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1-800-iluvhockey · 3 years

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seven minutes in heaven - t.bordeleau

summary- Thomas Bordeleau and Y/n Brisson have been connected because of Bords’ friendship with Y/n’s older brother, Brendan Brisson. They never really got along & then got separated because Y/n left. What happens when she comes back and everyone grew up?

type- fic

details- umichthombordleau! x brissonsister!reader…….. no warnings (just a party and drama/tension) enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend trope.

requested by a anon who wanted a seven minutes in heaven fic with bords! hope this works for you <3

Brendan and Y/n Brisson have been best friends with Thomas Bordeleau for a very very long time. From youth hockey, moving up all the way to playing for Team USA together… the two boys were attached at the hip. The one conflict was Y/n, Brendan’s little sister by not even a full 12 months. The younger Brisson sibling didn’t like Bordeleau, and no one really knew the reasoning for it, they just avoided it like the plague. Y/n was civil around him because of Brendan, but behind closed doors….. well, many things can happen behind closed doors.

The “hatred” aka severe dislike started to fade between the two when the boys were around 17, and Y/n was just 16. Thom began to realize his not so sudden attraction for his best friend's little sister. Y/n had gone to a private school in Switzerland for the past 2 years while the boys started their NTDP debuts, but now she was back. They were playing a NTDP home game against who even knows lol and Y/n was up in those stands for the first time wearing one of her brother’s Team USA jerseys; something changed. Thom looked up from the bench to see her just sitting there, watching the game so intently and he felt his heart melt a little. He’d never felt that way before, about anyone at least. Hockey was the only thing that made his heart feel like that. When Y/n was finally back from Switzerland, she wanted to go see her brother play. So straight after the flight home, she rushed to get ready for the game, and head straight over to the arena. Not telling anybody that she was there, she sat in the stands across from the bench, in a older USA Brisson jersey. She was watching the game, trying to figure out some of the roster, and she looked at the bench. Her heart skipped a few beats when she saw her childhood frenemy Thomas Bordeleau on the bench.

He had grown up, and she did too. He looked so good she thought, and wondered why she really disliked him in the first place……… and there was no good reasoning behind it. Maybe it was her younger self saying that she has been in love with him from the start.

✿❀ ❀✿

After that NTDP game, everything around the trio began to change. Briss and Bords committed to Umich for hockey, Y/n reenrolled to public high school, and everyone and everything was like it was before.... except that it wasn’t. The dynamic between each person began to change. Briss wasn’t around that much because of his rep with the ladies, and because of it, that lead to Y/n and Bords being around each other more and more.

When the boys were in their senior year of high school, Thom decided he needed to go for it. He needed to tell her before it was too late. “Screw it..... I am doing this now because I won't be around to do it later.” He told himself as he worked up the courage to tell Y/n how he felt. He had it all planned out. Bren was on a date with the third girl of the week (lol jokes) but he was on a date that Saturday, and Y/n was studying for a big exam for the following Monday. So since the younger Brisson was finally semi friends with him now, he proposed that he could help her study…. and she said yes. What she didn’t know is what one study session could change everything.

“I don’t know why I’m doing this.” She mumbled as she opened the door to a enthusiastic thom that was carrying so much goodies. Snacks, movies, the whole shebang. “I got all your favorites because tonight is also a movie night.” He told her as he stepped inside and got everything ready.

“Bords—what the— how did you do this?” Y/n asked as she sat down on the couch. She would have tried a little harder if she knew what this might would have entailed, but he never told her anything.

“I just know that this test has been stressing you out for at least a week so I wanted to make you feel better, and study of course.” Bords said smiling as he scooted near her on the couch. Y/n was fooling herself is she said that she didn’t have butterflies in her stomach.

He turned on a movie and Y/n took a break from studying. They were pretty comfy on the couch. Both of them in sweats and in Umich merch. He kept looking over at her and she kept looking over at him. “Thomas— why do you keep looking at me. Is there something on my face?” Y/n inquired with a joking tone, trying to figure out why he wasn’t paying attention to the movie.

“I have a confession Y/n. Please don’t let anything change or..” He started to say until he was cut off by Y/n kissing him softly.

“I’m sorry I had to—“ Y/n started to say until he did the same thing, but with more passion than she did. It continued for another 3 passionate minutes until Y/n pulled away.

“I… I never hated you Bords. I think I was in denial all of our childhood because I liked you so much. We were just kids. I didn’t want to admit anything because I was too afraid that you just viewed me as Briss’ little sister..” She explained to him, looking down at her feet with a red tint on her face.

“I have never viewed you as just Briss’ little sister. I have loved you for too long and I had to show you before we got separated again because life is going to be even harder. Those two years when you were in Switzerland were so bad Y/n, we… I missed you too much. I’m in love with you Y/n Brisson. But now I don’t know how we are going to do this.” Bords told her, picking her head up and kissing her cheek lightly.

“Let’s not worry about that, let’s just stay in this moment forever. You and Me….. I love you too Thomas Bordeleau. We can figure out how we can do this later. I just want to be with you.” She said, holding on to his waist as he pulled her closer.

“I am so glad that I did this tonight.” He whispered, kissing her forehead.

“I’m so grateful that you made the first confession because I was going to wait.” She whispered back, laughing into his chest.

“We will be fine, just a year or two right?” He told her, holding her tighter.

✿❀ ❀✿

That night, everything changed but nothing really did at all. On the outside and with everyone else, they were just civil and even some people would consider them friends. Bren loved that the two were getting along again. What no one knew is that behind closed doors, Bords and Y/n were so love sick for each other. It hurt so bad for the both of them to hide it like that, but it was fun, and they were really good at having a secret relationship. They had a few slip ups and fights, but every couple does. Graduation came, the boys went away to Umich, but Y/n made it to every home game ( with Covid it was every game on the couch & then every home game for sure of the 21-22 season) and made time for her private and public relationship with Bords. Bren loved it when Y/n came up to visit, and Bords loved it even more…. because every time she would come up, it would be closer to her being able to go here and eventually be with him. Graduation came for her and she followed in her brothers footsteps to go to Umich. Everyone was livid that she would be in AA, and Bords knew from the start that she was going to go there and be with him. Now they just needed to plan out how to break the news to everyone without pissing everyone off.

✿❀ ❀✿

Everyone who knew Y/n knew that her relationships have always been a secret. So it was no surprise when boys would ask her out and she’d say no…. since she had been secretly dating Thom, she would tease people that she did have someone. Thom however, was very public about being in a relationship, with a secret girl that he told no one about, that’s how he avoided questions and speculations. But Y/n was his and he was Y/n’s and that worked while they were in highschool. But going to the same college made things even harder. Not being able to wear Bords’ jersey or be public….. so they made a plan. A foolproof plan to lightly expose their relationship. Bren is going to be mad either way, they decided. So why not have a little fun?

✿❀ ❀✿

The hockey team was on a huge win streak these past two weeks. Meaning party after party, and a perfect opportunity to be together and no one noticing. Y/n’s roommates and friends kinda knew that Y/n was seeing someone & that it was someone that Briss didn’t like. What they didn’t know is that it was Bords. Y/n was really close with the Frosh squad, from being in classes together and being Briss’ younger sister. She was especially close with Mackie, who was the only one who knew about Y/n and Bords. He protected her from all the frat boys n stuff because Bords can’t publicly.

The Saturday night where they had a series win against Mich St, the boys again, threw a party at the house. Tons of people, tons of alcohol, what could go wrong? Oui by Jeremih was blaring through the house……Y/n was currently standing pretty close to Mackie as she was talking to both Mackie and Ethan. Mark and Luke were playing beer pong with Bords and Dylan, while the other sophomores were scattered around with the upperclassmen. Bords was with Dylan so that he could keep an eye on Y/n since he can’t be with her publicly yet. He heard her laugh from across the room and got lost in her dream like

“Hey Bordsy. Hurry up it’s your turn.” Dylan said slapping him upside the head.

“Sorry man I’ll go.” Bords said shaking his head and taking his turn.

“What is your deal tonight man? I’ve never seen you this distracted before.” Hughes told him, taking his turn after.

“Maybe it has something to do with Mackie and Y/n.” Mark said, hitting Hughes’ shoulder in a joking way.

“Guys stop teasing him, we know he is in love with Y/N!!” Dylan says grabbing Bords’ shoulders and jumping on them.

“woah woah woah--” Bords said loudly and laughing too. This is not how he wanted to down for this... and Briss was still near them.

“Oh yeah? So you’re not in love with her?” Hughes said walking up to Bords’ side and grabbing his shoulder to face the other frosh and Y/n.

“If you do love her….. why don’t you make it public. Right here, right now, tonight during the seven minutes of heaven game we always play. I’ll get Ethan to set it up….. Just say the word Bordsy.” Hughes whispered to him as Bords’ kept his death glare on Mackie and Y/n’s position and the way he was holding her—

“I’ll do it. Set it up. Now Hughes.” He growled as he went to search for another drink before the game begun.

Y/n was on the other side room, by Mackie’s side, halfway paying attention to the boys’ conversation. She just kept looking between Ethan & Mark and then back to her boyfriend. She watched the tense conversation from across the room. She wish she could be by his side right now, especially after this big win.

Looking up to Mackie, she whispered in his ear “I need a drink, I’ll be back.”

“Okay n/n, we will be right here. Go find bords so you’re safe, okay?” Mackie replied, whispering the last part.

“Of course Raymond!!” She yelled as she sprinted to find her tense boyfriend.

Run me dry by Bryson Tiller started to play and she couldn’t help but laugh as she heard it. The lyrics almost matched on what she felt right now. Her tense boyfriend was making her want to slam him against a wall and go at him. But she knew it would be the other way around. Especially with that new hand tattoo…… made her want to melt on the spot. When she found her boyfriend of 1.5 years chugging a random beer, is when she about lost it. She was about to be right next to him until Luke came up and grabbed her wrist.

“Cmon Y/n! We’re playing seven minutes in heaven! Let’s go.” Luke told her, pulling her in the opposite direction.

“Okay Hughesy but if I get Ethan again I’m not doing seven minutes of rock paper scissors again.” Y/n told her friend, who pulled her into the group of about 15 people near the famous closet.

“Alright!! Alright!!! Is everyone here that wants to play?” Ethan told the group as he pulled the random name generator out so that the game could start. Everyone screams back a “Yes!” or a “EDDY HURRY UP” so that the game could start.

“Okay for the first round……. drumroll please……. Y/n Brisson and Thom Bordeleau!! Step right up and enjoy the seven minutes.” Ethan said enthusiastically as the pair looked at each other. Ethan opened the door as Bords stepped back to let Y/n in first.

The door shut and everyone was semi quiet. “ALRIGHT TIME STARTS—- NOW.” Dylan yelled through the door as Bords and Y/n just stood there in the dark.

“Hey baby—-“ Y/n started to say until she got cut off by a passionate kiss and Bords pushing her against the closet door. A soft groan exited between them as they went further. Die for you by The Weeknd was blasting outside the door, blocking out the white noise of their lips moving in sync.

“You and Mackie? Remember that? I saw his hands on you earlier. You’re mine now Brisson and no one else’s; ever. You got that?” Bords said to her as he wrapped his newly tattooed hand around her neck lightly.

“I’m sorry Thom.” She told him through the ragged breathing of her being turned on and with his hand around her throat.

“4 MINUTES LEFT!!!” Luke said loudly as people whooped and cheered.

“It’s always been you Brisson.” He told her as he kept his grip on her waist and her throat.

“After all this time Bordeleau?” She said lightly, smirking as she opened her legs for him to get even closer to her.

“Brendan is going to kill—-“ Bords starts to say until he heard a large bang on the door.

“THOMAS FUCKING BORDELEAU OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR.” The booming sound of Y/n’s older brother and Bords’ best friend echos to inside of the closet.

“oh my.” Y/n whispered until she was muffled by Thom’s tattooed hand. She tried to keep her laughter in because this is NOT HOW she wanted her brother to find out about her relationship with his best friend.

“Sorry Briss I’m a little busy right now!!” Bords replied to Briss’ cry and tried his best not to bust out laughing.

“THOMAS I SWEAR TO HIGH HEAVEN IF Y/N IS IN THERE WITH YOU IM KICKING YOUR ASS RIGHT HERE!!!” He said loudly as the team stood by watching this go down. Briss was PISSED off.

Bords removed the hand from her mouth when she said “Fuck it. I’m tired of this. I don’t want to keep you behind closed doors forever.” She said as she kissed him deeply before getting out of his grasp.

“I love you Y/n Brisson. Whatever happens when we open this door just know that you’re worth and deserve the whole damn world. I’d do anything to keep you safe or make you mine. You’d look so good with my jersey on, and hopefully a wedding ring someday.” Thom said to her, full of sincerity and love.

“I love you. You mean everything to me and more, Thomas. I’d do anything to let you be mine forever. But I also don’t want to ruin your friendship, or our relationship. Thank you for the past 1.5 years, and this seven minutes of bliss.” She told him, wiping her tears away.

They head bud each other and then she heard the “TIME IS UP! Open the door!” from Mark.

The door opens slowly, and the pair walk out hand in hand. Briss is standing with the team behind his back, looking pretty pissed. The pair look at their hands and then look at each other. She nods and Bords walks up to Briss. The music seemed to be slowly turning down and she felt her world start to crumble and her heartbeat became louder and louder as Thom got closer to her big brother.

“Bren— I” Thom started to say to his best friend, but was cut off.

Brendan Brisson, just gave his best friend that is his sister’s secret boyfriend… that he didn’t know about…. that they kept a secret about and lied to him about….. a genuine HUG.

“Thomas, thank you for taking care of my sister. I’m still a little pissed off that NO ONE TOLD ME. But she is good for you, and you’re a good fit for my sister.” Briss told him as they hugged it out.

Everyone started to cheer, and Y/n was shell shocked. The music slowly came back on and all the frosh started to swarm her.

“Did it work?”

“How do you feel?”

“IM SO EXCITED!!”

“we did this for you.” is what snapped Y/n out of her fever dream type state.

“What?” Y/n asked Luke, who pulled her away for a moment.

“Bords wanted to make it public and we helped him with this so you two could be official. Briss wasn’t planned….. but is he ever planned?” Luke chuckled as Y/n hugged him.

“Well I guess Mackie won’t need to protect me at parties anymore.” She said to Luke as her favorite pair started to make her way towards her.

“See ya lukie, thanks for everything.” She told Luke as she ran into their arms.

“I’m sorry Y/n. I’m sorry I didn’t let you two be public sooner. I was a bad brother, and Bords has been good to you this whole time. He is a keeper. Keep him, please?” Briss said as he put his arm around his little sister’s shoulder.

“Of course big bro. You two are stuck with me for life. By the way….. I won’t be needing your jerseys anymore Briss. I’ve got a whole stack of Bords’ in my closet that I can FINALLY WEAR!!!” Y/n joked as she hugged into Bords’ side.

“You’re not getting rid of me any time soon Y/n….. so wear them all the time now. I’ll get you a sharks one when we move to San Jose together. I’ll get one for little Y/n and Thom too.” Thom told her as he kissed her cheek.

“WOAH BORDS HOLD ON A MINUTE——“ Briss said getting to protective brother mode.

“you had to get him riled up now tommy?—-“ Y/n laughed as Briss started yelling and Bords and her started to laugh.

✿❀ ❀✿

As you can see many things can happen behind closed doors….. and man she was grateful for that seven minutes in heaven game…. ;)

#umich hockey #thomas bordeleau #seven minutes in heaven bords fic #1 800 iluvhockey

244 notes · View notes

enderwoah · 4 years

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AYUP, ORIGINSMP HEADCANONS ‘ERE BECAUSE I LOVE THEM!:

Ranboo

any seven-footers in chat??

literally is cared for by everyone

wilbur warning him that it’s raining up on the surface when he’s in a cave? phil telling him not to mlg water bucket?? the entire server collectively decided “this. this we must protect.”

mans makes the little vwoopy noises when he’s excited

he messes with the particles a lot, waving his hand through them and making them swirl

determined to make his and niki’s forbidden friendship work

has sworn that one day he’ll figure out how to visit niki’s house

oh yeah phil low-key adopted him

it just be like that sometimes

Jack

mans is LOuD, ANGRY, AND ON! FIRE!!

yes his hair WILL explode into flames like disney!hades when he gets super mad no i dont take critisism

he doesn’t actually get cold when he gets sad as one would expect

he just gets hotter and hotter as emotions grow

only time you’d ever find him cold is if he just didn’t care anymore.

but he’d be a broken, broken man before that happend!

often hides under trees with ranboo when it rains

(if anyone on the smp ever needs wood, they go to one of those two. they have literally every kind. in excess.)

similarly, they make fun of wilbur and niki (lightheartedly and jokingly, of course) being in the water when it’s daytime

which is fair because they make fun of those two in the rain

Niki

glub glub mfer

sis is somehow useless with a bow and arrow but will absolutely murk you if you give her a trident

basically kins ariel

has a collection of above sea-level stuff wilbur has given her

uses them to decorate

determined to visit jack someday

GETS A TAIL IN WATER NO I DON’T TAKE CRITISISM

has fins and gills

the whole shebang

and just for funsies -- is an angler fish hybrid

has the cool light thing coming from her hair and her teeth are super sharp

watch out!! she’s always armed and always dangerous!!!

Tommy

oh he is so salty about the tiny wings

CONSTANTLY bugs phil about how to make his wings bigger

“you cant mate that’s just how you were born”

“I’LL FIND A WAY, MARK MY WORDS.”

(he won’t find a way)

phil’s son

obviously

glides instead of flies and is really good at it

could probably beat an elytra course better than phil tbh

can actually hold his breath underwater for a helluva long time

mans has to sleep super high up and the atmosphere is suuuper thin so he’s used to not having a ton of oxygen

visits niki and “pollutes” her pond a lot

(he always cleans up afterwards and brings her cool stuff)

EDIT: I FORGOT TO ADD

HE SQUAWKS!!!

IF YOU SCARE HIM HE WILL GO BIRD MODE

I WAS GONNA SAY “DONT TEST HIM” BUT ACTUALLY DO IT’S VERY FUNNY

and he gets super embarrassed abt it afterwards

Tubbo

hard man

has funky fresh purple scale things that he can grow in combat to cover more of him

can manifest items out of thin air

just

no inventory pull up, they just appear

offers himself as a punching bag to people a lot to blow off steam

it doesn’t hurt

ever

it hurts their knuckles more than him

even playfully punching him is a pain, good lord

Wilbur

ghostbur is very happy to be alive again! :)

wilbur has been dead, dead for quite a bit now

he genuinely is just a phantom

the phantoms that come at night are just people that have been dead for over 500 years

thankfully, wil only died a few months ago, so he still has some time left!

slightly forgetful

not the smartest boy in the bunch

didn’t think to build his house underground when he is literally burned by sunlight

still loves his father and his brother(s) dearly!

niki and him bond underwater a lot during the day

(he’s a ghost, he doesn’t need oxygen!!)

they are literally best friends man

wilbur goes on expeditions purely to get niki things she’s never seen before since she’s water-bound most of the time

t,,,the,,,m,,

Phil

somehow has the most playfully malicious intent when he’s literally more than half the server’s father figure

LITERALLY 4/7

(ranboo, tommy, tubbo, wilbur)

PHIL.

plays pranks on ranboo with the pumpkin heads all the time

much to ranboo’s chagrin

but would literally fight a world for his kids

adopted or not

his wings make his hugs g r e at

he bonds with tubbo and ranboo over this inexplicable feeling of longing

(hint hint: they’re all connected to the end!!)

homesickness for a place they’ve never been...

anyways he also stops everyone from doing stupid stuff

“no ranboo, you can’t mlg water bucket”

“no tommy, yes i know you can jump off of giant towers, no, it’s not a good idea”

“NO tubbo, you CAN’T try and fight an entire raid armourless”

“no, wilbur, stop trying to see if walking in the sun around while wet will stop you from catching on fire, you’ll still melt.”

“i swear to god niki, don’t see how long you can hold your breath outside of the water”

‘NO JACK, STANDING IN THE RAIN DOES NOT MAKE YOU STRONGER”

it’s a 25/8 job, being the collective server’s dad.

2K notes · View notes

qwertyfingers · 4 years

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we know that bobby only watched ds9 and dean watched the tos movies for sure which implies he's seen tos as well (plus he calls jack spock). so what do you think everyone's favorite trek is? sam is without a doubt a tng fan first and foremost. i think out of all tos movies cas prefers the wrath of khan because he Feels Things when kirk and spock do the ta'al through the glass. charlie has definitely seen some trek (we've seen her llap), do you think she's into tos first and foremost? anyway let's talk about star trek nights in the bunker.

OKAY SO I HAVE. MANY MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. SORRY THIS IS SO LONG.

like. like of COURSE bobby only likes ds9 of course he does i could have told you this without the show becuase like. bobby is That Bitch. i think rufus will have watched TOS at least because leonard nimoy worked hard on linking jewish faith and practices into the vulcan lore and i think that would mean something to him. bobby will catch rufus smiling at him sometimes while they’re watching ds9 and ask him what all gruffly and rufus will smirk at him and say something about sisko with jake and bobby with dean and bobby will just cough and take a swig of whiskey and rufus will raise his eyebrows but let it slide. rufus definitely makes a comment once about dean&cas being like jake&nog that totally flies over dean’s head but bobby is all knowing eyebrow raise about.

i think cas and jack would really like discovery. while it has some issues with inconsistency, pacing, being a little dark, it also does better than the other TV treks at utilising the nature of film as a medium to instill a sense of wonder, at space and the world, and that’s something they’d really appreciate. i have my own issues with disco, but an obol for charon is as close to the central core of trek that disco ever gets. cas and jack also like that one in particular because they like listening to all the different languages being spoken. they all love michael (everyone loves michael). cas’ faves are stamets and reno because they’re mean and gay, jack’s fave is tilly because she’s excitable and bright and he latches onto that. dean likes reno because she’s got spunk. sam’s fave is airiam and he will never forgive them for killing her off. sam, cas and dean all feel an uncomfortable kinship with both ash and culber - they’ve both been the one with monster teeming under the surface, controleld by something not themself, but they’ve also all spent that time in hell/purgatory, separated from everyone they love.

thinking about episodes that would really get to them all, darmok is. THE ONE. i have a whole unfinished essay about darmok as the platonic ideal of star trek; the perfect distillation of everything trek is SUPPOSED to be about. it doens’t always get there but by god it tries! that speech michael gives in the disco s2 finale - “There's a whole galaxy of people out there who will reach for you. You have to let them. Find that person who seems farthest from you and reach for them.” - that’s what darmok is about!!! it’s all about a situation where real communication seems impossible, where everything we know about talking and learning has broken down. and picard says, okay, i will find another way. i can’t relate to you, you can’t relate to me, but by god i’m going to try. we all meet people we have trouble communicating with in our lives, and often, those people will not care about changing their own ways to accommodate us. for people with autism, adhd, psychosis, the list goes on, this is a very common occurrence. it’s exhausting and frustrating and alienating. darmok is all about crossing that barrier. about reaching for someone through a world of difficulty and learning how to talk. learning how to share something with someone who seems out of our reach. it’s beautiful, it’s heartwrenching, it means more to me than i can easily put into words!

anyway i think the bunker fam would experience a lot of emotions watching it together. there’s defintiely a lot of hugging eachother, sam cries a lot and won’t look at anyone until after the episode ends. jack just asks a lot of questions and talks about his progress learning sign language with cas. dean snakes his hand into cas’ halfway through and doesn’t let go. doesn’t show the emotion on his face, but he clutches harder at the emotional beats. cas runs his fingers through jack’s hair and thinks a lot, and decides not to say anything unless dean talks first. its just a Lot for everyone.

dean def makes them marathon all the TOS and TNG movies. it’s an experience everyone needs at least once. i think you’re right about cas and TWOK with the ta’al through the glass, but also ‘this simple feeling’ and the hand hold would make him feel crazy. bones being the one that spock entrusts with his katra DEF makes dean feel some type of way because as much as destiel is kirkspock-coded, dean IS bones, and seeing spock trust bones so completely despite how at odds they were when they first knew eachother would dig deep into dean’s psyche and make him more than a little bit nutso. the movies are way too long for jack so he mostly sits and plays animal crossing while they watch and looks at the screen when everyone else gasps or when something exciting is happening that holds his attention for a while. sam’s fave is nemesis precisely because it’s terrible and he loves how camp it is.

dean has definitely seen all of trek. i refuse to believe someone who watches as much tv and films as dean wouldn’t sit and watch the whole shebang. i think he’s probably seen TOS and the TOS movies more than the others because its easier than sitting through 7 seasons, but i think rather than that being his favourite he’d just have really strong opinions about the best episodes of each one? like if you asked him what his favourite is he’d say you can’t answer that because they’re all so different from eachother

VOY - bride of chaotica, non seqitur, macrocosm for the favourite episodes. seven, janeway and tuvok would be his favourite characters. he think toms a bit of a knob but also feels a kinship with him for the similar brand of bab dad-ism but he wouldn’t be able to put that into words. he’s also a fierce defender of threshold being a good episode (he’s right for that)

DS9 - our man bashir it’s our man bashir. he doesn’t dislike ds9 but its very plot heavy and he didn’t care for it when he was younger. rewatching it after living through multiple supernatural wars he’d probably appreciate it more. i know for a fact he cries every time there’s an episode about sisko being a good dad. jadzia and garak are his faves

TNG - he LOVES q. he also absolutely will not be caught dead referencing how much loves q after cas comes into his life because sam will do the little brotherly knowing eyebrow raise at him and he will die of embarrassment. he regularly references ‘there are four lights’ because he’s a fucking nerd. he has made cas watch elementary my dear data and fistful of datas a half dozen times each at LEAST. cas KNEW how dean was going to be about the cowboy hat he’s defintiely got into full cowboy getup at home just for watching movies and in cas’ head star trek is fully to blame.

TOS - oh there are so many good TOS eps to choose from. obv he loves most of the series becuase TOS has MANY banger eps, his favourites are probably like. mirror mirror, amok time (baby dean defintiely had some kind of crisis watching it for the first time; i know the rituals are intricate). i know deep in my bones that dean watched the conscience of the king (introduction of the tarsus iv massacre) once and then spent his entire teenage years writing fic about that in his head, whether he posted it or not. dean related too much to those experiences of shared hunger. city on the edge of forever is one of everyone’s faves for a reason (and i’m STILL mad we never got a closer take on that episode in spn it could have been so fun).

ENT - he definitely thinks enterprise is stupid and he’s not wrong but he has also definitely watched it and been very repressed about the whole thing. mans was like oh i feel a kinship with malcolm reed the obviously repressed queer man. i will never examine this feeling ever again thank you <3 he also makes fun of archer for being obsessed with, of all sports, water polo. shran is his favourite character because he’s a little shit and makes him laugh, and t’pol, because t’pol is a badass and he’d appreciate that. i can’t remember the title of a single episode off the top of my head though lol.

i can see what you’re saying about sam being a TNG stan. i’m conflicted though, I feel like TNG’s generally the favourite of 1) obnoxious nerds who think knowing trivia facts makes them smart, 2) men desperately trying to seem masculine and 3) people who’ve watched it three times and have extremely complex thoughts on the personhood and rights of robots. i could see sam fitting into the third group, but people who are in it for the robot feelings are a coin flip between voyager and tng being the fave, and i just have a feeling that voyager would be his favourite. i know kid sam is getting gender envy watching voyager in shitty motels while dad and dean are out, trying to find the words for it. his first semester at stanford he talks a friend into giving him the janeway haircut and rides that high for months. sam’s favourite characters are seven and EMH.

sam and dean have definitely had dozens of long drawn out debates about philosophical topics in star trek. do the holograms deserve rights and if so which ones. are the romulans and vulcans still meaningfully the same people. was spock right for trying to foment reunification by going undercover on romulus. can the borg be redeemed. etc etc.

i haven’t seen any of picard at all so i can’t comment. i also think sam and dean probably read a lot of the trek books? they’re pretty common to find in secondhand bookstores and cheap, would have been even cheaper back in the day. sam probably doesn’t care for them much, dean has a few solid faves though. i’ve only read the disco books so i can’t comment anything specifically (besides the fact that i think dean read dead endless and cried like a baby), but some of the TOS and DS9 books are gay as hell and i know dean was eyes emoji-ing that shit.

#spn #spn fic #tfw 2.0 #treknatural

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beauodie · 3 years

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Falling For You || Beaumee

pairing - beau odie & @aimeeblake

time - the beginning of july 2021 (like the 11th-ish, give or take)

setting - aimee and dj’s apartment

summary - beau worries that telling aimee he loves her via text ruined a milestone moment for them as a couple, so he goes to see her in person with gifts in tow to make it up to her; suffice to say it backfires and crashes and burns, almost literally.

Beau didn't know exactly how he'd upset his girlfriend, or even if she actually was upset or just confused, but what he did know was that, as a boyfriend, he needed to do better. Deciding that her issue had been with the word 'love', he had to take some action. After all, maybe using the word 'love' so casually in a text had been the problem. Beau had been essentially saying that he loved Aimee in different words ever since they got together, but it was the first time he'd used the actual L-word and in a text definitely wasn't special enough. Aimee was a romantic who swooned over vampires who had eternal love, and he'd messed up a milestone moment. He had to try and fix it.

That's why he was headed over to her room with a bouquet of her favorite flowers in one hand and a box of chocolates that spelled out "I LOVE YOU" inside with different small treats in the other, to make the moment up to her. He got to the door and knocked with his elbow, smiling excitedly. He'd had some nerves on the way over but now that he was here, it was just pure adrenaline that he was running on. He was about to make this a day they'd tell their grandkids about -- this was about to be a day that Aimee would never forget.

Aimee hadn’t been really sure what to expect when she heard knocking at the door to her and DJ’s apartment, as far as she was aware neither of them had ordered anything and she’d personally seen to it that DJ had taken his keys with him when he’d left earlier, so she was incredibly shocked to look into the peep hole and see the smiling face of her boyfriend bearing gifts. Even though she’d kind of had a fit about the whole love/care mix up over their texts, she didn’t remember saying anything that implied that he should come anywhere near her, let alone with her favorite kind of flowers like he’d done something wrong other than accidentally making her crazier than usual.

Shooing off her dog Benji, who’d she’d brought with her in case of danger, Aimee opened the door to let Beau in with a confused smile. “Hi, what’s up? Did we have plans today that I’m completely forgetting about or something? What’s with the flowers?”

The sight of his beautiful girlfriend's face was a welcome one, and it made his heart flutter and warm up like butter sliding down toast. It was like a sign that Beau’d done the right thing by coming here, and she'd see so in a moment too. "Hey," he greeted, pressing a small kiss to her cheek as he made himself comfortable walking in. "And no, no plans, unless I forgot too. I just felt like I should clear some things up and that starts with these!" He handed her the flowers, not wanting to get too carried away that he didn't say what he needed to say.

He took his a seat on her bed as if it was his too and waggled the heart box in her direction too. "And these. Come here, sit with me," he asked, waiting till they were more settled to keep talking. "I feel like I really dropped the ball when we were texting, and maybe some of that was because it's easy to get things lost in translation over the phone. So I wanted to come over here and make myself crystal clear." He handed over the chocolates, practically bouncing with excitement, and nodded. "Open it up, baby."

Aimee’s expression crumpled into further confusion as Beau tried explain himself as they made their way through the apartment and into her bedroom. But Aimee had already done enough questioning for one lifetime during their previous conversation, so she just wordlessly followed his lead all the way to the bed, certain that his meaning would reveal itself at some point.

A belief that proved itself very correct when she opened the heart shaped box and read the words spelled out across eight candy pieces. “Oh…uh..” Aimee started, struggling to manage a suitable response even as her chest felt like it was starting to close in on itself as it pushed her rapidly beating heart up into her throat. Aimee knew she was definitely on the edge of a full on panic attack, but one look up at her sweet and entirely too kind boyfriend had her scrambling in her already too loud brain to think of something to say that wouldn’t make her reaction come off as hurtful when that was the absolute last thing she ever wanted to do to anyone as thoughtful as he was. “C-chocolate. That’s sweet. Thank you.”

Beau was on the edge of his seat, waiting to see Aimee's face once she saw his love declaration. The lady at the chocolate shop had swooned at the "I LOVE YOU" candies, and he couldn't wait to see Aimee react similarly, but the more he looked at her, the more obvious that wasn't the reaction he would get. She didn't look like she was about to turn to him and say she loved him too as they rode off into the sunset together. Mainly, she just looked overwhelmed.

And then she thanked him for the chocolate, not for anything else, and it occurred to him that maybe the chocolates weren't enough. Maybe the whole point was that he needed to say it out-loud. He reached out one hand to rest on hers and he looked into her eyes. "It's not half as sweet as you. Aimee, I love you," he said confidently. "And I should've told you that way sooner because it's been so true for so long now, but I do. I love you. And I promise never to mess up one of our milestones by texting it ever again. You deserve this and so much more."

If Aimee hadn’t been struggling enough with trying to keep the rising lack of air and it’s accompanying sense of light headedness and greying vision, Beau doubling down on his gesture by resting his hand on her suddenly very cold clammy one and saying it out loud with a speech was really the final nail on the coffin of Aimee’s consciousness as the roaring sound in her ears reached a crescendo coinciding with the end of his statement and her eyes rolled backwards into her head before she promptly dropped like a sack of bricks off the side of her bed, taking the I LOVE YOU chocolates along with her to the ground.

It happened in the blink of an eye and bam, Aimee was on the ground. This definitely hadn't been the kind of swooning he was hoping for. Beau had been feeling so chipper up until that moment but all at once the warmth inside of him turned icy cold, and that cold brought focus along with it. He'd known going into their relationship that Aimee was prone to fainting spells but he hadn't seen it himself up until now; as a future nurse, and more importantly as her boyfriend, it was his job to fix it, especially since right now it definitely looked like her head had hit the floor. He got off the bed and onto the floor, laying Aimee flat on her back since she wasn't throwing up and getting her legs up onto the bed to elevate them. With a quick examination to see if she had any tight clothing that could be considered restrictive to blood flow, he turned towards the next stage of his training -- waking her up.

"Aimee, baby, come on," he yelled, shaking her by the shoulders. First-aid training was so much easier on a dummy than on a real life person, especially when that person was someone he cared about. He didn't like yelling at people, or jostling them, or anything else like that, but like the classes always said, it was better to have an annoyed patient than a dead one. He knew this happened to her often but any head injury or loss of consciousness should earn a one way ticket to the doctor, just in case. It was hard to plan ahead though when he had a sinking feeling that this reaction on her part wasn't a happy one. There were more important things happening than whether or not she loved him back, but the feeling that his gesture had gone wildly wrong was harder to shake than an unconscious Aimee was.

Being no stranger to waking up on the ground, Aimee wasn’t too shocked when she got shaken back into consciousness. Mostly just embarrassed and still a little dizzy from the fainting, the shaking and the cause of the whole shebang. “At least I wore cute underwear with this skirt.” She weakly attempted to joke, in reference to way she found herself positioned on the floor before trying to sit herself up slowly. Since this was Beau’s first time seeing her eat shit way that was much worse than her just never being able to walk in a straight line without finding something to trip on, Aimee wanted to lighten the mood with her best attempts at humor.

Beau let out a huge breathe of relief when Aimee started waking up and he reached under her beautiful head gently to support it. He gave her joke a little smile, but it wasn't a fully convincing one, on account of still being kind of scared that his girl had crashed to the ground -- and that maybe he'd been the reason why. "Yeah, at least there's that." He cocked his head to the side, examining her eyes. "And you're able to talk and joke so that's a good sign too. It's probably going to be a little annoying but I've got a few questions for you. Do you know what year it is? What seven times seven is? And uh, what's the last thing you remember?" He could feel his face heating up at that last question but it was a standard one when making sure someone hadn't hit their head too hard and he had to follow protocol.

Aimee usually didn’t like being touched and watched too hard after fainting, since she didn’t like being fussed over in general. But Beau had always been the exception to that disdain anyway and she could tell he was seriously freaked out after he fall, so she didn’t push him away like her instinct was screaming for her too when he started examining her eyes or make up bitchy little joke answers when he started questioning her.

“It’s twenty twenty one, you know I’m bad at math so this question is unfair, and…you were telling me that you love me.” Aimee recited dutifully, only coming to a awkward pause when she had to repeat what they both had to know was the cause of her panic attack and subsequent faint, but she answered it anyway since she’d already been a freak enough for one day and faking amnesia about the entire event was her only other viable option.

He grinned a little bit at the math bit but then she mentioned the love part and his smile cracked a bit; in all fairness, Beau knew that that's what she would have to say, but it hurt more than he expected being reminded that she fainted because of what was supposed to be a sweet gesture. "Okay, yeah, I'd say you don't have a concussion," he assessed, giving her some space finally so she could sit up if she wanted to. "Which is good because that means you don't have to see a doctor unless you really, really want to. Ummm..."

Beau paused for a moment, not sure how to proceed. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that would happen if I...yeah." It was so hard to choke out an apology, because he hated the idea of being sorry for loving her, but if it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have been in danger in the first place. "Can I ask though like... what did I do wrong?" That last part escaped before he could help himself but he was almost glad he did. Open communication was important for relationships, after all.

“To be fair. I didn’t know that would happen either. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Aimee sighed, taking a second to assess how she felt physically before sitting up fully to assess how she felt emotionally. She’d spent so long freaking out about his feelings that she hadn’t devoted much time to think about her own.

“Everything was perfect. Exactly the way I’d want to be told something like that. Well mostly…” she muttered, scrapping some chocolate out from underneath herself so that it wouldn’t completely ruin her outfit. “Have I ever mentioned that I’m like the pickiest eater in the world and not really the biggest fan of chocolate? Not that it’s why I fainted but it is worth mentioning, I think? Although I guess pop rocks aren’t really a candy you can use to spell out I love you? Unless you want to use the packets but that seems more like something to do for high school homecoming invitation than for a real adult love declaration probably. Not that I ever actually got invited to—“ She cut herself off suddenly when she realized that she was starting to ramble about absolutely nothing of substance.

Aimee took a breath and took Beau’s hand in hers, kind of like he did before she went and ruined the whole thing, “I’m sorry let me start over? You did a very good job, Beau and I really like that you came here to make up texting it to me. I think…I mostly just freaked because.. I don’t know if I’m ready to say it back. YET.” Aimee nervously looked into Beau’s eyes to see if he would be mad or sad that she couldn’t return the sentiment before plowing on. “I’d like to say it to you someday, if you’re okay with waiting for it. But… quietly, without making it a whole thing .”

Beau had to stop himself from interrupting her, but it was hard; how could she claim he did nothing wrong when she'd ended up knocked out on the floor? That was textbook definition of something going wrong, but then she cut herself off and his breath halted in his throat as understanding struck him. If the way he'd done it was perfect and exactly the way she'd want to be told that, then the problem was... him. It was the Beau of it all. And he'd known going into their original agreement that Aimee had feelings for someone else, so it shouldn't be a surprise and yet it was, though it made sense the more he thought about it. Aimee was a lifelong hopeless romantic and had no doubt imagined being told someone loved her before, but it was DJ she'd been imagining all these years. Tall, handsome, princely DJ who would've known better than to nearly shock her into a concussion and would've used Pop Rocks instead of chocolate, and who he'd never be able to be or even live up to.

Thinking that way was defeatist though. Just because he'd never managed to become as important to Aspen as her lifelong childhood friends had been didn't mean he couldn't crack in there with Aimee. He cared about her so much and he was already making mental notes like never giving her chocolate ever again, or that she'd never been asked to homecoming so that maybe, this year, when Auradon Prep had their homecoming, he could ask her to go to a makeshift dance with him with Pop Rocks spelling out "You Pop Rock My World" or something corny that would hopefully make her smile. And maybe the fact that she said yet, that she wanted to say it to him someday, was good enough. It was absurdly sad to him that she couldn't say it back yet, but his rational brain told him that it was in fact pretty soon in a relationship to drop the L-bomb and if all it took was time...

"You're worth waiting for," he assured her, biting his lip as he contemplated what to say next. He wanted to swear to never make something 'a whole thing' ever again, but he was starting to think it was just part of his relationship-personality and he didn't want to lie to her, especially because the idea of someone actually loving him back someday filled him up with so much chaotic energy that it was like dropping a Mentos into the Coke bottle of his soul. "I can't promise to be super quiet when you say it back, because it'll feel like... it'll feel like everything. But I can promise not to pressure you to say it back, ever. I'm just happy to be with you, Aimee. I really, really am, and as long as you're happy to be with me too, then I think we're okay...right?"

Aimee let out a sigh of relief at Beau assuring her that he would wait for her to say it back. She figured that he probably wouldn’t be super lowkey when she did eventually say it back, but considering when he said it she responded by fainting it was probably fair. Everyone had their things and if her’s was a particularly hateful vasovagal syncope then who was she to deny him being over the top. Besides hadn’t she been waiting her entire life for a boy who could love her as loudly as Beau was more than willing to? Shaking off the tiny niggling thought that reminded her that she hadn’t wanted just any boy, Aimee leaned over and kissed Beau soundly on the lips for a few seconds before pulling back and smiling. “I am more than happy to be with you, Beau. So as far as I’m concerned, we’re better than okay. We’re perfect”

He was somewhat nervous waiting for a response, as if Aimee were about to tell him that she wasn't as happy as he was and that they should just end this now; he wasn't sure why he felt so insecure but if pressed, he'd chalk it up to his past relationship, where he didn't see the end coming at all and then suddenly, boom, he was thrown to the curb like he meant nothing the whole time.

\But Aimee wasn't like that. Beau knew in his heart she wasn't like that, and if he needed reassurance, her lips against his worked wonders. He kissed back enthusiastically, happily, and her words just took it to another level. "Perfect," he repeated before leaning back in and capturing her lips with his again.

#para #aimee #para: aimee #para: falling for you #//titles are hard but here you go!

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iwantthedean · 5 years

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A New Fall

Graphic courtesy of @atc74.

Part Seven: Cameo. Firm, sweet.

Summary: A surprise visitor comes to the farm, and the festival weekend wraps up; Y/N chooses an offer. Pairing: Jensen x Reader Word Count: 1678 Warnings: Set post-Season 15, which I know makes a lot of people sad to think about. Square Filled: This entire series will fill my proposal square for BTZ Bingo.

A/N: Thank you for the continued support! I am loving writing this series :)

Masterlist

Your front door opening and closing the next morning pulled you from a comfortable sleep. You drew in a deep breath and huddling closer to Jensen, who had fallen asleep with you on your large, cushy couch.

Jensen tightened his arm around your shoulder and kissed your forehead; you momentarily forgot about the door. You leaned into him and sighed.

“I’ve got to get up and get ready for today,” you announced. “Lots of families will still come before the afternoon is over.”

“Lots to get ready.”

The voice didn’t belong to Jensen, and it caused you to shoot up from where you were laying. “Dad! What are you doing here?”

Your father smiled as you came to hug him. “Good morning, Y/N/N. After your call last week, I decided I wanted to try and catch at least the last day of the festival. This was the soonest I could catch a flight. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“Oh, no, um …” You stumbled as Jensen folded the blanket that had been covering the two of you and draped it over the back of the couch. “We were here late talking and -- it just -- well, anyway. Dad, this is Jensen Ackles. He’s potentially buying the place.”

Your father shook hands with Jensen. “Ah, I see. Good to meet you.”

“Likewise, sir,” Jensen replied, just as amused as your father with your stumbling composure. “I need to get back to the hotel and get cleaned up, but I’ll come back for the activities.”

He kissed your forehead again and then was gone. You turned to your father who was wiggling his eyebrows at you.

“Oh, Dad! Cut it out. Coffee? What time did you get in?”

“Late last night. Staying with your uncle. Coffee would be great.”

You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and got the coffee pot started, then put a pan of cinnamon rolls in the oven to warm while you freshened up and at least changed your clothes. Though you knew that you had some explaining to do for how your father had found you when he came into the house, and there was a lot to discuss about the farm, you couldn’t help but think only about kissing Jensen the night before.

* * * * *

After he got cleaned up, Jensen made a stop at The Farmer’s Market before going back to Y/N’s place. He didn’t buy anything, but he did want to greet Ms. Kitty.

“I was just curious, since I’m considering buying the orchard, if I could get a copy of the sales records from the last year or so.”

Ms. Kitty smiled, bigger than Jensen would have expected. “Of course. Hang tight, I’ll get them for you.”

Jensen waited patiently while she went to the office and returned with the same file he had peeked into the morning before. He looked at Ms. Kitty who was busying herself with another customer. Tilting his head to the side, he called out a thanks and went back to his car. He dropped the file on the passenger seat and made way for the farm.

Once there, he let himself into the house. Mr. Y/L/N was washing the breakfast dishes. Jensen waved a hello, feeling more self-conscious than he had that morning. Without Y/N as a buffer, he felt like a high school kid who got caught going too far with the other man’s daughter.

“Y/N’s upstairs, getting dressed. I was waiting, having another cup of coffee, but I’m not much for sitting still.”

“Must be where Y/N gets it from,” Jensen commented. He cleared his throat and took the file from under his arm, sliding it across the counter. “I asked Kitty over at the market for a copy of the sales records for the farm, since I have an offer on the place. She gave me this. I was trying to decide if I should show it to Y/N or not. Maybe you could take a look at it first.”

Mr. Y/L/N gave Jensen a curious frown before drying his hands and sliding the file in front of him. He opened the folder; it only took a few seconds for his countenance to confirm what Jensen had suspected.

“And Kitty handed this over willingly?”

Jensen nodded. “She did. Hell, she handed it over enthusiastically.”

Mr. Y/L/N looked over the numbers for a while longer. Finally, he closed the folder and handed it back back to Jensen. “Do me a favor, hang on to that. Don’t mention it to Y/N. Call Bartholomew first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, I planned on it. Except for the not telling Y/N part.”

“I know that seems underhanded, probably, but I don’t want to give her any reason to have hope -- nothing against your offer, of course.”

“Of course,” Jensen said. The last thing he wanted was for Y/N to have her hopes rise, only to watch them break again. “I’m gonna put this in the car, then I’ll be back in.”

Mr. Y/L/N thanked Jensen for his discretion and finished up with the dishes. When Jensen returned, Y/N was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, tying up her boots. She smiled at his presence; Jensen’s smile grew at hers.

* * * * *

You watched Jensen help a kid get a pumpkin off the vine, and smiled. Your father stood next to you, nudging your side gently with his elbow.

“He’s crazy about you, I think.”

You smiled. “He’s not so bad. I like being around him.”

“Sure it’s not just because if you take his offer, he’ll let you be involved in the activities around her?”

“I thought about that,” you said, drawing in a deep breath, “but I don’t think that’s it. Jensen, he was this quiet surprise, but I think the timing is good. A good distraction while everything else falls apart.”

Your dad chuckled. “Nothing is falling apart, Y/N. These things happen -- it’s the times we live in. Have you thought about what you’ll do after the sale?”

“I’ll find a house around here. There’s one over on Roosevelt that I’ve always liked that is up for sale. It’ll need some updates, but I’ll have time on my hands. I just figure I might be better off waiting for this sale to go into motion.” You chewed on your bottom lip. “Which offer would you take, Dad?”

He tilted his head from side to side. “I think I know which offer you’re leaning towards, and I think I would do the same. I think your grandfather would, too, for whatever that’s worth.”

“It’s worth a lot.” Tears were welling in your eyes, but you refused to cry.

Until your father put an arm around your shoulders and squeezed. You blinked quickly, but it didn’t stop the tears from falling. You wiped at them quickly, refusing to let any of the kids or families see you cry. As you’d been saying, this was your problem, not anyone else’s.

“Maybe -- maybe you need to separate from this place for a while, Y/N. Maybe you should consider coming out West with me. You don’t have to live with me, but it might be nice to have a completely fresh start.”

You weren’t in the mood to argue, so you nodded. “Maybe. I’ll think about it. Okay?”

Your dad squeezed your shoulder again and went to help one of the farmhands. You watched him walk away; you could think about it for a hundred years, but you knew that nothing would take you away from this place.

* * * * *

After everything was cleaned up and the visitors were all gone, including your father back to your uncle’s house, you sat on the front steps, wrapped in the same blanket you and Jensen had slept under the night before. He came out from the house and handed you a mug of apple cider.

“Did you forget that you started this on the stove?” he asked.

You sipped from the mug and nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry -- thanks for watching it for me. I’m lost in thought, I guess.”

“Anything you wanna talk about?”

You took another sip of apple cider. “If I tell you that I’m gonna take your offer, will you still want me in the morning?”

Jensen set his mug to the side and took your face in his hands. He kissed you softly. “Y/N. I thought when I left Texas, that I was coming here to look at the farm, to decide if I want to buy it. To decide what the next big thing in my life after the show ended. I thought I was coming here for the farm, but really, I think I was coming here for you.”

You couldn’t help it. You were too overwhelmed with emotions. Sadness over losing the only place that had been stable in your life, but happiness over having someone like Jensen in your life. Mix in some confusion over the first thing ending and the second thing being too new to know that it was going to last, and you were one crying mess.

The man sitting next to you took the mug from your hands and set it next to his. He scooted closer to you on the step and wrapped his arms around you. He promised that he would never betray the legacy of the farm your family left behind, and that he would do all that he could to make sure none of that interfered with your relationship, wherever it was headed.

“It’s like you read my mind,” you sniffled. Leaning against his flannel-covered chest was such a comfort.

Jensen kissed you again. “I took a guess at what your worries might be. What do you say we finish these ciders, then go in and watch a movie or something? Or I can go back to the hotel. Whatever you’re most comfortable with.”

“A movie,” you replied, taking a deep breath and wiping your tears. “Definitely a movie.”

* * * * *

The Whole Shebang: @illisea @ashleymalfoy @busybee612 @mrswhozeewhatsis @sherlock44 @ravenesque @feelmyroarrrr @atc74 @theplaidshirtmadness @blacktithe7 @moonlessnight14 @kitchenwitchsuperwhovian @smoothdogsgirl @melbrandes @xtina2191 @spnbaby-67 @emoryhemsworth @goldenolaf25 @gabriels-trix @applesugar88 @rainflowermoon @deansgirl215 @thisismysecrethappyplace @calaofnoldor @jerkbitchidjitassbutt @sleepylunarwolf @chances-and-miracles @sandlee44 @foxyjwls007

Jack Attack: @tiffanycaruso @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk

Two for the Money: @jayankles @akshi8278 @jensensjaredsandmishaslover @supernatural-jackles @adoptdontshoppets

A New Fall: @marilynnlew @backseat-of-deans-67chevy @traceyaudette @ellen-reincarnated1967 @maddiepants @littlewhiterose @tftumblin @monkeymcpoopoo @pinknerdpanda @thatgirl1456 @deangirl7695 @woodworthti666 @writtingrose @flamencodiva @dean-winchesters-bacon @cap-just-said-language @xstephxo

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hellyeahomeland · 4 years

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“The English Teacher”: an HYH recap

This mindfuck of an episode picks up about a day or so after last week’s episode. Carrie is being held in a “subbasement” (a basement in the basement?) at Langley and has started to disassociate a bit. I would too! This reality is fucked!

Anyway, a nice lawyer man comes to retrieve her and does a bit of plot exposition:

Saul hired him to represent Carrie at the preliminary hearing.

Saul arranged for Carrie’s release and also paid the bond.

Saul is letting Carrie stay at his house!

Basically Saul is being the coolest he’s been re: Carrie in like seven years.

There was a car bomb at the Afghan/Pakistani border that killed a whole special ops crew and injured one CIA officer named Jenna Bragg, who was sent back to the US out of an abundance of caution. Oh, and Jenna was called to testify against Carrie at the hearing.

Don’t fucking talk to anyone until the hearing, especially not a specific person who’s meant to testify against you, capiche?

In the West Wing, things are messy as hell. Evil Spawn John Zabel is arguing that Pakistan was behind the suicide bomb and that’s yet another reason to invade. Saul argues it was just Haqqani; after all Pakistan lost some guys too. Zabel is all, “IT’S THEIR FUCKING COUNTRY” and says Linus should resign. Mandy starts swearing at Hugh Saul starts swearing at Zabel, he’s really fucking mad. Linus envisions new ways to get swallowed whole. Maybe dinosaurs will come back from extinction? It’s just a massive screaming match—actually very entertaining—and Saul’s big solution is “backchannel talks,” and Zabel’s brain nearly short circuits at the suggestion of diplomacy instead of military invasion. Hayes just looks like he’d rather be literally any fucking place doing any fucking thing except this.

Carrie is settling into Saul’s very lovely DC home when Saul arrives, worn and weary from his no good very bad day. Although it can’t possibly have been worse than Carrie’s, which is saying something. Carrie makes her first move, pokes around a bit about the Russian asset. Saul flatly denies it, then pours himself a drink (same). He eyes a bookcase full of old, leather-bound red books and then—

It’s 1986 in East Berlin. A young Saul, played by BEN SAVAGE (that’s right, it’s CORY MATTHEWS), who does bear a striking resemblance to Mandy Patinkin, walks into a bookstore and picks up one of those same, old red books from the display. He heads into the back of the store and then a young woman enters and cocks a pistol in his direction. He brings his hands up in surrender.

The next day at Walter Reed Hospital, Carrie defies all good legal advice and pays a visit to Jenna, who’s being discharged.

Jenna: OH MY FUCKING GOD, LOSE MY NUMBER. Carrie: Ok I know you’re furious with me, just know you join a very large and enthusiastic club on that front. But please listen to me. Jenna: Furious? Dude, that special ops crew is all dead. That’s on you. Carrie: It’s horrible, I know. But a suicide bomber did that. Not me, and not you. Jenna: You’re delusional. Carrie: You join another very large and enthusiastic club in that position, but just hear me out! You have nothing to do for the next two minutes while you wait for your Uber. Jenna: Not if I speed walk! Carrie: I found the black box. Do you even care what was on it? Probs not, but I’ll just keep talking. The president’s helicopter was not shot down! It was mechanical failure. Jenna: Hm… that is interesting. So where is it now? Carrie: That hot Russian guy stole it from me. Jenna: OH MY FUCKING GOD YOU ARE A MESS. Carrie: I just need a few days to get it back. I know you’re supposed to testify and I truly don’t give two fucks what you say to them, but if you could just wait a week that would be awesome. Jenna: Well, what’s your plan? Carrie: They offered me a trade. But I can’t really say much more than that. Jenna: What is with you spies and your secrets? Carrie: Ok fine. Saul has an asset high up in the Kremlin. I need to find out who it is. Jenna: Good fucking luck getting onto a Langley computer. Not that you’d know how to use it. Carrie: [loaded silence] Jenna: OH MY GOD. I’m tattling to Saul.

And Jenna does book it straight to Saul’s office but has to wait a bit because Saul’s on the phone with Tasneem, who is in New York City at the UN and remains maximum pissed. From the time her plane took off to when it landed the US moved more troops right along their border. Saul says some things about how everyone in the US is crazy and it’s all very ~prescient~ but he thinks if they can just take out Jalal, Hayes and Zabel might back down. Tasneem once again claims they have no idea where he is. Saul asks for a target, any plausible coordinates. Tasneem agrees.

Enter Jenna. She is very prepared to expose just how big of a crazy person Carrie is when Saul is like, “hold up, little lady, it’s all true.” He’s taking this “back up Carrie at all costs” thing to a whole new level. He says that, no matter her mistakes, Carrie never loses sight of the bigger picture. Everything she does is in service of that. The tribunal will attempt to get Jenna to contribute to whatever bullshit charges they come up with, but Jenna needs to do like Carrie: decide what matters. Decide what kind of person she is.

Later, Carrie is at the arraignment, and the judge starts listing off charges. It’s pretty bad. Treason, accessory to murder, etc. She starts to have a tiny panic attack in the courtroom and thankfully holds her vomit for the restroom. There, she’s approached by a prim-looking woman named Charlotte Benson, “a friend of Yevgeny’s.” (Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize her from last season with Ivan.) Carrie’s like, “fuck that guy and fuck you too” but Charlotte is unfazed, hands her her card, and says they have resources. All you have to do is call.

In the simultaneously most and least surprising event of the season, at the tribunal, Jenna decides what type of person she is and it’s the type with a mind of her own. She gets about four seconds into the thing before she bolts.

At the White House, Zabel reveals that—whadya know!—the Pakistanis did know where Jalal was. At least, they said they do. They just provided coordinates and everyone’s in the situation room waiting to pull the trigger. Saul hurries down and watches as they bomb the entire compound. “Fuck yeah!” Hayes exclaims as everyone applauds, definitely 100% sure they just killed Jalal. Saul makes a beeline for the exit and tells Linus he’s going to New York.

Later, Jenna is waiting for Carrie at Saul’s with a folder full of information. It’s about the exfiltration that Carrie mentioned that went south. The man attended a KGB language school but he spooked and Saul had to get him out quickly. Minefields and shit. He’s been in Pennsylvania in Witness Protection ever since. So he can’t be Saul’s asset but maybe he knows who is.

Jenna: You sure you want to betray Saul? Carrie: I’m 100% sure I want to do the opposite of that, but I have no choice. Jenna: You’re right, I guess. But I’m done with all this shit. Carrie: “Done”? Never heard of it. Jenna: I’m through with this, the CIA, all of it. Carrie: Wait, so you finally used your brain and that’s the decision you came to? You don’t have the thrill of having figured something out? You don’t feel a physical and emotional high? Jenna: Uh no?? I feel sick to my stomach about the special ops team. That comes down on me. And whoever this asset is will be tortured too. That’s my big picture. I’ve tried to see it your way, but I can’t. I just don’t believe it anymore. Carrie: Believe what? Jenna/Quinn’s ghost: That anything justifies the damage we do.

Carrie ruminates on that for about 2.4 seconds before she’s on to the next thing, which is a road trip to Pennsylvania. She arrives in her librarian cosplay, hair in a ponytail, eyeglasses, the whole shebang. She’s at the house of Saul’s old asset, the one who’s in Witness Protection. She introduces herself as Heather Frith (great fake name) and says she works as an archiver for the CIA’s Chief Historian, which is a job just fake-sounding enough to probably be real. She wants details about what happened with his exfiltration, details that aren’t in the file. He is suspicious at first, but she calls his bluff, and he takes her out to his garage to relive the story.

He describes Saul then as something of a hero. He had everything in the exfiltration down like clockwork. When one of the mines exploded, he literally carried him over the border. Carrie asks what happened to the rest of the cadets in his class, and he says they were all killed for failing to prevent his defection. She spots a woman in an old photograph then. He didn’t know her name, she just went by Comrade Instructor. She was their English teacher. Then Carrie eyes an old red book. He explains it was their method for arranging a meeting. You move the book from the right to the left side of the display window. “Very Saul. He liked the old ways. Things hidden in plain sight.”

…Which makes for a nice segue to New York City. Saul’s at UN headquarters, where Pakistan has requested a vote against the US for being general dicks and warmongers. Saul then pulls a Quinn in “Q&A” (or maybe a Carrie in “Tin Man Is Down”) and makes a huge scene at the meeting, screaming at the Russian delegation about the flight recorder. An older blonde woman translates for the delegation as he shouts. Resident hottie Scott Ryan escorts Saul out and the Russians have a powwow within earshot of said woman. What was all that about a flight recorder? One of them says Yevgeny Gromov is running an operation and leaves it at that. Cue that woman later in a rare bookstore. She eyes another of those old red leather-bound editions.

We flashback again to 1986. That woman in the bookstore is the woman holding Saul at gunpoint. She is the English teacher at the language school. She is disgusted at what happened to her students—put up against a wall and shot—and wants to take the place of Saul’s asset. Saul feigns ignorance and says she must be confusing him with someone else.

The next five minutes are a masterpiece. Back at Saul’s house in present day, Carrie finally takes an interest in his unique collection of old red books. She flips through them and notes that each has a date on the inside front cover. 11.14.2009. 3.14.95. 3.5.1987. She lines them up in the living room, by year, next to significant events in the ongoing Russian/American intelligence battle. Chernobyl cover-up in 1986. Gorbachev coup in 1989. Aldrich Ames in 1993. Robert Hanssen in 2000. Crimea in 2014. Active measures in the 2016 election.

In his NY hotel room, Saul has a book delivery for one Professor Rabinow. Send it right up.

Carrie surveys her makeshift timeline. She picks up the next book, Vanity Fair. The subtitle on the inside reads “A NOVEL WITHOUT A HERO,” in case the audience had any doubts. She picks up another and notices the Russian spelling of “Moscow” on the inside back cover. She begins flipping through others in the timeline looking for the same tag. No, no, no, yes. She smiles that same knowing, exhilarated smile. It really is like a high. She whittles the Moscow books down to just eight now.

Saul gets his package, which is—whoulda thunk?!—an old red book, and takes it into the bathroom. Carrie examines one of the books, flipping through the pages. She checks the back cover—maybe something hidden in the lining?—but no luck.

Saul flips this new book upside down, brings the covers up in a ‘V’ to expose a space on the spine. In his living room, Carrie does the same thing. There it is: an opening, just small enough for a message. Carrie exhales, eyes wide, at the discovery. Delicately Saul retrieves a small piece of paper and holds it up to the light. He reads: “THE PRICE HAS ALREADY BEEN ASKED. IT’S YEVGENY GROMOV’S PLAY.”

A middle-aged Ben Savage playing a young Saul Berenson walks through the streets of Berlin late at night before he’s accosted by some Soviets requesting his papers. They think he’s CIA. He gets a few punches in (yes, Saul!) before running down a dead-end alley. All of a sudden he hears gunshots, braces for injury. But it’s the men who’ve been shot, and by the English teacher Anna. “Do you trust me now?” she says.

In present day, Saul stands silently in his hotel room, contemplating this new knowledge. Carrie’s lied to him about Yevgeny, that much he knows. But what else has she kept from him?

Carrie also has new knowledge, and she’s taking it straight to Yevgeny. Charlotte Benson drives her to a huge, empty mansion to speak with him.

Charlotte: Empty for two years. Owners are asking too much. Carrie: Hey, just like our show!

Charlotte leads her to a room and computer where Yevgeny is waiting on a video conference. Carrie is not at all pleased to see her Russian boyfriend.

She says that the asset exists. Yevgeny is the opposite of enthusiastic. Saul probably recruited her in East Berlin in 1986. She knows how they communicate. “How?” Yevgeny asks. “That’s not how this works,” Carrie replies, trying to maintain the upper hand for as long as possible. Yevgeny asks for a name. Carrie doesn’t have it but can get it if he provides some KGB records. She needs some stuff from the language school, but Yevgeny explains it’s all lost, burned by the “freedom lovers” after the Berlin Wall came down. They’ve gone down this road before, did Carrie really think she was the first to figure out that connection?

Carrie gets frustrated and nearly walks out of the meeting when Yevgeny reminds her of the stakes at play: America and Pakistan on the literal brink of full-scale war.

Yevgeny: Besides, you haven’t done everything you can. Carrie: Meaning what? Yevgeny: Take out Saul. That will neutralize the asset. Carrie: Saul has a legacy plan. If he goes, he has a plan to pass the asset onto someone else. Yevgeny: Yes, exactly. And that someone else is … Carrie: [mind blown] Yevgeny: …you. Carrie: You… you played me. You knew it would come to this. How long have you been planning this? Do you derive extra special pleasure from fucking with me? Yevgeny: I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but like you said, you tried everything.

He tells her to do it—to kill Saul. Her eyes fill with tears as she shuts the computer and walks out. The lights go black behind her.

#homeland #an hyh recap #the english teacher #*#by: sara

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z 280

World is fuck, so I’m gonna write about DBZ for a while until the Benadryl kicks in.

Last time, Goku fought Majin Buu, but he wasn’t doing so great, so he upped the ante by going Super Saiyan 3.

This is where I regret falling behind on the manga way back in the Red Ribbon Army Saga, because the Buu arc is where the anime and the manga really start to get off-track from each other. I mean, the same plot points are followed, but in the manga, Goku fights Buu as a Super Saiyan 3 the whole time, while in the anime, he starts at SSJ2 and ramps up to SSJ3... twice. So it’s kind of hard to match up exactly which parts of the anime version are direct adaptations of the manga. They’re probably all there, but I’d really need to do a side-by-side comparison. A project for another time.

This has gotta be one of the best damn episodes of the whole shebang. Goku and Kid Buu are just whalin’ on each other, and this isn’t even the climax of this arc.

Starting out, Goku deals some pretty heavy damage to Buu, and he has some difficulty reassembling himself. But that’s about all Goku ever does to the kid. I mean, if Perfect Cell took a hit like that, he’d just be dead, or so badly wounded that it would take barely any follow-through to finish the job. But with Majin Buu these kinds of enormous blasts are just chip damage at best.

Something else I want to do one of these days is go back and try to figure out when they screwed up Dende’s Buu-Saga character model. I think most of Dragon Ball Super depicts him as a child, as if he never aged after the Cell Games, but I think that only happened because they were screwing him up as far back as 1995.

Here’s the thing, though: Why was Dende so short in the Cell Games? He had aged four years from however old he was in the Namek Saga. Piccolo Junior was fully grown by age three. Maybe this is the Namekian life cycle. You grow into an adult when you’re three, then you turn into a kid again, then you grow into an adolescent about 11 years after that, and then you just sort of switch back and forth for a while. It’s a good thing Piccolo’s off-screen for most of his life.

Yamcha and Krillin are watching this from the Grand Kai Planet, courtesy of King Kai’s telepathic vision. Why isn’t anyone else grabbing a Kai by the back?

And they’re even screening this fight in Hell, which seems kind of strange to me. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, but we’ve got pay-per-view in the commons.

Hey look it’s Cell! And Dr. Gero. You think they talk much at all? Think about how much it must suck for them. Gero was maybe the only other person Cell ever respected, because he trusted Gero’s grand design for him as the perfect being. And Gero must have viewed Cell as his ultimate hope for avenging the Red Ribbon Army. And then they bump into each other in hell, which proves that they’re both failures. All Cell really accomplished was to kill Goku, and now he’s not even dead anymore. I have to figure Cell/Gero interactions in Hell are pretty uncomfortable. At the same time, who else are they going to hang out with?

Why are all these guys still in their bodies? Everything that happened to Vegeta in this arc implies that letting Vegeta have his body after death is a big deviation from the norm. Episode 195 introduced the idea of DBZ’s hell being like this big Arkham Asylum for all the bad guys. I guess technically all those episodes with the dead Ginyus in the Frieza Saga did the same thing, but you could argue that they hadn’t been dead long enough to lose their bodies. Here, now, we’re looking at characters that have been dead for over seven years. I think the premise in Resurrection F was that the damned get to keep their bodies while they suffer, until they finally learn to let go of their past lives and move on. And I can see why Frieza’s such a bitter fuck that he’d still be holding on for over a decade, but what’s Recoome holding out for? Just get reincarnated as a cockroach or something and get it over with.

Also, why is Gero a cyborg in this scene?

And why isn’t Frieza a cyborg? I mean, he wasn’t a cyborg in Episode 195 either, but that seemed to suggest Gero would be fully human in hell, and he isn’t. And if Gero does get to keep being a cyborg, then why couldn’t he keep his hat?

Anyway, Goz and Mez recognize Goku as the guy who messed with them way back in the Saiyans Saga. Hey, why aren’t Raditz and Nappa in this scene? I watched an AMV where they edited Bardock into this, which seems like a good idea. Did they just not go to hell? I find that a little hard to believe.

Anyway, all the bad guys are salty as fuck to see Goku alive and fighting, and Frieza’s actively rooting against him. He’s just jealous because Buu’s doing better against Goku that he ever could.

Meanwhile, over on the classy side of the villain crowd, Cell wonders who Goku’s opponent is, since he’s clearly impressed to see anyone give Goku a tougher battle than himself.

Then Babidi shows up and announces to everyone he used to be tight with Majin Buu. Actually, he claims Buu was his servant, and that he taught him how to fight, which... yeah. I guess he did help Buu practice punching people’s faces off.

This whole moment feels a bit contrived. Babidi’s been down here for a couple of days already. I don’t know how long they’ve been watching this fight. I would imagine the oni switched it on somewhere when Vegito was on deck, so it kind of feels like Babidi was sort of hiding around back, waiting for someone to ask about Buu, so he could jump out and go “Oh, funny you should ask about that! I was Majin Buu’s master for like six hours, nbd.” I almost wonder if he paid Cell five bucks just to set this up. Cell demanded payment in singles, because he wanted to spend it on the vending machine. He’s a sucker, though, because hell may have a big screen TV, but the bill changer on their vending machine hasn’t worked in 10 million years.

Anyway, everyone’s impressed, probably just because Babidi has the inside track on Buu more than anything. You gotta figure most of these guys have heard it all before, and at least Babidi has a newer story to tell. Everyone’s probably sick of hearing how Frieza ate that crab while he killed Vegeta.

But then Babidi wanders off, and in private he cusses out Buu for, you know, killing him, and he roots for Goku to win. Wait, is Bibidi in hell too? You’d think they could catch up on old times.

Meanwhile... well, this shot had pink and yellow energy trails moving across the planet, and it looks pretty cool, but this screenshot doesn’t quite do it justice.

Kibitoshin is worried about their planet, but the Elder Kai insists that it’ll take more than this to wreck it. I want a woman who believes in me the way the Elder Kai believes in the sturdiness of the Supreme Kai Planet. That sounds kind of masochistic when I put it that way. Moving on.

Writing about all those other villains, it starts to come into focus how little I have to say about Majin Buu. I dig the guy, though. Critics complain that he doesn’t have much on personality or motivation, and they’re not wrong, but I think that’s part of the point with him. Godzilla doesn’t give touching speeches in his movies, but he remains a popular character because of the sheer spectacle of him. He’s a force of nature, a symbol of immense power that the human characters can barely comprehend.

In Buu’s case, he’s just this stubborn, impossible obstacle to peace in the universe. So much has gone wrong, and we could wish it all back the way it was, if only someone could beat this pink little turd. He’s got some personality, but his main purpose in this story is to just be there for the other characters to interact as they deal with the problem.

For example, while all this action is going on, Mr. Satan is basically helpless, but he reassures Bee that he’ll protect him, even though Satan thinks this whole adventure is a dream. This says a lot about Mr. Satan. Yeah, Bee had a big part in reforming the Fat Majin Buu, but he means a lot to Mr. Satan as well. It’s easy to write off Satan as a coward and a fraud, but even when he’s retreating into denial, he still wants to be a hero, even when the rest of the world is dead, even when his only audience is a little puppy. And you could have a moment like this with Mr. Satan regardless of the villain, but I think it stands out better when the bad guy is Kid Buu, who doesn’t get in the way with any big speeches or characterization moments of his own.

Back to the fight, Buu gets the drop on Goku, so he decides that this is no time to hold back...

So he drops a Super Saiyan 3 Kamehameha on the little creep. Yeah!

It blows Buu to pieces, but then the pieces just turn into mini-Buus and they all shoot back.

Goku tries to power up for another round, but suddenly he runs out of gas and collapses.

So Vegeta rushes to his side and offers to switch in. Yeah, this whole part is filler. In the manga, Vegeta only gets one turn, and this ain’t it.

However, I think some of Vegeta’s lines during this scene are lifted from the part of the manga where he fights Kid Buu later. So it’s a little weird here. I’m curious how Dragon Ball Kai handled these episodes, because when they started that project it seemed like their goal was to edit out most of the filler from the original DBZ anime, but in some cases that just isn’t practical. Like Pizza and her entourage in the Cell Games. They weren’t in the manga, but they appear in almost every Mr. Satan scene that was in the manga, so Kai had to leave them in, because the alternative was to painstakingly edit them out of every shot. Here, you may not even have that option. You could edit Goku vs. Kid Buu down to just one uninterrupted string of action where he’s fighting at Super Saiyan 3. Cut out this intermission with Vegeta, cut out the opening bit where Goku fights at SSJ2, but I don’t know if the fight choreography would still make sense.

Everyone watching is horrified that Vegeta can’t even land a blow, and Buu starts openly mocking his lackluster performance. What I don’t understand is why Vegeta would even try to fight Majin Buu in his base form. I mean, the real reason is probably because this fight is filler, and Toei didn’t want it to detract from when he actually fights Buu in the next episode. But it makes Vegeta look kind of stupid. He knows better, and we know that he knows better.

So Buu quickly overwhelms him, and he’s all set to fire a ki blast to finish off. Why doesn’t Vegeta just transform to escape it?

But then Goku jumps in and ruins Buu’s shot. He’s still in base form too, but I sort of buy this, because he snuck up on Buu. Even so, this sort of fast-and-loose attitude with power levels is exactly the sort of nonsense Toei did all through Dragon Ball GT, and one of several reasons why GT sucks. It’s not as bad in filler scenes like this one, interspersed among stories based on the manga, but once there was no manga to work from, they just decided there were no rules, and Base Form Goku was almost interchangeable with Super Saiyan 4 Goku. They just used whichever character design they preferred that day.

Vegeta’s astonished, because he thought Goku was down for the count, but he’s already back up and demanding to tag back in.

But Goku ain’t done yet. This is probably the other reason Toei had Vegeta fight in base form here, so it would make it look cooler when Goku defiantly powers up to continue his effort. And yeah, it works. I really do love this scene, but it’s a pretty egregious example of filler scenes messing with the flow of the story.

Goku ramps up to Super Saiyan 2, then back to 3, and we pick up where we left off. And that’s awesome, but the main idea of this fight is that Goku’s having a hard time fighting at this level. To have him drop out of SSJ3 early, then immediately get back up and resume SSJ3 like it’s no big deal... well, that undermines that premise. I guess you can make an argument that it supports the premise, because having Goku power down twice in this fight only emphasizes how volatile SSJ3 really is, but... I dunno.

Anyway, Goku goes back to fighting Buu, and you know, that may be the real reason Toei did that whole bit with Vegeta tagging in. The alternative is to just have SSJ3 Goku fight Buu for two and a half episodes straight, and that would get dull, no matter how well they animated it. You can have spectators observe the battle, and that’s a great way to break up the action, but a moment where Goku rescues Vegeta adds some drama. The manga didn’t do this, but it didn’t need to, because this fight was much shorter in print.

I guess that’s the main defense of filler. Sometimes, it’s not about padding the anime, or working the studio’s “agenda” into the story, or anything sinister like that. Sometimes it’s just a matter of pacing.

Anyway, in either version, Vegeta watches Goku fighting, and quickly recognizes that Goku is the only one who can fight Majin Buu now. At Vegeta’s level, he’d only get himself killed.

Then he has this whole flashback of his relationship with Goku up to this point, and unlike most flashbacks in this series, this one features all new art, which is pretty awesome. Honestly, they could have used old footage from the Saiyans Saga, but they had already done that recently during the Babidi Saga, so maybe Toei figured they couldn’t do that trick again so soon. Or maybe they knew DBZ wes winding down, so they wanted to do something special while they still could.

Not surprisingly, Vegeta’s main recollection of his first fight with Goku are the parts where Goku beat the shit out of him while using Kaio-ken times three. That fight had a lot more to it than that, and it’s easy to forget that Vegeta dominated most of the battle, mainly because Vegeta himself doesn’t see it that way.

Then we get this part where Vegeta has kittens over Goku beating Recoome, and he begins to suspect that Goku is the Legendary Super Saiyan. Would have been awesome to see another shot of Luffa the Golden Ape from episode 66, but I guess that wouldn’t make a ton of sense in this context, especially now that we know what Super Saiyans actually look like.

For instance...

Vegeta considers that Goku’s secret might be that he’s motivated by a need to protect his loved ones, but even if that’s true, Vegeta has his own loved ones now, so they’d be even if that were all it was. I love how surly he looks here. “Dammit, I can’t believe I care about these stupid people! Now I gotta blow myself up if things get out of hand.”

Also, Vegeta’s observation ties in well with that filler scene from a moment ago. Goku was exhausted, but as soon as he saw Vegeta in danger, he pulled himself together and found the strength to defend him. Goku cares as much about Vegeta as the others.

But the real difference, Vegeta observes, is that he always fought for the fun of it, and for the satisfaction of killing his enemies. Goku, on the other hand, fights primarily to improve himself. That’s why he keeps pushing himself harder, and why he keeps seeing results. It’s not about winning, it’s about not losing. This seems to be a trend with Goku, where he usually says things like “I won’t lose” or “I ain’t lost yet,” instead of “I’m going to win.” Vegeta’s classic mistake is to assume that he’s already going to win, and then he crumbles when things start to go wrong.

And critically, this is why Goku doesn’t kill people if he can avoid it. Well, he killed a lot of Red Ribbon guys, but most of them were cowards and no real match for him. King Piccolo pushed him too far. After that, Goku’s been pretty light on killing enemies, and that’s probably because he reached a point where he became so strong that it got harder to find worthy adversaries. Vegeta would kill his enemies just to watch them die, but in doing so, he denied himself the opportunity to face them in rematches. This was something I read in a Superman comic once, where Superman overpowers an evil-universe version of himself, and he makes the point that his doppleganger kills all his enemies, so he only ever has to fight them once, where Superman has to stay sharp, because he has to mess with those guys over and over again. Same deal.

And you’d think Goku might have killed Vegeta after he surpassed him, like when he became a Super Saiyan, or when Vegeta went Majin, and no one would have blamed him for putting the bastard down. But Goku never did. Not because Vegeta was no longer a threat, but because he knew Vegeta could still catch up to him some day and challenge him again. Goku believes in Vegeta, even when Vegeta doesn’t believe in himself.

It’s like Goku knew Vegeta woud start to turn into a good guy. See, this is where I take issue with criticism of the dub, way back in Episode 36, when Goku asked Krillin to spare Vegeta’s life. The subs focus on Goku’s desire to beat Vegeta on his own, while the dub spends more time on Goku’s hope that Vegeta might see the light if they show him a little mercy. And you can argue that the dub is cramming their own take into the script, except their take doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Funimation’s take in Episode 36 is Vegeta’s take in Episode 280. Call it foreshadowing, or call it putting the cart before the horse, but the line itself isn’t out of bounds, because Goku did hope that Vegeta would learn the value of mercy, and and Vegeta knows it.

Again, let me pause to note that this big epiphany by Vegeta is much more effective when the bad guy is as flat as Kid Buu. We’re not missing anything during this fight because they’ve just been hitting each other, and Buu bites Goku for like half a second while Vegeta reflects.

The main point of Vegeta’s monologue here is that he’s always struggled with the idea of Goku as the antithesis of what he thinks Saiyans ought to be. And yet nothing succeeds like success. Goku’s stronger right now than any Saiyan in the last thousand years. Hell, right now, Goku’s the only Saiyan alive. Vegeta’s dead, and so are all the others. If his kindness is such a noose around his neck, why is he still breathing? Why is he the only Saiyan who figured out how to turn Super Saiyan 3? Why is he the only one who could bite Majin Buu on the head and get away with it? Because Goku’s metal as fuck, that’s why. Because kindness isn’t a weakness at all. It never was. If anything, it’s the lack of kindness that got all the other Saiyans killed.

And maybe Vegeta has to think about that a while longer, but he knows this much, Goku’s better than he is. He’s the best.

But he’s still not beating Buu anytime soon.

There’s a cool spot here where Goku hits him and his upper body stretchs out from the impact, and he waves hello to Mr. Satan before snapping back.

And by “waving hello” , I mean “fires more of this pink crap out of his hands.”

And this right here is the last shot of Cell, I think? There’s some more Frieza coming up, but I’m not sure if we see all the villains again or not.

Babidi’s watching from way back there, because he’s shy. I think Cell would hang out with Babidi. He’s pretty sociable, right?

Anyway, this fight rules, not just because of all the great action and fluid animation, but because of all the cool stuff going on around it. Everyone’s learning an important lesson about friendship today, thanks to Goku punching the crap out of this pink thing. That... sounds vaguely dirty. Let’s move on.

Oh, well, the episode’s over. That’s kind of awkward. Uh. Goodbye!

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vincassidy · 5 years

Text

STARTER FOR » @joliedebeauvoir

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Zinqué

This was no longer a French bistro; it was a dimly lit circus.

That is, if a circus transformed into a restaurant with a flirty ambience. He kind of liked it.

No rainbow wig, big red shoe wearing clowns in sight so it wasn’t full circus; however, the round and rectangular tables normally adorned with small condiments, glossy fold-up drink menus, utensils, and a tiny potted plant in the center were now arranged in 4x3 lines bearing square curtains to section people off into little cubicles. There were balloons, and lots of them—paired with brightly colored paper streamers, not that he could actually see the vivid color in this lighting. As explained by the host at the entrance door, the women were to remain in their respective chair as the men would move to the next date. Move, as in, roll on a black padded stool with wheels. Apparently, the majority of women were already seated as to not be known straight away. Each date would go on for ten minutes before a double chime signaled its time for rotation. People were able to see just enough to navigate through the place, but not enough to sincerely distinguish faces. The whole scenario screamed mystery, to which Vince silently chuckled to himself as he recalled a moment. ‘I’m not going to even try to decode it. It would probably ruin the curiosity,’ she had said. ‘Ruin the curiosity—you dig the enigma? I need to get to the bottom of it,’ he had replied. Miniature desk lights were at everyone’s station with a pen and a tiny spiral notebook, which was supposed to travel along and serve as a written ice breaker as people put down a greeting, a question, whatever was hoped to serve as a first impression, and then each pairing would exchange their mini notebooks under the curtain to write a reply back before simultaneously pulling the three foot long curtain rope to reveal their date after a single chime. That made three minutes of secrecy, seven minutes of face to face interaction, then the page would be turned to the next blank one, along with a new person to meet. The environment itself wasn’t as silly as a circus, but Vince admittedly felt a tad silly for being present for the sole reason that he didn’t go to these things... in fact, he never thought about going to these things.

That is, until he met her.

In the past few months of knowing Jolie, he found himself doing more. The male had been a natural risk taker when it came to matters concerning his job, except he couldn’t deny that she prompted him to be open with more opportunities he hadn’t thought of. A friendship presented light, excitement, thrilling challenges. It was fresh, real. When she had invited him to this speed dating experience to set him up, he initially was going to laugh it off with a ‘Nah, what? Nah,’ and quite shocked as it was something not of his usual interest, but he appreciated the considerate thought and in all honesty, it was too good of a suggestion to pass up. Since she was the one to play matchmaker he figured he better send a quick text informing of his arrival. The glow of his iPhone illuminated his face as he opened his messages, and while he was attempting to type, it was interrupted by a young male clearing his throat followed by a finger pointing to a nearby sign on the wall:

PLEASE TURN PHONES OFF DURING THE MATCHING PROCESS. THANK YOU.

“It’ll be just a second,” Vince said. “Bro, it’s the rules,” answered the same young man, who had to be around his mid-twenties. Who let this dude volunteer at this speed dating shebang? As a person familiar with the law, rules, regulations, and doing things for justice and fairness, Vince was going to eventually abide by the no cell phone rule. The time wasn’t 7 p.m. yet, the rule didn’t have to apply immediately.

iMessage to Jolie (6:48 p.m.) : I made it here, Cupid de Beauvoir.

“Bro, I don’t make the rules, I jus—” “—enforce them. Right,” Vince retorted, shutting off his phone before putting it into his pocket. He sauntered into the circus, but not a circus, restaurant with no expectations. Just taking a chance. Trying something new. The first couple three rounds were... fine? Date #1 wrote him a riddle to which he couldn’t figure out on the spot in those three mysterious minutes, and when she revealed her face she bursted in a laugh and told him the answer. It turned out to be less funny and more offensive, which was an instant turn-off. Date #2 slid a simple ‘Hello, I can’t see you yet, but you look wonderful’ note under the curtain. Date #3 wrote, ‘please don’t be another loser I just saw my ex lol.’

For the last three encounters, Vince made a doodle of a cartoon dog. It wasn’t giving away his penmanship off the bat in case someone were to recognize him, and it wasn’t like keeping his identity a secret had been necessary anyway, considering his face would be revealed at every station. People spoke delicately amongst each other, probably in an effort to keep with the mystery and prevent surrounding ears from getting an idea of someone before having an encounter. Even with the calm, quiet voices, he could have sworn he heard Jolie’s from another corner of the room. He could make out the sound of her voice anywhere. Was she here? A detail he never got confirmation of because he didn’t know whether she was able to reply to his text or not, thanks to the rule. Was she supposed to set him up for this thing and let him stick it out as she chilled at home? What if she was watching him from the side, observing her matchmaker magic? Watching from a control room? Or was she not actually here, come to think of it, she did tell him to tell her about the outcome, which implied she wouldn’t be present. Was he just thinking of her in a room full of eligible singles?

On to the next one, Date #4, he rolled across to the next column of tables, deciding to switch it up. The energy of Zinqué in that moment inspired him to get a little more creative. He kept drawing the same dog, but this time he wrote a question underneath the drawing, before slipping it under the curtain: If I were to meet an angel in this place, and we only have seven minutes, does that make this a game of seven minutes in heaven?

#*ENTER FANFARE TRUMPET SOUNDS* i present to u ..... this mess oh god #( » interactions. )#( » closed starter. )#( jolie de beauvoir. )#and shout out to you for having jolie come up with speed dating in the first place #bc this rlly had the juices flowing in my brain in setting up the scene even if the descriptions could be wack #it works. tell me it does.#even if it doesn't.#it works for them. mmk.#if i gotta change something pls holla at me to do so

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shaniahnoel · 6 years

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Everything Has Changed: Chapter Four

Word Count: 2060

Warnings: None.

Master List

Author’s Note: this is a suuuper slow build romance. I wanted to experiment with really building an OC and truly developing the romance. Feedback on how I’m doing with that would be AMAZING. And, if you need a few more cute moments to get you through the build up, let me know, I might edit a scene or two ;)

“Are you done with the truck, Riles? I’m sorry I forgot that I needed to replace the tires on that van before we close so I need the bay.”

“Yeah, we’re done here,” Sweet Pea answered for her, his voice a little gruffer, “Thanks for letting me use the shop, Mr. Evans. Thank you, too,” he added, glancing at Riley. He got in the truck and left without another word. Her dad hesitated for a minute.

“Need to talk about it?”

“I’ll wait for mom.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” he smiled, and she swatted him with the oil cloth. “This won’t take too long. Can you finish up inventory?”

She nodded and slipped into the main shop. Slipping her headphones in she called Iris to talk as she marked down the stock. Fortunately, Jake had just left so the conversation was private. Iris squealed repeatedly as Riley debriefed her what happened and made a noise of sympathy as she concluded. She waited patiently for her to finish before beginning her interrogation.

“Did you want to kiss him?”

“Kind-of…”

“How do you ‘kind-of’ want to kiss someone? Wait, is this your dumb dating thing?”

“It’s not dumb to want some sort of commitment before you start kissing people,” Riley said pointedly.

“Okaaaay, if you say so. Anyways, your weird morals aside, you definitely wanted to kiss him?”

“Yes,” she groaned, “But I think I ruined any chance of that.”

“Well… maybe,” Iris said, seriously, “Or… you may have gotten him more interested with your little tease.”

“I wasn’t trying to tease him! I was trying to breath with him all over my personal bubble.”

“You know that, and I know that, but…”

“How does one flirtatiously say, ‘I don’t want to kiss you unless we’re dating, which I’m not sure I want to do because I only know that you’re hot and nothing else’?”

There was a solid minute of laughter before Iris choked out a response, “Riley, I love you, but you have to know that was singlehandedly the most awkward thing you’ve ever said in your fifteen years of life… and that’s including when you tried to explain to Mr. Bird that you had your period and needed to leave class.”

“Will you ever let that die?”

“Never,” she promised, laughing again. The bell rang, signaling an entering customer. Riley said her goodbyes and went to offer him assistance. The rest of the night at the shop went by the same as usual and at seven her father came into the main room.

“Ready to go, kiddo?”

“Actually… is it alright if I hang out in town for a little bit?”

“Meeting up with Iris and the twins?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure yet.”

“Alright,” he answered, eyeing her speculatively. “Let me know if I need to come pick you up.”

“Yessir.”

The evening air was cool as she set off down the sidewalk. It’d been a while since she’d strolled through town like this, but she liked the solitude. Briefly she contemplated going past the White Wyrm, but that felt too bold. Instead she settled for heading towards the quarry, strategically roaming around the twins’ house to avoid stopping. Kieran and Jake were outside with a few friends. As she watched, a girl wrapped herself in Kieran’s arms and he kissed her neck. Surprise flickered in her eyes as relief flooded through her—maybe she’d keep his attention from Sweet Pea.

There was a spring in her step as she continued forward. As she passed the trailer park she was stopped by a few of the older ladies who would come into the shop, and after chatting for a few minutes she continued on her way. A muffled crying pulled her attention to the alley she was passing, and her concern for someone hurt outweighed her sense of self-preservation.

“Hello,” she called out, slowly proceeding down the alley. There was a choked sob, and then a slender figure straightened up. “Toni?”

“What are you doing here,” Toni snapped, wiping her eyes.

“Checking in on an old friend,” Riley answered coolly before remembering the last time she’d seen Toni cry. “Is it your parents,” she asked then, warming her tone.

“You remember?”

Riley nodded, stepping closer to her former friend and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. Toni melted on contact, the sobs coming stronger. It was like they were kids again with Toni curled into her side while Riley smoothed her hair. After a few minutes, the tears stopped, and the girls separated slightly.

“Thanks, Riles,” she said quietly, wiping her eyes fiercely. “How bad do I look?”

“You’re a bombshell, as usual. With a little mascara on your cheeks,” she added, making her laugh.

“C’mon,” Toni muttered, linking arms with her. They walked a few blocks back until they reached the trailer park. The old ladies had gone back inside. It’d been a while since she’d been to Toni’s, but her uncle’s place looked the same, complete with Grandpa Tom sitting in his favorite chair. He smiled, looking surprised to see her, but readily held out his arms. They talked a few minutes before Toni reappeared in the doorway, gesturing her to follow.

Her room was transformed. Gone were the frilly blankets and pink walls, replaced by soft cotton and deep purple. The closet hung open, revealing the black tops and lacey numbers which filled it. Funky shoes littered the floor, along with her jean jacket and discarded tights. A cork board above the desk was a time capsule of the girl before the Serpent and Riley was surprised to find her face among the polaroids, tongues over their teeth and celebrating the removal of braces. The photo was tucked behind that of Toni’s parents and Riley turned to her.

“Eight years is a long time.”

“I know, I should just be over it, right?” Toni snarled.

“No, it’s a long time to miss somebody, especially your parents,” Riley replied quietly. She moved to sit next to her on the bed. “Do you talk to anyone about it?”

“No,” Toni said, reluctantly, “If I could hide it from Gramps I would, but he hears me.”

Riley placed a hand on her knee, turning to look her in the eye. “Toni, I don’t care if we haven’t talked in a century—if you need me on this day, I’m here—no questions, no judgment, alright?”

She nodded slowly in response and leaned her head on her shoulder.

“Now do you think you’ve squeezed out all the tears,” Riley asked, smiling gently. Toni’s answering smile was full of childhood memories.

“I’ve made room for a milkshake, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied with a faint attempt at a smile, brushing under her eyes again. Riley led the way out of her room, feeling lighter somehow.

“Off to Pop’s?” Thomas Topaz asked as they walked past. They nodded in response and a warm smile crossed his face. Riley thought he seemed pleased.

Over milkshakes and fries, the girls caught up on life. Seventh grade was the last that they’d truly spoken and much had happened in the three years since. At first Toni was hesitant to talk about the Serpents but relaxed as the conversation went on.

“So, what’s the deal with you and SP?” Toni questioned with a knowing look.

“I swear, you’re as bad as Iris,” Riley growled with an eyeroll. “There isn’t a deal with us. He talks to me now, I guess you probably know more than I do.”

“See, that’s the thing, I’m sort of the expert on SP—calming him down, getting him motivated, the whole shebang, but he’s been weird lately.” Toni sipped her milkshake with a pensive look on her face.

“When you figure it out, let me know,” Riley answered with a laugh.

As Toni sucked the last of her milkshake from her cup, Riley went to the bathroom. She washed her hands with a smile; the friendship with Toni was something she hadn’t realized she was missing until now. As she exited the bathroom her step faltered. Fangs and Sweet Pea had joined Toni in their booth. Steeling her shoulders, she went forwards, mentally chanting that all would be fine. Fangs turned at her approach, eyebrows raised in surprise as Riley slid into the booth beside him. She smiled and grabbed her milkshake, taking a nervous sip of the remains.

“This is your date,” he asked, flabbergasted.

“I never said I had a date, stupid. I said I was with an old friend,” Toni laughed, shaking her head.

“Riley,” Riley said, offering Fangs her hand. A look of understanding crossed his face. He took her hand, lingering a second longer than necessary, a playful glint in his eye. The way his eyes flashed to Sweet Pea told her that the display was for his benefit. Riley sat back comfortably in the booth, watching Toni and Fangs bicker like siblings. Sweet Pea was pensive again, gaze trained on the lot outside.

“Are you guys ordering anything,” she questioned, glancing between the two boys.

“Nah, saw Toni through the window and decided to investigate,” Fangs chuckled.

“We were headed to the Quarry,” Sweet Pea added.

“Let’s go,” Toni said excitedly. “You in?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. I’ll come.”

It wasn’t until they’d exited to the parking lot that Riley found the flaw in her day. Everything had been going wonderfully from the unintentional reconnecting with Toni, to the milkshakes, and finally the guys showing up. The problem was two wheels and the small leather seat between them. Fangs straddled his bike, and Toni debated only a moment before joining him. Sweet Pea grabbed the helmet, the only helmet, from his handlebars and offered it to her.

“Oh, uhm, do we have to ride there?”

“Scared?”

“No,” she said defiantly, “I’m just not allow—” She cut herself off realizing how uncool those words sounded. A smile tugged at Sweet Pea’s mouth while Fangs laughed openly. Toni shoved an elbow into his ribs and turned to Riley.

“I’ll walk over with you,” she offered, but Riley felt the heat in her cheeks.

“Nah, I should probably get back now anyways. Definitely another time though,” she promised.

“Do you always listen to what your parents say,” Sweet Pea taunted, and the embarrassment shifted to anger in a blink.

“Yeah, I try to. They consider me trustworthy, and I’m not going to break that,” she said, angrily.

With that she turned on heel and went to walk away. Toni snarled something at Sweet Pea, but he seemed to ignore her. Instead Riley heard his steps crunching gravel behind her.

‘’Y’know if you’re always this serious, I dunno if we could be friends,” he said drily.

“Who says I want to be friends with you,” Riley seethed, whirling around. She was surprised to find him smiling and annoyed at the emotions it stirred within her—spiking her anger and her heart rate.

“Funny,” he said quietly. “I said the same thing the other day, but here we are.”

“And where exactly is that?”

“Well, that building there is Pop’s and over there is—ouch, rude,” he complained as she swatted his arm.

“Are we friends?”

“Depends. Are you allowed to be friends with a Serpent?”

“I decide who my friends are.”

“And you want to be my friend?” Sweet Pea stepped closer, close enough that she could smell his cologne. There was a strange look in his eye and Riley couldn’t help but think she was missing the deeper question.

“I don’t know,” she answered, truthfully. Sweet Pea’s eyes tightened the smallest bit, the corners of his mouth turning down. Before she could continue, he turned and headed back to where Fangs and Toni waited. “Especially not with that attitude,” she added under her breath.

It seemed like Sweet Pea hesitated a second, but then he continued back to his bike. Riley rolled her eyes at the amused expression on Fangs’ face and smiled reassuringly at the concerned Toni. She watched as they drove out of the lot and then walked herself home. There was a feeling of relief that seemed out of place flowing through her. Sweet Pea’s interest had made her anxious. He radiated self-assurance and overconfidence. She couldn’t figure out what had drawn him to her, but part of her hoped it was done.

Taglist: @ella-full-of-secrets @my-ships-have-sunk @54fangirl @everheart12@inspiredbynewt @poolpartyingwithjaws @southsidesserpent @lynniev

#riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #southside #southsideserpents #sweetpea #sweetpeaxoc #oc #sweet pea #southsideserpents fanfiction #fanfiction #slow burn #original character

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jejublr · 7 years

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seventeen as your valentine

a/n: lmao, i deadass forgot it’s valentine’s day until someone mentioned it :^) beautiful people, i hope you’re having a great day! happy carat day, lovelies~

ps: i’m so late to this from school and cny! i’m so sorry!! i hope you’ll enjoy nonetheless! happy chinese new year to those celebrating!!!

seungcheol

oh, man

we all can see it; seungcheol is that guy

the one who goes all in on valentine’s day

i’m talking about a bouquet of flowers, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, a teddy teddy bear..

the whole shebang

he’s the one that makes the girls go “aww” and the other guys think valentine’s day is a competition lmao

sometimes you wonder if he’s more excited over it more than you are

he low-key just excited to show you some love

would probably bring you to his favorite family-owned restaurant that he frequents often for dinner

he knows the owner well so he’s like a son to them

you ended up having a blast there

and seungcheol would walk with you by the river after dinner, eyes drooping and stomach full, his arm around your shoulder

tucks your hair behind your ear as he thank you for being with him

and it may be cliche and cheesy with this guy at times but he does it so well

jeonghan

deadass forgot that it’s valentine’s day

only got reminded bc seungkwan sent everyone sweet text messages

but boy is smooth bc the moment he found out, he called a flower shop to deliver a bouquet to your work/school asap and make it seem like a surprise

but guess what

you knew he forgot

disappointing but not surprising

but you forgive him because now your friends and/or co-workers are sending you jealous looks and it’s worth it

#pettycouple4thewin

but let’s be real, jeonghan is a sweetheart

after work/school, he’d pick you up to go shopping with you

brings you to all the stores and buys you the things you’ve been eyeing for a while

spoils you

takes you on that café with the maple latte he’s grown to love

walks you home with your hand in his

joshua

idk why but he comes across as a pretty simple and personal guy when it comes to celebrating valentine’s day

i don’t see him doing something over-the-top but he’ll definitely do something romantic for the two of you

i’m talking about a candle-lit room strewn with rose petals all over

you’d come home to his beautiful smile and the surprise

“welcome home, sweetheart.”

kisses your cheek as he produces a bouquet of flowers from his back

the dinner table is set up for two with home-cooked meal he made himself and you guys would talk over your meal

anime will probably come up in the conversation whether you want it or not

confirm he’s going to serenade you after dinner

sits with you on the couch, hands picking on his guitar as his soft voice sing to you

“falling for you.. falling for you...”

he’ll glance at you from the corner of his eyes as you get lulled on his shoulder by his honey voice

and you don’t know but he’d wonder how lucky he had ever ended up with someone like you

jun

it may not everybody’s definition of romantic but i see jun bringing you to the amusement park?

idk i feel like he knows he’s a busy guy and he’d want to make good memories with you when he finally has time away from the business

he’ll buy matching headbands with you, take you on all of the rides, and (tries) to win you plush toys from the tents

accuses that the game is rigged when none of the balls hit the target

and had to be pulled away from the stall

take silly photobooth pictures with you

tried to secretly save one for his wallet but you found out

“jun! i don’t look nice in that one!”

“what are you talking about? you look adorable!”

tons of pda while queueing for the rides

y’all are that couple

eating all the food and regretting it because now y’all feel queasy after trying to hold in those corndogs after the roller coaster ride

so you guys just pick tamer rides

decided that he’s a romantic genius for suggesting to on the ferris wheel as the pinnacle of the day

good timing tho bc it’s sunset and it’s pretty to watch from above

you both didn’t say anything throughout the whole ride but he couldn’t stop thinking how beautiful you are with the sun on your face like that

hoshi

barges into your room first thing in the morning

“y/nnnnnn, let’s go on a date!”

“what the frick soonyoung it’s seven.”

ends up lying down on your couch watching cartoons as he waits for you to get ready

brings you to the zoo

couldn’t stop taking pictures of you with the animals bc you’re both cute

“that monkey looks like you.”

tries to coax you with ice cream when you give him the silent treatment

trying to stop him from feeding the animals

“soonyoung, for the fifth time, do not feed the lion potato chips. how many times do i have to tell you-”

you both play ispy as you sit on a bench overlooking all the animals

pulls you everywhere with him

“y/n, look! it’s a polar bear!”

“let’s go see the giraffe!”

“is that a real lion?”

“does it seem like a human to you.”

is he actually more excited about going to the zoo than you are???

why, yes. yes, he is.

buys you tiger ears from the gift shop

holds your hand throughout the whole date

wonwoo

ignores you the whole day so you went to school/work thinking that he forgot

you knew that it’s not a big deal but you couldn’t help but feel a little upset over the fact that he didn’t seem to care

your bosses ended up dismissing you early and all your girl friends have a date with their significant others so now you’re going home with a long face

was about to unlock your door when wonwoo came out in a rush

in a tux, holding a bouquet of flowers

“uhm, won, what are you doing?”

“what are you doing?”

turns out he purposely ignored you the whole morning so he could surprise you when he pick you up from school/work

so now you’re just confused on why is he wearing a pair of tux while you’re standing there in your jeans and t-shirt

“I thought this is what guys do on Valentine’s day? aren’t we supposed to wear a tux and give flowers?” he blushes

and you couldn’t help but coo at how clueless he seems

you both ended up playing video games the rest of the day

woozi

woozi is one of those special people who needs external push to actually do something cliche-ly romantic

Valentine’s day is one of those rare days when he would actually put effort to woe you

actually took the time and effort to write and produce a song dedicated to you

i’m thinkin about you

called you to the studio and you find him sitting in his seat with the usual sweatpants and t-shirt combo, looking as comfortable

except he’s not comfortable at all

because you’re standing there looking as beautiful as always and he’s been cooped up in his studio for who knows how long trying to finish the song he made for you

and he couldn’t help but feel his stomach churn with nerve as he makes you sit next to him

he’d hand you a pair of headphones and say “what do you think of this?” as he tries to hide his furious blush

you thought it’s just another song he needed an input on like he’s always done

except that you realized it’s different this time bc the lyrics sounds a lot more personal

it sounded like you

it was a pleasant surprise when you leap up from your seat into him as you press a gentle peck on his cheek

boy didn’t know what to do and ended up without a gift a day until Valentine’s

came up to soonyoung terrified and panicked because it’s tomorrow! and he still has no idea what to give to you!!!

“just give her flowers, everyone likes flowers right”

almost whacked him in the face because he couldn’t get anymore cliché than that

finally comes up to you with a box of chocolate the next day

didn’t bother to buy you flowers because flowers wilt and he wants you to last forever

plus you can share the chocolate together so it’s a win-win situation, amirite

actually prepared to sing for you from days ago but you could hear him try and sing quitely from the room next door since a week ago

his definition of singing quitely is not quite the same as everyone else

so now you’re sitting on the balcony overlooking the cityscape, not able to hold in your smile as he sing your song to you in the sweetest voice ever

and by the end of the performance kisses you on the temple as you overlook the city lights

mingyu

ah, this pupper

would want the day to be special for you!

i see him bringing you on a picnic to a scenic place

holds your hand throughout the drive with his other hand on the steering wheel

cook and brings you all of your favorite food, from appetizers to desserts

would bring the classic chocolate-covered strawberries minus the chocolate bc he forgot to buy it and swapped it for nutella instead

which was a huge mistake bc now you’re trying to smear chocolate spread on each other’s faces

you end up having a little game of chase around the hills in which you had your picnic on

when you’re finally exhausted, you’d both lie cloud watching on the grass

“look! it’s aji!”

“no, that’s a rat!”

lets you sleep on the car ride home and wakes you up with kisses when you reach home

the8

will definitely spoil you

after all, it’s a special day meant to be spent with a special person

would probably leave you a box of present with a dress he picked out for you himself at your door

which doesn’t seem bad bc have you seen this guy’s fashion sense? i’d trust him with my fashion

on a card, it says “hope you have a fantastic day! i’ll pick you up at 7. i hope you’ll like the dress ;)”

picks you up on time in tux and brings you to a fancy restaurant

orders the best food because that’s what you deserve

doesn’t really do the bouquet of flowers thing and would rather buy you a necklace

because he gucci

which he did and put on for you himself

after dinner, he’d take you to an art museum and explore the place with your hand clasped in his

he’d walk you back to your place with your hands tucked in the pocket of his coat

seungkwan

he’ll bring you coffee-shop hopping

it’s a thing, okay

you guys would go around the city from café to café hand in hand

you’ll both laugh at the back of the bus and in the subway as he whisper to you funny anecdotes and jokes

people would look at you both with fondness but you wouldn’t notice because he’s looking at you with fondness, too

every time you spot something delicious, he’d take your hand and pull you into the store to try it

“but seungkwan, i’m full!”

“there’s always room for dessert.”

“THIS IS THE THIRD ICE CREAM STORE WE GOT INTO.”

“JUST GET IN.”

at one point on your date, he’d shyly slide out a handwritten letter

couldn’t stop blushing when you read his letter

blushes even more when you jump at him and start showering his cheeks with kisses

dates with this guy will always be simple yet sweet

vernon

like, woozi, is not the type to be too hyped about this kind of stuff

i mean, sure, yeah, he’s still gonna try and do something for you if you’re into it but he’s pretty chill

he’d probably want you to spend the day at home with him, cuddling and watching movies you both have been wanting to watch together

at one point, you’d both get bored of watching so you resort to sharing earphones and you move to the couch for another cuddle sesh

what you didn’t realize is that he actually made you a cd playlist and hid it under one of the cushions

which was not his best idea because you ended up crushing it without realizing

you both laughed at how the cd case was kinda cracked in the middle was the moment he brought it out

“uh, happy valentine’s day, babe. i guess..”

you guys would get your favorite take-outs for dinner and have a mario kart match in your pajamas after that

and spending the special day with vernon may not be anything fancy but you wouldn’t have it any other way

chan

i’m ready to fight anyone who thinks he’s inexperienced

100% sure he knows more than his hyungs does come on man

has more moves than them too

didn’t even ask for advice from his hyungs bc he knows they’re hopeless smh

but when i think about chan, i couldn’t help but think of a park date!!

he’s still gonna bring you flowers but I think he’d be more chill about Valentine’s day

unlike someone *cough*Seungcheol*cough*

brings you to eat ice cream and you’ll both sit on the bench, people-watching and talking about everything

tries to steal your ice cream when you’re not looking and pinches your cheeks when you pout at him

you both basically turn into giant five-year-olds as you push each other around on the playground swing

will definitely pull you to go on those duck-boat ride around the river

him being the sly nugget he is tries to topple you over into the river

didn’t really work but it did on his favor because you stumble into him

will bring you to a diner nearby after a little stroll around the park

only ordered a milkshake so you guys ended up sharing

sneaks glances at you as he sips from his straw and couldn’t stop holding your hand from across the tabled

266 notes · View notes

doomedandstoned · 5 years

Text

A Freeform Conversation With C.T. From RWAKE

~By Shawn Gibson~

Some weeks back, Doomed & Stoned tracked down Christopher Farris Terry, frontman of the beloved Little Rock progressive sludge six-pack RWAKE to catch up on what's been happening since Rwake's last album, 'Rest' (2011) -- including the more recent project Mutants Of The Monster fest and the super-group Deadbird, which released 'III: The Forest Within the Tree' (2018) just months ago. They also compare notes on southern barbeque, tripping balls, Danzig memes, raising teenagers, and their mutual love for Guns N' Roses. Finally, we catch wind of a new Rwake record in 2020, which is exciting news indeed for the diehards among us. As usual, I'm presenting Shawn Gibson's interview in the most organic fashion possible, so you can appreciate the flow of the conversation. (Billy)

☿

C.T. how's it going, man?

I'm doing good, man. Doing good.

I'm glad we're able to do this. Thanks for your time.

No, thank you! Man, I was telling someone the other day this is all done. Anything to do for the Mutants [Of The Monster] thing is all resources. I'm not as punk as punk rockers are! (laughs) It's all DIY, you know? It’s friends helping out to do stuff. So, yeah, it means a lot, us talking like this.

Right on! That's how I feel. It's underground music for underground people by underground people. It's that nice little family, like the patchwork. Friends helping friends out! I wouldn't think you'd see it too much in other genres and styles of music. True camaraderie!

No. It's a cool little community threaded out. It's like it's our own little thing throughout the country, ya know?

Definitely! Throughout the world.

Totally, totally.

You told me you have a new project or you've got something coming up, right?

Dude, I got like 50 things going on. (laughs)

I'm sure you do! I can only imagine.

Yes, it's the Mutants [Of The Monster] show. It's coming up soon. I hate to even call it a fest, because compared to another fest in the country, it's not really that big. In Arkansas, to the underground, it's pretty big -- especially when you take a bunch of shows that usually draw fifty to a hundred people and we're getting like three hundred people at it. That's everybody you know going to those shows in these parts!

Rest by Rwake

I started listening to punk and metal in middle school in Charleston, South Carolina. We would have to really go to some hole in the wall type places to see some shows. You get people showing up and you’re glad as shit people showed!

No, real glad! About ten years ago, we did this at Downtown Music, our old venue. It's like a weekend. We did it three years in a row, mostly locals and then we would bring in a couple of out of town bands. Through the years, I started helping a friend with another thing and it stopped happening. Then it made sense to do this. Do something, because something was going to happen. I was having all these bands hitting me up. They all wanted it on a specific weekend. The first thing you think is, "Do I want to do two shows in a row?" If it's a regular show, I want everybody to come to one of them. I had to make the decision: "I'm going to do two in a row!" We're going to make this something that everyone is coming out to.

Nice!

Last year, it turned into what it did with all the good bands that were involved. Before last year was even done, we were already starting to book the bands for this year.

Gotta love that! Sometimes as the fan and audience member you might have to decide which day you’re going, if you might not be able to go to all events or days. "Man, Friday they have these guys. Saturday they have those guys!"

It's the people who have driven in. They are there for the whole shebang. The locals are the ones that they're not copped to the fact of the whole thing and they look at it like, "I want to take this night off." So you have to make something worth them taking off the entire weekend, but I'm going to save up a lot of money. (laughs)

Shit yeah, man! When you go, you got to get merch.

Everyone seems to buying the hell out of merch. Last year was a really positive show. This year, it seems like it's going to be doing the same thing.

What's the name of it?

Mutants Of The Monster, after the Black Oak Arkansas song.

Wow! They are badass.

Yeah. (laughs)

I dig those guys and they are still playing, right?

Oh, yeah.

I saw a year ago they were playing shows. Badass!

Atlantic Records paid me and I made like a webisode. It was a full documentary mixed in with Royal Albert Hall concert.

What?

They played it on VH1. I didn't get to watch it. (laughs)

Damn, man!

I was in the studio with them, like a week recording everything. It was pretty wild!

I love their music. I love Goatsnake's cover of "Hotrod."

Yeah that's a rad song!

I like in the song where they are talking about going to the show, then giving Jim Dandy a ride.

Yeah. I let my wife hear that for the first time. She was like, "Did that really happen?" Who the fuck knows? (laughs)

No telling!

In the world of Jim Dandy...

Those guys have stories for days!

Yeah, completely.

What are some other projects you have going on?

It seems like I got a lot going on, but there's not really any work going on at all. I play in Deadbird. I do samples and chords. Any of that auxiliary kind of stuff, backup vocals. We play on cool shows. (laughs) We played that Migration Fest last year. That was sick! We have a show with Phobia and EYEHATEGOD coming up that's sold out. We have some shows this summer. Even though we have a new album came out, we already got new songs in the works. It's fun.

Always have a little something on the back burner, something in the pocket.

The guys in Deadbird -- Jeff that's in Rwake, the drummer, is in Deadbird also -- we are like the new guys in the band. We are the only ones that live in like central Arkansas, like Sherwood area. Everyone else is spread out. They are the core members. It's two brothers, the Schaaf brothers on guitar on drums. Alan Short is also on guitar and vocals. They all do vocals. We always have a thread going and always sending new riffs, new ideas. Getting together with them is a lot of fun! It's not like any other band practices. It's weird. It's like a bunch of cousins getting in the room and drinking. (laughs) It's fun!

A lot of camaraderie. You guys are tight and have a very good vibe.

Everyone's working so much and we all have kids. When everyone goes out of their way to drive down, like three hours for a band practice. We make a weekend of it. We are cooking out. We’re hanging out. We don't get to do that a lot. Even though I might be putting on a lot of good shows, I don't go to all of them. I can't. Even if I do, I don't get to run into any of my old friends, ya know? It's like a new scene. It's the times. So Deadbird practices, yeah, they're the best! (laughs)

Stories for a later time. A separate interview, huh?

Totally! I'm also working on moving the [Mutants Of The Monster] fest to Hot Springs Arkansas. I've been going up there and having meetings about raising money for artists. All the venues will be in small theaters, really original shows. So yeah, I've been working on that. Even though I should be concentrating on this year's, I'm already working on next year's.

How much goes into all that? Is coordinating with venues tough? The reward is worth it, but what are the technical aspects of putting together a fest?

Technically, I have a crew of buddies. This buddy of mine, Drew, we started cooking catfish together at like nine, I think. We just got tight in a kitchen doing what we have to do, you know what I mean? Get through the weeds, to have everything come out on time. A few years later, I started booking in a local venue. It started out as a nightmare. It's come around 180 degrees and brought it to a really good spot. He was the manager at that time. When it came down to doing this last year and it was getting way too big for me to fuck with. My mind was...

...turning to mash potatoes! (laughs)

It really was! I don't even know if I reached out to Drew. He's the kind of buddy that probably reached out to me and asked: “Yo, what are you going to do? This is the situation. This is what I would do here." He started going over everything. We have a small crew of guys, two other buddies. One hardcore buddy, Jordan, who was always by the stage with Drew. Then we had a floater buddy, Corey, who would be the kind of guy who is like, "Oh, they need this?" and run to the store or run to Guitar Center if we had to type of situation. It always left Drew and Jordan managing the stage. The sound guy didn't even have to worry about any of that just because they had it down so well. When it comes to that, I don't worry about any of that stuff. I'll say this: last year we were almost an hour ahead of time with so many bands.

Damn! That's rare with shows. That's on it!

That is something that never happens! I mean nev-er! (laughs) Seven bands in a time period from like seven-to-midnight, ya now? It’s just that we were on top of our shit.

Voices of Omens by Rwake

Right on. From writing, having had a radio show, and being a fan in the audience, you get there at doors and see the first band two hours later or something. I can imagine it's a headache for musicians and promoters putting on shows.

This year, we've taken on some more. We've added a band onto the list. I think we are going to be good. The only thing I usually worry about at this point is when I wake up in the middle of the night and think, "Eight thousand dollars I got to come up with or whatever!" (laughs) I lose sleep. "How am I going to get this out?" It seems like all that has past, because once the poster is done I start getting a little more attention to eyebrows being raised. Stuff like this where you and I are talking and I'm already watching the ticket sales meet up to the guarantee. This year, there's something I've never had: sponsors.

It helps.

Dude, it helps everything.

Big time.

Man I'm incredibly grateful for that! I had a friend, Kyle he's one of the sponsors. He came to me with the idea. He's kinda like Drew, who runs the stage; it was his go-for with the sponsors, ya know? He was like, "I know people that want to back you. I know people that would back you, especially 'cause they know you can get artists here. It pushed me so hard! Knowing these people were doing this, I just wanted to get more quality stuff, ya know? I wanted to impress them as much as I could on the level I could without killing myself. (laughs)

Of course.

It's really nice! It's doing real good this year. Okay, like you said something about venues. It's such a small town, we really don't have that many venues that deal with original music, ya know? It's not like Austin Texas, where it's like seven venues on one street. They all look the same almost and you just go back and forth, ya know? Dude, if we have to change venues, they're not next door to each other. The venues have been really cool working with me. I want to do something more original. That's why I want to move to Hot Springs. It’s a fest, but it's only three hundred people max, you know what I'm saying? Compared to the festivals, at least in our country, it's not really ["huge"]. But here in Arkansas, it's a big deal for the underground. Not just Arkansas, I'd say mid-south. The whole mid-south is like the butthole of the country! (laughs)

It is! There's a lot of good music here in the south. I try to represent and music that you'd never hear on mainstream radio, especially from the south. I love this shit and been doing it many years. There's a lot of good music from the Carolinas.

Totally. It's affordable to do things in the mid-south too. The price range jumps once you get out of it. It's easier to get a venue. When I move to Hot Springs, I could send you pictures. They are in nice theaters. Technically, there's no more seats than three hundred. It looks nice. It looks amazing. It looks dramatic. You'd be like, "Wow, if I could see Cough in this room!" (laughs)

That would be badass.

When we move to Hot Springs the numbers will be the same, but the quality's going to be different. Like on a steamboat on a river. The sky's the limit as far as doing original performances. I know you heard about Sunn O))) playing in a cave!

Oh yeah! That's where it's at!

That's the kind of stuff we can pull off in Hot Springs, because the entire city is an art city and they back you. "Oh you want to play on the top of the hill that overlooks the whole city?" They back that kind of stuff. So hopefully this year is sick and we move to that.

What makes you laugh?

Most everything. I'm easily amused. I laugh at tragic stuff. (laughs) I don't mean it in like a bad way.

It's a nervous laugh. Sophomore year in high school they came in and said, "Mrs. So-and-so passed away." I had the nervous laugh come out.

Yeah it could be like, "She ruled!" or "She sucked!" (laughs) Right now my daughter has this smartass little attitude going on. We gotta nip it in the bud, but it sounds so clever. (laughs)

You try not to smile! You put your hands over your mouth when you smile.

I put my hands over my face!

You look at your wife, "Take care of this. I can't handle it right now."

Dude!

My thirteen year old son has an attitude problem right now, as well. I keep yelling at his ass! I get it.

I'm laughing easy and I need it, too, because I'm easily just as stressed! To wake up, catch a smile even if it's from an old Warrant video! It'll make my day ya know?

What's been an awkward moment in any of your bands: Rwake, Deadbird, Ash Of Cedars?

Hmm. They are there. I don't know if they could be like addressed at the moment.

Like you are on acid and you go into a grocery store and there's like six cops buying doughnuts! (laughs)

In the Rwake days, I wish it would get awkward. We always pushed it to where it was past awkward and to the point of are we going to live through this!? Are we going to jail? (laughs)

That's one of the reasons I love Rwake! You can hear how out there the music is, so I'd imagine how out there you might have been in the moment.

I wish there were awkward moments! We fought each other on tour and it never got awkward. Still raging the whole time. We never acknowledged the moment, ya know? If something is happening like we get pulled over and we're all going to jail and there's drugs all over the place. It's not awkward anymore. (laughs)

Damn, man.

It's like, "Well everything is fucked at this moment." There was this one time, maybe. We played with these punk rock kids. It was 2003 in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the band was Stab City Slit Wrist. It was two singers, female and dude, and they were just like fucking crazy crust punk, but bigger. We were all on substances at this time. (laughs) My mind was out there on stuff. This was the night I chose to break out my leather pants. (laughs) There was also like a punk GWAR kind of band that opened before us, an artsy band dressing up and did theatrical kind of stuff. My friend gives me these leather pants and I was like, "I'm going to bring em on tour!" The band was like: "Dude, you keep those put up the whole time we are on tour!" (laughs) They were like, "Do not bring that shit out!" I remember like, "This is the night!"

Get real toasted and put 'em on!

Dude, I was trippin’ like out of my mind! I already justified doing it, because I'm on a spiritual plane of existence. I was just like, "No one can touch me!" We go and we spent the night at these peoples house and I'm burning up. It's Arizona and I'm wearing leather pants ya know? Dude out of nowhere I took my shirt off and was like, "Who gives a shit ya know?" The singer of Stab City goes, "Oh, it's that kind of party!" Every dude in the audience takes their shirt off! (laughs) Rwake looks over at me like, "You fucking asshole!" (laughs) This is what Alice Cooper's original band must have felt like. It wasn't awkward to me, of course! I remember looking at Rwake. I say Rwake, I mean Brittany. Brittany looks over at me like, "You motherfucker!"

So you're like Jim Morrison out there? (laughs)

Yeah!(laughs) Leather pants, snake skin boots, no shirt.

WOO!

The after party at the house was shirts versus skins! That was semi-awkward, but not for me! We made really good friends with them.

What are some other projects you're involved with at the moment, besides Mutant Of The Monster?

I do a radio show and make compilations of all the local stuff. I play in another band, Iron Tongue, but we don't play that much either. It's like most of the stuff I do, I don't do it that much. I could say I play in a lot of bands, but it's stuff that doesn't happen that often. Rwake played last year at the Mutants fest and that was a really cool thing. It was cool to get together and play a new song -- that was really cool! Rwake, we have a whole album written, recorded basically. Not recorded to put out, but like a demo.

Wow!

You know, we have to figure out how we're going to do it as a band. Reid [Raley] is busy all the time. If he's not touring in his other bands, which they tour a lot, he is constantly on the road. He's a real busy dude! Our other guitarist, John, lives in Nashville, Tennessee or Murphysboro. So it's tough for Rwake to get it going, but it's there when we can figure it out. We've all put it on our radar for 2020.

Awesome!

We are hoping to record the full album by then, somehow. We have a full album written and more stuff. We are going to do the Black Sabbath thing.

Oh, yeah! Volume Four, Magnetic Eye. It's the redux. They did 'The Wall' -- fucking amazing record. Did you hear that one?

Yeah. ASG, Pallbearer are on it.

They did a damn good job, great covers of classic Floyd!

Yeah. We are ridiculous Zakk Wylde fans, so when we saw he was going to be on there it was like, "Oh god!" (laughs) Rwake's not a working band, like a lot of bands. We really didn't expect to get on it. Then they put us on the other one that's going to be coming out. We are going to do "The Writ," so it really seems like we have just stepped in it! (laughs) It's like the biggest song in the world. That's a no matter what, we are doing that! It is supposed to come out in 2020. As a band, that's some of the stuff I'm doing. We are talking about how are we going to record this, what is the structure going to be like? The Deadbird thread is up and constantly going. If we are not talking about new songs, we are joking about something. We had this awesome thread going on about Danzig. Jeff sent this picture of Danzig's left breast, then I put puppy dog eyes on it. Then we were also talking about Danzig's cover of "N.I.B." sounds like he's saying, "Your loaf of meat."

(Both of us try our best Danzig impressions)

I saw something that said Danzig will cover Elvis tunes. That made me spit my beer out! I also imagine him wearing the white suit with the cape.

He's takin' it so over the edge there. He was born for this!

Is he going to wear the suit or what?

Oh, wow! Probably black leather, ya know? That's what he did. Remember the Misfits video, where it's just them on stage. There's a pyramid. That, to me, when I see that, is like you just ripped off Elvis' live video. That's how his concert was on stage like that. Small band and he's sitting in a chair with a guitar. He wore the black leather suit. I think it was Elvis '69 or something I saw what he was doing. I appreciated it, I push for it. Danzig you go, girl! (laughs) Just do it! Feel good about yourself! Don't hurt nobody!

Don't practice your Jeet Kune Do on anybody!

Practice on the stage in front of us while we're down on the floor watching you. (laughs) Shit, I'll pay extra for that!

Hell Is A Door To The Sun (Reissue) by Rwake

I like to ask folks in southern states if they have good barbeque where they are from. How's it fare in Arkansas?

There is this place that is growing called Whole Hog, which originated here. When you walk in there, there's trophies out the ass. They're sauces mostly. There is a place right down the road called Pig and Stick. It's the fucking bomb! There's a place that's been open since the seventies, in Levy, called Mick's BBQ. It's ran out of this small little room. The smokers in the back are bigger than where you'd eat. That's where I learned to cook barbeque when I was a kid. He opened up a restaurant and it didn't last long so he just went back to his original place and he's still open. That's where I learned to put it on, to spin it, how long that kind of stuff. There are multiple places here. You can tell that about them when you show up to these places in a small town. When you look at the back in the smoking room and you think: "Jesus, this place has been up since the '20s!" (laughs)

Some of the best places I have gotten barbeque from looked like sheds or shacks. There are several like that in Savannah.

They are not winning the awards, but...

...they have some badass barbeque.

Yes, they do! Yes they do. We have good catfish places here, too.

Nice! I love catfish.

You want to find a place that makes their own hushpuppies -- that batter their own shit up. Those are the places. Grandpa's Catfish has been around awhile. That's where Drew and I worked together. I worked there almost ten years. They were ran out of the house. They were there since the early '70s. The house was falling down and they had to move into a restaurant. When they were in the house they were famous, because right when you came to the table you got this bowl of peanuts to crack and eat. What was so cool is they didn't care if you dropped your shells on the floor. So every time anyone would walk across the floor, you'd here crunch, crunch, crunch of peanut shells. As a seven or eight year old kid, "I want to go to Grandpa's!" and throw peanut shells on the floor! When they moved into an actual place is when they're like, "You can't do that!" It's not legal to do this. We're like, "Okay." They make the best hush puppies I've ever had. Even working there and I was making it, I still couldn't understand the magic. I never got sick of it. There's a magic in hushpuppies!

What's some damn good books you've read?

I recently finished the Slash novel, his autobiography. I'm about to start the Duff book.

Duff's awesome! Love his attitude. He's always smiling.

He did a show of his book and I kind of didn't like it. This is kind of weird man. I read excerpts from the book and I know it's awesome. Have you read this book at all? Slash book?

No, not yet.

It's incredible! His mother was David Bowie's stylist, like made all of his outfits. She actually started dating him and going on tour. The Ziggy Stardust outfits and everything after that was designed by Slash's mom.

Wow!

He was heavy into BMX as a teenager. Dude, the Guns N' Roses stories are mind blowing! Just the shit on Axl! (laughs) I have all the KISS books. The only one that seems halfway honest is Ace's book. The other ones seem like they are talking a lot of shit. You don't know if it's made up or what, ya know? Slash's is all real. You can tell. The stories are so precise. The first time he met Izzy [Stradlin], Slash drew a picture of Joe Perry in a high school notebook at a party and he left it there at the party and left. While he was working at Tower Records, Izzy showed up and was like, "Did you draw this?" Slash was like, "Yeah," and Izzy was like, "Cool." (both laugh)

Dude, all the way down to the heroine stories are mind blowing! They opened up for Alice Cooper in a coliseum in LA. The whole band is there but Slash left to go find heroine. He was gone for two days up until that show. They couldn't find him! All the way up until a minute before the concert he was like "I didn't have a guitar around my neck." At that time he didn't even have a fucking guitar! He pawned all his shit! While he was recording Appetite For Destruction, the only guitar he had was that red Mockingbird. It was getting pawned, getting out, getting pawned, getting out. He never had Les Pauls. The Les Paul that he recorded that album with, there's two made in the entire world and they are mocks, they're rip offs. They are not Les Pauls. That's what he recorded that album with. There was one other one, "Oh, I borrowed this from a friend." So he shows up for the show. He walks past security through the back, where only a band would or someone working would walk through. Until he found his way through, he kept telling everyone that he's playing tonight, "where's Guns N' Roses?" He said everyone was pissed off and didn't want to talk to him. He said to that day every time they would play with Alice Cooper, Alice would look at Axle and ask, "Where is your guitar player?" even if Slash was standing right there.

Damn!

It's funny, because Slash has recorded songs with Alice. His last two albums he's played on with Alice. That's just a story to come up with the tone of the recording for Appetite For Destruction and him trying to find that tone for the rest of his life. (laughs) Dude he was like "we were in this shitty little room with a rented head." He rented this Marshall head. The company would not sell it to him. He rented it for the next two years and would not return it. They were like, "You got to fucking return this!" He returned it and re rented it. All during the process they were looking for producers during the Appetite for Destruction. It was a two-year lull before they actually went in and recorded the album. That's the whole reason Live Like A Suicide came out. None of that is live. It's all demos they recorded in one day getting ready to sound check for Appetite for Destruction. They threw a live track over it like people were there and they called it that.

So they are looking for producers and all that crap. Paul Stanley reaches out to them because he is looking for bands or whatever. He's heard of Guns N' Roses. They set up a show. Slash says, "Dude, there's this one bar we would play." It was the seediest bar in LA. No one knows the name, because it was never popular and it was where their fans would go, where the dope fiends would go. It was dark, dungeon-like place. "Our best shows have been there." He said he tried to kick heroin two days prior to this. He is drinking a lot of whiskey to try to make up for it. He also mentions his guitar tech, who still works with him 'till this day, was his first night working for Slash. This was a year-and-a-half before Appetite for Destruction was ever released. They are signed, they have money behind them. Slash said he's going behind the amp and throwing up the entire night. He's coming off heroin, but constantly drinking whiskey. Those were his two things: whiskey and heroin. He did coke, but he didn't make it sound like it's a big deal. (laughs)

He said the backstage of this venue was a slender concrete hallway that went to this backdoor to an alley. So he said they played that show and Paul was like, "That was interesting." A few months later, they do an interview for Billboard, because Appetite for Destruction is coming out. Slash still doesn't have any guitars yet. They are talking about doing some shows and they make fun of KISS in the interview. They are about to go on their first major tour. Slash loves B.C. Rich. That is his guitar all the way up until he got labeled a Les Paul, dude. Slash calls Paul Stanley, three months after bashing KISS in the Billboard interview, "Paul, you have an endorsement with B.C. Rich, I'm really struggling for a guitar right now. Is there any way you could help me out?" Paul was like, "I can help ya out, but I'm not gonna!" (laughs)

Damn it, man!

He was like, "You should watch what you say in interviews!" Slash said he realizes what he said. They were at the KISS honors and Slash walked up to Paul that night and apologized to him. Slash was going on about how sorry he was and he's not that guy anymore. Paul told him to shut up, because they were on live TV. "Who gives a shit about that stuff, man?" (laughs) Slash said "Okay, I just had to apologize." One last one and you won't have to read the book! (laughs)

Sure.

In that Appetite For Destruction lull, Slash became best friends with Dave Mustaine.

Oh, wow.

This was right before So Far, So Good, So What? came out and he had already written most of the songs. Slash was not doing heroin at the time. He got on this huge crack kick with Dave Mustaine.

What the fuck? (laughs)

They are smoking it like crazy! (laughs) They are both B.C. Rich dudes, ya know?

That's hilarious.

He said he would go to Dave's house and smoke crack and play guitar. Dave would play all of the So Far, So Good, So What? stuff. Dave Mustaine told Slash that he wanted Slash in Megadeth. Slash had to make the decision: Guns N' Roses or Megadeth. This is when you're signed to a major label, but you don't have a producer. You have this, but you don't have that, ya know? Do I join Megadeth or stay with my band that's trying to do this? He finally had to say, "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do it." That's crazy, ya know? Think about So Far, So Good, So What? with Slash playing guitar on it!

That blows my mind thinking about it.

Slash gives Dave Mustaine a lot of credit to this day. "He may be a better guitar player than me." Slash was showing up everyday smokin' Dave's shit and keeping up until he made me that guy. Ok, I'll be done. There's thousands! There's so many cool Duff stories. It makes me want to dive right into the Duff book.

Xenoglossalgia: The Last Stage of Awareness by Rwake

That's what people want. I want to know what makes these guys tick. What do you do when you’re not on tour, recording, or writing? I love that shit. I love finding out what we have in common.

It's cool to find out why it took three fucking years to record Use Your Illusion. It's wild hearing those stories alone. I'm trying to think, Slash might have been twenty-two or twenty-three. It's crazy! You know that Guns N' Roses Ritz show?

I believe so.

The classic Live At The Ritz show. It was on MTV. They sound like shit. (laughs) That was a fluke. Guns N' Roses shared a manager with Great White. Great White was supposed to play that. Slash would talk about the manager pushing Great White on Guns and Roses and mentioned touring. Slash said, "Stop pushing Great White on us, dude!"

(both laugh)

Great White was supposed to play that MTV performance and they pulled out for whatever reason. The manager was like, "Guns N' Roses, you gotta do this!" They got on the road and went straight to New York to play that show. I was in seventh grade when I watched that motherfucker. It’s the one where they played "Knocking On Heavens Door" for the first time. Appetite for Destruction was out three or four months and "Sweet Child of Mine" wasn't even a single yet. Dude, Axl's wearing a Thin Lizzy t-shirt, the snap on leather biker hat. Slash is so not on, that it is on! Duff McKagan is the entire band! The come on with "It's So Easy" and you're like, "Where is that second vocal coming from?" It's carrying the entire song, and it's Duff.

Duff's the man!

They come out like a goddamn missile at that show! It's insane! My seventh grade mind could have had to watch Great White that night! (laughs)

You would have taken a different path.

I like Great White, don't get me wrong. I think the whole world would have taken a different path if it wasn't the Guns N' Roses show at the Ritz.

You can appreciate hard rock and punk edge that early Guns N' Roses had. Now you might find Guns N' Roses t shirts at Walmart. Now they're a classic rock band with the likes of AC/DC, Metallica, and so on. When you see GnR playing Moscow, Monsters of Rock tour, and there are millions of people there! It looked like Woodstock!

Man, that Slash book is so good about details. They talk about Use Your Illusion tours how they had two keyboard players, six back-up players, saxophonists. There is a point where he is like, "With all these musicians really we are a stripped down band again." I took breaks from the book to watch YouTube videos of these performances and Slash was right. The music was stripped down. The part in the book where Slash talks about touring with Aerosmith! Somebody videotaped it from the crowd. Dude, it's so awesome where GnR introduces "Patience" to the crowd for the first time! It's there! Fuck this is so awesome! [Aerosmith] are coming on stage, blown! I'd hate to be Aerosmith having to follow that.

Have you seen Walk Hard?

Oh yeah!

Where Dewey Cox has to follow Elvis and he says, "Mr. Elvis, that a hard act to follow!"

Yeah! It's a good time. I wouldn't trust the Axl book if it ever came out. Steven Adler, just 'cause of his health, I don't know where he's at with writing. The stories that were told about him in that book were incredible. He was the hottest dude in the band. Chicks went to the shows to see Steven Adler. They were like nobody wants to fuck us! (laughs) Slash told a story about going to these parks where people would play basketball or whatever and they were open all night long. If you wanted to get a basketball game at 3AM, you could. He said Steven would take his entire drum set and set it up at like midnight and would play for three hours. He said it was wild pulling up on Steven and he's playing solos in LA, ya know? I would love to hear his story.

The first two Guns N' Roses shows were Tracii Guns from LA Guns It was Tracii, Izzy, Axle, a different bass player and Steven. Duff and Slash were the new editions to Guns N' Roses. Axl Rose originally sang in LA Guns. They broke up LA Guns to start a new fresh band called Guns N' Roses. It was members of Hollywood Rose, I knew that before reading the book and then members of LA Guns. I just never knew the particulars. They played two shows and had a blowout fight at the second one where Tracii quit and went back to LA Guns. Axl was like fuck it, we'll fill their positions. Slash tried out for G'n'R for a while. Axl wanted Slash, and Izzy is a standoffish dude, so Izzy came to band practice one day and walked out. He was like, "You didn't tell me this dude was showing up." Axl yelled at Izzy, "This is Slash! I want him to be in the band!"

Izzy had just as much pull as Axl at the time, because he was such a weird avant artist. He'd be like, "You jam with him. I'm out of here." He had already done the "Did you draw this picture?" two years before that. (laughs) Slash remembers the first time and what he had to do to get with Izzy, to be on his side. Slash had to get on Izzy's good side to get in that band. I love KISS, but they have no stories like that. It's probably the most anti-rock and roll stories. Gene got really gross and personal with all his sex stories. I mean, which could be the most lewd shit that would stand up to drug taking (laughs) or just being a weird stand up artist, ya know? Which I -- sure, 'cause Izzy was on heroin, too. Duff wasn't like them. They all dabbled in the stuff, but not even Axl. He wasn't like that. The heroin dudes were Izzy and Slash. From what I get from it, is that Slash probably got in with Izzy that way, being heroin buddies. That's exactly what it is.

Crazy shit.

It's such a good book. It is real rock and roll. It's like shit Rwake would have done really early on. (laughs) "Well, I guess we are all going to walk back home from Jackson Tennessee together and leave all our gear on the side of the road. Well, we really didn't think about it. It's a van, it ran to the gas station when we filled it up with gas. We thought it would have made it to Nashville!" (laughs) I see those connections.

Truly living in the moment.

Yeah, yeah. Fun times!

Is there anything else you want to push or plug?

No, I think I sold Slash's autobiography pretty good! (laughs)

I liked hearing that. I'll have to check those books out.

It's hard to pull yourself away from it. I really want to plug the Mutants Of The Monster coming up. The THOU set is going to be amazing!

Goddamn, yeah!

There are going to be sets throughout the entire weekend that I'm not supposed to talk about. -(16)- is flying in just for this!

Nice!

Fingers crossed that a lot of these bands will do second sets.

Anytime you got something going on let me know and I'll gladly share and promote it.

Thank you! Hell ya dude! Hopefully we will have some Rwake out some time soon.

Sweet!

Cool! It means a lot Shawn! Thank you, dude!

Right on! Thank you!

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Meet the Next Generation of Yoga Changemakers

These young yogis—representing Gen Z—are changing the world through peace, love, and compassion.

Meet the rising yoga stars of Generation Z

Many are quick to tsk-tsk “kids these days” for nonstop smartphoning and a self-centered attitude. But this most-diverse generation, with nontraditional views on everything from gender identity to power structures, is more conscientious than you might think—and that’s especially true for these five up-and-coming yoga teachers (most of whom started practicing before they hit double digits). Get ready to be inspired.

Tabay Atkins: Showing us how to follow your dharma, as the country's youngest yoga teacher

By Meghan Rabbitt

Tabay Atkins

Age: 14

Lives in Maui, Hawaii

My yoga role model is my mom, because she beat cancer.

My biggest accomplishment so far is graduating high school at age 14.

My favorite teaching moment was when I led a yoga class with Tao Porchon-Lynch, the oldest living yoga teacher. She told me, “Keep doing what you’re doing, and stay true to you.”

In the year 2030, I’ll be teaching, traveling the world, and sharing my love of yoga and veganism with as many people as I can.

Yoga is for everyone.

Yoga isn’t about getting into the “best” pose.

I wish more yogis would realize the amazing benefits of a plant-based diet.

The promise I make to myself every day is to be the best version of myself that I can be.

It was a total fluke that six-year-old Tabay Atkins found himself with a stack of coloring books in the corner of a San Clemente, California yoga studio. His mom, Sahel Anvarinejad, had just finished treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and showed up there for what she thought was a tea date with Carolyn Long, a friend of a friend who’d sent countless texts and emails with supportive and inspiring messages during her cancer treatment. Long had asked Anvarinejad to meet her at her studio without exactly clarifying that they’d be doing more than having tea.

“I had only been cancer-free for two weeks, and when I walked into the studio that night, I was so skeptical of yoga,” says Anvarinejad. “I wanted to run out. But something told me to stay.”

See also Building a Strong Foundation for Cancer Healing

Long had a plan—albeit a slightly sneaky one. What were the chances that Anvarinejad would suggest meeting on the exact day and time that her studio’s yoga teacher training was starting? Didn’t that mean she was meant to join the training—to learn how yoga might be a part of her post-cancer healing journey?

Anvarinejad felt resistant. She’d never even done yoga before, and now she was going to join a teacher training? But Long was persistent. So, Anvarinejad signed up—if a little reluctantly. Before the second class, she tried to bail because she didn’t have childcare for her young son. “Bring him!” Long told her emphatically. Which is how Atkins ended up in yoga class with that stack of coloring books.

Except Atkins did more watching than coloring that day. The next, serving as a prop helper for the trainees, he delivered bolsters and blocks to their mats as needed. Then, Atkins started trying some of the postures from the sidelines, too.

See also Is Yoga Teacher Training For You?

“A few days a week, I would practice with my mom,” says Atkins, now 14. “She’d ask me to remind her how to do the poses, and I would show her. An amazing transition happened from the beginning to the end of my mom’s training—there was this super-change in her. Before yoga, she’d been sad and scared and so low on energy and mobility because of the intensive chemo. After the yoga training, she was happy again—back to her old self, but better.”

“You Can Find Your Dharma at Any Age”

While most second graders might simply be psyched to have their mom back to normal, Atkins wanted more: He wanted to get certified to teach, too.

“I wanted to help other people the way yoga helped my mom,” he says. “There were so many people in the hospital bed next to her who didn’t even know about yoga. I thought if I could share this amazing practice, others could find the same kind of healing and happiness, too.”

See also Is Teaching Yoga Your Path? 8 Qualities of Excellent Teachers

A Teacher is Born

During her training, Anvarinejad often thought about how grateful she was that her son was being introduced to yoga—and how much she could’ve used the practice when she was a child. Because of all of the stress kids face at school, with friends, and at home, she decided that the perfect way to get her teaching legs under her would be to volunteer at her son’s school.

She taught during gym classes and after school, and soon parents started asking for private lessons and summer yoga camps for their children. Within a year, Anvarinejad opened the first kids’ yoga studio in Orange County—and Atkins was right by her side, a self-proclaimed “helper” at age eight.

“My mom started getting various certificates to specialize in kids’ yoga—like how to teach kids on the spectrum, teaching tweens and teens, and even restorative yoga—and I joined her for all of those,” Atkins says. He was seven when he got his first yoga certificate, to teach autistic kids, and a few years later, he found himself helping his mom lead a class at a school for autistic children in San Francisco.

Watch Introduction to Yoga for Kids with Autism

The principal warned Atkins that the kids he was about to teach were prone to violence and shouldn’t make physical contact with him or one another. But when Atkins started speaking to his peers, they were calm and captivated. When he led the students through a partner exercise—and they happily leaned on each other as they held Tree Pose—the principal and the teachers in the room started crying. “They couldn’t believe what was happening,” Atkins says. “But I did. I thought, This just goes to show you all how capable they really are.”