#we got our funny episode it’s so over for us from here on out

[sadpanda]

“DnDads tomorrow” is actually a threat when we’re this close to the end of the season

[pixiesfz]

this isnt really a request with an idea but please more jessie 😭🙏

Killing two birds with one stone I am here, I got a request for a jersey swap fic so here we go!

jersey swap? j.f

plot: you and Jessie have always had on field tension but one game when you ask to swap jerseys, she finally makes a move.

warning: smut, obviously I like writing a dom Jessie 🤫. Let’s pretend Sam wasn’t injured for the Canada vs australia match, bi-sexual reader! (Taking inspo from this one tik tok I saw about Lia Walti which made me cackle)

Some matches were more interesting than others you had realised in your second year in of playing at arsenal wether it was against Chelsea or you were playing with the Matilda’s for your national teams.

Nothing had changed within the games except for the fans, since the World Cup people started to know your name and your whole life story but what they loved most of all was seeing you on the pitch with Jessie.

Wether it was Chelsea vs Arsenal or Australia bs Canada the fans loved watching your interactions and your team mates did to.

It was your Australian captain who always whispered jokes into your ear that took the most pleasure out of the two of you.

“I love Canada” you admitted as your team sat on the ferry “why it’s cold” Hayley shivered from behind you “but it’s just so cozy” you smiled as you cuddled into yourself.

“Is that why your always tackling Jessie, cause she’s cozy” Sam teased as she shook your shoulders “no” you said “I tackle her cause she’s good and she’s too nice to tackle me back” you said with a small smile and Sam and Hayley laughed.

“No but seriously what is it between you two whenever you play” Mary asked as she came over “Oh my little Mary, my young prodigy” you started and she rolled her eyes

“Y/n seriously I want to know, I’m also not that young I’m three years younger than you”

“Exactly you’re an infant”

You smirked but gave her an option to lean onto your should “I’m actually not sure how we started it” you admitted “we both had our debuts for Chelsea and Arsenal on the same day and were put on each other we both wanted to make an impact I guess”

“You made an impact all right, two yellow cards” Sam laughed “You’ve had this tension ever since, even when you were dating that Tom guy” she said.

You hid your head as you looked down remembering why the relationship failed, you couldn’t admit you were not sexually attracted to Jessie and he left, funny since later you had found out he had cheated on you with a girl who had been on 2 episodes of love island.

“Yeah well I’m not dating him anymore so” you trailed off and the three girls nodded “Do you think the tension will ever ease off?” Mary asked and Hayley laughed “I think once they finally sleep together-“

“Hayley!” You scolded her “what?” She shrugged “it’s true, even the fans can see it” she defended herself as you scoffed “do you even remember the World Cup!?” she practically now yelled

“Both of your hands were practically around each other when you were on the ball” she said and you laughed “sorry if I just wanted to get possession of the ball so we could score goals”

“We pass with our feet not our hands y/n/n” Mary said and you closed her mouth “hush little one” you said quickly and she shook her head out of your grasp.

“Admit to me you’re not sexually attracted to Jessie Fleming”

“I’m not attracted to Jessie Fleming”

“Now I thought your New Year’s resolution was to stop lying” Sam stepped in and you threw your head back “No you know what I’m going to be nice” you said

“At the game I’m going to ask to switch jerseys as an act of kindness” you smiled and Hayley rolled her eyes “that’s not what I would do” she warned and you shook your head

“Trust me it will work, we will be best friends by the time you know it”

“So you won’t mark her on the pitch?” Sam asked

“Do you want us to lose Samantha?” you shot back and she laughed “anyways” you said standing up “I see Mini standing alone so I’m gonna make sure Kyra hasn’t accidentally fallen off the ferry and drowned”

You ended up finding the girl in the captains area with a bawl of lollies in her hand.

“Don’t tell Katrina”

When you finally made your way to the stadium later the next day you grimaced at the floor “fake grass” you groaned and Polks laughed at you “not a laughing matter” you said and walked into the rooms.

You felt the stadium grow as Canadian watches and a few lucky Australian fans made their way into their seats.

You were tying up your boots when you felt a presence behind you “hey skipper” you laughed as Sam sat next to you “I just wanna say no reds” she said “I know they’re out for blood since World Cup okay and I don’t want a pissy Jessie coming back to Chelsea”

“No reds got it, what about a yellow?” You asked with a cheeky smile “I’ll allow one” she said and you acted like a two year old who got told they can get ice cream.

You both laughed and Sam pushed you out “cmon idiot”.

In the line up, you were out the front behind Ellie when you felt eyes burning into your head, you knew it was Jessie so when you turned around and saw her you just smirked which made her roll her eyes and look back at her team.

“Cheeky” Hayley said from behind you and you just shrugged your shoulders.

You went to your mark on the field where Jessie was as she looked concentrated “stop frowning Jessie it will give your face lines” you told her and she looked back at you “are you talking from experience or?” She questioned as she looked at your forehead and you laughed.

“Let’s just play for now okay and then you can think about my facial features later”

The game wasn’t different than usual, you and Jessie were on each other hot, whenever one of you had the ball the other was quick to try and get you down or stop you from a long kick.

You were a bit more touchier with the legs though as One time you nut-megged her own ball through her feet “come on” she complained as she was to far behind you to stop your assist to Sam’s goal.

You turned to Jessie “you know I can take a tackle Fleming” you teased and she crossed your head at you “Just play the game y/l/n” she said and you smirked from next to her “I seem to be the only person who is”.

Jessie was rough after that, she knew she couldn’t let you get away with anything else, so next time you had the ball she was quick to kick out from under your ankle as you hit the ground, accidentally taking her down with you, automatically you turned over on top of Jessie and you watched the ref walk over to you and the Canadian.

You looked down at the brunette who was still on the floor “did I get into your head?” You whispered before sitting up and reaching your hand out for Jessie to use but she got up herself causing you to roll your eyes and shrug it off.

The red pulled out a yellow for Jessie who shook her head “Still winning” she reminded you with a smirk and you smirked back “ooh she’s coming out of her shell”.

When the game finally finished and Canada came on top you shook all the players hands, lingering on Jessie’s before you joined some of the girls on a lap.

You saw a sign that made you laugh

Australia vs Canada

Nah.

Fleming vs y/l/n!

You smiled as you looked for Jessie and found her with her captain who was having her send off.

“Fleming!” You called out to her and she turned around with furrowed brows “what?” she asked and you smirked “come look at this” you said and turned your head back.

She followed you to the sign and also chucked a smile at it as people quickly grabbed their phones to take pictures of the two of you smiling at the sign as you laughed at each other.

You saw Hayley looking at you with a knowing look in the corner of your eyes before you remembered “Wait Jess” you said before she left, not realising the nick name you let out “yeah” she said “I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to swap Jerseys, last game after all before we face each other off in Olympic hopefully” you asked and Jessie’s cheeks blushed “yeah sure, need some more in my collection honestly”

Your heart raced as you saw the Canadian take off her top, you secretly took a look at her abs as she did so, you don’t know why you waited until she took hers completely off before you took yours off until you hear a whistle from the crowd you laughed and took yours off.

Jessie’s blush grew as she took no shame in staring at your body and your waist.

“Nice tattoo” she muttered as you held your shirt out for her, looking down you looked at your flower tattoo under your sports bra “thanks got it for my mum” you smiled and she gave you hers.

“Ready for the photos” you smirked and she nodded.

When you put them on you heard some fans scream out and you both turned around, you in front of Jessie as she saw her name on your back.

She lingered before stepping next to you and you smiled for some photos before a professional photographer came and you smiled again, one photo where Jessie was looking at you.

You both parted ways after as Jessie kept her eyes on you, pupils diluted as Sam went up to her “good game” she said and Jessie kept her eyes glued onto you and your back.

“She’s staying at the Grand Heir Hotel” she smirked before smacking her Chelsea team mate on the back and walking off with a smile.

You got some shit from the team when you walked in with Jessie’s shirt on, especially from your Arsenal team mates who were whisper shouting.

Sam walked over to you where your cheeks were blushing “I may have told Jessie where your staying” she admitted and you widened your eyes “why?” You asked and she shrugged her shoulders “just cause” she said and walked away.

“Samantha!” You called but she walked away.

You couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face as you turned back to your cubby.

You had showered when you got home and hanged Jessie’s shirt up in the open wardrobe so you could still see it as you lied on your bed.

It was about 10:00 when a knock on your door started. Furrowing your brows you got up and opened it to see a slightly puffed out Jessie Fleming.

“Do you know how hard it was to figure out which room was yours?” She asked out of breath “I’m sorry?” You replied and she nodded “you should be” she said as she made her way in.

“Jessie-“ “call me Jess” she cut you off “what?” You asked and she nodded “I liked it” she said “when you called me Jess”

You smiled “okay Jess” you repeated “what are you doing here?” You asked and she looked around until she found her shirt in your wardrobe and grabbed it and threw it to you “put it back on” she said as she stepped closer to you “excuse me?” You asked and she repeated again.

“Jess I’m in my pajamas I don’t have a bra on” you admitted and she smirked “put it on” she repeated and you grew hot.

fuck she looked hot right now, you thought to yourself as she looked down at you.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me” she whispered into your ear and you tried not to shudder at her words. “Do it for me” you whispered back as you looked into her hungry eyes, her pupils were dilated and you were sure yours were too.

Jessie gripped the edge of your white T-shirt before grazing her fingers underneath and hitting your bare skin but she kept eye contact.

“I want you to know that I’m going to fuck you, giving me that yellow today and egging me on, I’m not letting that pass today” she said as she grabbed your waist under your top and pulled you closer to her so that your lips were practically touching.

The feeling in between your legs was aching, you needed her.

“Take off my top Fleming” you told her before you stepped back, getting bing her room.

She smirked before grabbing the ends of your shirt and pulling it over your head, looking at your boobs before lightly pressing on them them “you’re beautiful” she said as she kissed on them, leaning your head back you groaned and she tugged on your nipple.

“No noise until my name is on your back” she ordered and you nodded “so loud on the pitch but I can make you silent with just one touch” she cooed and you closed your eyes out of pleasure, trying to not make any noise.

When Jessie pulled your arms up and slipped her jersey over your head you bit your lip and looked down at the jersey.

“Did you know I’d react like this? She taunted as she planted kissed on your neck “Did you know that I’d want to fuck your smirk out of you” she planted more “Did you know that sitting on top of me in the middle of the game would make want to kiss you right then and there” she taunted as she sucked on your skin, marking you.

“Jessie” you muttered out in pleasure as she walked you to the bed and through you on the mattress. You were so wet you didn’t know if she could see it through your grey tracksuit pants or not.

“We’re keeping to top on” she said as she leaned over the op of you and finally brought her lips to yours and kissed you, you let her take dominance of the kiss as her hands roamed your body until they reached your pants.

She looked at you for permission and you nodded “I need your words y/n” she said and you looked at her “yes”

“yes what?” Jessie taunted and you squirmed under her touch as she traveled her hand from your waist and teasingly down your pants without touching your pussy which you craved.

“yes please fuck me with your finger, mouth anything” you groaned out and Jessie smirked.

She returned her lips to yours before she grabbed the edge of your pants and slid them down, her moth following her as she kept them on you, trailing kisses along the jersey and until she hit your undies.

“Lace” she smiled “did you know I was coming?” She asked “I may have gotten a hint” you admitted and Jessie moved her hands up to squeeze your butt as she jerked your body up towards her,

“My favourite colour is blue” she fainted as she played with your blue lace underwear “too bad I have to take them off” she said as she blew on to your pussy and you moaned.

You were pulsing, searching for any friction.

Jessie slowly pulled your underwear down before she spread your legs apart and slid a finger through your folds.

“So wet, just for me” she said before leaning in and pressing her tongue through you, making you throw your head back and your back arch which she responded with putting her hand on your stomach and pushing you down so you couldn’t move.

She kept on going until you started moaning her name “Jessie- Jessie fuck keep going” you whimpered as she shot her head up, her chin covered in your juices.

“Turn around” she ordered and you did and she walked away “Jess” you nurtured and she walked back up to you “I’m not leaving don’t worry” she assured you and pressed her lips into yours as you tasted yourself.

She walked away as you heard her rummage through her bag she brought with her, you smiled to yourself as you saw the glimpse of the strap she held in her hands before stepping into it.

“Who’s name is on your back?” She asked you, her voice darker than usual “yours” you muttered out before she tapped your entrance with her cock “but louder than that baby, who’s name is on your back?” She asked again

“Yours” you moaned out louder and she slapped your ass making you whimper “exactly” she said before pushing in to your entrance.

“Fuck Jessie” you screamed out her name as she grew her paste wuick almost giving you no time to adjust.

“New question” she said as she moaned, the strap rubbing against her clit as she thrusted into you.

“Who’s cock is going to make you cum?” She asked as she somehow went quicker making you moan out in pleasure, your hair was up in a pony tail so she grabbed on to the end of your hair and pulled you back so your face was reaching the roof.

“That wasn’t an answer” she said and you closed your eyes “Yours Jessie, your cock” you whimpered out and she let go of your hair.

“You going to come with me” she demanded and you nodded “make me cum” you whined and she went in Harder and pressed you down more into the mattress.

It wasn’t long until you felt a coil in your stomach “Oh fuck, I’m bout to come” you repeated and you heard Jessie’s whimpers “me too, come with me” she said and you both let out moans as you came together and rides out your highs together.

You both stayed there until Jessie slowly pulled out and slowly rubbed her fingers over her last name on your back.

She then helped you go on your back as she leaned down and kissed you softly.

“Can we do that again?”

[kanmom51]

Are you sure? Main trailer

And Poster.

Is this JK protecting JM from the sharks?

He did say he'd fight them, didn't he?

Fun fun fun. But then again, what didn't we know already? Those two are the most chaotic duo there is. Lovers of chaos (JM showed us that himself with his folio, lol),

but more so when it's the combination of the two of them.

They love spending time together, they love having fun together, and now they are sharing it with us. Not a snippet, not a couple of seconds worth of mayhem having to be edited in due to a chaos related injury (if you aren't getting the reference, than I'll spit it out - ITS mosquito net debacle). A full on 8 episode series (with behind episodes to follow, may I add) of Jikook fun and chaos.

We also got another JM grabbing JK's clothes moment.

This here is what I call peace.

We also got confirmation. There will be grocery store pizza eaten, dare I say, as I have been told, not very good grocery store pizza at that, lol:

JK's reaction to the question if they know BTS. That JK giggle. Adorable. And JM. He does tell us constantly that JK makes him laugh...

I can just picture it. Us sitting there in front of our screens, huge ass grin on our faces just enjoying this unadulterated joy they are experiencing. Every single second of it.

Chaos plus fun plus giggles, plus a whole lot of Jikookery. What more can we ask for?

Well, lots. But let's not be greedy, shall we...

So here, that giggle from JM. Why? What's so funny about choice of bed?

Unless if the giggle is because it's a mute question. Seeing that they basically end up in the same one. I mean, they have been sleeping in the same bed since practically debut, JM telling us back in 2015 already how JK hugs him to sleep (JK saying JM is saying something weird, not denying it by a long shot).

JM kind of made it clear since forever that he wants us to know that JK chooses to sleep in his (JM's) bed.

Can we discuss this for one second ?

Again, this is a very Jikook thing. Walking, talking, no personal space what so ever between them, because why would they need any, right?

This here:

To which JM replies:

But you see, that's the thing about JK. There is him and JM, and then there are the members. He loves them, make no mistake, but JM by now is an intricate part of him. He's the one that he feels one with. We have seen it with his actions over the years. We have seen it with comments he made over the years, like who his heart is connected with on stage. We saw it now once again with his choice (their choice) to go through their military service together even if it meant a more difficult, even dangerous seeing the tensions with NK at the moment, placement as the price to be paid (not to mention the hate some parts of the fandom towards either of them for this decision).

JM telling JK he's a member as a response to JK's comment is funny, because he knows exactly what JK means.

So to JK there is JM and there is the members. It's obvious to him that JM is a member, and JM knows that. He's not saying, like I'm sure there are already those that are loving to claim, that JM is not important to him and he wishes the others were there instead. He's basically having the time of his life and missing the others that aren't there with them. Their friends, their practically family. Bandmates that they have went on many adventures with in the past, bandmates that JK himself stated in one of his last lives that after coming back he would love to do a BV style show again, travelling with them all. Remember that this is in Sapporo, a second and a half before enlistment. They are having the time of their lives. Emotions might be catching up. Realizations that they won't be with the others for the next 18+ months. At this point he knows he's going to be with JM, they are SAFE, but the others, 2 of whom he hasn't seen for ages already, he knows he'll miss them, he already does.

And this here, it looks so ever familiar, no?

Oh yeah, from here:

I do find the the choice of soundtrack to the trailer interesting as well. Intro: Skool luv affair. Hobi and RM's parts.

Interesting choice indeed!!

Let's talk about the poster for a sec here.

So basically, what we got is all summer posters. And that is a little curious given that the first poster said Summer version. I was sure that this one would be Winter related. Now I am curious indeed. Does it mean something? Does it mean we do have a Winter version? How so, when the 8 episodes being released have Summer, Autumn and Winter episodes? Or, perhaps the behind episodes will be the Winter version? Hmm... Idk...

Anyway, unless we get another surprise on the way, we are now anxiously, or more so excitedly, waiting for 8 August 2024.

D-9

[bengiyo]

Ben’s Big BL Blurb 2: Fall is Finally Here

I am simply too busy with worth, family, other hobbies, and life to write about every show in real time anymore. I’m sorry to all the Stray Thoughts readers who’ve reached out about whether I would pick that back up, and I simply just do not have the time to do them anymore. Instead, I’ll try to do one of these as often as I can to catch up on things.

First, let’s go over some shows I finished recently that I don’t think I wrote much about.

First Note of Love

I was so happy to see Michael back on screen, and I was glad to see that he’s still able to get great chemistry with his co-star. Unfortunately, I don’t think this show was very coherent, so I didn’t get a lot out of it emotionally. It was a pretty inoffensive watch overall, and thus an easy show to put on without having to work through too much. I liked the work between everyone, and Mei Lei was such a fun character. Probably won’t return to this one, though. 

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo

This is probably the show of the year for me. There’s so much I loved about this show. I loved that the characters had sex, but were neither rewarded nor punished for it; their sex didn’t solve any problems. I also really love how this show explored how childhood trauma expresses in two different kinds of boys, and I love that we got to see a bully reckon with his actions and get closure. I love that this show ended with them being kinda poor, but happy together. I love how messed up they both were about everything. I loved that Juyeong wasn’t stupid, and could read what was going on.

I clearly need to write a separate post to unpack everything I felt in this show.

Let’s move on to what I’m watching currently, in no particular order…starting with the lesbians, and then the worst BLs.

Apple My Love

Genuinely having fun with this GL. I like how quickly most of the drama plays out. It’s giving me quite a bit of secondhand embarrassment, but I like the characterizations in this show. This new production house brought us Knock Knock, Boys! and Monster Next Door this year. We need to keep an eyes on them. 

Haunted Hearts

I’m so fascinated by Oxin Films teaming up with Regal Entertainment. The leads are very attractive, but the cinematography is really boring. I’m trying to stay invested, but it’s kind of a sleepy watch. Also amused that they started airing a ghost romance right after Halloween ended. I’ve kind of moved on emotionally from the season.

My Damn Business

This show could be good, but it’s not. I struggled with episode 5 because our lead looked more relaxed and happier with his senior than the guy he’s getting into a romance with. There’s something missing here in this one, but I can’t exactly put my finger on it. I think it’s primarily a side effect of the short run time, but I think the boss’s interest isn’t landing properly for the employee to respond to. 

Eccentric Romance

This show could be good, but it’s not. Still, I am obsessed with a murder mystery being the primary source of confusion between our leads. I was willing to forgive this show a lot of its rough edges, but it failed to handle the turn from friendship to sexual/romance really well. I feel like our guys just started dating and having sex, and I’m a bit frustrated that they didn’t talk about it really at all, particularly since this show features two different languages spoken on screen. Genuinely looking forward to seeing how this one finishes. 

See Your Love

I’m not sure this show is exactly working that well, but everyone is very pretty and I’m having a decent time watching it. I like the way Shao Peng stands up for himself, and I like that nothing that’s happened has been totally unbelievable or unreasonable (at least with the mains). I’ll be curious how the hard of hearing and deaf viewers respond to this one once it’s complete. 

Love is Like a Poison

This show is actually so funny. I love that Shiba is in his own lawyer genre separate from everyone else, and I really like how the two of these guys have become a team. I’m curious how they manage to resolve the scamming next week, but this has been the most unexpected dynamic of the year. 

Love in the Air: Koi no Yukon

MAME won this year, y’all. We all have complicated feelings about her, but she’s secured a loving adaptation from a Japanese team that’s put solid effort into bringing her characters to life. Every character feels correct compared to their Thai counterpart we saw on screen, and that’s a strong sign that the writing behind MAME’s work is strong, even if we all have issues with the way she tackles certain themes. I’m really impressed with this adaptation, and really like this version of Rain.I also feel like this show is doing a better job blending the forthcoming couple focus shift.

Our Youth

We just got this show, but damn does it feel sharp! I’m always going to be a sucker for a cinephile character, and I’m so compelled by the way Minase is drawn to Hirukawa. The scene in episode 2 where Minase has to leave Hirukawa’s house might be one of the most impressive sequences we’ve had in a while, requiring a great deal of choreography and effort from the actors and the camera crew to pull off, and I’m excited to see how these characters split and then come back together. 

Smells Like Green Spirit

Let me just say that I need another Abe Alan appearance when he isn’t playing a character doing horrible things to his students. I’ve enjoyed meditating on the 90s with this show and what that era felt like. I’ve liked how the show has tried to focus on how different parents (especially the moms) have responded to their kids coming to terms with themselves. I’ve also really enjoyed the friendship that’s grown between Mishima and Kirino. I’m struggling with Yumeno a lot, because I’m really not a friend of bully romances. Still, I feel like this is one of those shows I’ll remember for a long time because of its focus on the 90s. 

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

I think @lurkingshan covered reactions to episode 5 and episode 6 better than I could, and I loved @twig-tea giving context for the film history moment in episode 6. I remember screaming into the chat for friends to show up for this when I got to that moment. This show has two great pairs of dynamics going on that mirror well. It’s got such a strong handle on its characters’ motivations and how they would respond to the actions from each other. It’s probably the tightest thing I’m watching now, backed by extremely dialed-in performances. I will be thinking about Qi Lu organizing his potential first kiss with Qin Xiao, and how unapologetic he’s been about the entire affair. He’s being selfish here, but I kinda like it. I’m so thankful that we are somehow still getting this show, because goddamn do the Chinese actors deliver on chemistry sometimes.

Interview With the Vampire Season 2

I finished this with a friend last week, and holy fuck is this show still so, so good. We watch a lot of gay romance because of BL, and I am having so much fun watching the show about gay divorce. I loved the time we spent in Paris, Daniel’s shifting role in the narrative, and the new insights we got into Lestat this season. I will miss Claudia so much, and I have to give a standing ovation to Delainey Hayles stepping into the role of Claudia and doing the damn thing this season. I just love seeing my little fucked up gay people torment each other on screen.

I'm still thinking about Louis and Lestat reuniting in a hurricane after Claudia derided this as yet another chapter in their stormy romance.

Dropped Shows

Unfortunately, everyone can’t win. Some of these shows are just too long for me to keep up with them, and oftentimes I get bored. I’ve currently dropped:

Lovesick 2024 - I may go back. We’ll see

Jack & Joker - It’s just too long, and they just killed Jennie and a kid. I’m good.

Fourever You - I’m bored with Earth always playing this character type.

Pluto - Namtam and Film are beautiful, but this looks too messy right now.

Every You, Every Me - Wasn’t intrigued after episode 1, but the commentary may draw me back.

Kidnap - Ohm is not enough to keep me invested in this show. 

Uncle Unknown - How did they make a 6 minute show feel slow?

I’m genuinely not trying to be harsh to Thai shows out here, but I just do not have the time to keep up with all of them when they’re this long and dragging.

Thanks for stopping by, and let me know if there’s something I missed that I should check out.

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of The Star Beast - Part Ten

Excerpt from Benjamin Cook's article in DWM 596:

When I catch up with Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons, they’re still raving about their day on set, at a cold, wet Uskmouth Power Station, with spin-off show Doctor Who Unleashed. “It was really quite something,” says Pat. “A bit overwhelming, actually.” “We were so well looked after,” says Dave, “and absolutely thrilled by what we saw. It’s incredibly flattering, all the attention we’re getting.” Well, let’s give them some more. Pat, now 74, is the ‘godfather of British comics’, creator of 2000 AD, and a major player in the development of Judge Dredd. Dave, also 74, has depicted the adventures of Superman, Batman, Dan Dare, Green Lantern and scores of other legendary characters, but is best known for co-creating – with writer Alan Moore – landmark 1980s comic Watchmen. And together they’re responsible for one of the most fondly remembered DWM comic strips ever: 1980’s Doctor Who and the Star Beast. [...] DWM: Were you surprised when you were approached about this? Pat: Completely surprised. A BBC producer got in touch. It came out of the blue. Dave: It was a very uncomplicated, very positive enquiry, which isn’t the sort of thing you’re used to in comics, you tend to be ridden over a bit roughshod, so to have somebody be respectful and polite enough to say what they wanted to do, and ask us how we felt about it, and to talk about renumeration for it – Pat: Which helps. Dave: – you think, yeah, maybe these guys’ hearts are in the right place. The word is respect. They’ve been so respectful of what we tried to do. Pat: It was so different to most of my experiences [with screen adaptations of his work]. It’s all we want, is just a little bit of respect. And we got more than that. You saw on our day on set, it was wonderful. DWM: David Tennant says that your Doctor Who Weekly strips were “better than the telly at that time”. Dave: What a nice man. Pat: I like him. DWM: He read The Star Beast as a kid. Forty-odd years later, he’s playing the Doctor in the TV adaptation. That’s mad. Dave: Yeah, look how he’s thrown his life away. DWM: The comic starred the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker. From what you saw on set, how do you think David’s Doctor measures up? Dave: I know the Doctor is always larger than life, but there’s something about them both that’s particularly larger than life. Tom Baker brought a manic energy to the Doctor. From the point of drawing him, he’s an absolute gift, because he’s got the curly hair, the big nose, the double chin, and a huge, huge grin. I’ve never drawn David Tennant, but he’s got that same animated quality – exaggerated, funny, ridiculous, clownish – but also at the heart of it something quite hard and serious.

Additional parts of this set are in the #whoBtsBeast tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

[utilitycaster]

what are those 5 things? 👀

Seeing people start admit that maybe Imogen and Laudna did in fact pressure Fearne excessively hard to take the shard. I think it's good Fearne took it in the end, but yeah they really made it difficult for her to express her doubts and that was shitty of them. I got extensive hate for saying that at the time from people who are literally saying the same thing now. It's very funny.

The (entirely valid) complaints I've seen that people care more about imo/dna as a ship than Laudna as a character and are making her book solely about the fact that Imogen will show up in it. I pointed out this exact same problem occurring while Laudna was dead, almost two years ago.

Caleb considering leaving the Nein means they aren't really bonded. Imogen considering leaving Bells Hells means she's so perfect and caring and selfless and noble and good. Anyway yeah sure I definitely believe that if Imogen were a man played by Liam everyone would definitely be totally uncritical and love everything she did. (This is also a layered one, given how Twitter has been bashing Orym nonstop for over a year).

I know it's been a month and I've said this repeatedly so this is a bit tacky but I'm still riding the absolute Irony High of people being like "STOP TALKING ABOUT HUBRIS STOP TALKING ABOUT HUBRIS anyway of COURSE Bells Hells would NEVER see the gods as a messed up family, just like them" and then jump cut to Laudna literally saying that. It's just genuinely so funny that people mad at everyone calling Aeor full of hubris proceeded to get their wax wings straight up vaporized at the top of episode 102.

People calling imo/dna the bestest most organic most slow-burn sapphic ship ever (it's not even the longest slow-burn f/f ship on Critical Role; even if you're stupid enough to count the two years we know virtually nothing about just for the purposes of padding out the time to eliminate Beauyasha on a technicality - nevermind that slowburn is about the length of the story itself and not the length of time the characters have known each other, since it's obvious that if someone said 'here's Jane and Kate, they've known each other for 300 years, now they are kissing' this would not be a satisfying slowburn unless like, you went back and filled in the 300 years - Kimallura STILL wins) but as someone who received a decent amount of harassment for saying it wasn't very interesting and as such kept tabs on the people engaging in that harassment...they've been dropping like flies. If it's the best sapphic ship ever and it's canon and you're in the top 5 ships for the show of all time on ao3 and Delilah's gone and they're going to get their cottage, funny how a good chunk of the shippers haven't even managed to stay interested in CR. Also why are half the people who HAVE kept up like hmmmm what if I threw Fearne or Ashton in there. Like believe me, I support a poly hells situation, but uh. quite a tumble for what people used to call the Beating Heart Of The Campaign (TM).

Bonus! This is below a cut because it has spoilers for next week's Re-Slayer's Take that's only out for Beacon subscribers but

we see Devexian, and he meets Frog (an aeormaton PC) and his overall statement on Aeor is "it created us to serve, and we fought for our autonomy. It was both a beautiful and terrible place. Anyway the past is past, what's important is that we as aeormatons take our chance to live now, and my personal goal is not just to bring back as many aeormatons as I can, but learn how to make more aeormatons." He is completely uninterested, at least in 839 PD, in any sort of action against the gods. Like, I think he regrets the fall of Aeor because a lot of Aeormatons and knowledge died in it but he literally is like "your life is defined by your own choices, not your designation at the time of Aeor." The actual survivors of the fall of Aeor are like anyway, we want acceptance, autonomy, and the means to control our own production in modern day Exandria. Ludinus whomst.

[samandcolbyownme]

You should do a Zach justice imagine where he has a guest on the show as well as us Jared Tara and Alissa and he gets really jealous because said guest is flirting it’s us and he just become his Dickish self that he always is on the podcast but just like heeps worse and then after Tara comes to us and says like he was so jelly and it ends in smut

Pleaseeeee I am living for jealous Zach!!

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, swearing, jealous and slightly assholishy!Zach, flirting, jealousy, kissing, praising, hair pulling, choking, biting, scratching, oral (fem rec), unprotected sex, filth with a lil bit of fluff

Word Count: 3.1k | unedited

“Hello, hello everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of Dropouts.” Zach starts out, “We have Alyssa, Jared, Tara, Y/n, and our very special guest, Marx Allen.”

“You’ve been a constant name in our comment sections recently.” Jared says, “So thank you for accepting our invitation to come on.”

Marx nods, “It’s a pleasure to be here, thank you.” He looks around and lands on you, “I like that necklace.” He reaches over, “Is that an amethyst crystal?”

You nod, looking down at his fingers caressing the wire wrapped mineral in his fingers, “Yeah, I got it for my birthday last year.”

He rests your necklace against your t-shirt, “It’s beautiful.” He smiles and you look over at Zach, who’s scrolling on his phone, “Excuse me, Mr. Host Man. Whatcha doin’?”

He ignores you, making you tilt your head, and you look at Tara. She leans in to her mic, “Yeah, hello. What are we doing?”

Not even five minutes into the episode, and Zach is acting off. You knew Zach liked you, and you liked him, thanks to Tara. But, you told her that you were only going to believe it when it came from his own lips on his own terms.

So far, Zach has confirmed it, mainly by just acting out when there were guests on, specifically with the ones who flirted with you. So you made it your mission to finally get Zach to break.

Zach looks up at Tara from his phone, “You know, it’s funny. I seen someone the other day doing something and I think it’s perfect for you, too.”

“What?” Tara asks as she laughs, “Shutting up?”

“Minding your own business.” He sets his phone down next to him and sighs as Jared cuts off anyone from continuing that, “So Marx, What got you into music?”

Marx shrugs as he thinks for a moment, “From as long as I can remember, I was always doing something to make some sort of beat. Whether it was pencils or my fingers tapping on the table, I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“So you probably got in trouble all the time in school, right? With all the tapping” Alyssa asks, and Marx nods with a laugh, “Yeah, it got so bad that my mom and teachers had to check my backpack for extra pencils. I was allowed one.”

“When was this?” Tara asks and Marx sighs, “Elementary school.”

Your jaw drops and you start to laugh which catches Zach’s attention straight away, “They basically pat searched you everyday you went in? In elementary school?!”

Everyone but Zach laughs again and he just looks from you to Marx, “So what you’re saying is, you can thank a pencil and your early start to a criminal record for your music career.”

Zach’s judgmental tone causes Marx to just look at him slightly confused, but Tara break it by laughing, “Ignore him. He’s always like this.”

Marx laughs, looking back at Zach, “I mean, yeah. The number two pencil was, technically, my first drumstick. Plus, the girls love a good backstory.”

Marx sends a wink towards Zach before turning to look at you and that just sends Zach into progressively acting worse.

Usually, you’d scold Zach like a mom, tell him to be nice to the guests, but ever since you came to terms with your feelings for him, It became amusing.

Also, hot. Mainly because Zach was being an asshole in your honor.

Tara, with being the one who told you, is rooting for you and Zach to finally get together, but she respects your wishes as to having him tell you, but she made no promises to not try and help in, sometimes, not so subtle ways.

“So, Marx. You’re from Jew Jersey, right?” Tara asks as she tilts her head, eyes moving to you and you knew exactly what she’s doing.

Marx nods, “Yes, ma’am. Princeton.” You look at him, “No, way. I’m from Short hills.” Marx looks over at you, “Small world, huh?”

“Didn’t you move to Colorado when you were like, eleven?” Zach asks and you look over at him, a smile resting on your lips, “Yeah, but we went back and visited and I still do today.”

It was like you contradicted his statement on proving the he knew you better, which in reality, Zach did know you pretty well.

“Well, clearly not today.” Zach raises his brows and you roll your eyes, “Yes, clearly not today.” You look back at Marx who hasn’t stopped staring at you, “What?”

He shakes his eyes, “I’m just trying to remember if I’ve seen your face around, I’m sure if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to forget it.”

You purse your lips, smirking as you nod your head, “That was smooth.”

“That was.. oh gosh, I’m turning red for you, y/n. Fuck.” Jared laughs and you look over at him, glancing over at Tara before she smirks.

You look back at Zach and he tilts his head, “Alright, moving on. Alyssa. Next segment.” He motions with his hand and she tilts her head.

You scoff, “Zach, you can at least say please.”

You smirk at him when he looks over at you and he huffs before giving Alyssa a very nice and soft spoken, “Please.”

Alyssa looks over at you and she smirks, “So I actually have here a snippet of Marx’s new song that he’s working on. I don’t know if you-“

“Play that shit!” Tara yells, “I’ve been waiting to hear this.”

Marx chuckles, “I only put what I could on because the person we have on it, decided it’s better if it’s a surprise.”

Alyssa nods as she clicks play, and you all listen to the snippet of his song, quickly getting applause as soon as it’s over.

“Just from what I’ve heard, that’s going to be a hit.” Jared says with a nod, “I just.. I want to know who is on it with you.”

“I will not confirm nor deny.” Marx shrugs and Tara groans, “That’s sounds like.. no..” she sighs, “Can you give us a hint at least?”

“She is phenomenal to work with.”

As you all look around, trying to think of who it could be, Zach clears his throat, “Your music is surprisingly good.”

“I didn’t really think you were one to listen to my music.” Marx laughs and Zach nods his head, “You thought right on that one, buddy.”

“Don’t let him fool you, he listens to your stuff.” Tara laughs and Zach forces a laugh, quickly going serious, “Are we still on this topic or can we-“

You gasp, kind of cutting Zach off on purpose, “Oh fuck. If it’s who I think it is..” You tilt your head and Marx chuckles as he shrugs, “Who do you think?”

You move one of your headphones off so you can judge how loud you’re talking before you lean over. Marx takes his off, bringing a hand up to lay on your arm.

You lean back and pull your lip between your bottom teeth as you judge Marx’s response, which also has Zach’s full attention because he absolutely loved and hated when you did that.

Mainly because he wanted to do it. He wanted to know what pretty sound you made when his teeth are in your place. It made you look all innocent and sweet but he knew what you really were, especially with how you drunk text him.

You tilt your head slightly as you notice Zach zoned out on your, “Hello, earth to Zach.” You wave your hand and he blinks, “Oh right yeah sorry, now are we ready to move through the show?”

“What’s your problem?” Tara asks, “You were literally fine.”

“I’m still fine, last time I checked which was, mm.” He tilts his head, “Right now.”

“You seem a little irritated.” Alyssa adds and Zach looks at her, “Nope. I’m great.”

“Is anyone else having like a Scooby doo moment to where.. you feel like you can cut the tension in this room with a knife and serve it on a plate?” Jared laughs slightly and you look over at him, laughing slightly as you look back at Zach.

His eyes are on you and you lick your lips, “Let’s just.. take five. Yeah?” You look around, “Sound like a plan?”

“Yeah, because I need to talk to you.” Tara stands up, setting down her headphones and you’re pulled away as she walks by you, “And you.” She grabs Zach by the hood of his sweatshirt and pulls you both out into the hallway like children.

“Good lord.” Zach stands up and fixes his hood, “What the hell, Tara?”

“What the hell, Tara? I should be saying what the hell, Zach. What the fuck are you doing?” Tara says in a loud whisper as she taps the back of her fingers into her other palm, “Seriously, Zach. She’s right here.” Tara pushes you into Zach and his arm goes around you.

“And you like her.” Tara points to each of you with her words, “And you, like him. Right?”

You both nod, agreeing in unison, “Yeah..”

“So there you go!” Tara laughs, “Just be together. Happiness is not that fucking difficult!” She sighs frantically, “Oh, my god, you’re stupid.” She points to Zach and then to you, “You’re just fucking stubborn as hell.”

“Says you.” You tilt your head, waiting for her to speak, and you copy what she says at the same time, “I am not fucking stubborn.”

She laughs, “Kay, I’m going now. Continue to take five. Come back when the tension is cut.” She moves her thumb over her neck and walks back into the studio.

Zach turns you towards him, his hands sliding over your waist, “So you like me?”

“So..” you look up at him, “You like me.”

He purses his lips and nods, “Yeah, yeah I do.” His eyes bounce from your lips to your eyes and you smile, “just kiss me you jealous asshole.”

He furrows his brows, pretending that he actually isn’t and smirks before leaning in. His hands tighten on your waist as soon as your hands slide up his chest to his neck, closing the space between you with your lips on his.

You so badly want to deepen the kiss but you know you won’t be able to just go for five minutes, so you pull away, “Let’s go and finish the show.”

“What? Why?” He whines holding onto your hips, “They can just-“ He stops when you sees you giving him a look, “Fine.”

He sighs over dramatically as he rests his forehead against yours, “please? For the love of all things considered, please tell me you don’t have plans tonight.”

You purse your lips, “Oh shit, I do.”

He lifts his head and you grab his face, “With you, silly.” You give him a kiss and step back, “Sooner we get back, sooner we’re done.” You bite your lip and raise your brows and he wraps an arm around your waist, “You’re so logical.”

You laugh, rolling your eyes as you walk back in, “Alright let’s get this party, re-started.” He claps and sits down as you walk back over to your seat.

You give Tara a smirk and she smiles, giving you a wink.

The rest of the show went a lot better than the first half, but you were happy to be done.

You walk up to Alyssa, placing your hands on the desk as you lean down over her computer, “Oh yes. I like that! Thank you for picking a good picture of me.”

She smirks, looking up at you, “Zach picked it.”

You feel hands on your waist as you smile, “Of course he did.” You look over your shoulder and Zach leans in, “He who did what, of course?”

“You, picking a picture to put on the thumbnail.”

“That’s my favorite picture of you. I mean, have you seen that smile?” Zach tilts his head, “Because you’d love it, too.”

You look at Alyssa and she furrows her brows, “Who are you and what have you done with Zach?”

Zach mocks her and she sighs, “There he is.”

You laugh and turn towards Tara as she walks up with Jared and Marx, “Thanks for having me on today.” Marx reaches out to shake Zach’s hand, “Also, these girls told me I had to be flirty with y/n. So I hope you don’t hate me.”

Zach looks around at you, Tara, and Alyssa, “Why am I not surprised.”

“Listen. I was sick of seeing you mope around about her. If you would have just manned up.” Tara shoots at Zach, “It would have never had to come to this.”

Marx leans in, “Plus, She makes you look good.”

“You’re not telling me something I don’t already know.” Zach shrugs and pulls you into his side. As Marx talks with Alyssa, you look up at Zach and he looks down at you, both of you thinking the same thing.

“We can take our five minutes now.” You smirk, gently pulling on his sweatshirt and he nods, “You read my mind.” He looks up, noticing everyone is engaged in conversation, “Come on.”

He slides his hand into yours and leads you out and up the steps, looking back at you as you reach the top. He turns, pulling you into his body as his lips meet yours.

His arms wrap around your body, mumbling against your lips, “Jump.” You comply, legs wrapping around his waist as your arms slide around his neck.

Your lips stay on his as he blindly closes the door and presses your back against it. He leans back, eyes moving over your face, “You’re so beautiful.”

You smile, lacing your fingers through his hair to pull him back in for a kiss. You let out a small moan as his teeth sink into your lip and Zach groans, “You sound so pretty.”

He pulls you away from the door, walking over to his bed so he can lay you down, his body hovering over yours as he kisses down your neck.

“Zach.” You whimper out, gasping as you feel his nip your skin, “P-please.” You slide your hands up, cupping his cheeks to turn his head, which leads into a heated make out.

Your tongues move together, fighting for dominance, to which you surrender, allowing him to take full control.

You moan, digging your nails into the fabric of his sweatshirt. He leans back, taking it and his shirt off all in one motion, and you take the opportunity to discard your own top and bra.

His eyes fixate on your chest before he looks up at you, “Don’t stop there, sweetheart. Keep going.”

He smirks as his hands move to his belt, undoing it slowly as he watches you shimmy out of your pants and panties. His jeans and boxers are tossed to the floor before his body is on yours.

You gasp out and look up at him, your hand grips his bicep harder and you whimper out as he continues sliding in.

“You okay, baby?” Zach’s voice is low in your ear and you nod, looking up at him. He watches as your lips part and your brows furrow as your face scrunches up in pleasure, “Feels good, huh?”

You nod, lips forming an o shape as he starts to thrusts slowly. He groans deeply in your ear, “You feel so good. You’re so wet, I love it.”

You moan, wrapping your arms around his neck, “It’s so hot when you’re a jealous asshole.” You smirk, looking up at him and he scoffs, rolling his hips into you slowly which causes you to roll your eyes back and moan out.

“What’s mine is mine.” Zach whispers, “And I don’t like sharing.”

You moan at his words, digging your nails into shoulders, “All yours.”

“Say it again.”

“All yours.” You moan out, “Fuck, I’m gonna cum.”

He reaches down between you so his fingers can press against your clit, “Do it. Cum for me, sweetheart.” His lips attack your neck, sucking and pulling at your skin, “Can’t believe you’re all mine.”

You buck your hips, moaning out as your back arches off the bed, “S-shit, shit. Yesyesyes.” Your legs tense, body twisting as you enter your high, moaning loudly as he fucks you through it.

“That’s it, baby.” Zach breathes out, sliding his hand up to interlock with yours. He does the same with the other, pinning them down by your head as his thrusts pick up speed.

He groans loudly, bending down to peck your cheek with open lipped kisses. You squeeze his hands, moaning out, “Flip. Flip.”

He sits up, rolling over into his back and you instantly straddle him, bouncing up and down on his cock and he groans as his hands slide up your thighs, “You look even better on top of me.”

He raises his brows quickly and you smirk, pressing your hands onto his chest as you lean forward to give yourself more leverage to move your hips faster.

“Shit.” He lets his head fall back before looking up at at you and gripping your hips tight as he bucks his upward.

You moan out loudly, leaning forward to bury your face into his neck, “Fuck. Zach.” You whimper, “D-don’t stop.”

His grip on your hips grows surprisingly harder at your words before his right hand slides up to press into the center of your back, “Love it when you cum around me.”

You melt into him, allowing him to bring you into yet another orgasm. All you can do is moan.

He rolls you back over, kissing up your neck as you feel his thrusts slow down. He pulls out to spill his cum onto your pelvis and you can’t help but whimper at the feeling.

His lays next to you, his arm laying over your chest, “I’ll get you a towel in a second.”

You nod, “You’re fine, babe.” You laugh slightly, “I need a second, too anyway.”

“Aw, did I wear you out already?” Zach laughs as he gets up to grab you a towel and you watch him as he walks over, “No. I just needed a second because as soon as I wipe off..”

You drag the towel over Zach’s mess on your skin and toss it to the floor before reaching up to grab him, “We’re going for round two.”

——

Thank you so much for reading! I truly love an appreciate all of you. See you in the next one!

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

[chlorinecake]

🎙️ star-crossed lovers 【 薄幸な恋人 】 ⛦

summ✩ry Forbidden sparks fly between you and Enhypen’s main dancer upon dorming together, but what happens when your bandmate threatens to expose this reckless romance?

p✩iring idol!niki x popstar!reader ✩ EPISODE 1

genre band au, fluff, secret romance cw swearing, slightly suggestive, mild bullying, kissing, girl drama, reader is younger than Niki wc 4.5k

"Where were you last night?” Haerin asked with a whisper, removing the tape-seal from her container of apple slices.

It was early in the morning when you, your bandmates, and the Enhypen members got up for breakfast in the Hybe cafeteria.

Getting up early proved to be a challenge, especially considering your late night adventures with Niki and unbreakable inability to sleep in beds that aren't yours.

You couldn't help but wonder how much better you would've slept if Niki stayed next to you-

"W-what are you talking about, Rinnie?" You stuttered unintentionally, taking a sip from the coffee you prayed would help you get through another busy day in Korea.

"Don't play dumb, ____. You know what I saw," she sighed, meeting your nervous eyes, "You really shouldn't be disobeying the curfew rule, not to mention how dangerous sneaking around a foreign country is."

"I appreciate your concern, Haerin, but I promise, you have nothing to worry about," you said with a smile, "I just wanted to get some extra practice time in, that's all."

The sound of approaching footsteps cut your conversation short, the Enhypen boys and your bandmates finally joining you two at the table.

"Ooo, are you guys telling secrets? I wanna hear," Jade cheered, placing her food tray on the table.

Apparently you and Haerin looked a lot more suspicious than intended, but then again, two girls whispering always looked a little fishy.

“Hehe, no secrets over here!” Haerin covered, shoving her mouth with apples to avoid anymore questions.

"Riiiight," Jungwon smirked, revealing his soft dimples, "Anyways, how’re you all enjoying the roommate pairs?”

"I’m actually quite pleased with our group, right boys?” Heeseung joked, exchanged high fives with Jake and Jay to which Sunghoon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure you guys took a while to get used to each other," he mumbled sarcastically, "What do you think about us, Serenity?"

"Hmm," she began in thought, "wellll, Sunoo's kinda vibey. He has a lot of fancy skincare products that he shares sometimes, so that’s been nice. Sunghoon's also really easy to look at so..."

"Easy to look at, huh? Is that your way of calling me hot?"

"Heyyy, I never said you could use my stuff," Sunoo blurted out, interrupting Sunghoon's attempt at flirting.

"Moving on," Serenity chirped, redirecting the convo, "What about you, Mr. Leadernim?"

Jungwon took a bite of his scrambled eggs before answering, "Honestly, Jade and Haerin remind me of my sister. We get along pretty well and they're not too troublesome, I guess."

"Yeah, Jungwon's pretty cool, too... aside from his tendency to hog the shower," Jade teased back.

“Okay, now what about you two?” Heeseung started, sending Niki a funny look that made him choke on his water.

“Alright, you can answer ____ while he keeps drowning,” Heeseung chuckled, passing Niki a napkin to wipe the water from his now shiny lips.

You still couldn't believe that he actually kissed you WITH THOSE LIPS-

“Uhhh,” you began nervously, trying to think of something normal to say, “N-Niki... w-well, he's uh... Niki, he's—”

“My GOD, the look on your face right now makes it seem like you’re in love with him or something,” Serenity gawked rudely, dramatically throwing her hands in the air as she successfully got everyone’s attention with her big mouth.

“I mean,” Niki started with a plain expression, “its not like I’m entirely against the idea of having a girl fall for me...”

“Yeah, happens all the time to guys like us,” Jake winked, immediately cringing at his own words.

Step, step, step, signaled Miss Kim’s signature black booties across the tiled cafeteria floor, “Good morning, my little minions. Now what’s going on over here with all this chatter?”

Turns out Miss Kim only worked as an activity assistant for Enhypen, though, she always had a way of waltzing into every room like she owned the place.

“Not much,” Jake answered, “We were just discussing our practice schedule for the day.”

“Mhm, so that means the few of you are well updated on your instrument rehearsals this evening, yes?”

“Instrument rehearsals,” Jade repeated yet asked.

“Exactly. Jade, Serenity, and Jay will play a guitar riff during one of the stages, so you’ll meet in the recording studio at 4pm today.”

“Sweet,” Jay smirked, playing air-guitar while mimicking the Karma instrumental.

“Also,” Miss Kim continued, “I can’t really remember, but which of you here is struggling with the choreo?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to you as you raised your hand shyly.

“Oh, ____,” she said, dragging out your name, “perfect! Niki, you’ll be skipping vocals today to help ____ catch up in the dance studio.”

You couldn’t hold back the smile that grew on your face at her words: maybe some extra dance practice wouldn't be too bad after all.

“Alright, I'm headed to the fashion department to check out your stage costumes. Heeseung and Jungwon, please make sure everyone follows today's schedule accordingly.”

“We won't let you down, Miss Kim," Jungwon nodded as the stern lady turned on her heel, beelining to the cafeterias coffee counter a few feet away from your table.

"Alright guys, you heard the boss lady. Let's wrap up breakfast and meet in 10," Heeseung said, getting up from his seat first as the rest of you followed shortly after...

To Room 10: Hybe's indoor gym and workout center.

The intense exercise routine left you feeling pretty worn out.

Your mind was mostly focused on getting all your reps in without passing out, ignoring the overflow of sweat that kept seeping from your pores. You all had just finished the last part of the workout: a mile outdoor run around Yongsan Family Park.

"And you're telling me we still have rehearsals after this?" Serenity huffed, taking yet another large gulp from her jug of Gatorade.

"Yes," Sunoo answered plainly, taking the blue drink from her hands and pouring it into a nearby bush.

"Dude, what the hell?" She yelped, backing away to avoid the splashes, "Don't tell me you're still mad about that 'skincare' thing."

"If you had any idea how many added sugars people put in that stuff, you would've poured it out yourself," Sunoo replied in a sassy voice.

"Well if it wasn't obvious, I couldn't care less about whatever you just said," she sighed, sadly watching as the blue liquid trickled past the leaves, soaking the soil, "you totally owe me a drink after this, by the way."

"Hey, that's actually a pretty good idea! We should go out for drinks tomorrow night," Jake cheered, using the back of his hand to catch his sweat, "everybody down for splitting the bill?"

"Yeah, but we can focus on that once we get back up this hill," Jay replied, encouraging the rest of you to keep on treading.

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

Later in the rehearsal studio, practice started off a bit slow with a warm up session before actually breaking down the choreography.

Apparently, the official dance composer for the upcoming stage changed a part in the performance for you and your group to follow, adding a trick move with Haerin and Jade.

Meanwhile, the Enhypen boys were working on perfecting their routines, as they had already memorized the whole thing a lot quicker than the Riot Grrlz.

The main practice session lasted close to two hours before the talent supervisor called for a break, sending the other members off so you and Niki could have the studio to yourselves.

Finally.

"So what was that all about earlier?" He asked, kneeling down to stretch his legs.

"In the cafeteria this morning?"

He nodded in response, guiding you to the floor to help you stretch with him.

"Well, Haerin said she saw me last night... Sneaking out, I mean. She didn't say anything about you, but..."

You couldn't help but giggle at the way his face dropped.

"What the? I could've sworn everyone was asleep when we came back last night," he said with an awkward smile, holding onto your wrists as he pulled you toward your feet on the ground, "what'd you tell her then?"

"I told her not to worry about it, but I avoided mentioning too many details," you said, squeezing your eyes at the painful stretch you felt in your hamstrings.

"Welp, all that means is we'll have to be more careful when we sneak out again tonight," he winked, finally letting go of your wrists so you could relax.

"Tonight, huh? I'm surprised I've got you hooked so fast. What's it been, like three days?"

"Four, actually. But I'm surprised by your sudden confidence. You could hardly form a coherent sentence about me, earlier," he teased, offering you his hand to help you up from the ground.

"That had nothing to do with you and everything to do with the way you almost died while drinking water," you returned before dramatically reenacting the way he struggled, pretending to choke on the air, "I was nervous... for your safety, of course."

"Mhm. I'm sure you would've saved me though... Nothing a little mouth to mouth can't fix," he smiled, looking at your lips before looking away, trying to maintain his focus, "You remember how the choreo starts, right?"

"Uhh," you started, scratching the back of your head, "With the little arm-move-thingy?"

"Sure, you could call it that," he chuckled, "Now just follow my moves like we did at the skate park. I'll go slow at first and speed up as you catch on."

"Okay," you said, watching his movements in the mirror as if hypnotized.

It amazed you how even while practicing the moves in slow motion, he still looked effortlessly talented.

"Good!" he encouraged, observing how much you improved with the footwork compared to day one, but there was something about your hip movements that he thought looked a little stiff.

"Okay, hold on," he started, walking up to you and placing his hands at your waist, "Try to be a little more fluid with this step, otherwise it looks kinda awkward."

"Like this?" you asked, keeping his hands in place as you rolled your hips in front of him, trying to follow his instructions.

You didn't even realize how close his body was pressed against yours until a loud slam startled you both.

Niki's gaze immediately darted to the source of the sound, seeing none other than Serenity barging through the studio door, marching in with a cattiest look on her face.

"Ummm, how can I help you, officer?" Niki asked playfully, stepping away from you and crossing his arms.

That's when Sunghoon and Sunoo ran in behind her, trying to catch their breath while spitting out a few words, "We tried to stop her," Sunoo started, "but she wouldn't listen."

"Aha! I knew there was something going on between you two! Don't try to back away now, Niki! I guess you couldn't wait to loosen up each other's buttons again, huh?!" Serenity rambled, making an utter fool of herself.

"We were rehearsing the choreography, genius. Like Miss Kim told us to," You retorted, not being in the mood for her games at the moment.

"Mhm, without leaving room for Jesus, I see! Speaking of Miss Kim, just wait til I tell her about this!"

"What are you two doing here?" Niki asked the two frustrated boys, trying to redirect the conversation.

"We were in Room 10 doing our cooldown when Gossip Girl over here started interrogating Haerin," Sunghoon sighed, "One thing led to another and before we knew it, Serenity was bolting out of the gym like a crazy person."

Your eyes went to meet Serenity's frame, who stood with her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed as she wrestled with whatever angry thoughts ran through her brain.

"Ren, please don't tell Miss Kim. This was obviously a huge misunderstanding," you pleaded with her, trying to be mature about the situation.

"No… little kids like you need discipline. Though," she paused, twirling a strand of her chocolate brown hair, "I might consider keeping your little secret if you resign from being captain over the Riot Grrlz."

You scoffed at her offer, "You're delirious. And for the last time, there isn’t any secret for you to spoil, anyway."

"Fine,” she grinned, a little too wide, “I tried to be nice about this, Niki, but your girlfriend has left me with no other choice but to come clean about this matter.”

Flipping her hair, she marched towards the door, looking back as if waiting for you all to follow her, which you did, all the way to Miss Kim in the fashion department.

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

To no one’s surprise, Miss Kim wasn’t happy to see the five of you crowding her during her shift, especially not when you were given specific instructions to follow the schedule while she was away.

After Serenity expressed that their was “a breach of the rules” between you and Niki, Miss Kim summoned all of the Riot Grrlz and Enhypen members for a disciplinary meeting.

"Oddly enough, my disappointment doesn't fall on Jungwon and Heeseung, even though I put you two in charge of everything," the lady began, holding her hands behind her back as she paced around the table you were all sat at.

"Serenity has brought to my knowledge that some of your are struggling to follow the strict rules in place here. Are there any witnesses to this claim?"

Serenity kicked Haerin's leg from under the table, trying to get a word out of her, but she remained silent thankfully. You couldn't help but feel guilty though at the sight of Jungwon and Heeseung hanging their heads in shame.

"Very well then... and are any of the accused parties willing to come clean about the alleged incident?"

Niki peeked at you for a second as if waiting for you to say or not say something first.

"I..." you began timidly, "I did stay out past curfew last night, but only to practice."

This was a partial lie, but you had no intentions on bringing Niki down with you. After all, it's not like he forced you to sneak out with him, as you most definitely wanted to.

Miss Kim's eyes widened slightly at your sudden choice to speak, "Go on," she said, stopping in her tracks.

"And about what Serenity saw in the rehearsal studio... It was nothing. Me and Niki were only trying to practice like you said."

She hummed at your words, "I appreciate your honesty, ____. And Serenity, it would bring me much joy if from now on, you would focus more on working than running after silly rumors."

"Soooo," Jake started, "are we free to go now?"

"Not just yet," Kim answered, clearing her throat before continuing, "From now on, your curfew will be pushed back from 11:00pm to 8:00pm."

A loud groan filled the room at her words, but a satisfied look remained on Serenity's face until the next part of Kim's rules were announced.

"A piece of blue tape will be lined at your bedroom doors, so anyone who tries to leave after 8 will have a tough time hiding it once the tape is torn. Also, expect to be waken up extra early tomorrow for exercise. No breakfast."

"But Miss Kim," Jade began, "Maybe you can give us another chance, there's no proof, anyway."

"Proof or no proof, my rules will stand in place until further notice. And for the record, this is not a punishment."

"Yeah, more like a freaking detention center! I knew it from day one," Serenity whined, the taste of her karma unfortunately falling on the lot of you.

"If that's what you wanna call our home to multinational superstars, so be it," Kim retorted, making her way to the office door, "hopefully there will be no more disruptions for the day."

Slam.

The door was closed, and with that, your busy schedules re-open and waiting to be completed.

"____," Haerin spoke quietly, shyly meeting your eyes as she walked up to you, "I'm really sorry that I brought that up this morning, Serenity must've overheard us talking."

"It's okay, Rinnie. This isn't your fault," you smiled, patting her head gently to cheer her up.

"Mhm, well that's sweet. Thanks for getting us on probation, lovebirds," Jay sighed, getting up from his seat and walking out of the room.

"Yeah, so much for stopping Serenity and her big mouth, you guys," Jake said, giving Sunghoon and Sunoo a look before walking out too.

"Guys, Miss Kim said this wasn't a punishment. Like ____ said, this isn't anyways fault," Jungwon said, trying to convince everyone to see the situation in a more positive light.

"Whatever, I'm gonna join Jay in the instrument room. Don't take too long in here, Ren," Jade sighed, running a frustrated hand through her hair before also leaving.

"Cool, I'm gonna go get lunch because I don't work well when I'm hungry," Heeseung huffed, walking past Niki and towards the door, "I taught you well, brother, but please, stay out of trouble from now on."

Serenity's initial pitiful look returned to the sassy one she wore before, watching as Jungwon, Sunoo, and Sunghoon followed after Heeseung, closing the door behind them.

And then there were three.

"Miss Kim thinks that some silly tape and a bedtime will stop you two, but just know that I'll be watching for myself," Serenity threatened, staring you and Niki down from her seat.

"Got it, officer," Niki teased, walking up to you and taking your hand in his.

"And where do you two think you're going?"

"To complete our schedules? Now we've all had enough with your Nancy Drew act. It's time to put your working face back on," you replied, mirroring her cattiness, "You're gonna be late for your rehearsals with Jade and Jay if you don't hurry up."

"Gosh, you two can be so annoying sometimes," She exclaimed, fixing her hair before marching out of the office, leaving you and Niki alone again.

With your hand still in his, he turned your body to face him, taking your face in his hands and looking at you with the most loving expression.

He just can't get enough of you.

He reached for your wrist, drawing your attention to the bracelet he gave you the other day, "You still trust me, right?"

You couldn't help but look away from his face for a second. If he held that intense eye contact with you for any longer, you're sure you were gonna explode.

"Stop, you're too shy," he giggled, turning your chin to face him one more time before kissing you on the lips, a pink hue raising to his cheeks. You got lost in his touch for a second, hardly remembering that this reckless romance is what got you in this room in the first place.

"Niki!" You yelped, suddenly feeling his hands tickle you under your shirt, "You never answered my question, silly," he chuckled, backing away as you tried fighting him off.

"I trust you, stupid, now stop tickling me before someone catches us," you sighed, trying to catch your breath from all your laughing.

This boy was making your heart do things you're sure it's never done before. Backflips, cartwheels, splits, you name it!

"So does that mean you're still down to hang out with me later tonight," he asked, pouting at you playfully, "unless, you don't think it's worth it."

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

Your evening ended on par with Miss Kim's revised schedule, everyone completing their assigned tasks before showering and heading to bed at 8 o'clock sharp. And to your surprise, she wasn't joking about the blue tape thing either.

You and Niki waited til an entire hour had passed before initiating your escape plan, just to make sure that everyone was asleep.

Dressed in the best "incognito" outfits you could find, Niki tied a few bed sheets together to make a rope, tying it to your bunkbed for you to climb out the window with.

He went first because you were too scared.

"Alright, you're coming?" He whispered from the ground, watching you shyly peek from the window.

"You look tiny from up here," you giggled, pointing at him playfully.

"____, stop stalling and get down here," he chuckled back, motioning with his hands as if encouraging you.

Sticking your right leg out the window, you said a small prayer as you gripped onto the makeshift rope, climbing down with your eyes closed to keep yourself from chickening out.

"That's it, there you go!" Niki cheered, clapping for you as you finally made it down... the 10ft wall.

"What if someone sees the rope just hanging here?"

"They won't."

"Well... what if a little raccoon were to get cold out here and sneak into our room for comfort?"

"Come on," he smiled, taking your hand in his as he skipped from the building, adjusting the sunglasses to his "costume."

He wanted to show you around the city of Seoul, taking you to one of his favorite Japanese food stands to get filled taiyaki's because they're his all time favorite. He ended up doing most of the talking while ordering, thanks to the language barrier.

You both wanted chocolate filled, so you ended up just getting one large taiyaki to share.

He tore a piece of the fish pastry's head before putting it in his mouth, careful not to get any chocolate on his face.

You took the snack from his hand before taking a small bite yourself, surprised by the initial crunchiness of the pastry that soon melted into a softer texture, coupled with an equally delightful taste.

Now you see why Niki likes these so much.

"This is crazy, you know that?" You said, taking in the beautiful city scenery that made up your surroundings.

"Of course, especially with everyone reminding me all the time. But what was that you said again? About breaking rules as long as it's worth it?"

Both of you started to walk a little slower, not really paying attention to where you were going, just enjoying each others company, "You're never gonna let me forget I said that, are you?"

"Nope," he smiled, looking into the distance, "because those are the exact words that got us here in the first place."

"And where is "here," exactly?" You challenged, going for another bite of the snack before handing it back to him.

"Alone, outside, past our curfews, holding hands in this beautiful park while dressed up as anonymous wanderers..."

You giggled in between his rambling-

"...Waiting for the right moment to kiss each other again."

A certain feeling of butterflies ran through your stomach at his words.

Was risking your career really worth all this? You'd vote one hundred and ten percent yes.

🎆 Pop!

The sight of fireworks bursted into the night sky before you two, shattering into a glittery shower of colorful sparkles.

"Oh my God," you jumped in shock at the loud noise, making Niki chuckle at your startled reaction.

"Jeez, you're gonna draw attention to us if you keep jumping like that!"

"Ahh, how was I supposed to know they were going to be fireworks tonight?"

"We're just outside of Yeouido Park. The officials here are probably rehearsing for the upcoming firework show," he said before filling his mouth with yet another bite of taiyaki.

From the looks of it, a few more people started to crowd the area, pulling out their cameras to take pictures of the occasional fireworks that splashed into the clear night sky.

"Maybe we should get going now," you said shyly, adjusting the silly scarf you wore around your neck to keep yourself undetectable.

Confused at first by your initial prompt, Niki took a look around before now seeing a few photographers pointing cameras at everyone.

"Yeahhhh, you're right, let's go before we get caught," he smiled, picking up the pace of his steps as he turned around, beelining back to the Hybe building with his hand still in yours.

The time had just hit somewhere around 10 o'clock, so you and Niki got a good hour to yourselves after your long day of work.

Luckily, his makeshift rope was still hanging outside your dorm room window when y’all got back, and once again, you successfully snuck out together undetected.

Or at least, that’s what you both thought until the morning came…

▶︎ ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊| • • •

There was a certain news feed circulating around the web, originating on that same Korean Pop media website you were stalking before your trip.

You weren’t surprised to find Serenity with her bright blue eyes practically glued to her phone screen, announcing the blog’s title out loud as you and Niki came down together for warmups in Room 10:

Young Stars Spark Romantic Rumors After Photos of Them Kissing in Yeouido Park Circulate the Web.

Oh no, this can’t be good.

Niki had already informed you a few minutes ago about the post popping up on his phone, "There's no way we got caught. I made sure we blended in with the crowd,” he said, not being able to hide the worry growing inside him.

“And besides,” you replied while whispering, “we didn’t even kiss.”

But as to be expected, Serenity was having a field day rubbing the news in your faces.

“Starting mess at work again, I see?” Sunoo pointed, rolling his eyes at her words, but she ignored him.

“Ren, did you even look at the pictures going around?” Haerin offered as she adjusted her workout clothes, “Those people look nothing like Niki and ____.”

“Let me see,” Jade said, reaching for Serenity’s phone and scrolling past the title to analyze the pictures that revealed two older idols who didn’t even match you and Niki’s heights.

The fear boiling in your stomach suddenly disappeared.

“Oh, and their names are right here!” Serenity pointed out before zooming in, “Nevermind, I can’t even pronounce that.”

“Great, so that means we can get back to practice now, yeah?” Jungwon said, trying not to sound as annoyed as he truly was.

You and Niki just bust out laughing.

“What’s so funny,” Serenity scowled, obviously dissatisfied with the reality of the situation.

"Just the fact that you genuinely thought we'd go against Miss Kim's rules… Besides, how would we have even gotten out last night?" Niki tried, kneeling down to tighten his shoelaces, “I’m sure you checked the blue tape by our door. It stayed intact the entire night.”

“Mhm,” she hummed, obviously not wanting to engage in the conversation anymore, which you were thankful for.

The fitness coach started explaining the workout to Jake so he could translate for you and your group, outlining that the session would start with some intense weight lifting before cardio, a.k.a, a 2 mile run around the park.

Great.

Heeseung encouraged you all with his bright smile, “Alright, guys, let’s get moving!”

And that’s exactly what everyone did for the next three hours, keeping a shared goal in mind to follow Miss Kim’s activity schedule perfectly: Day five’s schedule outlining an in-person fan meeting that evening.

🎙️ For my baby, @microwvdstrawb3rri3s, and the lovely 🐥 anon ~ Episode 3 coming soon 💕

⛦ Tags: @squoxle @ashgonedash @nikimeows @nikipedia07 @3ngene--frvr @illymontyshit @filmofhybe @whoslug @nikiiitties

🎙️ Feel free to check out more fun reads on the pinned post at my home page ~

[eisforeidolon]

Question: I have two questions, one for Jensen, and one for both of you.

Jared: Okay. So no Jared question? That's fine.

Jensen: Nope.

Question: First for Jensen, I need to know the story behind this picture, please? [both walk over to look, Jensen mutters something like 'Oh, God']

Jensen: I honestly don't know the story behind that picture. I don't know A) what I'm doing, I'm like sitting in a cast chair and I'm just like pulling my shirt up [mimes the pose]. And I don't -

Jared: If you got it, flaunt it.

Jensen: I don't. Uh, I don't know, I don't know what I would have - I don't even know who took that photo. Or how it got out, but - or why. This is - um.

Jared: I think, I think, here's why -

Jensen: I might have been getting mic'd?

Jared: Yeah, probably.

Jensen: Cause they, when they wire us, when they put the microphones on us, they tape it [tapping center of his chest] to your chest - I mean, there's a few ways they can do it, sometimes they'll wire the jacket, sometimes they'll put it, if you're wearing a tie, they'll put it in the knot of the tie. If you've got a sharp eye, sometimes you can see 'em. But most of the time they'll just tape it to your chest and then the wire kind of goes [gestures down his chest and around to his back] around [points downward] sometimes it goes to an ankle pack, sometimes it clips onto the back of your belt. Anyway. I was probably just going like, [gestures as if pulling up his shirt] okay, wire me. And the person who wires has to put up with that kind of - the shenanigans that we do when we're like [does the fake laugh thing, and shakes back and forth].

Jared: Also, in fairness, I think that was like season one or two? And so twenty years ago, we didn't realize, we were slow, we were not the generation where everything you do lasts forever? And so it's like [fake laugh, pops hip, makes fart noise] Ahh, I'm farting, and it exists twenty fucking years later, so. Naivety on both of our parts, I think.

Jensen: So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's the best I can come up with, so. What was the other question that he might help with anyway?

Question: Both of you, do you feel any pressure from the fans to show that you're still close friends? When you search on Google 'Jensen and Jared' there is the first question that pops there is 'Are they still friends?'. And whatever happens between you two, people just watching, waiting, like are you still close or not -

Jared: So I think, so -

Question: You have this pressure to show that you're still close -

Jensen: It's exhausting.

Jared: [grabs his shoulder] Wow.

Jensen: I'm so glad you brought this up. [turns to Jared] I am, I am exhausted pretending to be your friend -

Jared: That's actually my, that's actually my question that I put into the Google search. I'm like -

Jensen: [cracks up] I haven't heard from him in weeks!

Jared: I haven't heard from Jensen in two days [mimics typing] are they still friends? Does he still like me, circle yes or no? [Jensen cracks up more] I don't feel - I'll speak for myself - I don't feel any pressure to [finger quotes] prove that I'm friends with Jensen or my br- or anybody, you know what I mean? Like, life - we have lives, and we live in different states and, like, if I see him every day for a month, great! If I don't see him for seven months, great! Like if he's good or needs something, or I need something - but yeah, I do find that question funny. And I think it's also, I think it's like, from, was it French Mistake, or? It was like, episode, yeah I did see something online where they're like, 'oh, they're talking'. It's French Mistake.

Jensen: Oh! Yeah yeah yeah.

Jared: And then it became a thing, where they were like -

Jensen: Oh, is that real? Do [they?] not like each other? Yeah.

Jared: We also fucking - I have an alpaca! [Jensen cracks up again] Like, no one hinged on that, like does Jared really have a picture of himself in Warhol style and his wife and a tanning bed and an alpaca at his house? Like no, I don't.

Jensen: You're not far off, though. [laughs]

Jared: Close, close. Got one out of four.

Jensen: Yeah, no. I think there's also - [points at Jared] you kind of touched on it a little bit. You know, I think anybody who can just see us together whether we're onstage or whether we're back stage? Can tell that there's a, you know, legit love for each other. And always will be. Whether - like he said - whether we see each other every day for six weeks or whether we go six weeks without seeing each other. Or without even, like, checking in. Which, we usually text back and forth and stuff, just, you know, about hey, what d'you think - what're you doing with this, or hey I need to ask you a question -

Jared: We have a Wordle text thread.

Jensen: [they talk over each other here, so this next is approximate] Yeah, we Wordle each other every day. Um, so, that would be pretty, again, pretty exhausting to keep that [finger quotes] facade up, if it was a facade and it's not.

[thevindicativevordan]

My Adventures With Superman: S2 Review

Another season down and it's time to take stock. SPOILERS BELOW!

My feelings fresh off the finale has me just as high on the show as I was last season. MAWS continues to be the best adaption of Superman since the Donner films. Furthermore I've realized that MAWS is extremely close to what the original Ultimate Marvel was. Everything in the 1610 universe ultimately came back to the Super Soldier Serum. Here everything connects to Krypton: all the villains in some way tie into it, Superman and Supergirl obviously are it's Last Children, Krypton reshaped the entire galaxy - potentially having wiped out the GLC and fought Apokolips! It's an entire universe built around exploring the impact of an imperialist Krypton and that's what sells me on the concept. Strikes me as funny in the wake of "Absolute DC" trying to offer an Ultimate DCU around the same time. Now moving on to the three major areas of concern:

The Trio

Clark - Our boy did not have an easy time of it this season. Constantly being faced with xenophobia, struggling to find a place for himself, relationship issues with Lois, his cousin turning out to be a brainwashed warrior, and then the evil AI that ran the Kryptonian Empire trying to turn him into a weapon. His character arc from S1, learning to embrace the weirder sides of himself instead of suppressing them, continues this season. Literally so in the case of unlocking his remaining powers like arctic breath, but also mentally. Brainiac attacks his self-image in order to undermine his sense of self-worth. Telling that even a Kal raised in a fake simulation of Krypton doesn't fit in with Kryptonian society any better than he does on Earth. I love that Lois gets him to believe in himself again by inverting the famous Lois & Clark line. Here, Superman is not what Clark can do - Superman is who Clark is. By believing in himself and following his heart, this Superman comes to realize that home isn't a place but the people you're with. Home is Ma, Pa, Lois, Jimmy, and at the end of the season Kara too.

Lois - Last season only began to unpack her daddy issues, and that was the focus of her arc this season. She loves Clark and she loves her dad but she can't overcome her massive inferiority complex caused by her dad's treatment of her growing up. She could never count on him to be there for her and she ends up projecting that on to Clark. Also she has a bad habit of emulating her dad's paranoia, she's willing to go right for the kryptonite to take out Kara, and doesn't trust other Kryptonians off the bat. Her arc culminates when she affirms her love for Clark in the Black Mercy and when she urges Kara to overcome the Eradicator programming, instead of doubting Kara's inner goodness.

Jimmy - Finally gets his own romance storyline with Kara and it was as cute as Clois! Glad Jimmy stopped being a third wheel to the Clois drama and got his own relationship difficulties to cope with. Also glad that we got that episode where Clark and Jimmy bro'd it up at the Science Expo and Clark told Jimmy how much he valued their friendship. Was asking for that in S1, and we finally got that moment here. As expected. Jimmy lost his billions but I think getting a Kryptonian girlfriend and saving Superman from Brainiac were worthy trade offs.

The Villains

Brainiac - Completely won over on this Brainiac. Emerson might have supplanted Burton as my favorite Brainiac voice. Eschewing the typical cold and emotionless Brainiacs, this take is joyfully malevolent. He takes pleasure in Superman's shock and outrage over the enslavement of the Kryptonian Empire's Foes for use as training fodder, he spitefully targets Earth first after stealing Superman's body, he gaslights and mocks Kara for daring to stand up to him, he's overseen the genocide of multiple planets (including Krypton) - he's pure evil. Even monologues at one point about how he's been "infected" by compassion on account of raising Kara and he needs to purge himself of that weakness. Brainiac alone justifies MAWS going with an imperialist Krypton instead of the usual isolationist take, we wouldn't have gotten this fantastic performance otherwise.

Amanda Waller - Never been more hateable than she is here. She tries to kill her old friend and colleague Sam with zero hesitation or remorse, experiments on civilians and is willing to kill them to cover it up, treats her underlings like crap, no surprise she and Lex hit it off. At least by the end of the season she's been deposed and is on the run, finally gets some measure of comeuppance for her actions.

Lex Luthor - To no one's great surprise, "Alex" did indeed turn out to be Lex Luthor. Amazing how MAWS pulled off exactly what DCEU Lex was trying to be, an evil techbro in the Zuckerburg mold, and in doing so reinforced how absolutely terrible the DCEU take was. Lex here is recognizably Lex: he's ego-driven, weaponizes xenophobia against Superman, reveals he was the one who actually created the Parasite suit, synthesizes kryptonite cores for the Metallos, acquires his business competition AmerTek, and is generally a condescending dickwad. Love that whenever he's being particularly evil, we get the iconic anime villain shot where the glasses become opaque. After this season he finally has the Lexcorp building Only thing left to do (besides give Lex a shave) is really develop the feud between Lex and Superman. Right now Supes doesn't even know Lex, and Lex has merely been using Superman as a sacrificial lamb for his own advancement. I do not want a sympathetic Lex, I want this to be the guy that Supes actually dislikes intensely.

Deathstroke - Fully settled into his role as the designated jobber at this point. Admittedly it's fun to see him be smug only to repeatedly get his ass spanked by Superman and others, but I'm not happy that they're keeping him around for S3 as Lex's underling. He's no threat to Superman at this point!

Damage - Weird choice, bad design. Don't really care if he shows up again or not.

Atomic Skull - Sounds cool, looks cool, only complaint is that he barely got any use! Showrunners I am begging you to bench Deathstroke, or outright eject him from the show, and start focusing more on the actual Superman villains. Since Waller's Task Force X seems to have been disbanded, could we possibly see him get a job as a cop like in the comics? I would support Atomic Skull being the anti-Superman element in the Metropolis Police Department while Maggie Sawyer finally debuts to contrast with him.

Livewire & Heatwave - After the heist and finale episodes I'm fine with them exiting from the show. Livewire in particular felt completely jarring and disconnected from how she was characterized in the AmerTak episode, she went from being willing to hurt kids to giving Lois a pep talk on the power of Love and saving Metropolis. Mitigating circumstances to be sure with Brainiac trying to destroy the Planet, but the S2 finale definitely felt like the show redeeming the S1 villains and shooing them out.

The Supporting Cast

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl - Now I can't say she's my favorite Kara yet, but I can share that like most of the MAWS cast, she easily could attain that status if she keeps getting used in S3. Poor thing, she exchanged the trauma of being old enough to feel Krypton's loss acutely for the trauma of having been brainwashed into being a worldkiller. Benefit of that is the show wrote them more like siblings because they were the same age, and I adored that. Episode 7 was one of my top 3 favorite episodes of the series thus far, watching them tease each other was heartwarming.

When Superman realized she had a crush on Jimmy and started to tease her, that was one of my favorite Superman/Supergirl moment ever! Both her and Kal are looking for the place they belong and they find it in each other by the end of the season. Excited to see what becomes of their relationship, and Jimmy's romance with Kara, next season.

Perry White - Remains the GOAT Perry. His evil laughter when Jimmy complained to him about the new interns not listening had me laughing right alongside him. Oh and changing the nickname Jimmy gives him to "Per-Per" instead of "Chief" goes a long way to justify why Perry finds Jimmy annoying and hates his nickname. Showing up to take Waller to task for arresting Jimmy and Lois in the penultimate episode, distracting her while Steve jailbreaks them? Most badass thing any version of Perry has ever done.

General Sam Lane - Complex is the only word I can use to describe him. Clearly he loves Lois and we get an entire episode dedicated to showing that, but he's still a bad dad who is responsible for her attachment issues. By the end of this season he's come around to Superman's side, and I have to admit I'm not a fan of that. Wish he was staying as an antagonist, but as long as we don't have Superman working with/for the government in S3 then I'll cope.

Cat and Steve - Ronnie was a non-entity again this season, I don't think she even appeared, but wow did Cat level up to be my favorite take on her alongside MAWS Steve being the GOAT Steve Lombard. Cat's speech to Lois about how as reporters they cover the story but they don't become the story shows that underneath her gossip exterior lies a woman of principles. Steve meanwhile cemented himself as the best bro you could ask for, and I loved his pep talk to Kara

Vicki Vale - Her shonen style rivalry with Lois over the AmerTek story gave me life. Conceding gracefully to Lois after being outscooped and offering Lois a job in Gotham, plus appearing in the penultimate episode to support Perry confronting Waller made me actually respect her. Still don't like her for smearing Superman in S1, but you can see that she is what Lois is on the road to becoming - albeit with more principles.

John Henry Irons - My guy in the flesh!!! Needs a proper war suit and to get that shield filled in but he's here and a pretty straightforward adaption to boot! Worked at AmerTek, built weapons for them, realized they were corrupt and has to atone by taking them down. Seeing him show up again in the finale was thrilling, I hope that he continues to appear in S3 as an ally of Kal and Kara. We've got a proper Superfamily being built up, now all we need is Kon.

General Thoughts

Blatant Darkseid tease or misdirection? Sure looks like an Omega Beam, but Brainiac makes it clear he's the one who "destroyed" Krypton. Jor-El was trying to negotiate a peace treaty with "their enemies" which does leave open the possibility that said enemies were Darkseid and Apokolips, and Brainiac has the Parademon mind scan.

Brainiac says he used "Krypton's greatest weapon" against Krypton, and that did not seem to be Kryptonite. Could he have sent the entire planet to the Phantom Zone instead? Would certainly align with the line about "casting Krypton into hell".

S2 ends with Superman being pretty much as happy as can be. He and Lois are back, he saved and redeemed Kara, Waller is deposed, he doesn’t appear to have any emotional problems left. I’m thinking S3 is going to have Lex and Zod as the Big Bads, and instead of being a conquerer, Zod is going to break out of the PZ and be utterly ruthless about bringing all of Krypton with him.

I bet the show does a take on the New Krypton storyline, with S3 having Zod succeed and then Kal and Kara have to choose between their adopted and birth worlds (maybe even their adopted and birth parents in the Kents vs. Els for maximum drama). Do they want to go live on New Krypton with the Els or stay on Earth? Plus Zod will probably be revealed as Nemesis Omega, and they'll set up a war coming between Earth and NK with Sam Lane and Zod leading the two armies. Then S4 will be Darkseid, with Apokolips having learned that their old foes are still alive

Metallo needs to get a proper adaption next season. I know these weebs have watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners, give me Metallo in the vein of Adam Smasher!

PLEASE BRING IN BLOODSPORT, he's in the bloody comics for God's sake! No excuse not to have him next season.

They better have plans for a proper Jack Nimball Toyman because that Winslow Schott take was lame

Bring Parasite back next season, not having him at all this season made me realize how great he was as a villain. Oh and bring Mxy back too!

Kryptonian armor enhancing Kryptonian abilities like heat vision sold me on the concept. Funny how right as the live action take reverts to the trunks, MAWS gives Superman a new suit without them. I like the new suit myself.

Lana ended up being the one person on the leaked voice actor list to not show up is odd. Was her part cut perhaps, or was that the one fake name on the list?

Wyatt has said that when MAWS Superman becomes the confident self-assured "Superdad", that's when the show is over for him. Keeping that in mind I feel like S3 needs to kill some characters, specifically the Kents. Right now Clark has his safe space in Smallville, a loving relationship with Lois, a brother relationship with Jimmy, and a good reputation in Metropolis, and now Kara too. Logically he should be confident and self-assured, meaning they need to undermine that if they want the show to continue. Clark suffering the death of his adopted parents, right around the time his birth parents return and offer him a place on New Krypton? Certainly would be how *I* would blow up his new happy status quo.

If Superman is no longer going to be fighting the government, you know who would be a great villain to bring in? Red Cloud. Having a villain work at the Daily Planet in undercover mode like Superman would be a perfect way to keep the focus on the Planet cast.

[pinkpastels113]

Tell us how you feel about arcane. Use your emotion words! Use a visual aid if you must, too lol.

you want some visual aid? i'll give you some visual aid:

that describes perfectly ab how i am feeling rn

first of all the LESBIAN SEX SCENE????!! I-??!! i knew that something was bound to happen (esp after meljay and the rated for sex warning in season 2) and i celebrated when they (finally) kissed but oh my god?? an actual lesbian sex scene? in a prison?? in vi's sister's prison?? after a parallel about how cait is always finding her in a prison and expected her to be there?? (with dramatic music and banter and soft giggling and the ANGLES and HAND PLACEMENTS??) I AM NOT OKAY

just that scene alone is enough to nudge me off a cliff. but moving on

how is JAYVIK more homoerotic than now-100%-canon caitvi?? that's all i have to say. (what do you MEAN that love conquers all?? that he loved and admired viktor for all his imperfections and that was what made him special and beautiful?? GET OUTTA HERE)

i did not know that i needed timebomb until this season but HOLY FUCKING SHIT why must you make ekko fall (surprisingly, even to himself) in love with jinx/older powder and have that ripped away from him not like two days later?? WHYYYYY (the dance. the "can we pretend it's like the first time?" the "oh and he's got lines." the nervous wave after he fucked up in that scene with dead vi and powder was like hmp and he goes :(. the mural. im sent. im gone. nobody speak to me.)

ISHA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (she was just trying to be like jinx and copy everything that she does and is and looked up to her as a hero STOP WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO ME. also the song?? IM CHINESE BRO AND I WAS SOOOO EMOTIONAL OVER THE LYRICS like hit me where it fucking hurts why dont you)

i cried at how vander suffered a fate worse than death. @becasbelt can attest to that

caitlyn adfshjk i knew she would come around and she was and always has been my blorbo (even if she stayed evil) MWAH my female rage filled, slightly wild, grief clouded, confident, "im an excellent shot," sexy, " i am a decorated officer, leader of house kiramman, address me with respect, or keep your mouth shut." dictator, vampire, badass, mofo. YES

the way she said "no amount of good deeds can undo our crimes" hit me bc she's acknowledging that she went off the rails and did some pretty bad things to justify and achieve (which she didn't. not really) her goals

i LOVED jinx in this season. she single-handedly made it a comedy show and was the sole focus of a lot of the emotional damage the storytellers and animators wanted to convey

the way jesus came to be and then quickly became evil SDFHSDKJ i was legit like WEEO WEEO ABORT ABORT JESUS HAS TURNED EVIL (also want to point out the "no you wont" sky dialogue bc DAMN she really called you out huh viktor)

that alternate universe timebomb episode had me gasping so much (like SILCO?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?? what do you mean everyone is well and happy but at the cost of vi's death???) i think i had asthma for a split second there

MELLLL MY GODDESS MVP PLAYER you saved cait's ass so many times it's not even funny and ugh the way you finally stood up to your mom (very cleverly too, i might add) ugh i applaud

EKKO MY KINGGG the way he hurts himself so bad turning back time and specifically saving jinx from offing herself BYE

HEIMERDINGER MY TINY ANNOYING/affectionate FURBALL WHYY

no but yea i am ruined and my emotions have faded away into numbness and i hope this post was relatable to the people in the arcane fandom and i also agree that this season was way too condensed and rushed and the last episodes in particular needed at least a couple more to drag out the events and character development bc at times when i am supposed to be cheering i am crying and at times i am supposed to be crying i am screaming and at times i am supposed to be screaming i am Horny and at times i am supposed to be Horny my heart is wrenching but only a few tears slip out bc IT IS CUT TO THE NEXT SCENE AGAIN??? does that make sense??

(also do we think jinx is actually dead or no. im still not sure but obv i would hope/am hoping that she is lmao)

[dragon-kazansky]

Spirit of the Sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

You were a member of Blackbeard's crew long ago. Then you became a ghost story. Izzy Hands only sees you in his dreams these days, until he sees you for real when investigating Stede Bonnet. This sets him on a rollercoaster of emotions between you and what his captain is doing.

{Masterlist}

{Next Chapter}

Notes: This chapter is mostly just plot from episode 2 to get the story going. Every story has to start somewhere.

Chapter One - Ghost stories

♡♡♡

Izzy was looking down at the sight before him. To think someone was capable of running a ship aground was incomprehensible. No good sailor was capable of that mistake. It flagged up in his mind that this man was a fool.

"This lot managed to take English officers hostage?"

"Word is, yeah. Spotted 'em deck before they ran aground," Ivan says.

"Those hostages will fetch a pretty penny," Izzy muses.

He wanted a closer look.

Izzy, Ivan, and Fang all head down to the beach where most of this silly little crew were passing their time.

"Hello friend." Izzy calls out the man sitting on the rocks.

"I thought this isle were deserted." Buttons looks at the three men with suspicion.

"It is, mostly. We're merely humble wanderers passing through." Izzy keeps his eyes on him. "Is it just you then... in your party?"

"We've three more in a bush, plus a couple of hostages. You're not ghosts, are ye?" Buttons asks them.

Ghosts. Izzy found the word almost funny, not that he gave that away. He was no stranger to ghost stories. No, he was living and breathing. As real as day. His ghosts lay in the past.

Izzy led his men further onto the island. Those hostages were valuable. Getting them was easy. Izzy simply bought them. Stede and his men has been captured by the people that live here. Izzy simply bought the hostages from the tribe and walked away with them.

As far as Izzy could see it, there wasn't much point in investigating Stede further for now. The man had run his ship aground, got caught, and now lost his hostages all before the day was over.

Didn't seem like much of a threat.

♡♡♡

Upon realising his hostages had been taken, Stede felt himself fall apart a little bit. Yeah, he wasn't a very good pirate, but he was trying.

"Just call it, old chump. You're in over your head. You crash the boat, you lose the hostages. It's just... It's all so... pathetic."

Badminton, who was haunting Stede after be killed by him... kind of, was mocking him.

All his life Stede was mocked and downgraded. Always talked down upon as if he could amount to nothing.

Not this time. He wouldn't let them win.

"I am adequate." Stede marched forward.

"I'm sorry?" Oluwande asked.

"I said, let's get our damned men back. The hostages, I mean."

Pete and Olu nod and agree with him, following him back into the tree line.

♡♡♡

Stede crouched down hidden from view. Pete and Olu on either side of him. Through the trees they could see three men in black with their hostages.

"Who the hell are those guys?" Stede asks quietly.

"I don't know, but they look much tougher than us." Olu replies.

"Tougher then you, maybe," Pete scoffs.

"Oh ok. Why don't you go down there and confront them then, big man. The strongest out of us."

"Enough! Shh, guys. OK, here's the plan."

Stede goes quiet.

"What is it then?" Olu asks.

"Mm?"

"The plan."

"Oh, uh, shh, it's coming," Stede tells him.

Another moment of silence and then Stede gets an idea.

"A diversion... OK? A diversion, it's what we need to do."

"Yeah... yeah, but you said 'I've got a plan,' as if you... You gotta just go with it." Olu sighs.

Stede shushes him.

"I have a plan!"

Stede's plan came in the form of a ghost story. One he had heard about before taking to the seas.

♡♡♡

"Release us now, and I'll ensure you're spared a painful death at the hands of our king." The Englishman said, attempting a go to get free from this man.

"Ooh, what say you, Fang?" Izzy asks.

Fang chuckles and pushes the man forward. "I'm your king now, bitch." The English falls to the ground.

Stede jumps out of the bushes.

"Good day, gents." Stede, looking as feral as he could possibly be looking right now with a knife in his hand, begins his diversion. "I believe we have dibs on those men."

Izzy looks back at the hostage behind him curiously and then back at Stede. "Dibs, you say?"

"Yes. So, please, hand them over. Quick as you can. Oh, and by the way, I will not be trifled with, so don't even think about trifling me."

Izzy looked at this strange man with amusement. He starts to walk forward.

"You're trifling me. I'm warning you. Don't trifle. Don't you trifle."

Izzy draws his sword and slices it several time. Stede is caught off guard. When Izzy is done, Stede is amazed not to feel a single sting. Izzy had torn up his shirt and had not left a scratch on Stede.

That was some impressive swordsman skills.

"You're quite skilled." Stede says, even though the other man has his sword pointing right at him.

"This is how you die."

In that moment there was some high pitched whaling sound coming from the trees.

"Do you hear that?" Stede asks.

"This is the spirit of the seas!" A voice calls out. Izzy frowns.

"I didn't know this island was haunted."

"It's obviously one of your men," Izzy states, unimpressed.

"But is it?"

"Yes, it is."

"But is it?" Stede whispers.

"Ivan!" Izzy yells.

"Oi, the spirit of the seas haunts the seas! Not islands." Ivan calls out. He immediately gets hit in the face with a rock and falls backward, his face bleeding.

Pete swings from the trees and collides into Fang. Stede uses the distraction to move and point his knife into Izzy's cheek.

"I've already ruined one man's head this week, and believe me, I'll do it again." Stede keeps his eye on Izzy.

"Believe him. He's quite insane." One of the hostages speaks up.

"He does have the eyes of a madman," the other says.

"What are your demands?" Izzy asks.

"Well, I was thinking a compromise," Stede says.

"I'm listening."

"Well, uh... we'd be willing to give up one of the men, if that would prevent further bloodshed."

Ivan moans about his nose, convinced it's broken.

"Oh, and by the way, you are completely surrounded. My entire crew... is just beyond these trees." Stede looks around them and then calls out, "Upon my signal, unleash hell!"

"Fine," Izzy growls. He's already fed up with this fool. Stede lowers his knife.

They exchange the hostage. One each.

"There's always another way to resolve things, isn't there?" Stede says, looking at the other man. "Stede Bonnet. Pirate Captain."

"Izzy Hands." Izzy stares at him. "This isn't over, Mr Bonnet."

"Good," Stede says, backing up slowly. "Cos I kind of enjoyed it."

Izzy watched Stede and his men run off.

"Pirates, my arse."

Ivan and Fang take their hostage back toward the trees. Izzy stands still for a moment, his jaw clenched.

Hearing 'Spirit of the sea' turned his stomach. How dare they use you for their pathetic little show. Your soul deserves to rest in peace, not be used by some wannabe pirate pansy.

Ivan and Fang head first toward the shore. Izzy stayed behind a moment. He took a moment to take out the ring he wore around his neck, letting it sit on his bare palm for a moment. He stared at it in silence.

He would give anything to have you beside him again. You're meant to be here with him.

Izzy clutches the ring tight in his hand and almost growls in frustration. He puts the ring away and marches on, heading to the shore.

♡♡♡

@grippleback-galaxy - @askmarinaandothers - @godlikegallagher - @for-fuck-sake-im-alive - @whiskeyswriting -

[oxpogues4lifexo]

Keeping up with the Camerons

OBX_Updates

Liked by papaj, bobheys, rafe and others

Keeping up with the Camerons is now streaming its first episode!

Check it out now at https://TumblrTV.Com

Want the separate interviews and the BTS? Click Here!

Join the Camerons and find out more about them today!

@Wardcameron @Rosecameron @Rafe @Sarbear @Wheezieee

#keepingupwiththecamerons #obx #outerbanks #realitytv #hitshow #northcarolina #tumblrtv #cameron

joecollins the lack of empathy these people hold is truly mind blowing. Rose so out of touch with the real world and Ward not caring for his kids feelings, talking about one over the other is horrendous.

bobheys how they can sit there and say that they’re struggling when there’s people like us who don’t even have a dollar to our name is crazy

-> popeye just be happy for them dad

-> topperthornbush id listen to your son we didn’t ask for it

-> sarbear Top my dad told us to leave it remember?

-> kelcey us as in you lot. We can say what we want sarbear

-> sarbear oh shut up

jamieparkzz I don’t understand how they think they ‘deserve’ this life man. They seem so horrible, other than Wheezie everyone else needs to take the sticks out their asses.

papaj @johmbee we got a shoutout!!

-> johmbee from the only nice one!

-> papaj your welcome by the way she wouldnt have mentioned you if it weren’t for me

-> johmbee um im pretty sure she said it’s because i work for ward? Where are you in that?

-> papaj look. Just let me have it man

-> johmbee 🖕

amandastar this has really shown me a new light to them so thank you. This is awful. I hope that they can rectify our views on them over the next few episodes because I always looked up to them. This is truly disappointing

mike_carrera I dont understand everyone’s hate for the Cameron’s. They’re humans. They have money. It doesn’t make them evil. I really liked the show and I liked the different personalities from each of them.

-> papaj coming from someone with money

-> kieee Jayj??

-> papaj the truth hurts mama

juliannemarsh the ending when they were all just sat around talking was so wholesome. I’m really proud and happy for them. Keep it up!

papaj wow seeing Rafe be so normal and human around Bella and the others is unreal. Maybe he’s not as bad after all. Justice for Rafe! ✊

-> rafe fuck off your not even funny

-> papaj what can’t take a compliment? That cos your daddy was too busy with Sarah to give you any?

-> bella_bee jj I beg you stop!

-> papaj I’m being nice ma! He gotta learn it from somewhere why can’t i help

-> rafe meet me at Kildare park in ten then talk to my face prick

-> papaj already on my way princess 😘

-> bella_bee 🤦‍♀️

Episode 1 Here

Taglist: @viawritesstuff @b1mb0slvt @rafeinterlude @native2princess @cerya @aariahnaa @mymelodylvr

[trekmupf]

"We're all mad here" 🐇👸🔫🐯

Pro

The famous massage intro

Sulu and McCoy taking a lovely little walk together

Sulu is such a botany nerd; I love these small character moments

McCoy thinking he's loosing his last marbles

Spock literally thinking that humans go on shore leave to run up and down meadows like dogs

The way Kirk smiles when he thinks Bones is pranking him is lovely

Kirk's facial journey when he realizes McCoy and Spock played him

The first time Kirk calls McCoy Bones

The way the running is filmed and the way they run – and boy do they run in this episode

Sulu, gun enthusiast

The easy friendship between Kirk and McCoy- the way they joke and laugh with each other is so beautiful

McCoy is so beautiful in this episode, I could screenshot every second. He smiles so much and is so at ease, I mean

Continuing what we know from E3 Kirk wasn't the super cool Bro at the academy but actually the bookworm people bullied

Kirk saying that Ruth hasn't aged a day since they last were together ages ago, and the actress being the same age as Shatner when we see her... canon Kirk being into older woman okay.

McCoy rolled a natural 20 on charisma

me @ yeoman Borrows being super into McCoy's flirting: same girl same

Also I actually like that for once McCoy is the one having a little romance and getting to flirt / be desired, which is rare (because he's older and not the leading man; Tumblr, of course, disagrees)

every time the tiger is on screen I remember that Shatner literally wanted to fight it and it makes me laugh

fake character death trope! (also Bones is a beautiful corpse)

Spock like no offence lady, I'm to gay for this, Spock out

“Did you have fun guys?” “Yes we did Mr Spock” wink emoji implied, like you guys know it sounds like you had group sex right

the setting and scenery is beautiful and a nice change

the score underlines the whimsy and lightness of the episode

the premise is so silly but works well. I miss episodes like this on modern TV, just some downtime with no large scale danger, war or plot, just silly crew shenanigans that gives us more time to spend with our guys

sometimes Sci-fi has great special effects, and sometimes they just hold an antenna really close to the camera and call it a day and I love that

I'm Yeoman Borrows; Look at him being all happy

Con

McCoy's death has no lasting impact on anyone, it's just a short time plot device and then gets shelved for more adventure / silly time; Even though he does come back, I wish it wouldn't have been so trivialized here

weird wind chime sound effects of the planet

Finnegan as a character is super obnoxious and too over the top (which is saying something in the episode with Alice in wonderland)

especially the second confrontation takes ages, especially as we now have more pressing matters in the narrative

treatment of yeoman Borrows (We already know weird things are going on based on what McCoy saw, yet Kirk doesn't believe her and shows zero empathy towards her distress), also her main purpose is damsel in distress

Kirk is a bit slow to unravel the mystery and almost stupid at times? It might be excused by him using the opportunity to let go of his responsibility and being with Angela / letting out his anger with Finnegan

the amount of references and jumping between visions is too jumbled and all over the place, which is why the pacing is off. some bits are so short, they'd better be cut (Rodriguez side adventure) and some just go on (Finnegan)

Counter: Shirt rip Kirk

Quote: "You've got your problems, I've got mine. But he's got ours, plus his, plus 430 other people" - McCoy about Kirk Moment: Opening Scene, where Kirk thinks Spock is massaging him and being super uncomfortable when its a female crew member

Summary: Silly and light episode with no deeper meaning but some great character moments, funny scenes and further development of the interpersonal relationships

In another universe this is a classical painting

Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 10 thoughts

(muffled crying) (sniffing) (conspicuous wiping of eyes) hey guys, welcome back to my liveblog

little did i know! little did past me know what i was getting into when i typed my opening lines below. but presumably YOU, the reader of this post, knew what i was signing up for, so i shall spare my words and just share that i thought it was a VERY VERY good episode, even if it was darker than my usual preference. i tend to like some bantering, but i don't see how bantering could have fit into this one. so let us begin.

i haven’t seen an episode in a few days, which probably explains why this week has been awful. i would wax poetic about how i have missed our agents, but i honestly cannot wait any longer and Need to watch this episode right now. which i think is an emotional one???

(author's note: yeah <3)

i need to TEAR into this, bro. like a bear in a trash can or something.

reading the episode description and this sounds evilllll!!! i still assume everything about samantha is a lie!! it saves time!!

mulder is sleeping… on a BED?? a proper bed?? i can’t tell. it’s so dark. if it is a bed, this is IMMENSE character development.

he sees a red light in the sky :0 and on his walls!! it says “follow” WHAT!!! what does that mean!??

it’s leading him to a car?? wait, he’s at a park? was he camping and that’s why he had a bed? why was he camping? who lured him out here with a laser like a cat… what does “mad hat” mean in this context?

and he is full on chasing this light. i love that for him. the music is super whimsical.

WHAT IS LESS WHIMSICAL is the body of a child sitting in this forest. what the HELL????

okay, tone change, i see you!

but the child sinks into the leaves??

oh girl. they really got me with the whole “it was all a dream" thing, and I FELL FOR THAT!!!

he is actually just sleeping on his COUCH, which i knew had to be the case, because he would NOT use a bed in his apartment. beds are a luxury you only get to experience in motels if your name is fox mulder.

damn, maybe that's why he likes to travel so much... cozy hotel bed... really makes you think

nooo he had a nightmare :( this is sad. he never seems to actually sleep.

he’s gonna find that park he dreamed of and drive there even if it is the middle of the night. in his leather jacket. yes. he means business!!

and he is going to the spot where he saw a body of a child… where now he sees…. dirt 

so the next morning, he’s directing people who are digging stuff up. they look like police

ENTER SCULLY!!!! YAYYYYY :D i cheered!!! she wants to know what’s going on 

“you called for forensic excavation at 5 am on a sunday, what are you looking for?” (he grabs her arm, looking delirious) <- ohhhh i knew after seeing this moment that this episode was gonna wreck me

he asks her to give him a minute, and when she’s all “you’re out here because of something you saw in a dream?” he gives her this look of “it’s not that simple and you KNOW that”. funny how you can say that with just a look.

but someone calls him over!!! NO! there is the skull of a child in there!!!

omfggggg

wait, we literally haven’t even gotten past the intro yet, and i’m already sat at the edge of my seat…………

we are sooooo back, baby!!!

hey, that intro was different from the standard too, i think. but whatever.

scully is deeply confused, asking to hear about his dream. the forensic investigators are digging, but he is implying they aren’t going fast enough… so he’s digging with HIS HANDS!!!! 

oh, he is gonna mess some evidence up this way…

but he insists he knows what happened. 

he describes the murder in great detail, and scully asks, you learned all of this from your dream? and he says no, i have this murderer’s MO memorized; it’s a guy named john lee roche.

so it is the power of careful study AND prophetic dreams at work that make mulder such a good investigator

it seems deeply wrong to see mulder in their office with only a t shirt on and not his fancy suits, but it is the weekend, and desperate times. this serial killer- roche- was very hard to catch back in the day. at the FBI, he was nicknamed “paper hearts” because of the heart trophies he took from the victims… oh… i see where this is going. the title is making sense now.

mulder was brought onto the case because he was thought to be able to get into the victim’s head……. omg… his reputation…. and he concluded the killer had to be someone ordinary who traveled a lot, like a salesman. and he was!!! roche was a vacuum salesman!! 

(do we still even have those?)

scully points out that it was his profile that caught the bastard, and he just shrugs his shoulders. i would expect him to normally be more “yeah, i did that!!”, but it seems this one is very personal to him. not much to celebrate if you only caught the guy after the horrific murders happened.

he says they never found the hearts cut from the cloth, and he always wanted to count them and see if they really added up to 13. after this, he realizes that there were more than 13. this is really sad.

scully says maybe she can explain his dream!!! and maybe he solved it in his sleep when his subconscious took over! oh, she is a good friend

“you said it yourself once… you said a dream is an answer to a question we haven’t learned how to ask” <- YES he said that in 2x12, right? i always thought it was so poetic, and the fact that it was never mentioned again bothered me a little- BUT SHE REMEMBERED!!!

she’s telling him that he did good work, and they can identify the girl and put her to rest, and what if i cry about the way she leaned in to reassure him?? hey. what if i cry?

it’s time to look at some bones. scully seems to have found an identity pretty quick; her name was addie, and she went missing in 1975. 

but mulder pushes back, saying that if that were true, it would mean roche started way before they thought he did. scully points out that the clothes and height match.

oh my god…. the way he’s looking at the bones, and she asks if he’s gonna be okay if they verify it… he shakes his head yes, but it seems hollow. she is trying to be so careful around him. it's making me emotional.

so, they go off to pennsylvania to try and make an ID with addie's relatives. scully does the talking, presumably because mulder is going through a Lot Of Feelings, and the minute they say they’re with the FBI, the dude who answered the door asked “you found addie?” ohhhhh :( 

he immediately identifies the fabric pouch they found with the bones as made for addie... he used to slip quarters in it from the tooth fairy

bro, this episode is sad as hell.

“i used to think that missing was worse than dead because you never knew what happened” (cut to mulder) (cut to him looking at the portrait of addie on the wall) i’m gonna scream re: the implications about samantha

addie’s father asks if there were other victims they didn’t know about, and mulder looks very very very sad. i can sense him feeling that he needs to solve this, and that he’s gonna think he failed for not finding the others before. yes, i know where this is going 

all of a sudden, he remembers from his dream that the killer drove a white el camino, and he probably kept the hearts in there. the car was sold in 1992. that was a while ago. i am feeling some doubts in terms of them still being in there.

“don’t you think the car might have been searched at least once already?” “not by me” <- DAMN!!! oh my god. his sense of duty. that ancient and primal Guilt in him. yeah yeah, i’m eating this up 

they go to visit the car, where a young gentleman has been putting flames on the side. he seems giddy to hear a serial killer once owned his car. which i feel is valuable commentary on the commodification of the true crime industry and how it dehumanizes the suffering of the victims through sensationalism. but mulder is not gonna listen to him blabber, he is gonna get to WORK.

(man, i wonder how these two feel about the rise of true crime as an entertainment industry... i want to hear their thoughts)

they are sleuthing together. mulder takes a knife and cuts right into the seat!!!! he says something is wrong…. and remembers the “mad hat” clue…. he thinks this means it’s in the camper shell??? i fail to see the connection but that is okay, it wasn't my dream

mulder’s acting like a madman, ripping into the fabric of the camper shell, where he finds a copy of alice in wonderland…. WITH A HEART IN IT.

they are leaned in together, counting the hearts, and it would be an incredibly touching moment if it weren’t in such a sad context.

they find 16 hearts :( and he sadly says that means he had two more victims they didn't know about :(

they’re going to go visit roche. or not? someone is playing basketball. 

OH. they’re letting this serial killer, who casually addresses him with a "hey mulder", play basketball?? by himself? that can’t even be fun…

they ask roche why he only claimed there were 13 victims. he said 13 sounded more magical. why is this dude at once so Normal seeming and viscerally scary?

oh… “i understand you take this very personally, mulder” oh no. oh no oh no oh no.

“sink one from there and i’ll tell you” (very high pressure basketball shot that mulder makes on the first try) well okay!!! an athlete!

roche says that if he brings the hearts back, he’ll tell him everything, which was not part of the deal. i am of the opinion that he should not get to see the hearts again, and that if he does, it will be very inappropriate.

oh my god. mulder’s at his desk with the hearts, all organized by name, falling asleep with his glasses on as he holds the last two. he can't even stay awake, he's working so hard to figure this out.

another red light moment!! it is guiding him places…. a dream??

NO!!! NO. it’s leading him to the news of watergate. oh no. i know where this is going.

he sees samantha, and he’s quoting what he said back then when The Incident went down, line for line, because he must have rewatched it a thousand times

we relive the scene, including the flashes of lights. he grabs the gun. this time, and opens the door…. and it’s… roche…?

(well, if it is really him behind the crime, how did he do the whole shaking everything and making stuff float bit? really makes you wonder. because i recall samantha's body floating horizontally for a bit)

but back to real world, where mulder wakes up screaming “samantha!” and again. i WILL cry. oh my god…. there’s a terrible realization in his face as he holds the hearts up.

no, no, no, stop making him suffer.

back to the prison. mulder is without scully this time, but with roche, who asks if he has the hearts. 

mulder is questioning him about the weird comments yesterday, the whole "it's personal to you thing", then jumps right into “where were you in 1973?” and holy FUCK it’s tense.

“what, the whole year?” “november. the 27th of november. do you know what i’m getting at?” oh my god….

roche claims to have sold a vacuum cleaner in martha’s vineyard to mr. mulder at that time…. 

he’s going on and on about his father choosing the vacuum. and mulder’s face is so steely. but when he asks “what do you know about my sister?”, his voice is wavering.

again, roche insists that he brings him the hearts before he learns anything. which causes mulder to punch the shit out of him.

when the guards come in and roche snitches on mulder for punching him, the guard is like “i didn’t see it” which is deserved. more than deserved, actually.

but scully saw it go down!!! i thought he went on his own… guess she was outside watching

she is trying to talk sense into him post-prisoner punching, which has happened a few times now and makes me worry about mulder's employability if anyone knew he had a tendency to get physical with these villains, but i digress.

scully is explaining that roche can use the computer to look up anything he likes and find out where mulder’s from (it’s true! be careful what you post, guys!) and she thinks that he is using emotional blackmail. she thinks roche saw mulder’s heart on his sleeve and took advantage of that.

it would make sense that if he knows that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, he would torture mulder for funsies...

“scully, do you believe that my sister samantha was abducted by aliens?” oh my god we’re going there. i never thought we would go there.

“have you ever believed that?” she doesn’t answer, but she hangs her head… because what do you even say to that?

“no. so what do you think happened to her?” 

he doesn’t know what he believes, but he has to find out… and that shot of scully’s face…… please kill me, it would be easier for all involved :(

in connecticut, mulder is at… his mom’s house? looking in the basement. did he just show up?

he apologizes twice for waking her up and asks how she is doing :( awww :( he was so worried :( oh this grown man… he is a baby to me….

so he pulls out the fabric hearts and asks if she recognizes them. and when she gets confused and tries to explain her memory isn’t as good after the stroke, he smiles, and hugs her, pats her back, says it’s alright.

OHHHHHH THE WAY HE HUGGED HER AND SMILED................. I WILL YELL. I AM YELLING NOW. AHHHH.

anyway. he falls back on a different line of thinking to try and get answers out of his mother: did dad ever buy you a vacuum cleaner? the answer: yes, he did, a long time ago, and it’s down here. he’s tearing through old decorations to find it, and it is the brand that roche claimed it was. he slams his fist down.

now hold on. i’m willing to bet he just named the most popular vacuum of the early 1970’s. because they’ve put too much work into this whole “samantha was taken by aliens or the government” storyline to debunk it entirely. what about her files in the west virginia archive? what about his father choosing which child he liked better? what about the whole “they took her as insurance so mr. mulder wouldn’t snitch on the cataloguing of humans and planning for alien colonization” thing? too much has been invested in this…. i think it can’t be true, but rather we’re exploring mulder’s emotional state with this sick and twisted excuse 

skinner has summoned mulder!!! he is no longer allowed to work on the roche case because he punched tf out of him!!! mulder turns to scully with suspicion and skinner clarifies that she wasn’t the one who reported it (although she should have) but rather the whole thing was videotaped!!!

if i've said it once i've said it a million times: she's real as hell

skinner says that he should have mulder’s ass in a sling (okay, elaborate on that), but he tries to explain that roche might have information on his sister. scully says that it looks possible- he spent most of 1973 in boston, took a trip to martha’s vineyard in october… and it’s adding up.

she loves to do her research. i know she was an academic weapon in college.

skinner says this is even MORE of a reason to get someone else on this case, but scully says that no one knows roche better than mulder, it’s still his case, and we have to find the victims!!!

(angry skinner voice) (forcefully pointed finger at groveling mulder) "you tread very lightly" (forcefully pointed finger at scully) "you see that he does"

he basically said “watch your man, scully, or ELSE”

back to roche. they present to him the hearts, and he has a sick smile. i do not like this

“name them” “well, i think you know one of them already” oh that is evil

(said with the most fury that has ever been concentrated into scully’s voice per word) “prove it” <- she is not gonna let him do this alone, nor will she let him be manipulated!!! she is the best friend out there!!

roche is smiling, talking about watergate, how mulder and his sister were playing a board game that night. he says he was watching from the window. why does he know all of this?

he has this weird fixation on playing games, and says to pick out a piece of fabric, and he’ll give the location of the body it came from. fifty-fifty chance it’s samantha, and either way he gets a victim’s location.

what is up with this dude? why is he so casual about all of this? he does seem so… normal, despite the things he is saying.

at the location roche gives them, they find the words “mad hatter” carved into the rock. uh oh. that is showing up again. he starts digging with his hands.

scully is trying to talk sense into him, saying they need to get an excavation team, but his voice is strained as he tells her to “just help me, scully”. so she joins in, and they find something. he looks like a wild animal.

in the autopsy room, he’s approaching the bones, taking a deep breath as he goes over the case information, trying to prepare himself to see his sister.

there are visible tears in his eyes as he runs his hands over the fabric, then announces (in form of a question) that “it’s not her, is it scully?” there is a sense of relief involved, but still, pain from lack of answers.

samantha broke her collarbone when she was 6 on a rope swing in their backyard, and as he realizes this little girl's collarbone is intact, he’s crying and he’s sighing with relief.

“it’s not her”, she says; “it’s somebody though” is his reply. ohhhh my god. ohhhhhh my god. oh my goooooooood. it's somebody's grief that they have carried with them for decades just as he has. it isn't that much of a relief to know it isn't her if someone else has felt like he has since the 70's.

back to roche. he gives the name of the girl who they did find, with incredible detail on where she lived. scully’s voice is forced as she asks what year this happened, and he’s going on and on about the vacuum he almost sold the victim’s mother.

so mulder presents roche with the last heart, saying that is belonged to his sister. he’s making a big game of this, saying “you need me to lead you through”, to bring him to the place where his sister is buried. to which i think, no tf you don't.

he said he can’t wait to see mulder’s face, and you can hear scully exhale and say “oh god”, and that is how you know things are going to go DOWN.

she says he will see the inside of his cell instead; “you’re going to rot there” (holds the door for mulder) (all things considered, she showed excellent restraint)

she looks incredibly furious at these shenanigans, but softens up to ask if mulder is okay. she says that if they give roche what he wants, he could string them along forever. and it makes sense. there has to be another way to figure out if he is telling the truth.

back at home on his couch, mulder is pondering. he has a few fish in his tank. you need a bigger tank, i think, but idk if people cared about that in the 90's.

NO! he picks up the phone and calls for A REMOVAL ORDER OF A FEDERAL PRISONER!!!!!!!!

he gets on the plane with a handcuffed roche.

what the fuck, i thought we were NOT going to go down this route? what is he thinking?

roche asks to use the bathroom on the plane, but instead starts talking to a little girl, and mulder has to get there NOW, but there’s a stewardess in the way. oh no, what has he done...

scully is forced to tell skinner that mulder did, in fact, let the serial killer out. OH!!! skinner says “you let me down” to her…… oh my god……. that really hurts

she says that she had left mulder to his own devices for one day to get some sleep… do we believe her? honestly, yeah i do. especially because of how furious she became when roche brought up the idea that he could be let out.

she’s trying to advocate for mulder in his absence, talking about the “uniqueness” of the situation with a level voice, and skinner says yeah i know, i said that this situation was really unique the last time we talked, now let’s go and clean up this mess.

oooo skinner is MAD and i don't really blame his anger at mulder, but it's rude af to blame scully for the things mulder did... skinner confirmed anti-feminist, blaming a woman for a man's actions

(i jest. mostly. skinner and i still have beef and we probably always will. every time i think we're past it, he does something else that pisses me off, so we are constantly on uncertain ground. which is very father coded, all things considered)

cut to mulder cam, who is bringing roche to his old house?? roche is unsettlingly tall. he says he sat on the couch when his dad bought the vacuum… and then walks through what he claims happened the night of the murder. mulder’s thoroughly quizzing him, and he’s answering them correctly, even where his parents went once they left. or is he guessing at it all??

he claims to have cut the power, that the door was unlocked, and he walked in…. 

and mulder tried to get the gun, but he claims he froze… 

OH! GAG!!!!!! MULDER BROUGHT HIM TO THE WRONG HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

he says his father bought this house AFTER the divorce… dude, how many properties did this guy own??????

but still. the point is made clear. roche is a fake.

so how did he know these things? perhaps, mulder proposes, that when he got into his head investigating the case, maybe that link goes both ways. that's a terrifying prospect

“and you’re in the wrong house, you stupid son of a bitch” <- this is a powerful line, but you can really hear the massachusetts come out when he says it. i think that’s really cool. i mean, is DD actually from there? i think he is, right? because he went to school with jfk jr. famous boston blood there.

if it’s not a purposeful detail or a inadvertent thing that slips into an actor’s performance when a scene is Emotional, then maybe i need verification: did y’all hear the massachusetts when he said that, too….

roche is scrambling to cover his tracks, saying it was just geography that he messed up, not the actual details, but he has now been exposed as a FAKE and a FRAUD

mulder doesn’t buy it, despite his claims he’s telling the god’s honest truth. hmm. perhaps leave the lord out of this.

then he’s sitting and holding that cloth heart. we hear his sister’s voice in the car, which is pulling away. and he grabs her, holds her close. 

BUT HE WAKES UP AND ROCHE IS GONE AND HE IS HANDCUFFED!!! scully and skinner are at the door!!! roche must have manipulated him in his sleep?

omg…….. 

skinner is letting him have it, saying there’s a predator loose because of him, and how can he explain himself, and. while i agree. if i were in his shoes and there were any chance of getting an answer to the one question that has kept me up at night almost my whole life, i’m not sure if i wouldn't have fallen for roche’s lies as well. it is hard to imagine. i'd like to think i wouldn't, but how can you ever know?

it is a dark and ugly thing that mulder did, letting him out.

but we at least seem to get confirmation that the dream connection theory is accurate?

he asks for skinner’s phone, saying there was a child on the plane, and roche is probably going after her

NO! someone called ten minutes ago with the same name requesting the same information from the airline!!!! 

it seems that the girl’s babysitter believed roche’s lies that her mother was in an accident and he needed to pick her up, and she blames herself for letting her go with roche. but mulder says it isn’t her fault, and it’s his fault instead. 

oh my god…. he tells scully she was right, and when she asks if he no longer thinks roche took samantha, he says it doesn’t matter anymore………. because that grief that has ruled him forever has now been put onto someone else............. how terrible he must feel...

he thinks that roche will be somewhere nearby, and scully is pulling up his old address. he lived on alice road, and mulder says that has to be it, because he got the idea from alice in wonderland!

(i have never read the actual alice in wonderland book. did the mad hatter kill people and take hearts from their clothing? i thought he just. made tea and said weird stuff???)

skinner is in disbelief, but acquiesces to mulder’s knowledge, rounding up his men.

at the apartment, they can’t find anything. mulder is running in a field, climbing into a huge lot of busses??? old run down busses??? i'm confused at why this exists, but following along in terms of plot

he pulls out a tiny gun hidden in his sock (slay) and sprints towards the sound of a girl screaming, but with so many identical busses, where is she???

he hears some movement in one of them…. and finds roche and her in there together. 

and roche is saying that he does think they share that nexus like he claimed. everything is very very tense. 

mulder announces that he is going to take this girl home, and when roche points out that he has a gun, he asks the child to do a favor: count to twenty out loud, quietly and slowly. he has a way of talking to kids like they’re equals and i’ve always found it endearing, but now i’m wondering where tf he is going with this.

roche has the gun pointed at the girl… and we know he is capable of pulling it

roche is trying to say anything he can to get mulder to not kill him, asking how sure he is it isn’t samantha who was the last victim. but i don't think that is gonna work anymore.

and when the kid hits twenty, mulder pulls the trigger

JEEZ, we really saw some blood action go on there!

so the poor girl runs away screaming to scully, who is saying that it is okay, and that she has her (and i am emotional when ever they work with kids okay? especially after that convo in home where they talk about wanting families. whatever.)

and i’m left paused at roche’s dead head, which i feel in real life would have a lot more blood and gore, but for the sake of this being TV, it still is kinda shocking!

mulder’s holding the gun out, staring at roche’s body.

wait. we’re back at his office now. i am going to use this time to analyze the articles on his wall.

“strange activity down under” “are UFOs flying in colorado?” “ranchers shaking their heads over mysterious cow deaths” “US reports visits of UFOs to bases” (picture of crop circles, creepy creatures, a list of planets i think? and the famous poster)

pan to a very very sad mulder. scully knocks and comes in. she is staring at him. they are not saying anything for a few seconds that feel very very long.

oh my god. she comes in with the fabric analysis of the heart. all they can say is that it was made between 1969 and 1974.

she assures him it’s not samantha, and that they’ll find who the little girl really is. 

“how?” “i don’t know. but i do know you.” (he looks up at her while fighting back tears) <- i am going to bite something. her unwavering belief in him will be the death of me.

“why don’t you go on home and get some sleep?” she asks, so gently (at this, he breaks into laughter, which gets a smile out of her)

and he wraps his hand around her waist, leaning his head into her, while she strokes his hair

then he puts the last heart in his desk drawer.

oh my gosh………

where to even begin....?

first thought: he must be laughing at her saying that because she knows damn well that he will not be able to rest, but also because it is comforting to hear how she believes in him. that, or “go on home and get some rest” is their code for “i’m letting you do what you want and not asking questions”, but i doubt that, because she claims to have said that to him earlier, and i feel scully would never EVER have let him release roche if she had known he was even sort of thinking about it.

second: yowch. this one hurted!

it took me an hour and 51 minutes to get through the 45-ish minute episode because i was SO glued to noting every moment. 

i tend to prefer the episodes that are more lighthearted, so i did feel that absence here. that being said, i don’t think it would be possible to explore this side of mulder with there being humor in the plot or script, especially after we have seen how he uses it as a defense mechanism. when he can’t joke about something is when you know he’s hurting terribly. 

it was dark. very dark. but i still enjoyed it for the character analysis. i love a character analysis episode, i love diving into what makes someone who they are. there was this sick relationship between roche and mulder where you knew he was going to do anything to get the answers, no matter what the risks were or who was placed in danger. and i think that shows the scary and dark side of mulder that can get overlooked; how his bloodhound-like need to sniff out an answer can and will endanger himself and others. but he is aware of this fact, and seems regretful, especially when he says it doesn’t matter anymore if he finds samantha, because he inadvertently put another child in danger to do so. and he is aware that the suffering he has felt is now going to be passed onto someone else if he does not fix it Right Away. which he does.

getting to see the good parts of a character driven to such an extreme where they become terrible traits is a rare treat. still, it can be hard to see your blorbo do bad things.

i do often wonder about his slapping of criminals and why he hasn’t gotten fired for some of these many rule-breaking sessions, but. shrugs. it’s not real, so we can’t entirely place real world logic on this stuff, i guess.

honestly, we also saw a lot of scully and learned about her character here, too. how she tries to draw the line between her own beliefs and the very real pain that mulder is suffering, and how his pain breaks her heart; how defensive she is of him, in front of roche and skinner or even the whole world, i’d imagine. her courage to look her boss in the eye and ask for mercy on his behalf as he goes out and breaks every rule known to mankind because he wants to bend the earth to his will. that bone-deep righteous conviction she carries with her that i love so much.

and more on how she’s always touching him- they skirt around the emotional issues at hand, asking if he’s okay to make an ID or to see the autopsy and not really touching the sore spot with words unless they absolutely have to. but while they only brush it verbally, she is physically reaching out to him, leaning in, stroking his head, touching his arm… god, the way they communicate kills me. it's like they find it far easier to let their bodies express emotion, which probably comes from the constant need to Be Strong both of them feel in their line of work, but it is really compelling. it's fascinating. as someone who is always going to tell you how i feel at all times, i find it very intriguing. are they afraid to say what they mean? or do they have this connection that words aren't needed for? please let me know what you think. am i alone in this? do you think they are good at talking about their feelings? or am i voicing a popular sentiment that they are mostly pretty Bad at it. because i'm thinking of other times where they are Honest and Truthful, and they tend to keep it very succinct. maybe that's what makes it more impactful.

how he laughed at her after she said she believed in him, and how she smiled back, how he leaned into her????? can i bottle that and drink it when i feel like suffering?

god, i’ve felt that when i read dialogue prompts, they don’t seem to work for writing msr as easily as you would think, because so much of what they say isn’t even said. it’s in glances and touches and leans, and the words tend to be sparse but truthful when they matter and witty and prolonged when it’s nothing of importance. what a strange balance they have. shoutout to people who write msr, because it seems very hard to do when you want to write a genuine tale of them getting up to emotional activities.

overall, i liked this episode, but it was still a bummer. s4 is full of bummers, so far. i have not giggled in a while. i would like to giggle at some point in the future. perhaps that is something we can work toward. i once again request a fic where they go to an apple orchard. perhaps i shall end all of my posts with that, at least until we get some levity back to the game. that being SAID, it was still excellent.

let me know what you think- does everyone agree that this is a good episode? did you feel sad? did you think it was Too Dark? any criticism? any high praise? and the big one that is nagging at me now: how tf do you understand the way they communicate? can it be conceptualized?? please share with me all of your thoughts in as much detail as you can spare.

[porcupine-girl]

Please watch Super Star Academy.

I'm going through my Twitter and saving threadfics and individual tweets I don't want to lose before I delete it all, and I discovered a thread I did when my sister and I were about 1/3 of the way through our watch of Super Star Academy - which is, unironically, my favorite show ever.

So I am reposting this thread here for posterity, and in the hopes that maybe it will get one or two more people to watch this magical, incredible show:

----------

My sister @ bitter_tea and I are watching Super Star Academy, a 2016 vehicle for the guys in X-NINE, Xiao Zhan’s boy band. This will be a thread of why you should drop everything and watch this show, which is on YouTube.

First, the basics: SSA is a… College? But could be high school? For teens with superpowers. The superpowers are determined by your zodiac sign (Virgo Leo etc, not Chinese zodiac). Our protagonist is a girl who’s a Virgo but doesn’t think she has powers.

Ok first off, in the second episode we suddenly leave the school and go into some telenovela shit where some guy is dying and his son has to be born a Leo to take over the company. Rumor is the kid was stillborn two months early.

Then his wife goes and… causes a car accident that doesn’t kill some other super baby and somehow she steals a baby but we’re not sure where she got the stolen baby? But it’s not the car accident baby bc we saw that one saved by its dad???

Then her dying husband names the stolen baby and THAT is the point where you realize this whole thing has been a flashback bc he gives the stolen baby XZ’s character’s name so he is Stolen Baby but somehow his mom was using an iPad back in like 1996.

So XZ is Stolen Baby and the leader of one of two rival gangs in the school. They are both gangs of rich kids, but his gang is the preps and the other one is the punks, which you can tell bc a) they have a rock band and play at the extracurriculars fair

b) The leader has blue hair and c) they go around proclaiming themselves to be punks

At one point the two gangs go head-to-head in a croquet match. Which is… the school’s main sport? Now we’re getting into what kind of show you’re actually watching here.

Also the croquet trophy is MADE OF CHOCOLATE and Protagonist Girl accidentally eats it during the match. No one notices of course, even though she’s sitting there in front of the entire full bleachers.

So Protag Girl doesn’t think she has powers, right? But the school principal happens to eat at the noodle shop she & her uncle run & the noodles she serves him move in funny shapes so he decides she does have powers and gives her an admission letter.

Which he sets right down on a lit stove.

When she points out that it’s burning, he whips another admission letter out of his jacket because he goes everywhere prepared to admit ten new students to his school.

Speaking of her uncle, at one point he’s like “remember what I told you happened to your parents?” And she recounts a story about them meeting on a boat and then her father dying when it sank and he’s like “yeah I lied that’s the plot of Titanic.”

When Protag Girl gets to the school, she’s taken to the Clothing Department, an upscale clothing store where all the students can pick out five outfits and two dresses. Ah, don’t we all remember our first trip to the college clothing department.

Then you never see anyone wear anything but the school uniform or a croquet uniform ever again. No idea where the evening gowns on display at the clothing department went.

But you see, it was a vital scene because this is where PG meets XZ! Because she accidentally goes into his personal dressing room and of course neither of them notices they’re right next to each other separated by only a thin screen until they put on each other’s pants.

So from then on she yells about him being a pervert every time she sees him but he’s the rich popular croquet gang leader so no one believes her, which is fair because she’s wrong.

Side note: I just realized that calling Protagonist Girl PG has the potential to be confusing because that is, in fact, my name. That’s ok, though, because I think it will just make this thread feel more authentic to the incomprehensibility of the show.

PG, you eventually learn, was saved by a little boy her age when she was about 10. She was hanging from a cliff for Reasons and he moved a big rock and pulled her up. He gave her his school badge (of the SSA elementary school) and she gave him her embroidered hankie.

At one point she becomes convinced that it was Blue-Haired Punk. He makes it very clear that it wasn’t him because He Is Punk and Punks Don’t Save People Apparently. But she continues to accost him several more times as if she thinks he’s just forgotten.

Each time she confronts him makes less sense than the last, which is great.

At one point she is walking home in the rain and some Asshole In A Sports Car splashes her with water. Then backs up and does it again. Then is revealed to be XZ and (in all apparent sincerity) is like “oh sorry I didn’t see you” even though he backed up to splash her again.

This matters bc he loans her some clothes. Later, she tries to return them and he’s like “ew no now that someone else touched them I don’t want them.” So she pokes him in the shoulder to make him take off his current shirt. Whatever you think he’s wearing under it you’re wrong.

(Unless you’ve seen this scene)

He is revealed to be wearing a Powerpuff Girls t-shirt. So she pokes that and he has to take THAT off. Luckily though this show is family-friendly so instead of XZ’s chest this reveals…

Another Powerpuff Girls t-shirt!

He and the principal were in the same Boy Scout troop and are prepared for all eventualities.

Meanwhile PG is making friends with a nice boy who is from her same poor neighborhood.We’ll call him Boy Next Door. I worry about BND because clearly she’s gonna end up with XZ but they’re leaning on PG/BND pretty hard so either he’s gonna get his ❤️ broken or he’s secretly evil.

He is in Regular classes instead of Elite classes and I have no idea what that means because I don’t think it ever actually tells us. He has super powers though? And I think PG is in Elite even though her powers still haven’t manifested?? And she’s not richer than him either.

So he’s not in class with her so she has to sit between her only two other friends, who are bf/gf and spend all class literally making kissy faces at each other. They literally say something like “oh yeah we do nothing but this deal with it.”

There a Big Competition coming up! PG has no idea what really is so neither do we. But one of the Mean Girls (who I haven’t even talked about) tricks her into signing up.

Which is terrible! Because once you’re signed up you CANNOT UN-SIGN-UP!! It’s not clear what the consequences are if you drop out, you just can’t.

At this point my husband said something like “oh, it’s the Triwizard Tournament” and we were like oh yeah haha but THEN the principal goes to announce who will actually be competing…

And this is determined by a glowing orb that spits out the names of some of the people who signed up. She is not chosen… but THEN… after it has spit out the number of people it’s supposed to spit out… it spits out another one! And it’s PG!!!!! Dun dun DUNNNNNNN

So now we’re sitting there yelling at the TV “Cheng Zhi’er didja putya name intha goblet o’fiyah!!!”

(That is her actual name, not Protagonist Girl.)

Side note about those Mean Girls: One of them believes herself to be XZ’s girlfriend but as time goes on it is looking increasingly unlikely that he is aware of this.

Also the product placement puts Wolong Nuts to shame. Everyone drinks these blue and pink drinks and at one point the Punk Gang is drinking them and Blue Hair is like “let’s pretend we’re doing an ad” or something &they all start smiling at the camera & extolling its virtues.

Then later there’s a whole comedy of errors I won’t get into with a pizza but the end result is that BND winds up sitting in PG’s noodle shop with some middle-aged lady he doesn’t know. They start talking about how awkward it is and then suddenly she’s like

“Well if it’s going to be awkward, let’s sell these backpacks instead” and turns to the camera to sell us whatever brand of backpack he’s wearing.

One night she goes into this room with a sign on it that clearly says it’s like a study lounge or something that belongs to XZ’s gang. Who have their own study lounge I guess. There are chess boards all over the place?

He comes in and she’s like “what are you doing here?” and I said to the tv “well it does belong to his gang” and he’s like “uh it belongs to my gang.” Through some contrived contrivances they wind up leaning over a desk almost-kissing.

Then somehow (this might not happen til they leave the lounge? I forget) she realizes he has her old handkerchief so HE was the kid who saved her. But she doesn’t like him now so she demands he give it back and then she chases him like… all night long or something

Like she’s still chasing him when it’s light out AND he’s changed clothes.

Then somehow she gets the handkerchief but somehow he’s replaced it with a FAKE HANDKERCHIEF that has some other phrase on it. Kids these days and their handkerchiefs!

In an earlier scene, her uncle is shown knitting in the noodle shop and the pattern in his knitting changes from ? to !! so we’re theorizing that XZ has the same needlecraft-changing superpower as her uncle.

Anyhow we’ve only watched like 8 episodes out of I think 30 (they’re very short though) and I’ve only covered like half the completely unhinged things that have happened so far. Much of what I haven’t explained is because I don’t actually understand wtf is happening.

It’s basically the best show ever produced, you should all watch it.

Now PG’s uncle is drunk-knitting over his shoulder

Also at one point in the middle of an episode, when we haven’t seen the uncle in several episodes, it randomly cuts to him knocking his glass of orange juice down and yelling “oh! My orange juice!” with absolutely no context or explanation and then they never speak of it again.

Also-also the bad guys put PG in a burlap sack, then XZ saves her and proceeds to use her (in the burlap sack) to hit the bad guys.

Basically this show just keeps getting better.

Oh! I forgot! The bad guys attacked XZ with Sissy Boxing and gave him orchid fingers! Don’t ask me to explain, you now know as much as I do.