#take my hand. i can show you something so narratively tasty | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

snickerl · 3 years ago

Text

Of Miracle Births and Other Wonders

tagging @today-in-fic

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

The lady behind the reception desk sends Mulder and the two kids up to the fourth floor of the hospital. They find another reception area with another helpful nurse. She tells them a doctor will be with them very soon to give them an update on Scully's condition. The few minutes they have to wait tears every nerve in Mulder's body, putting his patience to a hard test. Then, to his great relief, a good-looking woman in her late thirties approaches them. "Hello Mr. Scully, my name is Dr. Hanson, I am taking care of your wife," she says, holding her hand out to shake his.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Doctor, but my name is Mulder. These are our children, Emily and William," Mulder says, nudging them both in front of him. "How is Scully? I mean, my wife? How is she?"

"Hello everybody," the doctor says good-naturedly. "Your wife is perfectly fine, Mr. Mulder. She is doing great with her breathing technique. Her cervix is at 5 centimeters, so we still have some way to go. The baby is in good shape, she is in good shape, so we believe we will have a smooth delivery in a couple of hours. Are you all coming to the delivery room?"

William is aghast, his eyes saucer-wide. "What? Ew, no way! Gross!" He shakes his head vehemently. "Never ever!"

Mulder looks at his daughter. "Em?"

Emily thinks for a moment but quickly decides against it. The thought of seeing her mother in pain, even if it was for a good cause, makes her uncomfortable. "I'd rather stay with Will. We don't want him sitting here all by himself," she says.

"I don't need a sitter," William snaps, "I'm not a baby."

"But you definitely behave like one," Emily fires back. "Now shut up and be nice so dad can look after mom and doesn't have to worry about us at each other's throats out here."

"Alright," Doctor Hanson says. "The waiting area is over there. There are magazines and a vending machine. If you need anything, ask the nurse at reception. Follow me, Mr. Scully...I mean Mr. Mulder, sorry...your wife will be happy to see you." She leads the way to the delivery room. Mulder presses a kiss on Emily's hair and waves at William who has already plummeted into a chair. "Okay, kids. See you later then," he says and hurries to follow the doctor.

"Say hello to mom from us," Emily shouts after him, "and good luck!" She looks after her father who disappears through a swinging door marked Deliveries, then trots toward the waiting area to join her brother. She places herself in a chair next to him, looks around, gets up again to leaf through a pile of magazines on one of the tables, finds nothing of interest, goes back to her chair, and lets herself fall onto it with a sigh.

"You could've gone with dad, if you wanted," William tells her without looking up from his phone.

"Nah, I'm good."

Both sit in silence for a while. William is totally absorbed in a game on his smartphone, Emily pulls a history book and some pencils out of her backpack and starts reading, writing notes on the pages in different colors here and there. William shakes his head when he sees her doing that. "That's so old school, sis."

"Well, it's good for me. This way, the information stays longer in my brain than when I read it on a screen. You may call it old school, bro, I call it efficient mnemonics."

"Whatever," he sighs, his eyes back on the screen.

"Hey, what you said in the car, that mom doesn't care about us anymore, what did you mean by that?"

"I meant what I said, whatever the baby needs comes first, and we will play second fiddle. Or maybe even third. But I don't care. If things get unbearable, I will ask to go to boarding school. They can play house with the new baby then and I won't be there to bother anyone with my presence."

"You're being ridiculous, Will. Mom and dad will never let you go to boarding school, and I can't believe it will be anything like you just said."

William only shrugs. The narrative in his head has solidified like concrete, and he can't imagine a worse place to be right now. The best he can do is immerse himself in this online game and forget about what is happening at the other side of the door his father vanished through. After some hours of playing (thank God he brought his charger) and a short nap with his head leaned back against the wall, his stomach grumbles. "Are you also hungry, Em?"

"Well, I could have a snack. How long have we been waiting?"

"We came here at 10:45 am, now it's almost 6," William tells her, looking at the big clock on the wall of the waiting area.

"Wow, seven hours already. Poor mom. I wonder why dad hasn't given us an update."

"Do you think something is going wrong and he doesn't want to tell us?" William says, his voice trembling a bit.

"I don't think so."

"It's not so unlikely at mom's age."

"And how do you know?"

"I read stuff."

"You read stuff. Where?" Emily has problems picturing her brother behind a pregnancy textbook.

"On the internet, where else? If you google 'late motherhood' you get thousands of hits. And they all tell you women should have babies in their twenties and thirties, not their fifties. There is a reason for that. Nature doesn't want you to have a baby when you're old."

"Mom's not old."

"For having babies she is. She should be a grandmother rather than giving birth."

"Well, if she was a grandmother, I would already have a baby," Emily points out pensively, then adds a determined, "no thanks!"

"I just can't believe they let this happen."

"Let what happen?"

"Getting mom pregnant. Why? How?"

"Well, I can tell you how..."

"Ew, don't!" William imitates a gagging sound. "But why?"

"I guess it just happened."

"There are ways to prevent getting pregnant, I hope you are aware of that, unlike our parents apparently. I don't want to be an uncle on top of this any time soon. How could they have been so dumb? I don't get it. For all the times mom lectured us about condoms and safe sex, she didn't follow her own words." He shakes his head showing his disapproval and lack of understanding quite clearly. "I will never have sex, that's for sure."

Emily gives a slight chuckle. At fourteen, her brother most certainly doesn't have any idea of the joy of it. When he gets older and starts fancying girls, he might rethink his attitude, but something else is hitting her the longer their conversation goes. "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

"Well, what else was I to do? It has been the main topic in our house for the longest time. I guess, sometimes they even forgot I was still living there."

"Bullshit."

William is done explaining his thoughts. His sister obviously isn't getting the point either, just like his parents. "Now are we getting something to eat, or what?"

"You hangry?" Emily asks with a smirk and he is glad she has taken the bait and they changed the topic.

"After seven hours of wasting my time in this stuffy waiting room, I think I am allowed to have a bite to eat. Do you have change for the machine?" The boy is inwardly fuming at his father for once again neglecting him by not giving him money for food.

Big sister overtakes Em again, "I am definitely getting us something more nutritious. There has to be a cafeteria somewhere with sandwiches and a drink with less sugar than what I see in that machine." The idea of having to deal with a cranky brother on a sugar-high isn't very appealing. She gets up from the chair, her mind set on improving her brother's mood with a tasty snack. Plus, the hunt for food will give her something to do instead of mulling over what her mother is enduring at this very moment in the delivery room. "Text me, if you hear something," she tells her brother before she leaves him alone.

He tries to distract himself with the game again, but his thoughts keep going back to six months ago when his world turned upside down. The situation was surreal. His parents had prepared one of their usual Sunday family dinners, Emily had come to join, and with the dessert they served them the news of the pregnancy. His sister's piercing shriek of surprised joy hurt his eardrums and he almost choked on the pie he had in his mouth. His mother annoyed him with science book citations about the finer points of late motherhood and male ongoing virility that made him want to cover his ears entirely and yell 'too much information' at her. The worst was his dad though. The puppy eyes with which he was looking at his mom and the silly petting of her still flat stomach caused a severe tickling in William's throat. To this very day, he hadn't gotten past the shock. He shakes his head to make the unpleasant memories disappear.

And then, of course, what had to happen happens: Emily is gone for about fifteen minutes when Mulder appears in the waiting area with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "Waiting time is over, the baby's here! It's a girl! A healthy, beautiful little girl," he announces, his voice full of pride and also relief. He looks around, surprised to find William alone. "Where is your sister?"

"Getting us a snack. Is mom alright?"

"She is. She did great. I am so amazed by that woman." Mulder's whole face lights up. "She sent me to get you guys. When will Em be back?"

"I don't know. She's been gone for about 20 minutes now, it shouldn't take her much longer. I mean only if she hasn't met a cute guy she needed to get into a conversation with." William rolls his eyes so hard he sees the back of his head, his voice high-pitched on 'cute guy'.

Mulder is still so high on adrenaline that he doesn't chime in, although he too has been annoyed more than once by his daughter's tardiness, and the reason has often enough been a 'cute guy'. "Okay, gotta go back to Scully, I don't want to leave her and the baby alone for too long," he says. He points toward a long gray hallway with several doors on each side. "We're in room 302 over there on the right. As soon as Em gets back, come and join us. Mom is waiting for you guys."

"But dad," William laments in vain, his father is already around the corner. "Great," he mumbles to himself. First, they drag him out here and make him wait endless hours in an uncomfortable chair only to be here when the baby is born, and now that it is born, they don't have a problem with him standing around for God knows how long until his tardy sister is back. Typical. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, types in 'get here asap', his fingers flying over the screen, and slams the send button.

Impatience gets the better of him soon. There is no more sitting in the chair and playing online games for him now, he is pacing the waiting area, glad that nobody else is there to see him in this state. If Emily isn't back soon, he'll explode, he thinks, but it takes another 20 minutes until he sees her leisurely strolling down the hallway. He sighs in relief when she finally stands in front of him, a cardboard tray in one hand filled with two drinks and something to eat he can't quite figure out, and some flowers wrapped in paper in the other. "It's about time!" he lets her know.

"Sorry," Emily says quite relaxed, "I was just standing in line to pay for the food when I got your text. This hospital complex is huge and a bit confusing to be honest. I'm not sure I took the shortest way on my way back. Healthy muffins, iced tea, and something for your sweet tooth," she says with a grin, holding the tray out to William. "What happened?"

"What happened? What do you think happened? The baby's here, of course, and mom wants to see us!"

Emily gives a girly shriek that hurts William's ears once again. "Yay! Great! You could've been a bit more specific in your text rather than simply summoning me back here. I thought you were just craving the food."

"Yeah, well, there was food right in front of our noses." William points to the vending machine, unable to keep his outstretched index finger steady. "But you had to go on a hunting trip for some salad leaves and made me stand around here alone wondering."

"Where are they?"

"In room 302. They are waiting for us. It's this way." William nods in the direction Mulder showed him.

"Okay, let's go then."

Side by side, Emily and William take long strides toward the room they were told. "Boy or girl?" Emily asks on the way.

"Girl."

"Yay again! Ah, that's wonderful. I have a little sister," she chants.

William isn't sharing an ounce of his sister's enthusiasm. If he had been given a choice, he would have passed on this experience as a whole, but now that they are standing in front of room 302, by opening that door what he has tried to deny will become real. If only his mom is alright, he will accept all that comes with it: sleepless nights because of the baby crying, smelly diapers, more Thai takeout, and an annoying younger sister on top of an annoying older one. If only his mom is alright. Emily knocks and he hears his mother's voice say "Come in!" It sounds weak, he thinks, and his heartbeat accelerates. When he follows his sister into the room, he braces himself for the worst.

#dana scully #fox mulder #emily scully #william scully #msr #xf fanfic #au fanfiction

46 notes · View notes

obstinaterixatrix · 3 years ago

Text

oh my god. so I don’t know why ‘call it home’ didn’t knock me out the first time I listened through, maybe because I didn’t have the full context of the scenes in the show, but now that I’m thinking about it I’m going absolutely bonkers. it’s removed from all future versions of the show but it is an absolute keystone of wilson’s characterization and… I’m not sure it’d be considered a narrative arc, but his place within the narrative.

one of my favorite things about it is how this is a breakdown song and nobody recognized it as one. wilson’s entire character is kind of centered around being haunted by various addictions, and it’s at this point he’s somewhat on the road to recovery, but while addictions such as alcohol and drugs aren’t being reintroduced, addiction to The Game is such a core of his character and in this moment wilson unintentionally getting his first hit in a long while and everything completely implodes. but he knows the pattern and he’s been trying to fight it and he’s tired of it too, and he’s laying this in front of everybody in the middle of a breakdown—the way ‘the game’ re-emerges as a motif replaced with ‘the only thing that matters is a home’—but it’s only seen as part of the grift… that’s soooooo good!!! it’s so thematically tasty!!!! the subtext is breathtaking because it’s flat out text, he’s telling this to *everyone*—his brother, the buyers, the audience—but because he’s trapped in his role he can only express it through going all in on ‘playing the game’ except it’s not the game except it can’t be anything other than the game and from addison’s perspective it’s the same pattern, wilson swoops in and everything falls apart, but from wilson’s perspective…

there are two bits of dialogue that, to me, become the keystones of the show, what everything kind of circles back to: the exchange of “what do you want?” “I’d be ashamed to tell you,” and when paris tells wilson that he should let addison know about his feelings of never being able to support him and wanting him to flourish now and wilson responds, “he has his secrets, I have mine.” the most interesting parts of this, what’s wanted and what’s kept secret, is that a lot of the emotional climaxes of the show involve revealing this without the characters realizing or framing it as a reveal—of course in make it through the night, it’s “I’m finally who I’m meant to be/I want you to see/I need you to care”

in ‘call it home’, there’s a lot, but in particular “I say life is just a journey/a road on which we travel/ever seeking, never satisfied/an endless quest for something different, something better/onward we go following the road unrolling at our feet/restlessly reinventing ourselves searching for something elusive just beyond our grasp/until now, until tonight/because tonight the road will take us/to a paradise so perfect/we can finally stop searching” *and* there’s that extra layer of subversion by taking the theme of ‘it’s in your hands’ and transforming it from endless ambition and forward momentum to ‘finally you can stop searching finally you can rest please just fucking rest’. he is saying it so plainly and so directly but it’ll never be read as a confession, and what’s shameful to express gets expressed but still kept secret. it’s fascinating!!! the layers!!!!! I’m obsessed!!!!!!!!

#talking abt musicals

5 notes · View notes

sgt-nerd-plays · 3 years ago

Text

Grand Waaagh!

Long time, no battle reports. Sadly, there’s been a bit of a global pandemic going around and being a responsible member of the community, I’ve been avoiding big gatherings that might spread the plague. However, your old sarge has been vaccinated, so with the help of likewise protected people, I was able to get a game in. This time, I was able to bring my ork army. Not just orks, but a whole stompa!

The Stompmost

Game Setup:

The idea was that it was going to be a more casual game where we would bring a bunch of models, play on on oversized board, and just kinda slam minis together with a bit of objective holding as a treat.

I was, of course, playing orks, and bringing 2000 points, plus the stompa. My partner was playing Alpha Legion, and bringing 1000 points. On the other side, we had one person bringing 2000 points of Crimson Fists (Hi Ryolnir!) and another person bringing 1000 points of Grey Knights (Hi, Zuul!) Thanks to Ryolnir for providing several of the pictures used in this batrep.

I brought Ghaz, a warboss on warbike, a weirdboy, five meganobz trukkboyz, a trukk (for carting around said trukkboyz), two mobs of boyz (11 and 14 models in each), a dakka jet, five warbikers, and one of each of the non-HQ buggies, plus an extra scrapjet. Except I’m an idiot and forgot one scrapjet and the dragsta, so I had to borrow a scrapjet from the game club’s cabinet, and a wartrike which stood in for the dragsta. I played as Evil Sunz, though several of the units (the bikeboss and the trukk) were Death Skulls and the dakkajet was painted up as Bad Moonz. I know, I’m terrible, but the rest of my army was wysiwyg.

My Narrative:

Warboss Scragkill Gudluk revved his warbike impatiently. Somewhere there was a scrap, and he was anxious to get to it. However, he’d been separated from his mob. And if that wasn’t bad enough, da Boss had shown up, along with a bunch of red-painted gits.

Ghazghkul Mag Uruk Thraka, prophet of da Waaagh, was giving orders. “Awright, we needs t’get into dis fight quick, so I want you an’ yer other evil sunz t’haul yer guts like they was on fire, you got it?”

“Er, beggin’ yer pardon, but I ain’t no Sunz. I’m Death Skulls!” Scragkill slapped the side of his blue bike proudly.

Ghazghkull responded by smacking him on the side of the head so hard he fell off of the bike and skidded several yards.

When Scrag managed to hobble up and lean unsteadily against the side of the bike, Ghaz asked “What was dat?”

“Er, da red ones go fasta?” Scrag said uncertainly.

“Dat’s what I likes t’hear. Now, we’ll send in da big lad first.” Ghaz craned his neck to look up at the stompa, with its grot rigger crew scrabbling atop getting it ready for waaagh. “I gots a good feelin’ about dis.”

Da Waaagh approaches!

Our deployment zone was in one quarter of the table, minus a nine inch radius from the center. I pushed the stompa up as far as I could. Its only real hope was to get to the astraeus before it lost too many wounds. Most of the Alpha Legion units were in Deep Strike, ready to move in at a moment’s notice.

The Emperor Protects! As does this wall! [Credit: Ryolnir]

The knights player put his entire army into deep strike. The fists player, on the other hand was deployed a bit more defensively than my orks. If only I'd been so smart. He ended up going first, and he immediately popped the stompa. Its work done, the astraeus returned with full honors to its cabinet, where it would do me no further harm, since it was obviously going to be a really short game if it had stayed on the table.

However, this caused some follow-on effects for both of us. Because he'd hidden his stuff, he didn't have angle with a lot of his stuff turn one. On the other hand, I couldn't get anything into charge range that turn, and most of my shooting couldn't target his stuff either. I managed to take out an assault intercessor squad, but that was pretty much it. My partner's maulerfiend was stuck in the back of a bad traffic jam with my warbikers. This meant turn one was spent mostly untangling this while his units got into firing position.

He did have a good firing line on one of my units: The trukk I'd hidden to the side of the stompa, sadly only mostly out of line of sight. It was popped, and I lost one of my trukkboy meganobz on the disembark.

Da Real Treasure Was the Dakka We Found Along Da Way. [Credit: Ryolnir]

I was able to get a couple of buggies into line of sight with his melee infantry, however, and I was able to take out one unit of assault intercessors with my snazzwagon and boostablasta. Meanwhile, my two deffdreads were trundling forward to get their claws on something tasty. At the far side of the board you can see my meganobz trying to get into cover until they could make their way to a scrap.

Bullets! My only weakness! [Credit: Ryolnir]

The grey knights teleported in, taking the fight to me at the midpoint on the board. Meanwhile, the crimson fists player moved his units forward out of hiding and began taking things down. The buggies folded quickly under some shooting from his speeder and aggressors.

On the other side of the board, the meganobz wilted under the knights' shooting and smites. Ghaz lost four wounds to the psychic onslaught.

Yo yo yo! It’s Grandmaster Dreadknight, and I’m here to rap about how the Emperor saves, novitiates!

However, now it was time for waaaagh! A bit of shooting took out a few of the vanvets, and then the deff dreads ran up and gave the last three a nice hug, turning them into crimson smears.

Where did da humies go, George?

Ghaz, the bikeboss, and the bikers all charged in at the dreadknights. The weirdboy cast fists of gork on the bikeboss, making him right killy.

Hit ‘im in da face! Den hit ‘im in da face harder!

It turns out that seven killa klaw attacks at S14, with extra attacks for each of the originals that doesn't do damage, is a lot. The grandmaster was a deadknight instead of a dreadknight. That robbed the bikers of any attacks, since he was their charge target. But fortunately, Ghaz got full attacks on the other dreadnight. ...Of which two went through, and were both saved against. Some days you get the waaagh, some days the waaagh gets you.

On their turn, the grey knights smote the crap out of the bikeboss and the warbikers, getting them mostly dead and finishing them off in the shooting and fight phases. Ghaz ended up hanging on with a single wound.

Last Ghazp

The Crimson Fist player wasn't idle during this time. He took out the dakkajet with some long distance shooting, then went ahead and removed the two deff dreads, one scrapjet, my squigbuggy, and several boyz. That left me with a grand total of one scrapjet, twenty-odd boyz in two squads, my weirdboy, and Ghaz holding on by a single wound when my third turn came up.

Orks don’t panic. The sweating and twitching is just anticipation of a good waaagh, is all. No one is fleeing, we’re just looking for a better scrap, is all. [Credit: Ryolnir]

But that was when my allies, the alpha legion, showed up! So secretly, in fact, that no photographic evidence for their arrival can be found. Yeah, none of my pictures from that part of the game came out well. Ultimately, his obliterators and terminators managed to take out the crimson first redemptor. My weirdboy managed to kill the grey knights chaplain, but the surviving justicar of his strike squad was able to deal a fatal wound to Ghaz, finally toppling the Prophet of the Waaagh.

We basically called it there. The grey knights player had to go, so the crimson fist player did his last turn of shooting to see if we'd have even stood a chance. The surviving scrapjet took a surprisingly long time to die, given it started the round with only five wounds left. But when it died, it exploded, and thanks to the careen stratagem, it was able to leave its mark.

Enjoy your mortal wounds, suckers!

Ultimately, it's a little hard for me to analyze the battle too fully. The abortive superheavy duel skewed deployment pretty heavily. It probably saved me a bit of shooting in the first round, but it also meant that I wasn't able to any shooting off my first turn either. Going second definitely hurt me, since it meant the trukkboyz meganobz weren't able to get their full value (though they absorbed a lot of firepower before they died, which probably saved some other units). The maulerfiend never got past the traffic jam until turn three, and the other units he had were too far back to be able to shoot or get into melee.

That left me pretty much high and dry turn two, looking down the barrel at 3000 points without any backup. By the time he popped in on our turn three, I was down to about 650 points, 300 of which belonged to one-wound Ghaz. Even if he’d popped off, it’s unlikely we would have been able to claw our way back out of that deficit. If we’d gone first, waiting until turn three wouldn’t have hurt quite as bad, but as it was, that was two full rounds where I was effectively 1000 points behind the enemy.

In the future, I’ll probably ask that my partners not go quite that crazy on deep strike shenanigans, or at least come in a bit sooner.

All that being said, I had a ton of fun, and it was great finally getting my boyz on the table. I did learn a lot about pitfalls in setting up, how variable some of my units can be, and how to move things fast. I also learned some organization issues, and I'll know how to handle them better. In the future, rather than showing with a stack of double-sided buttscribe sheets, I'll have them singlesided in a binder, so I can flip through them quickly and know where things are.

On the ruined battlefield, the shattered armor of the once-mighty stompa were scattered and blasted. The remains of orks and traitor marines decorated the landscape. The adeptus astartes were the only ones who survived to recover their dead.

And yet, under the hot sun, some of the debris stirred. A massive ceramite plate was thrown aside, and the massive power weapon known as Gork’s Klaw emerged from the wreckage.

#warhammer 40k #Warhammer #orks #ghazghkull #evil sunz #space marines #crimson fists #grey knights #alpha legion #Battle Report #wh40k #40K #plastic space barbies #adeptus astartes #traitor astartes #Orks40k #space orks #batrep

12 notes · View notes

thenuclearweaselhaslanded · 3 years ago

Text

Grand Waaaagh!

The Stompmost

Game Setup:

My Narrative:

“Er, beggin’ yer pardon, but I ain’t no Sunz. I’m Death Skulls!” Scragkill slapped the side of his blue bike proudly.

Ghazghkull responded by smacking him on the side of the head so hard he fell off of the bike and skidded several yards.

When Scrag managed to hobble up and lean unsteadily against the side of the bike, Ghaz asked “What was dat?”

“Er, da red ones go fasta?” Scrag said uncertainly.

Da Waaagh approaches!

The Emperor Protects! As does this wall! [Credit: Ryolnir]

Da Real Treasure Was the Dakka We Found Along Da Way. [Credit: Ryolnir]

Bullets! My only weakness! [Credit: Ryolnir]

On the other side of the board, the meganobz wilted under the knights' shooting and smites. Ghaz lost four wounds to the psychic onslaught.

Yo yo yo! It’s Grandmaster Dreadknight, and I’m here to rap about how the Emperor saves, novitiates!

However, now it was time for waaaagh! A bit of shooting took out a few of the vanvets, and then the deff dreads ran up and gave the last three a nice hug, turning them into crimson smears.

Where did da humies go, George?

Ghaz, the bikeboss, and the bikers all charged in at the dreadknights. The weirdboy cast fists of gork on the bikeboss, making him right killy.

Hit ‘im in da face! Den hit ‘im in da face harder!

Last Ghazp

Orks don’t panic. The sweating and twitching is just anticipation of a good waaagh, is all. No one is fleeing, we’re just looking for a better scrap, is all. [Credit: Ryolnir]

Enjoy your mortal wounds, suckers!

In the future, I’ll probably ask that my partners not go quite that crazy on deep strike shenanigans, or at least come in a bit sooner.

And yet, under the hot sun, some of the debris stirred. A massive ceramite plate was thrown aside, and the massive power weapon known as Gork’s Klaw emerged from the wreckage.

#warhammer #warhammer 40k #orks #space marines #crimson fists #grey knights #alpha legion

16 notes · View notes

christophcalledbingo · 5 years ago

Text

The Guessing Game Part 2 (Dr. King Schultz fic)

Hope you are all doing well! It’s sequel time! This is the second part of the fic, read the first one or you’ll be lost.

(Link to the first part)

https://christophcalledbingo.tumblr.com/post/616560017298112512/the-guessing-game-dr-king-schultz-fic

(This is a bigger chapter btw, a bit more of 4k)

Hope you got the memes too hehe. There is teacher kink? There is teacher kink! Kids having class on Saturday? Yeah, it fits the narrative, don’t question the narrative!!! There is some anachronisms, this is a fic, don’t worry about it! A bit of relationship building and a bit of spice :) (I‘ll wait to use the big guns on the next part). WE GOT POVS EVERYONE (points of view).

Mentions of loss too.

It’s not that nsfw but it gets close so... idk, just enjoy.

Translations:

Himmel: Heaven

Bitte: please

Natürlich, ja!: Of course, yes!

Liebling: dear

Bastard: it’s the same in English but with a capital letter :)

Danke: Thank you.

CLARA’S POV:

I wake up to the sound of a rooster crowing, but I’m still too tired from yesterday’s little adventure, so I just go back to sleep-

“I’M A TEACHER!” I suddenly remember that I am an adult with adult responsibilities. I try to dress as fast as I can. However, my wrist still hurts and it takes longer than expected. I end up wearing a light-blue blouse and a long black skirt up to my knees. I put my caramel brown hair in a bun, grab my glasses, my shoes and my bag and I run to the school.

Our town is the most centrical of a lot of tiny communities, so the school is located here, and all the kids from the surrounding towns come here to learn from me!

I’m was running so late that I forgot to eat breakfast... Today is going to be a bad day. Just before I arrive to the building I see a carriage with a bouncy tooth on top of it. That must be King’s… He must have parked it here and then went off to sleep at the Inn, I don’t see him anywhere. However, I see a very friendly-looking horse that’s drinking some water. Just as I get close he salutes me.

“Good morning to you too!” I say, cheerfully. This must be King’s horse then. He looks like he has had nothing to eat since yesterday though…

I sprint towards the school building and I see everyone inside. As I expected, someone has left me an apple on the table. I grab it.

“Thank you, to whoever gave me this, I appreciate it, so much. However, there is someone who needs it more than I do. I’ll be right back!” I then sprint outside to, what I presume, King’s horse.

As he sees me arrive, he moves his head in a happy motion.

“Here you go boy, hope you like it. It looks very tasty indeed!” I smile and pat his head. I wonder what’s his name… “I’ll see you later, untitled horse.” And I go back to the school to give my lecture of the day.

KING’S POV:

I woke up quite early at the calling of a rooster. I’ve slept quite nicely… but I can’t get Clara out of my head, so unique and yet so intriguing. I hope I can find her today.

I leave the inn in a rush, no jacket, just my vest and my hat. I forgot Fritz’s dinner yesterday. He is going to be mad at me, I’m certain. Just as I arrive to the spot where I left him, I see that there is someone interacting with him. As they turn to pat Fritz, I see Clara. I try to call her, but she ends up not hearing me and running to the closest building.

“Sometimes I envy you, my dear friend… I wish that was me, a moment back there. To be the one she gets to pet so dearly.... I mean, not pet- just- just have a good lunch together and then maybe hold hands, and then...” I shouldn’t think that way, she is far too young and no interested at all… Nonetheless, curiosity gets the best of me and I look through the window of the closest building. Clara is writing something on a board in a beautiful cursive, and there is a room full of children that seem to be cherishing every instant.

“Ok, so today is ‘shifting book day’.” And every kid in the room just complains. “I know and I’m sorry. I know that you wanted new books, but I couldn’t aff… get my hands on any that were worth of your amazing taste! I’m so sorry, I’ll try to find some worthy books next week.” She seems to have economical issues, and I just caused her night job to close…

The kids shift the books with their friends as Clara looks at them with sadness. Just at that moment she takes notice of my presence. She gives me a very big smile and I smile back, then raises her hand, showing me one finger, and mouthing something on the ways of “Give me just a moment.” And I nod to let her know that I understand.

“Next class is going to be biology everyone, but before that we should all get a rest. Grab your snacks and we will resume the lesson in fifteen minutes.” All the kids cheer as they go outside. Then Clara makes a motion that lets me know that is ok for me to enter the building. As I enter however, I take notice of how beautiful she looks today, and I unwittingly smile .

“Hello you! Good morning! I knew that we were going to look for each other today, but I wasn’t expecting that you were to find me so soon!” Clara laughs and I think I just went to Himmel.

“It took longer than planned, where you hiding from me?”

“Me? I would never do that! Not from you that is.” She says ironically, as she puts her bandaged hand on her chest.

“Are you feeling better? Does the bandage hurt?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I guess… I guess it’s a little bit tight, but it’s supposed to be like that, isn’t it?”

“Indeed but, can I take a look? Just in case.”

“Yeah, sure, of course, do whatever you need to do…” I put on my glasses, grab her hand very gently and I start to examine the bandage.

CLARA’S POV:

Oh my- Why am I so flushed?! He touched my hand yesterday and I wasn’t so flushed! Is it the glasses? He does look very handsome with them- I SHOULDN’T THINK ABOUT THAT! He touches my hand very gently, putting one of his under mine for support, and he uses the other one to look for any weird marks of signs of excessive pressure.

“I don’t see any worrying marks, but if you want I can change the bandage now and loosen it up a bit.”

“Please… If it isn’t too much trouble, it’s difficult to write in a blackboard with the bandage so tight.”

“I’ll go to get what I need then, just a moment.”

As I see him get out of the building, I allow myself to drop on my chair and breathe. This man should know what is he able to do with such charms. However, I shouldn’t get my hopes up. He is going to leave in a couple of days and my heart will be broken for nothing… I don’t even know if there is a Mrs. Schultz in the first place?! I’m so dumb… Even if he didn’t have a wife, I’m sure he wouldn’t like to have anything with me… Just as my mind gets to that last thought he comes back, smiling like the cute dork he is.

“Give me your hand, bitte.” He says while sitting on the edge of my table, one leg hanging, one on the floor. (SIR! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? I’M WEAK!) “This is not going to hurt, you don’t have to be so tense.” King comments, as if it was so easy! To calm my nerves I just try to distract myself with a little small talk, maybe I can kill two birds with one shot.

“So, King… I know you are leaving in a couple of days, but you seem to be a very interesting person” the most interesting person I’ve ever met, in fact “and I want to know you a little bit better. Is that ok?” He smiles so widely that I can see both of his rows of teeth.

“Natürlich, ja! But you have to tell me something about yourself as well, liebling.”

“It’s a deal then!”

“I wanted to ask you about this double life you seem to have…” King says and stops, maybe not knowing what to say next, perhaps thinking about how to phrase it. “Do you have money problems?” I am a bit scared of that question, but I can see where is coming from.

“I have…” I say with hesitation. “ However, my main job is this one, I take pride on being a teacher but the salary here is not the best, so I decided to look for another job.”

“That’s a very sacrificed thing to do… I admire you Clara.” I blush to that compliment and I joke a bit.

“You just met me so… Causing a first good impression: check.” I say while I make a ‘tick’ with my other hand.

“You caused the very best first impression, if you allow me to compliment you some more.”

“Just if I can compliment you as well...” I say and he chuckles.

“I am a bit shy, I like better to compliment than to be complimented actually…”

“That is because you have never been complimented by me!” I laugh and he flushes, a lot. “Did I say something…?”

“No, it’s fine… What is it that you wanted to ask?” He changes the subject, but I don’t forget that I will have to compliment him later, even if he combusts.

“I just wanted to know something about you… I just know that you are a bounty hunter and a dentist, that’s it.”

“Oh well, let me delight you with a German tale then…” he begins “I was born in Düsseldorf, you don’t need to know the year.” I chuckle “I practiced dentistry for some years, I got married-” I hold my breath… I knew it… “but” he pauses, looking extremely sad “she died a long time ago, of a fever.”

“King, I’m so so sorry…” I say, genuinely, tears forming in my eyes, I hate to see him this heartbroken.

“No worries dear, we Germans think positively about death. I still think about her a lot, but I know she is in a better place and that she wanted me to be happy.” He smiles a bit, but I can still see sadness in his eyes. So I smile back and put my other hand on his. “Well, after that, I moved to America with my brother, and we both became bounty hunters. We hated slavery and we wanted to do something about it.” I just gasp to give a bit of a dramatic effect and he laughs, but the sadness isn’t gone. “Sadly, my brother was killed while we tried to help a couple of slaves that were trying to get to the north…” I just stayed in silence, he knew what I wanted to say, my hand just stayed on his and squeezed it a bit, tears now rolling down my cheeks. “And now I travel from state to state collecting bounties. I think that’s it, for now…” He says, in an exhale.

“I wanted to complement you later, but allow me to do it now…”

“Clara, I-”

“Please…” He stays silent, and nods.

“I just wanted to say that…” I hold my breath a bit, trying not to cry, unsuccessfully. “You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met. I’ve just known you for a day and I realised instantly that no matter the issue, no matter the problem, you are there to help.” He lowers his head. “I appreciate you so much… and I’m so happy I got to meet you. I will thank the universe everyday for that.” He squeezes my hand, and then looks up. His eyes are shiny because of the tears forming.

“You were right… I just had to be complimented by you.” I smile. “Thank you, Liebling. I-”

As he is about to say something all the kids enter the room and stare at us with curious eyes, holding hands, looking each other in the eyes.

“Miss, is he your husband?” Says little Sheryl, and I just start to panic.

“NO, OF COURSE NOT!” King looks at me with a grin on his face and with a slight blush. “I mean- He is just a friend…” And then I got a mischievous idea “In fact! Dr. Schultz is a dentist that has come here today to explain you all about your teeth and how to take care of them.” As words come out from my mouth, King turns his head to look at me very slowly and in the end murmurs something like “I hate you” and I murmur back “No, you don’t” and I go sit down with the kids with a very big smile as King stays alone at the front of the class.

King starts to explain, he seems to be a little bit nervous, maybe he has never talked to children like this, the look in his face is priceless. As time passes he actually starts getting confident and explaining some interesting stuff I don’t know about. I get happy every time he looks at me and smiles. I try to cherish every bit of information that leaves his lips. I think I’m actually getting turned on by this…

“And I think that is all I have to teach you, Professor Valle, is there anything else I should say?” He gets me by surprise, as I was looking at his lips, but I stand up as quick as a spring.

“No, I think that’s it. Did you enjoy the lesson?” I say, looking at my students and they all nod or say “yes”. “Then that’s it for the day, remember to do your homework, on Monday I will be checking it.”

As the students leave I get close to King and he looks at me. We start talking at the same time.

“I-”

“You first.” He says.

“I want to thank you for this, and I’m sorry for putting you in this situation. I really enjoyed your lesson, I feel like I’ve learned a lot.” I say, still my eyes looking shyly at his lips.

“I was going to say that I really liked the experience. At first I was quite worried and cursing you a bit, but I ended up liking it.” My eyes turn to his.

“I’m very glad! You truly have a way with words…”

“Danke!” I quickly go back to where the students’ tables are, sit on one of them and raise my hand. “Yes? The pretty lady of the first row. What’s your question?” He said I’m pretty? Oh Lord… I’m actually quite hot and this isn’t helping so I unbutton the first three buttons of my blouse, he doesn’t seem to notice.

“Yes, I actually wanted to ask about the sensibility of the teeth. When I clean them, sometimes they bleed. Is that normal? Because I think is not…”

“It is actually quite normal. It is your gums that bleed, maybe you brush them too hard, but if you have not complained about it before, I guess that they aren’t inflamed. I could also take a look at them, if you want.”

“I couldn’t- I- I mean you have done so much for me and-” I stutter.

“It’s fine, really, it’s my job… well one of them.”

“Fine, but I will pay you.” And I stare so hard that I think he gets scared because he agrees to me paying him, even though I don’t have any money.

KING’S POV:

We arrive to my carriage and Clara goes directly towards Fritz.

“What’s his name? I’ve been wondering about it all day!” She says while petting Fritz, that lucky Bastard.

“His name is Fritz, and he is the most loyal companion one could ever ask for.”

“Awww! That’s so adorable! I love him, he’s so friendly!” Clara kisses Fritz’s head and I think I’m about to lose it.

I take out all the equipment to the alley, including the chair for the patients. I offer Clara the seat as if we were in a fancy restaurant.

“Oh, thank you so much. What a gentleman!” I smile a bit and then I get sad, thinking that this might be the only time I get to do this for her.

“Ok, let’s see if there is anything wrong in here.” I put some gloves, grab my tools and ask her to open her mouth, I suddenly freeze. Is that how she looks when-? King! Control yourself! You are a gentleman, she said so herself. I get a grip on myself and I start examining her mouth. She has pretty good teeth, not exactly white, but with signs that she sometimes smokes. it doesn’t seem frequent though. Also her inner cheeks have bite marks, she must be a pretty nervous person.

Just as I finish checking her mouth I take notice that three of her blouse buttons are open and... I can see her undergarment, it’s shiny and white, and a bit of her breasts… I try to breathe normally, but it is actually quite difficult…

CLARA’S POV:

Why is he breathing faster? The faster he breaths the quicker my heart gets… Suddenly I realise that I’m getting a bit cold on my chest and I see that I still have my blouse open… He- he is looking at my… I then take notice of his hair and beard moving a bit because of a slight breeze. He looks so sexy in that vest… I couldn’t bring myself to call him ‘sexy’ until now, but that is exactly what he is, he is even more than that.

I just get lost in his features, first his eyes, his nose, then his cheeks and finally his mouth. I stay there, looking at this pure ball of positivity. He seems to notice my eyes, wandering. King stays still, dentist tools still in my mouth, and returns the look. I feel his eyes looking not only at my face, but also my whole body. I feel exposed, but also safe. I want to be feel vulnerable, only if it’s him who makes me feel that way. He takes the tools out of my mouth, but we are still silent, looking at each other. The colours of his eyes are mixing into something darker, filled with what I can only infer is desire, and I can’t stop myself from biting my lower lip, trying to restrain the sounds that want to come out of me. He gets closer to my mouth, as if he is looking for something in it. Maybe something that makes sense, probably something that tells him to stop. However, before he retreats or changes his mind I push myself up from the chair a bit and kiss him. I can feel in his lips that there is a confrontation inside of him, but I just close my eyes, caress gently his face with my hands, and I try to tell him through my kiss that everything is ok. It takes a bit, but he gives up to it.

He grabs one of my cheeks with one hand, and the back of my head with the other and kisses me passionately. My hands go down to his neck and I can’t stop myself from grabbing his shirt collar with both hands, which makes him get closer. His beard and moustache tickle my face. I giggle into the kiss a bit and he lets go.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? I shouldn’t have-”

“King! It’s ok. It was just your beard, it tickles a bit. I really want this…”

“Are you sure? I’m old and, and you are beautiful and-” My heart skips a bit. He is still on top of me but he is looking away. My hands go back to his cheeks and make him look at me.

“I really want this… I fact, I thought that you didn’t want it, that I wasn’t attractive enough...”

“Liebling… Listen. You are beautiful, no matter what. I am in fact attracted to you in a way I had never felt before, but I don’t want you to waste your time with someone like me…”

“I am more attracted to you than to anyone, ever. You have this magnetism that pulls me to you. Again, I’ve just known you for a day, but I can tell that you feel it too.”

“I do… guess what I want to do to you now…”

“I-”

Before the words leave my mouth, he takes them on his. He becomes and extension of my breath, wet and needy.

I can tell that he is getting tired of this position, so I push his chest backwards with one hand and stand from the chair and I lead him into the wall of the school building. My arms are on both sides of his head and he looks at me, not scared, just eager. So when I kiss him again he grabs my hips and shifts our positions. Now I am the one pushed against the wall. With both of his hands he grabs mine (not my wrists because of the injure) and pins me to the wall, with my arms of top of my head. King’s carriage is hiding us from the street, but I can still hear people walking and talking, not that far away from us. As the kiss gets even more passionate I open my mouth a bit. I try to hold a moan when he slides his tongue in, as if he knew what I was about to do, quieting me up. One of his hands leaves mine and goes directly to my ass, grabbing it tightly. An impulse makes me rise my leg up and put it on his back, which makes him be a lot closer to me. He is so close to me in fact, that I can feel a bulge starting to form in his pants. If I was getting wet earlier during the lesson, now I feel a river. With my free hand I grab King’s hair, his hat falling to the ground. As I mess with his hair our lips part. He takes advantage that my blouse is a bit open. His mouth goes to the spot where my neck joins my shoulder and starts kissing there. To repress a moan, my mouth goes to to his left ear and I start to bite his lobe. I can tell he is liking it because he starts to bite instead of kissing… this is going to leave a mark.

Just as King’s hand leaves my ass and starts to lift up my skirt we hear someone’s steps approaching, so we quickly separate, both sweaty and breathless.

“Miss Valle, I’m so sorry. I forgot my book on the table, could you please open the school?” A worried Sheryl pleads, she does not seem to notice how messy we look.

“Yeah, of course.” As I go to reunite with Sheryl to help her recover her book my eyes go back to look at him. King is getting his hat from the floor and smiling, once again, like the precious dork he is.

When I get back to King, he is trimming his moustache and I’m once again alone with him. He looks a bit disappointed and the air feels tense around him. However, I try my best to act calm and collected.

“I’m back, I’m so sorry for the interruption-” I cannot even finish, once again he is kissing me only this time he is much more gentle.

“Sheesh! I cannot restrain myself around you, can I?” King says, smirking. I cannot stop myself from laughing.

“You silver tongued devil you! You still haven’t invited me to a cup of joe!” I joke, and he laughs too.

“I don’t know what we are waiting for then.” He offers me his arm and suddenly I remember.

“King, the tavern is closed…” He stops, and looks at me very slowly.

“I… I forgot about that, sorry…”

“It’s ok, I also forgot but” I pause dramatically “I got some coffee at home, would you like to come in for a cup?”

“Just if I can kiss you all night long…”

“That is one of the requirements for you to enter my home again, don’t you worry, it was part of my plan.”

“Is there more to your plan, Liebich?” King asks, his eyes locked in mine.

“Why don’t you try to guess?”

#dr king schultz #christoph waltz #django unchained #fanfic

18 notes · View notes

nazariolahela · 5 years ago

Text

Best Beloved: Chapter 6

A/N: Hey y'all! This is a PM AU I’ve been working on. It’s a bit different than my previous fic series and I’m really excited to try something new. I hope y’all enjoy it. This story is told in dual first-person narrative, from Kaia (F!MC) and Damien’s POV. The first half of this story takes place during Kaia’s freshman year and Damien’s senior year of college. The second half is two years after Kaia graduates. There will be sprinklings of canon in this fic, but we’ll try to step out of the box for the most part. Thanks for reading, and please leave feedback, and/or if you would like to be tagged.

Catch up here

Series Tags: @burnsoslow @lady-calypso @irishwhiskys-blog @loveellamae

Synopsis: What happens when you find yourself crushing on your best friend? For years, Damien and Kaia have been friends, while secretly harboring feelings for one another. Everything changes one night after a little too much alcohol and years of pent up feelings. Can they control their emotions and salvage their friendship, or will the feelings they hold for one another destroy everything they have?

All characters are the property of Pixelberry Studios. Thanks for allowing me to borrow them.

Chapter Summary: It’s the night of the homecoming dance, and things are burning up on and off the dance floor.

Kaia

“Stop fidgeting. You’re going to mess up my hard work,” Nadia snapped as she put the finishing touches on my hair. It was the night of the Homecoming dance and the whole campus was in a festive mood. The year’s homecoming week featured a "Wizard of Oz" inspired theme, aptly titled, “There’s No Place Like Homecoming."

Judging by the lineup of activities, that statement wasn’t entirely false. The week’s festivities kicked off with a Wizard’s Festival on the Campus Green. Members of the Campus Activities Board were donned in costumes that could have been featured in the actual film. The rest of the week featured a Pep Rally, a campus scavenger hunt, and a concert featuring pop star Alyssa Griffin.

The parade was held earlier in the day, where the Homecoming Court was presented. The queen was Damien’s friend(?), senior Cecile Contreras. I recognized her from that day in the bistro. She eyed me with such disgust, if looks could kill, I would have dropped dead right then and there. The king was another senior by the name of Mikail Greene. I recall seeing him in passing on campus. He seemed nice. Damien said he was really popular with the student body.

The football game followed shortly after. The Badgers took an early lead but ultimately lost in OT. Steve had another stellar game, of course. I heard from people in the crowd how he was already drawing interest from NFL scouts as a freshman. When I asked Steve about it after the game, he brushed it off, saying he wouldn’t be draft-eligible for another two years.

“Okay! We’re all done. Now, get dressed. I want to see the finished product,” Nadia said, giving my updo a final spritz with hairspray.

I retreated to the bathroom and grabbed my homecoming dress hanging on the back of the door. I pulled the dress off the hanger and examined it. It was a low-cut, sparkly red, spaghetti strap number with a gold belt at the waist. I ran my fingers across the A-Line tulle skirt and smiled as I slipped the dress over my head, careful not to mess up my hair. Once I was dressed, I applied my makeup and took one last look at myself in the mirror. Students of Hartfeld, eat your heart out!

I swung the bathroom door open and stepped out into the shared space of our dorm. Nadia turned and gasped when she caught sight of me all dolled up.

“Ohmygods, Kaia! You look amazing!” she said, her eyes welling with tears.

“Really?” I asked, twirling around the room.

She nodded. “Whoever you’re planning on impressing tonight is going to be blown away.” She didn’t say it, but I knew she meant Damien. To be honest, I’d been upping my game in terms of my appearance lately. Ever since he told me he and Alana had been having problems, I’d been going out of my way to show him what he was missing. I put my hand on Nadia’s shoulder in a silent thanks, then moved to my room to retrieve my clutch.

Once we were ready, we exited the dorm and made our way to the parking lot. Steve’s trusty blue Chevy pickup sat in the empty space in front of our building. He and Sloane were seated on the tailgate, showing each other something on their phones. Steve looked up and a wide grin spread across his face when he noticed Nadia.

“Babe...You look...wow…” he stuttered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and peppered his face with kisses. I turned towards Sloane and gave her a bright smile as she hopped off the tailgate.

“Your dress is so pretty!” I squealed motioning for her to twirl. Her dress was similar in style and material as mine but in a light blue color.

“Thanks! Yours too! You ready to go?” she said, smoothing down her skirt.

I hooked my thumb back towards Steve and Nadia. “Sure. As soon as those two come up for air.”

Sloane laughed and shouted at the kissing couple to break it up. Nadia flipped us the bird, then we all piled into the pickup and made our way towards the Sports and Activities Center, where the homecoming dance was held every year. When we pulled up in the parking lot, it looked a lot different from the first time we were here. Gone were the tailgaters; replaced with a few remaining parade floats being dismantled and students in formal attire.

We walked the sidewalk that connected the parking lot to the football stadium and activities center, noticing it temporarily painted yellow to simulate a “Yellow Brick Road.”

“Cute,” I said to myself as we made our way inside the center. The doorman took our tickets and directed us to the field house which had been transformed into The Emerald City.

“Ohmygods, Kaia! I just realized your dress reminds me of Dorothy’s shoes!” Nadia squealed, squeezing my hand.

My eyes roamed the room, taking in the magnificent job that CAB did on the decorations. A dance floor occupied the center of the room with several high-top tables scattered around it. The DJ booth was set up towards the back of the room under one of the basketball hoops. The bleachers were folded up on either side of the room to allow space for a photo booth and a bar area.

We moved through the room and found an empty table. The music from the DJ booth filled the room as dancers moved about the dance floor. A flash of black hair caught my eye and I turned to see Hayden strutting towards me. He had no business looking so good in a blue vest over a grey dress shirt and gray checkered tie. His eyes met mine and he grinned from ear to ear. When he arrived at our table, his eyes traveled the length of my body and I felt my cheeks and ears burning up.

“There’s no place like home,” he muttered under his breath and I barely caught what he said.

“What?”

“Nothing. You look amazing. Wanna dance?”

I looked over at Nadia and Steve, who were attached at the mouth. Sloane was nowhere to be found. I gnawed on my bottom lip, contemplating his offer. Damien’s words crept into my mind. You should give him a chance. Who knows? He might turn out to be a great guy. I turned back to Hayden and gave him a soft smile. “Sure. Let’s go.”

His eyes lit up as he took my hand and led me to the dance floor. Maroon 5’s “Animals” blared from the speakers as we moved together. I swayed my body to the beat, lost in the rhythm of the music. When I opened my eyes, I saw Hayden dancing, but his eyes were fixed on me. The intensity of his gaze made my skin instantly flushed. When the song came to an end, a slower track followed and I took this as my cue to grab a drink.

“You thirsty?” I asked.

He nodded and led me over to the bar. I perused the menu. Damn, no alcohol. I ordered both of us one of the signature “mocktails.” The bartender gave us our drinks and we made our way back to the table. Nadia and Steve were missing in action, but Sloane was standing there talking to a guy with auburn hair. She smiled when she saw Hayden and I approaching.

“Hey, guys! How was the dance floor?”

“Crowded,” Hayden replied, sipping his mocktail. The redhead guy whispered something in Sloane’s ear and she nodded before he walked away.

“So, who’s your friend?” I smirked at her.

“Oh, just some guy in my Spanish Comp class. Whatcha drinking?” she asked, eyeing my glass.

“It’s the signature mocktail. They’re pretty tasty. Have you tried one yet?” I said to her, holding up the multi-colored drink.

“Yeah, Derek went to grab us some.” She looked at Hayden, then back at me. Her eyes silently asked what was up between him and I. I smirked and shook my head as if to say, “tell ya later.” Derek returned shortly and the four of us fell into a comfortable conversation. He and Sloane had a class together and had been texting for a few weeks. I learned that Derek was a sophomore and a member of CAB. I complimented him on the decor, to which smiled and nodded. He finished his drink and asked her if she wanted to dance.

“Watch my drink for me?” she asked.

I nodded and smiled as Derek led her out to the dance floor, leaving Hayden and me alone. He rested his forearms on the tabletop and turned to me.

“So, you excited for midterms?”

I laughed. “Who would be excited about that?”

“Well, me for one. It means the semester’s half over.”

“Hmm...good point. I guess that’s one thing to look forward to,” I replied and took a sip of my drink.

He nodded and we fell into an awkward silence, watching the crowd. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and spoke up. “So, I know I asked you this before, and I don’t want to come off too desperate, but I really like you, Kaia. And I know you like me too.”

My cheeks flushed. How did he know? As if he could read my thoughts, he continued. “Your cousin told me.”

Damnit, Nadia!

He smiled and continued. “Let me take you out. We don’t even have to call it a date. I just want to get to know you.” He reached across the table and took my hand in his, lightly brushing his thumb across my knuckles.

I looked down at our joined hands, then back up at him. My body reacting to the contact. Why was I acting like this? We were both single and obviously attracted to each other. What could it hurt? For some odd reason, my thoughts wandered to Damien. Jesus, what was wrong with me. He wasn’t available. It was because of him that I was hesitant to pull the trigger with Hayden. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to clear my thoughts. When I opened my eyes, Hayden was looking at me expectantly.

“Okay.”

He seemed taken aback. “Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay, okay. Let’s do it. Take me out. When are you free?”

A wide grin spread across his face. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Whatever you want to do,” I replied.

Something flashed in his eyes. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, placing a chaste kiss on the back of it. “I think it’s time for another dance. Don’t you?”

I nodded and let him lead me out onto the dance floor. Ariana Grande and The Weeknd’s “Love Me Harder” started playing and Hayden placed his hands on my waist as we swayed back and forth. I looped my arms around his neck and pulled him close, pressing our foreheads together.

“Kaia? Can I ask you something?” he whispered into my ear.

“Sure,” I replied.

“What changed?”

I pulled back and searched his face. “What do you mean?”

He sighed. “I mean. I’ve been asking you out for almost a month now, and you’ve been side-stepping giving me a definite answer. Don’t get me wrong. I’m so happy you finally said yes, but I’m curious what changed?”

I thought back to the conversation I had with Damien in the bistro. How I was too afraid to pursue anything with Hayden because I was still harboring feelings for him. Would I ever get over them? Maybe in time. And he would always hold a special place in my heart. But this schoolgirl crush was getting in the way of me having a life. “Honestly? I just felt like it was time I got my shit together.”

Hayden seemed to accept that answer and pulled me back against him. We danced through two more songs, laughing and talking. As the current song was coming to a close, I looked across the room and saw him. Damien. The sight of him caused my breath to catch. He looked absolutely mouth-watering in a navy blue suit. The top two buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned, giving me a glimpse of his chest.

He had his arm wrapped around Alana’s waist, but his eyes held mine with a look of pure lust mixed with jealousy. He leaned down and whispered something into Alana’s ear, never taking his eyes off mine. Hayden came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. Damien looked over to him, then back at me.

I was the first to break eye contact, turning to Hayden and telling him that I had to use the restroom. He nodded and headed back to our table as I made my way through the crowd to the ladies' room. I grabbed the first open stall and rushed inside, shutting the door. I leaned up against the stall door and sucked in several deep breaths. What the hells was wrong with me? I was here with another guy, but I was eye-fucking my best friend from across the room. Jesus! Get ahold of yourself, Kaia!

***

Damien

Alana and I walked into the gym hand-in-hand. The strobe lights danced across the room as some upbeat pop song poured from the speakers. We spotted Cecile and Rowan dancing together, the lights reflecting off Cecile’s Homecoming Queen crown. Alana pulled me toward one of the tables and set her clutch down on the tabletop. She scanned the room, taking in the decor.

“Well, at least it's better than last year’s theme,” she huffed.

I cringed. Last year’s homecoming theme was “Boot-Scootin’ Victory,” a western-themed event that was as cheesy as you’d expect. I’m not sure who approved that one. The entire campus looked like a scene from the movie, “Tombstone.” The dance was even worse. CAB hired a country-western band to entertain, and they played nothing but ‘90s country music for the entirety of the dance.

The most amusing thing that happened was watching the basketball team try to line-dance. A video of the team’s center riding a mechanical bull went viral, causing his draft stock to dip. Apparently, NBA scouts frown upon a 6’10” player having almost-sex with his girlfriend on the mechanical bull at the school dance.

Cecile and Rowan joined us a few minutes later at our table. Rowan and I made small talk while Cecile and Alana reenacted an episode of Project Runway, judging the dresses of our classmates. Rowan left to go grab drinks for the table, leaving me with the girls. I leaned over the table and congratulated Cecile on winning Homecoming Queen. She scowled, then muttered thanks.

I chuckled to myself. She was probably still pissed about seeing me and Kaia together at the bistro. I know she tattled to Alana right after they left. That night, Alana came to my dorm. We fought, made love, fought again, then didn’t talk for two days. I remembered Kaia’s words in the bistro when I told her about mine and Alana’s relationship troubles. This whole relationship seems really unhealthy. There’s a huge lack of trust on both sides. That’s something a break isn’t going to fix. If she only knew.

Rowan returned to the table with the drinks. I picked up the glass and eyed it skeptically as the green and yellow colors swirled together. I took a sip and turned up my nose.

“What the hells is this?”

“Some signature mocktail. Pineapple, orange and melon juice,” he said, taking a drink of his. “And it tastes like shit.”

He reached into his suit jacket and retrieved a flask, pouring what I assumed was alcohol into the cup. He turned and offered me some. I held out my drink and he dumped a splash of the clear liquid into my glass. I shook my head. “More.” He smirked and kept pouring until I motioned for him to stop. I took a drink. It was better, but not by much. I bit my tongue and chugged the drink, happy to finally have finished it off.

As Alana and Cecile continued to gossip, I spotted Nadia and some blonde kid making their way towards me. Her eyes lit up when she saw me and moved faster through the crowd. She wrapped her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug.

“Damien Elvis Nazario! Have you been avoiding me this semester?” she squealed.

I laughed. “Even if I was, you’d track me down.”

“It’s like you know me,” she replied.

I looked over her shoulder to see Alana staring at us with a scowl. I detached myself from Nadia and introduced her to Alana. The two women sized each other up in some sort of awkward standoff. After several tense moments, Nadia grabbed the arm of the guy she was with and drug him over to us. “Damien. I want you to meet Steve, my boyfriend.”

At the mention of his name, I remembered Kaia telling me about him at the frat party. “Ah, yes, Tennyson. Good game today, man. You’ve been tearing it up this season.”

He nodded and shook my hand. “Thanks, man. I know it’s still early, but I think we have a shot at the natty this year.”

The two of us talked for a few minutes before Alana wrapped her arms around me from behind and began pulling me toward the dance floor. I rolled my eyes and said my goodbyes to Nadia and Steve, then followed her. We made our way through the tables and found a spot near the edge of the crowd. A slow pop ballad played and Alana wrapped her arms around my neck. I rested my hands on her hips as we swayed to the music. As we danced, I scanned the crowd.

At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I caught a glance of her on the other side of the dance floor. Kaia. My Kaia. She looked like a goddess in that shimmery red dress. She was dancing with some tall guy with black hair. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear, and she started laughing. The jealousy radiated through my body. I watched her as the other guy rested his hands on her waist. I wanted to sprint across the dance floor and break both of his arms. Instead, I stood there — my arms wrapped around my girlfriend — watching my best friend dance with another man.

She looked up and locked eyes with me. Her shocked expression caused my lips to turn up in a small smile. She looked over at Alana, who was talking to some random girl. She probably introduced me, but I was too preoccupied watching Kaia to care. I glanced over at my best friend’s date, then back at her. The two of us stared at each other across the room for several moments before I felt Alana tug at my arm.

“I’m going to go grab another drink. Do you want anything?” she asked.

I leaned down, never taking my eyes off Kaia and muttered in her ear. “No, I’m good. I’m gonna go use the restroom.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Alana move away. Kaia turned to her date, said something to him, then made her way through the crowd towards the doors of the gym. I waited 10 seconds, making sure Alana or none of her friends were around, then followed her. I reached the doors leading to the hallway when I saw her enter the bathroom. The alcohol began to take effect as I walked past a couple making out against the trophy case and stood outside the entrance to the bathroom.

Several minutes passed before she emerged. Her head was down, and she didn’t notice me until she nearly crashed into me.

“Holy shit! Damien!” she said, nearly toppling over. It was very reminiscent of the first day of school. I reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her. The touch of her smooth skin sent my senses into overdrive.

“We’ve gotta stop running into each other like this,” I smiled. She laughed and my chest tightened. My eyes raked up and down her body. Fuck, she looked phenomenal. That dress hugged her curves. I wanted to reach out and feel the fabric between my fingers

“You here by yourself?” I asked.

“I came with Nadia, Steve, and Sloane. They’re around here somewhere.”

I noticed she didn’t mention the guy she was dancing with. Which meant she didn’t come here with him. “No date?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Technically, no.”

“Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Hayden. You remember me telling you about him, right?” she smirked. I saw the amusement in her expression. Of course, I did. I was the one who told her to go out with him.

I nodded my head. “So, you finally decided to give the poor guy a chance.”

“I did. He’s taking me out tomorrow,” she smiled and it made me jealous.

“Oh yeah? On a Sunday?” I replied sharply, the alcohol giving me courage.

She cocked an eyebrow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. He didn’t want to wait until next weekend to see me again.” I could hear the challenge in her voice.

I shoved my hands in my pants pockets. “Hmm...that’s interesting. Usually, guys who aren't that interested take girls out on Sundays.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” she scowled.

I shrugged. “I just know that Sundays are usually the day when people wind down from the weekend and prepare for their week. So, he probably won’t be all there mentally.”

Annoyance flashed in her eyes. “I don’t know why you give a shit, Dames. You were the one who told me to go out with him. He likes me and I like him. Why is that such a big deal to you?”

“I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into. I mean, what do you know about this kid anyway besides his dog’s name and what classes he has?”

That seemed to piss her off even more. She stood up straight and stepped into my space. Her voice was low but held so much anger. “What the hells has gotten into you, Damien? First, you encourage me to go out with the guy. Now you’re trying to talk me out of it. You’re my best friend, not my dad. You don’t even know him, so stop judging him. The whole reason I’m going out with him is so I can get to know him. Why don’t you just back off?”

A loose strand of hair fell from her updo into her face. On instinct, I reached out and tucked it behind her ear, my palm brushing her soft cheek in the process. Her breath hitched at the contact. My eyes traveled to her mouth as she gnawed on her bottom lip. I knew my presence was making her nervous. That was her tell.

Thanks to the combination of the alcohol coursing through my body and the tension between us, I threw all inhibition out the window and leaned in to capture her mouth in a kiss. She froze for a moment, then her body melted as she gave in. A slight gasp escaped her lips as I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to me. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but damn if it felt so right. My fingers tangled in her hair and I slipped my other arm around her waist. Her lips parted slightly, allowing my tongue to dart into her mouth and massage hers. I had forgotten how good it felt to kiss her.

”Damien,” she whimpered.

My hands traveled down her back and cupped her ass. She moaned in my mouth, the sound shooting straight to my dick. I pressed my growing hard-on into her thigh. ”That's it, Kaia. Say my name.”

”Damien, please,” she said, breaking the kiss. She pressed her palms flat against my chest and shoved me back. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “You have a girlfriend.”

“And?” I replied, moving closer.

She stepped back. “You should figure your shit out with her first. I won’t be a cheater,” she huffed.

“Kaia,” I said, my voice coming out in a harsh whisper.

“I have to get back to my date.” She looked me up and down, noticing the bulge in my crotch. “You should probably do the same.” She took one last look at me before turning and stomping down the hallway back towards the dance. She stopped at the entrance to the gym and turned back to me. The intensity of her gaze made me want to march up to her and claim her in front of the whole school, but my feet were rooted to the floor. Her eyes searched mine, both of our gazes saying what our mouths couldn’t. After a few beats, she shook her head and walked back inside.

I stood there and watched the door, waiting for her to come back. When she didn’t, I sighed and made my way back to the gym. I scanned the crowd for her but gave up after a few moments. Spotting Alana at our table with Rowan and Cecile, I raked my hand through my hair and sighed before walking back to my girlfriend.

#best beloved #pm au #college au #friends to lovers #perfect match #choices fanfic #damien nazario #kaia park #damien x mc #nazariolahela fanfic

18 notes · View notes

mst3kproject · 5 years ago

Photo

324: Master Ninja II

There used to be a restaurant in the plaza across the street from where I work that actually had a conveyor belt buffet. Plates of sushi would go around and you could pick the ones that looked tasty, and when you were done the staff would count the empty plates to calculate your bill… whereupon you would realize your eyes were bigger than your tummy and your wallet was smaller than either. It truly was a work of evil genius.

So here we have the continuing adventures of Max and McAllister the Boring White Ninjas, and Max is still a whiny dolt with a hamster instead of a personality. First, he enters a motorcycle race, where he’s beaten by Carrie, a young woman trying to unionize the cannery her town depends on. Naturally the business owners don’t want to waste money treating their employees like human beings, so they’re trying to run her out of town. The good guys win, the girl kisses Max, and we’re on to the next episode, in which a senator’s garden party is interrupted by members of a militant cult. Lucky for his guests, the senator’s cute daughter Alicia invited Max and McCallister, so there are ninjas on hand when the cops need somebody to rescue the hostages. Unlucky for McCallister, the Foot Clan is still following him and they choose the worst times to swordfight. The good guys win, the girl kisses Max, and then the movie’s over. ‘Bout time.

This movie is so boring I think I actually died while watching it. I saw a light and flew towards it, but then a voice told me that my job wasn’t over – I still had to write the review! Next thing I knew, I was face-down, drooling in my keyboard. Now that I’m back, though… what the hell am I supposed to write? I think I already got through everything I had to say about The Master in my first review, and the second is really just more of the same. Timothy Van Patten is just about the most boring actor I can possibly imagine, and we get the idea that Max wouldn’t give a shit about any of this injustice if there weren’t pretty girls involved. None of the this-week-only characters are played with any conviction. The stunt fighters are bad. Lee Van Cleef has more screen presence than the entire rest of the cast put together and is entirely wasted on this stupid show.

One thing that I guess does kind of stand out is how badly they use slow motion. We see it now and then – particularly in two consecutive motorcycle jumps, which I suppose are meant to look impressive. They’re not very, and the slow-mo just gives us time to notice that rather than Van Patten and Van Cleef, the bike is being ridden by a stuntman and a potato sack in a helmet. Later we get slow-motion of a truck breaking through a gate, which just doesn’t come across as worthy of it. They don’t even do anything to make the wood break dramatically. Remember in A Knight’s Tale where they filled the lances with spaghetti to make lots of fake splinters when they broke? There’s nothing like that here, they just run over a gate and expect us to think it’s cool.

Then there’s the ham-fisted writing. The villains are such caricatures of evil, they’re almost as bad as real-life politicians. Even worse, the exposition. Why does McAllister just randomly die in the hotel room? There seems no reason for it, unless, like me, he died of boredom listening to Max talk. It establishes he can do that so he can ‘resurrect’ later, but it’s so obvious that when he does ‘die’ we don’t believe it for a second. It’s all so blatant that it’s almost painful to watch.

So when the movie explains things, it’s annoying, but when it doesn’t, it’s even worse. Episode Two begins with Max in a small airplane, saving a girl whose car brakes are out. Uh… what? Where’d he get the plane? When did he learn to fly it? How did he know the girl needed saving? Did she just happen to be there? What the hell is going on? We never find out. The fact that this sequence gets the whole plot going means it at least introduces the plane without the big flashing sign that this will be important again later, but all our initial questions about the opening remain unanswered.

I can also say that the second episode that went into Master Ninja II, while still not something I’d go out of my way to watch, is much, much better than the first one. This is at least partly the writing – the bad guys in the second half are slightly less cartoonish and much more threatening, and the various intersecting storylines make it somewhat less boring. The second half also has actual ninja stuff going on, which is a definite plus in a movie called Master Ninja.

There’s not a whole lot of ninja-ing happening in the first half, and when it does, it’s almost as if they chicken out from actually showing us. McCallister throws down a smoke bomb to vanish with the damsel in distress… and the camera cuts away! They had a chance for a neat in-camera effect, and they totally dropped the ball! Later, Max throws a grappling hook so he can climb a wall… and again, the camera cuts away! Instead, the set-piece action sequences for this half are a couple of car chases. These are badly filmed, never giving us the sense of danger they should have, and make the aforementioned poor use of slow-motion. A few caltrops and throwing stars come out, but only really appear in close-ups of a hand holding them, in the vain hope we won’t realize it’s not actually Lee Van Cleef doing the ninja stuff.

The second half more than makes up for it. Max throws a smoke bomb, and we actually see the effect it has on the soldier he’s fighting! McCallister climbs a wall, slips, and has to grab the bricks with his crampons and throw his grappling hook again! Ninjas doing ninja things! And of course there’s the fight between McCallister and the Foot Clan guy. It’s not great. The relatively enclosed space of the hotel suite could have been used far better, and if Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum will forgive me, I’m afraid I just do not believe that ninjas shout “ha!” every time they throw a punch. And yet, after the near-absence of ninja stuff in the first half, I was eating it up.

The big problem with the second half of Master Ninja II , besides the whole why does he have an airplane?! thing, is that we don’t have a sense of place. This isn’t so important at the senator’s garden party, where everybody’s pretty much in the same space and the bad guys descend from above and leave the same way. We also know how the cops managed to find their hideout, since we saw the tracker get stuck to the helicopter (although how Max found it I have no idea), but what’s where in this place? We’re told that the hostages are up in the tower, but that doesn’t look like a good place to keep them. We don’t have a sense of where all that is in relation to where Max and McCallister get in or what obstacles might be in their ways, and not enough is made of what does happen inside that it seems important it would be a surprise.

While the fight between McCallister and Foot Clan Guy does provide the best action scene in the entire movie, it also has nothing to do with the plot of that particular episode. Again, this is a thing that would work in a TV show, where they need to intermittently remind us that the overarching storyline is still going on somewhere in the background. If this extra ninja were to do something like injure McCallister, leaving him less able to carry out the rescue, that would be important. Or if he and McCallister were to put aside their differences for the episode and work towards a common goal, maybe something to do with the security guy who seems to know them both, that would be relevant. But he appears, there’s one fight, and then he’s gone.

I’ve complained before about the practice of putting two episodes of a TV show together into a movie, but out of all the variations on that theme that showed up on MST3K, I’m pretty sure the Master Ninja people did the worst job of it. Sandy Frank would at least give us both the beginning and the end of things like Time of the Apes and Fugitive Alien, even if it were hard to understand them without some of the stuff from the middle. Cosmic Princess and Riding with Death both picked pairs of episodes that had characters or situations in common, and did some dubbing to strengthen the connection. Master Ninja just gives us Episode One and Episode Two, without even the slightest attempt to provide a narrative connection or to disguise the fact that these are two unrelated stories. It’s particularly blatant when they just cut from ‘happy ending of Episode One’ to ‘action opening of Episode Two’ without any sort of bridge.

I really did mean to get to Master Ninja II ages ago, but every time I tried to watch it I ended up just giving up. The first episode was just such a slog of annoying writing and bad acting that I couldn’t take it. When I finally watched it, the fact that the second half was so much better helped, but on average the whole Master Ninja series is just so dull and nondescript that I have no urge to watch it or anything else to do with it. Thank goodness MST3K never did a Master Ninja III.

#MST3K #reviews #master ninja 2 #80s

30 notes · View notes

dailyaudiobible · 4 years ago

Text

06/22/2020 DAB Transcript

2 Kings 3:1-4:17, Acts 14:8-28, Psalms 140:1-13, Proverbs 17:22

Today is the 22nd the day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it's great to be here with you today as we move into our time together around the Global Campfire and around the Scriptures. We’re in the book of second Kings. We haven’t been there long but we’re moving into the book of second Kings. And we spent a good…good-ish amount of time in the northern kingdom of Israel and their kings as well as the prophet…prophets Elijah and Elisha and we’ll continue with that. We’ll continue in the north and we’ll continue with the prophetic voice of Elisha today. Second Kings chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 17.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we are on mission with the apostle Paul at this point in the book of Acts and they move through a city called Lystra and they preach and there is a healing. People witness this. They start freaking out and they decide that Paul and his companion Barnabas at this point, that they are gods that have come down in human form and they need to be worshiped. And, so, they're doing everything that they can, and they decide that Barnabas is actually Zeus and Paul is Hermes. And, so, there…there happens to be a temple to Zeus. So, they’re like going to the priest and…and saying “hey. Zeus is in town. Like he’s showed up in town in human form.” And, so, they’re bringing bulls out. They’re gonna do these sacrifices to the…to Paul and Barnabas. And, of course, Paul and Barnabas are like trying to stop everybody and are like, “hang on a second. We’re just humans like you. We’ve come here to tell you about the living God.” And, so, they begin to share the gospel, but the people still are convinced that they’re Zeus and Hermes. And, so, there like still trying to do the sacrifices until…until some Jewish people from nearby cities come in and they know who Paul is. And. so, they start to turn the crowd. And the next thing we know, Paul is stoned and left for dead. That…that’s the story of the early church. Like these are the stories of the early church. This is how things came to be. And, so, Paul went from being a God to being stoned to death and left for dead, as it appears, on the same day, which shows you a bit of the mob mentality at work, like how quickly people can be pulled together in one direction, even with a complete false word, a false story or declaration. People come around the stores. And, so, that's what happened. At first, they are absolutely convinced that the gods are among them, until the seeds of this story from the Jewish people spread through the crowd which turns the crowd murderous. That's not a new concept. Obviously, it’s an old concept because we’re reading it out of the Bible. So, we’re reading a story that’s a couple thousand years old. But this kind of behavior has always been going on. And it's interesting. On the one level it's interesting how compelling a narrative can be, like how concrete some sort of narrative can be when it pulls people together and ushers them to move in the same direction for a period of time. That can be for great good and for great evil. Often, it's for great evil, especially when there’s a mob involved like this. And we’ve seen these kinds of things in our lifetimes, but that…it's not new. Like this has always been happening. We have to admit that this is not unlike the mob mentality that ultimately condemned Jesus to the cross. So, we can see some pretty significantly negative things can happen when people are swept together without the whole story. And we have to look into our own lives at the way that we get swept into things the same way. And at times we get swept into things against our brothers and sisters in the Lord and people's lives get damaged or destroyed in the process.

This is essentially the words coming out of the Psalms today. So, going back even further, way further than the book of Acts. “Those who surround me proudly rear their heads. May the mischief of their lips engulf them. May burning coals fall on the. May they be thrown into the fire into miry pits never to rise. May slanderers not be established in the land. May disaster hunt down the violent. I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright live in your presence.” It’s like this kind of thing has always been going on, causing at minimum mischief and maximum total destruction to the lives of people in their path. It’s part of the Old Testament story. It’s part of the New Testament story. It’s part of the early church story. It’s still part of the church story. And we have to watch ourselves because it's really, really easy to get swept up into worshiping God for what He's doing through someone and then trying to destroy that someone because it turns out they’re a human being after all and not God. So there are times that we just…we need to keep our eyes on our own lives and the path that we are walking, and not get swept into someone else's story that's getting stirred up. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves, “yeah, that might be tasty to get into, but is that my battle? Is that even something I have anything to do with whatsoever? Am I getting involved to be seen here? Like, what's going on? Am I being invited to be an agent of the good to be Jesus in this situation or is it that I simply want my opinion expressed? What good can come from my involvement? These are good questions for the times that we are in and the times that we are going into. And as we navigate, may we remember the proverb today; “a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Let's not be agents dispensing crushing blows to people's lives. Instead, let's hear the first part of the proverb; “a cheerful heart is good medicine.” So, we can take that on board in our own lives and say, “okay. Whatever it takes I've got to find a way to maintain a cheerful heart. That’s medicine for me. But I also need to spread, like in every way that I can I need to promote a cheerful heart so that we all might experience this good medicine instead of being swept up into things that will only crush people and eventually crush us.

Prayer:

Father, we come into that and consider that. And it brings up all kinds of different scenarios and situations that we've experienced in our lives, times that we’ve hurt people, times that we've been crushed, times that even with our own brothers and sisters we’ve been at odds and swept into things we had no business being involved in and people got hurt. And this was…this was never Your way for us. So, Holy Spirit come and show us what it looks like to maintain a cheerful heart and made it become good medicine in our souls. And as we are transformed may that spill out into the world so that we aren’t being swept into anything, we aren’t crushing anybody. Rather, we are about the business of restoring things. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus. we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and its…it's a website on the Internet. It's the…its home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Initiatives section for…for things that are going on around here.

Check out the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives. It’s always happening. It's always on. You can always reach out for prayer. You can always reach out in prayer there at the Prayer Wall. And there's different links there to get connected on the different social media channels that we’re involved in. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There's a link on the homepage. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership as we move into the summertime. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app which is little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning everybody. For as high as the heavens are above the earth so is His steadfast love towards those who fear Him. Yesterday was a very upsetting day for us. Some of you will know from the Friend’s page. Our little ginger cat Loki went missing. He’d been __ too so where really concerned as the day and night was ticking on. He’d been gone nearly 20 hours and is very unlike Loki. I cried out to the Lord as we do, and I was listening to worship and they were singing about trust. And I said to the Lord, “I trust you Lord.” I didn’t have an outcome in my mind or in my heart, but I simply said I will trust you. It wasn’t long after that declaration that Peter went out searching again and little Loki appeared very thin, quite unwell. He’s just gone to the vet. But he was home. I’m so thankful to God. What’s precious to us is precious to Him. His love is…it just melts me. His care for us. The little things in life with all that’s going on in the world He was concerned enough about my heartbreaking over the…the gift of a pet he gave to me. And His love abounded towards us. Thank you so much. This is God’s Smile here sending my love and drying my eyes. Bye-bye everybody.

Hello this is Gloria from Uganda here in __. I’m really really very grateful for this Daily Audio Bible app and __ podcast. And I’m really really really very grateful because I had desire to study a Bible plan at the start of the year but I couldn’t go with the flow but I’m very excited and I’m really enjoying hope to review all the previous messages. I’m really really blessed thank you very much Brian. Thank you very much China. We…we love you. We…we ask you to pray for us. The situation and the pandemic with most of the people all around. And the closest family to me and all unemployed right now and it puts me in a state whereby I have to look after my family of 12 people. My mom and my dad are not working, and I really really puts me in a very very very difficult position right now. But I trust God and with your messages I believe my faith is going to rise higher and I’m gonna…I’m gonna…I’m gonna go through this __ first and with your messages I believe I will…I will move forward I will believe and I will grow. Thank you very much. We do really really appreciate it and ask you to pray for us. My job __ business is really slow, and I pray that our business visions and people came back __ because many of our staff were laid off because of the pandemic. And I also pray to get an increase in salary because I got a promotion, but __ an increase in salary. I need to have a family of 12 people behind me. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Pam from Shasta County California and I am calling in for Patricia in New Orleans. And Patricia, I just want to pray for you. Heavenly Father thank You so much for Your goodness and Your mercy and Your love and thank You for how much You love Patricia. Thank You for her heart, thank You for her passion, thank You for her strength. Father I just pray in Jesus name right now that You would ease her pain Father. I pray for relief. I pray for healing in Jesus’ name that You would just pour Your healing out over her and that she would get immediate relief from this pain. Father, thank You for who she is Lord and who You are in her life. Father thank You that You are so close to her. I pray that she has people around her that are loving her and are helping her Father and are praying for her. And help us all to remember pray for her and everyone here and we thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for Your mercy. And thank You for Your healing in Jesus’ name.

[singing starts] Lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon you be gracious to you. Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. May his favor be upon you for a thousand generations your family your children their children their children. May His presence come before you and behind you and beside you all around you and within you he is with you he is with you. In the morning in the evening in the coming and the going in your weeping and rejoicing he is for you he is for you. He’s for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is. [singing ends] Just a sweet reminder DAB family. This is Abba’s Grace and He shines. Amen. Amen!

This is Vickie calling from Southern Oregon and I have been listening now for a few months and really enjoying reading Brian and I’m also enjoying the prayer community. Thank you so much. I’ve been struggling trying to call and not having the courage to do that. My son is an adult and having problems. He’s severely mentally ill and he’s also strung out on drugs. And I recently moved him out to Oregon trying to save his life and now I’m feeling overwhelmed and not really knowing how to help and it’s disrupting my life and, you know, risking my career and my home. So, I could use some prayer. His name is Eddie. Thank you.

Hi this is Brooke Right from Omaha Nebraska. I just want to pray for my mom because my grandma who came to take care of everybody, she…I don’t remember how long ago…is leaving tomorrow afternoon and my mom just had a major surgery taking out her…in which she had to take out her womb. A womb is a place with the babies come. So, it was very painful. She has a lot ohwees. She has to go on a walk twice a day which is kinda good for my dog Ella which I would show you but this is a recording not a video. And, well, just want to pray for my mom, my brothers and my dad because he’s in masters. Probably have a lot of more….no… wait…just quite a few maybe five which is…we count it quite a few…more…like five more chores a day because we have a garden that has like snow peas and tons of other things. So, yeah, alright I don’t have much longer on this call so I’m just gonna leave. Bye. Brooke Right.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is God’s Light out in Portland Oregon, and it’s been some time. I’m responding from Ben in Columbus who called back in…maybe the 12th of June or probably even before that. His message was there on the 12th of June and I…I believe he was speaking to me and I was so taken aback that I needed to allow a couple callers in and hear a couple more prayer request just to confirm that he was speaking to me. I have tried to submit prayer requests and haven’t…and having…and fallen short and felt silly for doing it. I’ve really…I’m in a bad spot right now financially, physically, mentally, spiritually. Everything’s under attack and I have lost everything. I’ve lost my home, my children, my ex-wife. I’m soon to have another child, which I’m ecstatic about. So, the grieving process comes and goes with excitement but…but for the most part this grief and humiliation is following me. And if you could pray for me and I would…I would greatly appreciate it. I’ve been following the Daily Audio Bible since 2011 pretty much every day and I’m just so thankful for this community and thankful for you as my family. I’m very thankful to have you. Please stay strong and I pray for all of you.

1 note · View note

kiruuuuu · 6 years ago

Text

Glaz/Echo oneshot in which they go out together and eat sushi. Simple enough, right? (Rating T, fluff/humour, ~3.7k words) - thank you @magehir for the prompt and for generally fuelling any kind of insanity 💜💜

“You”, Echo says with pathos while indicating the delicacies laid out in front of them with a grandiose gesture, “are about to have a religious experience.” It could be a painting with how pretty they’re laid down, a speck of colour here, a rich, warm stripe there; a still life mostly kept dark and white, simplistic, tasteful, exquisite. All it needs is a drop of grass green, a touch of a full, earthy colour, and it’s perfect. “You’re going to ascend. Before this, your life was woefully lacking and now it’s about to send you into another dimension of flavour, you’ll taste things you’ve never tasted before. Are you sure you’re ready?”

Next to him, Glaz is following his praise with a raised eyebrow, both amused and sceptical. “It’s just fish and rice”, he states, missing the point so spectacularly Echo is amazed they’re even in the same room when clearly, they must be talking to different people. Because he did not just say that.

“There are a few things I need to tell you before you even touch any of this and if you try to regardless, I’m going to taser you, so be patient.”

“I am very patient”, Glaz replies calmly and as much as Echo might want to convince himself his boyfriend needs to sit on his hands to hold back on devouring the whole platter all by himself, he has to admit that the Russian is indeed nothing but composed. He can’t even successfully weave this into his own narrative because trying to portray it as negative would earn him nothing but a snort and a slight shake of the head which he’d very much deserve. Oh would he ever. Especially after all the patience Glaz has shown him in the unsteady months leading up to their tentative relationship, and even more so afterwards – were Echo religious, he’d call him a saint.

“I’d hope so as I actually have one with me. Since you’re about as adept with chopsticks as a monkey is with a typewriter – implying that potentially, eventually, you’d get something into your mouth but it might take several generations –, you should -”

“Wait, are you for real? You brought a taser?”

Rolling his eyes at the interruption, Echo affirms: “Yes, Manu asked me to take a closer look because she might want a similar version for her drone. Moving on: you can use your hands, that’s how it’s eaten traditionally, and if people stare, just ignore them.”

“When I tell you the same thing while we’re holding hands, you complain.”

Somehow, Echo is beginning to think Glaz is getting tired of his lengthy introduction. “Listen”, he hisses, “that’s two completely different things. This is sacred, alright? No one can tell you how to eat sushi properly, don’t let anyone interfere when you’re sitting down and enjoying some. Unless you’re doing it wrong. Then it’s your own fault.”

“Sweetheart -”

“Don’t call me that.” A quick glance around the room assures Echo that no one is paying attention to them, fortunately. Even now, he’s still paranoid about anyone coming to the wrong conclusion – or maybe it’d be the right conclusion, because they are together, aren’t they? They kiss behind closed doors and spend more nights in each other’s company than not, but it’s different. Isn’t it? Two men, it’s just -

“I’m really hungry. Just tell me what to eat and how.”

Echo snaps out of his brief internal crisis to remind himself that he’s about to introduce a person very dear to his heart to one of his most important passions. “These are called Nigiri and you should dip them fish side down in the soy sauce, just lightly so the rice never touches it, and then you eat them whole. If you bite them off or drench the rice in sauce, you’ll bring dishonour over your entire family.”

“Don’t worry, they support my decisions”, Glaz responds good-naturedly and reaches for a salmon Nigiri, only to pause and sigh when Echo catches his wrist to teach him about which kind of fish to eat first. Was he raised in a barn? “Do I need to visit the kitchen and thank the chef personally for preparing such a beautiful meal for me before I’m worthy enough to even look at it?”

“What? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” Echo considers the suggestion for a moment. “Then again, you could -”

Glaz shoots him a look which expresses just how done he is and quickly snags the salmon with his other hand, almost drops it in the soy sauce and pops it into his mouth before Echo can stop him. How very dare he, salmon tastes too strong, now the others – like butterfish – will pale against it and probably not appeal to Glaz as much as they might have had he started out with them, he really has no idea what he’s doing which Echo supposes should be alright as Glaz has never had sushi before, and yet he could’ve listened and that’s when the Russian makes a gagging noise.

And what the fuck.

What the actual, everloving fuck.

“Oh no”, Glaz murmurs around a mouthful of literal ambrosia, grimacing and paradoxically looking like he’s not enjoying himself which is utterly impossible. Only when he downs half his water to apparently wash the taste from his tongue (and who would ever do that?), it dawns on Echo that he’s being serious. And as if he couldn’t be affronted enough, his boyfriend adds a croaked: “This… is disgusting.”

Echo blinks, uncomprehending. “You’re joking, right?”

He has to be. There’s no other way. No one would voluntarily turn down the nectar of the Gods, except for Glaz it looks like, since he’s still making a face and regarding the rest of the sushi warily. “How can you eat this? The fish is cold and still raw, aren’t you going to get sick from this?”

It makes no sense. Scowling up a storm, Echo picks up one of the salmon pieces himself and eats it – maybe the restaurant doesn’t live up to its ratings, but no, it’s delicious. The fish-rice ratio obviously isn’t as generous as in his home country, and the rice isn’t quite the same, but at its core it’s correct and tasty and why doesn’t he like it. “You’re obviously doing it wrong”, he announces, still taken aback.

“Well, I did what you told me and it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever put in my mouth, so that doesn’t really make it my fault.”

“Yes. It absolutely does, there must be something wrong with you. Don’t you Russians eat a lot of fish? How can you dislike this?”

“To be quite honest, I don’t see how you can like this, but go ahead, eat it all and we’ll stop by a chip shop on the way back so I can get something for myself.”

“A chip -” Echo almost chokes on the words. “That’s what you want to have instead? Instead of the pinnacle of haute cuisine worldwide?!”

“I don’t like it, so yes, I’d rather have something else.”

“You haven’t even… You know what, try another piece. Here, this is tuna. Everyone likes tuna. You like tuna, I know as much, so eat it. Maybe put a little wasabi on it.”

Glaz looks at him in exasperation, but it says a lot (and a lot of very positive things about him) that he reaches out nonetheless, just to appease Echo. Sometimes it worries him, the lengths to which Glaz will go to make him happy; it worries him because he’s not sure he won’t keep demanding more. “Wait, wasabi is hot, isn’t it?” As soon as Echo nods, the Russian basically slathers the piece he’s holding in the green paste, probably under the assumption that since he enjoys hot and spicy dishes and doesn’t even shy away from Blitz’ curry, he’ll be alright.

Echo doesn’t get a chance to warn him that chilli and horseradish tolerance are two completely different things because Glaz can be fast when he wants to be, and so he’s merely left to powerlessly (and maybe a tad spitefully) watch as his boyfriend’s eyes widen in disbelief after having gotten a proper taste.

“This”, he gasps and once again reaches for his glass, “is still awful and now my mouth is on fire. Why is my mouth on fire? Masaru, are you trying to kill me?”

“You’ll never get sick from properly prepared sushi, and you only have yourself to blame if you take this much wasabi. I told you it’s hot.”

“Holy crap, I’m dying, give me your wine.” Echo barely gets to open his mouth before Glaz has snatched the aforementioned drink from his side of the table and poured it down his gullet. By now, a few people around them have noticed Glaz’ predicament and glance at them now and then, making Echo’s cheeks redden. Why can’t he just -

“You’re causing a commotion”, he says quietly and is met with a wild look.

“You’re a commotion, I’m still… ow, it hurts. How can you eat any of this?”

“Quietly and more elegantly than you are right now.”

For some reason, Glaz seems to have had enough now and his tone of voice shifts from the one he usually uses for playful banter or mock indignation to genuine irritation. “I just don’t like it, accept it. I’m not going to apologise for what I like or don’t like, this is just – it’s almost slimy in my mouth, and it’s raw on top of that!”

“These kinds of things don’t normally bother you”, Echo shoots back, annoyed as well now. Glaz stares at him, incredulous over the comment, and he feels more blood rush to his face. They’ve both gotten worryingly loud by now, garnering even more attention and it makes him horribly uncomfortable to feel eyes in his back, to know that people are wondering about what’s going on; it turns him prickly and sharpens his words. “It’s an acquired taste, I should’ve figured you’re not ready to appreciate it yet with all that junk you normally eat.”

“You’re usually right there with me, so don’t pretend you’re any better.”

“This is just typical, you never show any respect for my culture.”

“I show no – Masaru, you asked me whether I had electricity growing up!”

“You made no move to learn any Japanese so far.”

“The only word you asked me to teach you in Russian was an equivalent to Yokai so you could go around and wax on about how much you love your stupid drone without anyone realising.”

“Did you just call Yokai stupid?”

“I did, and I’m also calling sushi revolting.”

Momentary outrage makes any retort impossible for Echo, so instead he just gapes at the other man like… well, like a fish out of water. They have their fair share of arguments, some of them valid, constructive and actually useful, some of them none of these things, but Glaz always makes a point out of never hurting or insulting him intentionally. He refrains from saying things out of anger no matter how upset he is and rather withdraws than to resort to name calling, so him going against this really quite important principle signifies that Echo has overstepped a line.

Well. He’s not above doing the same. “And you are a heathen and a philistine who is too blind to appreciate the good things in life.”

“Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, you are, too?”

And when Echo doesn’t respond, Glaz simply gets up and leaves, stalks out of the restaurant and leaves him staring after him.

Echo only calls after having drummed sufficiently on his steering wheel with his fingers, then counting until ten red cars have passed him by, and then some. Since he’s parked not directly in front of the restaurant, he felt safe staying for a while until his guilty conscience won and his hands navigated to someone in his contact list by themselves.

Though she sounds busy, Hibana picks up on the second ring. “Hey, what’s up? How’d your date go?”

“It wasn’t a date”, he blurts out without thinking, disregarding the fact that Hibana knows and probably knew before he himself did.

“Right. So how did your date go, you pure ray of sunshine?”

“That’s why I’m calling.”

“Uh-oh.” Some rustling, and then the noise level on her end drops considerably – she must’ve moved to a more private spot. “Don’t tell me you had another fight?”

“Well. He hated the sushi.” Silence. His friend quite obviously expects him to add something, anything else, but he feels he’s said quite enough.

“… and?”

“He hated it. He called it disgusting. I’ve never been so insulted in my life.”

“You’re telling me you fought because he didn’t like sushi?”

He scoffs. “Wouldn’t you have?”

Hibana allows for a brief grace period during which she quite obviously waits for him to admit to his gaffe, but when he doesn’t, she starts yelling.

Mute’s expectant expression turns appallingly smug as soon as he realises for whom he just opened the apartment door. His smirk is so self-satisfied Echo is this close to telling him not to bother, he’ll come back later, preferably when Glaz’ flatmates aren’t home. Or maybe just Mute – for some reason, the Brit watches him like a hawk whenever they interact. “What a pleasant surprise”, Mute announces, crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe in an obvious gesture of denying Echo entry without explicitly stating so. “How come you’re gracing us with your presence?”

“I want to speak to Glaz.”

Even slouched like this, Mute is infuriatingly still a tad taller than him and doesn’t look like he’s moving any time soon. “I bet you do. But what if he doesn’t want to speak to you and asked me to get rid of you if you showed up?”

Panic settles low in Echo’s stomach though he does his best not to show it. It’s going to be fine, they’ve had tiffs like this before and though it never turned out this way with anything as trivial as this (and doesn’t that indicate there’s a different underlying problem behind their disagreement, unsolved trouble neither of them have openly addressed yet) – so it’ll be fine. Right? Glaz still likes him enough to stay with him, but maybe he should apologise still. Just to be safe.

“Then… I’d ask you to convince him to hear me out anyway.”

“Sounds like you have something important to tell him.”

Echo falters. He supposes he does, or rather: there are entirely too many things he probably needs to tell Glaz yet not all of them fit into this context, almost none, in fact, so he’s not sure he’ll go through with it. Still, he nods wordlessly which makes Mute thaw considerably and finally step away to allow him in. “He’s in the living room. Don’t be a twat.”

The glare he sends the Brit only garners a meaningful if sarcastic smile indicating the warning is more than warranted in his eyes, and worst of all, Mute follows him when he steps inside the central room connecting their individual bedrooms. Smoke is half draped over an upset-looking Glaz and spreads out over Mute’s legs as well once he joins them, and Rook, despite seeming cosy all curled up in his armchair, changes his expression to something carefully neutral when Echo enters the room. They’re all staring at him as if he just kicked a puppy, which to be fair -

“Can I… talk to you alone?”, he addresses his boyfriend without much hope for success. The undivided attention he’s getting is leaving him flustered and wondering whether it really was such a good idea to come here – even if Hibana had been awfully blunt about it earlier.

Three pairs of eyes slide back to the flickering TV screen yet the volume is so low there’s no doubt they’re listening anyway. “I’d rather we talk here”, Glaz tells him earnestly. “Or else no one’s going to believe me afterwards.”

Alright. Fair enough. Echo knows how important Glaz’ friends are to him, has learnt it the hard way after he’d dropped a few remarks about the inefficiency as well as idiocy of some of Rook’s work routines (really, if he didn’t spend at least an hour talking to people each day he’d be home so much earlier) and Glaz refused to take his side, even defended the Frenchman. So he wants to spread his love life out before them too. Okay. Echo is… not at all prepared for this but he’ll make it work. “Fine. I just thought you might want to hear what I came to say privately.”

“You might as well practise saying it in the presence of other people, right?” Glaz is not budging and his tone of voice makes it crystal clear he feels it’s more than justified. He seems intent on humiliating Echo, or at least that’s what it seems like to him – never before has he…

“So you know why I’m here?”, he tries buying himself some more time. He thought Glaz would receive him with less anger in his demeanour but if that’s how it is, he’s going to make it count. He’s not going to back away like a coward.

“Of course I know. You came here to tell me one thing and quite frankly, it’s long overdue.”

Is it? Echo frowns but nods reluctantly. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Yes. So go ahead and tell me for the first time since we’ve known each other.”

He’s fidgeting though he’s trying not to, attempting to ignore the others who pointedly don’t look in his direction and manages to focus mostly on Glaz’ expectant face. Over months, he’s been a reliable friend and more, became a soothing warmth beside him not only when they sleep but also in daily life. If he’s going to say it to anyone in his life, it’ll be him and it doesn’t matter that his friends will hear and that it’s awkward and embarrassing because Glaz is worth it nonetheless.

And so he looks him in the eyes and says: “I love you.”

Four people freeze for a moment before turning to gape at him, aghast, with Glaz being the most aghast one of them all, and Echo has no idea what’s going on – especially not when Smoke starts laughing, Rook beams at him happily, Mute nods in a ‘not bad’ gesture and Glaz turns crimson.

“That’s not – Masaru, what the hell -” Thoroughly flustered, the Russian fights his way off the couch only to grab his wrist and drag him into his room, accompanied by excited whispering behind them.

By now, Echo is wholly confused. Did he do something wrong? Was he not supposed to…? He doesn’t get a chance to ask, however, as Glaz immediately slams the door shut, then Echo against it and finally himself against Echo to apparently try and shove his tongue down his throat and oh.

Maybe he didn’t do anything wrong after all.

Sometimes, Glaz’ passion intimidates him just like his devotion does; it’s easy to get caught up in it and lose himself yet right now he has no objections. One of his hands finds its way to Glaz’ dark hair and the other snakes around his torso while they kiss like they’re drowning and when they eventually separate again, they’re both breathless. “Does that mean -”

“Yes”, Glaz interrupts him quietly.

“So you also -”

“Yes.”

“Say it.” He earns a pained look and knows exactly how Glaz feels but he’s not going to let him get away with it. “I’m serious. If you made me say it in front of the others, it’s only fair -”

“I didn’t know that’s what you wanted to tell me! I thought you were going to apologise”, Glaz hisses.

And… well. Whoops.

On second thought, that scenario makes a lot more sense than him demanding Echo lay himself bare before his friends, especially since his inability to apologise has been an issue several times before. “Oh”, he says dumbly. It’s not like he’s complaining, not really, not when it ended up with Glaz in his arms and the knowledge that they’re both… But still, there’s something nagging at him.

“Does that mean you’re going to apologise for not liking the sushi?”, he wants to know quite reasonably.

Oddly enough, when he gets tossed out of Glaz’ room again with the door being slammed shut once more (though this time it separates them), none of the three people populating the living room bat an eye.

“C’mere, sit down”, Mute tells him, entirely unconcerned over Echo’s dishevelled appearance.

“Shouldn’t I -” He points towards the front door. “Maybe he wants me to leave?”

“Nah. Whatever it is you said this time can’t be worse than what you normally say”, Rook waves his concerns aside. “Especially not after declaring your undying love – you get a few freebies for that.”

After some more non-verbal insisting, Echo awkwardly weaves himself into the British cuddle puddle and nearly gets kneed in the crotch in the process. Part of him is screaming to leave and nurse his wounded pride, both from misunderstanding Glaz completely and generally making a fool of himself, but on the other hand he’d like to spend more time with Glaz. And so he stays.

“Don’t worry”, Smoke grins at him, “Glaz is gonna cool off in a bit and it’ll all be fine, forgiveness runs rampant in this flat. I ate the entire chocolate cake Manu made for us and Mark still loves me.”

This gets him Mute’s undivided attention as well as a death glare. “You did what?!”

And while an enraged Mute tries to throw his lover off the sofa for such insolence, Echo thinks back to Glaz’ previous words. He’s probably right, there are some things in life he’s not appreciating enough and it’s not only Glaz himself. It’s good friends as well.

Maybe he should call Hibana later and thank her.

Or he could invite her out for some sushi instead.

#rainbow six siege #glaz #echo #glaz/echo #fanfic #oneshot #also these two would need some time #but they could be utterly adorable and wholesome #whoever gets together with glaz mute rook or twitch #basically adopts the rest as family

44 notes · View notes

smilingformoney · 6 years ago

Text

America’s Most Eligible 2 Diamond Scene: Invite Mackenzie Back to Your Hotel Room

You: Look at you with your good ideas. What do you say we continue this evening somewhere private? Mackenzie: I say let’s get a move on. The two of you hurry back to the hotel.

As soon as the door to your room clicks shut behind you, Mackenzie tugs you forward and kisses you with such fervent passion that your knees buckle. You: Wow… Mackenzie: That’s the reaction I was hoping for. Mackenzie nips your lower lip playfully, then trails a line of kisses down your neck, sending ripples of pleasure through you. You: You wanna know what I think? Mackenzie: If you’re able to think, I’m clearly not doing my job. You: I think I’d like to see you out of those clothes. Mackenzie: I stand corrected. Pressing one last kiss to your lips, Mackenzie backs away, hips swaying as she unzips her dress. With a shrug of her shoulders, the gown flutters to the floor. Mackenzie: Any more brilliant thoughts? You stand there for a moment, mouth agape as you stare at her beauty. You: Damn, Mackenzie. I’m gonna need a moment. Mackenzie: Don’t take too long.

You: I think I want to… -Kiss you.

Mackenzie: I’m all yours. You gently cup Mackenzie’s face in your hands and press light, feathery kisses to her temples, her cheekbones, her eyelids, and finally her lips. Mackenzie: Taking your sweet time, aren’t you? You: You love it. Mackenzie: I don’t know about that… You deepen the kiss, exploring her mouth slowly, sensually, until Mackenzie softens and presses herself against you, making soft, yearning sounds.

-Touch you.

Mackenzie: I’m all yours. You pull Mackenzie closer. You trail one hand up her back to the nape of her neck, feeling her muscles contract and relax beneath your touch. You dig in with your nails, slightly. Mackenzie sucks in a breath. You: Do you want me to stop? Mackenzie: Not yet. With the other hand, you flutter your fingers up her ribcage, making her laugh, until you reach the underside of her breast. As you flex your fingers against it, Mackenzie starts to shake.

You: How about now? Mackenzie +2 Mackenzie: Okay, that was a tasty appetizer. But I think I’m ready for the main course. You: I thought you might be. You peel off your own clothes as Mackenzie watches, then hold out your hand. You: Ready when you are.

You: Follow me to… -The bed.

You head over to the bed and pull back the covers invitingly. You: After you. Mackenzie: So polite. She slides between the covers, and you follow her. The silk sheets rustle as you lean over her and capture her mouth in a kiss. You: I’m about to get a lot less polite. Mackenzie nuzzles at your throat before taking your earlobe between her teeth. Mackenzie: So am I.

-The sofa.

You settle down on the sofa, spreading your legs out invitingly. Mackenzie: And where am I supposed to sit? You: You’re a creative person. You’ll figure it out. Mackenzie: Oh, I’m going to make you pay for that. Mackenzie seems to loom over you as she gracefully lifts a leg over and straddles you and the sofa. You let out a shake breath as she splays her hands across your chest. Mackenzie: Now I’ve got you right where I want you. She captures your mouth in a kiss as her hands roam all over you.

Your breathing hitches as Mackenzie shifts her hips against you. You lock eyes with her and the connection intensifies between you.

You: I want to… -Turn it up. Mackenzie +2

Mackenzie: That can be arranged. Mackenzie hooks a leg over your hip and flips you over. You: Whoa! She kisses her way down your body, every brush of her lips against your skin sending bolts of pleasure through you. You: Mackenzie… Are you sure? I can-- She presses an unexpectedly tender kiss to your inner thigh. Mackenzie: It’s like I told you at the restaurant. You make me happy, Jamie. I’d like to return the favour. Mackenzie: Let me make you happy. Mackenzie’s touch sets your skin aflame, and your body tightens in anticipation with every movement of her lips and tongue. You: Mackenzie… Mackenzie, yes! Your back arches as waves of release overwhelm you…

-Slow it down. Mackenzie +2

You: Would it be alright if we just talked? Mackenzie: Of course. Come here… She leads you over to the bed and you both slide between the covers. Mackenzie rests her head on your shoulder. You: You know what, today was the first truly fun day I’ve had since the hiatus started. Mackenzie: Same here. I was so fixated on everything that was going wrong that I didn’t stop to appreciate the chance to relax. You: Well, we got out of that headspace! The farmer’s market was a lot of fun, and I liked learning about your family. Mackenzie laugh ruefully. Mackenzie: Another reason to thank the hiatus. I don’t like to bring up my family with cameras around. Mackenzie: Viewers want everything to have a narrative, and I don’t want them making one up about the people I care about. You: That says a lot about you. And about Natalie and your dad, that you care about them so much. Mackenzie: I won’t pretend I had some charmed childhood, but it was better than it could have been, thanks to them. She lifts her head and kisses you, once, twice. You find yourself sinking into her touch. Mackenzie: And I know my experience on AME wouldn’t have been nearly as good without you. You: I feel the same about you… Mackenzie snuggles closer, and the two of you spend a few minutes happily dozing…

Some time later, Mackenzie stirs and rests her head on your shoulder. Mackenzie: As much as I’ve complained about this downtime, it has given me time to process everything that’s been going on. You: Yeah. This season has had a lot of ups and downs. Mackenzie: When I first came on, I expected drama and infighting from the other contestants, but not behind-the-scenes. You: No kidding! And it’s spilled over into everything else. The rules keep changing, the Challenges keep changing… Mackenzie: For the first time ever, I have no clue what’s going to happen next. How can anyone plan or strategize with this much chaos?

You: It’s chaos out there, but at least… -It isn’t boring! Mackenzie +2

Mackenzie laughs. Mackenzie: I mean, you’re not wrong. There’s something new around every corner. You: And honestly, would you have been able to suggest the prom Date if Piper had been running the show? Mackenzie: Not on your life. Hmm, maybe we need to start taking advantage of chaos instead of just complaining about it.

-We’re not alone in it. Mackenzie +2

You: I mean, I may not know what happens next, but I do know that you’ll always have my back. Mackenzie: Count on it. And you better have mine. You: I’d rather be in chaos with a group of good friends than a stable situation alone. Mackenzie: There’s such a thing as too much chaos, but I agree with the general statement.

Mackenzie: For now, I’m okay with taking each day as it comes. Mackenzie sighs happily, and slips out the bed. She gathers her clothes and gives you a parting kiss as she heads for the door. Mackenzie: Goodnight, Jamie. You: Sleep well, Mackenzie.

#playchoices #choices stories you play #choices ame #choices america’s most eligible #america's most eligible

1 note · View note

snkpolls · 6 years ago

Text

SnK S3E06 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 490 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that this is the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

NOTE: Another week, a few more mess ups and overlooked things. Upon realizing that we are rushing ourselves a bit too much and the poll dropping in quality is the unfortunate side effect, we will be moving the poll to Tuesdays from this point forward. This will allow us more time to see what others are discussing, think up questions, make sure we’ve touched on all of the important points, and to proofread more thoroughly before publishing. Thank you for being patient with us throughout this whole process! We apologize for our mess ups over the last couple of weeks.

RATE THE EPISODE 478 Responses

Overall the episode got high rankings and positive reviews!

I loved it, just wish they had given the Grisha vs Frieda segment more time and fully animated it rather than show it in flashes and stills. Though it wouldn't surprise me if they do later when we get his full story.

It was awesome! I'm starting to enjoy this season more with each episode. I'm hyped for the action next episode.

the best episode so far

Once the uprising arc is done, this episode will definitely be included in my favorite episodes list.

I was skeptical at first of the changes they were making to Frieda's foreshadowing, but the sequencing of events in the episode made up for it! Everything flowed so smoothly, from Eren's memories to Historia's, introducing the concept of mindwipe immunity followed immediately by Kenny's old talk with his grandpa. Each point led right into the next.

This week's episode felt almost slow with the way it ended. I'm not complaining, although I feel the sting of all those missed moments that got cut off prior to this.

This episode was freaking awesome. I keep replaying the scene where Eren sees Grisha's memories. The whole sequence and the OST is amazing!!

When it comes to rating these last few eps, I keep second-guessing myself on how to rate them. On the one hand, they've been fairly faithful to the manga and the animation, as always, has been top notch. So in that aspect they are good and deserve a high rating. It's just that the Uprising arc is so incredibly dull to me, that I am also not exactly excited about these eps and probably will skip all of them on future rewatches. But the anime is not to blame for that. ¯\_㋡_/¯

ep of the season so far

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST? 485 Responses

Eren unlocking Grisha’s memories was the big moment of the episode, winning the majority vote. Followed closely is Historia unlocking her memories of Frieda, Rod’s retelling of Grisha’s attack and Kenny’s flashback to his talk with his grandpa.

I also enjoyed the Ackerman talk, it gives more significance to what’s to come in the future

OPENING SCENE WAS BOMB

I absolutely love Frieda! She was the greatest sister ever. Too bad she had to die so young. I liked her voice as well :) The scene with her and Historia symbolized peace, love and happiness, while the scenes in the crystal cave symbolized pain and sorrow. I liked that.

KENNYKENNYKENNYKENNYKENNY

Is it weird that I liked the Zacklay part more than the flashback? C:

My fav scene was when Mikasa and Levi were talking about Mikasa's past and their awaking of power

Really liked the focus on each character when Levi asked them if they were ready to get their hands dirty. They looked resolved.

The Ackertalk!!!!!!!!

ON A SCALE OF “I’D RATHER IT WAS DIFFERENT” TO “SAWANO IS A GENIUS!” HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ENJOYING THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE SEASON SO FAR? 482 Responses

As expected of Sawano! The majority of respondents are enjoying the music this season. A few think the picks could be better, however.

The OST in this season has been awesome.

To the music part: I haven't found a track that really stands out, I want something as good as youseebigttgirl

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO EREN’S MEMORY SEQUENCE? 477 Responses

The majority of respondents were overall pleased with the way that Eren’s flashes of the altercation in the cave went down. A few would rather it have been different.

Frieda was beautiful and that's all I care about

I love the way wit did Eren's eyes during the flashback sequence. Honestly it made me feel more like dead

I loved it, some amazing voice acting with Erens scream at the end

While the fast flashes made total sense to me as a narrative choice I would have personally liked it better if it was Slower

Great paths depiction, mindblowing OST, not biggest fan of how they presented goblin Eren in just two still images

Pretty awesome. I don't like how Frieda's titan looks however, I thought that the manga design gave off a far more divine and powerful aura than the anime one, which honestly just looks like a regular titan with different eyes.

The P A T H S visuals were beautiful but I feel like the flashbacks themselves could have been done better. The RIP Grisha scene was practically still images when it could have been one of the most visceral and intense moments in the series. Idk I just found the flashbacks themselves very underwhelming

openly sobbing

Eren’s shocked expression while seeing those memories/listening to rod talk makes me feel bad for him all over again, but WIT also gave a lot of shots of his abs and back muscles *-* like, idk if I wanna hug him or fuck him

could've been much better. kid Eren screaming after realizing he ate his dad was heartbreaking though

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE MECHANICS OF ZACKLEY’S “ART”? 479 Responses

It goes without saying that most respondents were put off by Zackley’s torture device, although there’s a sizable amount who did find it amusing. Generally speaking, most fans aren’t happy about the scene being included overall.

AoT will end, but Art will last forever

I HATE THE SHIT MACHINE!!!!!!

I cant believe we got the shit machine! Art is still alive!

I feel kinda tired of the whole shitmachine stuff. What is so special about some old, fat, ugly, nude, sweating dude who was forced to drink own piss? Why so many fans is obsessed with it? The episode had so many great moments - but almost everything I'm actually hearing about it this dumb shitbitchmachine.

I still fail to see what that machine added to this part of the story....

HOW DADDY IS ERWIN’S NEW HAIRDO? 480 Responses

Although there were mixed responses, overall the fandom is digging the new hairdo. Many even think Commander Handsome is looking even more dashing than before! ;)

Can we get more scenes with Erwin being Commander Handsome?

Erwin looks much younger now on my opinion XD

OMG ERWIIIIIIIIIN SO HOT

GRISHA’S EYES WERE GLOWING GREEN BEFORE HE ATE FRIEDA, AND THEY STARTED GLOWING PURPLE AFTERWARDS. DO YOU THINK THIS HAS ANY MEANING? 481 Responses

The overwhelming majority believe that the glowing eyes do have significant meaning. We covered this concept in more detail a few questions down!

Erens attack Titans eyes glow green too, I think it's just for effects

Yes, Frieda was not tasty and Grisha's stomach hort a lot after eating her

I didn't even noticed XD But I'm not sure if it has any meaning

Super saiyan

Frieda's eyes were purple during her Titan transformation. Grisha's eyes changing to the same colour after he ate Frieda, meant that he gained the Founding Titan power, gained Frieda's memories and the memories of the previous Founding Titan holders.

It could hardly be a slip of the hand in the animation department. They did it for a reason

The purple is the same as Frieda's Titan so it's likely because he came in contact with a Titan with Royal Blood and that changed his Titan's eye color

it's his magical girl transformation

WHICH TITAN WORE THEIR CHEST HAIR BETTER? 478 Responses

This was a close one! But ultimately Grisha inched just a few percentage points above Zeke. The commentary also reflects this and, frankly, we are a bit concerned. Are you guys okay?

Gaston ain't got nothing on Grisha Titan's chest hair.

Grisha's titan can spank me

Titan Grisha can mount me anytime.

WHEN FRIEDA READS HISTORIA THE FAIRY TALE, THE “GOOD GIRL” CHARACTER IS NAMED KRISTA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS ADDITION? 478 Responses

It was a close split between excitement over seeing (or rather, being reminded) how Historia got the name “Krista” for her persona and those who are questioning the validity of the name in the book. We also received plenty of snarky reminders that we overlooked the detail of this being mentioned in chapter 51. Perhaps it’s time for us to take a week off! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I love how they’re differentiating the Marleyan legend from the Eldian one

I thought I was supposed to be Ymir, but I think it’s a really interesting addition to how Historia got the name Krista.

Since we know Rod gave her the name Krista, it felt kinda irrelevant. It also somehow implies that Krista's personality is the result of what remained in Historia's head from Frieda's preaching which I don't think was necessary to justify at all. Historia could've chosen to be the kind of girl Krista is by herself.

I love how, as time passed and memories changes, Ymir Fritz became Krista Lenz. And so, both Ymir and Historia got named by someone else after the same person. I love it.

It's not really an addition since her name appeared in the manga (at the beginning of chapter 51 when Historia goes crazy)

It did make things pretty confusing. I think that the government could've entirely changed the story of Ymir and the titan's and renamed Ymir in the books, and that's why she is now called Christa.

On one hand I think it's appropriate because the Reiss family didn't want Historia to know the Eldian history, yet I think the specific name of Krista wasn't a great decision because as I remember it, Rod was the one who made Historia take on the name Krista, so to suggest that Historia chose it because of that story is inconsistent.

‪Historia did say Krista was “a girl from a book she read as a child” in chapter 51, but learning in chapter 86 that the girl is Ymir Fritz led some people to believe that, back then, Historia was referring only to the girl's personality and not her name. The anime just clarified that in Frieda's book she is indeed named Krista, perhaps suggesting the story has different versions in Marley/the world and Paradis.‬

IT’S CONFIRMED THAT GRISHA’S AND FRIEDA’S TITANS HAD GLOWING EYES, SIMILAR TO THE PURE TITANS THAT THE COORDINATE CONTROLLED, DO YOU THINK THIS RELATES TO EREN’S EYES GLOWING IN LIBERIO? 466 Responses

As reflected above, most respondents believe that the glowing eyes do bear significance. 41% of voters believe that it’s indicative of the power of the titan taking over its host, while 32% believe the significance is something else. 16% of voters think it’s simply just a cool aesthetic effect.

I don't understand anything any more

Woah I've not thought about that enough to give an answer!!

I have no fucking clue, this stuff is confusing.

I honestly just think those titans happen to have glowing eyes. Nothing more.

WHICH TRANSITION DID YOU LIKE BETTER? 479 Responses

70% loved the transition of Kenny looking into the knife and revealing his younger self.

I truly love Kenny <3

Kenny is beautiful and the transition from younger to older Kenny in the reflection of his knife was my absolute favorite part of the entire episode.

Kenny was a highlight in this episode once again, I especially loved the flashback scene with him and grandpa Ackerman talking about family history after Levi and Mikasa's Ackertalk. The transition back to Levi was really unsubtle, though.

WHICH PV SCENE ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST? 482 Responses

Generally, the majority are most looking forward to the showdown between Squad Levi/Hange vs. the Interior MP Squad. About 31% of voters altogether are looking forward more to more Jaeger/Reiss focus, however!

Can I vote again for Hange is a BAMF?

i honestly don't care at all about the interior MP v.s squad levi fight. I just wanna get back to the reiss/jaeger action

Give me Levi yelling Hange's name or give me DEATH

can't wait for the next episode and the showdown!!!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Finally we arrived to my favorite part of this arc. Even though it doesn't have that much action as the other seasons, this is the part I love the most. Knowing how Eren got the Attack AND the Founding titans, Historia becoming the rightful queen of the walls, Levi's backstory, Kenny's dream and his friendship with Rod Reiss' brother, learning that there's a world outside of the walls by Keith Shadis; all of this until the fight against the collosal and armored titans back in Shignashina district and everybody discovering the sea.

Now I finally understand why Kenny killed so many MP officers. I used to believe he had done that for fun. Now I know he did that to protect his family. I really enjoyed the moments between him and his grandpa - it made me to feel how important the bloodline was for him.

I'm a bit disappointed that they made Frieda's titan hair black, I was hoping for it to be a lighter colour, and I preferred the lighter hair a bit more. But overall her titan form was pretty cool!

They left out the part where Kenny tells Rod he is looking for a bathroom because he has to go #2! ಠ_ಠ How could they skip that after they included the whole poop machine scene?! I also wasn’t sure how I felt about the girl being named Krista in the book being read to Historia. I thought that was supposed to be Ymir. Otherwise, the episode was superb.

Erwin is my husband and I love it when he goes into Commander Mode™. Also so not ready for more information about Levi’s childhood, and yet also I need to see Little Levi™ at the same time

FRIEDA WAS GREAT

Now that two big plot points are over (the overthrowing of the government and Grisha’s deed) and another one is under way, I can say this season is so underwhelming compared to the manga. There is no suspense, no feeling of satisfaction, no tension, because they cut too many parts in the beginning that hinted at future events (eren’s experiments for examples) and simplified characters’ moral struggles that i think are understandable only to us manga readers because “we know”. I think, for a story (the one of uprising) that relied on suspense so much, this lighting-fast, confusing pace just made every victory totally underwhelming. I’m left with a feeling of “oh...okay” and i am hating it because the Uprising Arc is my favorite manga Arc.

With this episode I'm back to being sad about how coldly Erwin is portrayed again, but I guess that is just the way it's going to be. I don't think anyone can be as successful of a leader as Erwin has been with such a cold and uncaring facade, so I'm just going to agree to disagree with Isayama and WIT how a character like Erwin should be portrayed. The only positive about the anime is how Erwin's developing depression is really hammered home in this and the previous episode. From the manga it was quite unclear to me how all that had happened, but now I can see the progression very clearly starting from Erwin's little talk with Zackley the Creepy Artist and continuing with Pixis' merciless opinion of Erwin and his gamble.

Yeah for all the flashbaCks! And omg Frieda!! I love her sooo much! I was looking forward to see her in this episode and I'm not disappointed at all! I just wanted to hug her and little Historia! ;-;

THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 5:

104th celebrating their freedom was dope

I really loved this episode because Erwin had his chance to shine for once. I especially loved the foreshadowing of what a huge mistake they might have just made with the coup d'état. And I loved seeing my second favourite commander, Nile, as well! He's been growing on me for a longer while now, but the anime is really reminding me how Nile has always been a sensible but kind person.

Episode was ok. The cinematography of the episode was rather lacking at points and without some of the conversations with Nile and Pixis, the confrontation is somewhat oversimplified.

The conversation between Erwin and Zackley broke my heart. Implying the two would have anything in common is outrageous, and Erwin's reaction to the comparison is the proof of it. Erwin was so human and vulnerable in that moment that I thought finally they did justice to his character.

EREN'S ABS WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO REPLACE ERWIN'S AND LEVI'S ABS!!! THAT'S THE WORST BETRAYAL EVER, WIT!!!!!

I like that there is more and more dialogue and information during the recent episodes!

i thought it was good. at the time i was sad the "do you remember your father's sin" reveal wasn't the cliffhanger but since it was the opening for this episode and it was amazing in my opinion i have no problems.

Eren is hot

Erwin=Daddy

That cliffhanger with Historia was great! I wonder if they'll be able to replicate the one in the manga where it looks like she's about to inject herself. It'll be disappointing if they don't.

The Hange monologue at the end, however, with Levi's input was really weird and it didn't make much sense to me how they could infer so many ""clues"" about the truth and the Reiss family from what Hange was telling. The same is true about Armin's sudden but oh so convenient musings about how Eren inherited his titan powers. It was clear foreshadowing, but really badly executed.

i was waiting for this question on ep 5 poll, thnks! Well my thought were "there's no way they'll animate the shit machine" and "I WANT MOAR LEVI"

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 468 Responses

We overlooked a platform this week, our apologies!

Oi where's the 4chan option

Thank you again to everyone who participated. We’ll see you back on Tuesday!

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s3 #poll results

20 notes · View notes

filmaltadefinizioneweb-blog · 6 years ago

Text

World Class Free Film School - Lesson 1 - Sign Zee Papers!

Welcome to World Class Free Film School!

In the following series of articles of we will impart the hard-won knowledge that we have gained as successful independent digital filmmakers. And (drumroll puh-leaze!) we will do this for FREE!

Now, why would we do such a thing for free? Well, because we're sweethearts. Because we love you and want you to succeed in this sometimes tricky and crazy thing called The Film Industry.

Now, there are many fine filmmaking schools in this big old world. Places where an aspiring director or producer can attend to learn many of the skills necessary to make a film.

There are also many excellent books out there that you can read that will give you all of the essentials to make a film. Unfortunately, for the poor huddled masses, these film schools and books will cost an initial investment of time and money. This amount you end up spending may be in the thousands of dollars. Now, there is nothing wrong with you spending money to educate you. Perhaps some film schools may actually help improve your chances of getting a job in the industry too, however...

Almost without exception, the graduates of these film schools will go on to find out that making their first few films as Directors will end up costing them several thousands of dollars more. They'll learn the hard way that precious few filmmakers ever see any kind of return on the money they've put up for funding their first few films.

That has been the reality of the situation for the independent filmmaker, up until now. There have been way too many stories told of those starry-eyed wannabe directors who begged, borrowed, or stole to produce their first few flops. At the end those sad stories, the tragedy is they never actually finished their first film. Maybe they never got started. Maybe they ran out of patience or time. Or maybe they ran over-budget, found themselves financially in the hole, bereft of family and friends for favors they could not repay. End result? Oh, I don't know, maybe you end up a bitter ex-filmmaker, working a crappy day job, nursing a sore ego while feeling like a huge failure after spending so much dang money on film school.

Are you ready for a paradigm shift? This is where World Class Free Film School is different! Here, you can learn all of the technical information for producing an independent film while NOT breaking the bank! In this free on-line film school, you will learn the basic principles of pre-production, production, and post. You will walk the path of a successful independent filmmaker and discover a self sustaining business model that I've followed from day one in the business.

You'll gain the perspective of the lessons that I've won and follow me step by step as I explain to you how I wrote, directed, and produced my first money-making film and went on using that as seed money to grow an income generating film library. You'll learn the tips and tricks of creating film revenue streams while satisfying that creative spirit which brought you to this page in the first place. These revenue streams will allow you build your filmmaking equipment arsenal, fund, produce and self-distribute more of the same revenue streams, and, yes, allow you the financial freedom to produce the occasional non-commercial short film, without giving a fig about where the funding will come from!

Interested? Good! Check back frequently! This is a work in progress, and it will evolve as we go happily skipping down the danger-strewn yellow brick road together in this crazy thing called show-biz. I'm looking forward to sharing and giving back some of the knowledge and experiences that have allowed me to proclaim myself a successful filmmaker. Yes indeed, sometimes I puff out my chest and shout my barbaric yawp; "I am a successful FILMMAKER, dammit!" I admit that I do get some funny looks sometimes too.

That being said, I honestly believe that at the end of this course, if you follow the tasty advice that I dish out for you, I have no doubt that you'll be able to shout the same barbaric yawp!

So, c'mon, jump in head first and follow me! You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. It's fun, it's entertaining, and you might learn something.

Best part is; it's all FREE!

Lesson 1 - Sign Zee Papers!

Ok, so you've decided that you want to make a film and you're not going let anything stop you. It's time to make like Nike, and just do it. You've got your crew all picked out and they said they would work for free (or almost free and a credit). They're all totally happy with the fact that you're making promises about what they can expect on the back-end profits. Everyone is confident that this film is a sure-fire win at Sundance, it's going to get picked up by a major distributor and everyone is going to get rich, right?

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!

One of the biggest downers in this crazy business (and don't kid yourself, it is a business), is that it can make ordinarily nice people turn into totally greedy, insufferably egotistical, and absolutely insane monsters. This is no joke.

I don't know what it is, but one day you're buddy-buddy with someone who came on to your project two months ago to help collaborate, everything is fine and dandy, you're cruising toward that Sundance Award, then the next day, BLAMMO! It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This previously "normal guy" has been replaced with an alien who grew out a pod last night while he was sleeping. Maybe you hired him to shoot some of your footage and he still has the tapes. He was supposed to start editing them, but now he says he wants a gazillion dollar advance, he wants 50% royalty on all sales, he wants complete creative control, and... Wait for it...he wants DIRECTOR credit on the film that was initially your idea two years ago.

OK, this is one of the most important tips that I am going to give you. Before you do anything else; get it in writing! Step one; when you finish the script, get it copyrighted. You can do this easily by logging on to copyright.gov, paying $35 bucks, and following their directions. Step two: when you bring someone on to your film to collaborate, use a contract! Spell everything out completely and make sure you don't give up certain things, like ownership. Make the terms as favorable for yourself as possible. Remember, it's your concept, your project, your business! As a business person, think of collaborators as employees. Employees whom you appreciate, take care of, and share with, but still; employees. To drive a film to completion, someone has to be the boss. If they want to be the boss, guess what? They can make their own frickin' movie! Even if they are working for free (or almost free), you need to be able to fire them if, say, they turn into pod-people. Don't be afraid to terminate someone if you need to.

Make the contracts as iron-clad as possible. Spell out what you are offering them and what rights you will retain. Personally, I would prefer to pay someone up front on a daily rate, rather than to have them work for free (or for some pie-in-the-sky by and by). It's much cleaner. Pie eating contests can get messy. Pay the cameraman a reasonable fee and have him give you the tapes immediately after each shoot, if you're doing the editing yourself. Or, if that's not feasible, go with him to his studio, wait while he captures the footage to hard-drive, then take the raw footage with you while he does the editing. When it comes down to it, he who has the raw footage in his possession, owns it. Doesn't matter if you paid him or not. He shot it and it belongs to him his until he hands it over. All this is a very good reason to learn how to do everything yourself, if you can.

It's hard to shoot, edit, and act in your own film all at the same time. You will probably need some kind of actors in your movie. This can be expensive unless you're shooting a documentary. That's why I like making docs. The talent tends to be free. Even then, you should still take care of the people who volunteer to be in your film. Feeding them is nice. Credits are a must. A complimentary copy of the film on DVD should be de rigueur. I like to give the folks in my documentaries the opportunity to buy extra DVDs from me, at production cost (50%) and let them hand-sell them for profit at the set retail price. It's actually a good self-marketing technique. You end up with a huge marketing team this way. They make 50% profit and you make 50%. But regardless of whether you decide to share the wealth, or not, be considerate!

One thing about getting people to work for free, please respect their time! If you say that a shoot will start at a certain time, be there. Nothing makes an unpaid volunteer more upset than taking time out of a valuable day and be left cooling their heels for a tardy director. If you're producing a narrative, you will need actors. Key words: be professional.

Try to keep it clean and simple. If you're able to, use SagIndie for talent. I know that it's not always feasible, but if you can, do it. It's only a hundred bucks a day and you will get quality performances. You can learn a lot working with professionals too. Maybe you won't need to do so many takes. And usually you will get better results than if you use your Aunt Mimi as the leading lady.

Either way, make sure you get talent and location owner's to sign a release form. Make sure that you make the release as broad as possible so that you don't get caught in a "aha, gotcha!" somewhere film alta definizione down that yellow brick road. No bigger buzz-kill than squabbling over something that is supposed to be fun. Remember, that is our definition of "success"? Having FUN? Well, follow the advice in this lesson and have everyone sign zee papers. Then have fun!

1 note · View note

cb01site-blog · 6 years ago

Text

World Class Free Film School - Lesson 1 - Sign Zee Papers!

Welcome to World Class Free Film School!

In the following series of articles of we will impart the hard-won knowledge that we have gained as successful independent digital filmmakers. And (drumroll puh-leaze!) we will do this for FREE!

Now, why would we do such a thing for free? Well, because we're sweethearts. Because we love you and want you to succeed in this sometimes tricky and crazy thing called The Film Industry.

Now, there are many fine filmmaking schools in this big old world. Places where an aspiring director or producer can attend to learn many of the skills necessary to make a film.

That being said, I honestly believe that at the end of this course, if you follow the tasty advice that I dish out for you, I have no doubt that you'll be able to shout the same barbaric yawp!

So, c'mon, jump in head first and follow me! You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. It's fun, it's entertaining, and you might learn something.

Best part is; it's all FREE!

Lesson 1 - Sign Zee Papers!

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!

Either way, make sure you get talent and location owner's to sign a release form. Make sure that you make the release as broad as possible so that you don't get caught in a "aha, gotcha!" somewhere down that yellow brick road. No bigger buzz-kill than squabbling over something cb 01 that is supposed to be fun. Remember, that is our definition of "success"? Having FUN? Well, follow the advice in this lesson and have everyone sign zee papers. Then have fun!

1 note · View note

concerningwolves · 7 years ago

Text

Art’s Rules for Character Building

Obviously when writing, there is a need for characters, and a subsequent need to know your characters. My writing has been incredibly character-driven in the past, and they’ve always been the source of most of my positive feedback. It’s time to branch out and work on other areas of my writing, but I figured that I would share with you the best selection of the nifty tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way. Here ar four:

Seasoning with details: it’s just like socializing with your co-workers!

Detail, detail, detail. I knew the things you needed to know, like how they would react in certain situations, their favourite foods, their morals and beliefs. But I also knew how they liked their tea, or their coffee; I knew how they sat, how they rested, slept, reclined; cat or dog person, or maybe a reptile; could they cook, did they love rubbish food, or all of the above? Half of the trivia I knew about them was irrelevant to the plot- probably more than half- but it gave me a clear sense of who I was going to be working with for three books.

After all, why do you need to know your co-workers? You’ve got to work with them. Your characters are your co-workers: the people who will be helping you (and sometimes hindering you) in getting stuff done. Without them, conflict is hard to build and conflict goes towards plot; nature needs someone to go against, those corrupt agents need some poor sod to catch, person A needs a good reason why person B is the love of their life.

If you know them well, the work will be smoother. Yeah, maybe you won’t need all of the information, but you never know. That isn’t to say spend all your time finding out what Hogwarts house they are in or figuring out their Starbucks order, but do understand them in the same way you would understand a friend, or even a close peer. You can use these facts and odd knowledges as the salt and pepper of your project- sparingly for flavour, that is. Too much of either can be overwhelming. Not enough (as I often find) is still tasty, but something is definitely missing.

If the devil is in the details, why is the devil there?

Little details are the key to characters. I’ve said that, but, the details need to have purpose.

Let’s take the classic trope of the bady guy cleaning his nails with a knife. Cool, huh? Eh. It gets boring. You have to wonder why he does that, surely it’s dangerous, it achieves nothing but showing how cool and intimidating he is. The character who will use anything to clean his nails because he is annoyed by all the dirt, and so takes a hairclip from a friend, on the other hand- that is interesting. That’s a little quirk. We can assume then that this character has vain traits, or that he likes to take pride in his appearance, or worries about how others will judge him. Take that detail, ask yourself why it is there, and incorporate it into the narrative flow so that your readers get the information about the character that they need, and keep being interested. Example:

Aaron flexed his fingers and pushed onto the balls of his feet, a tremor in his fingers building and building and, God, he had to stop clutching the napkin. His knuckles were white. That woman. Was she looking at him? He checked his hands, splayed them on the tabletop, made them flat. Neat, almost. His nails were filthy.

“Can I borrow that?” He pointed at the bobby pin in Samantha’s hair. She raised an eyebrow, but passed it to him anyway, holding the loose curl of hair just out of her face. They both smiled at the waiter as he passed, plastic smiles, Sam’s hand cupping her face in an over-casual way.

“Don’t bend it.” She said as he cleaned under his nails. “Not for nothing, anyway. They don’t care.”

“I care.” He had to fight to keep his voice small inside his throat.

We don’t know why he’s there, but we can guess it’s to meet someone. This is important to him, suddenly. It conveys anxiety. Is he anxious, does he need to be? Or is this vanity? Questions, questions... you need to get your readers asking them.

So, details pinned-

know where they came from, and where they’re going

This is a funny one, because generally a character doesn’t have their entire life crammed into a story. You get a nice chunk of events within their life, and the events are, assuming that character survives the plot, resolved within that chunk. They could wind up an architecht in London, drinking a dram of whisky every night before bed, twenty years after the curse is broken and the evil bloke dead- but your readers don’t know that. They might wonder about it, but they don’t need to have the answer.

That’s the readers though. You do. You absolutely, absolutely do. What are your character’s dreams? Do they achieve their dreams? Do their dreams change- when, why, how, who for? Do they regret it? You need to know how they grow in order to understand who they are when you put them through your book. Children? Career? Or are they unemployed, do they fall through the cracks? Does the storyline you put them through leave them traumatized (and I mean that in the literal sense, not a hyperbole. Never hyperbole.) and they are too proud, or too far gone, to find help? Or maybe they don’t have anyone to help. Why? Do they push people away?- oh, that’s good. They do? Great! You can use that!

You also need to know if they are resolute, or changeable. Does something happen to them in their story that changes their minds? Or, in the simplest form of this rule: knowing that your character is going to end up alright is a way of putting them through hell.

As for where they come from, that’s backstory. We all like a nice bit of backstory. Just, for the love of Lady Word, don’t give everyone a miserable childhood, two dead parents and a curse. As problematic as she can be, JK Rowling did this very well in the Harry Potter books. Ron has a great, ramshackle, sprawling family; Hermione has her muggle parents; Harry’s are dead; Luna has her dad; so on and on. It’s backstory, not sobstory.

Backstory doesn’t always define where a character is going- trauma is not a road map to be followed; a picket-fence family doesn’t secure a nice life- but sometimes it does, and you need to know the events that shaped their lives, personalities and dreams. Nature/nurture is something that springs to mind. Knowing the beginning and the end is how you give the character depth and dimension within their little stretch of stage time.

So, finally

variety is the spice of life, and there is such a thing as too spicy (at least in writing)

This last is a culmination of all of the above. Not everyone has to be wild, funny, quirky, neon, bursts of life on a dull day. Some characters can be mundane; actually, you need them to be. Partly to bring out the brighter characters through contrast, but also to stop your readers becoming de-sensitized to the overwhelming nature of too many vibrant people. In a population, everyone is different. People are quiet, people are loud, people like Queen and others like the latest pop. Some people don’t want to be the change they would like to see in the world. Some people just like pizza, netflix, and really hate change. I think TV soap operas do this very well, by presenting us with a cast of real characters that are true to real life, but still relatable, still easy to emotionally invest in. Not that your book should be a bad soap opera, but, siphon off the lessons you need from them and run with what it gives you. Have some characters to soothe the pallet, to make the story easy to swallow and, most of all, have their personalities work together. They don’t have to be friends- but if they hate eachother, why? What kind of personality or ethics or morals clash has caused it? You choose, but please, don’t make all of your characters the carbon copy of one another, based off of something just a touch mary-sue. This is why details are so important, because that is what sets them all apart. Happy writing!

#writeblr #Character Design #character development #writer #writing #world building #character building #writing advice #writer advice #writing help #writer help #writer blogging #oc

133 notes · View notes