right off the bat. I think he mostly was like, “Oh this guy is kind of like a cute—he’s a human but he’s, you know, a friend to someone I care about and that in and of itself is valuable and there’s something there”. So I think—pretend that was in the script. I wish I had thought about something like that but—

KUNO: I will (DEVON laughs).

IAIN: Yeah.

KUNO: That’s canon as far—as far as I’m concerned that’s canon.

IAIN: I think uh it would be best for everyone involved if they found out together, uh, because I think Runaan’s impulse would not be good immediately. I think like, when you spend so much time as an assassin and you drill into your head that the people that you’re meant to kill are not people, they’re the enemy right? Like I think that’s—sometimes that’s a thing he turns on to do the job and so on, but I do think that’s gonna bleed into his personality and it’s—you know, especially given his extremely recent history he’s not got the best feelings about humans. So I think it would inspire an immediate negative reaction in him that would not be pleasant for Callum and Rayla, but I think Ethari just has a much softer heart and that is where Rayla kind of got that side from. So I mean I’m not going to say that he would immediately—you know, they’ve been at war for hundreds and hundreds of years with humans and they’ve been told all through their history that humans committed the original sin of dark magic, et cetera et cetera, but like, I think it would take not that much time of seeing Rayla and Callum together for Ethari to see that there’s something there and then I think Ethari would have the ability to ah, to talk Runaan down pretty quick. But I also think that like, Runaan might not even show any of this, there might just be a kind of seething resentment that he’s not really talking about inside. Um unless it was like on the battlefield or something and he was like, “That’s a prince that I’m meant to kill” or something like that. But overall I think Ethari would sense that Runaan was not like—was not taking this well and they would be able to talk it through. At least that’s my gut.

DEVON: No, that sounds right (DEVON and IAIN laugh).

KUNO: I feel like poor Callum is just always on the edge of “Am I going to die tonight?” while he’s there, “Is this gonna be it?” Just gonna be like, “Oops sorry I had an accident—hey I had an accident in the middle of the night, you know, just a knife to the throat, that’s all”.

IAIN: I mean, he’s doing pretty well, like he said as they were about to meet Ethari and Rayla was like, “Remember Runaan?” He was like “Oh yeah, that guy who tried to kill me as soon as he met me? Cool guy”. Callum’s doing pretty well on the acceptance front these days.

DEVON: I do—

KUNO: Yeah.

DEVON: I do want to say that I think Ethari and Callum would get along really well because I think they both have sort of like a soft hearted friendliness to them that they would have a fun rapport. And that’s the sort of like “Trees to meet you” line is definitely supposed to be like—they’d you know, crack some goofy back and forths and I think that would soften Runaan too because he couldn’t ever hate someone that Ethari liked.

IAIN: Yeah, I think it’s a weird—

KUNO: Aww.

IAIN: —reversal where like Callum’s the one doing the dad jokes and Ethari’s like humoring them and Runaan’s like, “I don’t understand. Trees do not meet.”

DEVON: “Please stop saying ‘trees to meet you’.”

KUNO: Aw it never gets old. I love that. Um alright, Hailey, take it away. Your turn.

#The Dragon Prince #Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast #HBMP Podcast #TDP #Ruthari #Moonfam #HBMP Podcast transcription #TDP interview transcription #my posts

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outro-tearist · 4 years ago

Text

new bts au!

hi, im silver and i plan on writing a bts x reader au where the m/c is a dog groomer!

please, please let me know your thoughts, opinions, feelings, anything really ^///^🤍🌙

chap 1 chap 2 chap 3

bts dog groomer au!

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“Please- just sit still… for just one- ACK!” (Y/N) fruitlessly scolded the dog in front of her. It was desperately clawing at the rim of the tub to climb out as the groomer placed her body to block the floor from view.

“Jeez, Monie, stop trying to kill me for just one sec,” she groaned exasperatedly to the American Eskimo. He simply huffed but still hopped back into the tub. The groomer gratefully gave the dog a pat on the head and a whispered “good boy” before spraying the shampoo hose down his back again.

Truthfully, (Y/N) could not imagine her life without fighting playful dogs and seeing their owner’s happy faces when their precious baby got returned to them. She had been saving up for this small (but perfect in her eyes) corner store in the middle of the bustling city of Seoul. Half the shop was a cute, welcoming entrance with plants, that were of course safe for animals in case any of them were mischievous. Behind the main desk there was a large window in which you could see the 4 grooming tables as well as the large, wall length tub.

Her new friend, Jimin, had worked the front for her as well as the dog-walking business that had recently been added to the quaint shop. (Y/N) had gotten a few regulars, like Kim Monie and his parents, Min Holly that came with the reclusive Min Yoongi, and Jung Mickey that usually arrived with Jung Jiwoo, a pretty girl she quickly got along with.

The little bell on the door tinkled as it opened. (Y/N) had her hands full of a pup and couldn’t leave him unattended, so she just glanced behind her to see it was only Jimin who got back from a walk with some new dogs.

“(Y/N)-ssi!” Jimin yelled happily as he opened the back door. He put the dogs into the playpen that was in the front of the grooming room and ran to assist her as soon as he could.

“Hi, Jimin. I thought I told you not to be so formal! We’ve known each other for a few months n- MONIE NO!” (Y/N) scrambled to stop the soaking wet dog from bounding into Jimin’s arms but it was too late. The Eskimo dog had already tackled Jimin to the ground, giving him big licks on the face. The other dogs in the pen barked excitedly as Jimin laughed loudly with his gorgeous high-pitched giggles. (Y/N) almost blushed until she realized she had to pull the dog off the poor man laying on the ground.

“Monie, you were being such a good boy today! I can’t believe you’ve done this switcheroo on me.” the girl scolded. Jimin finished his sweet laughing fit and wrangled the ecstatic dog back into the tub. “I missed you too, puppy.” Jimin smiled sweetly.

“Um. This is sweet and all but do you, uh. Have any spare clothes..?” an embarrassed (Y/N) asked. Of course he had chosen to wear a white shirt, his NEVERMIND tattoo being the only thing she could see at the moment. On top of that, his defined stomach was very visible and that only made (Y/N) flush even more.

“OH! Oh my gosh I am so sorry I didn’t even remember- um… but no. I don’t have a spare shirt BUT I think I have a jacket. Up there. In the front I mean. Uh. Bye” Jimin sped off embarrassed for his friend and coworker to see him so unprofessionally.

(Y/N) waved her hand in front of her face as she stared at Jimin’s back running to the front of the store. “Nice one, Monie. You scared him off.” The dog gave her a simmering look but allowed her to move him onto the table to get him dried.

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“Good boy Monie! You were such a good boy!!” (Y/N) baby-talked the dog as his tail wagged behind him quickly. You had just finished shaving his paw pads and he looked as fresh as ever. “Now let’s wait for your mommy and daddy to come pick you up, ok!?”

Jimin awkwardly walked into the back at that point. “Um, hey. I just wanted to say-” “I am so sorry Jimin! I should have had better control of Monie here but I just let him jump all over you and now you’re all wet.” (Y/N) bowed and cut him off before he could even begin. Jimin stared in shock for a moment, before giggling slightly, bowing, and responding, “It’s not a problem, (Y/N). Thank you for being understanding.”

They shared a smile until the light bells alerted them to someone being in the shop. (Y/N) immediately went to the front, knowing Jimin would take great care of the puppies in the back.

“Hi, welcome to Paradise Pet Groomers, what can I do for you?” she greeted the two tall men. The taller one smiled largely, with adorable dimples that (Y/N) swore could be used as a bowl for cereal seemed to notice her first. The second man may have been the most gorgeous man she had ever seen in her whole life. His broad shoulders seemed to expand the closer she got to him, and the groomer couldn’t help but want a hug from him.

“Hey, we’re here to pick up Monie?” the taller one spoke. (Y/N) was a little wary because the couple who usually picked him up were an older one, who were always very sweet and seemed very in love. “Yes, of course, but where is the other couple who usually picks him up?” she asked as politely as she could.

The broad shouldered man answered back just as kindly as the first, “Ah, those are my roommate’s parents,” he motioned to the dimpled man, “I’m Seokjin and this is Namjoon.” “Ah, well, Monie was absolutely a sweetheart as per usual. He was a little rowdy during bath time but he usually is, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.” she explained as she walked into the back to get the dog.

“Hi Monie!” Namjoon seemed to be very excited to see the dog again, and (Y/N) couldn’t help but giggle once she noticed the similarities they seemed to have. Seokjin watched the man fondly and she couldn’t help but notice how much love was in his gaze when he looked at his “roommate”. Namjoon made small cooing noises as Monie barked and whined excitedly.

“Thank you so much for your continued patronage, and tell your parents I said hi!” (Y/N) said to the duo as they happily strolled out of the store.

“Good work today Jimin, you can head out!” (Y/N) called out into the back only to Jimin’s surprised face peek out from the playpen of dogs.

“But the store doesn’t close for another two hours!” he exclaimed.

(Y/N) smiled and nodded, “Yes, but you’re still wearing wet clothes! Go home and have a good day.”

Jimin’s smile was contagious, and it seemed that her face couldn’t manage a wider smile at that moment.

“I’ll see you soon!” Jimin yelled to the puppies as he ran out, leaving (Y/N) alone with the company of light background music and chattering of dogs.

#bts #bts x reader #bangtan #bangtan boys #bangtan x reader #bts jungkook #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts jhope #bts suga #bts rm #bts jin #bts seokjin #bts namjoon #bts yoongi #bts hoseok #bts v #ot7 x reader

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carmenxjulia · 4 years ago

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I put together a transcript of the 2 hour Q&A Interview the Carmen Sandiego Discord did with Showrunner Duane Capizzi. All of the questions were submitted by server members. You can read everything below the break!

Duane Capizzi:

Hi there!

Am I in? Is this thing on?

PizzaHorse:

Hi, welcome!

Yep, you're in the right place!

Duane Capizzi:

Sorry I'm late, I was wandering around some empty Discord hallways looking for the right room haha

PizzaHorse:

No worries. Let's get started!

Who is your favorite character?

Duane Capizzi:

Moose Boy!

KIDDING!

Alright, how to NOT get myself in trouble if my answer isn't "Carmen" haha.

But really, they are ALL my babies.

So I know it's going to sound like a cop out to some that I can't pick just one. But hmm, some for instances...

I love that she's so morally evolved at such a young age; her ability to always take the high road and never lower herself; her drive and conviction and dedication. Her ability to kick serious booty and look good while doing it. Her progressive values, her fashion sense. I could go on and on. But then there's Shadowsan and his arc; Chase and his. Julia, who's every bit as strong as Carmen but shows it in different ways. The Cleaners don't get enough love.

I'll close that question with an anecdote about The Cleaners ...

I love that all our characters are embraced and that everyone seems to have favorites. Our sound engineer Marcel is a pretty serious guy: he has a serious job that takes high levels of focus and attention. He's always deeply focused and not prone to small talk. Anyway, we were in the middle of our first or second sound mix, and he suddenly stops in the middle and turns around to face us. I'm thinking, "uh oh, we're giving too many notes." That's when I notice he's freeze framed the Cleaners. He says "I really like these guys." Then he turns around, hits play and gets back to work.

PizzaHorse:

What was the biggest challenge for coming up with new stories and plot for the reboot?

Duane Capizzi:

THE biggest? Sigh. I'm not sure I could come up with just one. Plotting is always challenging and we had the brain trust of the room, our trusty white board, and writer assistant to keep the threads of the ongoing storyline together. I think the single biggest ONGOING challenge was tracking which character knew what at any given time.

The caper part was challenging - coming up with new capers and keeping them interesting and fresh. But, it was the characters and their interactions that kept things fresh and interesting. Another museum heist? That's okay - Chase is on the case and he gets to interact with "X" this time (for instance).

There were also some episodes - Duke of Vermeer and Crackle Goes Kiwi come to mind - where there was SO MUCH SET UP needed to get the payoffs to work. I was really worried about too much talk/too much detail. Very "Swiss watch!" It took a lot of work to make sure it all clicked and was clear - hopefully it seems effortless on screen but I can't say there wasn't some sweat and the occasional tear (mostly from me - I'm a big cry baby

But really, what made it fun was that we had so many buckets to draw from: sometimes a story germ initially began with a character idea; sometimes it was inspired by global location; sometimes it was a clever way to update or reimagine an idea from old Carmen lore. Usually, it was some combination of all of the above!

PizzaHorse:

What was your favorite scene to write?

Duane Capizzi:

I think we have a theme here! "How can I pick just one ...?"

As a film buff, I got to indulge in some serious fan nerdery on this show: I got to write spy movies, yakuza movies, spaghetti neo-westerns (though turning it on its head: spaghetti westerns usually involve REVENGE and because of Carmen's character make up, this was sort of anti-revenge).

Is writing coming up with the idea or typing it? Haha. An "if a tree falls in the forest" question. The writing team and I had so many cathartic "that's how it goes" in the room. But on my own, writing the Pilot, was a very inspiring time for me: I remember laughing out loud the moment I thought of Chase falling on his own car (in part because of doing my spin on "that trope" that we've seen in so many hard boiled movies recently). But also how emotional I got when I imagined the simple but potent image of Black Sheep deciding to take her destiny into her own hands and walk that long corridor to the Faculty who we were about to meet for the first time.

I think I've cited this in another interview, but there was a period where I was completely immersed in Chase's arc and the scene where he would crack the location of VILE island ... by listening to Julia in a dream ... was a big one for me. It revealed he was finally open to admitting he needed Julia more than he would ever admit - yet, it was his own subconscious speaking.

The next morning, after cracking that scene, I bumped into Raf Petardi (voice of Chase) ... at the supermarket! It was very strange and hilarious

PizzaHorse:

Did you scrap any lengthy or funny scenes that you would be able to share?

Duane Capizzi:

With few exceptions, most scene cuts are done at the script stage so that the story board team doesn't waste effort over boarding. A variety of trims to any script are common, but they are usually for the better

The easier question to answer might be scenes were part of our "wish list" at writer room stage, but never made it to story or script. I hesitate to go too deep here (in the event that we might ever do more Carmen episodes in this canon - I'm not giving up hope). And there were cases where things we wanted to do earlier in the series wound up getting nixed or not fitting for whatever reason, but we got them in later - USUALLY FOR THE BETTER. So there's sort of a reverse Murphy's Law/rule of good fortune somehow in these things. But some fun things that didn't make it into the show, that leap to mind were: a Bollywood dance sequence (!). A Vegas caper involving Brunt wanting to steal an Elvis jumpsuit against the backdrop of an Elvis impersonator convention. We also thought it would be neat to get Maelstrom imprisoned so that Julia could interrogate him and he would play mind games with her - very Lector/Clarice!

PizzaHorse:

Were there any different treatments of Carmen you pitched before settling on the one we ended up with?

Duane Capizzi:

I was one of several "pitches" that I'm sure HMH heard before running with my version. But I can honestly say I've never pitched anything as fully formed: the take on Carmen felt so right to me, and clearly HMH and by extension Netflix agreed

I'll answer your question with an anecdote: I had the entire Pilot pretty well worked out, and pitched it in the first meeting. But one key thing that changed (much for the better!), simply because it wouldn't have fit without slogging things down ...

In my Pilot pitch, Black Sheep's escape on the boat was off screen: we see Shadowsan corner her, then we cut away. The rest of the Faculty show up to find SS's broken sword on the rocks, and are led to believe BS killed him (!). In the present, Crackle points his weapon at Carmen and prepares to pull the trigger. We know that Chase is on the way and may rescue her. The compartment door opens to reveal - not Chase - but Shadowsan! Big surprise! Then we cut back to BS's escape and find out what really transpired etc etc.

Crazy, right? SS would have been hanging out with the gang in season 1; we might not have gotten to 203 with his back story, since his sword was broken and he couldn't return it. Just one of those magical things where "things work out" the way they are supposed to. THAT SAID, it made for a heckuva pitch

PizzaHorse:

Are there any characters that ended up taking a direction you didn't initially anticipate?

Duane Capizzi:

GRAY.

I didn't know we'd make him amnesiac when I wrote the Pilot, that was something we came up with in our first week Writer Room.

And even then, when it became clear he'd be a key piece of the bigger puzzle, we didn't know how exactly (mostly the Season 4 stuff).

We did get very deep with a version where 404 ended with his protective streak for Carmen kicking into high gear, and they would be fighting off Vile Guards back to back in perfect tandem. Then, having chosen Carmen over VILE, it was Carmen who actually orchestrates Gray going "off grid" so that VILE can never find him again. Funny, I know that is arguably the version of Gray's arc that many fans might have preferred seeing. But in the tradition of spy thrillers and film noir, and for a lone wolf character like Carmen who is focused on her life mission and not romance, we stand behind where we went with him. We felt it was so much more compelling ... and truly more emotional that he totally has a get out of jail free card when he sacrifices everything (including his life, potentially) to save Carmen.

when she needs him most!

I know I made some controversial comments about Gray "not being good enough for Carmen" and I'd like to clarify that I meant, until that final episode. What he did was so selfless and heroic. Is there hope for them in the future? Who knows?! But I do hope we get to explore that one day

I'm sure Gray is living off the grid somewhere now, inspired by Carmen's selfless good and thinking of her from time to time.

PizzaHorse:

You mentioned in the interview with Alicyn that Carmen is a love story, but you were cut off before you could finish discussing. Could you elaborate on your answer now?

Duane Capizzi:

Ugh, yes! Sorry about that. I actually answered that privately for someone so will cut and paste that response here. Let's see if it works.

Something we never said in the show, but something I imparted to the creative team was: Carmen Sandiego is (among other things) a LOVE STORY, where every character in our ensemble is in love with Carmen in one way or another. Even if they don't know it! That love can take different forms: we see how spurned by Carmen Coach Brunt feels and why she retaliates so excessively. Chase eventually comes to realize that he too loves Carmen, even if he wasn't initially aware of it haha. One of the most moving things to me about the series is how all of the different factions come to Carmen's rescue at the end when she's not "in her right mind," without knowing the others are there too. It's a massive group effort to bring back the Carmen they love. But we weren't looking for a fairy tale ending for Carmen with ANYone - Carmen's a classic lone wolf anti-hero, that goes with the territory. At least at this stage in her journey.

PizzaHorse:

Were there other locations that you wanted to feature in the show that didn't make it?

Duane Capizzi:

I think we managed to cover a lot of ground and "cadence" between different countries/cultures/continents was important to us. Many "iconic" locations of course, and it would have been nice to explore some lesser known locations if we had more episodes.

One that we almost did was Niagara Falls, Canada - actually literally going to the Falls and doing a big hydro-electric caper, where Player could actually get into the field with Carmen and the team.

But ultimately, we wound up bringing Player into the fold the way we did and wound up stronger as a result. It made his "first face to face" with Carmen even more impactful, IMO.

PizzaHorse:

Were there any changes in production between the first half and the second half of the series?

Duane Capizzi:

Well, there was that Covid thing

But while it was no doubt a colossal undertaking to get the entire staff transitioned to work from home (animators! and their equipment!), we managed to make up for lost time WITHOUT a dip in animation quality. My fedora's off to our amazing team at Wildbrain for pulling it off!

We did lose some staff between orders, but that is a natural part of production unfortunately. Namely, one of our episodic directors Kenny Park, our first storyboard artist Dennis Crawford, and our story editor May Chan were among those who moved on to other shows during the break. But, as hard as their shoes were to fill, fill them we did!

PizzaHorse:

What is your favorite season?

Duane Capizzi:

Easy. Hands down, Season 3.

(crickets)

KIDDING!

Again, another "they're all my babies" answer (and yes, I love Season 3 equally

It's hard, because really when you step back I'm sure you'll agree it's a series, with stand alone capers; but it's really all ONE BIG MOVIE.

Season 3 is like the scherzo of a symphony: the shortest movement of four, and the one that tees up the big finale.

That's my hoity toity answer but I'm going to put to rest all of the various theories on what happened with season 3. It was a combination of two things: Netflix's desire to experiment with different ways of "dropping" seasons, and their desire to do a holiday themed drop (in this case Halloween, naturally). It became our challenge to come up with a theme (easy enough: masks), and the bigger challenge to serve their need while not interrupting our ongoing narrative. A challenge to be sure, but a challenge met. I think the biggest bump was perception: it was a short season and I know that was disappointing to many. But, by design.

So, Season 3 = an essential part of the whole. I don't think there's a wasted episode, and it gets everyone into position for the big finish. I can't pick a favorite season - you can't make me

PizzaHorse:

Were there any characters you had wanted to give more time to but couldn't due to time/plot restraints?

Duane Capizzi:

Well, there's the "what was on the white board" answer but hopefully some of those ideas will see the light of day in some way, shape or form some day. I think if we had more episodes, we would have shaken up the internal dynamic of VILE a bit more (as hinted at Brunt's displeasure with Maelstrom for leaving her hanging out to dry at end of 405 - a seed we planted "just in case," as some have noted). And we had more scenes in mind with Chase's partnering with Carmen for the first time that we had to cut to the bone because of what little room we had in that otherwise packed episode (worry not: it's mostly more gags, more embellishment, more twists and turns - but the important stuff is there). Mostly, and I don't think it would have been right for Season 4 but I hope to tell in the future, I think there's an interesting history between Shadowsan and Lady Dokuso - possibly tragic - that I would love to explore one day. (She was a cameo in Duke of Vermeer at the dinner party BTW, I'm not sure if anyone noticed. And we built a bigger role for her out of that)

PizzaHorse:

What are some pre-2000/nostalgic Carmen references you snuck into the show? Do you have a favorite reference that was included?

Duane Capizzi:

Doing that was so much fun! I'd say roughly 60% of the characters were from previous iterations of Carmen, though often in name only. We had fun reimagining most everyone to make them more relevant or updated or giving them a more colorful personality for starters.

"Suhara" was Carmen's Japanese mentor when she worked at the ACME Agency in a flashback episode in the 90's series, for instance. I don't think I need to spell out how we turned that one inside out

And Tigress was also one episode only: she was a "rival thief" to Carmen, but revealed to be an ACME agent in disguise - a persona created solely to bait Carmen. It was really cool of course, but it seemed like untapped potential so we made her an ACTUAL Vile Thief.

My own internal rule was to make sure the references/easter eggs wouldn't confuse anyone - they were there for those who were in the loop and window dressing. The one and only time i broke that rule was Dark Carmen's line from 407: "I do it for the mental gymnastics." It was one of the most absurd lines from the 90's series (IMO) and i was determined to have it come out of Dark Carmen's mouth. I'm sure it left some 7 year olds scratching their heads

aside from that, the key references were the music: I still tingle at how we worked the Rockapella theme into the Interactive Special; and the 90's main title theme (composed by Mozart!), in our Vienna episode ("They're playing my song"). If you wanted Rockapella or Carmen as a bad guy, well ... be careful what you wish for!

PizzaHorse:

Was there any improvised content from recording sessions that made it into any episodes?

Duane Capizzi:

Yes! Not much, because a lot of it would have pushed us into TV-MA haha

Mostly Mary Elizabeth - Coach Brunt has a POTTY MOUTH!

Mikey and Abby usually riffed their banter WAY beyond what was on the written page and had us in stitches. Some bits definitely made it in! But mostly there was too much or it would get off point (hmmm, much like my interview answers maybe? haha)

Sharon Muthu did rise to Pun Goddess status with "Mask and you shall receive." And Raf pitched me "Chasse means hunt in French" after one session and I said: "I'm going to write that in." I don't think he believed me. You can't say I'm not a straight shooter.

PizzaHorse:

If you could get more season, would you do it, and what type of story would you tell?

Duane Capizzi:

Well if that hasn't been clear so far, ABSOLUTELY

There have been discussions of course. It's up to the powers that be at this point. I will say this: the beauty and tradition so far has been that every iteration has been its own thing. I definitely think there are more "different canon" versions of Carmen that can be had and be a part of this wonderful tradition. After all, there were many naysayers for our version when it was first announced.

I will also say that if we don't get to tell any more stories in this canon with these characters, we've left a perfect gem that will stand the test of time. I would rather go out on a high note than overstay our welcome.

All that said, we worked within the allotted episodes given, ended it as we wished, but left the door open for other stories. I'd love to do an expansion and a deepening: pick up where we left off; find out what happened in those two years; and proceed to do the equivalent of Godfather II or Better Call Saul as related to the amazing originals they followed.

Let's hope! Keep putting good vibes out there!

PizzaHorse:

If you could pick a character on Carmen Sandiego who'd you switch places with for a day (you get to control their life and they get to control yours) who would you pick, and why?

Duane Capizzi:

Okay, THIS is difficult. So you're going Freaky Friday on me?

on a Sunday?

Hmmm, I know Ivy would get along with my cat ... but then I'd have to hang out with Zack!

That's the trick: I can't pick my favorites cuz I couldn't hang out with them!

(not that I have favorites - they're all my babies haha)

Okay, I have one: ROUNDABOUT. I could fill Shadowsan's seat - how cool is that? Then, I could enact all my evil fantasies - but still have a get out of jail free card cuz he'd be sitting at my desk!

(cut to Duane being brain wiped - D'oh!)

PizzaHorse:

Who are two characters who don't really interact in the show that you think could be good friends or work really well together?

Duane Capizzi:

Hmmmm. Okay, now I'm going to give you quick and sassy answers. Gray and Julia! They'd be so cute banding together to rescue captive Carmen (for instance). And they could also duke it out and maybe settle things between themselves re: shipping controversies instead of dragging me into it

PizzaHorse:

The FINAL QUESTION. Have you learned anything super impactful while working on the show?

Duane Capizzi:

Aside from Iceland's terrifically low crime rate?

I think I have learned to never underestimate how meaningful characters can be to fans. Social media has obviously brought us a lot closer to our fan base in more immediate ways: it's been really gratifying to hear/see/read feedback and not be writing things in a vacuum. It's been gratifying to see that ideas that were meaningful to myself and the creative team on Carmen that were crafted with care, have also resonated with our fan base. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has traveled on this journey with us - for embracing Carmen's world view, and her friends and foes alike. Take care everyone! Stay safe! This has been fun, thanks for having me!

PizzaHorse:

HUGE thank you to Duane Capizzi: for being here today.

Thank you everyone for watching and reacting!

Duane Capizzi:

Okay, gotta run - just gotta find the door

Anyway, really: THIS HAS BEEN AMAZING. I speak for everyone involved in the creation and production of Carmen: it has been an amazing and inspiring series and we're elated to see it connect with such a CREATIVE, TALENTED and INTELLIGENT fan base. Take care everyone! Until next crime...

#Carmen Sandiego #Duane Capizzi #CS Crew #Interview #Transcript

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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How Ted Lasso Sneakily Crafted its Empire Strikes Back Season

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Ted Lasso spoilers through season 2 episode 8.

Perhaps you’ve heard, but Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso was the subject of some dreaded Discourse recently.

Since the Internet is infinite and we privileged few in the media have nothing but time, a handful of features came out weeks ago essentially questioning what Ted Lasso season 2 was even all about. Many of these features were well-written, well-argued, and fair, but when filtered through Twitter’s anti-nuance machine (i.e. Twitter itself), every feature boiled down to the same reductive take: Ted Lasso season 2 doesn’t have a conflict.

In some respects, this take was the inevitable reaction to the metanarrative surrounding Ted Lasso in the first place. Despite drawing its inspiration from a series of somewhat cynical NBC Sports Premier League commercials, the first season of Ted Lasso was all about the transformative power of kindness.

Or at least that’s what we critics declared it to be. And I don’t blame us. Awash in a flood of screeners about antiheroes, dystopias, and the end of the world, the simple kindness of Ted Lasso seemed revolutionary. They made a TV show about a guy who is…nice? They can do that? But the inherent goodness of its lead character was always Ted Lasso’s elevator pitch, not its thesis.

There’s been a darkness at the center of Ted Lasso since its very first moment, when an American man got on a flight to London in a doomed attempt to save his marriage. And, as season 2’s brilliant eighth episode rolls around, it’s become clear that that darkness is what the show has really been “about” this whole time.

Season 2 episode 8 “Man City” (the title is referring to AFC Richmond’s FA Cup match against opponent Manchester City but also stealthily reveals that this installment will be all about men and their respective traumas) is quite simply the best episode of Ted Lasso yet. It also might be the best episode of television this year. Near the episode’s end, right before AFC Richmond plays a crucial FA Cup match against the mighty Manchester City, coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) finally comes clean with his coaching staff. He’s been suffering from panic attacks of late. His assistant coaches hear him, accept him, and then head off to the pitch where Man City absolutely obliterates their team.

Man City destroys AFC Richmond. They annihilate them. Embarrass them. Stuff them into a locker and steal their lunch money. The final score is 4-0 but it might as well be 400-0. The coaching staff is rattled but the players are hit even harder. Richmond’s star striker and former Man City player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) is forced to endure watching his scumbag father cheer for his hometown team from the Wembley Stadium stands at the expense of his son.

After the game, Jamie’s father, James (Kieran O’Brien), enters the locker room where he drunkenly accosts him for being a loser and demands that Jamie grant access to the Wembley Stadium pitch for him and his scumbag friends to run around on. When Jamie refuses, his father pushes him, so Jamie reflexively punches him right in the face. James is dragged out of the locker room by Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), leading a stunned and traumatized Jamie Tartt standing in the middle of the room, as if in a spotlight of pure pain, surrounded by teammates too afraid to even approach him. And then something amazing happens…

Here’s the dirty secret about television: there’s a lot of it. Due to the sheer number of TV shows released each year, even the best of them are destined to become little more than memories long-term. Sometimes all you can ask from multiple episodes and seasons of television is to provide you with one moment, one line, or one warm feeling to carry with you into the future. I don’t know how much I’ll remember from Ted Lasso 30-40 years from now when I’m immobile and reclined in my floating entertainment unit, Wall-E style. But I know I’ll at least remember the moment that Roy hugs Jamie.

The great Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) – a character so disconnected from his own emotions that some fans are convinced he’s CGI – embraces the one person in the world he is least likely to embrace. As Roy and Jamie wordlessly hug, it’s hard to tell which man is more shocked by the moment. Ultimately, however, it might be Ted Lasso himself who is hit hardest. Shortly after seeing Roy play father to the younger Jamie, Ted quickly exits the locker room and calls sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) on his Apple TV+-apporved iPhone.

“My father killed himself when I was 16. That happened. To me and to my mom,” Ted says, weeping.

And that, my friends, is what Ted Lasso is all about. Pain. And dads. But mostly pain.

None of us can say that Ted Lasso didn’t warn us it was coming. To go back to the discourse of it all real quick – I don’t blame anyone for not picking up on the direction that this show was so clearly heading in. Ted Lasso is, first and foremost, a sitcom. The beauty of sitcoms is that you welcome them into your home to watch at your own pace and your own terms. If having Ted Lasso on in the background so you can occasionally see the handsome mustache man who smiles while you fold your laundry is the way you’ve chosen to engage with the show, then great! Just know that season 2 has been operating on a deeper level this whole time as well.

Let’s take things all the way back to the beginning – back to before season 2 even began. You’ve likely heard the old philosophical thought experiment “if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Well Jason Sudeikis’s interviews leading up the season 2 premiere beg an equally as interesting hypothetical “how many times can one man mention The Empire Strikes Back before someone notices??”

Sudeikis referred to Ted Lasso season 2 as the show’s “Empire Strikes Back” multiple times before the premiere including in his local Kansas City Star and his technically local USA Today. The show even explicitly mentions the second Star Wars film in this season’s first episode when Richmond general manager Higgins (Jeremy Swyft) tells Ted that his kids are watching the trilogy for the first time. Sudeikis (who co-created and produces the show) and showrunner Bill Lawrence clearly want us to take the idea that Ted Lasso season 2 is The Empire Strikes Back seriously. And why would that be?

Think of how ESB differs from its two Star Wars siblings in the original trilogy. This is the story that features arguably the series most iconic moment when Luke Skywalker discovers his dad is a dick on a literal universal level. It also has the only unambiguously downer ending of any original trilogy Star Wars film. Luke is thoroughly defeated in this installment. Having one’s hand chopped off by their father and barely escaping with their life is definitely the Star Wars version of a 4-0 defeat.

The Empire Strikes Back can safely be boiled down into two concepts:

Dads are complicated.

Everything sucks.

When viewed through those two conceptual prisms, so much of Ted Lasso season 2 begins to make more sense.

Episode 1 opens with the death of a dog and then leads into a classic Ted Lasso speech that could serve as this season’s mission statemetn. After recounting the story of how he cared for his sick neighbor’s dog, Ted concludes with: “It’s funny to think about the things in your life that can make you cry knowing that they existed then become the same thing that can make you cry knowing that they’re now gone. Those things come into our lives to help us get from one place to a better one.”

Things like…a father who you didn’t have nearly enough time with? Following episode 1 (and following just about every episode this season), Bill Lawrence took to Twitter to assuage viewers’ fears about a lack of central conflict this season. He had this to say about Ted’s big speech.

Look, Merrill. It was thought out, but the speech he gives after (Written by Jason himself – I loved it) is the core of the season, but we knew some people might bum out.

— Bill Lawrence (@VDOOZER) July 27, 2021

Sorry, truly. Ted’s speech after (which I love, but am obviously biased) is a big part of the season. But it sounds like you had a crappy thing happen recently.

— Bill Lawrence (@VDOOZER) July 28, 2021

It’s not. But Ted’s speech has big relevance. Stick around!

— Bill Lawrence (@VDOOZER) July 26, 2021

He also had this to say about dads.

Effin Dads, man. Love mine so, but he’s struggling a bit.

— Bill Lawrence (@VDOOZER) July 27, 2021

“Effin dads” and our complicated relationships with them are all over Ted Lasso season 2. In the very next episode, Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) tells Ted “You know, my father says that every time you’re on TV, he’s very happy that I’m here. That I’m in safe hands with you.”

Ted smiles at this bit of info but not as warmly as you might expect. Because to Ted, a dad isn’t a reassuring presence but rather someone you love who will just leave when you need him the most. That’s why he’s been trying to be the perfect father figure this whole time. That’s why he did something as extreme as leaving his family behind in Kansas while he heads off to London. If giving his wife space was the only way to preserve the family and remain a good dad, then he was going to give her a whole ocean of space.

Moreover, Ted hasn’t just been trying to serve as a father figure to his son this whole time but to everyone else as well. Sam’s comment to Ted reminds him that not everyone has a good dad, which encourages him to bring Jamie into the fold in the first place.

As time goes on, however, the stress of being the consummate father to everyone in his orbit begins to wear on Ted. Throughout the entirety of this season, Ted Lasso appears to be trying to be Ted Lasso just a bit too hard. His energy levels are too high. His jokes go on too long. The same life lessons that worked last year aren’t working this year. AFC Richmond opens with an embarrassing streak of draws before Jamie’s immense talents set things straight.

It all culminates in this season’s sixth episode when Ted has his second panic attack in as many years. This time it’s in public during an important game. The experience sends Ted running through the concourse of the stadium until he somehow ends up in the dark on Dr. Fieldstone’s couch, instinctively, like a wounded animal.

It’s certainly no coincidence that this panic attack occurs on the same day that Ted received a call from his son’s school asking him to pick him up, not realizing that he’s an ocean away. In that moment, Ted can’t help but remember what it’s like to be left behind by his own father and subconsciously wonder if he’s doing the same.

Though the shallow waters of Ted Lasso season 2 may have appeared consequence free for half its run, beneath the surface was a tidal wave of conflict. Just because the conflict wasn’t taking place between a happy-go-lucky football coach and a villainous owner doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

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Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin is terrible at meeting deadlines but great at writing. According to him (and William Faulkner, from whom he borrows the quote), the only conflict worth writing about is that of the human heart with itself. That’s something that The Empire Strikes Back understood. And it’s something that Ted Lasso season 2 does as well.

The post How Ted Lasso Sneakily Crafted its Empire Strikes Back Season appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3E4eqHF

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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korra-the-red-lion · 4 years ago

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Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 6: Decision.

(Ally)

Monday, 5:30pm.

I sat at the library table, sitting with Michael and Mags. We had to work on a group project for our Drama/English class, and we were lucky enough to choose our own partners. Michael was an obvious pick since we became fast friends, and Mags and I got along really well.

Mags reached into the chip bag and pulled a decent handful. “Does anyone else hate this project?” they asked as they shoved chips in their mouth.

I nodded as Michael tilted his head back with a groan. “It’s like Kinkly just wants everyone to love drama as much as he does, but we don’t,” said Michael.

The project we were working on is out of three options, and we decided to go for option #2, which was take a scene and adapt it. After that, we had to do an analyse as to why we picked the scene we did and what it meant. We hadn’t even picked a scene yet as all the drama books sat opened around us as we read through them. Some of them were just so boring.

I reached over and grabbed a few fries out of the McDonald’s bag. We just bought a bunch of food and forced ourselves to work through this until we at least had something we could work with.

“I just don’t get why he couldn’t at least pick something more interesting,” said Mags as they picked up our copy of Miss Julie, “or at least recent.”

“Now, Mags, don’t be ridiculous,” tsked Michael. “It’s not good if it was written before 1990, and even that’s pushing it.”

We laughed at that as I reached for Medea. “Maybe we could do something different with it, though. Like, what if we genderbend a character or something? I know it might change how the scene is portrayed, but at least it won’t be incredibly cishet and male.” I gave Michael an apologetic smile, who just shrugged.

“Don’t forget white,” he added mildly, batting his eyelashes at me. I snorted, he got me there.

“Not a terrible idea, Holland,” said Mags appreciatively. “I mean, it is one of the only ideas we’ve had so far, though.”

The misery that just blew through the group was nearly palpable. It was clear that we weren’t getting anywhere. And to top it off, we all hated this class and the project. Motivation was at an all time low.

“Maybe we should take a break,” I suggested. When the others agreed, I got up to use the washroom. As I was walking towards it, I could hear the sounds of sirens. Yokeville was a small town, so the sounds of sirens were a little uncommon. Still, sirens were just a part of daily living. It wasn’t until I was walking back that I could see the flashing lights.

Confused yet intrigued, I headed to the little café in the library, where there were massive windows that you could see a good portion of the campus from. The lights were flashing through, and a few students had wandered over to see what was going on like I did.

There was an ambulance and a couple of police cars parked in front of the Athletic Centre. Huh, I wondered why that was. Obviously, someone must have called 9-1-1, but the question was why?

That question was answered quickly as all of our phones went off with an alarm all at once. My heart raced a little as I read that they may be a dangerous individual on campus and that we were to remain where we were. The library staff raced to lock the door and told us to get away from the windows.

I went back to our table. Michael looked over at me and gently took my hand when he saw it trembling. “Hey, we’re okay.”

“But someone else might not be,” I whispered.

He had nothing to say then. We sat in a tense quiet. Students around us where texting and calling their parents to let them know what was going on. I thought about doing the same but thought I should maybe wait until we had more information. I didn’t want my mom to worry.

I could feel my chest constricting a little as the tension settled in. My stomach twisted into a knot as I settled against Michael, taking comfort in his presence. Mags reached over and squeezed my hands, and I gave them a grateful smile.

I wasn’t sure how long it had been since we locked the doors, as we decided to watch Pitch Perfect on Netflix to pass the time, but all of sudden there was a thumping that caused a panicked whisper to spread throughout the library. The elderly lady who worked behind the desk cautiously approached, holding up the fire axe as her weapon of choice. It turned out one of the officers was knocking, and she let him in.

She told us all after that we were going to be escorted back to our residences, and that situation had been dealt with. What gave me the most anxiety about this whole thing was that they didn’t tell us what happened. We saw EMS, and the police had been looking for a dangerous individual. Was someone hurt? Who was this person? I couldn’t help but look towards the Athletic Centre as I walked back to my residence.

I wondered if Lyn was okay…

XXX

Classes were cancelled for the week.

An email was sent out explaining that some deranged sociopath had broken into the Athletic Centre and attacked one of the swimmers, but they had been apprehended by the RCMP. I had sent a panicked text to Lyn, and felt my chest loosen when she responded back saying she was okay, but only a little.

Someone had still been attacked. My stomach wouldn’t settle, however. I’m not sure what it was, but I felt like something wasn’t sitting right with this whole thing.

Going against my better judgement, I left my dorm in the afternoon. Sarah had gone home for the week, seeing as we had no classes, and her parents were very worried. Mine were too, but I told them I was okay to stay here. Something in my gut told me I needed to stay. I walked down the concrete path that led to the Athletic Centre and stared at it from afar.

There was something off. The whole energy surrounding the place seemed…dark. I took my glasses off and played with the arm between my fingers. Why would anyone attack someone in a locker room? It seemed so random. Not that a madman with a knife ever made sense, but this was especially strange. You could have gone anywhere on campus or in town, so why there?

Then my mind went back to the blood shower incident and I felt my heart drop in my stomach. If something bizarre already happened there once, who was to say it couldn’t happen again? Maybe it wasn’t a person attacking a student, but a spirit? But wait, they claimed that they arrested someone. But was that the truth?

Without realizing, I found myself standing in front of the building. It was locked down for the day as the RCMP continued with their investigation. I felt the urge to go inside and see the locker room myself spike, but I fought it. If I couldn’t get answers here, maybe I could somewhere else.

I took a photo with my phone before I left. I wanted to make sure I had a picture of it now and later to see if there was a difference in the energy. Maybe I was just tired, but it looked different today than it had previously.

Before I headed to my next destination, I fired off a text to Michael asking him to meet me. I know he wasn’t going to be happy about it, but I felt like I needed the support. Ignoring the voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like my dad, I headed towards the tree and looked up at the branches.

Sure enough, she was there. She was still fuzzy and hard to make out. Her attention seemed to be focused somewhere else, as it took me a few times to get her attention.

“Ah, look who decided to return,” she cooed as she floated down. The usual crushing sensation filled my body as she got closer.

“I did,” I said trying to sound more confidant that I felt. “I have questions.”

She cocked her head and raised a lazy eyebrow. “Oh, do you now? Whatever could you want?”

Before I said anything, Michael nervously approached me. “Uh, you said you wanted to meet here?” he asked, eyeing the tree.

I swallowed hard. “Yeah, I need the support. I’m talking to a ghost and I don’t like doing it alone.”

Michael paled as he looked between me and the tree. I know he can sense something was there, but he couldn’t see it. I held my breath, ready for him to think of me as a freak and leave. But, he just nodded slowly, his eyes slightly wide in fear. “Okay, okay, yea. We’re totally talking about you not telling me about the whole ‘talking to ghosts’ thing after this though.”

“Deal.” I turn my attention back to the ghost, who was watching with boredom.

“Remembered I was here, did you?”

I winced. “Sorry. I won’t let it happen again. I just wanted to start off with your name. I don’t think I should be calling you tree ghost forever.”

I think that might have caught her by surprise. She twirled her hair around her fingers and stared at me in thoughtful silence. I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead as I waited for her to answer. Sometimes they got offended if you asked, as it served as a reminder of a time when they were alive.

Finally, she graced me with a small smile. “Dahlia Cressman. I believe you are the first person to ask me that in a long while, human.”

I smiled back. “Most people don’t talk to dead people, Dahlia.”

She clasped her hands behind her back and gave a small nod of her head. “I suppose not. Well, ask your questions then…after you introduce yourself, that is.”

This is where it gets a little sticky. A ghost knowing your name was something that could be very dangerous. My dad always told me that if a ghost knew your name, they could steal your soul. I wasn’t sure how true it was, but I respected that rule for a long time. However, if I wanted the answers I was looking for, I knew I was going to have to take some risks.

Sucking in a tense breath, I nodded and said, “Ally.”

It was a bit of cheat. I didn’t give her my full name, nor did I give her my maiden name. I still didn’t know if I could trust her fully yet.

However, it seemed to satisfy her. “Ally,” she rolled it around her tongue. “I like it.”

I fought the urge to shudder, only the twitch of my hand gave away my discomfort. Michael slipped his hand over mine, giving me a nervous smile. He looked back in the general direction where Dahlia was, trying his best to look serious.

“Okay, so… you mentioned last time we talked that you might know what was going on with the showers?”

Dahlia sat midair and crossed her legs. “I do, yes. I also recall telling you to research the archives. Did you?”

I blushed in embarrassment. “Not yet, no.”

“It’s been a week, Ally.”

“I’m very aware, yes.”

She smiled amusedly at me. “Yet you didn’t go. Well, I suppose I can tell a little. You met Jamieson, correct?”

“Jamieson?” I inquired, tilting my head in confusion.

“The bastard in the bookstore?”

The image of the smarmy ghost with the mean smirk popped in my head. I frowned and nodded, “Right, him.”

“He and I are not the only spirits left on this God forsaken campus,” said Dahlia. She twirled her hair around her finger, looking thoughtful. “I am not sure about the exact amount, unfortunately. I do know, however, that there is a spirit roaming around that sports building. The one where all the ruckus was last night.”

Oh. Shit. That explains the blood showers…and maybe the attack last night. Vengeful ghosts were a thing, right? This time, I couldn’t supress the shudder as my blood ran cold. Nothing good ever came from an angry spirit. Or at least that’s what the movies taught me.

“Does this news surprise you, Ally?” asked Dahlia.

I swallowed thickly and gave a small nod. “Most places don’t have a ton of restless souls unless there’s a reason. Jamieson…I’m not sure whether he died from suicide or murder. You look as if you were murdered. And if there is at least one other ghost lingering around, does that mean they were murdered too?”

The smile Dahlia gave me was not pleasant at all. “Possibly. Some do stick around if they have lingering regrets. Suicide could potentially lead to that. Or an accidental death, such as overdosing or whatever. Who’s to say we all haven’t been murdered?”

Michael was shaking beside me, from the stress of her presence or something else, I wasn’t sure. I slipped my hand out of his and pulled out my notebook, quickly jotting some things down. I didn’t want to forget anything important here.

I chewed the end of my pen in thought. “Dahlia,” I looked up at her, “are you able to leave this area?”

She tilted her head to the side. “I believe so,” she said slowly, “but I would have to return here eventually. This is where I died, so my attachment is here.”

I paused to take in this information. That means that Jamieson died somewhere around that bookstore, maybe the roof of the Student Centre. If that’s the case… if there is a ghost in the women’s locker room, that means they died there. I would have to investigate the area if I wanted to be sure, though.

“Anything else?”

“I’m guessing you won’t just tell me who is haunting the locker room?” I smiled weakly.

Dahlia looked down at me in puzzled silence before breaking out in a devilish grin. “Where’s the fun in that, Ally? Besides, it is not my story to tell. If you want to know what is going on, you need to research it. I could only push you in the right direction.”

“It was worth a shot,” I said with a shrug.

Her laughter echoed in my head. “I suppose it was. Goodbye, Ally. This time, check the archives.”

“Bye, Dahlia.” I watched her disappear, the overwhelming sensation of being crushed leaving my body. I heard Michael take a deep breath as I did.

We sat there silently for a couple of minutes before I grabbed my stuff. I didn’t want to be here much longer, and Michael was happy to follow. We managed to make it halfway to meal hall before he stopped and dry heaved into a bush.

I rubbed his back as he heaved. There wasn’t a lot I could do for him except give him some water and wait for his recovery. I’m used to it now, but the presence of a ghost like that can be a lot to take in. To be honest, Dahlia’s power surprised me. She must have a large lingering resentment to remain as strong as she was.

He sat down and dropped his head between his knees as he regained some composure. I sat down next him and handed over my water. He took it gratefully and sipped slowly. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on top of them, waiting for him to be ready.

“Ally,” he croaked. He cleared his throat and took another sip of water before trying again. “Ally, what was that?”

“My life,” I said quietly. “I’ve been dealing with stuff like that my whole life.”

He stared at me blankly before shaking his head. “I can’t even imagine. I mean, I can sense the energy…but actually talking to them? I felt like I couldn’t breathe!”

“I guess you get used to it,” I chuckled weakly.

“How did you do it alone?”

Those words hurt. I did it alone because I had no other choice. I had to because my dad refused to help me. My mom thought it would just be better if I ignored it. I just ignored the feelings I had because they refused to acknowledge what made me who I was. I felt my eyes stinging but I held my tears back, looking up at the cloudy sky.

“I didn’t have a choice. Either I let them take over my life or I just…” I shrugged, not really sure what to say.

Michael reached over and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Okay, well…fuck that. I’m not letting you do that alone ever again! I couldn’t hear the whole conversation, but you mentioned murder way too many times for my liking. So…what happened?”

I couldn’t tell Michael how much his words meant to me, but I gave him a hug, hoping it gave the same message. I pulled away, wiping at my eyes before grabbing my notebook out of my bag and showing him what I wrote down.

It didn’t occur to me until later that Dahlia seemed more visible by the end of our conversation.

XXX

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

I frowned, mulling over my feelings. “I feel like it’s the right thing to do.”

“Okay, just making sure,�� said Michael as he rubbed the back of his head.

“She wanted answers the first time,” I explained. “It makes sense she would this time.”

“Only if she believes in the supernatural,” Michael countered.

“Only if she believes,” I agreed nervously.

I told Michael that I wanted to bring Lyn in on this, since it concerned her most of all. Both times something happened it affected the swim team. Maybe she would just laugh in my face and not listen to what I had to say, but I had to try. Otherwise, I’ll do it without her. I made my decision. No more ignoring this…whatever this is. I wanted to help after the first incident but chickened out. I’m not doing that again.

We sat nervously at café in the library, waiting for Lyn to show up. I wanted to tell her everything in a more public place, less chance of being overheard but I wasn’t sure where to meet. Michael suggested that we meet here first and pick a place after.

I was tapping my fingers against the table as Michael was staring off as he chewed on his thumbnail. Suddenly he chuckled and shook his head. “Why are we so nervous?”

I gave a small laugh. “Sometimes life is a mystery. I think it probably has something to do with the fact that we have a bunch of restless spirits on this campus and we’re the only two who know anything about it.”

“Makes midterms seem silly now.”

“To be fair, I thought the Psych midterm was challenging,” I huffed, crossing my arms.

Michael laughed again. “Yeah, it was. You should have seen my Finite Math midterm though. I’m pretty sure like everyone left the room crying, the teacher included.”

I cringed. “Me and math do not get along. I’m surprised I even passed math in high school.”

“I was home schooled in high school,” said Michael leaning on the table. “Otousan tutored me through math, which is probably why I understand it pretty well.”

The earlier nerves just disappeared as we chatted. Michael was in the middle of explaining something about his bio lab when Lyn approached our table. She looked exhausted, and the usual brightness of her eyes seemed dimmer. She still smiled when she saw me, but it looked mechanical, like she was going through the motions. She even looked more pale than usual, which was challenging since she was already so pale as it was. Overall, she just looked unwell.

She shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. “Hey, Ally.” She nodded at Michael.

“I’m Michael,” he said, sticking his hand out.

She extracted one hand, shook quickly and said, “Lyn,” before sticking her hand back into the safety of the pocket.

“How are you doing?” I asked tentatively.

Lyn shrugged with a miserable frown on her face. “Fine, I guess. Just got back from the hospital this morning, guess I went into a bit of shock yesterday. Too much shit going on for my brain to process it all, you know?”

“I get that,” I said empathetically. Overwhelming thoughts and emotions causing you to completely spiral out of control? That was so in my ballpark.

“So…” she shifted foot to foot, “what is it you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh, right!” I grabbed my bag and Michael grabbed his stuff. “Let’s go somewhere and sit!”

“Why can’t we sit here?” Lyn questioned.

“Uh, I meant somewhere more public.”

If this confused her further, she didn’t show. Lyn trudged behind us as we walked to the door. Michael asked a good place that would be busyish, and Lyn gave us a couple of suggestions. In the end, we went all the way to the coffee shop downtown. It was called the Main Street Coffee Shop, and there was a good amount of people inside already, most of them students catching up on work. Lyn pointed out a table near the window that was free, and we sat down. I waited until after we ordered before saying anything.

“Lyn, do you remember when the whole shower thing happened, and you asked me if it was a prank?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.

Lyn was staring out the window, chin and mouth cupped her in her hand. Slowly she turned to look at me and nodded.

I swallowed thickly. “Okay…I don’t think it was a prank at all.”

“What do you think it was?” she asked, voice muffled.

Michael gave me an encouraging nod. I took a deep breath and said, “Ghosts. I think an angry spirit did it.”

Lyn gave me the same look she did when I told her the tree gave me bad vibes. It was carefully controlled, as to not give away what she was thinking. The waiter dropped off our drinks and left quickly, maybe sensing the tension and not wanting to be caught up in it.

Finally, there was the tiniest tug at her lip, and she gave one small nod. “Right, explain.”

I released the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I took out my notebook and explained everything I could. I told her about Jamieson and Dahlia, and what Dahlia had told me the other day. Michael jumped in a couple of times, explaining how he could feel weird energy from certain places on the campus, the Athletic Centre being one of them. Lyn seemingly took this all-in stride, taking small sips from her hot chocolate as she listened patiently. Maybe I was just hopeful, but it looked as if her eyes lit up as she did. Finally, I finished and sat back a little, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I just told someone I really liked my secret, and I was afraid of how she actually felt about it. What if she was just humouring me? What if she thought I was crazy? My heart picked up pace and my guts squirmed in discomfort.

Lyn sat back, her eyes going between the two of us. “Okay, you aren’t messing with me, yeah?”

“I would never,” I said, my voice cracking slightly.

“Me either,” added Michael.

Lyn nodded, her eyes settling on me. “I swear I saw writing on the wall when I was in there. I couldn’t go back to confirm it though. If some dude with a knife wanted to attack a young woman, why bother writing something on the wall? Plus, the wound on-” Lyn’s face’s twisted in pain and she clamped her mouth shut, clearly trying to keep it together.

I reached over and squeezed her hand. “It’s fine, you don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

There was a conflict playing out on Lyn’s face before it finally settled on a flat affect. I haven’t known her long, but I knew that this wasn’t a typical Lyn face. It just didn’t look right on her. I wondered if maybe this was her coping mechanism for negative feelings, but something wriggled in my brain that suggested that there was more to this.

“So, what we know so far is that there are multiple ghosts on the campus,” said Michael as he ticked his fingers off, drawing our attention to him. “One in the big tree, one in the bookstore, and one in the women’s locker room. We have an active scene, so maybe if we go there, I can get a sample to look at in the lab?”

Lyn frowned. “Are you even able to do that?”

Michael shrugged. “I know one of the third year’s personally, he can get us access if I ask nicely.”

“I guess I can look into the archives,” Lyn offered. “I’m used to reading dusty old books anyway. It will be another typical Wednesday night for me.”

“And I can ask around, see what I can learn!” I added, feeling an excited buzz course through my veins.

Lyn gave a small grin. “Do we need some corny team name or something? Ghostbusters? Spirit Fighters?”

“I’m a fan of Super Cool Ghost Hunting Nerd Squad,” said Michael lightly, grinning widely.

“I’m not going by that, Michael.”

“I’m not hearing any better suggestions. Ally?”

I tapped my chin in thought. “I think Spook Searchers has a nice ring to it.”

Lyn chuckled, pushing herself to her feet. I didn’t even notice I was still holding her hand until she did that. I missed the warmth already. “Okay, no name. These all suck way too much. I’m going to head out, got things I need to do. I’ll talk to you later?”

Those last words were directed to me, and I nodded quickly. “Yes, of course.”

She smiled slightly before waving at Michael and walking out, leaving us behind. I sat back in my chair and chewed the end of my pen. Poor thing, it was probably not going to last the week at this rate.

“Whatcha thinking about, Ally?” asked Michael.

I sighed and shook my head. “Honestly, way too much at the moment.”

He poked me in the temple, giving me a lopsided smile. “Take the rest of the day off, Al. Maybe focus on some you time, yeah?”

“I don’t really need a day off,” I said.

“Girl, I feel like your brain is running on 110% all the time,” Michael snorted. “I feel like when you look at someone, you take in every detail and squirrel it away somewhere, in case you need it later. I know you want to solve this thing quickly, but we won’t be able to do it if you’re burnt out.”

I stared at him silently for a couple of seconds. It was funny in a not funny way that someone I’ve only known for a couple of weeks knows me better than most of my friends at high school did. I smiled softly and kissed him on the cheek.

“Michael, you’re a very sweet guy, thank you.”

Michael looked a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I try my best. Otousan always told me to treat my friends with the utmost respect.”

“Does that mean dad?” I asked, remembering that he said it earlier too. He nodded as we both slid out of the booth as I said, “Sounds like your dad is a smart and kind man.”

Michael’s eyes shined with admiration. “I hope to be the same kind of man once I become a dad.”

“I think you’re pretty close.”

“Okay, okay! I’m ditching you before you make me all teary eyed, dammit!” Michael waved me a goodbye before dashing off.

I decided I was going to take his advice and take the rest of the day off. I had no classes, so I might as well do something fun. Maybe Mags would be up to hanging out if they weren’t with their other friends.

I pulled my coat close, feeling a sudden chill. I looked around and saw nothing, so it must have just been a gust of wind or something. Maybe Michael was right, my brain was constantly thinking of something. I decided to just be on my way and think nothing of it for once. I was going to be thinking about a ton of things soon enough, it was okay for me to take one night off.

#unnatural affairs #ua #original story #original fiction #ally holland #lyn hart #michael yamamoto #mags richard #dahlia cressman #original content #paranormal #mystery #murder mysteries #romance #sapphic lead #wlw romance #the plot is rolling #ghosts #writing

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noncommited-writer · 6 years ago

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5 times Tony needed Peter + 1 time Peter needed Tony

Heyo! Another Starker Bingo in the house! This time it's College AU! And also, it's a 5+1! Which I haven't done before either so this was interesting to write.

Tony is 16 when he first enters MIT while Peter is 18/19. 16 is the legal age in Massachusetts for consent so whatever stuff that happens out of 'screen' you all imagine is all legal. So that means Peter is older than Tony. But there is underaged drinking. Its college, what do you expect?

Here is it on ao3

“Hey, man, need any help?” A voice pipes up from within the room, but Tony can’t see a thing because of the tower of boxes in his arms. His voice is strained as he mutters a, “Don’t worry, I got it.”

“Uh yeah—no.” The person says and Tony nearly careens backwards from the change in weight he is heaving, the mystery person taking two of the three boxes with ease. Tony winces as his back cracks, but he says, “Thanks.”

“No problem! Glad to be of help.” Tony stares. And stares. And doesn’t stop staring because the mystery person turns out to be this unbelievably gorgeous brunette with bright brown eyes and a sweet smile, looking akin to a puppy.

Tony just blinks. And gapes when the guy—who he presumes works out a lot because holy shit—holds the two boxes on one hand and takes the third from Tony’s arms with his free hand. He walks over to Tony’s twin sized bed and slowly lays it down on right next to the bed frame. When he gets back up, his hand is stretched out between the two of them. “Name’s Peter Parker. You must be my roommate.”

Tony thinks he must look stupid with his dumb braces, spotty skin and gaping mouth but he shoves his insecurities to the side for one moment, and puts on a friendly smile. He shakes Peter’s—extremely strong—hand, “Name’s Tony.”

“I hope we’ll be close roommates here, Tony, cause honestly I’m pretty sure I was lost for an hour just before I got to this dorm so—I need a friend.” Peter has a nice smile. Tony already knows being roommates with this gorgeous—and way out of his league older guy—is going to make his hormonal and secretly closeted life much harder than it already is.

But he takes in the sweet eyes and beaming smile and Tony thinks it can’t be too bad here in MIT.

“Ugh! Why do I have to choose assholes? Always!” Tony screams into his pillow, one hand punching his mattress. He smiles—despite himself—when he hears Peter’s sweet laughter ringing out in their dorm.

“I swear, if I choose another guy who thinks they’re worth even a cent of my dad’s money, just slap me in the face and lock me somewhere so I don’t go out dating douche bags again.” Tony huffs, air blowing on the lock of hair in front of his face. In the corner of his eye, he can see Peter lift his head from his robotics ensemble, a fond grin adorning his features as he looks at Tony.

“Maybe you’re like Marlin or Nemo, too scared to get off the reef.” Tony gets up on his elbows, tilting his head.

“Maybe you’re just too scared to get out of your comfort zone, you know?” Peter suggests, shrugging before returning to his circuit board. Tony hums in contemplation.

Tony sits up and looks down at his hands, idly playing with his fingers. A scowl goes onto his face, something solemn and sad in his eyes as he thinks.

Sensing the silence, Peter looks up. Something soft graces his face as he takes Tony in—slumped over, frown on his lips and curled up like a small kid that needs comfort.

Peter knows that Tony is the type to get too much into his own head. “Hey.”

Tony doesn’t look up but he subtly nods. “Tony, look at me.”

He does this time, and Peter sighs at the shimmer of unshed tears in Tony’s eyes. Peter can already bet that Tony is repeating that stupid mantra in his head again, ‘Stark men are made of iron.’ when he tries to shake off the emotion in his eyes.

Peter grits his teeth as he silently curses Howard.

“Tony, you have to know that Ty is an asshole. That you did nothing wrong, okay?” Tony sniffles, a weak sound that makes Peter’s face crumple. He puts the screwdriver and circuit board down onto his bed, getting off his mattress to walk over to Tony. He settles down next to his roommate.

“Ty is a dick, a suck up, a prick. I can call him all the names in the book because he destroyed your trust in him. You did absolutely nothing wrong.” Tony stopped frowning, but he still looks upset.

“You shouldn’t be mad at yourself, be mad at him.” Peter stares into Tony’s teary eyes. The younger teenager nods. Peter can only smile as he continues, “He doesn’t deserve you. You’re an amazing fish.”

Tony cracks up at that, even through the tears, and Peter relaxes a little bit. He pats Tony’s knee and gets off his bed, picking up his screwdriver again.

“Thanks, Pete. I really needed that.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m only stating facts here.”

When a few moments pass, when Tony is staring at Peter’s concentrated face and focused eyes, he finally blurts out a question he’s been thinking about recently. “How about you?”

“What about me?”

“You know, don’t you have a fish you like?” Peter stops his movements, eyes glancing up to Tony. He secretly smiles to himself, a little sad, and he says, “Yeah. I do. I just want it to be the perfect time.”

Tony deflates a tiny bit. But he does give out a, “Well, good luck with whoever they are. They’ll be lucky to have you.”

Tony returns his attention to his half finished coding of JARVIS, not noticing the stare he’s getting from the across the room.

The world is spinning. Lights seem to trail along his gaze, the bass of the music vibrating Tony from head to toe as his heart pounds deafeningly in his ears. He stumbles on his feet, spilling his seventh—or is it eighth?—cup of beer over its rim. He mumbles an apology, unable to steady his gaze to focus on whoever he spilled the drink onto.

He feels lost, and he’s pretty sure he dropped his phone somewhere after the second round of beer pong. He’s supposed to call Rhodey if there’s a problem, but Tony reasons getting drunk, unable to find his phone or being unable to recognise anyone is hardly a problem.

He’s supposed to be in his dorm, studying for his next exam, but Tony decided to take Ty’s offer on his party when he saw Peter getting too close to one of their schoolmates. Some blonde girl who seems to notice how well Peter fits into his sweaters.

Usually Tony can shrug off jealousy, but with Peter it’s different. Because he knows that Peter isn’t the type to have divided attention between people. He knows Peter is the type to dote on the person he loves. And the knowledge that it won’t be Tony, sort of breaks him.

He knows it’s selfish. It’s not like they have anything. He can fool himself with those midnight talks, movie nights and sweet smiles shared between them, but that illusion is easily shattered when Peter turns absolutely red when he’s around another girl.

But Tony doesn’t care. Not at all. He can deal with this. After all, he can distant himself from Peter if he wants to… right?

Tony finds himself in the middle of Ty’s house, somehow making it from his backyard to his living room without tripping more than once.

But it’s when he catches the number on the clock on the wall. Two in the morning.

Shit. How did time go so fast?

Tony has class tomorrow and a quiz in the afternoon. He sighs.

Suddenly, the floor seems to sway under his feet and Tony is pitching forward—moving too fast and the floor’s too close and shit—

“Tony!” A pair of strong arms wrap around his body, pulling him to a warm chest. Tony immediately knows who it is, from the manly scent of Old Spice enveloping his senses and the feeling of a worn out denim jacket under his fingertips. He lets go of his empty cup, feeling too weak to stand up.

“Peter,” He mumbles, unable to resist nuzzling into his warmth. Peter doesn’t seem to mind however, and he hoists Tony up to his legs. “Can you walk?”

“Probably.” Tony says under his breath, giggling to himself.

Peter lets Tony lean most of his weight onto his side, and he leads him to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, Peter gently settles Tony down onto the closed toilet seat.

Through blurry vision, Tony can see Peter put down his bag to take out a bottle of water. “Do you feel dizzy?”

“Lil’ bit. Maybe,” Tony says, reaching for the bottle as his throat itches with thirst. Peter goes down into a crouch, looking up at Tony. There’s a minute of silence while Tony drinks the water, with Peter watching him with worried eyes.

“Why are you here?” Peter asks, and Tony—wait, is that anger he’s hearing?

“Just wanted to go to a party. That’s all. I don’t get why you have to babysit me,” Tony grumbles, turning away. Peter grits his teeth, “You weren’t back at the dorm or at school, I was calling all night. Rhodey said you were going to a party but he didn’t know which—”

He called Rhodey? How dare he even—Tony almost crushes the plastic bottle under his hold.

“—and somehow tonight has to be the night when there’s four different parties going on! Which you shouldn’t even be at because you’re still sixteen! I had to haul ass and look all over campus for you and I just—”

“I didn’t ask you to! I never asked you to be my fucking shadow and I don’t need you giving me some dumb ass lecture I won’t even remember in the morning. So shut up, Parker.”

Peter stops, flinching. Tony breathes hard through his nose, and watches as his roommate bows his head. “I’m sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t have snapped.”

Fuck. Tony huffs, feeling his chest nearly concave. Tony should be the one apologising, not Peter. “No. I should be the one saying sorry. But I’m still mad so I’m not going to.”

Peter’s brows furrow. “Mad? Why would you be mad?”

Tony sighs, not realising he let that slip out so easily. Damn alcohol.

“Why? Did I do something wrong? Tell me if I did, then I can try to fix it—”

“No.”

“Please, Tony, just tell me what’s going on.”

Tony clenches his fist, “Why do you want to know so badly, Parker?”

“Because I’m worried about you, okay? I want to know what’s going on because I can’t stand you like this, or being angry at me.”

Tony blinks.

“Worried… about me?”

“Yes! I thought I made that clear by practically tearing through the campus to look for you.”

Tony watches Peter, unsure.

“Why would you be worried about me? I’m sure Rhodey could’ve found me as well.”

Peter’s face scrunches up at that. “Because…”

He looks away, his jaw clenching as his eyes harden. “Because I like you.”

“What?”

“Because I like you, Tony Stark. I like you a lot. Like… too much, I think.”

Tony leans back, his eyes going wide. At that, Peter seem to backtrack, scared, “I hope this doesn’t change our friendship cause I really don’t want that to—”

Tony doesn’t let him finish his sentence, because he basically plopped himself into Peter’s lap and pressed his lips against his. Tony’s inexperienced, he knows, but it sends him a great joy when Peter doesn’t respond in anything but enthusiasm back. He pulls away far enough to speak, pressing his forehead against Peter’s, “I was mad because I was jealous you were talking to Cindy this morning.”

“So that’s why you avoided me during lunch.” Peter mumbles, tone almost amused. Tony lightly pinches his shoulder but Peter just laughs against his lips, leaning in again for another kiss.

When he first receives the call, it’s like a punch to the gut—with a metal fist. He calls in sick for his class and cries in his bed, body convulsing in agony and pain. He can’t even see the floor clearly through his tears, or the slats of his window, showing the gloomy grey of the stormy sky. Quite ironic.

The door creaks open—two hours earlier than when Peter’s class would end—and the smell of hot Chinese takeout is welcomed. He only looks at Peter when the door closes.

He sits up, and the sight of his red-rimmed eyes and snotty nose is enough for Peter to quickly put down the food and rush into Tony’s awaiting arms. The smell of Peter and his warmth sends Tony into another crying spell, his scrawny body curling into Peter’s much sturdier form.

“Shh, hey, I got you. I got you,” Peter murmurs into Tony’s neck, hands rubbing his shivering muscles. Tony can’t help the wails escaping his mouth.

He should’ve said something. Should’ve said to his dad he loves him even with all the shit he’s put him through, should’ve told his mom that he was dating the best person he’s ever met and he’s utterly in love with him, he could’ve tried harder for them, could’ve been better in their eyes. Should’ve. Could’ve. They all don’t matter, do they? Now that their cold bodies are in a morgue somewhere, getting prepped for the funeral.

Tony can taste the saltiness of his tears, probably the only thing he’s tasted other than the bitterness that stems from his aching heart. Tony would usually say this is all melodramatic, that his thoughts are depressed prose. But the logical part of him doesn’t even care anymore.

He needs to let it out somewhere, all the repressed anger and sadness that reverberates through his body. And it’s only because of Peter—from his forlorn expression back at that party—that he stops himself from drinking his sorrows. Damn the age of drinking. Who cares if he’s three years under twenty? He should have the right to numb himself.

It’s the softness Peter exudes that prevents Tony from doing anything rash. He can handle Rhodey’s disapproval, Howard’s anger and Maria’s hidden hurt, but he can’t handle Peter’s open trust and love, can’t handle disappointing him or—even worse—still forgiving him even when he’s done shitty things Peter should be mad at. And so Tony tries.

For Peter.

It’s two months in after he’s returned being kidnapped. Two months since the birth of Iron Man. Two months since Tony left his own hell.

He’s having the routinely nightmares. Flashes of drowning, phantom shocks of electricity running through him as his car battery dips into the nasty water, the sweltering heat as he sits in front of the furnace. It’s all the same.

Until it isn’t.

His breath hitched when he first sees Peter—head covered by another rag. He knows it’s Peter when he sees him because of the tattered pajamas Tony got him for Christmas. Tony is shaking when the men speaking in Arabic start to approach Peter, ends of jumper cables in their hands. He’s screaming when he realises those jumper cables are connected to his chest, the cavity hooked onto this stupid car battery.

The men start laughing as they hold Tony down, turning the voltage up on his car battery and Tony—Tony has to watch through hoarse screams and blurry tears as Peter gets fried by electricity because of him—because of his stupid injury—stupid, stupid, stupid Stark—Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark or are you going to do something about it?

He can’t. He can’t do anything about it, because he’s watching the love of his life convulse, hands and feet immobile as if some invisible force is making him watch this, cries ripped out of him as he hears the constant drone of “Tony! Save me, Tony! God, save me Tony—please! It hurts! Tony!—

“Tony!”

Tony jolts up in his bed, beads of sweat rolling down, mixing with his tears. He can barely see in the dark, but the figure in front of him leans over to pull the switch under his lamp. The room fills with a soft glow and Tony sees—

“Peter,” he whimpers, voice catching on his name. Peter has a heavy look of concern, brows furrowed and beautiful eyes wide as he takes Tony in. Tony can’t do anything but lunge into Peter’s big arms, his body bone tired, his brain fried and chest crumpling within itself. He’s sobbing, but he barely notices anything but the comforting caresses his body needs.

He can hear the echoes of Peter’s horrified, violent screams playing on loop in his head, but the warmth he feels as Peter mutters his ‘I’m here’s chases the edge away. He doesn’t even realise he’s babbling until Peter carries him onto his lap, head burrowing into Tony’s neck as he listens intently to Tony’s recollection of his nightmare.

Tony wishes he wasn’t broken. He wishes he’s the person before the Afghan cave.

“You’re not broken.” Tony isn’t even mad at himself for saying it out loud, he’s just… tired.

“I am, Pete. I’m nothing but a few shattered pieces, half of them left in that cave.”

“I’m so fucking scared.”

“Baby, what are you scared about?” Tony pulls away, head bowing down. Peter is sweet, taking both his clammy hands to his lips, thumbs rubbing over the callouses he gained from his three month stay at the cave.

“That once you realise how much of a mess I am, that I can’t give you what you want any more… you’ll leave me.”

“Baby,” Peter’s voice cracks. His hands are frantic to reach for Tony’s face, dragging away the tracks of tears with gentleness Tony knows he doesn’t deserve.

“Darling, no. I won’t leave you. Not for that. I’ll never leave you.” Peter presses a chaste kiss on Tony’s nose, nuzzling it, “You have a few cracks here and there, but you’re not broken. You’re still the same strong, resilient, stubborn as all hell firecracker that I know. The same person I fell in love with two years ago.”

Tony whines, throat burning as more tears spring up.

“I know things seem shitty now. And it will take a while to even take a step closer to healing. But please, please, please never forget—” Peter presses his forehead against Tony’s, staring deep into those haunted brown eyes, “—that I’m with you every step of the way. I will try my damned hardest to never let you down.”

Peter intertwine his fingers with Tony’s, the pair of blue promise rings glinting under the golden lamp.

“I’ll never leave you, Tony. I love you so much and it hurts me to see you like this.” Tony feels the gaping hole in his chest widen, and it’s not because of the arc reactor. “So I want to see you get better.”

Peter cradles his face with one hand and presses his lips to Tony’s hairline, feeling tears well up in his own eyes.

“Promise me that if you ever need anything at all, you can call me, okay? I’m here for you.” Tony gives another heart-wrenching sob as he nods vigorously, accepting Peter’s loving embrace as if second nature.

“I know how you don’t like relying on others for help but please, remember you have me, Rhodey, Jarvis and Anna. You have Aunt May who also adore you. So don’t be afraid to ask for help. We’re all here for you.”

“We all love you, Tony.”

+ 1

Tony knows he shouldn’t be too upset, that not all of the times he calls for Peter, he’d zip right next to his side in a moment. He’s not dumb.

But it does hurt when his boyfriend skips on bringing him to his therapy sessions for three weeks at this point, cancelling at least three lunch dates already.

He gets it. That Peter still has another year in MIT and needs to balance working and school while also emotionally supporting Tony. Tony—who’s a billionaire, a hero with a secret identity (something he hides from Peter) and graduated summa cum laude a year early—knows that Peter is struggling. He tries to hide it but the bags under his eyes and constant zoning out is a sign Peter is sacrificing too much sleep for other things.

Makes Tony feel ever guilty for already dragging him into his own bullshit.

But the past month, Peter has been… estranged. Tony is hurt, of course, and tries to take in stride. But every time he gets a late minute date cancellation, or a sad excuse of an apology after waiting for two hours on the side of the street, Tony falters.

But hey, it’s fine. All should be okay once he clears it up with Peter. Right?

He goes onto Peter’s apartment floor (Tony offered to pay for a lease until Peter graduates, which he surprisingly easily agrees to. Peter says he can’t pay for both the dorm and tuition anymore, and that Tony is a godsend.) and walks to the end of the hall. The first thing he’s going to ask Peter is why he’s basically been MIA for the past two days—not answering any calls or texts without any reason. Next thing he’s going to do is kiss him stupid because Tony has to admit he’s been a little worried—

Tony freezes.

There’s a tiny streak of blood where the door meets the locking mechanism. A crimson handprint around the doorknob.

Peter.

Tony takes the small metal tube from the inside of his jacket, a mini flash bomb. It’s non lethal but if things go awry, it’d give him enough time to escape. Tony doesn’t have his suit with him—why would he? He’s visiting Peter—which he silently curses to himself about.

The door creaks open easily, unlocked and barely open. Tony can feel something weighing heavy in the pit of his stomach when he takes a step into Peter’s apartment. The faint smell of blood enters his nostrils, and Tony grits his teeth, worry rising in him.

He takes a look around the apartment. Things are knocked over, photo frames and a vase shattered on the floor, and there is a few drops of blood leading the way into the living room. He holds the flash bomb in his hand, eyes scouring the area.

He takes a couple of more steps into the apartment and his gaze falls to the floor. A pair of red shoes with blue pants greet him. He stops. He recognises those colours.

It’s the same colours he sees when he turns on the news channel, reporting about the web-slinging vigilante. Spider-Man.

What is he doing here?

Tony moves in closer until he can see the head of Spider-Man. Despite the blood matting it, Tony can recognise that familiar mop of brown curls anywhere.

“Shit, Peter!” Tony pockets the weapon and goes onto his knees next to the unresponsive body. He places a hand on his back, realising with a flood of relief he’s still breathing.

“Pete! Say something if you can hear me.” Peter doesn’t respond at all.

Just when Tony is about to screw it all and call for back-up, Peter murmurs something under his breath. Tony leans down to hear it better.

“Tony?” he can barely hear Peter, raspy and slightly wheezy. The younger teen sags, looking over Peter’s body. He frowns when he sees a smear of blood next to his torso. Tony, with all the gentleness he can muster, he slips his hands under Peter’s thigh and shoulder, turning him over to his side. He lets out a gasp at the sight of the pool of blood under him.

“Shit, Pete. We gotta do something about the wound.”

A hand rests on his knee—which Tony tries hard not to think about how it leaves a blood stain because, shit that’s a lot of blood and Tony can afford to go into a panic attack now—and Peter mumbles, “My… healing factor should’ve… closed the wound.”

Tony furrows his brows but he can’t question it now, he’s more keen on taking care of his very injured boyfriend who—holy shit, he’s Spider-Man and that means he’s been Spider-Man ever since he was sixteen and he’s been hiding it from Tony—needs professional medical attention. But when he thinks over the fact he just said ‘healing factor’, Tony decides that Peter wouldn’t appreciate being placed into a hospital, a place that is required to keep his blood.

“I’m guessing no hospital?” Peter slowly nods his head, a shuddering breath rattling his chest as he exhales.

“I think… I’m blacking out.” Tony’s eyes go wide and he starts to panic when the hand on his knee goes lax.

When Peter comes to, he can feel a tightness around his torso and an ache in his arm—right where Scorpion rammed into, sending him flying into a broken sign that has a hazardous jagged edge, hence the wound.

He can also feel soft lips on his knuckles and a pair of shaking hands holding onto his hand tightly. He cracks open an eye, to see Tony leaning into his hand, eyes screwed, a deep set of worry in the tension of his shoulders.

When he tenses his fingers, Tony’s eyes fly open and he’s greeted by the most frenzied look he’s ever seen on Tony. The first thing that comes out of his mouth is, “You look handsome in that shirt.”

Peter winces at the croakiness of his voice, but he flinches at the sight of Tony’s face hardening.

“When were you going to tell me you’re Spider-Man?” Peter doesn’t respond. Tony’s eye twitches.

“Is it when you’re dead in a ditch? When you’re bleeding out in an alleyway? When you get stung by Scorpion? Tell me, Pete, cause I’m really wracking my brain here.”

Peter’s eyes go to the ceiling, unable to look at Tony’s anger.

“I get that you’re mad but—” Peter closes his eyes, the memory playing in his head. The way Scorpion spat his name—his real name—and threatened with so much resentment.

“You weren’t there and I know—I know that you hate not knowing things but I have to keep you out of this, Tony.”

The silence that ensues makes Peter thinks the worst.

“Kept out of this? Are you fucking kidding me, Parker?” Tony spits. Peter flinches again, eyes burning.

“Tony—”

“No, Peter, you do not shut me out like this. I was there for you when Ben died, and you were there for me when I had so much shit going on. You can’t just push me just when you need it the most, especially because you told me that you’d be there for me if I needed you. Why can I be there for you? Why would you leave me out of this—”

Peter bolts up in seat, eyes wide and teary as he cries out, “Because I have to protect you, Tony! This is different! I fought Scorpion and—do you know what he did? He knew me, Tony! He knew my name and he knew you and I can’t—” Peter whimpers, running his hand over his eyes. “—handle that! I can’t even think of that! How do you expect me to? To know the love of my life is in danger just because he’s dating me. I can’t—I can’t lose you again.”

Tony blinks, watching as hot tears roll down Peter’s face. And for once in his life, Tony is hit with the realisation of why Peter is always there for him. Why Peter always has his back, ready to be at his beck and call and sacrificing all his other needs to keep Tony happy.

Because of the creature inside him, growling protectively, growing in size the more he hears Peter cry. It’s the feeling that stems from his unconditional love for the older superhero. Tony wants to protect him—he has an urge. He needs to be the one taking care of Peter when he’s down.

“Pete. Look at me.” Tony takes his chin in his fingers, something possessive glinting in his eye as he stares at those wet cheeks. Peter moans pitifully, face scrunching up in anguish as he looks up at Tony.

“Listen to me carefully. I know you. And I’ve heard countless stories of Spider-Man. And I know that you’ll never let this go. You won’t stop until he’s gone. But how can you do that? When you’re hurt?”

Tony slides his hand from his chin to his cheek, caressing the damp skin. “I can’t stop you. I know that. But I can stop him.”

Peter’s brows furrow. Tony takes out his holographic phone, a prototype and one of its kind. He taps the screen a couple of types before placing it on Peter’s lap.

A small hologram of a suit comes up. Sleek, metal and humanoid.

“Iron Man,” Peter whispers, before his eyes go wide and he looks over at Tony. “You’re—”

“The one and only, sweetheart,” Tony gives a small smirk. Peter stares at the hologram, muttering, “But that doesn’t mean you’ll fight him.”

Tony resists the urge to roll his eyes, only sighing. “If you can take him on, I think it’s only fair I get an equal chance. Fair game.”

Peter frowns. “But—”

Tony cuts in quickly, “I know that you’re worried. But for all that is holy, listen to me on this. You’re more experienced, I get that. But I have an arsenal of weapons and armour. What can Scorpion do? Sting me? How can he if I made the armour ten times tougher than my original suit, which somehow survived a crash landing into a desert.”

“That’s how you escaped?”

“Yup. The point is, I can take him down. I can bring him in. And don’t you dare say no, because he just nearly killed my boyfriend and I’m ready to blast a hole through his suit.”

Peter still looks skeptical. Tony is ready to launch into another tangent of the pros and cons of going against Scorpion, when Peter says, “Okay. I’ll let you do it. But—”

Tony listens with rapt attention as Peter gets all serious. “—you have to wait until I’m done healing. And then we go together. Can you promise me that, Tony? Because I don’t think I can handle the thought of you out there, all alone.”

Tony hesitates, but he sees the utmost fear in his face, all laid out there for him to see. Tony can’t help but soften and nods. Peter has a small smile tugging at his lips, “You really killed Obadiah and those weapon dealers in Gulmira?”

Tony chuckles lowly, “You don’t even know the half of it, sweetheart.”

Peter reaches for Tony’s hands, brings them to his split lips, and mumbles, “Maybe I do need your help. Could use a partner.”

Amusement dances in Tony’s eyes. “In crime or life?”

Peter gapes for one good second. “Both?” he asks meekly, as if worried of what Tony would think.

Tony grins. “Not anytime soon but yeah. Of course.”

With Peter stretched across the blanket, his head pops up, curls in a mess and Tony can't help but press a kiss to his forehead, saying against his skin, “I love you, Peter Parker. And I don’t think I’ll be able to let you go anytime soon.”

Peter beams, a smile that never fails to make Tony’s heart burst. Tony nods once, as if reassuring, before he gets an armful of Peter, who starts laying soft kisses all over his face in a flurry. “God, I love you too, Tony Stark.”

#Starker bingo #Starker bingo 2019 #Starker fanfiction #Starker #Starker au #College au #5+1 starker #University au #Starker college au #Young tony #Older peter

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icyharrington · 6 years ago

Text

Sinful Thoughts (Michael Langdon X Reader) Part 2

click here for part 1 // tag list: (sorry if I forgot anyone!) @fuckthatfeeling @shado-cat @hxdesworld @the-captain-kidd @mrs-langdxn @natalielivesformusic

plot: you’re the epitome of a good christian girl. michael langdon intends to ruin that.

warnings: fem!Reader, high school au, fingering, michael is kind of a dick in this but in a hot way, u get finger fucked in a janitor’s closet oopsy😋

word count: 3.6k

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned.”

Your voice sounded foreign, like you were listening to yourself talk from another room. You swallowed a sudden wave of nausea as you waited for the priest to reply from behind the screen. “And how is it that you have sinned, my child?” The man’s voice was patient and calm. It didn’t make you feel any better.

You let out a shuddery sigh before responding. “I’ve been having bad thoughts. Sinful thoughts, father. Desires of the flesh...”

“I see. And have you succumbed to any of these thoughts?”

“No,” you said. Not yet, anyway. You considered this answer to only be a half-truth, as recently you’d been finding yourself grinding against your chair absentmindedly in class, watching that awful blond boy from across the room. You hadn’t touched yourself to any thoughts, at least not voluntarily, but you had a sneaking feeling that you were very, very close to breaking.

The last straw had been this morning. You’d been preoccupied in class, as usual, eyes glazed over as images of Michael Langdon’s hands danced in your mind, when suddenly there was a hollow pit in your stomach. You’d jumped to your feet and hurried to the girl’s bathroom, immediately holing yourself up in a stall to squeeze your thighs together and will away the thoughts that were bringing you closer and closer to your breaking point.

Once you’d managed to coax the feeling away, you bowed your head and recited a few prayers. God had to be testing your will— that was the only explanation you could think of that made any sort of sense. You’d always had such remarkable self-control, but you could feel it dwindling with every lude thought that crossed your mind. You had to admit, though: divine test or not, you were beginning to frighten yourself.

“Good, my child. Now recite three Hail Marys and you shall be forgiven.”

Your face fell. “Seriously? What am I supposed to do about this? I mean, I can’t think about anything but this one boy!”

The priest’s voice suddenly assumed a tone that was far more casual than wise and all-knowing. “Honestly, kid, there’s a lot worse things than having a couple dirty thoughts every now and then.”

You went slack-jawed, staring at the shadowy figure of the priest with disbelief. Was he really being serious? Did he really not have any kind of solution to offer for your problem? You huffed, discouraged, and without another word you left the confessional booth, letting the door slam shut behind you. Maybe he’s right, came a hopeful whisper in your mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you just touched a little...

You shook your head as if to erase the thought like an etch-a-sketch. No way. You couldn’t. You’d gone your whole life without giving in to your desires, so why start now? It’s a test, you told yourself firmly. God is testing me.

You pushed open the double doors of the church and walked into the parking lot, the sky navy blue and sprinkled with stars. You sighed, walking briskly as you started the fifteen minute journey home.

You’d hoped that going to the confessional would make you feel better, or enlighten you somehow. Instead, it had only heightened your confusion and distress. You pulled your jacket tighter to you as a soft breeze blew your hair back, footsteps erratic on the sidewalk as you hoped to shorten your walk through the cold.

Crunch. You stopped so suddenly you nearly lost your balance, whipping around as your heart jumped in your throat. It sounded as if somebody had stepped on a dead leaf on the ground behind you, but you’d been certain you were alone.

The sidewalk was empty. Not even a car was in sight. You scanned the premises anxiously before turning back around, quickening your pace. It was all in your head, you told yourself. You only made it a few more yards before you were interrupted again, this time by the sound of scurrying behind you, so clear there was no way you could’ve imagined it. You stopped, mumbling a desperate prayer and stroking your necklace, before gingerly turning around.

Nothing. The streets and sidewalk were empty. The streetlights cast eerie shadows down the uneven cement, overgrown with weeds and grass, but there was nobody there. What the hell? You thought, before scolding yourself for swearing.

You let out a panicked whimper, your body numbing from a mixture of fear and cold, and reluctantly you turned back around. You took in an indulgent breath, counting to three in your head before exhaling. It’s all in your head. It’s all in your head. It’s all-

You let out a strangled scream as a gloved hand found its way over your mouth, your body being pulled into a makeshift alley between two parallel fences. Immediately you were pressed hard against the old, splintering wood behind you, your flailing limbs tamed effortlessly by your assailant.

Then you heard a laugh. A very familiar laugh, at that. Your attacker removed his hand from your mouth, taking a step back, and even though it was dark you could recognize those angular features.

“Michael, what the- what the hell is wrong with you?” You managed, and you watched him grin at your natural reluctance to swear. A tear dropped from the corner of your eye and slid down your cheek, which you quickly wiped away with the back of your sleeve.

“I was going for a walk when I saw you, and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

“The opportunity to make me think I was about to be raped? Or murdered?” Your words came out at much more of a shrill pitch than you’d intended, and your body continued to shake from the leftover terror.

“Shhh,” he cooed, reaching a leather-clad hand to your jaw and tenderly wiping away the tears that continued to spill, forming dark spots on the front of your sweater. Even though you glared at Michael with contempt, that dreaded sinking feeling returned in your stomach upon having his hand against your skin.

“Don’t touch me,” you said, crossing your arms in front of you protectively.

“You say that,” he began, that stupid smirk giving way across his perfect lips, “but your thoughts are sending me a very different message.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“Hm,” he laughed dryly, thumb still working away the glassy stains on your skin. Then he brought his face close to yours, so close that his words caused the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. “Tell me about your dream.”

You gaped at him. He couldn’t possibly be talking about...? “What dream?”

He shook his head, appearing somewhat annoyed with you. “When will you accept that I know everything about you, (y/n)? Your thoughts, desires, dreams.” You faltered under the weight of his stare, unsure if your lack of motion was due to some sort of supernatural hold, or your own free will. “So, (y/n),” he said, lips brushing your ear and making you shiver. “Tell me about the dream you had.”

“You’re crazy,” you said, pressing yourself as far back against the fence as you could in a feeble attempt to escape his presence. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So you don’t remember? Waking up with your panties soaked through? Using every last shred of strength to stop yourself from touching that one part of you that’s off-limits.” You blinked at him, and again came that ache beneath your undergarments, demanding your attention.

“You remember.” He placed his fingers under your chin and tilted it upwards. “Don’t you?”

You nodded, an act of betrayal against yourself. “How did- how could you know?” you stammered, shallow breaths escaping you as you fought to keep your composure.

“I’m more powerful than any god you could ever dream of,” he told you, lifting one hand to your hair and petting it.

“That’s a lie.”

He tilted his head to one side, lips twitching upwards at the corners. He was loving this, the way you studied his every move with fear and lust behind your eyes. He darted his tongue out and ran it along his bottom lip, and you nearly whined at the way the moisture glinted in the dark. “But it isn’t, (y/n), and you know it isn’t.”

You glared at him, all at once frustrated with yourself for playing into his games, and without a second thought your palm was hot against his cheek, his skin icy from the nighttime chill. Your eyes wide, you brought your quivering hand back to your side, immediately regretting what you’d done. In the low light, you could almost swear his eyes were entirely black, glossy like a raven’s wings.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, our lord is with thee,” you choked, afraid. “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, J-J-“ You gasped for air, realizing that your throat was being constricted as your body inched upwards against the fence. Michael’s hands, however, weren’t touching you; your feet left the ground and you continued upwards as if by magic, dragged by an invisible force that also managed to prevent you from breathing.

“M-Mi-Michael,” you begged, your hands grasping senselessly at your throat. “P-pl-“ your mouth opened and closed frantically as your legs dangled uselessly below you.

He chuckled to himself before casually flicking his wrist, and suddenly you dropped back onto the ground, chest heaving as you took in a gulp of much needed air. Waves of blond hair falling over his face as he bent over to reach your level, he spoke with a twinge of sadistic amusement. “Are you ready to submit?”

All you could do was look at him, entirely speechless, and his lips curved up into a triumphant grin. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, (y/n).”

Without another word, he strode out of the alley and into the night, leaving you alone to deal with your thoughts.

ii.

All morning at school that next day, you compulsively checked the clock with a lump in your throat. Your stomach was unable to stop its incessant churning as you anticipated your inevitable crossing of paths with Michael later that day. You couldn’t shake the feelings of fear- fear for what he was, as it was blatantly apparent to you now that he wasn’t fully human- and arousal, and the combination of the two emotions was intoxicating.

You knew it wouldn’t be long before you unraveled in the palms of his ring-clad hands. There was just something about him that you couldn’t shake, and you thought maybe it’d be better for everyone if you just gave in to your desires.

You hated that you’d been brought to the point of nearly giving up- you’d been so strong until you met him. What was it about him that was powerful enough to change you?

When the time came to go to biology, you were forced to evaluate your options: the first was showing up and pretending like nothing was wrong, even though you knew Michael would be reading your thoughts all the same. The other was the more cowardly option- hiding out in a secluded part of the school while skipping the class altogether.

Michael would know that he’d won if you didn’t show up for class, something so out of character for someone as studious as you. You knew this. But wouldn’t he know either way that he’d gotten under your skin? He already seemed to be in tune with your every thought. Was there even any use pretending that you hadn’t been affected by him?

In the end, you wound up finding yourself hidden out in the janitor’s closet, knees drawn to your chest as you scrolled through your phone. Sure, it was the easy way out. But you were beginning to suspect that there would be no escaping Michael whether or not you went to class.

Sitting awkwardly amongst the mops and cleaning supplies, your heart jumped as the doorknob began jiggling gently.

You bit your bottom lip. You knew who was behind that door. It’d already been on the back of your mind that Michael might know where to find you, but your teeth began chattering in apprehensive excitement all the same. You watched the lock turn by itself- again, you’d known there was the chance that he could bypass whatever obstacles you put between the two of you. Every time he proved his supernatural powers to be more than a figment of your imagination, though, it managed to surprise you.

The lock clicked, and then the door was opening, a thin stream of light from the fluorescent-lit hallways cutting through the dimness of the closet. And then there was Michael with his beautiful hair and black jacket and expensive pants, towering over you as you became engulfed in his shadow.

He looked at you wryly, taking a step inside and shutting the door sensibly behind himself. “Is there a reason you’re in a dusty closet instead of biology class?”

Your fingers thoughtlessly traced your cross necklace for what seemed like the thousandth time that week, even though you knew it wouldn’t help you now. “You know why I’m here, Michael,” you said grudgingly.

“Why don’t you tell me?” he said, and you rolled your eyes. This was all a part of his plan to ruin you, having you swallow your last ounce of pride to admit that you were afflicted by him.

“I thought you knew everything,” you said sarcastically as he leaned forward and offered you his hand.

“Oh, believe me, (y/n), I do,” he said, helping you to your feet after you placed your hand in his. “I just want to hear you say it.”

He came closer to you, hips swinging slightly as he took his usual long, leisurely strides. Your back hit the dusty shelves, shaking something loose- there was a soft crash as something scattered across the floor, but you hardly noticed, too busy fixating on Michael as he closed in on his prey. Rolling his neck slightly, he licked his lips; his eyes were dark and glinted with a carnivorous sort of hunger.

“Fine,” you said loudly, resenting the way he regarded you so smugly. “I’m here because I couldn’t bring myself to face you. Because you make me want to do bad things. Un-Christian things. Happy?”

“Now, how hard was that?” He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, blinking innocently. “Tell me what you want,” he said, his tone gentle but authoritative, fingers trailing down your cheeks and ghosting your jaw.

“You know what I want,” you murmured, looking down as your face flushed with shame. Was he really going to make you say it?

Of course he was going to. You shouldn’t have expected any sort of mercy from someone like Michael Langdon. He was eating this up, thriving on your weakness. And for some reason, as ashamed as you were to admit it, that raw, domineering power only made your center throb harder with want.

“Look at me,” he commanded calmly, so low you almost thought you’d imagined it. You obeyed, shuddering as his eyes seared invasively into yours. “Tell me what you want, and you can have it.”

“I want-“ you began, pausing to gather your bearings. “I want you to touch me.” You hardly registered the words as your own; it felt like you were outside of your body, watching helplessly from afar as you eagerly allowed Michael Langdon to strip you of your remaining dignity.

“That’s it,” he said, lowering his hand to toy with the hem of your skirt. “Let go of everything. Give yourself to me.” He hiked up your skirt to your waist, and you could only imagine how crude this scene would look to an observer as he rolled your nude colored pantyhose down to your knees. You whimpered, barely noticing the way the shelf behind you dug painfully into your back.

“Where do you want to be touched?” he asked, making you groan in exasperation. Wasn’t the fact that you were submitting to him enough? Why did he need to further humiliate you?

“Please,” you breathed, but he only shook his head at you, no sign of sympathy in his stoic gaze. “Michael.”

Your hand shot forward and gripped his wrist, tugging it desperately towards your dripping core. He seemed pleasantly surprised at this, and seemed to be rewarding your boldness when he starred to rub circles over the thin fabric of your underwear. You moved your hand to grip his forearm, hissing as he applied hard pressure to your aching clit.

“Your underwear is completely soaked through,” he remarked, sliding his hand up to the waistband and snapping it hard against your lower stomach. “Have I always made you this wet?”

You knew he expected an answer from you, freezing in place as he waited for your reply. He could probably continue this for hours if he wanted to, just destroying you bit by bit. You gulped and nodded quickly, hoping that would suffice as an answer to his question.

He worked your underwear down to your knees, bunching it alongside your pantyhose. Next you felt his dress shoes nudging between your flats, urging you to spread your legs apart. You complied, his fingers stroking your upper leg and dipping into the juices that had begun to dribble down your inner thighs.

When he’d coated a sufficient amount on his fingers, he lifted them to your lips; you parted them obediently and he slipped them into your mouth. You wrapped your lips around them, moaning wantonly at the taste of your wetness combined with the salty flavor of his skin.

“Who would’ve known that the sweet little Christian girl would turn out to be such a needy slut?” he mused, removing his fingers from your mouth to trace them lightly over your swollen clit. “Good girl,” he praised, dragging his moist fingers over your entrance before easing them inside your tight walls. You whined, grinding your hips down as you felt yourself being stretched out for the first time in your life. It was exquisite, the way he felt inside you, and you couldn’t believe you’d been denying yourself this for so long.

He started out torturously slow, allowing you to get used to the feeling of his fingers inside you before increasing the intensity. When you’d been properly stretched out, he thrusted harshly upwards, forcing a gasp from your lips as your vision blurred. Your eyes fluttered shut and his pace quickened, his fingers expertly reaching and working at your deepest points with each vigorous thrust of his wrist. Your arms braced his neck, holding him close to you in case he might change his mind, decide to leave you high and dry. The thought of that alone made you want to sob.

“That’s it,” he said, aligning his thumb with your clit and tracing shapes over it firmly. “Allow yourself to forget everything but the pleasure.” You were one step ahead of him, your mind already blanking out as he pumped his fingers in and out of you, thumb pushing against your sensitive bundle of nerves without mercy. You cried out, muscles tensing as you realized you were about to have your very first orgasm, and for the first time you understood, really understood, the reason people touched themselves, had sex before marriage. What was so goddamned sinful about wanting release?

You rocked your hips forward, your walls clenching around him, and he stopped, fingers remaining inside you and thumb hovering just over your clit. You whined, rolling your hips against his hand, but he moved his hand with your body, not allowing you to take more than he was willing to give. “Tell me,” he ordered, knowing very well you knew what he meant.

“Michael, please,” you pleaded, wiping away a bead of sweat that was traveling down your forehead. “Don’t do this, I- I need this-”

He hummed softly, just barely sweeping his thumb over your clit, pulling it away before you could buck your hips towards him. “You need what, (y/n)? I need to hear you say it before I can give it to you.”

“Make me come, Michael, I need to come,” you blurted, blinking back tears which wobbled precariously over the rim of your eyes. You saw him grin, and then your vision blurred as he resumed massaging circles roughly against your bud, fingers stretching apart inside you before pounding hard against your spongey walls.

“Oh my- oh my god,” you sighed, too wrapped up in your ecstasy to care about using the lord’s name in vain. All you cared about in this moment was Michael and his beautiful hand turning you inside out, giving you what you’d been yearning for so desperately. He curled his fingers inside you and that was it- you orgasmed, a tsunami of pure, sinful bliss washing over you, and you made sure your face was buried in his shoulder to muffle the shrieks that you simply could not stifle.

You laid your head there while he slipped his fingers out of you, wiping the excess moisture over your protruding outer lips. Mindlessly brushing away a strand of his perfect hair from his neck, you opened your eyes with a contented hum, still too flustered from your orgasm to think clearly.

And then you almost screamed.

Suddenly you had all the answers you’d been looking for. You knew for certain now who he was, why he had such seemingly supernatural powers that both frightened and compelled you. It was remarkable, you thought, that you hadn’t realized it sooner.

Below his ear, etched in reddened, raised flesh, was a number.

6-6-6.

#michael langdon #michael langdon smut #michael langdon imagine #cody fern #ahs apocalypse #apocalypse #ahs smut #ahs imagines #mine #ahs #american horror story

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 6 years ago

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Their Hero Academia: Chapter 19

My on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fan-fic! Chapter 19, presented raw and unedited and featuring Shota Shinso! Chapters 0-18 (plus an interlude) can be found here

“Yow! Look out and shout, listeners! This is Present Mic and the time is 0630 on this beautiful Tuesday morning! If you’ve got work today in Hosu City, better give yourself extra time, because there’s a Villain attack downtown that has everything all tied up! Fortunately, new outlets on the scene are reporting that Ingenium and his sidekicks are on the case! We’ll keep you updated when we know more. But for now, here’s the latest hit from Jiro and the Jamming Wheys!”

Shota’s sleepy fingers prodded at his alarm clock until he found the volume button, lowering it to something less likely to jolt him out of bed. He’d stayed up too late (again), reading through the various Hero News sites and watching videos of Heroes in action. He always paid for it the next morning, but he always considered it worth it.

He threw back the covers and put both feet on the floor, blinking his eyes for a few moments as he adjusted to being awake. Pro-Heroes stared back at him from every corner of the room, from the posters along every wall, to the statues and action figures that covered nearly every other available surface. It had been a real challenge deciding what to bring to U.A. with him, but he’d somehow managed. But maybe he’d trade a few things out the first time he went home.

As he set his phone to voice response mode as he started to get dressed. “What’s the current Top Ten Hero Rankings?” he asked it, one of his pre-programmed searches. While the Official Billboard rankings only came out biannually, there were plenty of other Hero-fans and communities out there using similar algorithms to track on a more regular basis.

A hologram popped up of the results:

1) Deku

2) Lemillion

3) Shoto

4) Ground Zero

5) Nejire-chan and Suneater

6) Ingenium

7) Rodeo

8) Gale Force

9) Froppy

10) Red Riot and Real Steel

Most of those weren’t surprising. Deku and Lemillion traded off spots fairly frequently and both had been working overtime in the advent of the Quirk Virus outbreak. Shoto had pretty consistently held the Number Three spot for a number of years, though Ground Zero occasionally rose to the Number Three or Two spot for about a day or two before dropping down. Ingenium had been pretty solidly Number Six for even longer.

Neijire-chan and Suneater both worked at the same agency they’d founded with Lemillion after he’d gotten his Quirk back, and typically worked together still, even when his duties drew him apart from them. Even without him, they’d racked up a number of impressive victories, rescues, and captures to their name. Hero couples usually did. His parents frequently worked together too and had similar results, her Quirk complimenting his quite nicely. Even if they were largely Underground Heroes, operating below most people’s radar.

The only real surprise on the list was Rodeo, Mika Mineta’s mother. After he fixed his tie and slipped on his jacket, Shota opened the article associated with the most recent list for more information. She’d previously been hovering in the low to mid-teens, but it looked like a victory against the Villain group known as the Rustlers, she’d been propelled up several notches. It looked like the Villains had taken a bullet train hostage and she’d pulled off the rescue single handedly.

Unfortunately, there weren’t very many video clips of the rescue, just a couple of hastily taken and shaky cell phone videos. There were more when the train had pulled in the station and she’d walked out with them all tied up, but those weren’t nearly as exciting.

On the other hand, a linked article showed that a newer Pro-Hero, Wreck-It, was rapidly rising in the ranks following his fight with Fullmetal last week, having hit Number Twenty-Seven already. Most people were speculating he’d crack the teens by the end of the year. Looking at the time, Shota saved a video of Wreck-It fighting Cy-Bug for later. If he wanted breakfast, he’d have to go down now.

There was never enough time for the important stuff!

***

Shota came out of his room at the same time that Isamu Haimawari was coming out of his. Tall and skinny, Haimawari had a good six inches or more on him. Shota gave him a wave. “Morning, Haimawari!”

“Oh, morning, Shinso,” he said. “You, ah, you look tired.”

Shota shrugged. “Stayed up too late again watching Hero videos. I’d watch one, and then it just kept suggesting more!”

Haimawari laughed. “You do know that’s just what it does, right? For the clicks and ads?”

“Yeah, well… they shouldn’t have so much cool stuff if they’re gonna do that!”

He laughed again as they headed for the stairs. “If you say so, little dude. Just don’t let Aizawa catch you napping. I don’t think it’s be pretty. He’s really scary.” He held open the door to the stairwell for Shota.

“Oh, I don’t worry too much about that. Uncle Shota’s not nearly as scary as he seems.”

Haimawari missed a step and began skidding down the stairs, only stopping himself by throwing out his hands and using his Quirk to brake himself. He got uneasily back to his feet. “’Uncle Shota’?” he asked, sounding as if he didn’t really believe what he was saying. “How do you two have the same name?”

It took Shota a minute to remember that Haimawari hadn’t grown up with the rest of them. It had only been a week, but he’d already gotten completely used to having him around. “I’m named after him,” he explained. “He’s my godfather. He was my dad’s mentor, back in the day. Helped get him into the Hero Course and everything.”

Haimawari tilted his head. “That’s a thing?”

“Oh yeah!” Shota said. “Lots of Pro-Heroes started off in the General Education Department but got to transfer to the Heroics Course after they made their mark in the Sports’ Festival! It’s pretty much a U.A. tradition! There’s the Negotiator, and the Safari Samurai, and Iron Blood, and Life Sewer, and…”

“Wow,” Haimawari said. “Too bad more schools don’t do something like that. Dad applied to a Hero school too… but missed the exam. He might have made it up after. Course, if he did that, he probably never would have met Mom, so…” He shrugged. “Guess things work out.”

“Your dad was gonna be a Hero?” he asked. “Awww, man! You said he’s got the same Quirk as you, right? Your Quirk is so cool! I bet he could have made an awesome one!”

That got a smile out of Haimawari as they reached the bottom of the stairs and headed into the Common Room. “Yeah… well, guess it’s up to me then.”

“You’ll do great,” Shota said. “I know it!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude,” Haimawari said.

The Common Room was abuzz with activity, with most either eating breakfast, fixing their breakfast, or otherwise engaged. Shota saw Toshi sitting with Takuma Sero and the Iida Twins on one of the sofas. Sora Iida was sitting very close to Toshi, practically in his lap, while Takuma and Tensei Iida were sitting close, but not as close, though both looked rather relaxed with each other. Everybody had already known about Sero and Tensei Iida, of course, since Kimiko Ojiro had blasted it to the farthest corners of the internet, but Toshi and Sora Iida was new. Good for them, though.

“Haimawari!” Chihiro Kaminari’s voice cut across the room, from where she was sitting with Mika Mineta. “Your mom’s a music reporter, right?”

Haimawari looked over in their direction, maybe looking a little pale from the attention. “Ah, yeah?” he said.

“Then get over here! You’ve got to have the inside scoop on these Double*Pop girls!” Kaminari said.

“Bunch of wannabes,” Haimawari said, looking disgusted for the first time since Shota had known him. “Hang on, let me get a Pop-Tart and I’ll give you the real gossip.”

He gave Shota an apologetic grin. “Sorry, I’ve gotta get in on this. Just… come check on me in about fifteen to make sure they haven’t kidnapped me to have their way with me,”

“Oookay?” Shota said. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but he’d still check up on him anyway. He’d grab some cereal and then go join Asuka, Izumi, and Kirishima-Bakugo for some quick breakfast before class.

Hopefully the morning wouldn’t drag on too long. He couldn’t wait to get back to the USJ!

***

“Go, Shinso!” Akaya Koda directed, pointing with one massive hand. “My trees have grown strong, but they will not hold back rubble’s collapse for long!”

Back the USJ, they were continuing their Urban Rescue Training. Yesterday, they’d been training with Doc Clock (she wasn’t very high in the Hero Rankings, but Aunt Eri was definitely one of the top Heroes in his book), and today they were working with All Might himself! The former Number One Hero in Japan and the world! The Symbol of Peace! And he was still teaching after all these years! It was the coolest thing in the universe!

He was working with Akaya Koda, Takiyo Aoyama, Takuma Sero, and Izumi Todoroki. The cityscape around them was in ruins, with numerous small fires and many of the buildings in states of significant collapse. They’d already cleared three buildings and were on to a fourth. Koda had used her Quirk to fast grow trees from seeds (decades of growth in seconds!), shaping their growth enough to reinforce a collapsed section of a building. But they wouldn’t hold forever. So they had to know how many people were inside to be rescued.

Shota took a deep breath and concentrated on his Quirk, sending out as high a pitch as he could manage, almost past the range of human hearing. Invisible waves of sound penetrated the building, bouncing all around it, until they bounced back to him, painting a perfect picture in his mind. He could see every nook, cranny, door, pipe, light fixture, and “person” inside.

“Five people inside,” he said. “Two on the ground floor, three on the third.”

He had spent a lot of time with Quirk Specialists and Quirk Counselors over the years. His was a true, rare, once in a family line mutation, completely different from anything anyone else on either side of his family had. They were still figuring out everything he could do. He just knew he could make a lot of things happen with different sounds. And every time he found something new, it meant it was a new way he could help people. But sonar was really useful here. Not that it didn’t have its drawbacks. There was the time he’d used it when Kimiko Ojiro was around…

“I can take Todoroki up,” Sero said, pointing to the third floor. “I can get there, but I can’t get past the fires. You up for that?”

Izumi nodded. She looked a little tired; she’d been making lots of ice to fight the fires, only occasionally and carefully letting out little puffs of her own flames to balance herself out. The silver pieces on her costume were flashing yellow. Shota knew they did something to help regulate her temperatures, but he didn’t know what the flashing meant. He hoped she was okay.

“I can manage,” Izumi said. “Just get me close enough.”

“Guess that leaves us on the ground floor!” Shota said to Aoyama.

Aoyama shrugged, his glow bright and partially obscuring his features. “I suppose they shall be grateful for the rescue,” he said.

“Best hurry,” Koda said. “I shall do what I can to reinforce what I have already grown, but I fear providence shall not be with us for long.”

They moved. With Todoroki on his back, Sero fired a strand of his Acid Tape upward, pulling them towards the third floor. Shota sprinted inside, Aoyama hot on his heels and soon passing him.

He probably could have navigated with his Sonar—though the picture it had given him was fading fast from his mind—but Shota was grateful for Aoyama’s light. With the power out in the ruined building, it cast a soft glow over everything.

“You said there were deux,” Aoyama said. “Where?” He held up a hand and concentrated, focusing his light through the reflective armband he wore as part of his Support gear. The armband focused the light into a powerful spotlight beam, which he traced over the dark corners of the room.

Shota pointed a little to the left of where Aoyama’s spotlight had fallen. “One there… one further in the back.”

The ground began to shake and pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling. Aoyama let out a frightened yelp and jumped to the side as one nearly fell on him. “Then let us get them and get out as soon as possible,” he said.

Swiftly, they checked the first of the animatronics. There was a fallen filing cabinet pinning its legs and the vital signs meters displaying on its chest told a story of a great many injuries. Shota grabbed onto the cabinet and tried to lift it, grunting and straining with all his might, but it was too heavy.

Aoyama let out a sigh. “Allow me to show you how it is done.” He pointed a hand at the filing cabinet and made some adjustment to his arm band. A beam of light as wide as his fist shot out, striking the cabinet and slicing through it, splitting it into the portion that was over the animatronic’s legs and the portion that wasn’t. The beam continued on and went into the wall behind it, leaving a smoking hole and red hot edges on the cabinet.

The lights on the animatronic lit up like a Christmas tree before shutting off completely. Shota reached a hand towards it and pulled it back. The animatronic and the air around it was still hot from Aoyama’s laser beam. No wonder it had… died? Was that the right word for what had happened?

He knew Aoyama was powerful, but he also knew he mostly relied on his Support gear to control his Quirk. Shota’s eyes went wide as he looked at his classmate.

“Non…” Aoyama said. “I did not mean… We… we must have been too late already!” He gave his cape a flick. “Let us see about the other one, Shinso.”

Shota was very sure that they hadn’t been too late and that it had been Aoyama’s fault. But after seeing the horrified look on his French classmate’s face, he wasn’t going to push it. Maybe he’d be a little nicer after that.

As they headed to the back room, the ground shook again and more of the ceiling began to fall. A big piece of the ceiling fell near Aoyama, causing him to shriek and Shota to flinch at the noise of the crash. More started to fall, but when Aoyama tried to move, he couldn’t! His cape had been caught under the rubble that had nearly hit him. And more was falling…

Shota screamed. The air around the rippled with the sonic energy he had unleashed, forming a protective dome around both of them. Several more pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling, but they bounced off the dome. Finally, it stopped and Shota could breathe again, coughing until his throat felt right again. That had been longer than he typically used his Quirk for. He was best in short bursts and could only keep it up as long as he could draw in enough air to make sound.

Aoyama looked at him with wide eyes. “You saved me,” he said, his voice soft and quiet. “Merci.”

“You’d have done the same!” Shota told him, even if part of him wondered if that wasn’t true. “And they wouldn’t let us really get hurt, not during training!”

“Still…” Aoyama frowned and tugged at his cape, until it came away from the rubble with a long riiiiiip. “A pity. My poor cape.”

Shota was going to tell him that he shouldn’t wear it, that very few Heroes wore them these days, exactly because of what had happened. He even remembered reading about an American Support Gear and costume designer who had campaigned very hard for the international Hero community to outlaw capes in their entirety, though she had not been successful in that. Too many people thought they were too iconic to give up. But Shota could quote a lot of statistics on why they were a bad idea…

“Aoyama! Shinso!” Koda’s voice rang out. “The structure is becoming unstable! You need to get out!”

Both turned and ran for the door. Shota hated leaving the exercise incomplete…but it looked like they had no choice.

The second they hit daylight, the building finished collapsing, taking Koda’s trees with it. “Thank you for your sacrifice, my woody friends,” she said quietly. “Rest well knowing the lessons I have learned here will mean it was not in vain.” Her rocky features were tired and a little sad. Shota knew she took it hard whenever her plants were hurt, even in training.

“You two okay?” Sero asked. “You were in there a long time.” Soot covered his costume and he held his helmet in the crook of his arm, scrubbing at the faceplate with a cloth.

“And your cape is torn, Aoyama,” Izumi said. She was letting flames dance over her fingertips, the blinking lights on the silver pieces of her costume fading from yellow to green.

“We just ran into un petit bit of trouble,” Aoyama said, putting on a proud grin. But he only held it for a minute, Shota bet he was remembering that they’d all be reviewing the video later. “But… Shinso was quite good at getting us out of it. Even if we did not complete the rescue.”

“An unfortunate truism of being a Hero,” All Might said, as he left the safe zone he’d been monitoring them from. Shota had seen plenty of videos of him in his prime, but there was something captivating about the man he’d mostly known as Toshi’s grandfather. He’d been a Hero longer than almost anyone; and Shota knew he was lucky to learn whatever he could from him.

“Sometimes,” All Might continued, “you cannot save everyone. Sometimes… you will be pushed to your limits and it will still not be enough. We hold tremendous power and responsibility in our hands. Our profession is an unforgiving one, one which demands perfection of us, when the slightest misstep or wrong choice can cost lives. But if you train your minds, bodies, and Quirks… You can at least ensure those moments are as few and far between as possible.

“I think you all know where you can begin to improve, but that being said… You are all showing great progress! We will discuss the specifics later, but the other groups should be finishing up and Water Spout and Doc Clock will be wanting to continue your first aid lessons. But know that I am very proud of all of you! You are truly showing you know what it means to Go Beyond… Plus Ultra!”

Shota was pretty sure he’d never felt happier. All Might believed in him!

***

“Remember, kids, playing by the rules is super manly! If you see someone cheating, let them know that’s not fair! And that’s what Red Riot Sayz!”

Shota turned down the volume on his computer while the ad between videos loaded. Someone had uploaded a bunch of Public Service Announcements that Red Riot had done more than a decade ago and he just had to watch them all! He wouldn’t be up too late if he did that…

“Shota, go to bed.”

He looked up from his computer to find Asuka, Izumi, Toshi, and Haimiwari in his room. He must have been watching so intently he didn’t even hear them!

“Go to bed,” Asuka repeated.

“Sorry, dude,” Haimiwari said, an apologetic smile on his face. “But you looked really tired this morning. I had to call in the heavy artillery.”

“I’m only gonna watch a couple more,” Shota said. And he was! Probably. Sometimes they were just too tempting!

“Those’ll probably get taken down anyway,” Toshi said. “That’s not an official video channel.”

They might? Then he had to watch them all tonight! He started to turn back towards his computer.

“Maybe not the best thing to say, Toshi, *chirp*” Asuka said.

“…Ooops?”

“Shota,” Izumi said. “It is only Tuesday and you’ve already been tired both mornings this week. This is not healthy for you or your future as a Hero.”

“Dad doesn’t sleep that much,” he tried.

“But you are not your father,” Izumi continued. “And besides… your godfather would tell you to rest whenever you are able. We must insist you go to bed.”

Shota became uncomfortably aware of the four sets of eyes on him. And of the fact that despite her soft voice, there was a firmness to Izumi’s words that meant he wasn’t going to win this argument.

“Okay,” he said, dejectedly, getting out of his chair.

“Turn the computer off,” Asuka said.

“And no using your phone either,” Izumi added.

They’d really thought of everything! He was definitely trapped. Well… one day without too many videos probably wouldn’t kill him.

He’d just have to watch even more tomorrow!

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #My writing

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theashemarie · 6 years ago

Text

Demo Brew Ch. 2 | Pearlina

☆ Reblogs appreciated! ☆

↪Chapter 1: [The Bet]

↪Chapter 3: [The Song]

Read one chapter ahead on AO3!

Ch. 2: The Squid Sisters

When Callie and Marie return, they tow in a girl of about turf war age (fifteen) with long hair and eyes swimming with mirth. “This is Three,” Marie says. “She’s gonna be helping out around here for a while.”

“That’s me! Three!” says Three. Her voice is just as lively and cheerful as her eyes.

That can’t be her real name, but Pearl doesn’t let it phase her. She’s known quite a few people with good reasons behind their unusual names, and she knows better than to ask.

“I’m Pearl,” she says.

“Oh, I know.” Three bounds forward to shake her hand. “I love your music. I wish I could scream like that.”

They make fast friends.

Mostly, Pearl and Three bond over death-defying accidents and comparing their scars. Three’s are fresher, but Pearl’s got better stories.

“I got this one from trying to do a wheelie down the stairs!” Pearl indicates her leg, where a large, lighter slash of skin decorates it.

“Whoa!” Three leans over and pokes it. Then, she indicates a spot on her face, just on the side of her nose. “One time, I wanted to see if shooting a charger straight at the ground would let me like... pogo with it? Like a pogo stick? But then I shot, and it burst out of my hand and it just hit in the nose... But it worked!”

Pearl can’t help it—she laughs so hard that she almost falls over. “At least you didn’t lose your teeth. Once, I was trying to do cool ninja tricks with a microphone and I swung it into my face. My dad says the dental work almost made us go broke!”

“One time, I had a roller and I gonna attack an oct—”

“Okay!” Callie bursts in, carrying a tray of hastily put together sandwiches. She doesn’t sound nearly as tired as she’s been acting lately, so that’s a good sign. She and Marie have been keeping odd hours recently, Pearl thinks, because they always come into work exhausted. “Are you guys comparing scars? Do you wanna see mine?” She lifts up her shirt enough for them to see a small slash in her stomach. “Marie stabbed me with a fork when we were kids.”

“Wha—?” Three gasps and looks to Marie. She was cleaning the tables but has since stopped to watch their small spectacle.

“She was in my way,” Marie answers easily, leaning back on the tabletop. “I don’t have any scars. I’m too perfect.”

“Yeah,” Callie shoots back, “but don’t you have permanent blisters on your hands from when you tried to take pizza rolls out of the toaster oven too fast?”

Marie doesn’t answer right away. “...Maybe. Shut up.”

“Pizza goblin!” Three cheers, pointing right at Marie.

Pearl and Callie collapse into fits of giggles. Three and Marie watch them, grinning, but then Three notices something.

“Well Pearl, what about that one?” Three indicates a light scar across Pearl’s arm, faded because of extensive effort—lots of creams and gels.

“Oh.” Pearl rubs over the spot. “That’s from a bandmate. Whapped me with a guitar string. He says it was an accident but sometimes I’m not sure.”

Callie and Marie share a look over her head and she sees Three’s fists tighten. “It’s no biggie though!” Pearl says and gives them a huge sharktooth grin. “I got him back good.”

Marina doesn’t return for about three days after Pearl hands her a CD with her band’s latest single on it. Pearl tries not to take it personally, and she desperately has to keep herself from breaking down every day that passes with no Marina, but she manages it. Callie, Marie, and Three don’t ask when they find her leaning over the sink in the bathroom, giving herself pep talks, and Three joins in one time, just to make sure that Pearl is okay. Three’s a good kid, and Pearl will have to make it up to her one day.

If she makes it through this.

It’s not that she’s weak. It’s just that she’s not used to this. She really, really, really likes Marina, and she wants to impress her and get to know her and spend time with her. She dreams about holding her hand. Her hand—like they’re school children. Pearl hasn’t been this head-over-heels for anyone in a long time.

And now she’s gone.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Three asks one night. They’re closing and the shop is empty. It’s quiet. Pearl is washing the last of the cups while Three mops the floor. All the chairs are flipped on to the tables and the world outside is dark. Pearl can see herself in the reflection of the window.

“Not really,” Pearl says. Then amends, “Okay maybe. Yeah, I do.”

Three props the mop against the wall and puts her elbows on the counter. “I won’t tell a soul. Agent’s honor.”

Pearl has no idea what that could possibly mean, but she doesn’t really want to get sidetracked here. She needs to talk about this. “So, you know Marina? Like this tall?” She extends up onto her toes to hold her hand at the approximate height. “Fond of headphones. Beautiful hair.”

Three smiles in a way that Pearl can’t read. “Yeah, I’ve seen her. She hasn’t been here in a few days.”

“That’s the problem.” Pearl sighs and plonks a mug into the soapy water. “I gave her a CD with some music on it. My band’s music. And she hasn’t come back. I scared her away.”

Three winces, which is a bad sign. “Nooo,” she sing-songs, trying to be convincing and failing, “I’m sure she loves it! Everyone I know loves it! I love it! I love your music, Pearl.”

Pearl considers shoving her head into the sink. “Thanks,” she says instead.

Three watches her for a second. “I think you’re letting it bother you too much. What happened to the Pearl that I met that doesn’t let anything bother her? So what if one person doesn’t like your music? You’re still badass! You’re still Pearl! You’re still the person who screams so loud the speakers break. I thought you were supposed to be arrogance personified.”

Pearl turns toward her and catches sight of her reflection in the glass again. Window Pearl is all slouchy and sad, as if her body can’t hold itself up. She stands up taller, just to see, to remember, what that’s like, and then she smirks at herself, just because she can.

“Yeah!” she says. Window Pearl is confident now, arrogant, the Pearl that looked back at her every morning for the past twenty years. “Yeah! Who cares what Marina thinks?”

“Not us!” Three cheers.

Well, Pearl actually does care, but she’s going to fake it until she makes it.

“Not us!” she echoes, and vows to remain this confident.

At least until Marina breaks her hearts.

When Marina reappears, she orders a hazelnut latte from Callie, and Pearl starts putting it together without a word. Marie and Three are in the back, testing some new cookie recipes and the shop smells amazing, of cranberries and oranges and something like chocolate and raspberry.

“How are you today?” Callie asks, being cordial, while Pearl tries her best to not to look at Marina. She’s trying to be aloof to protect herself. Her music is her most important thing, and if Marina doesn’t like it, she wants to be prepared. If Marina doesn’t like it, she likes to imagine that she’ll just shrug it off. But it probably will destroy her no matter how much she doesn’t want it to.

“I’m great,” Marina says. “I got a lot of work done this weekend! Heard some new music that really inspired me.”

“Oh yeah?” Callie sounds genuinely interested. Pearl wishes she could act like that. “Anybody I know?”

Pearl pumps some hazelnut into the drink. The faster she gets it done, the faster Marina can leave.

“It’s Pearl’s band, actually.”

Pearl almost spills the coffee. “What?”

A glance over her shoulder let’s Pearl see Marina nod once, enthusiastic. “Yeah! I sampled some and did a remix. I hope that’s okay.”

Pearl looks back at the coffee and lets out a soft, impassioned scream. It’s high pitched and straight from her gut, a primal scream that she has no control over. And then, when it’s over, she puts the coffee down, turns to see both Callie and Marina’s shocked faces, says “I spilled coffee on myself. I’ll be right back,” and then marches through the door to the back.

“Uh,” Marina says.

“I’ll finish your drink,” Callie offers, at a loss.

“Great job!” Three cheers as Pearl passes her. Pearl groans, turns the water in the sink on, and dunks her hand under it, just to keep up the act.

The next few days pass in a blur. Marina shows up every day and Pearl tries to be slick. She leans on the counter and says extremely normal things like “Hey girl, what’cha drinking?” or “Hey Rena. Can I call you Rena? What can I get you?” or “What’s up? Where’d you come from anyway?” It’s so against her nature, but she can’t bear to use a pickup line on Marina. She’s not just any girl.

That last one though—the “Where’d you come from anyway?”—is the wrong thing to ask. Marina goes ashen and Pearl immediately realizes that she’s screwed up somehow.

“Uh, I mean—it doesn’t matter! There’s people from all over in this city and a lot of them don’t want to talk about it! Callie and Marie are from Calamari County and they barely talk about it. It’s chill! I’m from right here though! I competed in the Calamari County Youth Folk-Singing Contest and won though! Totally blew up some speakers with the power of my voice! Am I rambling? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. Please don’t—”

“Pearl.” Marina is chuckling. “It’s okay. I’m from around Mt. Nantai. Your question just surprised me. I didn’t know we were at the where are you from stage of our relationship.”

She’s teasing. Pearl can tell. But she also doesn’t care. She just said the word relationship— Pearl has to try very hard not to scream again.

“Well, y’know.” Pearl is trying to sound nonchalant. “I’m just curious. You keep trying every drink like you don’t know what they all taste like or something. They don’t have coffee shops in whatever mountain town you grew up in?”

Marina shakes her head with a small smile on her face. “No, I can honestly say that there isn’t any coffee where I’m from.”

Pearl whistles and leans against the counter. “Wow. You from some kind of purity cult? I heard the humans had those. Didn’t know they still existed. What about your parents—”

“Actually,” Marina cuts in, “I have something for you.” She reaches into the small bag she has hanging from her shoulder and holds a small CD case out in Pearl’s direction. “It’s the track I made with samples from your song. I used a bunch of your screams to make a new track. It was a lot of fun!”

“No way!” Pearl pounces on the disc. “You used just me?”

Marina nods and holds a hand up to her face to hide her small smile. “Your voice is crazy powerful and really flexible.”

“I’m gonna play it right now!” Pearl twists around to go for the radio and its old-fashioned CD player, but Marina lunges toward the counter with her hand outstretched.

“Please no,” she says. She grabs her longest tendril of hair and plays with the end, embarrassed. “It’s just. I made it for you. And I added a demo of a song I wrote...”

Pearl’s eyes widen. “You did?! I— I mean...” She has to struggle to keep a giant smile from appearing on her face. “Thank you, Marina. I— I’d love to hear it.”

Marina picks up her hot chocolate. “It was the least I could do. Since you trusted me with your music.”

Marina’s song is really good. Really, really fucking good.

It’s super melodic and the countermelody would perfectly fit a spoken part, maybe even a rap. The drums are moving and steady, the background music more of a rhythm than a tune, which is perfectly juxtaposed with her voice. Marina has a great ear for music and Pearl catches herself humming it as she makes coffee. Three is at the counter today and Wet Floor is singing from the radio. Pearl can’t get Marina’s demo out of her head though.

On her break, she sits at the back-corner table with her feet up on one of the chairs just like Callie told her not to, and she writes lyrics. Quick, snappy, rapped in a high pitch—possibly her own voice, but she doesn’t let that thought get very far. Then, she writes in close harmonies, just for kicks, just to see if it would work.

She’s so focused that she doesn’t notice when Callie walks up and almost jumps out of her skin when Callie pushes her feet off the chair. She drops into it and sighs.

She and Marie have been so exhausted lately, as if they’ve been running marathons in their free time or something. They come into work tired, float through their shifts half-asleep, and Pearl is pretty sure that Marie has been downing at least six cups of coffee every morning. It’s like they’re living too much, with too much stress, too much stuff, not enough time. But, as far as Pearl knows, they only have the shop and their grandfather. A grandfather who is still in Calamari County, being cared for my Marie’s parents.

Still, Callie and Marie are run ragged, down to their teeth, and Pearl can’t help but wonder if they’re hiding something.

“What’cha up to over here?” Callie asks. She’s not looking at Pearl, just has her head craned back as if she could fall asleep right there.

“Nothing,” Pearl answers impulsively.

Callie moves her head to look at Pearl. “Didn’t seem like nothing, but also it’s none of my business. As long as it’s not illegal.”

Pearl doesn’t know what comes over her, but looking at Callie right then, in her bright pink apron and beanie, she can’t help but trust her. Sure, Callie hasn’t expressed any sort of interest in music or writing or anything related, but Pearl has to show someone because there’s no way she’s ever gonna show Marina. Might as well be Callie.

“I was writing lyrics.” Pearl flips her notebook around, showcases the rough treble staff and her scribbled lyrics.

Callie sits up, interest piqued, and pulls the notebook closer. “Countermelody?”

Pearl is surprised. “Yeah. The melody is flowing and lyrical. I figured it could use some punch.”

“Mm.” Callie begins to hum, picking the notes up off the page without a pitch prompt, and Pearl has to keep herself from being boggled. She watches as Callie’s finger moves up and down the staff, touching each note with care as she hums Pearl’s rough composition.

“Do you know the melody? Can you write it on here?” Callie pushes the notebook back. “I’m assuming you don’t have a recording of it yet.”

She does actually, but it would be a betrayal of Marina’s trust to let Callie listen to it, especially this early. Still, she knows it well enough to stick the notes on the staff. “Yeah, I can transcribe it.”

“Sick. Hey, Marie! Come over here.”

Marie appears quickly, with a mug of coffee warming her hand. “You know if we all go on break, there won’t be anyone to run the counter,” she says as she sits down beside Callie.

“Three’s got it. Check this out.”

Pearl finishes the last note as Callie grabs the notebook out of her hand and spins it around. Marie takes a sip of her drink and nods. “I like it. You wrote this?”

Pearl shakes her head, dumbfounded. “I’m helping a friend.”

Marie takes another small drink. “I think it’ll work. Do you wanna test it or what?” She directs that last question at Callie, who merely grins.

“Yeah, we totally gotta test it! Pearl here needs our help.”

Marie nods and clears her throat. Then, she begins to sing the part Marina already had written, using a neutral dah syllable because Pearl didn’t write in the words under the notes, and, when she gets to Pearl’s additions, Callie jumps in, matching with dahs of her own. They blend flawlessly, catching the close harmonies without a single snag, and Pearl hears the song open up, even without the instrumental to give it depth.

And, some stubborn, annoying part of her brain says, aren’t those voices eerily familiar? Deeply, painfully familiar? So familiar that it smacks her hard, right between the eyes and she doesn’t hear the end of the song at all. She just watches them, so in sync, so practiced, so familiar with plucking notes out of the air and sewing their voices together that they don’t need a single pitch to match—they just match each other.

“How’d we do?” Callie asks when they finish. She’s all grins and Marie just rolls her eyes, perfectly aware of the game.

“...you’re shitting me.” Pearl has to struggle to keep her voice modulated. She doesn’t want to yell here in Fresh Start, not with so many people around. “This whole time you’ve been playing with me?”

Callie shrugs and stands. “Technically, we’ve been playing with everyone. You were just the closest target.”

“But...” Pearl can’t believe it. The Squid Sisters, right here, working all day in this tiny shop just off the main area in the square. “Why?”

“We like coffee,” they chorus together. And then giggle, as if this is a normal response.

As Marie disappears back into the back, she and Three share a small smile, and Pearl realizes that Three knew too. Pearl was the only one who didn’t know. Unbelievable.

“That’s a great song, by the way,” Callie says. She closes Pearl’s notebook and hands it back carefully, as if it’s highly valuable. Pearl accepts it and tries to ignore how Callie’s praise makes her hearts jump. “You should go after it. You and Marina make a great team.”

Pearl feels her stomach drop open. “We do...”

Callie smiles and claps a hand on Pearl’s shoulder. “I think so. But what do I know? I’m just a barista.”

Pearl can’t help it—she lets out a bark of a laugh and Callie winks as she goes back toward the back, where there are scones to be made.

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #pearlina #splatoon fic #ashe talks #ashe writes #demo brew #i know the fandom characterizes agent 3 as a badass but my 3 is a goofball #also i KNOW that callie's the one that loves food but... what if marie did too?

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severalbakuras · 7 years ago

Text

FIRST THREE EPISODES OF S4 LETS GO

long post so apologies to mobile users. salt warning.

voltron season 4 spoilers (although i understand it’s technically still three the season just got split in two so the content drought wasn’t as long). please don’t give me spoilers for the rest of the season!! i don’t want them!!

(on the subject of content drought is steven universe still on hiatus?)

(still better than berserk’s hiatuses though)

episode 1:

still no new intro you COWARDS

second impact!!! oh no just a ship.

i wonder if galra have unions those two sound like they need one

BLADES

“do not engage” HMMM

oooh lizard blade

the blade up top could’ve totally seen that patrol coming tbh???

KEITH I KNEW IT!!!!

30 SECONDS TO SAVE LIZARD BLADE

holy shit he actually did it

sassy keith talking back to kolivan like that. hell yeah he saved their friend and the mission.

firo uh why are you acting like bridge boss? that was allura’s job and then coran’s job when she became the blue pilot. Back The Fuckéth Down.

there’s something ominous about those temples i can’t place it.

oh hey what’s up firo being a jackass as usual? k? k. keith can you employ the blade sass here too please it’s kinda sad watching this fake shiro stomp all your fire out.

pidge i hope that’s superficial damage bc cracks are probably not what you want in an outer space vessel.

wow rude. heith cancelled i’m not liking that.

i’m not trusting a DAMN THING from firo, especially when the music got super deep for a second.

i’m not in the military or remotely connected to it in any way but this is like... actually there’s no ‘like’ about it, they’re taking the most powerful and skilled soldiers out of combat in the middle of a war just so they can show them off, when voltron is already enshrined in the galactic mythos and by now it’s well known as being active and wrecking galra shit.

i can’t!! believe!! this!! is even!!! a debate?? parade which has already stated to have already happened very recently before or a galra supply ship going to for all that they know a secret galra base that they need to track down.

Y’ALL ARE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. IN AN ACTIVE WAR ZONE. THE FUCK.

god shut up lance he could be dead or captured and you’re more worried about the show.

i’m pretty sure you’ve only ~tried~ like what, three times? and like only one of those even made any impression on keith and i don’t even think it was the right one.

AND YOU SHOULD STILL TRY BECAUSE HE’S YOUR GODDAMN FRIEND.

NO LIZARD BLADE

so they’re off giving them the ol’ razzle dazzle and keith is running out of oxygen in the wreckage of a bomb explosion with no allies in sight floating adrift in space. fun times.

this parade is basically just an ad for toys LBR.

this is embarrassingly unfunny. like not even in a schadenfreude way.

so like y’all seriously have never thought about an alternative way for these parades to go just in case one of the lions needed repairs or was late back from a mission or a paladin was sick?

allura like i get what you’re trying to say here but like... do you know keith.

he’s not choosing the blades over voltron he’s choosing the fucking war over a parade.

ahh there he is, my terrible space prince. cleanse me of my salt.

god he has no respect for haggar at all ahhaha. i know some spoilers re honerva thanks to that one clip so it’s interesting he either doesn’t recognize her or doesn’t want to or that haggar either still doesn’t remember him or also doesn’t want to.

and y’all seriously never had a contingency plan for any situation that could mean voltron wasn’t around hhhhh.

hunk you’re the tank just AOE the spawned adds and let the DPS pick them off while you pop a defensive cooldown god you’d wipe the group in ragefire chasm even in full heirlooms wouldn’t you. (although there isn’t a healer lion and he’s clearly more protection warrior than the far superior blood death knight so lol no self heals)

huh. well the black lion historically isn’t a great judge of character so you’re still firo to me. like objectively, the black lion has no investment in her paladin’s life as seen on the bone planet when they were all separated, or even the continued existence of voltron. compare to the red lion, who will wreck entire bases and cross the galaxy to get to hers if she senses they’re in peril.

i wonder if voltron or the lions are conscious. like not like a person but like an EVA unit. a unit 1 vs zeruel style fight where voltron or one of the lions goes beast mode would be AMAZING

(spoiler warning for a 90s anime lol have i linked this before? i think i might have.)

youtube

now i want to watch original NGE again boo

(i wonder if we’ll ever get a real lion-on-lion fight. like either with the paladins involved or without. or like the lions deciding ‘fuck the pilot’ and disobeying them god that makes me want to watch NGE EVEN MORE)

holy shit you can all fuck off.

god keith your voice.

HOLY SHIT YOU CAN ALL FUCK OFF THAT’S THE MOST HOLLOW ~FRIENDSHIP~ MOMENT TO DATE.

welp OT4 cancelled, i guess that means i have no nice ships in this fandom and only have crack ships like keitor and zethura. i think that’s the fastest i’ve ever gone from loving a ship to dumping it. wait no i was a puzzleshipper for all of a day before i got bored of it when i rewatched yugioh. hunk/allura/shay/keith lasted a few weeks between S3.1 and S3.2.

(it’s ok shay i still love you. i can still ship you and keith but that too is a crack ship ♥)

episode 2:

UH WELL THANKS FOR THAT SPOILER THUMBNAIL NETFLIX.

BABY PIDGE

it’s amazing how a single word has made me detest this boy more than any of the galra except that one shitty one who sucked. go to hell.

actually teacher can go to hell too you’re just gonna let the entire class laugh at her and not even try to maintain order? are you that petty about being corrected?

i like these watercolour-y style backgrounds, i hope other earth flashbacks get this kind of style. it’s a nice change from how clean and sharp everything else is.

aww he’s a good bro

NERDBABIES ♥

OH WELL I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A BACK UP PLAN IN CASE THE GALRA ATTACK WHILE SHE’S GONE :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

like he’s contacting her midflight which makes it seem like she just took off at the first hint of matt??? meanwhile kolivan contacts the ship and explains the situation and asks politely? but keith’s the bad guy for splitting up the team ok.

do i sound salty? i feel it.

that’s our hunk, he sure likes to eat! -hysterical crowd noises-

this city looks like a neo-tokyo sonic level in a good way.

the lamest spider man.

who are you sharktooth tail man.

the whole PLANET looks like a neo-tokyo sonic level in a good way. approve. the coolest planet. can that be the new hub planet and not that weird techno-ahn’qiraj thing?

so the green lion takes no steps to defend itself under attack without a paladin.

did she just bloodbend that ship?

I LOVE HER. SHE’S ABOUT TO DIE (pidge bloodbend her wound shut) BUT I LOVE HER.

“so here’s your supplies and a body cheers.”

so why all the secrets here? i feel like the garrison’s up to shady shit, like he was just a space tube driller right? is space geology really that cutthroat?

that shot of the graveyard, holy shit.

i wonder how pidge’s mother’s doing. probably not well.

now see this would be tense and tragic if not for the FUCKING THUMBNAIL NETFLIX.

physics? physics.

i love rusty space tech!!!!!!!!

aww ♥

so where’s mr. holt then.

oh so he’s not galra he’s a space dinosaur.

“looks to me like you’re made of meat, just like everyone else!” ok that was an amazing line. i’m stealing that for my blood death knight, it’s perfect for her. i like you bloody bounty huntersaurus. you’re so dead but i like you.

nerd squad!

was that shiro and keith in the back?

so matt’s eyesight couldn’t have been that bad for pidge to just put them on like that, unless he switched the lenses out and made them purely cosmetic. people have to sit down when they wear my glasses or they feel sick.

episode 3:

yknow show i already feel bad enough for haggar/honerva you don’t need to twist that knife anymore.

are they STILL torturing that guy? i mean dude’s so strong in his convictions and his loyalty that he’s not tried making up a fake or even letting his brain conjure up an answer that he believes is true y’all should consider promoting him instead maybe??? because he’s the most hardcore person in that room???

firo why does ‘refugee’ instantly translate to ‘soldier’ with you.

oh he’s lance but more anime around pretty girls. boy that sure was an interesting and appealing character trait the first time around!!!!!!1111!!!1!!

HE’S NOT SHIRO DON’T TRUST HIM MATT.

cyber zarkon. i hope his AI acts up and he has to use urban dictionary as his speech system.

interesting that her first act is to drop lotor in it.

they both hate lotor so much why’d you even have him in the first place huh?

SHE’S SO EXCITED also the formatting’s getting weird bc of the length i think so sorry if this starts looking weird.

there he is again!! space prince!!

nobody who worked on this scene has ever been close to a cow. where’s the intrinsic judgement of your soul, the innate suspicion at your mere presence?

also she needs a herd she’s gonna be lonely ;_;

lotor we all know you’re lying

well apparently they don’t so i guess that kind of behaviour is what they expect from him. huh. i wonder when the switch between that being true and that being a well rehearsed act happened.

haggar what did you just do to narti. that’s not a good high pitched noise or whispering. i feel like i’ve heard it before.

how do you miss a tracker that makes an explosion that large the first time around? and wouldn’t the scan be standard procedure at this point?

hunk why are you acting like this. it’s weird i don’t like it.

git gud lance.

that whole bit went on way too long.

OH NO NARTI I KNEW HAGGAR DID SOMETHING.

so lotor’s officially the enemy now. like public enemy number 1.

VLD IF YOU TAKE ZETHRID AWAY FROM ME LIKE SU DID WITH JASPER...

so it

was

narti oh no :( i’d kinda hoped it was the cat.

that’s pretty graphic too slicing the view in half like that. a very creative censor.

and they don’t react at all? huh.

ok ok now they have the chance to. god they all look miserable.

did they leave the cat behind?

wonder what keith’s up to.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #vld spoilers #sb watches voltron

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rieshon · 6 years ago

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Best of 2018

Holy shit was this a hard year to write this. There were a few standouts that were always going to be at the top of this list, but that second tier of "really good" shows was really dense this year, and some series I absolutely loved weren't able to make the cut. Here are the ones that did.

10: Mitsuboshi Colors ∥ Silver Link. ∥ Dir. Kawamura Tomoyuki: Even as someone who watches children's anime, I have to say Mitsuboshi Colors was the purest celebration of childhood this year. Not only does this series let you see some of the most adorable girls this side of Ichigo Mashimaro, it really invites you to see their world through their eyes, creating a nostalgic and genuinely wholesome experience not common for anime series featuring little girls. Of course, there is still plenty on offer for the lolicons in the audience: Yui is too pure angel, and Sacchan is one of the best bokes of the year. Just remember: in the end, we're all poop.

9: Zombie Land Saga ∥ MAPPA ∥ Dir. Sakai Munehisa: If you told me a year ago one of the best shows of the year would be about moe zombies, even an anime veteran like myself would have been surprised. Yet here we are, where a show about moe zombie idols is not only one of the best shows of the year, but one of the best idol anime I can remember seeing. For what seems like it is going to be a one trick pony of a gag anime, the character development in Zombie Land Saga is shockingly good, from Junko's discovery of her own aidoru-do to Lily's whole thing with being transgender... This show really throws its weight behind its characters and that's what makes the completely-in-earnest idol anime aspects of it work so well. Moe zombies made me cry real tears, and I love anime.

8: Darling in the Franxx ∥ A-1 Pictures & Trigger ∥ Dir. Nishigori Atsushi: This is probably the biggest 'event anime' of the year on this list and it certainly was an adventure. Darling in the Franxx is an epic robot anime very much in the vein of its great predecessors: genuine sci-fi, attempts to be deep, and of course the always relevant themes of "parents just don't understand" and "puberty is hard." The heroines are wonderful, of course, and the characters' rather significant growth over the course of the series is compelling. It's the kind of show you'd expect from someone who had their hands deep in Gurren Lagann. It also features some great hand-drawn(!) robot action--visually, it's overall one of the best shows of the year. But sorry 57th prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, this will not increase Japan's birth rate.

7: SSSS.GRIDMAN ∥ Trigger ∥ Dir. Amemiya Akira: I'm honestly not sure which of the Trigger robot shows I enjoyed more; Gridman might just be higher because it's more recent, but it's probably fair to say it's the more "fun" show, what with it being an Ultra series spinoff and everything. Even though it gets pretty dark and deep towards the end, the series is definitely imbued with the playful spirit of tokusatsu. Hiding behind that, though, is a thematically solid series boasting a couple of fantastic female leads in Akane and Rikka. You're never going to be able to get me to stop shipping it.

6: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ∥ Kinema Citrus ∥ Dir. Furukawa Tomohiro: If I was rating series on style alone, Revue Starlight would probably be my anime of the year on the basis of the digital stage lighting effects alone. This show is both a sharp-edged satire of the cut-throat world of Japanese womens' theater and a love letter to the spectacle of the stage. It seems fitting that it would be a protege of Ikuhara Kunihiko's who would take on this project; the show's style is certainly evocative of Ikuhara, and that sort of ostentatious presentation is also perfectly evocative of theater, which is itself an inherently larger-than-life endeavor. Yeah, it's pretentious as hell, but that just makes me like it more. Style aside, there is also a good yuri anime lurking in the background (Japanese womens' theater is gay as fuck so there had to be) and Hikari definitely earns the right to be called "this show's Homura." Lots of good lesbians in this show.

5: Hanebado! ∥ Lidenfilms ∥ Dir. Ezaki Shinpei: Sports anime are not really my thing--I have no interest in watching Slam Dunk, Tennis no Oujisama, or 'the basketball which Kuroko plays,' but even so, is Hanebado! one of the best sports anime ever made? It's hard for me to imagine a better-executed tale of self-discovery through athletic competition. This is certainly the only sports anime I've seen where the audience is made to root against the protagonist in the sport because we're rooting for her outside of it. It also features stellar animation for the badminton parts that really sells the idea of badminton being 'the world's fastest racquet sport." Erena was the best girl though, and she doesn't even play badminton.

4: Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho ∥ Madhouse ∥ Dir. Ishizuka Atsuko: When the end credits finally rolled on Yorimoi, the first words that came to mind were "what a journey." I don't know if I've watched another show that made me feel so much like I had truly gone 'there and back again' with the heroes. The treasure really is the friends we found along the way, and you accompany these friends from the very beginning to the very end of their journey to and from Antarctica, watching them mature and learn things about each other and themselves... The result is a series that is immensely satisfying in a way few others are. Hanada Jukki's usual brand of sentimental melodrama is pitch perfect for a show like this, and I'd be lying if I said this show didn't make me cry on like four or five completely seperate occasions. Please let Ishizuka Atsuko direct more anime.

3: Yagate Kimi ni Naru ∥ Troyca ∥ Dir. Katou Makoto: I went into detail about what makes Yagakimi so great just a couple months ago, but suffice it to say this show is my favorite yuri anime of all time. The characters' relationships are just so genuinely fascinating, especially in a genre where 'will they or won't they' is often as far as the dramatic tension goes. It is really a show about two girls discovering themselves through each other, and it's just so beautifully done, especially when accompanied by Ooshima Michiru's soundtrack. I liked this story so much that I downloaded the manga to read through, and I don't even read manga.

2: Violet Evergarden ∥ Kyoto Animation ∥ Dir. Ishidate Taichi: Figures that a show I was so certain would suck would end up here. Violet is the only show this year that made me cry even more than Yorimoi, and although it's a little hamfisted about it at times, I love the earnestness with which it pursues its themes about loss and love. Violet is not just the interloper who allows us to experience the various stories happening around this world, but also a fascinating character to watch in her own right as she tries to learn what exactly it means to love someone. It's sappy and sentimental as hell, which is why I love it. It also has probably my favorite soundtrack of the year, courtesy of Evan Call, which I've probably listened to over a dozen times.

1: Yurucamp ∥ C-Station ∥ Dir. Kyougoku Yoshiaki: Cute girls taking it easy? Hell yeah. There's nothing on this Earth more comfy than watching these girls go camping in the gorgeous Japanese countryside and just being the best of friends. Shimarin is the best loner who absolutely knows how to live life, and all I want is to ride scooters and eat instant noodles with her. It's a cute girl anime of the utmost quality, and the only reason I still have a will to live is because a second season has already been confirmed.

1. Yurucamp 2. Violet Evergarden 3. Yagate Kimi ni Naru 4. Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho 5. Hanebado! 6. Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight 7. SSSS.GRIDMAN 8. Darling in the Franxx 9. Zombie Land Saga 10. Mitsuboshi Colors

Honorable mentions... Hinamatsuri is probably the show I feel worst about not including, given its hilarity and its surprisingly well-done themes on poverty and homelessness, but someone had to be 11th. Asobi Asobase was another comedy I wanted to include, another one which was riotously hilarious at times and also included one of the cutest girls of the year, Olivia. As far as joji anime this year go, Aikatsu Friends exceeded all my expectations to finally be the Aikatsu series I stuck with, and Aine and Mio are the ultimate lesbian idols. I also have to give a shoutout to the Seishun Butayarou show, which is exactly the kind of 'snappy dialogue and adolescence problems' show that makes me love series like Oregairu and ef.

The awards go to...

Best Actress: Ueda Reina as Shinjou Akane, SSSS.GRIDMAN. I've been a big fan of Ueshama's since she turned up as the ridiculous Ajimi-sensei in Pripara. She can do some vocal gymnastics and has a great comedic delivery, but it was fantastic to hear her dramatic chops really leveraged to their full potential in Gridman. I think Ueda has one of the sexiest voices going in the business today, and some of the segments in Gridman where her character tries to seduce the male lead were truly yabai... And of course the more emotional segments with Rikka were also immensely impactful. (Credit to Miyamoto Yume for also doing some great work as Rikka in that series.)

(Honorable mention: Touyama Nao as Shima Rin in Yurucamp. Naobou has been one of my favorites for a long time now but her work as Rin is probably my top role of her's. Her aloof delivery is just so perfect for the character and her voice makes the show even more comfy than it already was. It's like a voice you want to hug.)

Best Actor: Miyano Mamoru as the manager from the moe zombie show I guess. I give up on doing the men every year. Kono baka zombi.

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Shiraishi Haruka. Behind pure acting ability, versatility must be the most desirous trait in a voice actor, and it really feels like Shiraishi can do it all. She's had a couple major roles before this year: Motoba Kirie in the Umaru series, and Ruri in Anhapi, but her three main roles this past year really highlight the breadth of her abilities. She was the cool and collected Asirpa in Golden Kamuy, the impudent loli Misha in Uchi no Meido ga Uzasugiru, and the sexy tsundere Kana in Animayell... Yeah, that's some diversity in performances. It seems like I'm seeing this girl's name pop up everywhere recently and it's easy to see why: she seems to be able to excel in almost any role. She has two more major parts lined up for later this year, and I'm excited to see what she can do yet.

(Honorable mention: Hondo Kaede. Man, it felt like this girl was everywhere this year. Wikipedia counts her as having had no less than eight major roles, and that's following on from a 2017 where she had three leading roles. She certainly has a flair for the dramatic: probably my favorite role of hers was as Kanami in Toji no Miko; in a show where the animation didn't often keep up with the demands of the story, strong voice acting from Hondo and her leading partner Oonishi Saori really helped carry the show. I also really enjoyed her as Kohaku in Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara... She doesn't get the award, though, because most of her major roles so far have tended to sound the same. I'd really like to hear her branch out beyond her standard voice.)

#best of the year

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words-and-fangirling-wonder · 8 years ago

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A is for Anniversary Part 2

Well, after an inexcusable length of time, here’s part 2 of Anniversary. One last part and then I’m on to P (spoiler, P is for Parents)! I would apologize and make excuses for the delay again, but I think this is just who I am as a person and I should probably just accept it at this point. I’ll do my best to be more regular with updates, though!

This part is from Law’s point of view.

Author: fangirlwonder (wordsandwonder on AO3)

Pairing: Kid/Law

Prompt: Anniversary

Rating: Teen, but only for swearing and stuff, I don’t know I’m bad at rating

Beta’d by: @fitgirlfaith24

Eustass talked in his sleep. Most of the time, especially on the frequent occasions that insomnia got the best of him, Law found this little quirk rather endearing. It was nice to have a source of entertainment on those sleepless nights. Sometimes he even wrote down the things his boyfriend muttered in the wee hours of the morning. His favorites were “Just wait! I’ll be the queen of Tokyo!” and the indignant “Chalkmouth! That’ll teach you to yell at me in class.”

Of course, sometimes these nighttime utterances weren’t so much adorable as they were slightly terrifying. Like the time Eustass had asked Law to bring him a machete, and when the doctor questioned him he rolled over, looked Law dead in the eye, and in a deadly serious voice informed him, “I don’t take prisoners.” Or the time he hummed thoughtfully before saying “Yes, bayonets would be more effective.”

But other times? Eustass’s sleepy murmurings were … illuminating. For example, just two weeks ago the mechanic revealed that he was excitedly planning a surprise party for Law’s birthday. Considering how much Law hated surprises, it was probably for the best that his boyfriend unknowingly spoiled it, because then Law avoided an uncomfortable night and a fight on his birthday. Instead, he was able to pretend to be caught off guard, enjoy his night, and celebrate his birthday the only way he really wanted to with Eustass after all the guests had gone. And now, if Law had heard correctly, the redhead had gone from clinging to his arm and calling him a “pesky little spider monkey” to admitting how excited he was for their six-month anniversary. This Sunday. And then something about loving pizza. But the important thing was the anniversary.

Very illuminating.

See, maybe it was because he’d been under a lot of pressure at work lately, or because there had been a recent flare-up of drama with his uncle, but Law had forgotten all about their anniversary. If he was being honest with himself, though, it probably didn’t have anything to do with those outside factors. No, he probably forgot because he’d only ever had a relationship last over six months once before, and keeping track of romantic longevity had become a somewhat depressing activity for him, so he’d simply stopped forcing himself to think about it. He didn’t naturally tend to pay attention to that kind of thing anyway. But now that oversight was smacking him in the face, because he was watching Eustass as he muttered excitedly about what was apparently going to be the “best anniversary ever” and damn it if the man wasn’t smiling about it. And maybe with someone else that wouldn’t really matter that much to Law, but seeing his boyfriend grin in his sleep brought an answering smile to Law’s face, and that was how he knew that for whatever reason, it did matter with Eustass.

Six months. Wow. Law couldn’t help but be a little impressed, as well as slightly grossed out as he realized that the cheesy cliché ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ was uncomfortably fitting to their situation. Law normally found relationships to be very trying and almost endlessly exhausting. Definitely more trouble than they were worth. But Eustass … being with Eustass really was fun. And more than that, it had become as natural as breathing to him. In fact, their relationship was something he was so used to, so comfortable with, that he forgot sometimes how rare that kind of connection was. But now, thanks to Eustass’s sleep-talking, he remembered, and he could do his part to make sure this really was the best anniversary ever. Or at least a decent one. Being romantic tended to be a struggle for the doctor, but he was stubborn and persistent, and if those two things couldn’t be used to plan a special anniversary he didn’t know what could.

Slowly easing his arm out of Eustass’s grip, he rolled over and clicked on his bedside lamp before fishing out the notebook and pen he’d taken to keeping in the top drawer of his nightstand to record the midnight gibberish his boyfriend so frequently spouted. He flipped past several completely filled pages until he came to a blank one and began writing.

Things Eustass Likes

1. Cars

2. Playing Volleyball

3. Watching Football

4. Things to do with Cars

5. Me

Law stared at number six for a solid five minutes, chewing on the already abused end of his pen, before laying back with a frustrated growl. “This is woefully unhelpful.”

“Yeah, well. Fuckin’ gimme a fuckin’ bastard burrito, shit-face burrito stealer. Fuck,” Eustass suggested helpfully.

After checking to make sure his boyfriend was in fact still talking in his sleep and not awake and crudely demanding a burrito, Law chuckled and jotted down the newest quote before returning his “Eustass” notebook and pen to their drawer. He’d never been able to come up with ideas like that when he sat down and tried to focus on them anyway. Something would probably come to him. He hoped.

+++

Nothing came to him. Nothing. He laid awake all night and not a single useful thought came to mind. The best thing his overtired brain had suggested was to get Eustass a bouquet of balloons that spelled his name, and that was simply absurd. Eustass hated balloons (and staunchly refused to tell Law why). Besides, it would be nearly impossible to keep them in the proper order to spell “EUSTASS,” and Law was not going to give his boyfriend a bouquet of balloons that spelled “SUATSES” or some other such nonsense. But now when he tried to think of something all Law could picture was a bouquet of fucking balloons and he was at his wit’s end.

He’d kicked Eustass out earlier with a kiss and a demand that the redhead come back after work and then he’d paced around his apartment trying to think of something, anything, that could be romantic but not generic and stupid and for the love of God not balloons. But now it was nearly three in the afternoon and he had resigned himself to the fact that he was not going to be able to make this a special anniversary like this. Perhaps a change of venue. He’d successfully purchased things for people before. Maybe if he went to the store he would be inspired.

When he stepped out of his apartment building the air smelled like winter despite the fact that it wasn’t even Halloween, and Law smiled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He loved the cold. He watched his breath puff in front of his face like a cloud of smoke as he started his car and plugged the audio cable already connected to the jack on his dash into his phone. He briefly wondered if that would be a good gift for Eustass; an audio cable for his car. Eustass had said on a few occasions that he hated driving in silence, but he hated the radio too. But then Law remembered that the mechanic not only didn’t have an audio jack in his car, but he also didn’t have a phone that could store or play music because the man was living in the stone age. He’d get Eustass a phone if he thought he’d accept it, but it was more likely that he’d just throw it at the doctor and then they’d get in a fight and spoil the mood. So that was out.

Resisting the urge to bash his forehead repeatedly against the steering wheel, Law focused on driving and made his way to the first store he could think of that probably sold cards. Maybe once he found the perfect card the rest would fall into place. Yeah. That would work. He could do this.

When he was still standing in front of the greeting card display about an hour later, Law was forced to admit that finding the perfect card was perhaps more difficult than he had originally imagined, and that perhaps he could not do this.

“Need help finding anything?” Law unintentionally gave the slightly bored looking salesgirl a dark look, startling her. “Uh, sorry, I’ll just … uh, leave you to it then …” she muttered.

“No, wait!” he said, ignoring the desperate pitch of his voice as he reached for her before she could fully retreat. “I’m sorry. I may … possibly … need some assistance, yes.”

Part of him wanted to roll his eyes at himself. If he couldn’t find an anniversary card for his own boyfriend how was some underpaid teenage girl going to help him? But at this point his vision was starting to go a little blurry around the edges from exhaustion and frustration, and he just needed a card, damnit.

“O-kay,” she said slowly, returning to his side and looking him over with a small amount of concern showing in her brown eyes. “What are you looking for?”

“A card. Uh, an anniversary card.”

“Oh. Okay, well, you know you’re in front of the Halloween cards, right? That’s why they’re all so … orange?”

Law sighed and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “I know, I just thought I should … explore all my options.”

“Ah,” she replied, kindly acting like his reasoning made any kind of sense. “Well, I think we might have better luck over by the anniversary cards, if you don’t mind?”

“Yes, uh, perhaps you’re right,” he muttered, following her past the sea of ghosts and jack-o-lanterns to a selection of cards that were mostly white or pastel colored.

“So tell me a little about your significant other. What do they like?”

“Well, uh … cars? And volleyball, and uh … action movies and other things like that, I suppose.”

“Okay, so I’m guessing something cutesy is out. How about this one? This one has been popular lately.”

Law took the plain card with simple lettering she offered and read the front before shaking his head and handing it back. “That would just be insulting. I don’t like pizza at all.”

“What kind of person doesn’t like pizza?” the girl asked incredulously.

The dark look from before returned. “Pizza has bread. I hate bread.”

Law was used to people’s disbelieving reaction to this admission, so it threw him off for a moment when instead of looking dumbstruck the girl’s surprised expression also held a flicker of recognition, like she was putting together pieces of a puzzle.

“You don’t like bread?”

“No, I don’t like bread. Are we going to discuss my eating habits or are we going to find a damn card? What about that one? That has a car on it,” he snapped.

The girl ignored his outburst and rolled her eyes when she saw what Law was pointing at. “That’s cutesy.”

“How is it cutesy?”

“An elephant is driving, for one thing,” she said with a note of finality that let Law know he would not be leaving the store with that card. “How about this one?” She held up another plain card that said Turns Out I Like You a Lot More Than I Originally Planned. Law chuckled and couldn’t help but agree. That was pretty accurate to their relationship, and he and Eustass had joked about it on more than one occasion. That could actually work.

“Yes, I like it,” he said, still smiling a little as he took the card from the girl. “Thank you, uh …”

“Nami,” she supplied helpfully, offering her hand. “I hope you and your boyfriend have a great anniversary.”

Law nodded and they parted ways. His original plan had been to browse around the store, but he’d spent too much time looking at cards and now he had to hurry home if he wanted to beat Eustass there, so he just went straight to the checkout. He could come back before work tomorrow or Saturday.

He was in such a rush to get out of there that he was halfway to his car before it occurred to him to wonder how the girl who helped him had known his partner was a man. He furrowed his brows, trying to think if he’d mentioned it, but he was sure he hadn’t. He tossed the bag holding his card into the passenger seat and let the car warm up a moment as he mused. It was odd. She must have just been guessing. His eyes slid to the card, just poking out of the brown paper bag, and he decided it didn’t matter. She’d helped him overcome at least one anniversary hurdle. Now all that was left was a gift, and probably some kind of gesture or event or something that would be romantic and unique and Law could handle that. Probably.

#Eustasskidweek #but really late #Kid/Law #eustass kid #trafalgar law #nami #one piece fanfic #sleep talking

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degulover03 · 6 years ago

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Musical Theatre Challenge

This was meant to be a 30 Day Challenge but I'm too lazy. Also I feel as though this was targeted towards live theatre but I am going to count film adaptations and bootlegs... Sorry, IRL I've only seen two West-End shows (Wicked and Book of Mormon) and some amateur dramatics (P.S. I know people probably won’t care that I've done this or even see it but I got bored so...)

1) A number from one of your favourite musicals of all time

Benjamin’s Calypso (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) - It’s a random one to start off with but I LOVE this musical and this is my absolute favourite song from it.

2) A number from one of your favourite musicals of the past three years

Disappear (Dear Evan Hansen) - I love this song so much and yet it’s one of the most underrated songs in the show. (PS. DEAR EVAN HANSEN IS FINALLY COMING TO THE UK!!!)

3) A number from one of your least favourite musicals

March of the Falsettos (Falsettos) - Not gonna lie, I don’t hate this musical, it’s just that I don’t like that they killed off one of the only characters I liked (RIP Whizzer) and I don’t really get it that much. However I actually really like this song.

4) A number from the first musical you remember seeing

Popular (Wicked) - Wicked was technically the first show I saw because it was my first West-End show and before then I had only watched a few amateur dramatics at my local theatre and movie musicals. Popular and Defying Gravity were the only two songs I already knew (Defying Gravity from Glee and Popular from parody videos on YouTube)

5) A number from the musical that you saw most recently

Suddenly, Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors) - I just watched the film recently after having not watched it since I was a small child and I was just wondering how I was ever allowed to watch it! But this song is great.

6) A favourite opening number

Prologue (Into the Woods) - After watching the film I made it my goal to learn this song and I succeeded.

7) A favourite duet

What You Own (Rent) - It was between this and Take Me Or Leave Me, both from Rent; ironically I didn't really like Rent all that much.

8) A favourite dance break

King of New York (Newsies) - ICONIC! GET ‘DEM SPOONS BOIS! AND KATHERINE, YOU TAP YOUR HEART OUT!

9) A favourite ballad

On My Own (Les Misérables) - This song is a classic and fun to sing

10) A favourite “11 o'clock” number

I Believe (Book of Mormon) - What do I even have to say? 1) It’s hilarious 2) It’s sung by Andrew Rannells and 3) it’s catchy and actually has an official video from the Tony Awards.

11) A favourite comic number

Turn it Off (Book of Mormon) - THIS IS SO FUNNY! Plus there is some shippable material for McPriceley in this song.

12) A favourite ensemble number

One Day More (Les Misérables) - So many parts, so much to sing.

13) A number from a guilty-pleasure musical

I Know It’s Today (Shrek the Musical) - You just gotta love Fiona singing with herself. Relatable.

14) A number from a Best Musical Tony Nominee the year you were born

Without Love (Hairspray) - Hairspray (on Broadway) came out in 2003, so did I (that was cringe and I apologise, I will never say that again) and Without Love is my favourite song (mainly from the film with Zefron)

15) A favourite Female solo number

Watch What Happens (Newsies) - Katherine is AMAZING and Kara Lindsay sings it SO WELL! It’s a really hard song and you get out of breath really quick.

16) A favourite Male solo number

Santa Fe (Newsies) - SO MUCH NEWSIES but you gotta love that end note in Newsies Live though, I get goosebumps every time (Well done Jeremy Jordan)

17) A number from a musical that is underrated

Cry For Me (Jersey Boys) - I have literally no clue why this is my favourite song from Jersey Boys but it is, it may be because Andrew Rannells sung it too but meh. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are iconic, both the show and the song are underrated.

18) A number from a musical that is overrated

Memory (Cats) - Is there even a plot to this show?

19) A favourite love song from a musical

Something to Believe In (Newsies) - Even though I don’t ship it it’s still a great song (#Javid4Life)

20) A favourite number from a musical that did not originate in the US

As Long as He Needs Me (Oliver!) - After a small struggle of trying to think of a musical NOT made in the US, I felt incredibly stupid after remembering MANY, including Oliver Twist which is oh so British.

21) A favourite number from the “Golden Age” of Broadway

Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Sound of Music) - Also another iconic duet from yet another iconic musical (Iconic Iconic Iconic)

22) A favourite number performed by an antagonist

Meant to Be Yours (Heathers) - BAM! BAM! BAM! I love this song, too bad that JD’s a psycho though :(

23) A number from a show you have never seen live but wish you could

Brooklyn’s Here (Newsies) - Okay, I know that I’ve put Newsies on here a billion times but it genuinely is the top of my bucket list of musicals to see, yet I can’t because it’s no longer on Broadway (not like I’d get to see it there anyway) and as far as I’m aware there are no UK performances :( Also Brooklyn’s Here is such a hype song

24) A number performed by a favourite female Broadway star

I’d Rather Be Me (Mean Girls) - Barrett Wilbert Weed is such a good singer and I love her in both Mean Girls and Heathers.

25) A number performed by a favourite male Broadway star

Waving Through a Window (Dear Evan Hansen) - Ben Platt is also an AMAZING singer and I first watched DEH because I was scrolling through YouTube and saw this song and was like “Hey, isn’t that Benji from Pitch Perfect?”

26) A number by a favourite composer

Carrying the Banner (Newsies) - Alan Menken alongside Jack Feldman did a great job on this song from the stage show and the film. It was, however, EXTREMELY difficult to pick just one Alan Menken song.

27) A number by a favourite choreographer

Seize the Day (Newsies) - Well done to Christopher Gattelli for choreographing the newspaper dance and making a tutorial video for an easier version. I still can’t do it though.

28) A number your would love to perform if you were of the opposite sex

For Forever (Dear Evan Hansen) - Why does this song have to be so low?

29) A number you have performed

Sherry (Jersey Boys) - I haven’t actually performed anything but this is one of the many songs that I play a lot on guitar.

30) A number you would love to perform in the future

Sincerely, Me (Dear Evan Hansen) - This song is really funny and the dance is fun to do.

Honourable Mentions:

These are some of the songs I wanted to include

Watch What Happens (Reprise) - Newsies

She Used to Be Mine - Waitress

Blue - Heathers

Candy Store - Heathers

Red and Black - Les Misérables

Defying Gravity - Wicked

Thanks to anyone who got this far

#Broadway #newsies #little shop of horrors #book of mormon #Falsettos #hairspray #mean girls on broadway #jersey boys #dear evan hansen #Rent #Sound of Music #Les Mis #Waitress

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davidmhomerjr · 7 years ago

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The 2 Quickest Ways to Generate an Income Online — UPDATED!

Today, I’m sharing the two quickest ways to generate an income online. In this post, you will learn:

Gary Vaynerchuk’s timeless lesson on patience and hard work.

How your skills are foundational to your online business success.

The many benefits of starting with freelancing.

How to adopt affiliate marketing into your business.

Why quick has value, but how being too quick can also set you up for failure.

On my podcast, AskPat, I’ve collected over 3,000 voicemail questions related to starting an online business. The most common question of those I get is this:

“What’s the quickest way to generate an income online?”

Before I get into my answer, let me tell you exactly why this question is tricky and a little problematic. There are two specific reasons for this:

First, the emphasis on being quick. I’ve witnessed several new business owners who’ve put speed over quality and value, only to end up further behind than where they were when they started. Quick can be good, but if that’s your focus, you may be setting yourself up for a stumble down the road.

Second, it implies trying to avoid the work it really takes to make money online. Building a successful business takes a lot of effort and strategy. From research to execution and everything in between—it takes blood, sweat, and tears. The question is in search of a magic button, but there is no magic button.

Gary Vaynerchuk puts it best. In order to succeed, you need “micro hustle, and macro patience.”

Micro hustle is focusing all of your work and effort on the next task at hand (not the task ten tasks from now), while macro patience is about allowing time to give you the results, because they will not often happen right away.

The question “What’s the quickest way to generate an income online?” is the opposite of Gary’s advice.

I’ve thought for years about how to best answer this question. I’ve been asked this question in person before, and even during a live Q&A on stage in front of hundreds of people, and my answer usually reflects the two points I’ve made above.

After I share my thoughts with those who’ve asked this question, their body language usually very clearly reflects disappointment. They were expecting an all-in-one solution, after all, and it’s not that simple.

As I’ve thought more deeply about how to answer this question over the years, I’ve come to a realization that the problem is not the answer, but the question itself. For those who’ve asked it, I don’t think it’s always coming from a place of “quick money.” If we reframe the question, I think there’s room to empower and actually help those who’ve asked it—to give them a foundational understanding of what it really means to generate an income online.

Here’s how I would reframe the question:

“With the resources I have available to me now, what can I possibly offer to others in exchange for money?”

Now this is a question we can begin to answer. And, as you can likely tell, the answers will come to each person on an individual basis based on the resources they have available, and to whom they may be able to share and offer those resources.

The answer doesn’t come from me, it comes from the individual.

If you’re ten years old, you might not have much, but perhaps you may have access to a lawnmower in your garage, so you (after asking your parents) offer to cut the lawn for your neighbors, in exchange for money.

If you’re a writer who’s been trying to build your own brand and sell your own books, offering your talent to others who need it would be the best way to go. It’s a resource you have available to you now, and it’s something others (i.e. non writers) may be willing to pay for if they need writing for their website or blog.

By the way, today’s post is on “quick,” but if you have more time and want a more in-depth look at how to make money online, check out my recent video on how to create multiple streams of income online:

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Okay, back to our topic today: If you’re struggling to figure out how to make money online FAST—in a way that focuses on your strengths—that’s how you do it. Think about the resources you have available to you, the skills and talents you have, the superpowers that you’ve so severely underrated these past years, and journey out there to find those people who are looking for the resources and skills you offer. They are out there.

Remember, the skills you have are an asset, they are your “unfair advantage.” They are essential to your unique personal brand, and you can start making money online using those skills if you have the right strategy, tactics, and mindset in place. Another way to describe this is your “unfair advantage,” a term I was first introduced to by Lain Ehmann in SPI Podcast Session #37.

Lain described an unfair advantage as a skill or asset that you have that no one else has, or very few others might have in your specific niche. There are a few different types of unfair advantages, including:

1. Your Rolodex: The People You Know

You know and have access to the right people in your industry, people who others do not have access to. You’re a connector, and you can provide value to a specific audience by using the connections you’ve made over time.

Who do you know that others in your industry may not know?

2. Your Experience: What You’ve Been Through

I watched an episode of Shark Tank once where I was introduced to Major Robert Dyer. Major Dyer was pitching a new energy drink called The Ruck Pack Energy Drink. It’s not like the world needs another energy drink, but he was able to convince both Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjevic, two of the investors on the show, to give him $150k in exchange for 20 percent of the company.

Major Dyer used his experience in the Army to create an energy drink that was perfect for a combating soldier. He was actually in Afghanistan when he came up with the concoction.

His experience became his advantage because he was in extreme conditions that allowed him to create and test a drink of this kind of caliber, one that provided this kind of energy and focus that a combating soldier needed. I doubt the guys at Red Bull or Monster put themselves in the line of fire when testing the capability of their drinks.

When I started SmartPassiveIncome.com, I already had experience with a successful, automated online business at Green Exam Academy. A lot of people were providing online business advice at the time, but most were using other people’s businesses as examples, or just spoke theory with no real case studies to back it up. Here, I was able to use my own experience as evidence, and it helped me become more credible right from the start.

What experiences in your life have given you the ability to prove yourself or your business more than others?

3. Your Story: And How To Tell It

Stories are incredible marketing tools. They stick. People who listen to or read stories transport themselves into the situations that are described and the storyteller is better able to make a deeper connection with their audience.

We all have a story to tell. If you have a good one, tell it and use it to your advantage.

I know I have a great story. I’ve shared it here on the blog and I even went deeper into the story for my first book, Let Go.

It’s funny because when I’m interviewed for podcasts and radio shows, many times the interviewer will apologize and say, “I’m sorry . . . I know you’ve probably told your story hundreds of times before, but I’d like you to tell it again if you don’t mind.”

I always respond with “Of course!”

I love telling my story, not just because it reminds me of where I came from which always gives me a motivational boost, but because I know it’s a great way to connect with an audience. To have the opportunity to share it right from the start is awesome.

Of course, your stories should always be true, but if you have a good one make sure there’s a way for people to hear it.

What’s your story and how can it help your business?

4. Your Hustle: How Much You Put In and Where

Gary Vaynerchuk would probably agree with me when I say that sometimes all you need to do is hustle. I mean like, truly hustle. The all-out just insane amounts of work kind of hustle.

Not everyone has the time or ability to hustle, and of course the work that’s done has to be the right kind of work – the right kind of hustle.

John Lee Dumas, host of Entrepreneur On Fire, is a perfect example of someone who is using his ability to hustle to his advantage.

John has a daily (yes, daily) podcast where he features an interview with a successful entrepreneur. Now, John enjoys many hundreds of thousands of downloads per month, he’s written a book, has products and has opened up a ton of opportunities for sponsorships and partnerships that wouldn’t have come otherwise. He’s not the first person to have a show dedicated to interviewing rock star entrepreneurs—not even close—but he’s definitely the fastest to see these kinds of results.

He’s not just working hard either, he’s working smart. Hustle doesn’t mean just pure physical and mental work, it can mean spending the time to put the right systems into place to generate more output.

What’s something successful that other businesses are doing that could use your hustle to stand out?

5. Your Personality and Your Ability to Connect With Others

Out of the 7 billion people in this world, you are uniquely you. Within specific markets and niches, you are definitely uniquely you. If you have a personality that people can easily connect with you shouldn’t be afraid to share it.

In 2009 when struggling to get traffic to this blog, I had a chat with Jeremy Frandsen from Internet Business Mastery.

He told me I had a magnetic personality and I should find other ways to share it. That’s when I started my YouTube Channel, and then later, my podcast, which just passed 33,000,000 downloads.

How will you connect with others and grow your business by being you?

6. Your Ability To Listen, Build, Measure, and Learn

All companies build something, but not all of them measure, learn, and then adapt or shift.

In Eric Reis’s The Lean Startup, a fantastic book about how today’s entrepreneurs and startup companies are approaching the way they create and innovate, Eric talks about how vital it is to use validated learning and scientific experimentation to be able to steer a company in the right direction. In other words, to use customer feedback and quantified data analysis (of real, non-vanity metrics) from a minimal viable product to make decisions and pivot a business one way or another.

If you have the ability to see what holes lie in existing markets before you enter it, the ability to listen to a target market (or become a customer yourself who is extremely conscious of the overall customer experience), and learn from the wins and failures of the companies that already exist, you will have an edge over your competition.

Like I mentioned earlier, coming in late in the game can be an advantage if you listen, learn and provide solutions for what seems to be missing. Even coming into a market with a minimal viable product, you’ll have the advantage of being able to get deep into the customer experience to shape your product or service to what it should be, again, all based on what you’re able to measure and learn.

There is a lot more to be said about lean startup methods and the build-measure-learn feedback loop.

7. Your Specialization: Who You Serve and Your Ability To Do So

It’s not just the skills and experiences that you have to offer that can give you a competitive edge, it can also be that fact that you want to serve a more specialized segment of a market.

Generally, the more specialized you get, the less competition you have to deal with. In addition to that, the more specialized you get, the better you can hone in your skills for a particular group of people. Your advantage is your knowledge of and ability to serve that particular segment of the larger market.

Take for example, shoes.

Everyone (well, almost everyone) buys shoes. If you wanted to enter the shoe market, you might think your competitors are retailers like Zappos, EastBay, Sketchers and other large online retailers. Then there’s Nike, Reebok too. It’s virtually impossible to compete with them, especially when you’re bootstrapped. So what can we do?

Specialize.

Instead of getting into the market to sell all types of shoes, how about serving a part of the market that’s looking for a specific type of shoe: running shoes, walking shoes, children’s shoes, etc.

Even at this level of specialization, however, it’s not quite an advantage yet because companies already specialize in these types of shoes: Foot Locker, The Walking Company, and Stride Rite, respectively. Now what?

Specialize again.

Within running shoes, how about soccer cleats? Within soccer cleats, how about women’s soccer cleats?

When your target market is women who are looking for soccer cleats, it’s much easier to do market research and enter the build-measure-learn feedback loop. You have an advantage over others who are targeting a larger segment of the market.

Trunk Club, is a great example of this kind of specialization at work.

Like lots of other businesses, they sell clothes. That in itself is not very special.

But, their target market and who they serve is special, and it’s not everyone. Their target market is specifically men who want to dress well who either don’t like to go shopping, or don’t have the time to do so.

It works like this:

You speak to a personal stylist over the phone, they ask you a number of questions to get to know you a little better and figure out your style, and then they send you a Trunk with a number of pieces of clothing in it based on your conversation.

You try stuff on, keep what you like, and ship back what you don’t like in the same trunk. Shipping is already paid for.

Boom. New clothes and I didn’t even have to leave my house. No membership fees, you just get a trunk whenever you want, and they charge you for pieces that don’t return.

I’ve received two trunks so far and another is on the way. I’ve kept roughly 35-40% of what was shipped to me.

I heard about this service from a friend, and I’ve definitely passed this service onto others. Not everyone, but other men around the same age who are in situations where they might need to dress up and they might be too busy to go shopping on their own.

You see, when you specialize and can provide value to a specific segment of a market, those people within that market tend to talk to each other about you.

How can you specialize and become the topic of conversation when those people get together?

All of this brings me to the first way to generate an income online, and that is:

Freelance.

When you think of all of your skills, and what you have to offer the world, your “unfair advantages,” chances are there’s someone out there who will pay you for it. No, it’s not at all passive, but it’s the quickest and easiest way to get paid for something that can actually help people and solve one of their problems.

There are two more major benefits of going down the freelancing route:

It’s a fantastic way to immerse yourself in an industry and get to know the lay of the land—the marketplace—so you can carve out your own niche in the future in some way, shape, or form. You’ll also be able to connect with the people you need to connect with, and build on those relationships to create more opportunities.

A freelancing service is something that can, with the right strategy and action, turn into something more productized and passive. Brian Casel, featured guest on SPI Podcast Session #158, talks about how he was able to turn his stress-inducing one-on-one design service business into something that was actually more productized, passive, and profitable. I highly recommend you listen to that episode if you have a service-based business and you feel stuck.

You can also check out my post, How to Start Freelancing (and Get Your First Client), which walks you through the steps you’ll need to kick off your freelance gig, including:

Why there’s huge opportunity in freelancing.

The many freelance skill sets you can build into a freelancing career.

The secrets to landing your first freelance client.

Five ways to make more money as a freelancer.

Career and business options for freelancers.

And once you get started, here’s a great video on FIVE WAYS to make even more money as a freelancer:

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Okay, so beyond freelancing, what else can you do to make money online? Well, you could literally just start contacting everyone you know and offer a service today, right now, right at this moment.

I’ll just wait a moment while you do that 😀

There is one more method of generating an income I’d like to share with you. This method is:

Even easier and faster than freelancing.

Something that has helped me earn more than $3 million since I started my online business.

Something you’re likely, in a way, already doing.

What is this sorcery I’m speaking of?

It’s not magic. It’s simply recommending products you already use to those who trust you. In online business terms, we call this:

Affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is the process of generating an income through a partnership you have with a company by recommending their product(s) to others.

To learn about the basics of affiliate marketing, watch my Affiliate Marketing 101 video series:

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Just think of how often you’ve shared with a friend or online network an amazing tool, service, or product that you love. What if you could potentially earn a percentage of the sale of any products you helped sell through your recommendation? Well, that’s possible, and it’s been around for a while.

The term affiliate marketing has taken a bad rap over the years, primarily because people are abusing just how easy this is to do. Internet marketers are finding products they don’t even use because they come with a sweet commission, and are spamming everyone until they either buy, or unsubscribe. This is also known as the dark side of affiliate marketing.

That’s why I sometimes hesitate to even say I participate in affiliate marketing. But that’s not how I, or you, should approach it. I’m here to lead the change and show people there is so much opportunity out there in affiliate marketing the right way (and the smart way). It’s insane to me that more people aren’t really realizing their full potential with this.

There are products that already exist in this world that provide solutions for your audience (and future audience), and when you align your attention to really help them, with the products out there that already exist, it’s a recipe for success and a win for everyone.

How do you make affiliate marketing work for you? There are a few affiliate marketing principles I stand by:

1. Affiliate Marketing Starts with the First Impression

First impressions are huge because they set the tone for a visitor’s entire experience through your website, including any possible transactions that may take place now, or in the future.

What is the first impression that you get when you go to a site and it’s splattered with advertisements, for example? What does a site like that say to a first time visitor?

“Hi, nice to meet you – click here so I can earn a buck?”

It’s like if you met someone for the first time and the first thing they ask you is if you’re interested in buying something from them. I’d much rather get to know somebody first, trust them, and then have them tell me what they might have to offer. Or better yet, be genuinely interested in what they’re doing, and ask them about it myself. This is the kind of philosophy that I use when promoting other people’s products.

2. Only Promote Products That You Have Used

As I mentioned in a previous post on the 3 Types of Affiliate Marketing Explained, the way I earn money with affiliate links in ALL of my online businesses is by promoting only products that I have used, and only what I would recommend to my friends who want to achieve similar results. I feel that anyone with an audience has a responsibility to do the same thing.

There’s something fishy about someone promoting Apple Computers who only uses a PC.

3. Always Describe the Product You’re Promoting

If you have an affiliate link that’s just a banner ad, or a link at the bottom of a post with no real description – it’s a waste. If you’re actively promoting a product (that you’ve used), you obviously know something about it. Share your knowledge with your audience, and they’ll be intrigued and more likely to click through to learn more.

4. Content First, Affiliate Link Second

Although I just said you should always describe the products you promote, the content that you write should drive the affiliate links that you offer, not the other way around. Don’t write posts just for the sake of placing an affiliate link within.

5. Share Your Experience with The Product

When describing whatever it is your promoting, share your experience! If you can throw in some data or graphs to go along with it, even better. Back when I was more actively writing about eHow, I promoted an ebook that I read which helped quadruple my earnings per article. I created a graph that showed how much I earned before I read the book versus how much I earned after. To this date, that ebook has been one of the most successful affiliate promotions I’ve done on this blog.

6. Only Promote One or Two of the Same Type of Products

There are a number of reasons why you should never promote more than two of the same type of products:

The more products you promote, the less believable each of them becomes. If today I recommended Company X, and tomorrow I recommended Company Y and Company Z, each of their “stock” immediately goes down.

The more products you promote, the more difficult the decision to choose between them becomes. I’ve been to a number of personal finance websites that offer sign-up bonuses for 4 to 5 different banks (sometimes within the same post!). It hurts my brain.

If you keep promoting the same products time and time again, your audience will begin to realize that there must be something special about the specific ones you keep bringing up.

7. Starve the Horses and Feed the Stallions

This is a fancy (and thankfully not literal) way of saying that you should only promote the products that you know make you the most money, and forget about the ones that don’t. You will only know this after trial and error, so see what works, and get rid of the rest.

For a while, I had a number of banner ads on this blog that were not generating any type of income for me. There’s no point in wasting valuable ad space with banners that don’t pay out.

Test, test, test.

8. Utilize a Resources Page

A resources page is a page that consists of helpful links to websites, products and services related to your niche. This is a perfect spot for affiliate links, so take advantage of this if you haven’t already.

It takes the “books I’m reading” area you often see in blogs (within Amazon affiliate links) to a whole new level. not only is this great for you, but it’s extremely helpful for your readers who may be looking for additional resources related to your niche. Plus, they may come across products or services they weren’t originally looking for while on your resources page.

Everybody wins.

To start your affiliate marketing journey, make sure you sign up for my Affiliate Marketing Masterclass, which will walk you through five steps to finally begin generating an additional passive income stream using authentic affiliate marketing strategies I’ve used myself. Click the link below to sign up for the next Affiliate Marketing Masterclass:

So there you go! There are two QUICK ways you can generate an income online. So go get started today!

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