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plasticfangtastic · 1 year ago

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Can we Be Lonely Together? Ch.9

A Homelander X Staker! Reader fanfic

this is also a Supe! reader fic, GN neutral but male leaning in all honesty. Prev. chapters in the #my fic tag and #can we be lonely together? tag on me blog. this is a slow burn fic

Author's Note: might not be able to post the next ch. 'til next wk due to work and a dire need to work in my main WIP (so behind my writing goals for this project) might log on tumblr on a computer for once to just put a link of the prev. eps for the final chapter.

R18+ slow burn, smut, urolognia mention, Rape mention, gore, cannibalism, child abuse, child death, long chapter.

Chapter 9

We don't forget

Whether it was your first, first in a long time or last time– the way you held a cigarette in your hand appeared fitting, there was an air of misplaced elegance to your mannerisms… in the way your smoke drew cryptic symbols in the air.

Watching your hand was a lot more hypnotic than Homelander anticipated, it was an easy distraction from that thousand yard stare in your eyes.

He had seen that look once before.

He could smell that memory vividly, it had perturbed him the most– even if it shamed him to admit. The name and appearance had faded but he still remembered the silence, and those eyes. Even as he ripped hands clean off the wrist, there was no whine, no cry-- just a huff. As if whatever being that once lived inside this person had already departed long before Homelander had decided to entertain himself for the evening with these unlucky sods who decided to rob a store that autumn now leaving an empty husk. Homelander astounded as he peeled him clean, removing the jaw after breaking it in a dozen pieces, but the man simply failed to respond, gargling, and gasping as his lungs flooded, dying seconds after.

Panting, finding the foreign blood bitter on his tongue.

His eyes watched Homelander much like yours did now, your mouth ajar awaiting to put the lit cigarette in your lips once more.

You had died a long time ago… way before you ever met.

Homelander was simply a new bullet in a once empty gun.

You had become a walking corpse the moment he brought you inside his penthouse, you just kept imitating the living, he wondered if he would be in this place watching your hand just to avoid your creepy emptiness had he listened and kept his hands to himself, if he had let you choke on your blood that night instead of pursuing merriment.

In all certainty he was unsure as to why he allowed you to continue your “disposing”, he even got inside your vehicle as you drove to this dilapidated warehouse space that once inside hosted a pop-up restaurant, finding your vehicle so cramped but no amount of sass and complaining got your attention.

He should’ve stayed inside the car letting this take place somewhere else but Homelander followed after you– not wanting you to run away (not that you could ever get further enough) but it was the sentiment that would offend.

Dolores had jumped and picked a knife instinctively at the sight of him but the mortal deity simply glared and bore his fangs, making the cannibal turn meek, she stared at her knife that might as well have been made of glass– completely useless against Homelander. She shook her head and dropped it.

As soon as you deliver the goods and sat on the silver counter top to watch her work it was back to business, unlike you Dolores did threw poorly concealed worried glances at his direction, her heart rate severely elevated and her bladder building pressure down her nether regions but she continued to work, fearing their guest but ultimately committed to meeting her deadline.

At the sight of you, she offered an untouched box of cigarettes plus a glass of milk to their executioner– simply mentioning that his breath had a rich aroma of 2% milk, in fact she could smell it simmering in his stomach juices from when he had pour more milk on his tea and in his digestive track.

He sat on the bench beside you crossing his ankles awkwardly holding his cape on one hand, watching you drift away, watching as the chef prepped, covering what once had been his teammate in softened butter for dry-aging, you pointing at things and analyzing her techniques, re-assuring her that the menu was perfect, as she prepared sauces.

He was surprised when the spoon came to his face, a rich yuzu heavy reduction, he could feel the tang on the back of his throat– that had managed to spark some color in your eyes, your skin had become duller by the minute, but as his lips wrapped around the spoon he was glad to see some color on your chest, so he played along there was no need to argue with nutters.

In all truth the magic had faded, you had once been so beautiful but now he no longer recognized you, without the carefully constructed facade and manufactured responses, this was the real you… the real you was ugly. The way your eyes sank and your lips didn’t bother to take shape as you slurred your words depressed Homelander, he looked back at the kitchen. This was after all a funeral service for a lover… it had cost him dearly, something that would make him lose sleep one lonely night in the future, perhaps. As he watched you become pure misery, he had nothing nice to say about his own… Homelander was anguish and loneliness incarnate… pitiable if you dare, on the other side there was your misery and sequestration… but he couldn’t feel genuine empathy… none that he could believe.

Now he understood the morbid reasoning behind your attraction, you saw somebody who could understand what it was like to be born alone, that's why you seeked him so desperately, why you had lied to the point you’ve become a parody of what Homelander had always seeked.

“How did you end up like this? You know why I’m like this… you saw the videos.”

You bounce awake to the sound of his calm cadance, this was the tone he used with the press so often, it was upsetting knowing it was used against you.

Snuff.

All you could compare those videos was snuff, at any corner you expected him to be raped just to put the cherry on this yucky sundae. Certainly in all your years of life you had encountered horrific memories, private horrors, all manner of depravities and awful thoughts from the ones holding the knife and their human pin-cushion, all manner of creative abuse had crossed your mind unwillingly.

But they were strangers, not the man who put his gloved hand on your thigh.

A man’s voice jabbering on a shitty mic.

A little boy no much older than six.

A pool of boiling water.

Emerging covered in blisters and blind but neither disfigured nor dead, he would come to heal fully after a couple weeks.

Another man’s voice on a shitty mic.

Little boy is now eleven.

Welded restraints holding him placed on a thick concrete slab, on the other end an unmanned vehicle holding two crash test dummies.

Same little boy covered in rich purples and three busted cars getting dragged off screen, each one increasing in size-- a rubble of metallic matryoshkas.

Little boy cried until his voice had all but gone leaving a pained squeak.

By all accounts it was a miracle this little boy had grown relatively well adjusted, the other boy took it like a champ when John no longer could, that hateful glare that fit so well below his brow took the 4x4 head on.

Your least favorite was the first big test… the lung test. Just how long could a four year old hold his breath underwater?

“I was six when my powers manifested. I learned my school principal had a weird hobby of putting cameras on the little girls restroom– but ‘cuz I was a kid screaming about voices in my head nobody cared, thinking I had schizophrenia until my parents remembered they’ve given me Compound V. None believed me… until I showed them, and then they got mad at me because he was a good man– a church going man! He worked in charities, parents and kids alike loved him– it had to belong to somebody else!! So his daughter smashed my head with a stapler and called me a liar.”

You smiled at him with a smile that only existed beneath your nose.

“My parents abandoned me for three weeks just to get a break, the cool powers that would make them thousands, reflected back at them and spat venom… no Vought trainer could figure out why I couldn’t control it. I lost like 10 kilos in those three weeks ‘cuz I was nine and didn’t know how to cook. If I didn’t peek into my neighbors mind I wouldn’t have figured out how to use a can opener– mind you they locked me in the basement with just some cans, water and a bucket. I swear I can still smell my fermented shit.”

He offered the sauce spoon at you, watching you fail to register the labor behind the homemade spicy sauce.

“My foster parents… well… I ran away for a reason. Then I met… Kent, he told me after he freed me from my confines “Either cry or learn to be apathetic to the world” So I learned to stop caring… learned to know that nobody in the world would get what it was like to understand God”

Homelander raised his brow retreating the spoon away from you.

“He must be overwhelmed… to hear everyone's prayers, never knowing silence since he made us… I would stay away from us too if I could”

“You think you’re God?”

You scuffed taking a long puff.

“No? But I guess I understand him.”

A deity, he was perfection incarnate but as he stood staring down on earth holding his breath while strolling on the moon watching the bleached cloth that once copied the flag on his cape, the world had looked so beautiful– his eyes stung thinking of crying without permission, scratching a thin layer of frost off his chin as he rubbed his eyes just to stop himself, to Homelander God stayed silent so he could watch his creation in awe. The people made it ugly, but he had to admit it was beautiful, as he got closer the sounds returned but you couldn’t escape into space for some peace and quiet, only learning to silence it all to sleep without ripping your hair from exhaustion.

If Homelander had your powers he would be God… there would’ve never been a doubt in the heart of this man-made lab tulpa.

“Not with your paranoia”

“Learn to mind your business, darlin’” He pointed at you, almost growling.

You scuffed, a muted chuckle from between your teeth, sliding out the counter burning your cigarette on your thigh, not flinching as it burned.

He watched you march outside knowing he could catch up to you in a few seconds.

“When you kill Y/N would you let me cook her? Y/N said that I could use them to make our favorite dishes… it would mean a lot to us if you enjoyed the meal.”

Dolores spoke as she moved to an elephant– hanging by a hook was a carcass its feet bound and pierced by garish chrome, split in halves, emptied of organs and its skin flamed to remove unwanted hairs, head and genitalia had long been removed, no much resembled humanity beside its general shape, she carved using a deboning knife to remove one of the arms swiftly off its socket, the skin squelched letting go with a sticky sound– he pictured you like that.

He had hanged you, piercing your talons with a hook and gutting you clean, watching as your face hid behind the spilling mass of your lower intestines.

He hurled into his mouth.

“You’re sick” red flared in his eyes– "I'll kill you too, once you’re done gentrifying cannibalism with the rest of the Sawyer family!”

“One last service it is.”

He took off trying to hide the weird embarrassment from his reference, he had no energy for quips or sardonic wit.

He found you leaning against a metal pillar, you didn’t turn just focusing in the mind of a passerby, and the homeless living beneath in the pipes

“Together we could’ve been God made whole.”

His hands unusually wrapped around your hips, his gloves falling around your ankles resting his cheek against yours.

You turned your head slightly taking a deep whiff of his cologne-- he could smash your spine perfectly clean in this position.

“I complimented you?”

“Your powers didn’t upset me. I would be creeped out at first… weary for a long time but eventually… it would be nothing but another part of you… like the color of your eyes… proof that you belonged to the better group.”

His jaw clenched caught in the what if’s, running after a picture of a stranger than wasn’t either of them, the first time he’d read “Love in the time of cholera” he hadn’t understood the lead, but as he grew older, the more that lover one could long for fifty years became less of a stupid fixation for somebody to have but something relatable. Those women had been Madelyn and Maeve, but then you came.

A hope.

Hope that he didn’t need to long for anymore, here it was… it was you who had longed for him all this time before you ever saw him, he told himself that as he remembered the way you cuddled him in your sleep, your grip squeezing him with all your strength– you had been a warm blanket during winter, Homelander rested to the sound of your breathing both had held each other so desperately, the way your eyes stared at him as he bit half moons into your skin and all he received was caresses and kisses as if he was the one hurt.

Turning around to rest your head on his shoulders, poking your cheek against the golden eagles, you spoke.

The sound of a fish tank filter inundated his apartment. Most of the house is dark, unnevely illuminated by different sized fish tanks. We stared at each other from opposite sides of his kitchen, he had a nervous look in his eyes, all of his bravado had washed away as he gulped, he looked pale and ready to hurl, he was ready to piss and shit himself as one of his many amateur films played on my phone.

“You help me, or that ends up on the front page of every fucking porn site you can imagine. I would spam the fuck out of it on twitter… heck I’ll make it look like you posted it too, Kevin.”

He looked at me with very big eyes and stuttering lips.

“I need you to go to the archives and get me photos of these boxes… open them and take photos of the contents too” I slid him a piece of paper– you got ‘til the morning to get these files, or I’ll destroy you.”

“I know I put a lot of pressure to you at work but we can work this out—

His mind was incoherent, at this level of nerves there really was no point in unscrambling his thoughts, but I was impressed nonetheless by his capacity to try to negotiate with this sinking ship.

“Listen, I like my job… I’m not doing this because I hate you– I’m doing this because I have the most shit on you, and you’re a member of The Seven meaning you have access to areas of the building I don’t. Nobody will think there’s anything weird if the head of Crime Analytics goes into the archives, either. I’m just threatening you ‘cuz you do overwork me, you owe me overtime and you can finally be useful at your job. So after this is done, I’ll delete all copies of the video and make sure my associates do so as well… it's not like you can kill me.”

He looked at the slip.

“What is it?”

He knew very well that you and I had something going on based on your past lil’ requests, Homelander. He was smart enough to know not to touch or it would be his head on a spike.

“This is in the lab's archive! They might think– he continued asking.

“Not my problem. Just don’t let Homelander get a whiff of this… or he’ll kill you too. Fuck he might flatten all of New York afterwards”

That got his attention real bad, his nerves scrambling his mind further; his mind might as well have been eggs in a microwave .

“Wait, what does Homelander have to do with this!?”

“The less you know the safer you are.”

He believed me, when it came to you he wouldn’t doubt it was dangerous for his health.

“How do I know you’ll delete the video… not going to ask how you got it… you hacked my phone, no?”

“Make sure to change your password on a regular basis.”

We didn’t make any eye contact as I left, I heard him scrunch up the piece of paper and then scream and trash his kitchen after I closed the door.

I left, you’ve returned to the tower suspecting nothing. You noted there was something keeping me quiet, and blamed it on well… dinner.

You did your best to get me talking that night, but I barely gave you attention, my mind and heart heavy, you thinking it was ‘cuz somehow I’ve figured out you been getting your dick wet with Firecracker pussy, which was true but unrelated at the time– while you been bumping uglies with your new fangirl did peeved me, I wasn’t concerned. She was just another looney looking for good PR and cheap ways for advancing her career, she was pretty, energetic, had a great personality and great tits so obviously the heads at Vought and the public would think you two would look cute… compared to me… but she wouldn’t handle you. Sure right now you were sweet, but you had vices and soon she would’ve stopped being enthusiastic about your fetishes… I knew for a fact she would never tolerate your piss kink… that unexplained excitement that degrading without violence gifted you, I knew she wouldn’t return your wet play with frothing quivering delight– would you clean her afterwards, either? As you filled her asshole and forced her to hold it inside while you wanked and glazed her hole.

I knew she would not take kindly to your paintings sessions either, her reaction would be insincere she had no capacity to smile for you when you’re pinching so hard it almost tears the skin just stopping short of drawing blood looking back to make sure she wouldn’t hate you, she wouldn’t pull your hair and demand your kisses, would she? Would she’ve asked you to continue with your olive clouds?

Maybe Firecracker would enjoy your oral fixations ‘cuz who doesn’t enjoy orgasming seven to ten times in an hour as you slurped on her juices greedily as if it was god’s own ambrosia, who wouldn't like feeling their brain shut down from ecstasy so good it tote the line into agony, who wouldn’t love kissing until jaws grew sore, would she find herself coveting your spit? or your loving demands to have her suck at your tongue?

But she wouldn’t last, it would never be love… for I knew you.

So eventually it would end.

And you wouldn’t want it to end.

For her skin wasn’t made of tissue paper.

She wasn’t lying to you about being a super. I was. So I deserved it, for lying… apparently.

Firecracker would run in her mind but you put your chains on her.

I wasn’t all that narcissistic to think I was that special to you… but it stung… it stung regardless.

But I am patient if anything, and unlike her I was here making you dinner and helping your son with his Homework, I was here under the blankets watching you read while I was on my phone reading your reviews– you could be so witty, you had over 2 thousand followers and so many reviews to keep me occupied.

That next day I met with Kevin, the office was empty and my excuse was that I had work piled up.

“What did you ask me to get you!?”

It caught my surprise to see a small jar placed on my desk, it was labeled carefully with a bunch of numbers, and inside its cylinder was the remnants of a hand.

I picked it up, opening my laptop to match the numbers to my files.

“That’s a kid's hand!”

“I can see that… that’s the hand of a three year old Jane Doe. Look Deep… if you had any shred of human decency left in you, I could trust you with that information but you're a coward. Not to mention that I don’t want to let Homelander kill you, not because I care but I feel like I should be the one to kill you… now give me the rest okay! And pay me my fucking overtime.”

He slid me a go pro and a phone, I showed him the file being deleted and me severing the backdoor connection I had with his phone.

“I might need you to go back and get me some of those documents.”

“You said–

“What? Do you think I only had one video of your romantic escapades?”

He had nothing to say, just a squeaky fist in return.

“I’m going to be in trouble aren’t I? Regardless of what you said I will get it up my ass at the end.”

“If I was you I would memorize the evacuation plan for the Tower, and avoid leaving via helicopter. If it's any consolation it would be me who dies first altho… do you think of yourself as a hero? Like do you ever feel like doing the right thing for once in your life?”

I don't know what possessed me but I had a lightbulb moment.

“I am a superhero.”

He was genuinely insulted.

“Then mister superhero… there's something else you can help me with…”

I made sure to have a perfect excuse, you were in the honeymoon stage of your affair so it wasn’t too difficult for you to ignore the red flags. If anything I gave you a free pass for the day.

The Deep was surprisingly a good driver, he also had the manners to stay quiet and simply follow the map without small talk, any attempt to do so barely got a response from me and at least the music helped with the awkward tension, at this point I figured soon I couldn't bullshit much further.

So yes… I told him before I told you.

“This is ‘Sage Grove Centre’…? Why are we in a loony bin? What does that have to do with the dead bodies!?”

He was hungry for information, so I spilled the beans… It felt good letting it out.

“... about fifteen years ago… Homelander surprised everybody by proving that he wasn’t completely infertile… and ever since Vought has kept an eye on all of his laids… they had wanted to recreate him for years as you know Homelander is… a loose cannon. So their attention turned to his offspring, and out of the eight kids he has made only one of them is alive… Ryan Butcher. That hand belonged to Eun-Ji K. who a month after her birth went missing alongside her mother, Eun-Ji was a natural born supe… but unlike her dad, she didn’t have completely impenetrable skin… Do you want me to spare you the details of how she lost that hand?”

He thought of the box, of the small sample vials and jars, of the gruesome photos of small corpses, he had puked almost immediately.

“Then there was Simon P. who survived testing ‘til the age of three… Aaliyah T. who survived ‘til ten. Robert and Roberta C. who survive to the ages of four and three respectively and Miguel S. who survived ‘til the age of five. Miguel was alive two years ago… they kept some of them in similar sound stages… his eldest weren’t so fortunate, but unlike Ryan’s mother… The other moms were more than happy to begin testing the moment their kids showed signs of having powers or weren't around to complain, so they did the same experiments.”

I looked at him, placing my hand on his shoulder.

“Now as I dug around to find more about his dead family and his history… I noticed something interesting… Homelander has health insurance– makes sense you have to have mandatory health insurance for certain jobs… so it didn’t bother me, until I read into his policies and I wondered: Why does a man with a perfect 20/20 vision pay for extras such as optical? not to mention dental… he does get his teeth whiten often but… when did he ever get a wisdom tooth removed?”

Kevin’s eyebrows touched clearly intrigued.

“So I keep digging… and a lot of those glasses went to a patient in this facility… a fifty-four year old Jane Doe… she had been taken into Sage Grove thirty-nine years ago with a diagnosis of PTSD, and severe panic disorder. They noted the patient had suffered past psychotic episodes where they had harmed themselves and others for she had no tongue… They suspected she was a drug addict which would explain her wounds and disorders, but more suspiciously somebody had paid for her to stay there… and still do… for the last twenty-one years Homelander has been unaware he’s been paying for this Jane Done. I suspect that this Jane Doe is Ms. Gillman… his mother.”

I looked at my phone showing The Deep a picture of your mother, it was still grainy but there it was a young girl barely into puberty that once had been a prospective gymnast from a shitty family.

“I’m so fucking dead.” he said.

Homelander unwrapped his arm, his gaze staring at nothing spitting short lived puff, gasping just to shake off the matching twist in his stomach and throat.

The city had become so lively, it was electrifying, an abuse of all his senses, turning once more to face you, a red glow coming from half-shut eyes as he shook them off fighting the urge to finish you once and for all, your face should had been nothing but heated mince on the pavements the moment you handed Firecracker to your accomplice.

Comfort.

He yearned for comfort so your hands made sure to hold him even if he tried to push you.

The city was so lively, it drowned him.

Your love was unwanted but he couldn't shake you off, the world had ceased to make sense.

One could only compartmentalize so much.

“Can you erase my memories?” He asked softly, his voice not a decibel over a murmur– all of it…?”

Homelander cupped your cheek, his mouth humored a smile but it was forced, desperate to provide the illusion that he wasn’t crumbling inside, He chuffed trembling as you both looked at each other, your hand held his straight.

“I don’t want to know anymore… I don’t want to know… I want to pretend the last three days have been a bad dream. We can stay the way we always were. Sure I’ll be confused about Firecracker– but who cares!? There’s a hundred other broads that can take her spot…”

He brushed your hair off your face while his felt apart around his temples, his whole body shuddering.

“It could kill me and not work… but it could hurt you… hurt you a lot.”

“Try… I… I want everything to be the same as it was three days ago… my love… I can’t.”

“Mi sol.”

#homelander #homelander fanfic #homelander x you #homelander x reader #the boys fanfic #personal #my fic tag #can we be lonely together?#I'm ESL so sorry 'bout grammar.#endign slowly approaching #hope yall like it #dark fic

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buttterknifeee · 3 years ago

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Final Exam- Teen Titans x Aquagirl! Reader

Masterlist

Request: Helloooooo! I have an Episode request “Final exam” (Season 1 ep 3) with Aquagirl!reader please and thank you very much!

Summary: It's a good thing you have junior life guard training as you face a new force of evil. Will you and your teammates defeat these foes or will you drown in the pressure?

Pairings: Robin x Reader (nothing serious, just some blushing lol)

Word count: 3192

A/N: hey!!! sorry this took a while I was just doing other things lul. Reminder that I'm now on AO3 (username is butterknifee) and that requests are always open! Hope you enjoy!!!

It was an uneventful day in the tower. Cyborg and Beast Boy were rummaging around the living room looking for the TV remote, Raven was reading silently and you were practicing your water skills, balancing an orb of water in mid air.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Cyborg says, rummaging through the whole room. He lifts up the whole couch as Beast Boy sniffs around in dog form.

“How could you lose the remote?” Cyborg glares at Beast Boy.

“What makes you so sure I lost it?” Beast Boy asks, turning back into a human.

“Uh...'cause you're you.”

“Hey! Just because I lost that video game--”

“--And the toothpaste, and my football, and the waffle iron--”

“Things disappear. How am I supposed to know where they go?”

You continued to focus on your bubble, but couldn’t help but notice Raven lowering her book. You peeked over to see her annoyed expression, obviously caused by the two boys.

Cyborg huffs. “Well how am I supposed to watch TV without a remote?” Suddenly, Raven slammed her book, breaking you out of your focus and causing the water you were balancing to drop into a puddle. You stared wide-eyed at Raven as she stood up.

“Simple. You can just get up and change the channel.” she says with a stone cold expression.

“Don’t even joke like that.” Cyborg says. You hover your hands over the puddle, trying to pick it up with your hydrokinesis.

“Do you think you guys could argue in like, the bathroom or something? Cause-” you start, but Raven interrupts you.

“I wasn’t joking”

“Good, 'cause it wasn't funny!” Cyborg says. “Now either help us look for the remote or go back to your nasty old book and--”

“This is a pointless argument over a useless device.” she snaps, her face red from frustration.

“You know what, I'm just gonna get a mop or something,” you mumble. You consider actually getting up to get a mop as they continue to argue.

Robin and Starfire walks in to the three teens arguing and you sitting to the side. You make a pained expression at the two, your way of saying go back, before it's too late.

But Robin steps towards the bickering Titans. “Whoa! Take it easy, Titans! Combat practice is this afternoon!”

“We must mend your dispute by the sharing of unhealthy junk foods. I shall fetch them.” Starfire adds, happily flying towards the kitchen.

Cyborg continues to argue. “I don't need food, what I need is a time machine, I didn't--”

Beast Boy cuts him off. “Back me up here, Robin!! Have I ever lost any--?”

“Ok, ok!” Robin puts up his hands to stop them.

“To stop him from taking the REMOTE!!!” Cyborg yells.

“Hey! Come on!! Settle down! ENOUGH!!!” Robin starts yelling too. You start to cover your ears when a loud noise causes all of you to look up. You see Starfire staring wide-eyed at the fridge, her hands glowing green. Blue mold had exploded from her starbolt, causing it to land all over the kitchen. You made a mental note to start cleaning the kitchen more often.

“Maybe we should go out for pizza,” Robin decides.

The arguing does not stop at the pizza place.

“Can we please just order something?” Raven groans.

“As long as its vegetarian.” Beast Boy says.

“Come on, man, how can you deny me the all-meat experience?” Cyborg whines.

“Dude, I've been most of those animals!”

“Just no anchovies for me,” You say.

“I suggest a large pizza with pickles, bananas, and mint frosting.” Starfire says with a smile. You shudder at the thought of eating something like that. Robin leans over.

“Uh, Starfire? Not everything on the menu is a pizza topping.” She blushes at her mistake, Beast Boy and Cyborg going at each other again.

“Double pepperoni!!”

“I'm not eating meat!!”

“There's no meat in pepperoni!!”

The sound of a vehicle horn finally ended their argument. You all look up to see a bus barreling straight towards a baby carriage, a baby screaming from inside.

“Titans go!” Robin yells. You, Cyborg and Raven ran to stop the bus while Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy ran to save the baby carriage. You summon a jet of water from a fire hydrant and shoot it at the bus, slowing it down. Cyborg planted himself in front of the bus, his bulky arms holding it back. Raven uses her magic, pulling the gearshift inside the bus to “park”. When the bus finally skidded to a stop, you three looked inside. No one was there.

“Um… don’t buses normally have drivers?” Cyborg asks.

“And don’t carriages normally have babies?” Robin says nearby. He, Starfire, and Beast Boy were staring at a teddy bear that was inside the carriage. A voice suddenly projected from the stuffed animal.

“Are you pit-sniffers normally this stupid?”

Suddenly, the teddy bear shot lasers out of its eyes, sending the three teens flying into an alleyway. You turned to see the bus next to you be lifted up by a large, hairy man in black and yellow. He smiled and threw the bus on top from the three of you, trapping you under it. You grunt as the weight of the bus begins to press down on your chest. You hear a voice from outside the bus.

“That was too easy. What a buncha cludge-heads. You guys want to get pizza?” The voice matched the one from the teddy bear. You gritted your teeth as you heard Cyborg’s sonic cannon warm up.

“This isn't over!” you hear Robin yells. Cyborg blasts his cannon, sending the bus in the air. You got up with the other two titans.

“We’re just getting started!” Cyborg yells.

“Who are these guys?” Beast Boy asks, stuck in a trash can. “And what’s a cludge-head?”

“We are the HIVE!” the villain who called you ‘cludge-heads’ said. He was a short kid, wearing a green jumpsuit and goggles. He basically looked like an evil Caillou.

“Your worst nightmare!” said the guy who crushed you with a bus. You noticed that he had a large amount of hair on his whole body.

“And this is attack pattern Alpha!” said the last villain, a goth looking girl with pink, hornlike hair. They jumped out of their poses, and towards you. The small guy in green flew forward in a jetpack, shooting lasers at Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy. The lasers hit the alleyway around them, causing a pile of rubble to fall on them.

Cyborg immediately started brawling with the large guy, Raven and the pink-haired girl attacking each other with their magic, and the smaller kid flying around your head. You tried to shoot him down with your blasts of water, but he wove through your shots. He then flew towards Cyborg, holding something metal.

“Cyborg watch out!” you scream, but it was too late. The green kid attached the metal object to Cyborg's back, and at that moment you realized it was a rocket. Starfire recovered from being crushed by rubble just to see him flying through the air.

"Cyborg!" She yelled, flying after him and out of sight. The two leaving so abruptly caught you off guard, so off guard that you didn't notice the burly guy sneaking up behind you. You turned just as he went to kick you, kicking your stomach and causing you to go flying. You hold your stomach in pain and try to run back towards him, but Raven being thrown towards you sends you crashing back towards the ground. You groan in pain as you hear Robin and Beast Boy meet a similar fate. You see them laying next to you.

"Is it just me or are we getting our butts kicked?" Beast Boy asked, the rest of you standing up.

"It's just you," the three of you say at the same time.

"Listen up team, I have a plan," Robin begins, but is cut off by 3 blasts from the short boy's jetpack. Those 3 blasts ended up hitting you, Beast Boy and Raven. You landed behind the Boy Wonder, leaving him to face the HIVE alone.

“Gee, scrum-buffer.” the jetpack boy jeered, lowering himself to the ground. “Sure hope your fancy plan includes getting fried!”

“You’ll just have to find out the hard way.” you hear him say. You watch him stand in a fighting position, beckoning them to fight. However instead of fighting, the three villains stood with a smile on their face. Then, one by one, they hit the ground between them and Robin. You were confused at first, but then realized in horror that they had created a crack in the asphalt, it getting bigger with each hit. The crack traveled up towards Robin and the area around him crumbled. A look of fear set in his face as he fell with the asphalt into the ground.

“Robin!” you yelled, running up towards the hole with Beast Boy and Raven. Through the crumbling hole you saw a stream of dark, murky sewer water. Water, you realized. You turned to the other two Titans.

“There’s water down there. I’ll go get Robin, you two go back to the Tower.” Before they could reply, you dove into the hole, landing into the water.

“Aquagirl!” Beast Boy yelled, but you were gone.

The cold water shocked your body, but you forced yourself to shake it off. You floated on the surface of the water, looking for any signs of Robin. When you didn’t see anyone, you dove back underwater and took a deep breath (yes, you can breathe underwater). You shoot through the water, swimming as fast as you can. Up ahead, you saw blurs of red, yellow, and green. It was Robin. You swam up to him and grabbed onto his unconscious body. Then with all your strength, you pulled him out of the water and onto the concrete surface of the sewer.

You laid Robin on his back and started to inspect him. You check for his heart rate by pressing two fingers against the area under his jaw. It was beating, but very slowly. You placed your hands on his chest and started pumping. After 30 seconds, nothing was happening. Tilting his head back, you pinched his nose and took a deep breath. You gave mouth to mouth once, then twice, then-

Robin’s eyes opened while you were giving the third. He jerked his head up and crashed his forehead into yours.

“Owwww” you whine, rubbing your hand on your forehead. Robin backed up from you, holding his lips.

“Hey! why did you-” He was about to finish his sentence but started coughing up water. You roll your eyes.

“Woah, calm down Robin, I’m not trying to make a move on you. The only move I made was saving you from drowning.”

“Oh- I’m sorry,” he says, his masked eyes staring at you apologetically.

You waved your hand. “Don’t worry about it, you had a pretty bad fall.”

“What happened to the others? Where are they? Where are we?” He asked, frantically reaching for his T-communicator, only to realize that his whole belt was missing.

“Oh man, your belt must’ve fallen off when you fell. Last time I checked, Raven and Beast Boy were injured, but fine. We’re currently in a sewer, I’m not sure if Starfire and Cyborg are ok, but maybe we can check.” you pulled out your own T-communicator and flipped it open. Water gushed out and formed a puddle under your hand. You both stared at it as you flipped the communicator closed and slid it back into your belt.

“We need to get back to the others, before the HIVE strikes again,” Robin says, standing up. He doubles over, falling to his knees, clutching his abdomen.

“You’re hurt. You need to rest before we find the other Titans,” you say, sitting next to him. “Here, I can help.” You beckon him to let go of his chest and you sit down with you, which he reluctantly does. You summon a bubble of the murky water and allow it to soak into his shirt. You concentrated, and the water began to glow blue.

“Hmmm… I only feel a rib fracture… this may take a while…” you mutter, hovering your hands over his chest. You were focusing so much on healing Robin’s wound, you didn’t notice the frown on his face, more stern than usual.

“Something on your mind, Robin?” you asked, looking up from your work. He furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the ground.

“It’s just that…” he began. “I really thought that I could take on the HIVE, you know? But they took me out so easily; they took all of us out so easily. How am I supposed to be a leader if I get hurt so easily, if I let all my teammates get hurt-” his rant is cut off by your finger being shoved in front of his mouth. You both stare at each other in awkward silence.

“When I was a kid, I knew all about you and your adventures,” you began, staring at the stream of water flowing next to you. “You were the boy wonder. The Hero of Gotham. The Sidekick. But now look at you; you’re the leader of a whole team of superheroes, who trust you and are here for you, Robin. We know the dangers, and hey, if I would be a superhero on any team, I’m glad I’m on yours.”

He gave you a small smile. “Thank you Aquagirl,” he said.

You nodded and smiled back. “Anytime, Robin.” You looked at his chest again. “How do you feel?”

“I feel great, both inside and out.” he said, standing up with ease. “I think it's time to find the other titans.”

“Great idea, and I know just how to get out of here.” You stretch out your arm and the ground starts to rumble. A giant geyser shoots up from the stream and punches a hole in the roof of the sewer, allowing the setting sun to peek through. You grabbed Robin’s waist and jumped into the water, another smaller geyser pushing you up and out of the sewer.

“Ugh, gross! I’m definitely taking a shower after this,” you say, looking back at the sewer you jumped out of.

“Ok, let’s go find the others,” Robin says, heading in the direction of the Tower, which was peaking out in the distance. “And, I think it’s time to come up with a plan.”

You finally get closer to the Tower when you notice something.

“Ummm Robin?” you say. “Doesn’t the tower usually look like a T?” You both stare at the tower, its original shape now being built upon to look like a ‘H’. The HIVE… you thought. You and Robin eventually find the rest of your friends, who were all arguing on the beach. You were about to announce your presence but Robin stopped you, putting his arm in front of you.

“We need to control our emotions,” you hear Raven say.

“Or What?!” Cyborg yells. “Our bad vibes will keep you from meditating??”

“I wish Robin were here..” Starfire mumbles. You see the slightest tinge of pink dust across Robin’s cheeks.

“Well he’s NOT! And neither is Aquagirl!” Cyborg continues to yell. “Don't you guys get it?! They won, we lost! IT'S OVER!!”

Beast Boy looked at him. “Then are the Teen Titan’s finished?” Robin looks at you and nods, you nod back. The two of you step forwards.

“We’re not,” Robin says. The other four Titans turn in shock to see you and Robin, both seemingly fine, standing before them.

“Not if I can help it,” he said, arms crossed.

“Told’ya I’d get him back.” you said. “Now who wants to hear our plan?”

You waited on the roof as Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire infiltrated the Tower. You sat on a ledge of the (hideous) HIVE add-ons, swinging your legs as Robin stood next to you, staring out into the distance.

“You ready, bird boy?” you ask, raising an eyebrow.

He smirked. “With you here, I’m more than ready.” He jumped down from the ledge, leaving you flustered above him.

Suddenly, The three villains come tumbling onto the roof and crash into each other, much more uncoordinated than they had seemed earlier today. The belt the pink haired girl had most likely stolen from Robin’s wardrobe goes flying, and Robin catches it midair.

“Sorry to interrupt your victory celebration,” Robin says, clicking his belt back on around his waist. “But like I said, this isn’t over.” The five of you join him, looming above the HIVE.

“It’s just getting started,” Cyborg said.

The trio of villains quickly recovered.

“Attack pattern alpha!” The pink haired girl yelled, sending waves of magic in your direction. You all jumped out of the way, splitting up.

You saw the large guy swing at Beast Boy, so you rushed in to help him. You summoned a long tendril of water from the ocean and used it like a third arm, with whipping the villain in the face. He turns towards you and grabs your wrist, but with a swift kick in the stomach he goes flying across the roof. You see Raven approach him, so you go to assist in taking down the other two.

Soon, the HIVE laid defeated at your feet. The smaller boy was holding a transmitter device.

"Cram it. I'm calling Slade." He groaned. Slade? You thought. Robin lifted the boy by his green jumpsuit.

"Who is Slade?" Robin asked quite aggressively. The boy scoffed.

"Wouldn't you like to know barf-brain?"

After you dealt with the villains, you finally came in the Tower after a long day. You flopped on the couch as the other Titans inspected the damage the HIVE had caused in the tower, which apparently, wasn't much. Beast Boy crouched at his music collection, head in his hands.

"My tunes! They've been… alphabetized!" He whined. "How am I ever going to find anything?"

Raven came out of her room holding one of her cloaks. "They went into my room. No one should ever go into my room," she said coldly.

"Someone has disposed of all of our blue furry food!" Starfire gasped. Cyborg lifted the whole couch like he did earlier today.

"You gotta be kidding me! The whole place gets cleaned and I still can't find the-" his rant is stopped by Robin, who points at the coffee table. There, the remote lay in plain sight.

"Ha!" He cheered, flopping down on the couch next to you and flipping through channels.

"Maybe we should let the HIVE take over the tower every once in a while, I think this place needed a good clean," you joke, still strewn across the couch.

"I guess we really oughta be training for battles, tracking down clues, and trying to figure out who Slade is, huh?" Cyborg said, looking at Robin.

"We will. But right now, I'm just happy to be part of the team." He looks at you while saying that and you smile.

"Me too"

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steve0discusses · 3 years ago

Text

Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#Yugioh #Yu-Gi-Oh #yami yugi #S5 #Ep20 #It's actually Ep 20 now I was wrong last time #Yugi muto #Grandpa Muto #Alexander the Great #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #TeaxYugi #never thought I would ever use that tag #in this show where they are canonically dating but sometimes it happens #Puzzles and Dragons #Because yes I had to talk about it. This collab is great

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asthmark · 4 years ago

Text

❝ comfortable ❞ l.mk

synopsis → “oh, i’m mark. mark lee.” he gives her a lop-sided grin, reminding you of a high school boy. the kind you would have a crush on.

word count → 3k

a/n → instead of admitting to the fact that this has been in my drafts since october what if i just said i was watching superm interviews and got inspired.. would anyone believe that??? anyway superm on the ellen show was a fever dream lol

your leg bounces nervously as your makeup artist touches up your look and you stare at the tv screen in anticipation. you were finally making your television debut. you knew you were blessed for the wonderful opportunity, especially for how new you were to the music industry.

you had started like nearly every other artist; posting covers on youtube. these were well received and gained a good amount of views and likes but your career really took off when you began creating original content. every time you would release a single, it would make it on the trending page thanks to your growing fanbase and exposure to the general public, who seemed to like you. soon enough, requests to interview you whether it be on radio, tv, or magazines were high and, thanks to your managers, you found yourself in los angeles, backstage in a studio, waiting for the ellen degeneres to introduce you to her live audience and thousands of viewers at home.

“don’t move so much, miss l/n,” the woman trying to apply your highlighter comments. “you’re smudging your makeup.”

you force yourself to sit still as you apologize. “sorry. pre-show jitters.”

the woman smiles, emphatically. “i understand, sweetheart. i would be nervous too.”

you’re quiet for a moment, debating if you should continue conversing with her. “can i be honest?”

she hums as she dabs a beauty blender into your cheek. “go ahead.”

“i am so nervous that i’ll mess up or say something stupid. the only thing close to an interview i’ve ever done was a q&a on my youtube channel. and at least i could edit stuff out then.” you huff. “if i make some kind of mistake on my tv debut, my career will be over before it even started.”

“well, think of it this way,” she says. “you went from a moderately popular youtube channel to the ellen show. that doesn’t happen for no reason. there are people out there who really admire you.”

you chuckle in disbelief. “it’s crazy to think about people actually wanting to see me. i still can't believe it.”

she giggles, softly. “they know there's something worth seeing.” at seeing your small smile, almost as if you were barely realizing your own star status, she laughs. “you seriously gotta wake up, girl. you’re famous!”

you smile at her, finding humor in her words. “thanks for the wake up call.”

you both direct your attention to the tv placed backstage that broadcasted what was happening on stage. you listen in to ellen’s monologue as she tells jokes and addresses current topics. before long, there’s a knock on the doorframe. you half expect a staff member to let you know that you’ll be on soon but instead you hear a quiet, “hello?”

you and your makeup artist both turn to the boy standing in the doorway. he's wearing a black jacket paired with dark, ripped jeans held up by a belt. he goes to bow, then remembers that korean etiquette does not apply and decides to wave as a greeting instead. you reciprocate the gesture. he stands with only one foot inside the room, almost as if he’s too polite to enter without being given the okay.

“did they send you to get your makeup done?” the woman who had done yours says.

he nods. “they said something about concealer and bb cream, i think?”

she smiles. “yeah, it’s basic stuff. come on in. what’s your name, dear?”

“oh, i’m mark. mark lee.” he gives her a lop-sided grin, reminding you of a high school boy. the kind you would have a crush on.

“well, mark lee, i’m lily. i’ll be doing your makeup, making sure you look pretty for the cameras.” she motions to you. “i'm just about done here so i’ll be right with you.”

“okay, thank you.” he shuffles in, his eyes glued to you and you hold his stare. he nods, a wordless greeting as he settles in next to you. in return, you throw up a peace sign and he smiles at your casual behavior.

“you know what? somebody used all the setting spray. i’ll be right back, i’m just going to steal some from my co-workers.” with that, lily darts out of the room.

it’s pure silence between the two of you until you spark conversation. “i didn't get to introduce myself but i'm y/n.”

“i know,” he responds, quickly. “i'm kind of a fan, actually. i mean, it’s practically impossible to not be. you’re all over the place. especially with the new single you dropped... which is a bop, by the way.”

you smile at his simply-worded praise. it was a nice switch up from the professional reviews you received from critics. “that’s so cute. i’m honored.” you miss the way mark’s ears turn slightly pink at your words. “but enough about me, what do you do, mark?”

“oh, me? i’m in the k-pop scene.”

you hum. “that’s a good genre to be in. which group?”

“right now i’m promoting with superm, it’s kind of like a side project. but originally, i’m in a band called nct.”

you lean forward at hearing the familiar name. “nct? as in, nct 127?”

mark’s eyes light up. “yeah! you know us?”

you nod, enthusiastically. “oh my god, yes! you collabed with ava, right?”

“we sure did. are you guys close?”

“i help her write lyrics sometimes.” you lower your voice down to a whisper for dramatic effect. “i wrote the chorus to ‘sweet but psycho’.”

the way mark’s jaw drops is almost comedic. “no way! that song got her famous, dude!” his lips curve into a playful smirk. “just because of that i’m gonna have to get you in the studio.”

you return the mischievous look. “is that a promise?”

“i’m back!” lily announces, giving mark no time to respond. she gives no warning as she spritzs you with the bottle she had gone to retrieve.

you cough, choking on the mist. “no heads up?”

“sorry, dear. you’re on in two minutes, no time to waste.”

you feel a chill go up your spine. it was finally time.

mark nudges your arm. “you okay?”

“a little nervous.” that proves to be the biggest understatement of all time because in reality your heart is doing somersaults.

“hey.” you stare at him, his brown eyes boring into you. “you’ll be fine. there’s nothing to worry about. you got this!”

you smile at his words of encouragement. he cared about you and you find that your heart is pounding for an entirely different reason now.

“i'll be here to cheer you on while you’re out there and i’ll be back when you’re done to tell you how amazing you did, okay?”

you nod.

“now get out there!”

“well, we have a great show for y’all today,” ellen says, clasping her hands together, having just finished her monologue. “i mean, it’s always great but the exciting thing is we have two musical guests today.”

the audience that cheered wildly is shown on screen. you almost forget about the knot in your stomach when you see some people in the crowd wearing shirts with the cover art and quoted lyrics of your last single.

“i see you guys are ready so, without further ado... let’s get started. our first guest is a soloist who has made quite a big name for herself in such a short period of time. she currently has three singles on the billboard charts, her most recent music video is number one trending on youtube, and she has a new ep coming out soon. here for her television debut, please welcome y/n l/n.”

you walk out from behind the stage, a huge smile on your face. the crowd screams and you wave to them until your hands become too occupied hugging the hostess who greets you with open arms and a proud smile. once the hype dies down and your entrance music fades out, you take a seat, opposite of ellen.

“how have you been y/n?”

“amazing,” you respond, letting your hands fall neatly in your lap.

“and why is that?”

you sigh, wistfully. “everything has been going so well for me lately. i mean, i feel like all these doors are opening up for me all of a sudden. i think i finally made it.”

“you’re just barely realizing that?” ellen exclaims.

you laugh, along with the audience. “kind of, yeah. it just all happened so fast.”

“is there an experience that comes to mind where you finally realized how famous you are?”

you try to think for a few moments before your eyes light up. “okay so, i was at a mcdonald’s like, last month and i went through the drive thru and ordered some nuggets and fries. so, i pull up to the window to pay and it’s around 2 a.m. so the cashier guy is super out of it, like he’s not even paying attention to me. finally, he goes to grab my card and he gets a good look at me and just freezes. like, full on shuts down. so i ask him if he’s okay and he nods so i try to hand him my card again but he goes, ‘no, you’re famous, you don’t have to pay’. and in that moment i just knew.”

“hold on, pause,” ellen announces, dramatically. “you’re telling me that you have been nominated as artist of the year, gained over ten million followers on social media and made your national television debut but the thing that really made you say ‘wow, i’m famous’ was a couple of chicken nuggets?”

“ellen, c’mon,” you begin, seriously. “it was a twenty piece.”

“oh, well, that changes everything,” she says, playing along with you, as the audience erupts into laughter.

the rest of the interview goes smoothly, running on jokes and sarcastic energy. you discuss your young age (thus resulting in some of your baby pictures finally being revealed to the world), millennial culture (the crowd went wild when you explained terms such as netflix and chill to ellen who claimed she didn’t understand yet her sly smirk said otherwise) and your upcoming ep (that you would be giving a sneak peek of later on in the show).

you continue chatting once the commercial break is announced and ellen showers you with praises, commenting how young talent never failed to amaze her, although it did make her feel old. you get to thank the hostess and tell her how much you appreciated her sweet words and the opportunity she had given you before the crew is dragging you backstage so you can prep for your upcoming performance.

you’re greeted by a “that was awesome!” and a high five one you get backstage.

you flash mark a full smile. “couldn’t have done it without my hype man.”

just then lily walks in to touch up your makeup.

“and my hype woman!”

she just rolls her eyes and chuckles as she reapplies gloss to your lips.

“seriously though, y/n. why did you have to be so perfect? the bar is all the way up here now.” to emphasize his point, mark raises his arm as high as it will go.

“hey, i only tried hard because you’re up next. you’re a hard act to beat, mark lee. i mean, you’re charismatic, charming, witty; basically every talk show host’s dream.”

he scoffs yet you see how he avoids your gaze, your compliments obviously flattering him to the extreme.

a staff member walks by, cutting your conversation short. “y/n, you’re back on in one. superm is on right after.”

you and mark turn back to each other, speaking the same two words at the same time.

“good luck.”

ellen introduces you again, only this time you hold a guitar and stand in front of a microphone once you’re back on the stage. you perform a never before heard song but judging by the roaring applause and standing ovation you receive by the end of it, it’s another successful hit.

you bask in the amazing response and then you’re ushered backstage for the last time. you catch sight of the staff placing more seats on the stage as you exit and you smile eagerly, knowing exactly what’s to come. you search the hallways for your new friend, hoping you can catch him before the show goes back on air. you’re almost about to give up when you hear your name being called.

you lock eyes with mark who stands a couple feet away, barely hidden from the audience’s view. even from where you stand you can tell he has a nervous smile on his face. you jog towards him and to your surprise, he envelops your figure without a second thought. in return, you tentatively wrap your arms around him.

“great job,” he murmurs, breath fanning your ear. “i really did cheer you on.”

“i’ll make sure to do the same.” you hesitantly pull away from his embrace, holding him at an arm’s length away. “go get ‘em.”

he gives you a determined nod and you watch him rush on stage, the audience’s wild cheering increasing. their energy didn’t fade once throughout the interview and just as you had suspected, mark was doing wonderfully. he clearly thrived in interviews; his awkward, boyish nature enchanting everyone in the studio, yourself included.

ellen crosses her legs and clears her throat. “so, i have to ask you something, you know, for the fans.”

the group leaned forward in anticipation, awaiting her next words.

“are any of you dating?”

the crowd released noises of amusement at hearing the very personal question. you can’t help but feel intrigued although you knew ellen has always been quite the invasive person. you watched as the seven boys looked around at each other, unsure what to say but before their silence can become suspiciously long, mark ends up taking the question.

“why are you always so curious about this, though?” he blurts.

the audience absolutely eats up his response, cheering at his bluntness. even you find it humorous, shoulders shaking with a chuckle. that’s definitely gonna become a meme, you think.

“it’s my job!” counters ellen. “why are you so defensive?”

the crowd is very responsive to ellen’s rebuttal, ‘ooh’ing in amusement.

mark’s silence only pushes the hostess to continue teasing him.

“does it maybe have anything to do with y/n?”

your smile drops. had she seen you two? you’re not sure why you feel so exposed; after all, you had just been talking.

ellen’s lips adorn a sly smile at mark’s stunned reaction. “you seemed to be getting very comfortable with each other backstage.”

the black haired male stumbles over his words before he gets a semi-coherent sentence out. “we just, um—we just met.”

“oh really? you two looked like you had known each other forever.”

mark chuckles breathlessly, eyes glued to his lap, obviously at a loss for words. ellen stares at him expectantly so he mutters, “i like making friends.”

ellen, the audience, and even some of the band members laugh at his response.

“well, i’m sure there’s a lot of fans out there that wish they were your ‘friend’.” her tone makes it clear she doesn’t buy his excuse but she prods him no further, instead turning to stare into the main camera. “when we get back superm will be performing their title track ‘jopping’. during the commercial break, please feel free to place your bets as to how long mark and y/n will remain ‘friends’.”

the camera pans to mark for a couple seconds; his ears are bright red and his cheeks are dusted light pink, his makeup doing nothing to help hide the blush. his eyes dart around, anxiously and then they cut to commercials.

you shake your head, smiling at the entire situation and just how big of a dork mark was.

you attentively watch superm’s two performances, eyes mostly glued to a certain rapper. you sit patiently in the makeup room, waiting for mark to return backstage so you can congratulate him but he never appears. you try to conceal your disappointment, even when lily enters the room, smiling brightly.

“well, the show’s over, doll.” she removes her makeup stained apron and glances at you as she places it on a nearby rack. “hey, why the long face?”

you stare at your reflection in the mirror, no longer bothering to hide your pout now that your frustration had been made known.

“you did great, if that’s what you’re worried about. just ask mark.”

“he left,” you mumble. “i thought i’d be able to catch him before he left and we could… i don’t know, talk a bit more? i just really—” you trail off.

“like him?” lily suggests, too loudly for your liking.

your head snaps towards her, eyes wide, only confirming your feelings.

“don’t worry, dear, you can say it. i won’t tell ellen,” she jokes.

you sigh and slump down in your seat. “yeah. i like him.”

“well, then, i have good news for you.”

you half-heartedly hum, allowing her to continue.

she waves a piece of crumpled paper in front of your face. you grab it from her, staring at it curiously.

“what’s this?”

she nods her head at it, encouraging you to find out for yourself. “open it and see.”

you obey, unfolding the tiny item. your eyes struggle to read the words inside but if you squint, they become clearer.

please call, me i would love to become closer ‘friends’.

(xxx) xxx-xxxx

it’s mark btw :)

you can’t contain your smile at the cute little note.

“he’s adorable,” you say, mostly to yourself but lily audibly agrees.

“he ran into me as he was leaving and begged me to deliver that message to you. which reminds me, i’m supposed to let you know that he wishes he could have stuck around but his schedule is ‘crazy tight’ so he had to ‘dip’. his words not mine.”

you nod, grin widening. “thanks, lily.”

“my pleasure. nothing like young love.”

you give her a glare although it’s all but threatening.

she folds her arms, teasingly. “so, are you going to give him a call or what?”

you’re sure she sees the phone in your hand and the way your fingers press the numbers on the keypad, excitedly but nevertheless, you decide to answer.

“i’d be crazy not to.”

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millers-planet · 4 years ago

Text

Makeshift pt 2 - Poe Dameron x F!Reader

Storyline: Parties with a dozen is sometimes less preferable than “parties” with two (set in between ep vii and iv)

Warnings: 2k words of smut, oral (both receiving), teasing, a lil bit of ass slapping, and like an ounce of face-fucking undertones, kind of pet names?????

Pairing: Poe Dameron x F!RebelPilot!Reader (no pronoun usage)

POV: Reader

part one

We all new this new base on Yavin 4 wouldn’t last long, which is why Poe told me to keep our stuff in boxes rather than unpack. Our multi-room living space was now demoted (like Poe’s rank) to a smaller, tent-like space, which was now just a few drawers and a bed. I was content with this, because the only think I needed in a room was Poe.

“Knock knock,” Poe’s fingers glided across the fabric, “or, I guess tap tap?” He made me giggle, grabbing my hips and turning me around to kiss him. I could feel his antsy hands slowly moving lower, “we never finished what we started on the ship back there, on our little makeshift date.”

I pushed his hands up more, onto my hips versus my ass. “These are not walls, Poe, this is fabric. While I am always down to try new things,” he smirked at me, “this is not one of them. We have been interrupted so much lately and I don’t want to risk anything.”

He broke eye contact and I saw his face go from ‘how do I find a place to fuck my girlfriend without people finding out?’ to: ‘I know a place where I can fuck my girlfriend without anyone finding out. “I got something figured out, trust me, you might hate it or you might love it, no in between.” He planted a small kiss to my forehead and walked away, “meet me back here at sunset.”

I’ve been with Poe long enough to decipher whatever his plan or idea is, before he can even get the words out. I know what each eyebrow wiggle of his means, but for some reason, I have no clue what he’s getting me into today. What is he going to do?

I waited on the Millennium Falcon for some time, just playing Dejarik with C3PO, beating the droid every once in awhile “Hey!” I looked up and my face dropped, “I told you to meet me back at the tent at sunset what happened?”

“Oh, Poe, I’m so sorry, I lost track of time playing this game with 3PO. I probably ruined whatever you had in mind, I’m sorry.” I put my face in my hands, utterly disappointed in myself for being so careless. He asked me to do one thing, how incompetent could I possibly be?

Poe crouched down to my height and pulled my face away from my hands, “Y/N, this is where I was gonna bring you anyway. I spent the rest of the day catching up with the General to see if we were making any battle plans, or if the Falcon is in use, which it isn’t...” his voice dragged on, prolonging eye contact with me in the seductive manner.

The dots finally connected in my mind and my mouth dropped, “you want to?” He nodded. “In here?” He nodded again. I looked behind me, seeing if 3PO was still there, Poe probably shewed him out while I wasn’t looking. “What if Rey wants to go check on something... or someone wants to use the ship?”

“Rey is training nonstop, Finn has been making some time for Rose, and Chewy has nothing to do,” Poe began rubbing his thumb on my palm, making eye contact again. “This is a fool-proof plan, you know I can be smart when I choose to be.”

I leaned in, inches from his face, “and it isn’t very often.” I closed the gap and kissed him gently, one of his rough hands grazing the back of my soft neck, sending chills down my spine. “If you think we’ll be fine, then sure, Poe.”

“Yes?” He asked.

“Yes.”

The biggest fucking smirk spread across his face, putting his lips to mine and standing up. He grabbed my hips and hoisted me around his waist, my legs wrapping around him, my arms going around his neck. He carried me to what seemed like a backroom, almost a medical room, on the Falcon, closing the door behind us. Gently he sat me down on the edge of the bed, getting back down on his knees, in between my legs. I knew exactly where this was going, the anticipation growing in me, making heat swell in the middle of my thighs.

With his mouth never leaving mine, the soft kisses never getting rough, just quicker, he untucked my shirt. Placing his warm hands and fingers on my torso, thumbs rubbing my waistline in between my pants. I gave him the ‘go ahead’ by solely pulling out my excess belt strap, leaving him to do the rest. Slowly, just enough to tease, he used two hands to undo my belt, fingertips always grazing my skin whenever possible. Poe undid the button to pants, placing his four finger on both of his hands in the waist of my pants, before I stopped him.

I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back, “don’t you think the places should be reversed, I mean, we are still celebrating that dreadnaught victory, right?”

He smiled, “it was your victory just as much as it was mine.” Poe put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back, my elbows on the bed and back just hardly touching the wall. He pulled off my pants and threw them across the room, making me laugh just a tiny bit. To build me up more, he planted kisses from the middle of my inner thigh, up to the center of my body, skipping over it, and going down my thigh. I whined quietly at the missed spot, making him look up to me and wink.

His mouth made contact with my clit, kissing it and sucking on it. He put his hands on either side of my thighs, gripping them and pushing them apart just a little bit more. Poe’s tongue lapped circled on my nub, flicking it every few seconds, making my breath catch in my throat each time. Poe had a rhythm, just one I hadn’t caught onto yet, which was good. This meant that I never knew what was gonna come next, making it remind me of our first time over and over again.

Caught in the flashback, I didn’t even notice his finger teasing my entrance before it was put inside of me. I gasped at the sensation and arched my back slightly, I could feel Poe’s smile grow. His tongue slowly added more pressure with each thrust and curl of his middle finger inside of me. The calloused finger just glided across my sweet spot, causing me to muffle a cry, “right there, oh my god, right there.”

“What do we say?” Poe stopped every movement, pulling his mouth off of me and freezing his finger knuckle-deep in me.

“Damnit, Poe,” I whined, bucking my hips slightly at the lost contact.

He tapped my ass, making me wince, not in pain, just from being caught off-guard. “What happened to manners, Y/N?”

I sucked in a breath of air, “please, Poe.” With that, he began again. His lips returned to my hot nerves and pulled his finger out, glazing over the sweet-spot once more. I dropped my head and gripped my shirt, overwhelmed by the amount of pleasure he was giving me. Just as I thought this, he put his index finger in with the next pump and curl of his middle. I melted like putty, my elbows dropped out on me, making me now flat on the bed with my ass almost entirely hanging off.

“That’s my girl,” his breath was cold, if anything, compared to my hot core. The small exhale from his nose caught me off, making my thigh twitch. With each thrust of finger and suck of his mouth, I became even more wound up. His tongue paused for a microsecond, just as he put my leg over his shoulder, opposite of the hand that inside of me. “C’mon, baby, cum for me.” His fingers pumped faster, the curls dragging out more, and the circles matching the same rhythm and intensity.

“Poe,” I cried out, my back arching and abdomen felt like it was twisting up, about to burst. His free hand slapped my ass and grabbed it, making me stifle a cry and bite my lip. My thighs shake as everything began to unwind. My walls tightened around his fingers and he slowed down his movement, helping me ride out my wave of pleasure.

As I caught my breath, Poe stood up, making the tent in his pants very obvious. I sat up and took his finger in my mouth as he placed them in there, making me cleaning them up and taste myself. He pulled his fingers out, a small pop filling the empty yet heavy air as the pressure broke. His lips met mine, the kiss was slow and meaningful, I stood up and put him where I was without breaking it.

Only when I sat down did I finally break it, getting down on my knees and undoing his pants the same way he did mine, but slower, payback for what he did to me a few minutes ago. When I finally undid the zipper and button, he lifted his hips up a little bit to help me slid his pants and underwear down, his erection springing up.

Precum came out from the top, taking my thumb I spread it around before placing him into my mouth, slowly taking him in to give jaw time to adjust. I couldn’t the entirety of him me, because if I did, I’d probably choke. Poe gathered most of my hair into one of his hands and place it on the back of my head, just a few strands hanging out. His hand wasn’t forceful, just resting there, as is face was pointed towards me, watching me try to take him all in.

I lifted my head up a little bit, going up and down, slowly adding speed. I placed one hand on his thighs and the other at the end of his length where I couldn’t get in, pumping it with the speed of my mouth. As I moved my tongue around slightly in my mouth, low grunts came from the bottom of his throat, his fingers flinching as I went on, eventual moans coming out of him, “Y/N, fuck. Yeah, use your pretty little mouth just like that.”

I could tell he sensed that I was about to do the same thing as he did to me, but before I could lift my face up, he pushed me back down, which was sudden and nearly made me choke... though this isn’t the first time. As Poe got closer, he began to buck his hips and thrust into me, basically fucking my face, which I was fine with. I bobbed my head to match with his speed and gripped him just a little bit tighter until his hand instinctively forced me down to take the full length of him in.

My nose touched his abdomen as his hand wouldn’t let up, him spewing his load into the back of my throat, forcing me to swallow so I wouldn’t choke. Tears went down my face as he finally let me back up, making me cough and wipe my mouth. Poe stood up and pulled up his pants, but didn’t buckle them or anything. He pulled me up and kissed me, passionately, the kiss deep and long. I pushed him back down onto the bed playfully and laid down next to him, pressing my bare ass against his pants. “I love you,” I said softly.

“I love you, too.” He cleared his throat and rubbed circles into my shoulder, “y’know no one has said anything to us yet, so.. if you want we could...” Before he could finished his sentence, I straddled him, looking at him down. “Yes?” He asked, the same tone from earlier.

“Yes.”

“Yes,” he flipped his over, putting me beneath him and making me laugh at the sudden change in places.

tags: @blondekel77 @mysticdeerpolice @gabile18

join the tag list!

#poe dameron #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron x y/n #poe dameron smut #poe damn son #star wars #star wars smut #star wars x reader #star wars rise of skywalker

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scandeniall · 4 years ago

Text

not afraid to fall

pairing: akaashi x reader

summary/warnings: akaashi reveals that hes fallen for you in a music video. Based off this song/ implied anxiety attack, profanity

wc: 2.4k

The persistent buzzing of your phone is enough to jolt you from your sleep and you regret forgetting to shut it off for the night. Finally, a day off and a plan to sleep in ruined by a spam of notifications. You could hardly get a break from the buzz as you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes.

Your eyes narrowed at the unusual amount of texts from your friends, as you scrolled without really reading. Your friend’s group chat had been going crazy; however, you were also met with a hoard of individual ones. You were met with confusion as you just eyed the messages from the preview screen.

“DID YOU SEE IT”

“WHAT THE FUCK (Y/N)”

“TWITTER IS EATING THIS UP RN”

“LMFAO HIS STANS ARE GONNA COME FOR YOUR NECK NOW”

Were among several key smashes and demands to text back. Finally, you were met with some sort of answer. A simple “Look at Rising Springs new music video.” It did not offer much clarity because as far as you knew the band who you worked for as a photographer weren’t set to release a music video anytime soon. You would’ve been at the shoot getting behind the scenes pictures. Or, one of them would have told you. It’s not like Bokuto could keep anything a secret anyways. Kuroo, would’ve been the one to make sure you had the dates in your calendar. And then there was Akaashi. He definitely would’ve told you.

Your question marks were instantaneously met with a link. Clicking it, you noticed the unfamiliar song and continued watching. The second you got to the chorus you saw what everyone had been talking about and your jaw dropped. The lead actress in the music video looked almost identical to you. You had to rewind the video to even catch the lyrics.

‘On the edge of something real I have a choice, but I don’t know what to feel Before I choose, lemme know that you’ll be here’

“How’s it looking,” a calm voice from over your shoulder took you out of the trance you’d been in staring at your computer screen. You’d been editing one of the boy’s photoshoot, making their ideas for their EP cover come to life.

“Hey Keiji,” you murmured slightly, moving your head so that he could see the screen. “Tsukki’s height makes coloring a pain in the ass. Even the white balance hates him.”

“I’ll tell him to shrink a little for you.” Akaashi opts for turning your swivel chair so now you are facing him.

“Why are you still here anyways. The suns down,” you question looking up. Your hands reach for his swinging them between you.

“We were writing and recording a few demos today. Saw you on my way out for the night.” You’re currently in one of the lounge rooms at the record label to get your work done. A relatively plain room save for an overpriced couch, vending machine, and circular table with swivel chairs.

“You should go home then. I know how tired you get after demo days.”

Akaashi responds to your slight squeeze of his hand with one of his own, before nodding. “Do you need anything before I go?” This time he helps to pull you up so that the two of you were closer in height, hands not letting go of yours.

“What could I possibly need when I have the best vending machine in the world,” you shoot a glance at the machine behind you and Akaashi’s breaks into a soft smile at the joke. Everyone knows that vending machine sucks. It has the worst snacks and is known to even steal your money. A raise of his eyebrow causes you to reassure him that you’re fine. “It’s alright, I promise. Now you get home and get some sleep, you guys have an interview tomorrow.”

You don’t miss the way his eyes glance at your lips as you return the look, but neither of you take any action. His eyes are swimming in thought; however, he pulls his hands away from yours just nodding. “You’ll be there, tomorrow right?” Your nod is met with an awkward pat on the shoulder before the musician heads out, closing the door behind him.

“What is wrong with me.” Akaashi mumbles face palming as he exits down the long hallway. — Your breath gets caught in your throat the way Akaashi grabs the lookalike’s hands the way you usually do. To anyone just watching a video it may have seemed like a sweet action, but it was one you always tended to do when talking to him. You even noticed the gentle squeezing of hands back and forth. As the chorus approaches youre mesmerized at the way the camera zooms into his eyes before panning out to the entire band, singing, and playing in the rain. It’s accompanied by flashbacks which you recognize as memories between the two of you. This particular memory shows him being comforted, with a simple touch on his shoulder. However, you know that the real moment was much more than anyone else would ever know.

‘Cause I’m not afraid to fall If you’re the one who catches me Tell that you’ll be there when I’m bout to lose it all You’re the one who helps me see that sometimes it’s ok to fall’

“Look at me,” your stern voice follows the way you firmly cup Akaashi’s cheeks. His eyes remain closed as you attempt to coax him out of the hole, he’s thought himself into. “Hey-hey, it’s ok. You’re gonna do fine.” You ignore the concerned glances of his bandmates and the rushing of people all around you guys backstage. You quickly go over several options in your head, before quickly taking the camera strap off your body and mindlessly handing it to the closest person to you.

You carefully move your hand down to his, before leaning up to his ear. “Hey Keiji, I’m going to take your guitar for a moment, and then we’re going to get out of here for a moment.” You feel his shaky hands let go of the instrument as you pass it off to Bokuto, who you share a silent conversation with. Your nod, and quiet promise to bring him back is all you say before intertwining your fingers with one of Akaashi’s. You ignore the sweaty skin as you gently tug him along and into an empty hallway. The entire way there you could feel the sluggishness in his steps and your look back at him reveals the glassiness in his eyes

Your hands cup his cheeks again as he wordlessly leans against the wall. The clamminess of his skin does nothing to gross you out. “Keiji, what’s wrong,” You’ve got 20 minutes until he has to go on stage, and you work to keep your voice calming and leveled, instead of giving in to the slight panic beginning to rise. Your attempt to speak again, is stopped when one of his hands’ clasps around your wrist, with him leaning into the touch.

“You know you can tell me right.” His nod has you reiterating as the two of you ease down to sit on the floor.

One of his hands begins to fidget with your fingers as the other goes to run a shaky hand through his hair. You say nothing from your spot in front of him and the two of you sit in silence for a moment. “I’m going to fuck up tonight and let everyone down,” is what he manages to get out in between heavy breaths. The slight calm you’d managed to elicit was threatened again and you shifted so that you were on your knees, placing your hands on his shoulders.

“No-no-no Keiji, you’re going to be amazing, ok. Your fans are so excited to see you tonight. They’re here for you, and to see you absolutely kill it on stage tonight. Like you do every night. God, you’re so talented and the whole world knows it.” You weren’t even intentionally meant to just cheer him up, as you just spoke honestly. You’d noticed it hours ago, how on edge he’d been, and it was understandable. The venue they’re playing tonight is huge, the largest they’d ever done. And to add salt to the wound, tonight was a concert meant to be recorded for a tour DVD. While the other boys turned their nervous energy into excitement, Akaashi took the opposite route.

You watched as he clenched his way as you continued comforting words, rubbing your thumb into his shoulders. “I’ll be right there too. I’ll either be backstage or in the front row Keiji. Right there taking pictures of you being you and living your dream with your best friends. If you get lost, I’ll be right there ok?”

Once you got a nod, your hand moved towards his hair, massaging his scalp. The two of you stayed like that for minutes, until you heard the man across from you take a deep breath. “Alright. I think I’m good now.”

“You sure?” your eyes searched his for a certainty that you didn’t find. He wasn’t 100%, but he knew it was nearing time and he had a job to do. He could only nod as he began to stand, taking your hand to help you up as well.

“I’m here for you always. You don’t have to take things on by yourself ok?” Akaashi nodded and found himself leaning in. You found yourself following suit your lips so close to touching for the first time.

“(Y/N), is Akaashi ok and is-” the two of you quickly pulled away, dropping your hands as Kuroo’s voice carried through the hallway. He merely wiggled his eyebrows at you before waving your camera at you. “It’s about time. Bo has your guitar.”

—

‘When I’m far away from where you are, it’s ok, cause we’re under the same stars I’m laying down this heavy load, maybe now I can finally let this go I can finally let you know’

You watch as the second verse has the two talking on the phone. A nighttime shot that really brings out the blue in his eyes as he looks up at the sky. Akaashi marvels at the night sky. It’s the first time in what feels like forever that he’d gotten to see a sky full of stars. It’s beautiful but he can’t help but feel a tug in his heart. Someone was missing and that person was you. It’s a little over a month post tour, and he hadn’t seen you but once.

In between you, working on smaller projects with other artists to you then going out of town, and him resting and writing, there just wasn’t time. He’d gone from seeing you pretty much every day for months straight to nothing and it felt weird. You were always a sucker for a good night sky, and he didn’t even notice the way his hand reached for his phone, and how he dialed your number without a second thought. “Hey.” he wasn’t even sure what he really wanted, but he couldn’t help the slightest smile at your enthusiastic greeting. Of course, you didn’t care that he didn’t really want anything.

“The sky’s really pretty,” he heard your questioning really and shuffling until you let out a whistle from the other end of the line.

“You’re right. It’s beautiful.”

The two of you settled into a comfortable silence reveling in the same sky despite being apart. That was until you both went to speak at the same time

“How’ve you been-” “Can I tell you something”

You felt yourself laugh as you insisted, he went first. “I was just curious about how you’ve been so you can talk.” Your words caused Akaashi’s heart to race a little. He’d already started so there was no going back now.

“I like you. Like like you. A lot.”

—-

That confession had been a month ago. You’d admitted to having feelings for him, however that’s as far as it got. The promise of a date fell victim to life and in fact due to both of your careers you hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk much again. Only spur of the moment texts, whenever either of you thought of the other but nothing else.

A part of you blames life, the other part knows it’s due to Akaashi. His fear of falling, despite the way it had been happening for the past two and a half years you’d worked with the band. So, the song, the video and the very ending of the song completely blindsided you. The ending lyrics were merely a scan of a Polaroid. It had been after the last show of their tour and Bokuto wanted you to pinky promise everyone that you’d be their tour photographer forever. This picture had him, Kuroo and Tsukkishima standing around you, adrenaline pumping and happy smiles. With you and Akaashi in the center as he was the last one you linked pinkies with. The picture only showed the back of your head, but you remember and cherished the memory. You didn’t even know the picture existed until now.

After the video ended you found yourself immediately dialing Akaashi’s number. He picked up on the first ring. “Hey-” your voice came out surprisingly breathless.

“Hey,” You could feel your heart beating faster as you were at a loss for words. Thankfully, Akaashi was the one to speak up first. “So, did you see the video?” You nodded before realizing he couldn’t hear you.

“Yeah, stupid text messages woke me up from my sleep to check it out,” you heard Akaashi’s chuckle over the phone. “You didn’t have to do that you know. A simple date would’ve sufficed.”

“I know, but I wanted to. Plus, when I told Bokuto about even the idea he forced me to go through with it. I was serious when I said I liked you.” You hummed in acknowledgement stating that it sounded like Bo and that you knew already.

“It just sucks because of life you know. We confessed over the phone for starters and then never even went on a date.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I’m outside your apartment then.” At that sentence you quickly hung up and rushed to your front door, not even minding the way you looked. Once you opened the door you were met with the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen and, bag whose contents smelled closely resembled your favorite cafe.

“Wait, hot long were you out here?” Your sentence never got answered as lips pressed immediately to yours. The first kiss of many.

a/n: i wrote this same night as my 1K+ osamu piece and im finishing it here at 4am and i have an interview tmw but i had this idea and i NEEDED to get it out at the sake of my sanity so yes im sry if this is me being delirious writing

#hq x reader #haikyuu x reader #akaashi x reader #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu imagines #akaashi imagine

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okietrish · 5 years ago

Text

Darling. Chapter 1.

This is chapter one of a fic I’ve been messing around with lately. I’m obsessed with it already and have many MANY ideas and theories in mind for how this could go. I’m proud of this. Please enjoy and LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

I love you all, thank you for you kindness and support.

Please enjoy.

____________________________________________________________________

Your morning started out with the usual blasting alarm sending you quickly into the normal routine. You know the drill, it begins with an exasperated groan, then you get up and get dressed, makeup, hair, the usual “simplistic but kinda trying” look. After you’re finished, undoubtedly rushing after procrastinating on the internet for far too long, you get picked up and head to your interview of the day to talk about your new single and what you have in store. The fact that this is normal now, mind boggling, but normal... Extremely new, but this is what your life has become. Writing music, playing music, talking about music, and you get paid to do it! The thought alone brings butterflies into your stomach. This is all you’ve wanted for so long.

The drive to the radio studio was simple, an iced coffee was placed in your hands to perk you up; the sheer excitement coursing through your veins was enough for you to get going, but turning down a coffee is sacrilegious, so you accepted the caffeine kick with a smile. You were giddy, to put simply, there’s no other way to describe it.

Being guided through places like this, a very professional environment in the center of the music world, was always fascinating. The walls were lined with pictures of rock legend after rock legend, you couldn’t help but gawk as you walked by. The people you idolized staring down at you judging as to why you’re walking the same walls as they once did, intimidating. They most likely have sat where you are about to sit. Your ass will be where many rock god’s asses have sat before. Giggling aloud at the thought caused a few people in front of you to turn around with a questioning look. You shrugged it off and continued to appreciate the intimidating place around you, trying to forget how crazy you seemed for giggling at the walls...

The room you were placed in was set up with two large desks pressed against each other creating a giant table in the middle of the room. Chairs were littered among the many sides, microphones stretched out like tree limbs, one landing right in front of the seat you were instructed to sit in. The large, two monitor computer faced away from you. The walls were lined with sound buffering fixtures and small trinkets and decorations. You only felt at home in this room. An apparent ease washed over the room as James, the man who was interviewing you, walked in and greeted you and the room of people.

James, a kind man much older than yourself, most likely in his mid 60’s, was a rock fanatic who was well listened to across the country. A man well respected all around; his opinion was impressionable. Without any hesitation James eased right into the interview by welcoming the listeners and introducing you with passion and a shocking amount of energy for 8am.

“Good morning Los Angeles! You’re listening to 98.5; a rock station for old ears.Today we have an up and coming artist, one of my personal favorites in the scene right now. She has a single out now called “Exposition of a Lonely Man,” which we will listen to in a little bit. It’s a psychedelic vibe, sounds as if Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks had a love child and it produced a song. This is the wonderful and very talented Y/N Y/L/N. Good morning Y/N, how are you feeling today?”

“Morning James! I’m feeling wonderful, you’re throwing me some very kind compliments plus I’ve got a coffee, so I can’t complain much.” You couldn’t help but smile at the realization of what’s going on. As you leaned into the microphone more you discovered the faint smell of lavender filling the room, it was naturally calming.

“Coffee is the key to my heart! Now Y/N you’re fairly new in the public eye, so let’s get some background info. You have a sound to your voice that is, well, seemingly archaic these days, and yet you’re only 20 years old, what influenced that?” James looked at you kindly, evident in how much he loved his job and took pride in his skills. His smile brought a sincerity to the conversation, like you were talking to an old friend, confiding in a loved one.

“Being completely honest, and I’m slightly ashamed to say it, I grew up listening to bubble gum, pop 40’s junk...” James’ jaw physically dropped in shock.

“What?! How does that make any sense?” He laughed as he spoke. Conversation was seemingly effortless for him. You noticed he picked a good career.

“I know, I know. And I loved it too...” You laughed along. “I can pinpoint the exact time where my love for ‘good’ music blossomed. I was 12, in the car with my dad when he finally got fed up with my pop B.S. He demanded to have the aux cord. I complained, but quickly shut up when he played this long, chaotic song that I was having a hard time keeping up with. I remember thinking ‘how does he know all of these words?! This is insane!’ That song ended up Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen!” You laughed at the memory, how seemingly ridiculous it sounds to not know anything about rock music, specifically the arguably most well known song in history. You took a deep breath before watching James intently as he laughed.

“That’s amazing! So did you both just start listening to old music? How did it develop after that?” James was obviously intrigued by the odd beginnings of your life. You continued with a nostalgic smile.

“It became our thing, ya know? Every time we got in the car he would play different artists ranging from Queen, The Beatles, Sinatra, The Temptations, he even had a crush on miss Etta James! We would play this game, he would play a song and I had to guess who was singing, then we would switch and he would have to guess. My dad was a lovely man who had a passion for music and the history of rock and roll. He didn’t play any instruments, but he sang at the top of his lungs with passion and love. My musical ear began because of him. I owe a lot to him.”

The smile you showed was genuine, though the memories of your dad still ripped a whole in your heart. No matter how much time has past, losing him was the worst thing to have ever happened to you; two years felt like it lasted a lifetime, but only five minutes at the same time. He was the most important person in your life, your confidant. Life without him was normal now, human beings are creatures of inept adaptation skills, so you got use to it. It’s bizarre to think about, but it’s how life works.

You continued talking to James about your double EP that was going to be released in a week’s time. You spoke with passion and electricity while describing your life’s work and the meaning behind it all. The fire within you was enchanting. Music was the reason you lived. It is everything you do, everything you think, you’re even convinced your breathing pattern has a good rhythm to it.

Interviews were some of your favorite part of the whole music industry ordeal. Getting to discuss your dictations, other artists you adore, and being able to just sit for a few minutes and sit in the success you’ve made for yourself was always a breath of relief.

Signing off of the interview, you said goodbye to the listeners and to Jame’s as well, quickly followed by a genuine goodbye off the record.

“Y/N thank you so much for coming in, you’re a kind soul. You’re not just honest in your music, you were so open with everything. You’ll make it far kid, no doubt.” James gave you a quick hug. He reminded you of Santa Claus a bit, his rosy cheeks were quite the contrast to his stark white hair and stubble. What an adorable old rock enthusiast.

“Thank you, that means so much. And thank you for having me, It was so much fun!” You spoke with him for a few more moments before getting called away by your manager Chelsea. With a final goodbye you found yourself walking quickly through the maze of hallways once again. The rock legends staring at you from the walls seemed to have a softer look to them now, perhaps they welcomed you into their exclusive club of wretched rock history shenanigans after your interview. You smiled at the thought of being a rock star, but just singing was enough for you. The idea of actually having music out there in the world, having an effect on other people’s lives, it made you nauseous in the most exhilarating way.

Pulling you out of your thoughts, a fresh iced coffee was placed in your hands as Chelsea began her daily speech.

“Okay Y/N we have one more interview across town in about 2 hours and then you’re done for the day. I know you’re friend Matt is throwing a party tonight, just please be careful and mind what you post.”

You stared at her as you sat down into the backseat of a black Ford Explorer, shocked by the lack of expectations coming from the trusting New Yorker sliding in next you you.

“Mind what I post? What do you think I’m going to do Chels? Get on his kitchen counter and flash the room?” You snorted a laugh at the idea. Quickly cut off by Chelsea snapped her head in your direction giving you a wide eyed look?

“Really? Like that is so unlike you?” She laughed as she continued to glare at you. Your cheeks perked up as you smile seemed to take up your entire face.

“You’re right, sounds like something I would do...” The cackling from the backseat was uncontrollable now. Chelsea was 27, a little older than you, but much more like a sister than anything else. She was kind, knowledgeable, but most importantly didn’t put up with your bullshit. It was a lovely friendship.

Chelsea took a deep breath before beginning again as the car began to drive through the streets of L.A. “Also, I have a phone meeting tonight with potential tour options for you.” She smiled proudly at your shocked look. “And before you even ask, I’m keeping it to myself for now. It’s a late meeting due to time zones, but I’ll call you as soon as I can if I hear anything worth sharing.” You stuck your pinky out for her to grab, an undeniable childish way to stick to your word, but it was a habit you couldn’t break.

Chelsea grabbed your pinky smiling at your confusing nature. An old essence of life radiated from you; an old soul was the basic way to describe your mantra, but it was far more complex than that. You carried yourself with strife that was disassociated with people your age, but at the same time you did things like make pinky promises in the backseat of a car while sitting with your legs crossed and having the childish smile plastered on your face. The balance between innocence and spirituality was enticing.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt’s party was in full swing. All of your friends were here, the four of them sticking to one corner in the massive house, your small circle stagnant is the chaos. Nonetheless, the house was full. Alcohol was flying into shot glasses, people forgetting their lives for a few hours, apparently forgetting their limitations as well.

You were feeling good, properly drunk, but still very much in control. Music was blasting through the speakers, though muted by all the noise coming from the mass crowd of young adults. A few hours had passed since you first arrived. Matt was sprinting around like a mad man attempting to keep some sort of organization in this madhouse. He was a loud guy who loved everyone, a perfect host for a memorable party, or a black out party depending on what road you chose for the night!

You were sitting on your Jack and Dr. Pepper combo while talking with your friend Em when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You quickly glanced down at the name, trying not to be rude to Em while she told you all about the girl she is talking to and apparently in love with. When Chelsea’s name showed up you had to excuse yourself.

“Em I’m so sorry! This is my manager and I have to take it. Excuse me.” Em smiled at you and gestured that it was fine. You began to quickly move through the crowd, bumping into what seemed like every single person; maybe you were drunker than you thought. After moments of being lost in the forest of tall college boys you finally made it outside. It was quiet in the backyard, a few people gathered around a fire, but nothing too distracting, so you accepted the call.

“Chelsea! What’s up bitch!” You screamed into the phone while pulling some surfer/LA local accent. A giggle suppressed from the other end of the call.

“Jesus Christ Y/N. Sounds like your having a good time!” There wasn’t any judgement in her voice, only amusement.

“Of course darling, I know how to party. Anyways, what’s up? Why are you calling at...” you pulled the phone away from your ear to check the time, “...1:00 AM? Woah! How is it one already?! That’s crazy.” You trailed off immediately forgetting what you were even going on about. Chelsea caught on to your drifting mind.

“Okay. Y/N. I have good news. You know the band Greta Van Fleet?”

You scoffed at her question, suddenly becoming extremely sassy, “Do I know about Greta Van Fleet... psshhhhh.” You continued to babble, your New York accent coming out in your quick words. “Girl I talk to you about them all the time! We stan Greta in this house bitch. Iconic legends with that good hair... Becky with the good hair... WATERMELON!”

“Fucking hell Y/N stop babbling!” She snapped at you, obviously suppressing her laughs at this, or at least what was suppose to be, business call.

“My bad. Okay, but Chels why are you asking me about Greta right now? Did you call to fangirl?” Genuine confusion flooded your mind as you began walking along the side of Matt’s pool. It was nice out, a cool brisk breeze was cooling down your Alcohol induced heat.

“Y/N I just got off the phone with their management...” she drifted off towards the end, waiting for you to cue in.

“Okay, how was that?” You asked, more confused than before. You slurped the end of your drink, obnoxiously shifting the ice around at the bottom in attempts to get every last drop.

“Fucks sake. You’re going on tour Y/N. Greta wants you to open for them for 2 months. If it works out well, then they will sign you for longer.” She was yelling into the phone at this point.

A numb feeling rushed through your body quicker than anything you’ve ever experienced. The red cup previously holding your liquid crutch was discarded to the ground, forgotten about completely. You began pacing even quicker, grabbing your hair in attempts to ground out self in some way.

“Jesus Christ.... oh fuck. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” You were shouting now too, distracting the people around the fire from the joint they were passing around.

“Yes. Completely serious. You’re going on tour with Greta Van Fleet!” She screeched into the phone, obviously excited about the whole ordeal as well.

“Chelsea they are a real rock band! They have the stage lights and the tight jeans and the screaming fans and mysterious ways about them! How am I suppose... how did I... WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?!” You were shifting your feet back and forth, some sort of happy dance naturally possessing your limbs.

“Y/N I love you, alright? I’m so beyond proud of you. I’ll talk to you more about this tomorrow Okay? I just wanted to tell you tonight. Have a safe night, call me when you wake up?” You smiled even wider at her words.

“Alright. Okay. Ummm thank you? Thank you for this. This is amazing. Absolutely sick. I’ll call you in the morning! Jesus Christ... Okay. I love you, bye!”

“Bye!”

To say you were a bumbling mess was an understatement. The news you waited for arrived. A tour, you were going on fucking tour! A tour with a band you idolized and admired. Your shock faded a bit as pride took over. Music was the one thing in life that you made for yourself, an industry you ventured into alone after your dad’s death. You did this.

You shoved your phone back into your back pocket, picked up your discarded solo cup, and sprinted into the house. Slamming the sliding glass door drawing attention to yourself by both your friends and the strangers scattered around the room. There was a quick pause in conversation as all eyes turned to you.

You took a deep breath before making eye contact with Matt from across the room, a look of concern present on his face. You broke out into a giant grin before shouting at the top of your lungs.

“I’M GOING ON TOUR BITCHES!!!” Matt looked at you in shock and began sprinting towards you. Your other friends escaped from the corner of the room and ran as well. Matt grabbed you by the waist, picking you up and pulling you into a death grip of a hug. Everyone cheers surrounded you. Friends, strangers, some folks who just walked into the party and had no idea what the hell was going on, they all cheered and poured some drinks. Any excuse to drink right? Except this was the start of something insane.

You looked around at everyone who were still buzzing with energy. The bottle of Jack Daniels was passed to you. Taking a giant swig from the bottle, you lifted it into the air and screamed out in a mix of excitement, terror, nervousness, but mostly happiness. You’re life was changing, you felt the shift in the air during the rest of the night. This is it. The rest of your life is beginning.

__________________________________________

Tag list (to be added just shoot me a message!):

@dontumisfire

@myownparadise96

___

Thank you for reading! I appreciate and love all of you!

-Trish

#Greta Van Fleet #Greta Van Fleet Fic #Jake Kiszka #Josh Kiszka #Sam Kiszka #Danny Wagner #gvf #original piece #im so excited over this you guys have no idea.

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hcmj · 5 years ago

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HCMJ’s Favorite Albums of 2019!

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2019 End Of Year Mix

Other Favorites:

David Bruce - The North Wind Was a Woman

galen tipton - fake meat

upusen - Highland Ave.

BLACKPINK - Kill This Love

Starkey - Earth EP

Lamp - ‘A Distant Shore’ Asia Tour 2018

AWITW - ＳｈｅＷａｌｋＡｌｏｎｅう者姻

Seaketa - Gion ぎおん

SNJO - Diamond

BONNEVILLE - AFFORDABLE LUXURY

20) Gareth Davis & Scanner - Footfalls

I first found the experimental composition/clarinet music of Gareth Davis in the early 2010′s during my initial dive into the Miasmah catalog. Teamed up here with another electronic musician/clarinetist, Footfalls uses long, poetic waves of deep woodwinds and synth improv to describe hauntingly desolate environments. It only seems fitting to start the list with one of many bookends on a decade in the grim, cold grey of Philadelphia.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

19) Barker - Utility

Arp and delay-driven rhythmic expression that recalls late-era Kraftwerk, building a pristine sci-fi future with ear-pleasing, rich, and laser-sharp production. Like disembodied trance or house music searching for a strong beat that never comes, Utility is absolute, skillfully-stated synth pleasure.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

18) Sean McCann/Seth Graham w/Kymatic Ensemble - Split Series Vol. IV

Seth Graham’s Gasp was a big favorite in 2018, here condensed and re-imagined for chamber ensemble. Sean McCann’s “Vilon” finds a blissful middle-ground between electronic ambient music and traditional western instrumentation, like a poignant hymn sung somewhere far away, while the new “Gasp” arrangements are full of expressiveness and surprises.

BANDCAMP

17) 猫シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h - Building a Better World

Deep bass pulses and distant rain welcome us to a familiar comfortable place, but as the unmistakable sound and melodic freedom of telepath’s original synth work bends its way over rolling toms in the reverb-soaked hifi opener, it becomes clear that this album is something new and special. Full-on new age drenched in an endless downpour, it’s a huge and beautiful world that’s blissful to be lost in.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

16) Various Artists - Oneironaut

Another rare case of a compilation that is actually worth listening to, Japanese indie powerhouse Local Visions assembles the best talent from the sax-loving, jazz-infused, post-vaporwave electronic underworld of Japan and beyond in the indomitable Oneironaut comp. Notable contributions from Utsuro Spark, upusen, Tsudio Studio, tamao ninomiya, and countless others deliver a hazy daydream.

BANDCAMP

15) wai wai music resort - WWMR 1

Also from Local Visions comes this special collection of tracks caught somewhere between “lost LP found in a record crate” and “bedroom 4-track” - two distinct lofi flavors that mysteriously meld seamlessly on WWMR 1. It sounds new and old, youthful and mature, and full of affection for love and the music it references.

BANDCAMP | SPOTIFY

14) EXID - Me & You

There’s something about this mini-album, a Christmas time snowy nostalgia as the sun sets on another chapter of life (and era of kpop) in tracks like “나의밤” and “WE ARE..,” the Jamiroquai funk of “내일해 (Urban Mix),” or club igniting title track - EXID may never exist in this form or at this level again, and like so many of my favorites this year it reflects the recent history of its genre brilliantly.

APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

13) Fire-Toolz - Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace)

Field Whispers is the stunning next step in the evolution of Fire-Toolz that feels completely at home on the finely-curated Orange Milk. Extended sax-soaked dreams collide with splinters of music jumbled and broken, elegant and disjointed, all bouncing off each other while still leaving room for moments of soaring guitar and dreamy synth pads.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

12) Hakobune - The Last of Our Time Together

With over 50 releases (4 just this year!), Hakobune’s discography can seem like an impenetrable wall of ambience, but like classics Seamless and Here and Love Knows Where, The Last of Our Time Together stands out - monumental and multi-dimensional - a slow dance skidding along the frozen surface of an endlessly deep, rich sea of emotion.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

11) FM Skyline - Advanced Memory Suite

As nostalgic electronic music continues to evolve and find itself elevated in the hands of increasingly-focused musicians, FM Skyline delivers a joyful retrospective on a decade that gave new life to so many old sounds. Exploring the inner recesses of our memory and delusion, Advanced Memory Suite turns the page on a decade of chillwave/synthwave/vaporwave/whateverwave. It’s a hypnotic monument to the modern renaissance.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

10) emamouse - Black place on the edge

It was a huge year from the prolific Tokyo-based visual artist and musician emamouse, whose non-stop creative output continues to challenge the very nature of reality. Black place on the edge was a standout favorite this year, layered and mysterious - incidental music for the surreal dreamworld described in mou’s most unnerving illustrations. Like waking up and finding yourself trapped inside Quest 64.

BANDCAMP

09) Koeosaeme - Obanikeshi

My favorite Orange Milk release of the year, Koeosaeme delivers another absolute hurricane of hyper-detailed, sensory-extreme, buckshot-to-the-face arrangements. The sheer amount of data on this album is staggering, with more musical information packed into a few minutes of its blissful chaos than most full length albums combined.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

08) Jaeho Hwang - Non-self 비자아

I was super fortunate to play a show with Jaeho Hwang in Tokyo during this year’s Neo Gaia Phantasy tour - his immense set started so intensely it’s as if the entire room was cast under a shamanistic spell, hypnotized by percussive expressionism, drawn to the light of digitally melting faces and occult rituals playing out on the screen behind him. Non-self 비자아 is without mercy and full of powerful and primal energy.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

07) Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

Natalie Mering’s subtly expressive, velvety voice on its own is enough to make anything she touches turn to gold, but her songwriting is so masterfully dialed in on Titanic Rising it’s as if Harry Nilsson came back from the dead to write a new volume of pop rock ballads to get us through the next 50 years. It’s an album dripping with love for all the best parts of the 1970′s (Stardust-era Willie Nelson, early ELO, “Lost Weekend” Lennon and friends, etc), but also showcases the compositional chops to match and sometimes surpass its musical lineage (e.g. “Picture Me Better”).

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

06) Monari Wakita - RIGHT HERE

Off the heals of last year’s jaw-dropping Ahead!, ex-Especia Monari Wakita continues to defy modern conventions while asserting herself as one of the most powerful female voices in jpop. “エスパドリーユでつかまえて” sounds like Hitomitoi when she was a rising star, FRIEND IN NEED continues the new jack swing flirting, “やさしい嘘” sounds like it’s begging to be sampled by a future funk artist, and the lead-off single “Just a Crush for Today” is somewhere in a stop-and-go freefall between Billy Joel and Sonic R.

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2

05) Yeule - Serotonin II

Beneath the subtle power and diffusion of a voice like an extra-dimensional Julee Cruise, Serotonin II’s beautifully bleak paintings of the world it carefully constructs are reflective of Yeule’s transcendence into the artist’s next form. Crumbling brutalism under a blinding white sky, aliens in a graveyard - the romance of eternal torment in the spiral - all in dark room illuminated by a computer monitor sometime in the 00′s.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

04) The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 6

The final release for this multi-year project, capturing a mind being lost to dementia, also marks the end of Leyland Kirby’s multi-decade spanning Caretaker project - a project that has had an immense impact on my perception of the limitlessness of music. Now completed, Everywhere at the End of Time towers as a 50 track, 6.5 hour journey from dreamy lucidity to terrifying confusion and darkness.

BANDCAMP

03) Tsudio Studio - Soda Resort Journey

Tsudio Studio brings a contemporary frame to leisure fantasy. Instant classics “Kiss in KIX,” “Asian Coke Light,” and “Like a Ruin” expand on the electro-bossa pop of Port Island, while surprises like “Beijing Cat” expand and explore new worlds of sound. One perfect chord after another, from start to finish, Soda Resort Journey is bubbly and delicious to listen to. Play it looped, close your eyes, be where you’d rather be.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

02) Minuano - Butterfly Dream

Lamp vocalist Kaori Sakakibara’s side project Minuano is like some mutant variant of Lamp - equally complex while slightly less disorienting arrangements (although there are a few re-worked Lamp classics on here), tighter pop sound, stunningly immaculate vocal production - all while maintaining the unique orchestral jazz pop that makes both bands such a euphoric joy to listen to. “Memory of Soda Pop” was my favorite track released by anyone this year.

BANDCAMP

01) EQUIP - CURSEBREAKER X

This was the year of EQUIP. No better story for this year, no better sound than CURSEBREAKER X - the songs from this album will always bring back a thousand memories of smoke-filled clubs, dark forests, and snow-capped mountains from across Japan - the building promise of absolute freedom and a happier tomorrow as we all lived the Neo Gaia Phantasy.. But even without my personal connection to the music, the hardware-driven “perfect sound” VGM and EQUIP’s signature cassette tape destruction has never been better balanced than it is here - it’s loud, and filled with unforgettable melodies and unknown lands. It’s monumental and iconic and will stand the test of time and it was my favorite album of 2019!

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

#vaporwave #nuwrld #haunted ballroom #orange milk #chinabot #100% electronica #jpop #kpop #year end #2019

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bitch4vanya · 6 years ago

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Indestructible (Klaus x Reader x Vanya)

Ep 3. Extra Ordinary

Warning: Mention of drugs (cocaine/weed are abused in this series), Swearing, Pretty gay, Female POV but can be easily changed if needed, SPOILERS, it follows the same story line as the show so there’s a ton, gore

Word Count: 1.6k+

You and Vanya had broken up a year before when you saw her book in the stores. The jolt in your heart was extreme and left you shocked in the middle of the sidewalk for a second. Obviously you rushed in and bought it and started reading immediately on your walk to the record store.

Disappointingly, there was absolutely nothing about you.

After seeing the video of Reginald's death, you were unfazed. It was totally obvious that he’d killed himself. And you thought that that was the general consensus so you, admittedly, spaced out. Switching between Vanya, who was listening intently, and Klaus, half paying attention. How you managed to have feelings for a quarter of the academy was… If anything inconvenient. Your attention was drawn back, however, when Grace was brought up.

“Well if her hardware's degrading then- we need to turn her off.” Luther stated, making your jaw drop from your position next to a pillar by Hargreeves’ bar.

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait she’s not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet she feels things, I've seen it!”

“She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die!”

“I’m with Luther,” Allison butted in. Making you roll your eyes as Klaus passed you to lean against the pillar next to you. You both exchanged a look of exasperation.

“Surprise surprise.” Diego mocked.

“Shut up,” Allison sneered. All eyes were on Vanya as she stumbled over her words for a second.

“Yeah she shouldn’t get a vote.”

“Alright well,” You were about to defend her when she finally spoke up.

“I was gonna say that I agree with you.”

“Okay, she gets a vote.” Diego smirks, “What about you stoner boy, whatta you got?”

“Oh, so what? You need my help now-well get outta the van Klaus, well welcome back to the van,” He answered, mocking Luther, making you snicker, which naturally filled him with a sense of accomplishment and made his heart flutter.

“What van?” Allison asked.

“What’s it gonna be, Klaus.” Luther changed the subject.

“I’m with Diego because screw you! And if Ben were here, he’d agree with me.” He hissed at the space next to you, making you giggle, assuming Ben’s presence. Diego pointed at you, happy with his majority of votes.

“No, no. She actually doesn’t get a vote.” Luther growled, making you gasp, Diego brushed him off encouraging your vote.

“So she’s losing her mind, I lost mine ages ago.” You say shrugging, making Diego pump a fist in the air.

“So whats that four to two.” Diego smirked holding the ratio on his fingers.

“It’s not final yet.” Allison pushed.

“What?”

“Five’s not here.” Klaus sighed, patting your shoulder before exiting. You followed but parted ways to see your old room.

Sadly it wasn’t much better than your current home. Small and cramped. But posters lined every inch of the previously bare and boring walls. And the small bits that couldn't be covered had been painted with the nail polish that had been such a connecting force for you and the siblings. Whether it was bonding with Allison, joking around with Klaus and Ben, or getting to know Vanya.

You two had such a strong connection. She was warm and sweet and vulnerable and beautiful. You wished she knew that. You had your first kiss in that room. With her, when you two were sixteen. She left months later, leaving you to chase after her.

You brushed your suddenly teary eyes, holding a light blue bottle in your hands, remembering her favorite color. You closed the door behind you and placed the bottle back in the basket under your bed. You turned and take a look at yourself in the mirror that was lazily leaning against the dresser and the wall. It had fallen once during an... incident. And you never bothered to put it back up. You looked different, so different from your once open and bubbly self.

You brushed some hair behind your ear and went through some of your old books, it had been years since you’d been there and weirdly it wasn’t full of awful memories like everywhere else in the house.

Gun shots from upstairs take your mind off the books immediately. You ran, automatically searching for Vanya seeing as she was basically helpless against anything dangerous. You rush the living room where you see a man with a blue bear mask corner her.

A bubbling rage soars through your veins and you shake your head desperately trying to get control. You step in front of her eyes glowing yellow. The man steps back, shocked at your agility and appearance. You turn to Vanya and your nerves calmed, as they always did when you looked at her. You shook your head again and your eyes returned to their natural color.

“Run, hide, tell Klaus if you see him.” You whisper, she nods and you pounce on the prick the moment she turn the corner. You take his gun and completely tear it to shreds as you blank into your enraged form.

When you settle down the masked intruder is long gone and exhaustion over took you. You pulled yourself together and raced into the hallway to search for him. He meets you there and slams a heave spiked morning star into your lower half. Your intestines revolt against the metal and you crouch to the floor as wave after wave of pain sears through you.

“God, that hurts like a bitch, man,” You groan removing and swaying the bloody weapon back to him. You stand, to his shock and from the holes in your shirts he sees your organs heal and the muscles and skin tissue recombine in your abdomen Your eyes glow again and a shot rings out as you collapse back on the ground. Blood streaming from your forehead.

You were fifteen and had been at the academy for a couple of days, getting used to the swing of things. All you knew it that you were part of the 43. At fourteen you had been hit by a bus when riding your bike in the busy streets of New York. Your mother's heart was shattered, sobbing over your unconscious body. You were awake and completely healed by the time the paramedics had arrived.

Your mother decided it was best to at least see Dr. Hargreeves for your new found power. He was… As thrilled as a sociopathic alien could be. You decide to stay for the summer.

So here you were chatting with your new friends and gushing over a certain quiet girl in the corner who was basically begging for attention. Your attention was elsewhere now as you were discussing your powers with Klaus.

“That’s awful.” You frown. He shrugged, insisting it wasn’t a big deal, trying to impress the new pretty girl as was his brother and sisters. Luther was uninterested and annoyed, distrustful of you, and Ben gushed over you, though you couldn’t see him. Five had been gone for years.

“Number Eight,” A commanding voice echoed from his lab.

“Ooh, I have a number now,” You smirk, swaying back to the old man after getting a laugh from Klaus, who was genuinely worried for your safely.

“Sit in the chair,” Reginald instructed back to you and preparing your notes. You did as instructed and were strapped into the device. “Starting with 3 mA.” He started, having Grace pull a lever. An aggressive shock ran through your body. You yelped clenching the arms of the chair.

“What the hell?” You cried when the shocks stopped, Reginald ignored you taking a note.

“10 mA.” He mumbled. Your body convulsed with the current making you scream and your arms to twitch involuntarily.

After 30 mAs you were gasping for breath and coughing your lungs out. All very common reactions to the amount of electricity your body was receiving.

“2000 mAs.” Hargreeves announced, excitedly? You roared at the shock, your heart stomped uncontrollably and your breath aching in your throat. Your arms and fingers clenching. Fianlly you lied still.

In an almost panic Hargreeves stood, Grace’s hands shook as she looked at your unconscious, lifeless body.

After fifteen minutes you awoke, gasping for air but otherwise physically fine.

“Marvelous,” He muttered writing every second down.

Diego walked in to you passed out on Grace’s lap. “She’ll just be another hour or so.” Your head wound had scarred over and your breathing was slow as your body healed itself. Diego sighed staring at his beloved mother with regret and disappointment.

“Mom did you hear anything that was happened down there?” He begged. She didn’t answer, she just continued to stroke your locks out of your face. Diego’s eyes traveled to your exposed arms at the scars from the treatment you had received as a child. They were the only things that ever remained. No matter what injury. Just scars. “Let me take her, mom.” He sighed picking you up with ease and setting you on the couch in the living room before returning to his caregiver.

You wake up in Diego’s lap he stared at one of the animal heads on the wall deep in thought. You shot up, surprising him. “Where’s Klaus?” You asks, your gut screaming at you that something was wrong.

“I don’t know I haven’t seen him since this morning,” You stumbled upstairs. “(Y/N) come back you need to rest!” You ignored him, passing Vanya and looking everywhere, “He disappears sometimes. It’s nothing new.” You sighed and picked up the Walkman from his bedroom floor. Something was off and you knew it.

From Reginald Hargreeves’ notes, July 9th 2004

Subject (Y/F/N) has proven to show that she is very capable of dealing with immense pressure and pain. It is my diagnosis that she has powers such as self regeneration. Studies will continue with various different activities to test her limits and abilities.

#umbrella academy vanya #umbrella academy klaus #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #klaus hargreeves #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus x reader #tua klaus #vanya hargreeves #vanya hargreeves x reader #klaus x reader x vanya

32 notes · View notes

snkpolls · 6 years ago

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SnK S3E2 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 590 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!

Rate the Episode

The vast majority gave the episode their approval, with the largest percentage rating it a five.

Levi vs MP chase blew me away and I didn't remember rest of the show except Linked Horizon.

Animation blew me away and Kenny is better than I had imagined him in the manga.

They made Levi more bishy and badass at the same time. As expected of WIT. I find myself surprised at some of the changes and the new pacing, but I’m just here to enjoy this wild ride, so I’m open to anything. I can’t wait for Frieda to finally appear and confuse the fuck out of anime-onlies.

ep2 has already become my fav episode

It feels rushed. But I can only hope they make up for it later on.

I enjoyed it, especially the fight scene! A lot of things were missing from the manga, but I'm thinking they will be included in a different context. The ED was absolutely perfect! I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

It was super enjoyable in its own right even if I'm a bit skeptical of the changed pacing.

The animation in this episode was amazing!

Rate the Ending

Respondents have agreed that the ending is a bop, with votes heavily favoring the positive. Feelings were much more mixed for the opening. We’re happy to see that most were at least satisfied with the ending!

I think it's the perfect mood for an ED. I'm really glad Historia got such a great focus; the OP focuses more on several characters an the ED on her.. I like it that way.

It's great! I love Red Swan so much and I'm happy with both songs!

Loved it a lot. You could immediately tell the signature Sounds Horizon influence, which is great. The song’s been stuck in my head for days. I also love the fact that the visuals are Historia-centric.

I don't think it should've been the opening per say......maybe with different visuals but I absolutely loved it. I'm glad that unlike the opening it didn't disappoint.

The Sasageyo in the middle caught me off guard lol

but like why did they have to make me feel so many emotions over that ending tho???

i'm literally in love with the ED it sounds like a fairy tale and i need the full version stat

the ed took me to nirvana

The ending was really beautiful. The animation with little Historia was beautiful because we will see more of Historia. Heck, this is her time to shine. This is her spotlight.

How do you feel about Linked Horizon performing the ending this time?

The majority of respondents are happy that Linked Horizon is back this season, even if it’s the ending instead of the opening. A smaller percentage still wished they had done the opening instead, however.

Who Linked Horizon is?

I hope they perform the opening for the next arc

Ending or opening I wouldn't care. As long as we have Link Horizon.

I'm glad they are still sticking around but I'm still so upset the OP/ED were 100% from some romance high school anime.

Which one is your favorite ED?

Do we as a fandom have a bias toward Linked Horizon? Quite possibly, as the new ending has already captured the hearts of the largest group. Great escape came in second, and Yuuguri no Tori remains the least liked ending of the series.

The new ending is beautiful. The scenario, music, how sad it is considering the recent events in the manga. Beautiful. I've to admit that I prefer by far the ending to the opening.

Which scene(s) did you like best?

It goes without saying that the Levi vs. Kenny/MP chase is what blew away the fandom this week. It was the favorite scene by a huge margin. The runner up was Armin taking aim and shooting in order to save Jean’s life.

I've been waiting five years to see the bar scene, BANG! BANG!

not ashamed to admit I rewatched the Levi vs Kenny chase dozens of times

Favorite anime-only scene: Sasha saved Armin this time, i couldn't be happier for my girl. She ain't useless and definitely not a comic relief, i hope Isayama will do something in the future so that people appreciate &miss her more when 105 is animated.

Also, something I'm loving this season and doesn't receive enough credit is to hear Traute's voice. Her voice sounds so badass. Love it

The animation is so gorgeous and literally jaw dropping. I enjoy absorbing every single second of action. And seeing and hearing the scene of Jean almost being shot and Armin killing somehow has made me officially ship Jearmin.

On a scale of 1-5 how much did the animation during the Levi vs. MP chase blow you away?

As expected, the animation left the majority of respondents in awe. It took one month for the animators to get in that 30 second sequence and it was so worth the efforts of the animation staff!

The Levi fight scene was breathtaking. Genius.

Best animation. Ever. Levi you awesome badass.

On a scale of 1-5, how daddy is Kenny?

While a fair amount of voters wouldn’t let Kenny touch them with a 50 foot poll, a larger portion of voters agree that Kenny is daddy material.

I want Kenny to be my daddy :P

The only thing so far that is completely good is KENNY BANG BANG ACKERMAN! They're making a wonderful job with him and I hope the dudes from Wit studio won't turn him upside-down or change some important scenes. In the end... KENNY IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND COOL UNCLE/COWBOY ON EARTH. I'll always follow him

Kenny is even colder bastard than he was in the manga. I like him!

How did Erwin light the match with one hand?

Will the mystery ever be solved? We don’t know, but the majority of voters are quite certain that Erwin’s chiseled jawline may have something to do with it!

How excited are you to see kidwin’s eyebrow game next week?

61% of respondents are ready to see Kidwin moving and talking. Possibly also the heartbreak that will follow as we watch his backstory unfold. We’re pretty excited for small Erwin too!

Is your heart ready for Historia’s childhood flashback?

The majority of voters are ready for Historia’s “not very happy” backstory to unfold in episode 40. Some are eager, some just think she’s cute as a button and others are ready for their hearts to hurt. About 12% of voters aren’t as enthused, however.

I hope we will finally see Frieda in the next one !

On a scale of 1 - 5, how much do you relate to Bartender-kun?

I think we can almost all agree with the bartender when he says “EEEK!” It’s quite relatable really.

It took 4 years to finally see Bartender-kun in his moe glory and it was beautiful. 10 outta 10 would EEEEKK again.

EEK!

Would you want Levi as your motivational counselor?

68% of you would appreciate Levi’s straightforward and blunt was of saying things in order to help you cope and sort things out. 32%, however, would prefer a more gentler approach.

Does Erwin have a gambling problem?

68% of respondents agree that Erwin’s gambles are a positive thing! The thrill of it all is quite a ride for both the Survey Corps and the audience. We look forward to watching his gambles pan out in animated form soon!

How are you guys holding up?

The largest group of voters are unsure about the changes and feel pretty sketchy toward WIT and Isayama for making and agreeing to the changes. However, a combined 50% of respondents overall are enjoying the anime so far, with 31% of those voters having a great time watching the events unfold in a new way. 8% of voters have already lost all hope at enjoying the adaptation.

Jokes aside, the pacing's still left me reeling a little. But I can see how this might make sense from the studio's perspective. If I was an anime-only, I think this episode would have THRILLED me. So yes, I am still invested in the anime and am looking forward to the rest of the season!

Thoughts withheld until we see how the rest of the arc is adapted

i thought it was really good! most manga readers disagree, but i have hope that important scenes will be included later, and we shouldn’t be so quick to judge only 2 eps. i think we should be grateful that the scenes they DID include followed the manga pretty well. i have faith in the changes isayama wanted to make, he is the creator after all. have hope yall!

How do you feel about the restructuring so far?

We were quite surprised to find that 57% of respondents are still open to the changes, looking to see what happens next before ultimately deciding if the anime is in good hands or not. A small 15% are excited for the changes, while another 15% are not feeling them at all. A very small percentage aren’t enjoying anything about the restructuring so far.

I'm really trying to enjoy the season and not judge too fast before seeing all of the arc, but damn WIT, Isayama, you guys are making it so hard, I'm hella confuse by the changes you're making

In my opinion, the change of pace is for the worse. I'm sad Isayama hates the arc this much, and that he agreed to many crucial character scenes being cut. I think the arc in the manga only felt slow because of waiting for the next monthly chapter.

I'm confused by all the changes but it's only episode 2 so I'm waiting for what's coming next. The animation is beautiful, Levi is beautiful (even with his shirt on) so I like it so far!

Still generally hyped about the season, but wary of the changes. A little bit disappointed about the cutting of the minor characters' (dimo, nifa) screentime/character moments. But I'm gonna wait with my judgement 'till the arc's over.

Character development will not be the same. Hopefully they can build up Armin’s and Erwin’s characters in time for RTS or nobody will care.

What best describes what you think about the missing scenes so far?

While we’re all a bit sad to see some of our favorite scenes lost, the largest group of respondents have accepted that as a fact and are ready to just move forward. 26% are holding out hope that everything will be implemented one way or another. 13% of respondents are finding that the missing scenes are making it very difficult to enjoy anything about the season so far.

I literally want to fly to WIT Studio, go in banging a cowbell in everyone's ears until they put the cute scenes of titan eren and his dorky yet fine ass back in the anime.

I'm afraid that loosing some scenes now will take away more important ones later on. No Dimo telling Historia to give Levi a good punch. No Levi basically threatening Historia to take up the mantle of Queen. These interactions added depth to the characters. There's still time for them to include a few other things in flashbacks, but the changes have me a little on edge. Maybe it's just cognitive dissonance - I'll not write off WIT's and Isayama's restructuring efforts yet. But I will sit on my hands and bite my tongue when I ask my Anime-only friends about their thoughts on the pacing thus far.

the only thing I’m really upset they cut is the scene where Armin talks about how to manipulate the mass and everyone stares at him horrified, everyone’s bitching about the abs but the true loss is not seeing the horrifying expression Armin makes

Dimo's the real victim of the cuts here ;_;

My hype for this season died seeing how they are dealing with this arc

I think that people complain too much about snk anime. Yes, some things are different and even some favourite scenes of mine where removed but overall this is still the best anime of the season, maybe even the year.

How do you feel about the scenes they did keep?

A combined 63% of voters were satisfied with the scenes that we did still get and many of those believe WIT excelled at executing them. 29% thought the scenes were still alright, but lost some of the impact they had in the original work.

The animation of all of it is phenomenal, but all the scenes/events are jumbled in comparison to the manga. It has me like ?????

The whole bit with Jean being "shot" was better in the manga IMO

Again, as before I am not the Uprising Arc's biggest fan, but one thing I did enjoy was whenever the focus was on the 104th kids coming to terms with fighting humans, struggling with their own morality and the orders Levi was giving them. In the manga, this takes place over a longer period of them, so you really get to see Sasha, Jean and Connie question things and come to their own decision not to kill. By reordering things now, I feel that has completely lost its impact.

The scene at the end where the SC crew learns about rod reminds me a bit of the AT & CT reveal when the way in which the SC reacted to Reiner and Bertholdt possibly being titans was withheld from the viewer so I think that maybe thats what they might be going for this season in the sense that they will find a way to cram a lot of moments in flashbacks later.

Rushed. Scenes have less impact. I’m just thankful I’ve read the manga so I have the context of how bamf these things really are.

They removed way too many Dimo scenes which makes him a very different character to the anime canon. In the manga he was a good-hearted opportunist trying to avoid the deaths of himself and his comrades whereas in the anime this was watered down significantly. Also, #BringBackGesumin2018

I like the pacing but many scenes lost their impact, e.g. Reeves death, Armin's kill.

Where do you think Rod, Historia and Eren are right now?

We definitely know they aren’t in the cave, but the largest group of voters aren’t even sure where to theorize they could be right now. Although there is a near tie between people who believe they are either at the ranch or the chapel. One commenter on the poll pointed out an area we hadn’t even considered, however:

Because this option didn't show up in where Eren and Historia are: The Central MP Headquarters! The torture of Sannes was used as a way to find where Eren and Historia are, which is the original point of that mission. So there'd be a different, less redundant reason to go to the HQ in the first place! You can even add some missing scenes there.

How did you feel about the way the torture scene was handled?

Most of us did believe that WIT would censor the torture sequence a bit, but the largest group are shocked at just how much of it wasn’t shown at all. Nearly one quarter of voters are disheartened that they didn’t show it all. Commenters are mourning Hange’s memorable line about which testicle Sannes wants to keep the most.

THEY REMOVED THE “WHICH TESTICLE DO YOU NOT NEED” LINE. BUT THE BALL-REMOVING INSTRUMENT WAS THERE. TALK ABOUT AN UNFULFILLING CHEKHOVS GUN.

They cut out Hange's best line

Even though i expected it would be a little bit censored, but wasn't thinking it would that much, they turned it into a joke, a humouristic torture...like seriously wit?

I'm upset because they removed Hange's best line.

Where was Levi punching?

It may've not been directly shown, but sometimes there's more horror in what you can’t see than in what you can

I expected it to be censored but it's ok, they managed to transmit the grotesque and black humorous feeling that the manga gave.

im sad about hange’s line not being included, but other than that, i thought it was really good, and i didnt expect them to be as brutal as the manga anyways. :/

Armin contemplates how they are torturing and killing people because they have different views. How does this relate to the current manga events?

The majority of voters believe that this was a good foreshadowing for the events that have taken place much later in the manga. 17% of voters don’t feel that the situations are comparable, however.

Both sides are fighthing for their own good

Eh, that’s how human history has always been since time immemorial. It’s always people killing other people because of a difference in views and ideologies. Not saying that it should be tolerated, but everything is a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, you need to extinguish the enemy because the enemy alive is a far bigger threat to the world. That’s just how it is.

Everyone else is stuck in the mid-Uprising chapters while Armin is 57D pathsmancing his way to mid-Marley chapters

The uprising and ao Liberio aren’t comparable, but Armin is consistent through each

We didn’t get shirtless Levi, how are you feeling about it?

39% of voters are sad about not getting treated to some eye candy this week, while 34% just don’t care about it at all. 15% were happy just to see Levi’s nice bara tiddies outlining his shirt, while 12% of you are still holding out hope for rock-hard abs.

I was robbed of the abs I was promised and am like... really pissed off? Sad? Bemusedly confused? I know in the grand scheme of things it shouldn't really matter that much but dang, it hurts.

It might just be the lesbian in me talking but I don’t care they didn’t show abswin and Levi shirtless lol

Levi is daddy af. Thanks for exploding my ovaries bc I didn't want children. Super convenient.

But Levi still looked badass tho

What about abswin?

Similar to Levi, the largest groups of respondents either feel betrayed by WIT or don’t care about it. A larger portion than with Levi were completely satisfied simply by Erwin’s presence.

ABS ABS ABS!!!

Apparently this world doesn’t deserve Levi and Erwin’s abs... Looks like we’re not worthy of such a blessing.

I AM FEELING ABSOLUTELY BETRAYED BY THE LACK OF ABS I mean c'mon, WIT, you can't give me, a grown adult, just an angsty adolescent's steaming abs (from the Titan tyvm) and expect me to be satisfied with that.

The Ackerman reveal was handled a bit differently, with Kenny telling Traute about how he raised Levi instead of telling Dimo he is his pride. How do you feel about the change?

The majority of voters believe that the small change in the Ackerman reveal wasn’t a big deal. However, a pretty sizable portion do believe that the weight of the reveal was lost, with many commenters lamenting the loss of Kenny saying that Levi is his pride.

I think we'll have more impactful Acerkreveal to come when Levi and Mikasa talk. *nervous chucking*

Levi being an Ackerman is the less secret thing anyway, the way it's reveals hardly matter

Most of the fandom read some good ol fanfic, i'd be surprised if like 95% of the people watching it didn't know he was an Ackerman (or just log in to tumblr)

Lol so many anime-only reactors didn’t even notice the Ackerman name-drop so WIT pretty much failed at that. And it’s okay for fans to feel disappointed with the anime. We’re not **obligated** to think it’s amazing especially if we think there are parts of it that weren’t adapted well.

I expect another encounter between Kenny and Levi that leads to the talk about Levi being Kenny's pride, probably directed to Rod instead. This scene, on the other hand, worked as a wonderful namedrop and setup for a second encounter.

I love how he called Levi his pride in the manga so i’m very sad they changed it, it made Kenny’s death even more emotional.

It flew right past me oops

Levi threatening Historia didn't happen, breaking the chain of events that builds up to her punching him later. What best describes your thoughts?

It’s probably safe to say that many of us are raising questions about the loss of this scene and how WIT will make up for it or whether it was truly needed in the first place. 39% believe that WIT will still work it in somehow, while the majority believe that the scene is lost forever, with split opinions about whether WIT will make up for it in another way or whether their faith in Historia and Levi’s arcs is shattered forever.

The only thing I'm keeping my eyes on is anything related to Historia and her future step up as queen. I'm sure she'll learn that she is royal next episode via her father, so I wonder if eventually deciding to take rule in place of her hidden relatives and corrupt government, will actually end up being her idea, which could explain why Levi's altercation with her was removed. That would be really interesting and I think it could work out just as well! I always thought his anger toward her was a little too sudden and misplaced in the manga, anyway, and if it's removed for good, I'm glad we don't have to live through that controversy again.

I’m kinda disappointed that they didn’t include Dimo Reeves’s redemption arc. It was very essential to Historia & Levi’s character. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing & instead Fligel will replace Dimo in that role, but Eren & Historia were already captured so I’m not sure how they intend to go about rewriting Historia & Levi’s character progression. However, the production team & Isayama do seem to understand how important character development is for this arc, so maybe they’re finding different ways to make it better in ways we didn’t even realize were possible. Maybe by the end we’ll all say “Wow! This was handled a million times better than in the manga!” But right now, it just seems like Isayama had a negative bias towards this arc & was only so accepting of the changes cause he just thought of the Uprising Arc as his worst piece of work to date despite it being the most important for character development & plot progression. I hope I am wrong though.

Which group of characters are your favorite?

Where do you primarily discuss the series?

I discuss the series in Facebook, dunno why you don't have that option :/

Additional thoughts on the episode?

Isayama reacting to S3 complaints: “Am I out of touch? No, it's the manga readers who are wrong.”

BUT NO FLEGEL QUESTION IN THE POLL!!!?!?!?!? THAT'S IT!!(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ I'm actually not going to do anything about it though. but still. Flegel is best boy.

I’m blown away by the animation! I’m kind of enjoying guessing what might happen next and what other changes they’re going to make. I still have faith that WIT and Isayama will deliver an amazing season three - holding out for more episodes until I lose my mind about changes. It’s super entertaining so far.

I am aware that a 100% adaptation of the manga is impossible and I'm usually not bothered by it. However, I'm slowly getting nervous that too much could get lost and that those fans who want an accurate adaptation will get too frustrated with it to continue. I really hope WIT has a plan here and listens to the fans.

I really, really, really wanted Kenny to say that he was proud of Levi. It was really bittersweet. I hope WIT puts it later on when Kenny is about to die and hopefully he tells it to Levi straight up. But I’m not gonna lie, Levi never knowing that his “father figure” was proud of him all this time puts a tragic and beautiful twist to their relationship. There’s always been something sublime about unexpressed emotions that will forever be hidden because death claimed it first.

I feel like they're sacrificing character interactions and developments for the sake of pacing and action.

I know lots of people are saying that everyone should chill before jumping to conclusions, but as far as I’m concerned all our opinions - mine included, as well as the opinions of those who are dissatisfied with the episode - are valid. And in my opinion, there was so much that the anime skipped. Sure, they were just small details. But it were these details that enriched the story. I trust Isayama, but at the end of the day, he too errs. He too commits mistakes. I don’t know, but if I feel overly dissatisfied with the adaptation even after the season is over, and in my defense am able to bring up valid reasons why I didn’t like it, then so be it.

It's a shame Dimo got reduced to such a minor character.

I felt a bit sorry for the girl who was killed by Armin. I didn't pay attention on her in the manga but in Armin's flashbacks she was more human. It was the proof that even such cold monsters like anti-human squad members have some heart.

I love it so far but Levi and Erwin need more love and they'll get it if they are shirtless and have moar scenes

Traute made me gay.

Ackerman bastards! How they can violate chairs like that?! Right now I can trust only Mikasa with my poor chair babies <3

everyone is like 'where are the abs' while my lesbian ass is sad about no gesumin smh

Thanks to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again on Monday!

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

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cherry3point14 · 6 years ago

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CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION | CHAPTER 1

DESCRIPTION: You are VP of Sales for a company with stores and major distribution links across the country and your executive assistant, and only real friend, is leaving. A temp is brought in to replace her, on probation, for you try him out. Of course, nobody told you that it was a him, or that his name was Dean Winchester, or that you’d want to try him out.

A/N: This is an office AU basically from this post. Yep, it’s all a setup for that joke.

[Dean x Reader. Characters: Dean, Reader, OFC Words: 2,477. Warnings: a couple of bad words that’s it I think. Mostly pining and eventual fluff]

Ao3 link if you prefer. Series Masterlist

Most days you loved your job. You loved the variety of visiting clients all over your corner of the country, you loved the moment you saw them change their minds because of you and you loved inspiring your teams. Some people were made for jobs like this and you were one of them, nothing quite gave you a thrill like making a sale or teaching someone else how to. It’s just, as Vice President of Sales for the east coast, you made pretty big sales.

Of course, the job had its drawbacks. Meetings that tested your ability to stay awake in the face of unending boredom. Reports so dull that you were sure your eyes might bleed. Not to mention the hours. Responsibility for the biggest sales region meant your hours were rarely nine to five. Honestly, Dolly Parton had no idea how good she had it.

It was fine, obviously. You earned more than enough to account for your hours and over the years you’d curated a good team, every one of them dependable and hardworking. You appreciated the hell out of them and you made sure they knew it.

That’s what made it so difficult to watch one of them leave.

You knew you couldn’t keep Maddy forever. You wished you could, obviously, she had been the best assistant you’d ever had. Constantly trying to impress you, she hadn’t needed to try so hard, she was pretty impressive as it was. Always here before you, left after you, never questioned your hours and pretty much made sure your life ran like clockwork. Unfortunately, she was smart as a whip so after two years you couldn’t ignore her potential anymore and a year after that she was moving on.

“We all know why we’re here,” you held a plastic champagne flute in your manicured hand and looked over at your favorite employee, well, your friend. “Maddy, the traitor, is defecting to the dangerous world of marketing, leaving us and the field teams scrambling. God knows how many of us will end up at the wrong airport without her reminder emails.” You let your bright, office smile melt into something more genuine, “Mads, I couldn’t be more serious when I say I don’t know what I’ll do without you. But I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to see you bust your way through that new team of yours until we’re working side by side.”

Everyone shares a collective ‘aww’ as you raise your glass in the air and finish with, “go get ‘em Mads!”

After your surrounding team has mumbled her name and taken a drink she finds herself trapped by people offering some personal congratulations and you find yourself leaning against her desk, watching everyone fawn over her. You’re the boss after all, as friendly as your staff might be with you none of them, save Maddy, were actually your friends. You didn’t have time for friends, which might be why her leaving hits you a little harder than you’d thought it would. For the amount of time you were forced together, she’s genuinely become more than an employee.

You linger a few minutes before you slip back inside your office. She was the woman of the hour and she needed to shake every hand and receive every hug. You, however, had a new product pitch that had to be finished before you could even think about leaving for the day.

“Knock, knock. Miss Y/L/N?”

Looking up you see the woman of the hour standing there, a smile on her face and rosy cheeks, you assume from the amount of champagne you’ve seen everyone pour for her.

You lean back and fold your arms over your chest with feigned annoyance on your face, “excuse me, is that how I asked you to address me?”

She laughs at you but doesn’t make any move to come further into your space, she knows not to disturb when you’re trying to work, “so bossy since you stopped being my boss.”

You return your eyes to the screen with a smile. “Stop getting ahead of yourself. You still work for me till Monday. I can’t be expected to brief your replacement. I have absolutely no idea how to run my own life.”

Maddy doesn’t let her own smile waver but her voice turns serious, “you going to have time for one more drink tonight?”

Your sigh alone should be answer enough but you look away from the letters that are turning fuzzy in front of you to apologize properly, “I’m sorry. If this isn’t done tonight then… well, it has to be done tonight. Besides aren’t those lot taking you out?”

She nods having worked for you long enough to understand. “They want to, but I told them my dragon of a boss needs me in early tomorrow to train her newbie. I think they’re planning on ruining me tomorrow night instead.”

“Oh, that’s considerate of them.” You're fine with that, you understand why you're not invited and you're not sure if you'd want to even go. Nobody want's to party with the boss and you don't want to be the person who turns the evening awkward.

“I thought so too. You need anything else before I head home?” Even with half a bottle of bubbles in her, you can tell the question is genuine. If you asked her to go and photocopy something right this second you knew she would.

You shake your head, “get out of here before I have to fire you. I’m a big girl, I can call my own car,” you wink playfully, “for once.”

His phone rings out its alarm and he groans into his pillow in response. Five fucking AM. He hated five AM and everything it stood for. He hated that his new job required him to see this time in the morning but, it was a considerable jump in pay and an opportunity to get out of being a goddamn temp.

And if there’s one thing he hated more than five AM, it was temping.

He had his morning routine down to a fine art. Shower, coffee, clothes. Always the same order, always out the door in twenty minutes.

What he hadn’t counted on was problems on the F train.

He’s forty-five minutes late when he shows up, including the night guard still sitting at front desk not being able to find his building pass, but his jaw unclenches when he gets to his floor and sees an empty office. Maybe he’s got away with it? Or was the six AM start a joke, to begin with? Hazing the new guy? He’d admittedly thought it pretty fucking ridiculous when he’d heard it.

“Oh my God finally, are you Dean?”

He looks down to realize this tiny woman in front of him appeared from nowhere. She already looks like she’s run half a marathon and shows no intention of stopping considering the piles of product pamphlets in her hands.

“Erm, yeah?”

The pamphlets are shoved into his hands now making the messenger bag hanging loosely from his shoulder drop to the floor. “Good. I’m Maddy and I have one day to show you the ropes. I guess rule number one would be don’t show up nearly an hour late but hopefully, you’re smart enough to know that already.”

He motions to the bright but empty office at the end of the room, “but she’s not…?”

“She’s already in her first meeting genius. So, you’re late meeting her, you’re late for me showing you how she takes her first coffee and you guessed it, you’re late for her first morning run through.”

He cringes in a way that says ‘shit’ without the word needing to be spoken.

“Yep. Now bring those over to my desk, although I suppose it’s yours now, and I’ll try and give you two years of information in the next twenty minutes.”

“I have been an assistant before…” he starts but then he catches what else she said, “why what happens in twenty minutes?”

Maddy smiles wickedly like she’s enjoying this far too much, “oh, that’s when she gets back.”

“I understand the issues you’re dealing with Doug, but my guys have enough to deal with in the upcoming quarter, this is not going to help.” You’re standing outside the meeting room you just exited arguing with your least favorite member of the executive team.

Doug’s smile is tight-lipped and his tone patronizing as ever, “that’s why we have you right? Sell it to them.”

You school your features as you often have to while speaking to the slimy Operations head, also known as the bane of your existence, “sell them a 40% reduction in stock because your Supply Chain team didn’t plan correctly? No problem. And here I was thinking I was here to sell to our clients.”

You spin on your heel and leave, although momentarily satisfied at getting the last word the unavoidable problem plagues you with it’s potential hit to your Q3 targets.

You’re about to storm into your office when you find the glass door being held open for you by a stranger. A handsome, you didn’t see many of those in the office, tall, stranger who keeps his green eyes focused respectfully ahead of him while you slowed to an almost stop in the doorway.

Maddy shouts up from her desk, “that’s Dean, the new me. He finally showed, want to see us in five?”

“Yeah… erm, no.” You remember yourself and the outcome of your first meeting, “Make it fifteen. I need to make a call. Can you get me my breakfast and let Robert know that I need to push lunch until next week?” Although sounding like it, none of it is a question.

You take your eyes off of Dean, who you hadn’t been staring at the entire time you’d been speaking, and head to your desk with a mind to dial your phone fiercely enough to forget your frustrations. Your fingers linger over the keypad as you pick up the headset though. Dean sits back at the desk with Maddy writing down, with a pen and paper you note, every word she’s saying. As much as you spearheaded the paperless office initiative it strikes you as cute that he’s sitting there with his yellow pad and pen, nodding like a bobble head while Maddy talked, you were sure, at a thousand miles per hour.

 It’s when the dial tone in your ear disappears and becomes an incessant beep, for you not having dialed, that you think maybe you need to focus. Focus on your job obviously, not on your new assistant, the person working under you, the person it would be incredibly inappropriate for you to have any sorts of feelings towards.

Not that you did. You were just thrown for a second. Nobody had told you that your new assistant was… him.

Y/N liked a coffee every hour from 6am to 11am, which yeah that’s six fucking coffees, after that she switches to iced tea or ice water depending on her mood and it was apparently part of his job to know which one she wanted without her having to ask. Maddy kept promising that she was actually the best boss he could hope for but then these crazy things would slip out of her mouth that made it seem like Maddy might be delusional.

Along with her beverage of choice on the hour, he needed to have a run-down of any calls she’d missed or declined to pick up, and a summary of all her emails for the last hour. That was fine, pretty standard, but then she’d hit him with the sucker punch like the fact that Y/N texts at all hours, seven days a week, so she doesn’t forget anything. And she expects to have summary notes on everything she’d sent the next day.

“You don’t get it. She’s the youngest VP in the company and the youngest woman VP in the industry. She’s a legend. And she’s actually a good person too but she just has quirks. And sometimes those quirks involve you having to bribe an airline to get her a seat on a fully booked flight because the next available flight is her unlucky number.”

“So, she’s crazy?” He finally asks after listening to a couple of stories like this. Don’t get him wrong. He could deal with crazy, he has dealt with crazy before, he just liked to know what he was getting himself in for.

The salary was more than worth a little crazy after all.

Maddy frowns and he thinks maybe he’s offended her. Maybe they have some girl power, sisterhood of traveling pants, feminist thing going on.

“No, she’s not crazy. She’s busy being successful. Successful and still looking out for her team of fifty people including those in the field.” Maddy’s eyes are wide and insistent.

Damn. It’s not a woman thing, it’s a friend thing.

He dips his head in apology, which seems enough for now, but the PDF on her screen, which has been titled ‘So you’re Y/N Y/L/N’s new assistant?’ tells him that he’s not entirely wrong.

It’s forty-nine pages.

He can appreciate that Maddy seems to have a sense of humour with some of the advice she’s written out, and honestly, he’s worked at jobs where they leave you high and dry to figure this stuff out for yourself, so he does appreciate it, but nothing she’s showing him is convincing him of his new bosses sanity.

He can totally understand why she’s loco. He’s not an idiot, clearly, he knows who she is and her reputation. She’s responsible for the +5% growth in the northeast last year while the top eight competing brands had figures in the minus. In one of the hardest years since the recession, she kept things in a plus. He gets that she’s worked hard to get to where she is. So, if he has to make sure that she only ever travels to Washington on Wednesday’s because she likes the alliteration, then so be it.

He just doesn’t get why everyone’s acting like there’s not something wrong with her.

Everyone he’s spoken to, which to be fair is Maddy and only a handful of others, either loves her or at the very least respects her. There’s no complaining about keeping the office at exactly 62 degrees because she runs hot or how she only drinks espresso-based drinks so they don’t have a filter machine on this floor.

That’s the amazing thing. Not her sales figures, or her age or reputation. It’s that nobody seems to hate her.

Although Maddy assures him that if he was asking Doug from Ops or Mark in Finance, he might hear a different story.

Continue to Chapter 2

#dean winchester x reader #spn fanfic #supernatural x reader #supernatural fanfiction #spn x reader #spn #spn reader insert #supernatural #supernatural reader insert #dean x reader #dean winchester #dean x y/n #my gif

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makeyourownmyth · 6 years ago

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Favorite Heard in 2018.

Same caveats, but even fewer.

There really weren’t any songs that everyone loved that I thought badly enough of to list as antis here. I will say that the Drake-ification of rap has had even worse effects that we thought it would, with mumblerap dominating everything. And there’s some notable absences on the lists, but those are definitely purposeful.

Honorable Mentions:

Troye Sivan - Blue Neighbourhood. Bloom was OK, but it took me to Blue Neighbourhood, which I had somehow missed. He’s amazing, I’m in love.

Black Panther Soundtrack. The Kendrick influence and brand is strong, but it’s really the more outlier-y style songs (like “Redemption”) that make this album as good as it is.

Alex Lahey - I Love You Like A Brother. This album actually came out last year, and it should have been on my list then and it wasn’t and I’ve spent a year embarrassed by that fact.

Billie Eilish - She didn’t actually release a new album this year, but all the singles were great and she’s a phenomenal talent.

Travis Scott - Astroworld. If this list would have been completed the month Astroworld came out, it might have been #1. But it lacks the sticking power to make something part of the truly good list. But he definitely made me a believer after spending time being at least partway a hater.

The Internet - Hive Mind. This album is good with a side of weirdness. Earl’s album is weird with (maybe?) a slice of goodness. And yet his album is ending up on a bunch of best of lists and Syd’s band isn’t. That’s wack. This one’s the winner if we’re comparing the two. But we don’t even need to do that. This one stands up all on its own.

Meek Mill - Championships. From the banging intro to the collab with Drake to “What’s Free” with Jay and Ross, this one goes hard. It’s a great Meek Mill album. You know exactly what you’re getting.

Pusha T - Daytona. Better than all the other rap albums on this list, almost made the real list. He’s so good at what he does, and “If You Know You Know” is one of the best openers of all time.

Tierra Whack - Whack World. If you haven’t heard this album, you should be ashamed. It’s only 15 minutes. Go listen! Then appreciate it and listen to it again. It’s great. She’s gonna do amazing things.

Jeff Tweedy - Warm. I’ve been thinking about Jeff Tweedy and Wilco a lot this year, maybe because I read the book Learning How to Die. And I know this isn’t a Wilco album, so I know it’s apples to oranges. But I can’t shake this thought, regardless. I’m not sure there’s another band we have whose “universally acclaimed ‘best’ album” is almost certainly NOT their “best” album? I mean, post-YHF Wilco is super different. They stopped trying to be that band, but between Sky Blue Sky and A Ghost is Born and now this solo record, I’m pretty sure those albums (and this one, which I know isn’t a Wilco album) are actually better? It’s just really, really, really good.

boygenius - boygenius. The best thing about this EP is that all the songs are solid and some are lifetime best material. The worst thing is that we’ll probably never get this collaboration again.

Beach House - 7. Shockingly good after their odd turns on the last couple. I’m not ready to have complete faith in them just yet, but I’m glad they’re coming back around.

Snail Mail - Lush. Solidly good, almost to great territory. Soccer Mommy got all the love, but I think this album is actually better?

Charli XCX - Pop 2. It’s good. She deserves more credit than she gets, and she already gets a lot.

Soccer Mommy - Clean. Not as good as the near-universal critical acclaim, but still a very strong album.

Cat Power - Wanderer. That cover of “Stay” is incredible all on its own, but the album really holds up on its own merits too. I can’t believe she’s still making music this good.

Chvrches - Love is Dead. It took me a couple listens to actually think it was good, but it is. It’s a side step from their last 2, which I don’t love, but I’m happy they’re doing what they want to do.

Buddy - Harlon & Alondra. Remember when he was next up and had an awesome voice? It seemed like his potential was gonna go untapped, but this album shows it’s not dead yet. It’s not quite Best material, but it was unfairly slept on.

Best Songs:

"Backpack” - Alex Lahey. Same comment as her album. I know this came out last year. But I’ve spent a year being embarrassed by forgetting it, and she deserves a spot.

"Thank U, Next” - Ariana Grande. Sweetener wasn’t bad, but this was way better. It took Mac dying, her concert tragedy, and breaking up with Pete to get the best Ariana we’ve ever had.

“DJs Gotta Dance More” - A Trak. This is the type of song that I could listen to non-stop for the rest of my life and be perfectly content.

“Missing U” - Robyn. She’s a queen. What do we expect? It’s solid gold.

Dirty Computer Quartet - From the start of “Screwed” until the end of “Make Me Feel” Janelle Monae has my heart for all time. It doesn’t get much better.

9. “Nice For What” - Drake. He’s fine. The best thing about this song is the Lauryn Hill. But it’s catchy as hell.

8. “Apeshit” - The Carters. It’s been a long time since my jaw dropped on a consistent basis listening to Jay. I’m happy it’s happening more, and even more with his wife outrapping him.

7. “Havana” - Camila Cabello. Earworm.

6. “Lemonade” - NERD. The Vampire King returns, recruits Rihanna to rap, and it sounds so good.

5. “Shallow” - Lady Gaga. I honestly haven’t even seen the movie yet, but this song is almost perfectly crafted. It sounds like it could have come out of any classic era. It does exactly what it aims to do.

4. “Look Alive” - Blocboy JB. I don’t really even want to talk about how good this song is. It bugs me how good it is.

3. “I Like It” - Cardi B. The album wasn’t bad, but she literally could have released just this song, and it probably would have sold just as many copies as the album did. The perfect song for driving during summer with your windows down.

2. “The Story of Adidon” - Pusha T. My favorite song of the year. It taught the kids about real rap beef. From the cover art to the line about 40, it was shocking. Did he go too far? Yes. Do I think he shouldn’t have? No. Too bad the kids all ignored it and still rock with the Canadian.

1. “Girls Like You” - Maroon 5. The most perfect pop song of the year. It sounds like it was cooked up in a magical song laboratory, and I don’t mind that at all.

Best Albums:

7. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour. This album goooooeeeesssss in. She sings about all the typical things you’d expect from a country album, and then changes directions, too.

6. Mac Miller - Swimming. We can’t ignore the fact that his death almost certainly affected the placement of this album. But even if he was still with us, Mac was progressing and growing, just like he has with every single album, and this would have been a serious contender. I still can’t listen to it without crying.

5. The Carters - Love is Everything. Continuing the trend of old people being able to rap and do it well is an important reason this album gets to be this high. Also, it puts on fitting cap on the Lemonade/4:44/Love Trilogy.

4. YG - Still Dangerous. It’s crazy how shit falls off when you don’t have a press-baiting single like “FDT” but YG is still making crazy good music. This album is not as good as the last 2, but it’s still super important to have an older perspective out there, representing for Cali G Funk in 2018.

3. Vince Staples - FM! I will never forget where I was when I heard this album for the first time, and that’s an increasingly rare thing. In a time when there’s plenty of weirdo kids who are really good rappers, with the amount of praise that Vince gets, it’s still a possibility that he’s UNDERrated. He’s a voice we need, and this album is a perfect little piece that he created to share that voice. Everything he’s done has been great, and this is no exception.

2. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer. Give me all Janelle everything. This album could easily have been #1. Every part of it feels purposefully thought out and well executed. The video version was great, the singles are all bangers, the lyrics are necessary, and the themes are pushing all the right buttons.

1. Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends. I knew from the moment that I listened to this album that it was going to be my #1 in December. The fact that I’m still writing that in December, when the album dropped in March, is a testament to its staying power. From “The Opener” to the very last track, there’s not a moment of let up. These kids are super promising, and they have already done something phenomenal. I cannot wait to see what comes next for them.

#best of #lists #2018 #music #camp cope #janelle monae #vince stapes #yg #the carters #mac miller #kacey musgraves

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supernatural-squadd · 7 years ago

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Asylum

Winchester Sister imagine

Based off of: S.1 Ep.10

Give me feedback? (pleaseeeee)

Let me know if you want on one of my many taglists

Sister tags: @skeletoresinthebasement @noones-girl1980 @imjusthereforsupernatural @jamric @sisterwinchesterwriter @pumpkinpiesandpocketknives @messy-buns-and-shotguns @graceb200371

Forever Tags: @Freaksforthewin , @thewinhunter, @cambriacaneatnoodles, @brokennoone , @@youtubehelpsmesurvive , @chrisevansthedoritobastard , @@winchesters-favorite-girl , @@we-know-a-little-about-a-lot @godh8salyssa @dean-baby-Winchester @@straightasdeanwinchester @@animexchocolate @@fabulouslycassie @@lizbeth-loves-bobear @nicolesyneah25 @@lemonadegazeelle @@i-am-an-outcast @@evyiione @27bmm @percussiongirl2017 @assbutt-still-in-hell @samsgirly66 @xxmizzlexx @aqswdefrgthzjukilop

Warnings: I laughed, I cried, I threw up in my mouth a little.

A/n: This one is pretty long but I think its worth it.

“Roosevelt Asylum,” you uncrossed your legs from their resting position on the bed, taking on tug at the licorice hanging from your mouth as you took another bite while making your way over to the table where Sam and Dean sat.

“So get this, these moronic teens in Illinois keep going to check out this supposedly haunted Asylum.” You continued to chew your candy whilst speaking, looking and pointing the the article section in the newspaper.

“They say it’s haunted by the ghosts of the patients. Spend the night, the spirits will drive you insane.” The tone you used was that of an eery suspense as you turned to Dean and gave him a suspicious look.

Sam seemed to be soaking in what you were saying, this wasn’t the first time you’d approached them with a possible case. Only most of the cases weren’t really anything.

“And?” Dean asked with a crooked eyebrow, wanting more info.

Before you could open your mouth to defend your case, Sam had beaten you to it.

“And those teenagers aren’t seen again.” Sam turned his laptop, showing both you and Dean the missing people’s files and flyers.

Instantly you jumped backwards with excitement. Slamming the newspaper down upon the small cracked table.

“Yes! I’ll start getting my stuff together.” You beamed with success and pure joy. Only to have the feelings stopped when Dean cocked his head and gave you an amused smiling tone.

“Easy there, Sherlock Holmes. We don’t even know if this is our kind of thing.” He tried his best to talk you down, but you were way to pumped with adrenaline.

Sam sighed and shook his head with a smile, seeing how low your jaw dropped in total disapproval with what Dean was saying.

“Newflash, Dr. Watson,” you snapped back at him with the perfect amount of sass. “We’ve said that literally every single case we’ve picked up. When is it EVER not ‘our kind of thing’?”

Dean looked to Sam as if telepathically consulting him on what he thought of all this. Sam’s response was a simple shrug as though he was agreeing with you.

“Let’s just go check it out.” You spoke in a way suggestion a question rather than a statement. But nonetheless, Dean sighed and complied to your wish. Resulting in you jumping up and down in excitement again.

Neither of the boys were nearly as pumped as you were as the three of you pulled up to the closed down asylum.

“Dude, yes!” You hopped out of the backseat before Baby was even in park.

“Look at this jeepers creepers place! It screams 'Y/n, I’m haunted. Come kick ass within my walls of insanity’.” You giggled, holding up your hands like you were labeling the place as you spoke.

Both of the boys exited the car, shaking their heads slightly while looking down. You were really jazzed about having found a case all on your own. Though Dean was still not entirely sure about this actually being a case, he still showed interest. Mainly for your sake.

“What are you seeing Detective Velma?” Dean teased with crossed arms as he leaned up against his car.

Sam couldn’t help but let out a short snorted laugh, but he immediately stopped when you turned around and gave them both an unamused look.

“Well, Scooby, I’m seeing a ratted out car parked over there. Meaning teenagers such as myself are here being law breaking shit heads, again, like myself.” You spoke while climbing over the thick wired fence that couldn’t have been any shorter than fifteen feet.

“Why don’t you and Shaggy Ol’ Boy stay put while I solve my case?” As though it were nothing, you hopped down from your position on the fence. Landing perfectly as you brushed off the dirt from your jeans.

Judging by the looks resting on their faces, neither of your brothers were thumbs up for this new idea of yours.

“They’re bad misfit teenagers.” You tried to explain. “They’ll let me in on what they’ve found so far, then I can give them a piece of my mind for being so stupid.” You gave a smile as you walked backwards towards the building.

“You mean just about as stupid as you’re being?” Dean began to walk somewhat fast towards the fence, preparing to jump on and start climbing to stop you.

You didn’t even bother to turn around, they could hear the laughter and amusement in your voice.

“They’re not gonna trust two grown men. One of which is old enough to be their Dad.” A hidden smirk that only you had knowledge of spread on your lips as you could hear Dean scoffing with disgust and total rude disapproval.

From inside the building, the light echoes of two voices drew you closer and closer to their location. You did your best to pay no mind to the creepy appearance of the place, seeing as it gave you the total chills.

“Hey, check it out.” One of the voices called to the other.

“I thought we were going to a movie?” The sound of a displeased teenage girl replied.

“This is better, it’s like we’re in a movie.” He tried his best to interest her.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at the stupidity. We’re teenagers really this reckless and dumb? Playing around with the dead wasn’t funny or a cool date. It was how Dean always threatened to scare any future boyfriends of yours off. The two clueless kids couldn’t have been but around the corner from you.

Quickly, you picked up your pace to a light jog, entering the room you thought they had gone into. Only to find the steel metal door slamming behind you.

Instantly you came to a stop, shoulders bunched up as every muscle in your body froze.

“Shit…” you muttered out, eyes closed and chest rising and falling in quick short motions.

Slowly, you began to turn around. Hoping not to see anything there. But luck wasn’t on your side.

Some sort of deformed girl was standing before you, slowly making her way closer and closer just as you took a step back each time she took one forward.

“Shit shit shit shit shit…..” you breathed out in a whisper, afraid to talk normally in fear you might anger her.

This was the first spirit you’d seen face to face. Well, without one of your brothers right by you.

The girl continued to get closer, up until she was right in front of you, and your back was completely pressed against the wall.

“S-sam….Dean?” You managed to call out in a desperate yell as you heard their voices pass by.

The entire time you kept your eyes locked with the spirit, not blinking and barley breathing. For some reason she reached her hand out to touch your chest.

All instincts did their best to suck your chest in as her hand grew nearer.

“Y/n? You in there?” Dean asked while Sam began to find a way to get the door open.

Neither of them got a vocal reply, the sound of your heavy unsteady breathing was the only thing that told them that you were most definitely in there and scared shitless.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.” You continued to breathe out silently while holding your eyes closed with the pressure of the world. Only thing was, your eyes didn’t open back up.

For some reason you were lying horizontally on a soft warm surface. You experimented your surroundings, moving your fingers lightly and repositioning your shoulders.

“Hey.” A voice spoke. Sounding like it was coming from underwater almost.

“She waking up?” This separate voice sounded like Dean’s. A very concerned Dean.

Sure enough, as you opened your eyes there were your brothers. Back in the hotel, watching over you cautiously.

“How you feeling, kid?” Your oldest brother asked, putting a new wet rag on your forehead while tying his best to hide the still present fear in his eyes.

“Like shit.” You replied, not thinking of the language you were using. “Sorry.” instantly you apologized for it.

“Well you almost died, I’d be swearing like a damn sailor without a beer.” Dean raised his eyebrows in an understanding way.

Total and complete confusion swept over your facial features. What the hell happened?

“Ghost possession.” Sam said practically reading your mind and question. “It was pretty bad at one point.” His lips formed a sweet flatline smile of the sort, rubbing his fingers along your hand that he held in love.

“Dean shot you, he thought it was salt rock he was blasting you with…” his eyes trailed down to Dean who sat at the table, too ashamed to look at you.

His hand sat crookedly next to his lips as his fingers rested upon them.

“I’m okay, Dean.” You stated weakly, even though you could feel you really weren’t.

“I shot you in your chest and in your leg.” His eyes were blank as he spoke. “You almost bled out.” He did his best to show with words just how serious it was, but his eyes showed it all.

“Yeah but I’m okay now, everything’s gonna go back to how it always does. You know? Saving people, hunting things, the family business.” You tried your absolute best to show Dean how okay you were via your words.

With a scoff he stood up. Walking over to the foot of the bed, he lifted the blanket up.

“You're amputated in one leg at your knee, nothing is going to put things back to how they were.”

#spnfamily #spn fic #spn imagine #supernatural #supernatural imagine #imagine supernatural #dean Winchester #dean winchester supernatural #dean Winchester imagine #sam Winchester #sam winchester supernatural #sam Winchester imagine #dean x reader #sam x reader #dean Winchester x reader #sam winchester x reader #winchester sister imagines #Winchester sister imagine #winchesterbrothers

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mandibierly · 7 years ago

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Jane Lynch on researching Janet Reno for 'Manhunt: Unabomber,' and her Emmy nod for 'Dropping the Soap'

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If there’s any question about Jane Lynch’s range, this week should answer it. As Emmy voting begins, the three-time winner (Glee and Hollywood Game Night) is in the hunt again, this time nominated for playing the cutthroat executive producer of a failing soap opera in the hilarious short-form comedy series Dropping the Soap, and tonight, she’s portraying Janet Reno in the fourth episode of Discovery’s gripping Manhunt: Unabomber.

As you see in the clip above, in June 1995, the Attorney General meets with Don Ackerman (Chris Noth), the Bay Area Divisional Head of the FBI, to hear his recommendation on the Unabomber’s proposition: the man the audience knows is Ted Kaczynski (Paul Bettany) claims he’ll stop sending deadly mail bombs if his complete 35,000-word manifesto is printed in The New York Times or The Washington Post for all to read.

Lynch had always been an admirer of Janet Reno’s, at first because of her stature — “I’m a big girl so I was interested — I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a very tall person,'” she says — but then because of her work. “If you look at what she had on her plate during that time, she had Waco, which was a disaster for her. She had the Atlantic City Bombing. Of course she had Unabomber and Whitewater. So she had a lot of very important cases, and what I loved about her is that she took the facts where they led her, and she made some very risky decisions, especially in terms of the Unabomber case in publishing that manifesto, which could appear to the outside eye as negotiating with terrorists,” Lynch says. “It ended up working out in that the desired result occurred — somebody recognized Kaczynski’s writing, his own brother, and they were able to track him down that way. But it was a big risk.”

To prepare for the role, Lynch watched a lot of tape of Reno. “She reminded me of gym teachers I used to have with that Southern, closed-jaw kind of thing. And very much to the point. On television, she was rather flat and methodical, and there was almost no inflection in her voice. She wasn’t somebody who was born to be on-camera, that certainly wasn’t her thing, but she was all about the information she was relaying with very little emotion behind it,” she says. She also traded emails with a man who was Reno’s assistant around that time and became a lifelong friend. “He gave me some great information on her as a person. She was a real can-do person, and yet had a Southern formality about her. Very gracious, knew the right things to say, the respect for your elders — she lived that. She also had a huge laugh. She loved to laugh. She loved to put her hands on her hips and stick her belly out and throw her head back. That was her favorite laugh posture. And she had a huge, huge heart,” Lynch says.

Jane Lynch as Janet Reno in Episode 8, the season finale, of ‘Manhunt: Unabomber’ (Photo: Tina Rowden/Discovery Channel)

Even though we won’t be seeing a belly laugh in this particular story, no information goes unused. “It gets in there somehow,” she says. An example: Reno was 6’2″ or 6’3″ — two or three inches taller that Lynch — and had very long arms. “It’s almost as if the awareness of her body stopped at her elbows. She didn’t know what to do with the rest of those arms, so they kind of hung dead,” Lynch says. “She didn’t buy anything custom, of course, she didn’t have anything made, so the sleeves stopped at her mid-forearm. I had [the costume department] take up my sleeves. If it looks three-quarter it looks purposeful, so I made them a little longer than three-quarter, so that just her wrists were hanging out there, with nothing to do. And of course she didn’t think about it at all. She wore what she was supposed to wear — the suits and sometimes really bright colors, which is funny. And she wore these little flats and did not have a sense of herself from the outside in. She didn’t care.”

Jane Lynch as Janet Reno, Chris North as Don Ackerman, and Wallace Langham as Louis J. Freeh in ‘Manhunt: Unabomber’ (Photo: Tina Rowden/Discovery Channel)

Manhunt showrunner/director Greg Yaitanes — who shares Lynch’s appreciation for Reno (he made sure her office in the series is a picture-perfect recreation) and admired the amount of research Lynch did for the role — was particularly excited about seeing Lynch in a scene with Noth. “I always thought that Michael Mann missed an opportunity not having De Niro and Pacino in the same frame together in Heat. I didn’t want to miss that with Paul and Sam [Worthington, who stars as FBI profiler Jim Fitzgerald] or Jane and Chris. Here are two major TV stars,” he says of the latter, “and that power of the frame, you can feel it when they shake hands at the end of that scene.”

Lynch credits having a day of rehearsal before filming the pivotal conversation. “I can do all the work I want in my bedroom at home and figure out how she does things, what she thinks, but it doesn’t happen until you’re face-to-face with the other actor and you’re sitting in that set. The whole idea of these two coming together and the gravity of this conversation they were having was evident in that rehearsal and really informed when we shot,” she says. “[Reno] has an unquestioning authority about her, but within that authority is so much compassion and grace. And she knows the very human element of what goes into these decisions here, and like she said to Ackerman, ‘You may live to regret this.’ I know what happened at Waco was something she said she would never forget the rest of her natural life. People and children were killed as the result of her order. So she lived with that every day of her life, and yet she still went forward and continued to make the tough decisions. She wanted to pass that on to Ackerman, that she completely understood. He was close to retiring, he could very easily go the safe, tried-and-true route here, but Ackerman had the courage to say, ‘Nope, I really want to catch this guy, it’s been 17 years and we have to try something outside of the box.”

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Completely switching gears for Dropping the Soap — the ensemble web series created by her friends Paul Witten, Mandy Fabian, and Kate Mines and available for viewing on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play — Lynch takes on the role of Olivia Vanderstein, the EP who arrives to shake things up behind-the-scenes on the ratings-challenged Collided Lives. Each episode begins with a scene from Collided Lives — shot and performed with the same signature lighting and contractually-obligated close-ups — then seamlessly segues into the backstage backstabbing among the cast, led by Witten’s Julian Draker and Mines’ Kit Knockers, the woman who plays Julian’s wife on the soap and, unknowingly, his beard off of it.

“What I loved about [Olivia] is how stealthy she is, and how much joy she gets out of planting a seed that creates so much chaos,” Lynch says. “I love the little scene I have with Paul [in the premiere] where he’s in my office and the whole time he never knows if I’m on his side or not. I give him a little bit of encouragement and then I rip it away, and I do it with the same look on my face the entire time. She’s almost like my cat when my cat kills a mouse and toys with it first. So Olivia’s toying with all of them, and then of course she’ll eventually kill them.”

The 10-episode first season, which also features guest stars Diedrich Bader, John Michael Higgins, and Patrick Fabian, ends on a cliffhanger that we will not spoil because we’d like everyone to watch so the show scores a second season. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but I know they have it all mapped out,” Lynch promises.

In the meantime, we do know we’ll see her on Amazon in another series: last week she wrapped a guest spot on Amy Sherman-Palladino’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She plays Sophie Lennon, the most famous female comic of her time (the late ’50s) who crosses paths with Miriam “Midge” Maisel (House of Cards‘ Rachel Brosnahan), a young Jewish woman who’s getting a divorce and decides she wants to be a standup comic. “Of course there are very few female comics [then], but the only female comics who can make it are women who will have kind of a caricature of how ugly they are and how men don’t love them and ‘Oh, well.’ Sophie’s of that old school,” Lynch says. “She’s almost vaudevillian in that she does a joke and ‘Baboom! Baboom!’ Her signature phrase is ‘Put that on your plate!’ and she’s a stickler hausfrau from Queens. I have an encounter with Midge… and I think Midge probably decides ‘I’m not gonna go that route.'”

Manhunt: Unabomber airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on Discovery. Dropping the Soap, distributed by Glass House Distribution, is available for viewing on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.