#the timing of this episode is crazy because in trying to finish the show today

[was-house-fruity]

Was House fruity this episode?

Season 8, episode 19: The C-Word

Verdict: FRUITY

[butterphii]

Mc..Steamy?

TW: Beautiful, feet kicking, toe curling smut, work sex, protected piv sex, love marks, sexual tension, cussing, pussy pronouns, fingering

Note: I'm finally getting a fic out! Now, I know this isn't what I normally write, but I've been absolutely hooked on this show like you don't understand. I've been watching it pretty nonstop for weeks, and I'm only about halfway into season four. I love this show half to fucking death, and it's so good. I'm writing about McSteamy because I just got past the part in the episode with the school bus crash, and I was SWOONING over him after he said "Baby, you're not gonna find anybody better than me." He's just so hot. Blah, blah, anyway, let's finally get to it!

-----------------Dr. Mark Sloan-----------------

It was your first day back at Seattle Grace, but now as a junior resident. As you struggled to open your locker with the amount of random shit in your hands, you overheard Meredith talking to Christina. "God, Mere, stop whining over that plastics guy, or..McSteamy or whatever." Christina groaned in annoyance. "But he is really McSteamy! He's cute! And, yeah, I'm having my breakup sex with Derek and whatnot, but he's cute." Meredith smiled, resting her chin on her hand.

You finally pushed all your stuff into the locker, swiftly pulling a hair tie off your wrist and throwing your hair into it. "Mere! Christina! Wait for me!" You yelled, running after them.

"Who were you guys talking about? Who's McSteamy?" You asked, fixing the collar of your shirt. "You don't know him? You've been here for your whole intern year and you don't know Mark Sloan? Even after Meredith dragged on and on about Shepherd's wife coming here, stopping Mere in her tracks, then we all find out Addison slept with Sloan when he got here? And he's the head of plastics!! You're trying to get into that specialty too! God, you're crazy." Christina rambled, Meredith's mouth wide open.

"Wait..Dr. Sloan? I've never really seen his face before-" You squinted, searching the board to see if you were in for surgery today. "Good thing you're on his service today." Meredith patted your back before walking off with Christina, waving seductively at Derek, you also exchanging a hello with him.

"You! Come on, we got somethin' to do today." You heard a voice call out fron behind you, and when you turned, you met the face of the gorgeous Mark Sloan they were talking about, his eyes such a beautiful pearly blue, his beard complimenting his face so perfectly, and his light brown hair with soft strokes of salt and pepper just topped it all off. "Come on! I see you droolin'." He smiled, causing you to zone out into the most wonderful day dream of you two getting it on in the on-call room. You quickly snapped out of it though because he started pulling you into the room his patient was in.

"This here is Jamie. She got into a crash a few months ago and is now healed and ready to get her face done." He introduced you to the patient. "Hello!" You smiled sweetly, seeing out of the corner of your eye, Sloan's eyes deepening with wonder and lust.

"C'mon, let's get ya prepped, shall we?" You smiled again, looking at the patient and then to Sloan. "Which O.R?" You asked, tucking your hair behind your ear, reaching for gloves. "Uhm..Two." He cleared his throat, exiting the room and walking silently to the Operating Room.

You quickly wheeled the patient over to the elevator, pushing her into it and making your way to the O.R.

You watched intensely as Sloan cut into her face, making it even more beautiful than it was before. He looked up at you, asking questions from time to time, trying not to let anyone figure out he was having the same day dream as you were earlier.

Once you had finally finished surgery, you brought Jamie back to her room to rest and stay for a while. You smiled at her before shutting your eyes and turning around, only to slam into what felt like a wall. You were stunned, shocked. You opened your eyes and looked up, seeing the marvelous Dr. Sloan staring back down at you.

"O-oh, I-Sorry." You choked. "All fine, sweetheart." He chuckled, his voice so mesmerizingly deep. He let you sit in your stunned silence, mouth moving but no words coming out. "You got somethin' to say, baby?" He smiled, putting his hands on your waist and shutting the door with his foot.

You tried to hide your enormous grin, but couldn't. He pushed you up against the wall, looking into your eyes. He leaned down, whispering in your ear, "Meet me in the on-call room. 8 P.M. Don't be too late, baby." He pressed a gentle kiss to your temple, a soft noise escaping your mouth. He pulled away, grinning at you again before walking out of the room.

You held both of your hands over your mouth, feeling your cheeks redden. "Oh my god." You whispered. You looked up and out the door, watching George walk by. "George!" You called out, speed walking over to him to walk with him.

"You will never believe what just happened," You started, speaking mostly with your hands. You described to him in full detail how it went down, watching his face cringe and contort at some parts. "Ok, well, meet him in the room, and don't ever speak to me about this again." He smiled, grabbing someone's chart and walking into a room.

You chuckled and went your own way, trying to keep yourself from being so excited you can't stop shaking.

At 7:30, Mere caught you in the bathroom touching up your makeup and fixing your messy bun. "Who're you getting ready for?" She asked, grabbing her sweater from her locker and pulling it over her shoulders. "I gotta date!" You giggled, sliding a mascara wand over your lashes. Meredith showed her soft smile, her lips thinning gorgeously.

"Ok, I have to go! Gotta meet someone." You squealed at Mere, giving her a quick hug, running down to the on-call rooms at 7:59.

You opened the door, sliding in quickly and quietly, then feeling two large hands wrap around your waist. You gasped, Sloan's warm body pressing against you, feeling his bulge grow harder as he stood up to you. "Looking good, baby.." He whispered seductively in your ear again.

You turned around, pressing your lips to his. He kissed back, deepening the kiss and pushing your front to his, your pussy growing wet and his dick pressing onto you. He walked backwards, taking you with him and laying down on the bed.

He grinded his hips on top of you, little moans slipping from your lips as your tongues danced together. He pulled away, his smile making you smile back. He pulled up your shirt, rubbing his thumb up and down on your stomach. "You're gorgeous.." He whispered, nipping at your ear. You moaned again, reaching down for his pants and pulling them down slowly, but surely. His dick sprung out when he pulled his boxers down, him almost as eager as you. You felt it sit lightly on your covered slit, him leaning back on his knees to pull down your scrub pants and pull your black lace panties over.

"She's beautiful, huh? So wet for me baby.." He whispered again, his fingers sliding between your folds and teasing your entrance. You reached your hand down, pushing the tips of his fingers inside of you, moaning as he slipped them the rest of the way.

"Tight, too..She's perfect." He groaned, using his hand to rub his tip ever so lightly. He fucked you with his fingers, your hips bucking quickly, your face overcome with the sexual pleasure.

He slipped a condom over his dick and held the base, smacking it lightly on your clit. You moaned again, begging for him to just put it in already.

He slowly started to slide each inch in very slowly, you only really realizing how big he was when he bottomed out and you felt completely full. He started a slow rhythm, pulling almost all the way out and pushing completely back in. You moaned his name, or atleast tried to, until he sped up and you kept cursing. "Fuck! Oh-ohmygod..A-ah! Keep going!" You begged again, him obeying.

"O-Oh my- I'm gonna cum!!" You screamed into his shoulder, his body warm and sweaty. You clawed at his back no doubt that it hurt him. But, he didn't seem to care.

"Take all you need baby. Do what you need, sweetheart.. Fuck-" He groaned, his dick twitching as you tightened around him. The waves of orgasm hitting you like a tsunami. "Shit- Gonna cum, sweetheart-" He growled as you rode out your release. You watched as his head fell to your shoulder as his seed spilt into the condom, you both releasing ragged pants.

"Fuck, baby. You- God." He gasped into your shoulder, both of your chests rising and falling. "That was amazing." You breathed back. You both sat in silence, the only thing somewhat close to talking was Sloan nodding in agreement. His pager beeped ans you both groaned. "How'd you like to go out to dinner tomorrow night? With me?" He asked, pulling his pants back up, standing. "Yeah, sure. That sounds nice." You replied, pulling your shirt down and fixing yourself up before standing as well.

He pressed a kiss to your lips. "See ya then, doll. I'll put you on my surgery tomorrow too." He grinned. Your cheeks flushed with pink. "I- Ok!" You smiled back.

You checked the time, running out a few minutes after him to the lockers. "You look like you were busy. What happened?" Christina asked. "I was busy. Getting busy, that is." You giggled, shimmying your shoulders. She looked at you in slight disgust, Mere laughing.

"Who'd you get busy with?" Alex and Izzy asked at almost the same time. "Nunya." You replied, leaning over to whisper in Izzy's ear, "Dr. Sloan!" You pulled away, giggling. She looked at you with a soft gasp and her usual warm and wide smile.

You nodded, pulling your stuff from your locker. "Getting dinner with him tomorrow night." Izzy and Mere smiled at you. "That's great, hun!" Izzy grinned walking out and kissing George as she walked by, grabbing his hand and walking away with him, you and him exchanging waves while he raised an eyebrow, you throwing a thumbs up and he grinned back at you, giving you one back like you guys just had a whole conversation about your time with Sloan. It was confusing how he seemed so disgusted earlier but was now smiling and congratulating you for getting it. Oh well, you thought.

You ran out after them, so you could lay down in your bed and dream about your time and the ones, hopefully, soon to be.

[pinkerthings]

the importance of mike and will simply getting each other, cont. (pt 3):

i covered the significance of Mileven not understanding each other here, and the first part of byler getting each other here. time to finish what we started ! Continuing on with--

season 2:

Crazy together, because byler isn’t byler without it:

This scene is important. It’s a direct parallel of a couple Mileven scenes, like the grocery store scene of Mike trying to tell El he loves her & the season one scene of Mike talking to El about the snow ball.

There is no confusion in this entire scene. Will tells Mike what he’s been experiencing, Mike understands, and tells him if one of them goes crazy, they’ll both go crazy. They are in it together. Literally crazy together. I don’t know what else anyone could want from this scene. It’s the epitome of Mike and Will understanding each other.

In episode 3 during Will’s “episode” seeing the Mind Flayer again, lo and behold, who is the one to find him in the field?

Of course you’re the one to find him Michael ! You’re always the one to find him !

Later on in episode 5 Will is in his bedroom explaining the shadow monster visions and feelings to Mike, and he just gets it, even if he doesn’t get it.

Finishing Will’s sentences, not asking a lot of questions, understanding what he’s trying to say, etc. Mike is just getting what he’s saying.

He’s also trying to be positive and uplifting, reassuring Will that everything will be fine.

And then we get the byler handhold:

bad pic but we all know what it looks like so idc !

Moving on, one of my favorite parts about season 2 is just how much Mike and Will content we get. They are literally glued to each other's hips for nine episodes. The rest of the party us off doing whatever it is they were doing and Mike has literally not left Will's side once.

The hospital scene where Will (being partially possessed by the Mind Flayer) doesn't remember Hopper nor Bob, and barely remembers Joyce, but recognizes Mike almost instantly ? Just how much space does Mike take up in Will's brain? Get a grip Byers!

season 3:

Season 3 is interesting because this is where things start getting ...... weird between them. Starting in episode 1, the first scene they have together is the movie theatre scene, where Will senses something is wrong and Mike immediately notices. I mean, literally right away.

(peep the blush on both their cheeks when they first sit down lmao.)

Will senses something and has this far away look on his face, to which Mike interrupts his thoughts with, "Hey, you okay?" Will nods and says yes. Mike presses again, "You're sure?" And Will says, "Of course." Mike then nods and leans back in his seat.

The first minutes of season three, we are met with a protective Mike, similar to season two. The Duffers are still showing the audience, "Hey! These two are best friends! Mike watches over Will and Will watches over Mike, and they are very protective of each other."

For the first few episodes of season 3, they seem to be in this awkward rut, but still somehow are almost always at each other's sides ? (interesting considering there's always one person who disrupts their compatibility)

Their next interaction includes Will thinking Mike and Eleven's little "curfew at 4" stunt is "gross," right before feeling the shadow monster and touching his neck (but that’s a theory for another day).

Episode 2: Mike lying to Eleven about his Nana because he doesn’t want to hang out with her (per Hopper’s wrath) and the boys shopping at the mall. (Just another example of Mileven not understanding each other. Their relationship is almost always centered around lies !)

Next is infamous “I dump your ass scene,” yet another example of Mileven misunderstanding each other that I should have included in post one.

Episode 3: The byler fight !

Begins with Will waking up Lucas and Mike with medieval music and his speech about d&d, which I find….interesting.

“I have seen into the future, and I see that today is a new day. A day…free of girls.”

Now, this is Will Byers we’re talking about, he’s not the biggest fan of girls. But that line is interesting. We know the Duffer’s love putting little hints and clues in earlier episodes to allude to future things. (Or maybe I’m just delusional)

Lucas isn’t that opposed to the d&d game with Will, but Mike is a little weary because it’s so early in the morning But he eventually gives in and plays the game.

Mike and Lucas are clearly uninterested in the game, unlike Will, who is clearly invested and trying to have fun.

Mike answers a phone call in the middle of the game thinking it could be El, and ends the game with an easy way out. Will gets upset and tears is costume off, shutting off the music and heading outside.

Mike’s ENTIRE demeanor changes in an instant. It goes from annoyed and bored to apologetic and empathetic in a literal second.

“Will, I was just messing around.”

Michael, you certainly weren’t, but just realized that your attitude actually hurt your best friend and you feel bad about it.

“Will, let’s finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?”

Will says, “Just forget it, Mike.”

And Mike says, “No, you want to keep playing, right? We’ll just call the girls after.”

It doesn't matter what Mike wants, because Will wants to keep playing, Mike is willing to push his immature attitude aside and play the game for his best friend.

“I said, forget it, Mike!” Will yells.

Mike has a hurt look on his face, sort of similar to the s2 e2 look on Will’s face when Mike is slightly annoyed at him for letting Max trick-or-treat with them. It’s the look of, “Oh no, I made my best friend mad and I didn’t mean to. How could I do such a thing?!”

Will says he’s going home and pushes past Lucas and Mike, and only one of them follows.

You guessed it !

“Will come on, you can’t leave, it’s raining.”

This scene makes me giggle because since when has RAIN stopped anyone in this show from accomplishing anything? Will has literally been through hell and back and Mike is worried because he doesn’t want him biking home in the rain?

Anyways byler rain fight:

Mike literally says it himself:

El’s not stupid.

(crazy + stupid = love)

Mike literally says himself he and El aren’t compatible.

(screw tumblr for only allowing 30 images per post)

next part coming i promise !!!!

[heygerald]

Falling Without A Harness - Chapter 3

AU where Tom Ryder is still an asshole, just not a psychotic asshole. After their moment at the wrap party, Tom shows up at Parker's bookstore. How is it possible someone can be such an asshole when asking for a favor?

read the story here: prev / next

Two weeks later finds the weather outside shifting with the first hint of autumn; cooler temperatures in the morning greet Parker when she walks to work, and the coffee shop next door has started advertising their new fall drinks of pumpkin spice and cinnamon tea. She's seen her brother every day since the wrap party—partly because he always makes a point of taking some down time after finishing a movie to recover from his stunts, and partly because her and Jody have become fast friends—but she hasn't seen Tom since their moment in the bathroom.

She suspects that's for the best. The internet is flooded with paparazzi photos of him flouncing around town with models every other day, and she's still trying to forget how natural it felt to laugh with him.

But despite her brother's newly open schedule, and Jody's constant pestering to go spend a day at the beach, Parker finds her bookstore just as empty as always.

There are a few stragglers here and there throughout the day. Sometimes she gets lucky when a tour bus stops for gas and snacks, allowing an ensemble of tacky dressed tourists to flood her street for twenty minutes. On unlucky days, Mr. Chamberlain will stop in to peruse her historical section; but he doesn't have any sort of schedule or income, and those visits consist entirely of him describing last night's CSI episode to Parker before trying to set her up with his grandson. Once he bought a book from her dollar bin. He attempted to return it three days later.

On days like today, Parker is visited by a sixteen-year-old named Melissa who hangs out every so often while her mom attends overpriced Pilates in the studio down the block.

"...and then Peter was all 'no, sorry Mandy, I'm not interested". Like, hello! My name is Melissa and we've lived in the same neighborhood since we were four," said teenager was droning on from her spot atop the upcycled reading chair in the corner. She never failed to impress Parker with how much she could talk—the stories quite literally never stopped coming—while at the same time she managed to read about four books a week. Parker suspected that Melissa's brain represented something like the Rainbow Road in Mario Kart, when the music got a little too fast and the turns were a little too hard to keep up with. "Now, I have no idea what I'm going to do. There's no one else for me to ask since it's three weeks away."

Parker, only half-listening to the story, hummed from her spot two rows back. She had won several boxes of books at a local auction about a month ago and had done a pretty good job at pretending they didn't exist.

Ignoring the problem only lasted so long, however, and this morning she had ended up spilling coffee all over herself when her sneaker caught the edge of the box. Pride—and knees—damaged, she decided to tackle the issue first thing in the morning.

It was now four in the afternoon, and the books were mocking her.

"Can't you just go alone?" she asked.

"Go alone? Are you crazy! That's, like, really sad, Park," Melissa explained. She couldn't see her, but Parker could feel the judgmental look the teen girl was giving her. "Only losers go alone to dances."

"Baby did it."

"Who?"

"Baby. You know? You don't put Baby in a corner? That one."

A tut. "You should really update your references."

"Jesus. Since when did Dirty Dancing become an outdated reference?" she muttered while inspecting the spine of a mystery novel from the 70s. It had definitely seen better days, and when she shifted it, three pages fell out. Parker tossed it into the TRASH box with a sigh. "Is going to a dance with your friends considered outdated too?"

"That's the same thing as going alone," Melissa groaned.

"How? You're literally not alone."

"Because if I go with my friends, that means that I couldn't get anyone that wasn't a friend to agree to go with me. I don't need the whole school thinking that I'm a total loser."

"I went with my friends and had a blast. And I'm not a loser."

There was no response other than silence, and after a few moments Parker realized that if Melissa had nothing to say about the subject, she likely had nothing nice to say.

She cleared her throat before moving onto the next, and final, box hoping that there would be better books in it. So far, her KEEP pile was looking pathetically small compared to what was about to be binned. With a forced change of conversation, she asked, "hey, you grew up here, right?"

"Sure."

"Did you know the Sawyers?"

"Like, Miss Sawyer? Down on Oakcrest?"

"The fancy old house with the bushes shaped like dogs. I bought a bunch of books at her estate sale, and so far, they all suck. I thought she was supposed to be a big collector or something."

The sound of Melissa humming echoed throughout the empty store, and Parker peeked around the bookshelves to spot the girl lying upside down on the chair; Doc Martens stuck up in the air, long ponytail hanging to the ground as she played on her phone.

Parker rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, totally. But she collected those kid's books. Original copies or whatever. Mom said she paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for some rabbit book."

"...Peter Rabbit?"

"I guess," Melissa shrugged. There was a loud smack of gum popping before her voice rang out, "she did a bunch of donations to local art musuems and galleries and stuff. A phila-something—"

"Philanthropist?"

"—and there was some big deal about her donating everything to some charity. Mom was talking about it. Which, like, good for them or whatever but I don't understand how donating an old book is helping solve world hunger."

Parker let her head drop against the beat-up cardboard box in front of her, something despondent and miserable sitting on her chest at the realization that she had wasted time and money on nothing but crap. "Well, I wish I knew that before I went into a bidding war over this garbage. Are the Hardy Boys still cool or is that dated too?"

A judgmental laugh floated back. "Um, their name is pronounced Hemsworth, Park."

"I meant—" she started, before realizing that this was a battle she was never going to win, and even if she wanted to try the musty smell resonating from these boxes of crap had burned through her daily allowance of braincells. Something Melissa didn't seem to worry about as she puffed from her vape pen. "Forget it."

Not so shockingly, Melissa did not, in fact, forget it. Instead, she spent the next ten minutes describing in scary detail each Hemsworth brother, their looks on a scale of one to ten, their best movies, and why Chris was the dreamiest of them all. His hair and eyes were a big selling point, apparently, and as Parker listened to the teenager drone on, she couldn't help but wonder if Chris Hemsworth used box dye too.

So wrapped up in her own world of book sorting, Parker didn't notice when the front door opened with a tinkle of the bell until the shop went eerily quiet. Melissa, it seemed, had finally found a reason to shut up.

"I never liked Chris all that much," Parker said as she slowly gathered the KEEP bin and hefted it off the floor. Her lower back ached at the strain. Jesus, maybe I am old. Moving towards the front counter, she continued musing, "There's something about him in the first Thor movie, when his eyebrows were all bleached, that kind of turned me off. I think there's a word for that, right? The ew or something...."

She spots Melissa first.

The girl is sitting upright in the chair now, face flushed a deep scarlet red with a book held tightly in her lap as she pretends to read through it. Her phone and vape are nowhere to be seen, and she doesn't so much as glance up when Parker strides by.

"What happened to you?" she asks with an amused quirk of the brow. Melissa doesn't respond, and Parker turns to set the heavy box of books on the front counter when she spots the other person in the room. "Oh, sorry. I was in the back. Can I help—?"

It shouldn't surprise her as much as it does, but Parker blinks to find Tom Ryder standing on the other side of the counter staring at her with raised brows.

Tom fucking Ryder.

He looks better than the last time she ran into him. He has a nice tan going underneath a funky pair of yellow sunglasses that are, in her opinion, too big for his face. They look a little absurd with the whitewashed denim jacket he's wearing, but the yellow matches the bedazzled t-shirt he has on underneath, so she suspects it's some sort of fashion statement. Paired with an expensive pair of well-polished boots, it all looks quite absurd standing in the middle of her dilapidated bookstore.

Even more so when Parker realizes she's wearing nothing but a pair of cheap cargo shorts and an oversized Twilight sweatshirt that was covering the coffee-stained shirt underneath. (Team Jacob, always).

"Tom. Um... are you looking for Colt or something?"

In typical Ryder fashion, he ignores her question entirely to do a slow spin; blue eyes tinted by his glasses trailing over everything in sight. She can feel the judgement from across the counter, and when he finally fixes his sights back on her, his smirk is rage inducing. "This is your store. Seriously?"

Parker promptly plants her hands onto her hips with a scathing glare.

"Ok, what do you want?"

"Jesus, no wonder this place is empty," he drawls, a pointed smile tossed towards Melissa's prone form as he leans an elbow onto the counter. At being noticed, the teenager ducks her head behind the spine of her book as if she had just been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. "Do you talk to all your customers like that?"

"Just the assholes," she retorts. Over Tom's shoulder she catches Melissa's book dropping down two inches, and the girl's face is completely aghast.

What are you doing! she mouths, that's Tom Ryder!

Parker rolls her eyes. As if she didn't know who the blinged-out asshole standing in her store was. Speaking of—he's still standing there smirking at her. "That's you, if I wasn't clear. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Tom snorts. "I think I got that after the fifth time you said it."

"And yet..." she gestures vaguely to him, then to her store.

Because he's never behaved like a normal person, however, Tom doesn't seem to mind the insult or the offhand comment that she didn't want to deal with him. Instead, he smiles while his gaze drifts from judging the bookstore to judging Parker. He gives her a glance over—up, down, lingering on her oversized sweatshirt, before going back up—and finishes with a snort. "If the door hits me, I'm suing for damages, and I doubt you could afford the lawsuit. Let alone a lawyer."

God! What. a. fucking. asshole!

Parker bites back the insult knowing that it won't do any good. They've played this game before, and clearly being called an asshole seemed to have lost some of its bite over the weeks. So instead, she forcefully returns her attention to the cardboard box and slowly starts sorting the books into categories. "Fine. Can you just tell me what you want so I can get back to my life?"

He shifts against the counter and over the mustiness she catches a waft of his cologne when he grabs a book at random from her pile. "Why else do people come to a bookstore? I want a book."

Parker snorts. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Seriously, what do you want?"

There's a moment of silence. She glances up to find him pointedly ignoring her as he flips through the book at random.

"You're... serious?"

He shrugs. "You said you have a bunch of sci-fi books."

"I'm surprised you even remember that given the whole," she sticks a finger into her mouth and mimes throwing up. He doesn't find it funny or cute and responds with a disgusted glare. Parker rolls her eyes with a shake of the head. "It was a—never mind. Why not order off of Amazon? I thought you said you've never even been to a bookstore before?"

This time, it's his turn to roll his eyes. He drops the book with a thwack before turning his attention to the overstuffed bookshelves at her left. At random, he starts ambling towards one. "You should be flattered that I picked your little store to start. Most people would kill to say that you know. Tom Ryder explores rundown bookstore in the shitty side of LA. If you had a picture, the paps would run it in every paper by tomorrow morning," he huffs.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to document this monumental occasion forever," she snarks, but follows after him anyway. His pattern is half-hearted; poking books here and there, glancing for hardly a second, before moving on. "And my store isn't rundown. It just has some... character."

He snorts over his shoulder. "That's what a Mom says when her daughter is ugly."

"Don't you go through PR training or something?" she scoffs as he diverts to a different aisle. "I can't imagine Gail would like to hear that particular opinion if I sold it to TMZ."

"Gail would sue you for everything you own," he laughed while flipping through an old copy of Gone with the Wind. Parker crosses her arms at him with a glare, and in response Tom flashes a too-white smile at her. "She freaked out about the mink rug, by the way. Was screaming and everything. It was hilarious."

Parker's heart stopped in her chest, but when there was no continuation of the joke—haha I can't wait to see you served with papers!—she furrowed her brows at him. "You didn't tell her it was my fault?"

A shrug as he shoved the book against her chest.

She huffed, turning the book over to check for damages, but when he turned his back... well, a part of her did wonder why he would keep that a secret if it was such a big deal. Was it to be nice? Or so he could hold it over her head indefinitely? Then again, if this was his attempt at blackmail, letting it go for two weeks seemed like the wrong way to go about it.

Deciding not to linger on unsolvable riddles, Parker returned the book to the end cap he had found it on and asked, "so, does this mean you've decided to audition for that sci-fi part after all?"

Her question went unanswered as Tom paused in front of the SEX & SEXUALITY section. He pulled a wrinkled copy of Fifty Shades of Grey off the shelf and waggled his brows at her pointedly. "Keeping the good stuff for yourself, huh?"

Parker responded by snagging the book out of his hand and stuffing it back into place. "You break it, you buy it applies here too, Ryder."

"Half this place is broken," he said with a pointed glance at the flickering overhead light. "I still can't believe you own this shithole."

"I happen to love this bookstore—"

"Oh, trust me, I can believe that you would own a bookstore," he said, and while there was nothing insulting about owning a bookstore on its own, the way that Tom spoke made it clear that owning a bookstore was not something he held in high regard. Then again, he spent all his time reading shitty scripts, so what would he know? "I just can't believe that you would own this bookstore. Like, you actually paid money for this place?"

"If you have to know, I used to be friends with the owner, and got a good deal on the property," she started to explain. He raised his brows at her while slowly perusing the RELIGION section, and Parker shook herself. She didn't need to explain anything to him of all people. The reminder helped her find some confidence, and she fluttered her hands at him irritably. "You know what—I don't need to explain myself to you. You've never even been to a bookstore before. What would you know about making sacrifices for something you believed in?"

Tom paused in his search. She saw his jaw clench, and eyes droop towards the creaky wooden floor beneath his shiny boots, and his comment from the other day drifted back to mind.

"You can be a real asshole sometimes, too, he had said.

And while guilt did block her throat up a bit—fucking asshole couldn't even let her defend herself without feeling bad about it—this time he didn't make any such reprimands. Instead, he just shrugged, before diving deeper into the store.

He cleared his throat. "I just expected it be nicer coming from you."

"Does something about me secretly scream rich girl to you?"

Tom harrumphed. "Trust me, no one is mistaking you for rich. Uptight, however..."

"Oh, ha, hilarious, Tom. God! You're such an asshole," she laughed, but it was a mean sound, paired with a mean insult. It failed to have the desired effect, however. In fact, Tom seemed to have shifted from hating the insult to owning it and looked far too amused for her liking. Frustrated, Parker decided the best plan of extermination was a straightforward shot. Through gritted teeth, she asked, "...what kind of sci-fi book do you want?"

The rhinestones on his shoulders sparkled as he shrugged. "I don't know. I need to understand what gets nerds so fucking excited about this shit. Not too nerdy, though. Alright? I'm not trying to be a Trekkie or whatever."

There were so many things wrong with that statement that Parker wasn't sure what to pick first. So, she pinched the bridge of her nose to point out, "I have a feeling the so-called nerds making up your potential fanbase aren't going to appreciate being talked about like that."

"Who's gonna tell them—you?" he asked with a derisive glance over.

It was definitely true what they said about Tom Ryder; his effect on women was instantaneous. Parker just doubted the tabloids were talking about migraines.

"The sci-fi section is on the right," she sighed while pushing past him. It was one of the larger sections she had; it hadn't been a lie to say the books weren't selling all that well despite being her favorite. "What have you read before?"

The blank look he gave her was response enough.

"Ah, right, maybe... Altered Carbon?"

"Isn't that a tv show?"

"Well, yeah, but it was a book first."

He glanced at the book in her hand, but clearly wasn't impressed. Leaning on the shelf, he said, "why the hell would I read that if I could just watch it?"

"Sound logic," she tutted with a narrow eyed look. Parker returned the book with an eyeroll. "Fahrenheit 451?"

"Read it in high school. Not impressed."

She trailed the shelf while muttering, listing books in her head before subconsciously crossing them off the list of something he was likely to read and enjoy. "I guess that means you wouldn't like The Illustrated Man or The Martian Chronicles," she said to herself.

His arm brushed her aside to pluck out a familiar novel. "Nerds love this," he said while already flipping through the pages. She was surprised the size didn't scare him off immediately.

"Nu-uh. No way," she shook her head.

"What?"

"Dune is not a starter book."

He furrowed his brows crossly. "You don't think I'm smart enough to read this shit or something?"

You shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answers to, her mother's voice echoed in the back of her head.

"Reading Dune as your first sci-fi book is like jumping straight into the deep end," she told him in a much more diplomatic approach. "If a sixteen year old wants to start drinking, you don't give him scotch, you give him a fruity cocktail."

Tom huffed; first through his nose and then through his mouth but stuffed the book back onto the shelf anyway. To which Parker then had to put it back on the correct shelf with a huff of her own.

"Don't be a baby and just trust me that Dune isn't a starter book. Okay?"

"Well—what is? You're supposed to be the expert here."

"If you weren't so picky it would be a lot easier..." she deadpanned but returned to her search anyway. Tom didn't seem to like waiting, and scowled at her as she shifted past him. She ignored him as best she could while squatting down to the lower shelves. "Arthur C. Clarke is one of the best sci-fi writers. He established a lot of rules that still exist in writing today. And films."

Parker pulled one of his novels, before moving towards Asimov, and then finally to Sagan. They were all slimmer novels than Dune, but no less complicated.

"Contact is my favorite," she said, shoving the books into Tom's arms. His denim was rough on her hands, and she tried not to think about how feverishly warm his skin had been the last time she had been this close to him. Swallowing, Parker remained on task. "But any of these should be good starter books for you to get into sci-fi with."

He glanced at the choices warily. "My audition is next week."

"Then I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to finish these if you're really serious about wanting to get that role," she chirped.

Together, they wound back towards the front counter. The TRASH boxes sat in the middle of the aisle, and she carefully toed them to the side before trailing past. While she was pretty sure he had been joking about suing her, a workplace hazard was the last thing she needed.

"How do you remember all of this?"

"Where stuff is? I spend almost all of my time arranging books. I'm uptight, remember?"

She felt more than saw his eyeroll. "These books, the authors. You, like, know everything about them."

Parker paused. It definitely wasn't a compliment, but it definitely felt like it could have been. Then again, this was Tom Ryder. When she glanced up from the counter, she found that he already has his nose back in his phone, and the conundrum of compliment versus not was thrown out the window. Parker shot him an unimpressed look to say, "please tell me that you're not on SparkNotes right now."

It was his turn to pause. "I'm just... reading the descriptions."

"Maybe that's why you can't understand why nerds like these books," she argued, hands planted firmly on her hips now. "Why would I go to watch one of your movies if I already looked the plot up on Wikipedia?"

He ignored her point entirely to smirk. "So, you do see my movies?"

"Goodbye, Tom."

"Relax. I'm not going to spoil them, alright? What's the fun in that when I could read them instead, and then leave you a bad review when the books end up being awful?"

"You mean have your assistants leave me a bad review."

He didn't seem impressed at the jab but didn't defend himself either. Most likely because they both knew she was right. Parker shot him a smug smile that he promptly rolled his eyes at. "Hilarious. Just tell me how much the books cost so I can leave before stepping on a rusty nail or something."

"Didn't you see the sign out front? Can't come in without a tetanus shot due to liability reasons."

There was a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, but when she glanced up at him, Tom was wiping a hand down his face. "How much for the books, smartass?"

Parker was pretty sure she could upsell him. There was no way that he knew those three books, decades old with ripped pages, were only worth fifteen bucks together. And with all the Gucci name brand bullshit that he wore, she was pretty sure she could get away with telling him the price was a hundred dollars and he wouldn't even blink an eye.

But he was also a customer, a somewhat work acquaintance, and someone she really didn't want to hang around any longer than necessary. Not to mention her brother's pseudo boss, and someone that knew she was guilty of wrecking a far more expensive rug than she could ever pay to fix.

"Just consider them a loan," she said before she could second guess herself. When Tom raised his eyebrows so high they disappeared into his hairline, she waved a hand at him while half-heartedly returning to her job of book sorting. "If you're that put-off by it you can always pay me an agent's fee if you get the part."

He stared at her for a long moment, not necessarily computing, definitely hearing static, before Tom spared her an over-the-top eyeroll that surely had to have hurt to perform.

From his pocket he pulled out a couple of crumpled bills and slapped them onto the counter. He didn't even look at how much money it was. Just shook his head at her, glasses bobbing on his nose, before he was on his way out the door.

"Hey! Don't you want your change—?"

The door shut with a ting.

On the counter sat seventy-three dollars. Parker wasn't sure if she should be offended or complimented.

From outside there was the sound of an obnoxiously loud car engine revving, alongside the thrum of music, before it tore off down the street.

"What a fucking asshole," she grumbled with the shake of her head.

But it wasn't exactly an asshole thing to do, when she thought about it. And she would know; every exchange they had since being introduced had Tom acting like an asshole to her.

Or, well, not every exchange. Not when he had been, almost, nice to her at Gail's party, if only for a few moments when no one else was around.

"OH. MY. GOD!" a shrill voice shrieked across the store, bouncing off of bookshelves, as two boots went crashing towards the window. Parker was reminded in no gentle terms that they had not, in fact, been alone when Melissa smudged her face against the glass to peer out onto the street. "Holy shit! That was Tom Ryder! Tom Ryder! Are you kidding me right now? TOM. RYDER."

"Yeah, Jesus, I know who that was," she winced, pinching her ear when she thought the girl's high pitch yelp may have burst an eardrum. There was definitely a ringing as Melissa tromped around.

"You—he—I can't believe after all of this time you never once mentioned that you're friends with Tom freaking Ryder!" she squeaked.

"Well, hang on, we're not—"

"How long have you known him? How do you know him? Do you have his phone number? Ohmygod everyone is going to flip when I tell them that you know him. Tom Ryder!" Melissa shouted, phone already in hand as she started typing. "My friend, my dear friend and favorite bookstore owner, is best friends with Tom Ryder! Did you see his latest movie, Good Cop, Bad Dog? Ugh! He's so hot!"

"We're not friends," she said immediately, not even bothering to dispute the fact that Good Cop, Bad Dog was a puff piece in an attempt to market him for younger fans. "He's actually kind of an asshole."

The teenager shot Parker a scandalized look, mouth popped open into an O as her brows lifted to her hairline. "What? Are you kidding me right now? He just drove all the way out here to ask for your recommendation for a sci-fi book! His house is, like, fifty minutes from here with traffic. Don't call him that when you just became so cool."

Parker frowned. "How do you know where he lives?" she asked, before adding with much more intensity, "hang on a second, am I not cool?"

But Melissa was already moving on, the sound of facetime dialing on her phone as she darted back outside in hopes of catching another glimpse of the celebrity. Parker, in response, caught her head between her hands with a low groan.

And yet, she couldn't help but think about what Melissa said.

Tom Ryder was a total, grade-A asshole... right?

She cast a despondant glance towards the crumpled bills on the counter, then the box of books at her side, before fishing her phone out of her back pocket, and pressing the second number on speed dial.

"Hey," she said, "do you want to get, like, really drunk tonight?"

Colt didn't bother to ask why before he was checking what ingredients he had in his fridge and offering to invite Jody and Dan over for dinner. Sometimes, she really loved her brother.

[ducktracy]

Does it ever feel pressuring (no pun intended) to work on a show with such a legacy and history as SpongeBob?

VERY much so, but in a good way, if such a thing exists! one of our mantras on our little storyboard plussing team is “pressure makes diamonds” and it is a very applicable saying

when i first started, i was TEEEEERRRIFIED! i really felt like i had no idea what i was doing, and there have been so many times where i’ve turned in a section and genuinely thought “oh my god they’re gonna fire me for this it’s so bad.” working in animation is frazzling enough! but not only are we working on a cultural mecca, with not only the kids of today to entertain, impress and inspire, but to maintain the integrity of the series and entertain/impress/inspire the kids like us who grew up with the show, we are also working with literal animation legends and animation veterans!! it’s pretty surreal to be working on the same show as someone like Bob Camp, who’s been in the industry for 40+ years… and even more surreal when he says he’s a big fan of your work 😵‍💫‼️‼️‼️‼️

THANKFULLY, i’ve made a lot of strides in curbing some of my storyboarding stage fright. it used to be really bad when i started, like genuinely panic attack inducing! the constant patience and guidance and encouragement of my peers and consistent practice from these past three years have really allowed me to grow and blossom. now, when i feel a bit claustrophobic in remembering the pure scale of what we’re doing, i weaponize it for good!!

i think of how inspired and amazed and obsessed with SpongeBob i was as a kid. how it inspired me to draw, how i remember drawing along to episodes and commercial breaks. my brother and his wife are both elementary school teachers and routinely update me about how their kids are still crazy for SB (and they both brag about me to their kids heheh). i think of all the kids watching, all the kids realizing that getting to draw these characters and interact with them and live in their world is something you indeed can do, all the kids who religiously catch each new episode like i once did… it just fills me with so much confidence and hope and love, and that motivates me to deliver and do my best and try to do what i can to help make each episode be better and more fun than the last

SpongeBob is for everyone, obviously! that’s one of the great things i love about working on it: i get just as much enjoyment watching our finished episodes as our target audience. but i do bring up the kids particularly often because, at the end of the day, that is who we are doing it for and i also just can’t help but think back to how my SpongeBob obsessed self as a kid would have had her world rocked to know i’m doing what i’m doing. i want to give those kids, who i used to be and still essentially am, the same joy and spark and all consuming inspiration i felt and still do

there are definitely some days where the gravity of what we’re doing hits harder than others! some days are a lot more difficult than others. this is an absolute dream job, i’m not just saying that, i always fantasized about maybe one day being able to work my way up to working on SpongeBob and now it’s my first animation job—but it is very easy to get overwhelmed by just how big of a legacy we’re carrying on our shoulders! how many other mega talented people work on this show! there’s a lot to juggle. but we juggle it well. there is so much love and heart and care poured into this show. we do everything we can to maintain the integrity of the characters and the show’s core, and it just makes me love what i do all the more and makes me more determined to do it

TLDR: YES! but i’m much better off for it, because it reminds me of why we’re working so hard to begin with. we all want this show to be the best it can—to maintain its core 25 years later, but still have fun doing it. i mentioned this on Twitter, but when i met Bill Fagerbakke last month he was saying how cool it is that fans who grew up with the show are now able to work on it and i couldn’t agree more. it’s the greatest honor imaginable being able to carry such a monumental torch, and i hope i’m able to keep at it for a long, long time.

[dipperscavern]

Dipper, I need the wonderful opinions of you and your fellow anons because I feel like I’m going crazy, but I know I can’t be the only one who feels like this. I just finished season 2 of HOTD yesterday because I stopped watching it because I got bored. At that point, I was only watching it to see Jace (and hoping to see Cregan again), but I gave up because it just didn’t seem worth my time to watch anymore.

(⬇️Contains a few spoilers for Season 2 ⬇️)

Fast-forward to today, I got jumped on the interwebs because I said I didn’t like season 2 of HOTD and that I feel like there’s definitely a possibility (maybe not a huge one but still a possibility) that HOTD is going to have a downfall similar to GOT. (This conversation started because of the news that GRRM is planning to release his thoughts on HOTD and we all know he probably has a LOT of critiques to share. I got tagged by a mutual of mine in a post talking about this and they asked me for my opinion in the comments on the second season of HOTD because they hadn’t finished. I stated my opinion, people saw it, and then I got dogpiled.)

I get wanting to be defensive of the show because we love the characters and the actors are phenomenal, but my problem is that the writing was just not it for season 2. It was slow, they had the same conversations 100 different times, most of what happened in this season could have been compiled into like 3 or 4 episodes. Season 1 was action-packed and kept people thoroughly entertained. The writers completely lost their rhythm with the pacing in this season, which is a big no-no in any fictional series (novel, show, film, etc.), especially speculative fiction. You have to keep a similar pace or you’ll lose your audience’s attention or disappoint them entirely (especially if you slow down) because they’re expecting the same pacing.

Also, it felt like fan fiction, tbh. There were so many things that felt out of place and, therefore, felt forced because, just like the GOT writers, the HOTD writers are not developing certain aspects they’re trying to showcase on screen enough for these things to make sense within the context of what they’ve already shown us. For example, Daemon and his mommy’s back-shots of doom vision (did not make sense whatsoever because there was no prior information that would suggest this even needing to happen), Rhaenrya and Mysaria’s kiss (should have been better developed but ended up feeling forced/rushed to most people), Daenerys going mad (could have been done well but was rushed and poorly executed), etc.

I also think the writers are trying to pander to the viewers too much instead of trying to write an actually good show, you know? They’re also trying to hint at things present in the books without fully fleshing them out in any way within the show’s storyline, while simultaneously steering entirely away from the canon events in the books. This did nothing but make it hard to follow for not only the folks that only watch the show but also the folks that read the books because now people are speaking about things that are canon in the books and wondering if they apply to GOT and HOTD. It’s all a mess. (For example: the antlered figure in one of Daemon’s visions. Most people who only watched the show think it’s foreshadowing of the Baratheons taking the throne, but people who read the books believe that it could be one of the Green Men, which is a member of a mysterious order that maintains the Isle of Faces at the center of God's Eye by Harrenhal. This is, of course, something only people who have extensive knowledge of the ASOIAF world and history/read the books, would know.)

Idk, maybe I have a different outlook on this because I am a writer and I don’t just do it for fun. I’ve published quite a few pieces of my own, almost all of which have been speculative fiction (sci-fi and fantasy) and I’m currently writing a fantasy series, so I know what it takes to make a storyline work properly. I tried to explain this to the people who were dogpiling me, but they just discredited my experience because I’m only 18. So, in their words, ‘I don’t really know what I’m talking about’ even though I’ve been writing stories, mainly speculative fiction, since I was in fucking grade school (can you tell I’m a lil pissed about this part?). Anywho, this show just feels like it’s gonna spiral into something that is reminiscent of the catastrophe that was seasons 7 and 8 of GOT if the writers don’t get it together. (I really hope it doesn’t.)

I’m so sorry that this is so long but I really had to get this rant out of my head and I felt like this was a safe place to do that.

please. lets fucking talk about it.

@rise-my-angel made a post about this that really hit the nail on the head about hotd’s main problem -> post here

hotd uses its visuals as a crutch for bad writing. that is its (main) problem. early seasons got was so great in the way it didn’t have half the budget hotd had, but it felt so much more high quality. some of got’s best moments were it’s dialogue, where it was just two people in a room talking (for example petyr & varys in the throne room)

hotd doesn’t have half of the storyline it thinks it does, which, there’s multiple different reasons for this. not letting morally grey characters be morally grey, always having to have a justification for their actions when most of their actions were simply unjustified, delving from being a book adaptation of the downfall of house targaryen to changing everything to become its own stand-alone tv show etc etc. but, as i & mimi said, it’s main problem is it’s visuals.

the dragons, the actors, and got season 7/8 are the only thing keeping the show alive.

in got drogon viserion & rhaegal were three dragons with the exact same design and just different (not even book accurate) colors. the shows main focus was drogon while putting rhaegal and viserion on the back burners, and not really highlighting much about the dragons in general. while in hotd, we get so many different dragon designs, sounds/roars/noises, and personalities. everyone was so interested in the dragons in got, but they just didn’t handle it right, and in hotd, it’s dragons dragons dragons!! all you could ever want, step right up folks & look away from the mess that is this show.. OH LOOK DRAGON FIGHT 😍 hotd visuals are amazing, and we get everything we didn’t get about dragons in got, but that’s literally the problem.

& the actors are wonderful. emma d’arcy, phia sabian, fabian frankel, matt smith, harry collett, etc. they’re all outstanding in their performances, and the butchery is frankly an insult to them and these characters that they’ve grown to love & understand. oh look, olivia cookes amazing performance🙂‍↕️ btw daemon has a piss kink LIKE WHAT

and, the end of got was an obvious disaster. people are still (rightfully) angry and hurt about it, and they want something like hotd. something to sit down and watch on sundays, and enjoy the asioaf universe again. like yeah, season two’s bad, but not as a bad as 7/8 got… so there’s that. got left so much unfinished that people are hoping to consume in hotd, and it’s just not working. but, it keeps people tuned in, because got is finished with an ending thats un-re-watchable. in conclusion, people miss their show, and watch hotd as an attempted bandaid to put on the gunshot wound.

hotd is poopy, and i think (as anon said) over time people will recognize it more & more. but for now, it’s our bandaid, and it’s unfortunately the only one we’ve got.

[shadowofthelamp]

So, I'm introducing little Beatrice (my Billford kid) with a Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained! She came through the portal with Ford, and this was my first sketch but what she's wearing probably looks a bit more like Ford's goggles with the 'reveal' in NWHS.

She was co-created by Emmie/Fanart Anon!

Dipper holding up a sign: Welcome back to Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained! Anomaly number 64: Aunt Beatrice. She arrived with Great-Uncle Ford, and she says that she’s twelve, but she keeps talking about things that Great-Uncle Ford said happened years before that as if she was there, and she refuses to take her goggles off that cover the upper half of her face, even when she sleeps. She also doesn’t seem to like leaving his side for long. A quirk from being raised dimension-hopping, or something stranger?

Mabel: Maybe she’s just heard lots of stories! I know I forgot that I didn’t go through Dream Boy High one day after a week’s worth of crazy dreams about it!

Dipper: But what about the goggles? Besides, I heard her talking about science-y equations at the table with Great-Uncle Ford after dinner last night, so she's smart- I don’t think she’d just forget she didn’t do something.

Mabel: Or maybe she’s just lying! She said she’s never really been around other kids before, right? Maybe she just wants us to like her. And it’s working! On me at least, you’re just-

Dipper: Mabel, I’m trying to be scientific about this, that’s all!

Mabel: Come on, Dipper, I think she’s just a little awkward. It has to be a little weird to have somebody Grandpa Shermie’s age as your dad.

Dipper, rubbing his arm: I wouldn’t mind having Great-Uncle Ford as a dad.

Mabel: That’s because you’re both nerds.

Dipper: Not the point! Anyway, right now, my theory is that she was part of some sort of hivemind, and the goggles hide bug eyes, the last piece left from her original form. She also really seems to like honey. Maybe Great-Uncle Ford helped to rescue her, and that’s why she still looks like him, because she modeled her form after him and now she sees him as her new queen! I’m going to show her the beekeepers near the petting zoo on the side of town and see how she reacts.

___

Dipper: And here we are!

*Camera cuts to Beatrice, wearing a yellow sweater with black stripes that Mabel made her*

Bea: Oh, insects! They’re so much smaller than the ones I’ve seen before. And they make Earth-honey?

Dipper: Don’t you want to take your goggles off to see the better?

Bea: Nah, I can see them just fine.

Dipper, glancing over at the camera: Anyway, what do you mean, you’ve seen them before?

Bea, stepping closer to the hives: Oh, Papa and I ran into a hive like these in a different dimension, but they were ten times the size and the hair on them was purple, since that helped them to blend in the with local flora. They were friendly if you brought gifts, though, and even let you trade for some of their honey if the gifts were sweet enough. One of them taught me to speak their language.

*Beatrice clears her throat before a buzzing sound emanates from it. Several bees land on her outstretched hand, curious.*

Bea: Look, they like me! Hey, Dipper, do you have any enemies? I bet I could set them loose as a favor for helping me yesterday!

Dipper, considering: Well, there is this one girl-

Bea: Just say the word! C’mon, little guys, you’d strip somebody down to the bone for me, wouldn’t you?

Dipper: I don’t think bees can do that.

Bea: Oh. Right. Maybe just a lot of stings? *She makes more buzzing noises, but as she finishes the last one, the bees begin to swarm* What did I say? What did I say?

Dipper, dropping the camera’s view to the ground as bees fill the screen: Whatever it was, run!

___

Dipper, as Mabel rubs lotion on his swollen cheek: This concludes today’s episode of Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained. We still haven’t figured out exactly what’s up with our new aunt, but I think we can say with some certainty that she’s just as awkward with the local bees as she can be with the rest of us.

Mabel: But she looked really cool smacking them with that glowing whip thingie she pulled out of her pocket!

Dipper: ...Yeah, she did. This does require more investigating, but I'll get the board out once we're done with the-

Bea, popping her head into the bedroom door: Hey, what are you guys doing in here? Do you need more lotion?

Dipper: Nothing!

*Video ends*

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (9/23/2024) Episode: The Error of His Ways

Before he could make things even worse, Luigi fled into the gaming center, where he realized that he’d missed a text from his family.

Apparently, they’d found a quiet corner to play some board games on the second floor, and he started heading their way with a heavy heart.

He knew Noemi would be disappointed in what he’d done. How would this look to the public and his Project Daisy backers? He was positive it wouldn’t be long before the whole sad story saw the light of day, and he had no-one to blame but himself.

When he spotted his family upstairs the idea facing them made his stomach churn. He detoured to the restroom, barely making it into a stall before throwing up the remains of his breakfast. His embarrassment increased when he heard someone behind him ask “hey man, are you OK?”

Turning he found the fan who’d distracted him and Noemi from Skye at the start of their outing. He made a weak gesture of acknowledgement, and the stranger gave him a sympathetic look. “That was a crazy show you put on out there. Maybe next time just let it go man, it ain’t worth it.”

With no excuse to delay any longer Luigi settled at the small table where Noemi and Steven were enjoying a game of Don’t Wake the Llama while Skye played with a toy nearby. “How’d it go?” Noemi immediately asked, “Was she willing to negotiate?”

Luigi found himself having trouble forming his reply, finally grinding out “No, not exactly.” He then proceed to tell them the whole sordid tale.

“I know I screwed up.” he finished. “I was trying to protect you but as usual I made a mess of things. Its this stupid temper of mine. Something comes over me when someone tries to hurt the sims I care about and I stop thinking. I know you’re disappointed, and you have every right to be. I’m sorry.”

Little Skye, who had heard the whole thing, responded before his momma. “Don’t be sad. Daddy a big bad, you made the mean lady go away.”

Luigi felt his cheeks flush red with shame. Their little boy already had a habit of trying to solve his problems with violence, and now he’d gone and reinforced that bad behavior even if he hadn’t meant to. He was better than that and he had to start acting like it!

“No Skye” he replied “Daddy is sad, because he made a big mistake. Mommy and I don’t want you to act like that, its not OK to solve your problems by being mean to others.” Skye frowned but didn’t say anymore as he turned back to his toy.

Next Luigi focused on his grandfather. “I’m sorry to cut our outing short, but we really should go. I don’t think its wise for us to be out in public right now, and we need to get home and get ready for the awards ceremony tonight. Thank you for inviting us, hopefully next time it won’t end so poorly.”

Rising Steven said “I understand. I wish it hadn’t come to a fight but thank you for trying to get the photos away from those prying busybodies.”

Luigi nodded “you’re welcome” and allowed himself to be wrapped up in a big hug before gathering his family and heading on his way.

Back at home, Noemi pulled her husband aside for a chat. "I'm glad you understand that what happened today wasn't OK." she began "But like you said, that understanding doesn't help you in the heat of the moment. I think it's time you see a professional about managing your anger.“

Luigi could only nod "You're right, as usual. I need to record an apology video too." He shuddered "Those things are so cringe, but it has to be done.”

“Cullen texted while we were in transit, and the fight is already trending on SimTube. He said if it was anyone other than the Paparazzi, or any week other than right after the Pancakes incident, I’d be cooked… but it's still not good. Entering therapy for anger management will help sell my sincerity."

"Thank you" he went on "For being you. You inspire me to do better, be better. Today was terrible, but it was also the first fight I've had in a long time and that's largely due to your influence. I'd be lost without you, or maybe behind bars." 

Noemi smiled. “I much prefer being the only one who puts you in cuffs. Now let's find our baby and get ready to mingle with the stars. I'm crossing my fingers that after tonight you'll get to add "Starlight Accolade Award Winner" to your resume!"

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[softsky-daily]

3/5/2025

Cloudy... sleepy...

Positive thing: I took a nap.

Today was bleh. Mostly in the physical sense - I've been nauseous and worn out, very likely because it's that time of month for me, but also I'm just tired lately. It's been helping that I have a show I can just put on and enjoy while I turn off my brain at least. In between my nap and working on my case presentation for tomorrow I've kept watching 探偵！ナイトスクープ and each episode is so good. I'll be sad when I run out of episodes. I'll probably go back to continuing Kimi ni Todoke once I finish up these last 2 seasons.

The depression has been a little louder lately too. I think it's just hard to see an end to all the things tiring me out when I'm in the thick of it. Between roommate stuff, and masters degree stuff, and work stuff, and interpersonal stuff, it's just way too much all the time to think about. I also just can't control each situation so I end up feeling stuck. But we press on, I suppose. Just as always.

Maybe it's time for some self-compassion... It's a simple concept and one that gets knocked into my head a lot just as a counselor-in-training but I feel like it's actually seldom practiced in earnest. It's hard to do sometimes, especially when you're busy. But maybe I should try and actually, like, do it. Crazy idea.

Two days until the weekend. My parents are visiting Sunday, which I'm not super looking forward to given the last call I had with my mom, but at least Saturday I have fun things planned. My friend and I are going on another mini trip to pick up a manga set she bought off Facebook Marketplace, and since we'll be in the area we're gonna grab food from a Japanese place we like. And then there's Japanese Conversation Table as usual, and then ramen with our other friend after. It'll be a good time I'm sure. I just have to keep holding on to plans like that which give me something to look forward to.

Speaking of which, I pre-ordered the Skip and Loafer fanzine I've been excited about! I won't get it until literally the end of this year, but I am so hyped for it. The previews I've seen of it so far are gorgeous. I should also really get caught up with the manga. It's been a hot minute.

[misguidedasgardian]

hello! hope your day was well and the watching of the season finale was fun.

here is my rant for this episode lol. i always look forward to your commentary!!

> to start: not jace acting as if ulf and hugh were just regular everyday bastards like no bud, they are targaryen bastards (or at least i think ulf is, hugh confirmed he is). like had their moms been married and had them, they'd have a high claim than both him and his mom. and the projecting is crazy, like baela said, get it together and stand by your mom bro, you have uno jobs.

> daemon is literally a crazy man, like crazier than me on a normal everyday average day.

> also, if we went based on how the succession should've gone, plenty of people have a high claim to the throne like rhaenyra did (baela/rhaena through rhaenys). like many people have the means to challenge her, they just dont have the energy (thanks jaehaerys for not liking women??)

> aemond i swear is a woman beater. like if he is willing to lay a hand upon his sister...imagine if he had a wife and the way he talks down to his mom and helaena is oooo, i'd have him smacked silly. like im so glad alicent interceded for helaena because ... he just lost his damn mind.

> alicent is lowkey wishing she had to put up with aegon at this point (everyone is wishing the same lol)

> gwayne clocking cole was gold and criston cole's smartest line by far was something along the lines of: "perhaps all men are corrupt and perhaps honor blows away like mist in the morning." it kind of goes hand in hand with the quote from game of thrones that's something like "there's a beast in every man and he stirs when a sword is put in his face."

> didn't know we were wrestling in mud today and Tyland is as confused as me every episode.

> the acting kills me every time like no offense because i know i couldn't do better, but like the first episode of game of thrones had better acting like its good in this show but not the best like i swear sometimes they talk like robots or like theyre explaining the plot to us (which alicent did for no reason towards the end like just be evil to be evil. women can be evil too they don't always have to be kind and submissive.)

> these characters have become so unlikeable that i have to dig deep to find ones i like.

> ulf has no table manners and not everyone mentioning they aren't of noble birth but like technically, they are like they're as much royal as jace the only difference is his mom kept him and his grandfather allowed it so he should count his blessings.

> alys is carrying and she makes daemon more likeable and i rather watch them and their friendship than daemon and rhaenyra's weird codependency daddy issue relationship (they are making me hate targcest. matter of fact, all the targayens are making me hate everything about them.)

> helaena gets my cheers because she told aemond who was boss and stuck it to him and proved she has a voice and just chooses when to use it. like im betting she wishes aegon was better because at least he was moldable unlike aemond like you could manipulate aegon to do what you wanted. aemond is a lose cannon that needs to be put out.

> corlys without rhaenys is making me ill because he doesnt care that he abandoned his kids, alyn and addam to start a whole new family and left them to fend for themselves as kids like finish what you started. im sick of seeing bastards left and right and watching their families move on without them like finish what yous started if you can!!

> rhaena's safari quest is like watching an ad for something like if i see her quest again, i might cry.

> season 2= story with no plot

sorry for the essay friend, i feel bad every time you respond to it because its so long, but hey, its the last episode so the rants can become shorter now and less time consuming!!

p.s> otto being locked in a tower when everyone is trying to reach him is so funny.

It's fine, I feel like we all got so much to say, we are so confused, angry, sad, Idk what I'm feeling anymore

>You know what? I'm with Jace on this. Rhaenyra said it herself "they think we are closer to gods than to men, but they say that because of our dragons, without them we are like everyone else", then let's go to Jace, who realises he is a bastards on a very early age, think about the fact that the only way to comfort him, is Rhaenyra assuring him that "you are a Targaryen, that's all that matters", and the only "legitimization" he had was his blood, the fact that he (a bastard) could ride Dragons THAT ONE WAS HATCHED TO HIM ON HIS CRIB, then a war breaks out because of the usurpation, which one of its many "justifications", is that Rhenyra "has no true heirs", and his bastarcy had been called out MANY TIMES BY MANY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, and then.... AND THEN HE SEES THIS "COLLECTION" of bastards like him who can also ride dragons? So yeah, I'd be bitter too, and super insecure, because bastards get KILLED in this world, but I also see your point, but the fact that two of them had the white hair that he does not? dang

>Daemon... yesh, whatever makes you sleep at night dude, like, if you needed an Ayahuasca trip to come to the realisation that you need to support your wife... go for it my dude jejeje,whatever ticklled your fancy JAJAJA

>Yeah but that fizzles because of Viserys was made king... so... no point on resurfacing Rhaenys' claim

>I said it before... they DESTROYED their character, I thought his family was going to be what makes him a great villain, an antagonist even, I DO IT FOR MY FAMILY FOR MY MOTHER WHO DEFENDED ME AND MY SISTER WHO IS AN INNOCENT, why couldn't they keep that in? like in S1E9? it makes it much more attractive, and powerful AND LIKEABLE. I LIKED HIM IN SEASON ONE! i found him such an interesting character! where that was left, idk.

>Alicent is just... incoherent, madder then tripping Daemon

>I found that scene useless and boring, and??? like... why? why there? it was like, they filmed it, they made Criston say some "good" lines (?) and then they didn't know where to put the scene so they just threw it somewhere not to waste it? Why he is recriminating him about fucking his sister (IN FRONT OF EVERYONE? DUMB C*NT) NOW? now after like four chapters since we know him? (and he found out) no sense

>Like I said, they cut out two chapters, so m guess is that it was part of something THAT MADE MORE FUCKING SENSE? hahaha I found it weirdly likeable (more at the end)

>I have nothing to say about the actors actually, they are fine to watch I guess, they are victims on this

>They have nobody sacred, they destroyed Alicent, BUTCHERED Aemond, (because despite what TG has to say... TEAM GREENS ARE THE VILLAINS DUDE (in the books), and they manage in season one to actually have fans that are TG!!! and people who enjoyed their characters!!! I could get behind cult Alicent, because she had nothing else so she turned to the gods, so, I guess that's fine BUT ITS NOT FINE BECAUSE IT WAS FOR NOTHING???

They made TB boring and indecisive, butchering them too?? BORING, IDK, if I was Rhaenyra, Alicent would have been DEAD to me the second I realized what happened... specially after she tortured me, diminished me, bullied me, and put my BABIES in risk for all those years... BUT SHE IS WORTH A LIFE-RISKING TRIP FOR? the septa scene was just straight out of a PARODY (calling it fanfiction is an insult to us) and jsut not speak about this last encounter (GO NYRA, MOCK HER, SCOFF AT HER), but what the writters did to them both, is a crime punished by the gods

>Ulf, I don't even want to talk about that clown, I hate him, but Nyra c'mon, what did you expect?

>I have little thoughts about Alys... I really thought they were going to take her character in a complete different direction, Idk how to feel about her, I like that she could be like a "grey" character, like a Loki of some sorts, like "the end justifies the means", yes I'm going to mentally torture you for weeks, only to make you come to the realisation that you must protect and fight for your wife, like, thanks I guess? jejejeje I'm intrigued of what are they going to do with Aemond and Alys... those trips are going to be... DIABOLICAL hahahaha

>Yes I agree, if they had placed ONE scene with Helaena visiting Aegon... she would have been my top three favorite characters in the season, definitely, what Phia has done with her character (WITH SO LITTLE) makes her worthy of a FUCKING OSCAR, and GRRM said it himself, she is one of the characters who he liked more portrayed then in his own writting so, yeah, PUT HIM ON HIS PLACEEEEE, she was like "fuck around and find outttt" hahah

>Yeah, I thought Corlys was going to pull trough this as a decent man, but what he had done and will do? motherfucker, that's all I have to say, you did not deserve Rhaenys, nor those kids, and his house will collapse in front of hiseyes. (I hope they give Addam the place of his brother in the story taking the lead on House Velaryon) Corlys (like Otto) deserve everything that's coming their way, I wrote it on HOTW, he and Otto sank their teeth into a Targaryen of their choice, and they ripped them apart.

>Yeah, Daemon in Harrenhal all over again, It doesn't help that I don't like her at all, look, I'm not the prettiest doll in the store, but I don't like to "watch her", and thinking about what will happen in the Essos crossing, adding to the fact that she will claim a dragon, infuriates me and hasn't even happened yet, she is behaving like a spoiled brat and just... she bores me, Daemon I get it... (FOR SOCIAL REASONS I'M KIDDING), Baela is hanging by a thread, they must give her something to do besides having scenes with Jace. I enjoyed her scene in moondancer, but like the Rhaenys' scene... was for shock value, and not that important to the plot...

>This was all over the place, I just keep writing and writing this and something else always comes up

You know what? i was so fucking angry, about to go to bed angry, and this actually helped me to "put my idead in order", I really hope you can read this noonie! really, I was all over the place, and this somehow soothed me.

HAHAHA Otto! where is he? can't imagine where... he said he was going to the Tyrells? so I don't know who he could have crossed on his way there since they send Tyland to Essos (in the leaks they say it was gonna be him dealing with the triarchy). I enjoyed that part, they gave the triarchy faces, and that gives them a depth that... I weirdly liked.

MUAHAHA

[mlmdarkfiction]

Can you do SD jack tying up his s/o because he loves them so much and doesn't want to let them leave

Read on AO3

Read Below

“...” 

Why did this always happen? 

You stare blankly at your phone, and the text your boss had sent you, asking you to come in. He didn’t even give a reason. 

How are you going to tell Jack? 

Things have been busy since Shaun has been staying with you, and you’ve not been able to talk to Jack as much as you used to. And you’d promised him that as soon as you had a day off, and Shaun was gone, he’d have you all to himself. 

Just in time too. 

Thanks to all the craziness in your routine, you’d had to miss a couple episodes of the show you and Jack had been watching before Shaun arrived. 

And getting caught up on that had been the plan today. 

Just you, Jack, and mind numbingly good TV. 

That had been the plan at least. 

Until this. 

“Hey Sunshine, the popcorn is done!” Jack calls opening the door to your room, you don’t look up from your phone, yet you can feel his eyes on you. 

“What’s wrong?” He asks, instant concern in his voice, “It’s not-”

You don’t let him finish. 

Quickly you shake your head. Ian’s the last thing you want to think about right now. 

Looking up, you’re just in time to see the way Jack’s whole body seems to relax realizing it wasn’t Ian bothering you. 

“Then what’s wrong, ____?” He softens making his way over to sit beside you on the bed. “Work?” 

“Yeah.” You confirm with a sigh, showing him the message from your boss. 

“Well…” The disappointment in Jack’s voice is audible, “You aren’t going to go in, are you?” 

This response actually takes you off guard, and you blink at Jack several times, before wetting your lips and answering. “I have to.”

“Nah, you don’t have to,” Jack says shrugging, and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “I mean…if it were that urgent, he’d call you right? But he just sent a text.”

And then he just…casually snatches your cell phone out of your hands! Too fast for you to even stop him. 

“Jack, come on!” You whine, trying to grab your phone back, only to be stopped by his arm around your shoulder. While you twist and turn in his grasp to try and grab your phone, Jack sets it on your bedside table. 

“You promised me, Sunbeam.” His words, the way he says them, the nickname, it all has you feeling incredibly guilty. 

“I know I did, but I can’t just miss work!”

“You aren’t even on the schedule! Just tell him you’re busy.” 

You can’t help but flush when you realize the position you’ve found yourself in. In your earnest attempts at getting your cell phone back you’ve somehow found yourself pinned to the bed under Jack. 

It reminds you of your more intimate moment on the couch a few days prior, and you can’t stop the heat from rising to your cheeks. 

“Come on. If you’re so intent on leaving I guess I’ll just have to make sure you can’t.” 

“Jack!” 

Before you hadn’t thought it was possible but your face turns even darker red when Jack reaches beneath our bed grabbing the rope you keep there for reasons. 

It feels like a game, more than actual fight to get away, as you thrash on the bed with Jack, until eventually you lose, arms tied behind your back. 

You pout at him. 

“At least text my boss and tell him I won’t be coming.” 

“Got it~” 

It’s hard to be mad at Jack, you decide as you make your way to the living room, arms bound behind your back, to where snacks and the TV are waiting. 

You really did need a break. 

Even if it took being literally tied up to allow yourself to realize it.

Jack was right.

He always seems to know what’s best for you.

[siriuslylantsov]

helloo, hope ur day has been good <3

coming here to talk about yesterday's episodes and today's :p

FIRST OF ALL, my heart can't take more of this matt/foggy fight. i just want them to hug it out. i feel like nelson & murdock will be over (not that they won't rekindle their friendship but the law firm by the third season i think won't come back) can't forgive matthew for not visiting foggy after he was SHOT

also. suddenly this is TLOU? the zombies??? hshsh

the scene u were talking about frank... yeah, had to look away a few times :p

i honestly thought he was gonna fight fisk and that's why he had wanted to go to prison in the first place.

i am SO on board with frank/karen now. when they were talking at the diner, well before all the other stuff happened 💀 i think they have a much more interesting dynamic than you know who (and i'm usually the biggest fan of friends to lovers)

love karen working for the bulletin and did NOT expect that guy being the blacksmith !!

and honestly foggy and marci... i like them !! i like her, she makes me laugh and they're not bad. i think they're cute together.

i loved seeing more of elektra's backstory. i wasn't a fan of the scene where she finds out she's black sky and for a moment it feels like she changes her mind completely and is about to go the other side idk, felt a bit weird to me. it felt rushed?? sort of? idk

i'm actually very scared to watch the last episode cause i feel like that will be when elektra dies and i do not want that :D

thank u for coming to my ted talk

hi angel!

ughhh ik me too matt and foggy angst makes me want to kms, istg if they make us go through more in born again.... ENOUGH PLEASE

bro the zombie thing scared the SHIT out of me like when did this get scary???? and the ninjas??? like FR NINJAS and how they slow their heartbeat so matt cant sense them!! hella cool

BEST FIGHT SCENE EVER. did you notice the little detail when the guards drag him out, he looks at his reflection on the ground and he sees the skull print on his clothes. i thought that was so cool.

heres a picture i took last time incase you didn't catch it!

frank castle covered in blood has got to be one of my fav things

frank and karen definitely have more aligning morals compared to her and matt. so morality wise, they're definitely more compatible, she doesnt see much fault in what frank does.

yes!!! i love karen at the bulletin, shes so good at it :)

FOGGYBEAR!! i love that marci calls him that, theyre so cute ☺️

yeah the black sky thing is so upsetting cus it like flips her world on axis and matt is trying so hard for her to not believe them, like BABE youre not just a killer 😕😕

good luck... you're in for it...

so when you finish s2 will you start watching the other shows? (luke cage, jessica jones, etc)

you could also... squeeze in the punisher s1 if you're intrigued, it is a bit of a segue because theres nothing about the hand. but it'll tell you the rest of the story about his family, its so loaded its acc crazy. im still lowk confused abt all of it. OR you can just watch it after lol im peer pressuring you my bad...

[fitzrove]

Tagged by @after-perfect to do this, hehe thank you!!

Last song I listened to: Gnade für das Schiff (from Nautilus das Musical). On repeat while washing my trash can w a sponge 😭😂😂😂😂 It's still playing...

Last book I read: The last full book was probably A Nervous Splendor over my Easter break afhfhlhfl

Last film I watched: Metropolis with a live orchestra in March! Loved it so much hehehe.

Last tv series: I tried watching a Finnish spy TV show (Pysäyttäkää Nyqvist) but had to quit after the first episode because there were too many inaccuracies about how recruitment into/employment in the Finnish foreign office works and it annoyed me LMAO. (They portrayed it as if interns can get promoted into other roles and they can't, you have to get accepted into the official diplomat training programme and are then guaranteed an entry level job.) It's crazy haha, like the show was made by the Finnish public national broadcaster so surely they could've easily checked... maybe they didn't care lol.

Last thing I googled: "Can you wash frying pan with dish brush" but in Finnish (😭😂 I normally use a sponge but it was getting crusty and I need to buy a new one, so I used the sponge to wash my trash can before throwing it away. I figured the brush would be fine for the pan and it seems it was).

Last thing I ate: Ramen cup w added cashew nuts & some peach ice tea.

Sweet, savoury, or spicy: Sweet, people make fun of me for having aggressively sensitive Finnish taste buds. Spicy Pringles are already pretty spicy to me XD I like them too though

Amount of sleep: Actual good sleep today after ~6 hours a few nights in a row!! (Those were due to being bad at time management 😭). I'd say about 8 hours which is nice hehe.

Currently reading: I've been trying to read Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian for the past 7 months but I'm always too busy w school. I hope to finish it at some point though 😭😭

Tagging: @armandjolras @aboutyoutoo @kronprinz-rudolf @hydromantia and whoever else wants to do this!

[lover-of-mine]

Your last post is funny bc just TODAY I watched that season finally. I’m literally 2 episodes into season 5 right now. As someone who just watched that for the first time (and hadn’t noticed it WAS the season finally when I started watching it) I was losing my goddamn MIND watching those episodes. Just constantly 😯😯😯. I began watching 911 when I started seeing posts circulating about Buck being bi. At the time I had no idea who he was other than the occasional gif set but it made me intrigued and I have been HOOKED. Literally trying to get through as many episodes as possible so I can watch the episodes live. Questions for you (since I have no one else to talk to about the show); when did you start watching? Have you had any predictions while watching the show that didn’t/ did come true? Like for me when I watched season 1 and Abby went to the fire department for the first time I SWORE up and down that her and Bobby were meant to be endgame (was clearly wrong lol). But also after Chris got stuck in the Tsunami I called it that something would happy to Harry later on (just a feeling that no one was safe lol, not even the kids). I’m just so curious to see what the fandom theories have been over time lol since I missed out on it!

Yeah, no, watching suspicion/survivors for the first time is WILD. Like, imma be honest and bit oversharing, I watched the show for the first time in a depressive episode, so I watched everything up to 5x10 in like, 6 days according to the posts I made on Tumblr about it, so I didn't realize theorize about anything, I was just hitting next episode like my life depended on it. But I didn't know anything about the show, like, at all, I had just watched 911 lone star in a weekend because it was on the tv and there were only like, 20 episodes of it out it at the time and a network in my country was just showing all of them on a loop, and I opened the Disney app fully intending to rewatch grey's anatomy, and 911 was the first show on my recommended to you list, and I had liked lone star enough, and was like sure why not. And I legit couldn't stop watching. All of this happened the week before 5x11 aired on the us, so 5x11 was the first episode I watched like "live" (the first episode I actually watched live was 5x16) but I watched it in the same week, I think I finished on a Tuesday? And the episode aired on Monday. I can't really give you any theories I have witnessed so far because they would be spoilers tho, but if you wanna come back once you catch up we can talk about some of the madness that goes around here. But I had the same thing happen to me, I didn't realize it was the season finale, and I didn't know anything about the show, so I had no idea what was happening, and I thought I had learned my lesson with the tsunami arc, because I watched 3x01 at like 3 am fully saying this is the last episode I will watch and then I'm gonna go to bed, and then the tsunami hit, and I was like well fuck and then Chris fell in the water and next thing I know is 5 am and Eddie is making me cry at the end there. But I saw the 13 and didn't realize the season only had 14 episodes and then everything kept happening. I seriously cannot imagine what it was like to be forced to wait a week between those 2 episodes it was SO CRAZY. When Eddie got shot I legit froze. Watching that for the first time not knowing it's coming is SOMETHING. I do remember thinking that they were gonna kill Shannon but I didn't expect to be right, I also remember clocking that Jason was Doug pretty fast. Something funny tho, I remember posting that meme that's like "I've had blank for 1 day and a half but if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in this room and myself" with Buck and I waited until I had been watching for a day and a half, that means I posted it while watching the season 2 finale. I hit post and the truck blew up and I legit went like ????????? and that is still the most ironic thing that ever happened to me while posting about 911 kspskspkspakapkapa (here's the post, I actually came back to edit the tags because I was in shock lol) and I laugh every time I remember that lol but I'm glad you're enjoying the show, you can come back to talk to me about it any time!;

[pbandjesse]

I did not feel amazing today. I think I'm just recovering from how much sleep I missed. All the excitement from being in the hospital. But man. I felt not good today.

And like it wasn't pain per say, I was just really uncomfortable and sluggish. I also kept crying. And I'm incredibly itchy. That started last night and now I'm just carrying a hair brush around to scratch my palms because it's so uncomfortable.

I slept alright last night. After I did my post, me and James watched two episodes of call the midwife. I cried through the last episode. And we would fall asleep soon after finishing that. James set up the humidifier that Mom ordered for me and I do think it helped! I still had some dryness in my nose but it was way easier to breathe. And I don't think I woke up as much.

I slept until 9, when the sun came in the window directly in my face. Not my favorite way to wake up but whatever.

I wasn't sure what today would look like. I originally was supposed to do an outdoor market but I decided I really couldn't handle that. And I was invited to the holiday party at camp. But I really wasn't sure if I could handle that. I couldn't handle the drive. I would try and get out later but even the 10 minute drive I would make for lunch was so much and I was miserable.

But I was trying to be positive this morning. I turned the shower on while I made the bed and it was a little more lukewarm so I couldn't comfortably wash my hair. I was also incredibly itchy. I had scratched my stomach and chest like crazy in my sleep and I had finger nail marks everywhere. Thankfully my bruises weren't throbbing anymore but my elbows still are uncomfortable.

I wore comfy clothes. I would wear my new flared leggings for most of the day. Though I did switch to tights when I went out for lunch and they were way to tight so that's probably the end of me wearing those pairs during this pregnancy.

Once I was dressed I would go and have cereal on the couch with sweetp. He was all in my face today. And sometimes it was nice to have him laying with me. Mostly.

I would make a plate of veggies for Crabcake. And spend some time just reading on the couch. I did a lot of switching from couch to bed throughout today. I was just uncomfortable and I was struggling to find a peaceful place to be for any length of time.

I would muster up the energy to go to lunch. I even planned on stopping at a store to look for the last thing I wanted to buy for James for Christmas.

But things wouldn't exactly work out.

I went to five guys for lunch. The first were good but my grilled cheese wasn't toasty enough. I ate half and packed the rest to bring home. All of a sudden I needed to go home. I felt terrible. I was so upset.

I got home and was crying in the couch. Just feeling so out of sorts. I went and got in bed.

I didn't sleep though I had planned on it. I instead put a movie on. I don't watch movies much but I needed something long to have on. I wanted a musical. I looked at Netflix and chose " Tik Tik Boom". And I really enjoyed it. The music was good though some of the body movements are pretty cringey. They were absolutely of their time. Well the time that the movie takes place. I still enjoyed it.

I would wait for James to come home. I moved downstairs to have Oreos and lay on the couch until James got home.

When James did come home they came and cuddled me on the couch. We just talked for a bit. But eventually I went upstairs while they did their podcast with their friends.

I laid in bed and watched videos and scrolled. Hung out with sweetp. Tried to feel alright. And I do feel a little better. Still not incredible but it's going in the right direction.

James is done recording now. And they are bringing me grapes and a cheese stick and a pretzel. A little charcuterie as they called it. We are going to watch our show. And just rest together.

I am supposed to be an educator at the museum tomorrow evening. And I am hoping I can muster the energy to go find my last gift. And I am just hoping I feel more myself.

I hope you are all having a good day. I love you all very much. Goodnight!

[bereft-of-frogs]

friday roundup + a list

I follow a few people who do monthly reading/etc updates and I have always enjoyed reading them and been slightly jealous that I couldn't seem to stick too it, it always felt too overwhelming for the end of the month and I'd put it off, but! idea! combine with my little friday list posts which I'd also stopped doing because I was afraid they were boring so...combo might be interesting enough for me to keep doing them!

reading:

Cabin at the End of the World - Paul Tremblay: I liked this one, especially how, similar to The Pallbearer's Club, you end the novel not really knowing what was real or not and the point is it doesn't matter what was real, only how the characters understood reality.

Bloom - Delilah S Dawson: For book club. It definitely had it's issues (it didn't start off super well), but it was short and captured that fun Hannibal-like energy, where the foreshadowing is super obvious and you're just like noooo nooooooooo girl don't eat it! (I was gratified to get to the acknowledgments and find it was indeed inspired by Hannibal.)

(in progress) Lord of the Rings: Keeping on track with the one-chapter-a-day read through for Lent! We just finished The Two Towers today, onto Return of the King tomorrow.

(in progress) (phone book) Light of the Jedi - Charles Soule: So I'm trying to keep one book going on my phone (a 'phone book' lol) to prevent doomscrolling, and right now I'm rereading the High Republic series and continuing on. I fell behind after Phase 1 ended, but I'd really like to catch back up. Light isn't my favorite of this series and it's not my least favorite -- tbh I stopped reading after Phase 1 because I hated Midnight Horizon that much, I'll be skipping that one on this reread -- I read a review when it first came out that said it felt like the whole novel was inciting incident and I think that's exactly it, it has to do a little bit too much to establish the setting and characters, and never really feels like it gets going. Besides, I tend to like things a little crunchier, so some of the optimism of the start gets kind of grating for me personally. Much prefer the followups and the aftermath, but this isn't bad and it's certainly better than doomscrolling!

(in progress) Notes on an Execution - Danya Kukafka : This is so good. It's so good. I waited a while for the library hold and it was 100% worth the wait, it has that literary fiction style that I really love in my genre fiction on occasion.

watching (tv):

The Bequeathed (Netflix): Didn't live up to my expectations, but that might be on me because I read a review that erroneously called it a 'creature feature' and I was like 'damn, there's going to be a creature, that's crazy, when's the creature showing up??' There was no creature. And the solve to the mystery wasn't that interesting either. Meh.

(in progress) Silo (AppleTV): This show is surprisingly good, as I posted early this week. Like. I heard about it from a true crime podcast ad read, and just kind of watched it because I have a free AppleTV trial and a crush on Rebecca Ferguson. It wasn't meant to actually be good, but...it is??? It's really engaging, and I think shows how much good acting and direction can elevate a script. The ending of the last episode I watched was objectively kind of silly, but it was so well done you felt like it was super serious. Damn though, this is totally going to be the thing that gets me to keep paying for AppleTV because there's going to be another season. Damn. This is how they get you.

watching (film):

Dune Part 1 (2021): I made everyone watch Dune Part 1 in preparation and also it was my birthday and they could not say no. I think my mom made it....15 minutes? but my dad and I had a great time

Dune Part 2 (2024): I was so on top of the IMAX tickets for this, I refreshed that page a hundred times last monday to get the perfect seats in the mid-center and then I did not BUDGE for all 3ish hours of this movie. It was. So good. There was one shot that legit made me feel like I was on a roller coaster. I think I'm going to go see it again next tuesday. It was so good.

video game update: Still stuck on Dead Space. Still stuck on Cult of the Lamb. I'm figuring out how to balance side quests and the main storyline with KOTOR, which is progress, and on my perpetual Fallen Order playthrough I just did the sad Venator side quest and then got to Dathomir for what would have been the first time if I was not always so set on immediately getting the double-bladed lightsaber upgrade.

craft update: I'm two short rows away from being done with the short row section on my sweater vest. Infinity scarf has been derailed because I tangled a skein of yarn so badly it's probably going to take hours to fix it and I need that color to keep going. So. Tabled.

weekend list:

work (boo) - but work has been pretty slow and fridays are my wfh day so the below items will probably partially get done while I'm on the clock

laundry (also boo) / tidy

it's going to rain all day so the secret goal of friday is really just not to leave my house

work on current long wip which, yes, I did end up restarting -- or rather just starting the second draft earlier than I expected. I was going to push through and have a full rough draft before I started the second but it was really rough and I think now that I have 1) the most self-indulgent scenes, 2) all of the 'plot exposition' scenes written it was time to start going in order and straightening out inconsistencies and repetition.

I finally got an HDMI splitter so I can use the PS4 and get un-stuck on Cult of the Lamb (I haven't checked on my cult in so long!!), I just need to reorganize the wires

maybe untangle yarn. maybe. but I think that's going to wait for sunday at the earliest. I need some cooling off time, but once I can look at it without rage, I think it's just a matter of putting on a movie and being patient

go for a run

I hope this is....mildly interesting at least, if not feel free to block the lists tag XD have a good weekend! <3