#what even was the last sexy or sexy/funny thing i drew...... its just been family sitcoms in my brain for months now....

[todayisafridaynight]

Snap you are the king of sexy funny back when you did Yamtien just goes to show you have a talent for humor and cheesecake.

there's something about the title 'king of sexy funny' that's really tickling me thank you so much anon ill take that crown with honor

[impala-dreamer]

Two Weeks Notice - Day Three

~With the world practicing self-isolation, Y/N and Dean break all the rules of social distancing and common decency as they explore an empty bunker and use the time alone to their playful advantage...~

Dean x Reader

1,645 Words

Warnings: NSFW! Role Play. Bondage. Rough. "Monster Fucking". Slight Pregnancy!Kink, Consensual Non-Con. It's all fantasy! Fluff

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Dean woke with a start. He felt cold, like a spirit had moved through his body, but that was impossible- wasn’t it? He blinked, clearing the dizziness from his mind and looked around the dark room.

It was hard to see anything much, the table below him giving off such a glow that it nearly burned his eyes. The table.

He was laying flat atop the War Room table, arms and legs spread out as far as the edges of the table would allow. In a moment of panic, he tried to move, twisting his arms, then his legs, but he was strapped down, solidly locked with fabric cuffs laiden with velcro on all sides.

He swallowed hard and took a deep breath to calm himself, trying in vain to remember the last thing that had happened to him.

He’d been coming home with some groceries- ice cream and chips for Y/N, when suddenly…

Nothing. It all went black after that.

He looked down and realized the cold was not a ghost, but a lack of clothing. He was fully naked and on display for anyone to see and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt embarrassed at first, but then a twitch of excitement flooded his system; he knew it was wrong, knew he was in some sort of danger, but he couldn’t help the heat that rushed down to his cock.

A clink of metal from above drew his eyes to the iron balcony.

“Mr. Winchester, good morning.”

His eyes rose to a shadowed figure looking down upon him. Light from the table washed upwards, highlighting a beautiful face with dark lashes and deep red lips.

He sneered, tugging at his cuffs once more for good measure. “You.”

She smiled like a wolf. “Me. Nice to see that I am remembered. A hero such as yourself has too many things on his mind to be remembering lowly creatures; even ones that he tortured.”

Realizing that he had no way to defend himself other than his mouth, Dean smirked and licked his lips smugly. “Lady, I can’t remember every two-bit witch or flea-ridden wolf or whatever the hell you are that I’ve taken down. I just remember a pretty face when I see one.”

A scowl turned her lips downwards and she turned, high heeled leather boots clicking loudly on the metal as she slowly descended the stairs. She wrapped a hand around the banister and Dean’s eyes were glued to the dark red painted claws afixed to her fingertips.

“Baltimore...2003,” she told him plainly, every word corresponding with a step down, a clank of metal. “You murdered my family one night...took their heads clean off.”

Dean kept his cocky attitude and shrugged. “It happens.”

“Does it?” She rounded the bottom of the staircase and turned to him.

“Sometimes.” He sucked in a heavy breath as she came at him, a vision in a tight, shining leather dress. Her tits were pushed high and bubbling over the deep neckline, her waist cinched painfully into the perfect hourglass shape. She was stunning. She was sexy. She was…

“Wait…” Dean narrowed his eyes as her face came into full view. “Y/N.”

Emerald went dark with realization as she bared her vampiric fangs and dove down, wrapping her claws around his face to hold him still. He gasped as she bit into his throat, his pulse racing to flood her mouth with precious blood.

His eyes rolled as she kissed the spot and stood back up, her nails tracing the defined lines of his collarbone and left shoulder.

“So you do remember me.” She grinned and collected a drop of blood from the corner of her lips with her middle finger. She stared at it for a moment, letting it sparkle in the light before sucking the blood and digit into her mouth.

Panting and dizzy, Dean watched her carefully, calculating his next move. “Yeah, I remember you now. You got away, ran out the back door like a coward while I decimated your entire nest.”

Y/N sneered, baring her fangs as her hand rose to grip his throat, squeezing hard. “My family,” she corrected. “You murdered them. I barely escaped.”

“Thin line between escape and fleeing,” he choked.

Seething, Y/N bent down again and tore at his neck, tongue flickering at his pulse as she pulled on his essence.

Dean’s world began to spin and he tugged at his restraints, hopefully when he heard a bit of velcro give. “Vampires are all cowards,” he went on, using her rage to buy himself some time. “I’ve killed thousands. All the same.”

The more he mocked, the harder she sucked, moving around his throat with her deadly kisses. Her hand left his throat as his breathing quickened, fingers sliding down the deep cuts and curves of his firm torso, lower and lower until Dean hissed in protest.

“What do you want from me?”

Y/N lifted her lips from his throat and smiled down into his beautiful eyes. She wrapped a soft hand around his cock and slowly began to stroke him to life.

“I want what you took from me,” she said simply. “I want a new family.”

Dean scoffed but inside he cringed, fearful to become that thing again. He flashed back to years ago when he’d received the magical blood. He could feel it flowing through him again; the power, the connection, the lust of it all. “No.” He tried his best to push it from his mind, but her hand kept his attention elsewhere.

“Tell me, Mr. Winchester, are you familiar with the idea of a True Pure Blood?” Her fingers pulsed around his cock, thumb gently stroking the swollen head.

His head rolled along with his eyes, unable to focus on an escape any longer. “What? No.”

Y/N set her tongue against the sharpest of her fangs and smiled. “It’s the theory that two virial vampires can produce an offspring of immeasurable power, creating a new, True Pure Blood child that cannot be killed.”

“Anything...can be killed.” Dean’s voice caught in his throat as Y/N massaged his balls. “If you take its head off…”

“But what if it were true? What if it could be done?”

“It can’t.” He was panting, stomach muscles tightening, arms straining. “You can’t. It’s a myth. Just lore.”

“Funny,” she teased, lifting her tight skirt and climbing up onto the table beside him. “I thought your brother was the one with the library in his head.”

“I know stuff,” he spat, turning his face from her kiss as she leaned close.

“I bet you do.” It was sweet, almost romantic, the way her lips grazed his ear. Her breath was hot and shiver-inducing as it blew across his flesh. “You’re smart Dean,” she told him in a sultry whisper as she tossed one leg over his thick waist. He closed his eyes, lost to the feeling. “Handsome, clever…” Her pussy was hot and wet as she rubbed herself against his pelvic bone. “Brave, funny…” His cock twitched against her ass, warm and throbbing. “That’s why I chose you.”

His heart nearly stopped as he realized his error. When he looked up, she was barely an inch away, her lips puckered, her eyes hungry.

He shook his head defiantly. “No.”

Y/N smiled kindly. “You have no choice, Dean. It’s already begun.”

Before he could turn his face, Y/N stuck her tongue against her canine and bit down, drawing a river of fresh vampiric blood into her mouth. She kissed him hard, forcing his lips to part with her tongue and pushing the blood into him. He swallowed without a thought and felt the surge of power overtake him.

As they kissed, exchanging the Blood, Y/N scooted back and sank down onto his cock, filling her pussy as she filled his mouth. Her nails dug into his pecs when she pulled back, sitting up to ride him fast and hard.

Dean gasped, shaking against the hard, glowing table as the Blood worked on his system. Y/N kept him distracted while fangs ripped through his gums, his eyes changing, filling with the power. He writhed below her, limbs tensing, pulling at the straps, his chest heaving as he neared the end.

“Hush now,” she soothed, running a cold hand down his sweaty cheek. “You’re gonna be a great dad.”

He roared as he came, pain and pleasure mixing into one giant explosion that nearly knocked him out.

Y/N rode on, letting go of him for her own pleasure as she felt him spill into her throbbing cunt. She came soon after, using him like a toy, cackling into the empty War Room as she shuddered with pleasure.

“Rest now,” she said, climbing off of him and adjusting her dress. “You’ll need your strength to go again in a bit.”

Dean reeled. “Again? I…”

“Oh, you will,” she assured him, planting a sweet kiss on his forehead. “We’re gonna keep going until you’ve knocked me up for sure. The True Pure Blood must be born.”

Dean lifted his head as she backed away, face contorting with sudden worry. “Uh… ok, but you’re still on the pill though, right?”

Y/N laughed, nearly doubling over as the facade was broken. “Of course! What the fuck, dude!”

He sighed gratefully and lay back down, laughing at himself. “OK, good. I’m not- that’s not- I mean… yeah… no.”

“Agreed.”

He twisted at the cuffs again and turned back to find her walking from the room. “Hey! You gonna let me go?”

Y/N shrugged and eyed him over her shoulder. “Eh… maybe later. You look sexy like that.”

He watched in arousing horror as she actually walked away, heels clicking down the hallway into the shadows.

“Ah, nuts.”

2020 Forever Tags:

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TWN: 

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[aggresivelyfriendly]

Tis the Damn Season

Chapter Five- Santa Baby

Hello, I took a couple weeks, because life can be busy, and mine is changing, but here is a little 🎁!

Thanks to @dirtystyles, she’s the real gift!

"What are you wearing?"

"I'm sorry, but what?"

 It was all she could think to say. Emma hadn't heard from Harry in months. In August he had sent her a random picture of him in a collar with long hair. She knew he had chopped his hair months ago, it had caused an internet flurry and was one of the few times he'd emerged from hibernation. She might be miffed that his year-off apparently didn't include visiting her. Not that she had asked him to.

She'd never ask.

Emma might also be incredibly miffed that he had cut off his glorious hair. She'd rocked herself to sleep many a night thinking of the way it felt trailing ver her chest, then stomach, in the crevice of her thigh. The crunch and silk of it between her fingers when she got it between her fingers at the end of that path or when he was rocking her to sleep.

Thinking about his hair usually made her hot for him, and thinking of it gone made her nostalgic, and a little mad. And that was when the memory was fresh and jot months old.

In any case, she wasn't feeling very soft for him, and that was a sexy question. She definitely wasn't feeling wet for him.

She had just walked out of class on a freezing cold day before she was ready for it to be this chilly, and she had to ride her bike. Her class was on individual contribution to global crises. Emma was the first to point out that individuals were not the true climate change culprits, but every bit helped. She just wished she'd ridden one of the clean energy buses today. Today sucked.

"Your teeth are chattering Emma, you outside?" she made an affirmative sound and he wisely knew better than to wait for an answer after that. He'd set up this mood, after all. "Sorry, came out wrong, it was meant to be funny." Harry had an apology in his voice. It was like the first knead of a dough, but he had a long way to go. "Anyway, what I meant is, I'm Christmas shopping, and I was thinking about what you might like, was gonna get you a jumper, and I think I have an idea of your style, but wanted a little guidance, I'd hate to buy you something and have you hate it—"

"Harry, take a breath!" She could feel that smile he had a way of bringing to her lips, despite herself. She really wanted to be upset with him, but seemed he'd proved himself, or distracted her at least.

Emma can't quite get a full grasp on why she's irritated with the phone call with him.  She's not sure what she expected. They never had a conversation about it, about how they are just a little holiday fling. She's never even had a summer fling, so she doesn't know the rules but she assumes that they are not supposed to repeat year on year. Least not without some progress or a defining conversation where they decided on not a relationship. He was confusing. He'd been so happy to have a bit of extra time with her, she'd thought he might be in touch more, with his seemingly abundant free time. She's wanted him to be in touch more. But he hadn't.

She'd heard from him less than ever.

And now he was buying her gifts and making her smile. Damn him.

"I'm breathing, promise." He sighed. "I just could tell I'd pissed you off, and I don't want to. I've been thinking about Christmas, and well, I'm excited."

"I'm excited too. Holidays are exciting." Emma is not going to read into that. He's excited to be with his family. He's Christmas shopping for everyone. This is not about her, them.

There is no them.

There is no them, except between Christmas Eve and New Years. And that is purely physical.

These are the things she repeated to herself when she was sad, waiting for him to call or text. Sad from how he dragged himself from their pub bed saying he'd miss her and be in touch and then wasn't. His sweet nothings were like when people signed your yearbook K.I.T. She knew you weren't supposed to take those yearbook signings seriously, but he'd said it, not written it below some picture of him. That counted more, right? Than a picture? Those were cheap, especially of him; there were pictures of him everywhere, Emma was also upset that none of them looked like the real life him. Just a shade of his actual beauty.

She wanted to see him now. She missed him though she shouldn't.

Just over a month now until Christmas. And a busy one at that. She had so much data to sift through from the summer and a presentation she was basing on it was her culminating project. It would also make an early start on her field work come summer. Those things, academic, important things were her focused her life's work. Not delicious Harry Styles and his sweet holiday nothings.

"Yes, especially when I get my favorite for Christmas." Harry said bringing her back to the call they were on.

The meaning behind those words were a bit harder to ignore. All she could get out was "Oh?" Then she rolled her eyes at herself and cleared her throat and said, "Your mum's Christmas cake?"

He chuckled. "I am fond of that cake, I think I put on two stone last year from how much I ate. And she sent me home with one!"

Emma almost called bullshit on that. He'd expended all those calories, she'd been the apparatus.

She took a breath to speak, and he cut her off. "I don't mean the cake, anyway, I mean you: you're my favorite thing to have at Christmas. The best gift."

What was she supposed to say to that? Another eloquent oh? Instead she said, "Your favorite thing?" Playful offense on the word thing.

"Oh hush." He laughed. "You're my favorite, Emma. In case you want to be obtuse and miss my point. I'm very excited to see you."

She breathed in. All she could manage to reply with was "Me too."

She meant it, but as they got off the phone after setting up their usual tryst and a special meeting before the party to exchange gifts, she couldn't help but wonder if he did. If what he said was true, why the radio silence?

The gift on her lap on the train was large and ostentatious. She didn't have a ton of money for the it, student life, but her recipient was a millionaire, so she'd gone all out on the wrapping paper.

It was a frog in a Christmas hat, the motif on the paper. Emma remembered when she and Gemma had called Harry "frog boy" and he'd been mortified. But it had also found its way into their private rooms. Not when he was inside her, that would be weird, but when he looked up at her and grinned, all dimples and no teeth from where he likes to make her stomach a pillow.

How "Froggy" had become a term of endearment, she didn't know. The moment she'd seen the cute froggy in his holiday rig on the overpriced paper, she had stopped what she was doing, parked her bike with no lock, and popped in the shop.

She then had to find something to put in the paper. He'd been shopping for her this year, in October, and he'd said he was at the shop and she'd seen pictures of him hauling bags out of Gucci. That was not intimidating at all.

They had exchanged small things in years past. Harry had started it, he'd given a cookbook a friend recommended the year she went vegan. Then the next year he'd donated in her name to a clean air initiative. She'd just picked up odds and ends she thought he'd like, like a 100% recycled journal one year and a glass bottle set for his gym runs the next.

This year, she'd racked her brain, but she'd eventually found the perfect gift to fill her frog paper. She was getting better at this. He was entirely too good at it, and he was a quick learner. She'd been underwhelmed with the flowers he sent the first year and had explained that cut flowers made her sad. It seemed a waste to kill something for its fleeting beauty. Harry had nodded thoughtfully.

The next flower he sent was a gorgeous orchid, it arrived once she was back in Amsterdam and came with instructions. That first orchid had started a trend and between his gifts and her own new interest, her flat was looking very jungle esque.

Emma was always very excited to see him, but this year, after his call, there was more anticipation and preparation. If he was going to be ready for her, she would be ready for him.

She got a fresh haircut and trimmed her bush. The thrift store was kind to her, and her new Christmas jumper was perhaps less ugly than flattering, but that was ok with her. She particularly liked the way it lay over the skirt she'd planned to wear to the Twist's annual todo.

Her flights had been uneventful and her mother was elated and doting. Emma found it much more tolerable this year. Maybe she was just in the spirit, or maybe she'd been away from the village and her family long enough to actually miss them.

She definitely missed Harry.

He, predictably, had texted that his flight was delayed and he was trying to make arrangements, but he might not even make it in time for the party.

"I'm doing everything in my power to get there tonight. If I can't make my mother's party, but arrive tonight, can we meet? I'll call the inn."

"Yes." Was all she texted back. She found she was mourning their kiss beneath the mistletoe, and that he might miss her outfit. But Harry's power was considerable, and she had no doubt he would be at the Boar's Head in time to see what she planned to wear under the sweater.

Those pieces, she felt a twinge guilty about. They were pricey and definitely not second hand. Used pants were where she drew the line.

People, not Emma, bemoaned Harry's absence when those who still lived local or were able to travel home gathered for toast. Emma knew she wasn't the only one who came home partially to see Harry. It was why she was able to fly under Gem's radar, hopefully.

Gemma's only comment was, "He'll be here when he can." When Eloise asked where Harry was. She asked every year, it annoyed Gem, and took some of the heat off Emma. Eloise was so obvious, Gemma could direct some of her protective big sister vibes that way.

The night was winding down and Emma's third glass of champagne could use topping up. She'd just sidled into the kitchen to pop another bottle when a pair of arms came around her from behind.

She'd have dropped the bottle too if Harry had not pulled the most uncharacteristicly smooth and agile catch he'd ever made, whilst dipping her for a swoon worthy kiss.

"Harry!" Emma gasped, "What are you doing?" Her Hand went to find his hair, and she was sad to find it until she found his sharp, bare jaw instead. It cut through her nostalgia and she was able to appreciate his face on a new way. His lips.

"Getting my midnight kiss!"

"It's not New Year's." It was better, like new year's and her birthday combined, that kiss.

"Not yet!" He righted her but stayed wrapped around her while she popped the bottle. She poured him a glass too and had to refrain from holding his hand when she pulled him into the living room after they toasted.

He stole a kiss before they went to join the others.

It looked like his arrival was going to renew the party spirit, but he begged off as tired, and disappeared to his room by 1:30.

Emma wasn't sure what to do, or where to go, so she just slipped out the back at 2:00 when a car nearly gave her heart palpitations by pulling up right in front of her. The door popped open and Harry stuck his head out. "Cmon, it's our getaway car!"

She couldn't help but shake her head. "You disappeared and I didn't know what you wanted to do."

"Well, you obviously!" He giggled, high off the champagne and his conniving. "C'mon! We don't have that long. I wanna do Christmas morning with you!"

"It's still nighttime." Emma pointed out.

"Don't worry, we'll find something to do until the sun comes up." He looked up at her through his lashes and she couldn't help but bite her lips.

"What's the rush, Styles?" Emma asked as she climbed into the car. The driver seemed unconcerned and headed down the familiar lanes of a familiar place.

"No rush, I'm just excited and have to be back so I can sneak in for Christmas brunch."

"Oh." She knew that, it wasn't the first time.

"Not 'oh,' I want to give you your gifts on actual Christmas."

"Are you Santa Claus?" She teased as he pulled her into his chest.

"If that's what you're into? I'll be whoever you want me to be."

"Then just be you." She said with painful earnestness before she could stop herself.

Harry looked down at her in the cradle of his armpit and put his forehead to hers and gave her an Eskimo kiss. "As long as you're you."

Emma melted and if she hadn't been so tired and a little too drunk on bubbly she wouldn't have fallen asleep on the way to the Boar's Head.

"Baby," Harry whispered into her hair. "Wake up, we're here."

"I can't believe I fell asleep that fast."

"It's my voice, I've been told it has a sedative power."

"Sleepy is not usually how your voice makes me feel." What truth serum had she taken tonight?

"Well, I'll have to talk a lot to keep you up then. Hope you're refreshed after your little nap."

She was, and he kept her up but by 5:00, even his deep voice and other powers of persuasion couldn't keep her leaden lids open.

"Baby! Emma." Harry was kissing her awake and holding out a shirt for her slip on while slipping socks up her calves. "Present time."

"Ok, Santa baby." She yawned and let him drag her into the room where she had completely missed the tiny Charlie Brown tree in the corner. "Oh! You went all out." She looked at him in awe when she noticed the multicolored packages under the tree. "I only got you one thing," she was rubbing sleep out of her eyes and too tired to bullshit. "I'm feeling inadequate."

"Nah, I've heard it's better to give than receive."

"That's not what you said a couple hours ago."

"I'll give gifts if you give head." They both scrunched their brows. "Scratch the part where I made it sound like you were my sugar baby."

"Or a prostitute."She raised an arch brow.

"Nah, I couldn't afford you." He didn't even smirk.

So she responded, "I think you think that's a compliment."

He snort laughed and she couldn't help but smile with him. "I mean, you do it well enough to be paid for it, but by the face you're making I better quit talking and get to the spoiling to get myself out of trouble. Go on, open a present."

"Any order you envisioned."

"Um? No, the one where order matters I have a plan for."

"This isn't all?"

"This is most." He nodded and she felt a warm place under her breast that only ignited when he was being domestic.

Back in her old room in her childhood home, or in her flat in Amsterdam, she'd occasionally puzzle over these moments. They felt nothing short of boyfriendy, and she loved it. When she thought back on them, especially in the cold January days, they kept her warm and made her feel special. She hadn't ever felt that warm flush in her chest with anybody but Harry. She'd kind of avoided the feeling, usually.

By July, after long periods of silence where he was running around the world while she endeavored to save it, the glow of those days paled in the midnight sun. When he acted like a boyfriend, like they were more than a hookup and then ignored her, it hurt. When she was well into her yearly drought, and all she had were those shooting stars to wish upon, the sweeter he was, the more rich the ache, the aftertaste saccharine.

Emma could tell, his gifts and the joy he seemed to take in giving them would warm her to the backbone through January, and make her teeth hurt by July.

And still she couldn't convince herself to stop, to ask, to protect herself. She couldn't even detach a little, she was so excited about the little stuffed animal she had for him in return.

"Harry, this is beautiful!" She unfolded a gorgeous sweater dress of a fine wool knit that screamed warm.

"Yeah?" He smiled, pleaded with the praise and himself. "I was at Gucci, and I was gonna get you some stuff there, but they just didn't feel like you, so I started doing some research on sustainable brands and I found this one, and another. This one is good for day to day, it's called Ever Lane, and the next, Bode, it's great for retro pieces. Open the next one."

She'd been staring at him. He was going to buy her Gucci? This was better, but that seemed like a pretty penny to spend on your holiday hook up. She knew money wasn't really an object for him. He always paid for the hotel on their rendezvous and she never brought it up. It was always just taken care of. She wasn't a starving student, but she also wasn't an international pop star. These gifts felt big, bigger than what they were.

He liked to be generous. But, it felt like these gifts, the 5 packages and one coming later were a statement in a language she didn't understand.

"Harry, this is too much." Was all she could say. He didn't respond with words, just gave her a look and shrugged his shoulders like, 'what else am I supposed to do with it'.

Emma knew from Gemma that Harry took care of them, their vehicles and his mum's house and whatever they mentioned they wanted or he thought they'd like.

Gemma had said last year, when she was thrilling over her Christmas gifts, "It's the one time of year I let him get away with it. The rest of the time I've gotten to where I don't mention things I like or want, because they show up on my doorstep, you know?"

Emma had nodded even though she didn't know, but she did now. He was so thoughtful it hurt, but the implications troubled her.

"Open the next one. I'm really excited for it."

It was a beautiful jacket, mustard, her favorite color, and matching mittens.

"For when you want to ride your bike, but it's chilly. They're very warm." He remembered she was cold on her bike that day.

Emma knew he remembered her text after the 'what are you wearing' conversation about being grumpy because she had chosen to ride her bike but it was too cold. His big beating heart could melt snow.

She swallowed down the sentiments clogging her throat along with her worries. Should she ask? She'd have too, eventually. This was feeling more serious than it should be, like he wanted to call her babe for more than a weekend, like he wanted her to stay, with him.

It's what she wanted, in some part of her, but was completely out of the question. He had a big international life, and she had her own global ambition.

The rest was wrapped donation cards to causes she'd worked for or even mentioned. The last gift was a small box, and when she opened it, she cried, then laughed and handed him his box.

"What?" He said, "I can't tell if you're happy or sad about that gift?" He worries his bottom lip.

It was another frog, just like the one she'd picked as the tangible gift when she'd made the donation in his name.

Emma just shrugged and wiped her eyes. "Open it."

His bursting balloon laugh inflated her merry heart. "Did we really do the exact same thing?" His face had an odd look she could only call tender.

"Same wavelength, me and you." He was misty like she had been a moment ago. He leaned forward and kissed her. Then picked up their stuffed frogs and made them kiss like he was a small child playing dolls. "I almost don't want to separate them."

"Are we still talking about the frogs?" She laughed, because she had a feeling they weren't.

He shrugged and his phone began to buzz. "Can I take a rain check on answering that question? If I don't leave right now, they will know I stayed out all night on Christmas Eve, and there will be questions. I don't think we are quite ready to explain what we are." He chose that moment to yawn like a lion in the late afternoon after a long day of lounging and got up to leave.

Emma still had questions.He'd said not quite ready to explain what they were doing. Emma wasn't even sure what they were doing. Were they going to tell people, tell Gemma? Tell them what? That they were together? Wanted to be together? Belonged together. The frogs too, did the frogs belong together?

He was dressed by the time she was done freaking out. He looked tired, but exhilarated, like he'd spent a night getting everything he wanted and a few things he didn't know he needed. "Bye doll," he kissed her, right on the mouth, affectionately and with only a trace of the heat the December air lacked. "I'll see you tomorrow night. Merry Christmas! I wanna see you in the sweater," he was walking through the door. "Oh, and the other thing?"

"Other thing?" She looked at him confused.

He pointed underneath the tree. "Have another look."

Emma blushed when she opened the lingerie. She wondered if he'd had to check her pants and bras for sizes or if he just knew the shape of her well enough that he'd guessed accurately.

They looked really good.

She needed to be getting home as well. There would be no getting out of it, she needed an excuse for rolling in just in time for Christmas brunch, her parents were notorious early risers, as was she. Her plan was to tell them she'd just made too merry the night before and slept on the couch at the Twist's. It was truth adjacent. It was the best she could come up with, her head was full of Harry and she couldn't think.

Her Christmas passed in a blur of food and wine and wrapping paper. Harry had sent her a picture of him with a bow on his head and asked her if she felt spoiled enough or needed him to wear the bow the next day.

She'd told him to wear it. And only it.

She'd not expected him to follow directions both precisely and with some creative license.

"Do you really think your cock is a gift?" She tried to mock him, while he stood proudly, hips first in their room at the Boat's Head.

"Well, I intend to give it to you!" He raised his eyebrows and stalked toward her. "I like the sweater. Looks amazing, but? Probably better here." He swept it over her head and deposited it on the floor.

"That was atrocious!" She giggled, but felt no anxiety unlike the last day or so.

"Yeah, maybe, but I needed to see if you'd worn my other gift."

"I thought it was my gift."

"For both of us, I'd argue." He winked.

"You wink like a drunk pirate." She couldn't help but smile at him. His silly banter had completely removed the nerves she should be feeling, standing in front of him in a Santa red bra, panties, garter belt, and stockings. She'd sourced the Santa hat herself and the black heels were hers.

"I'm feeling drunk seeing you in this." His hands were running over the satin on her hips and the lace at her waist, then the bare flesh of her ass. "I think I even lied to myself. This was definitely my present." The last word was said against her lips and his big hands slid down the globes of her backside to between her thighs, hoisting her onto his hips. The trail his thumbs left had her shivering.

The bed rose up to meet her. Harry hovered over her before standing and staring.

"Are we on pause?" She was panting and really hoping they were not stopping let alone slowing.

He opened his hands like a director, "I'm just trying to remember this to keep me warm all year." He ran his hands from her toes to her curled hair, she'd gone all out, then back down. His face was full of anticipation and a hesitation she'd never seen when she was this bare, not even the first time when he was flush on bravado and international acclaim.

"What is it?" She started to sit up.

He groaned. "Wow, that move did great things for your chest."

Emma could only laugh. He was acting like he'd never seen a naked woman, when he'd probably seen more than his fair share, and had definitely seen her before.

"You're acting like you've never seen me before."

"It's always like the first time. You're overwhelming."

"I'm overwhelming?" She wanted to laugh, she saw him as Harry, at first her friend's brother, then the cute boy with the big career she'd hooked up with, then her favorite holiday surprise, and now she couldn't define exactly what he was to her, mostly Harry? Who she missed all year and cherished for a week at a time in person, a deeply in her heart the rest of the time. She remained aware, however, of who he was, at large.

"Absolutely, I can barely take you. Can't believe I get to have you." What did she say to that? She only nodded, it was mutual. "Listen," he continued, "Can I take a picture of you. I'll keep your face out of it."

She thought for a moment, thrilled that he wanted to save this memory, to relive this moment until they met again. She didn't have any pictures of him, and thought there were so many online, none of them were really of him. "Yeah, go on Harry."

Maybe she should take one back. Save the neck down one place and the neck up as her wallpaper, she could get away with it. She saw classmates with him as their Home Screen. Her plans kept the nerves at bay while he got his set up ready.

He posed a leg, had her lay back, and then sit up. He took about 5 pictures on his phone, then three Polaroids, and by then she was getting into it. She was moving in ways that made her feel sexy and he was getting antsy.

"I'll show you, so you can approve, after." He discarded the phone and pulled his jumper over his head before crawling up the bed and over her.

"I trust you Harry. It's fine."

She wasn't sure what it was about those words, but he grew, thicker between her thighs and larger in her presence before he was kissing her bra off and asking if he could leave the stockings and shoes on.

"'Mmmhmmm." Emma moaned from her perch on the pillows looking down watching him pull her panties free and reattaching her stockings. "Damn." He kissed both places and flipped her over to skate his lips up her thighs and ass and back. Her hair was over her face while he kissed her neck and rutted into her with his jeans still on. She grabbed a handful of his glorious hair and kissed him over her shoulder. "Like this?" She asked.

"Mmhmmm." He echoed and she felt him kicking his jeggings free and sliding on the condom. She was flat on the mattress and unsure if he wanted her to push back on her knees. She didn't need to think about it long, he hoisted her up, and pressed a gentle hand between her shoulder blades so her body arched like a slide. His fingers climbed up to cascade down her backbone in an echo of the ride he was about to take down. He was right there, hovering, and Emma pushed back, but the whine in her voice was the more obvious tell.

"Baby, I need you."

"I need you, so much. Miss you when I'm gone."

She missed him when she was gone too. He slid his head in and waited. Emma wasn't really in control of the clenching this caused and it made Harry lose his grip on his. The smack of his hips against her thighs reverberated off the borrowed walls they considered their own.

He stroked her inside out and commented on the grip of her onto his dick. "It's like you don't want to let me go," he whispered into her ear.

Emma turned her head and breathed, "I don't want to." The kiss broke his rhythm and lingered until her clenching started over, again. How was she so close so soon?

"No, no, no." She whined when he pulled out.

"Shhhh, I've got you." He knew she was onto something, they'd become practiced hands at each other's pleasure.

He flipped her over and smoothed her hair back, bracketing her face between his hands like an aside he needed to voice right at that moment. "I just want to see you."

He went back in with ease, and with anybody else she might be ashamed for how embarrassingly wet she was, for the squelch. "God! Harry!" Her thighs came up to his hips and he hitched one over his elbow and open, then lay a good portion of his weight onto her. It was just the right side of too much. Just like all of him.

"Let me find it again, that high you were chasing?"

She was nodding, babbling. He picked up the rhythm from before and added a tiny rut at the end to the swelling of her clit. She was back on the trail to the summit quickly. It had been good, if fumbling, from night one. By this gift season, it was like he had installed all of her buttons personally and could push her to the edge at will. Her eyes were closed and she was concentrating hard on the oasis just beyond her horizon.

"Baby," he whispered, his breath soft and scented like her lip balm. "Open your eyes." He was just over her and he wrapped her open thigh back and around his knee. "Watch me," he made a c with his body so she could watch the goings on and feel them too.

"Oh, fuck."

"I love your filthy mouth. When you get going. Demure driven Emma on the brink has a dirty dirty mouth."

She'd narrow her eyes at him if she could bear to look away from his cock.

"Baby!" She gasped.

"Hold it, stay, just a little longer." He kissed her and then compelled her eyes to his. "I'll come with you."

His nose touched hers at just the tip and he rocked her and watched as she trembled and held off and pleaded. "Now, now, come now." He grit his teeth in preparation, but he needn't have worried, the minute he commanded it, she obeyed and the body roll of sensation ran from the roots of her hair to the bends of her knees.

He seized and his head fell back, but as soon as he was in command of himself again, his eyes were back on hers. "I love...," he gasped and her mind raced over what the hell he might say. What she wanted to gasp back. It was a bit of a comedown as opposed to a denouement when he filled in, "...having you for Christmas."

He buried his face in her neck and breathed into the nooks and crannies she thought she had kept safe from him.

Which was why it hurt so much when she had to tell him no.

His final gift, complete with an aching grin, had been an open ended ticket. "So you can come to me, with me, on tour."

She knew her brow knotted up like a bundle of discarded yarn. That wasn't the agreement. And she couldn't, couldn't even allow herself to want it. She had her PhD program looming. There was no time to go anywhere this fall.

"Harry, you know I can't."

He looked crestfallen, like this was new information and not why they only got these stolen snowbound days once a year. "Can't or won't?" He was verging on angry and it would piss her off if her heart wasn't so close to fissuring.

Honesty was her only policy, "Both." She handed the ticket back to him.

It ruined their night, the movie they tried to distract themselves with, the goodbye sex they didn't have.

He wasn't even there when she woke up the next morning.

But the tickets were on his pillow with a small note, "Change your mind, please. I'll be seeing you. H."

[tandaforever]

The other night I finished reading Red, White & Royal Blue.

And there were so many feelings then, but I didn't manage to write it down until now.

A big thanks to @tralalaoohlala for the rec, I owe you one! I would not have ordered the book otherwise. I even remember seeing the bright pink cover when I was last in a bookstore and passed right by it. I uhh.. 😬 tend to judge a book by its cover. And it didn't do it for me. A younger me would have been all over it though.

And here's what I think...

The story was funny, sexy, romantic. These are words that reviewers have used and they're all absolutely right. But it was also inspiring. I admired a lot of the characters, how true they were to themselves and without apology. The friendships in this book were quite beautiful and I loved how Alex reflected on his family, his home, and his identity.

Getting into the main characters' relationship, I felt like I was reading really good fanfic, and I loved every bit of it. A lot of it was so tender. And you just fucking root for them, would probably throw down for them to protect a relationship as pure as theirs.

But the reason why I wanted to write something about it and why it affected me was because of two things.

1) I actually teared up twice towards the end. It's never happened to me while reading and I have actually never 'cried tears of joy' before. I always thought it was weird people did that. Because the tears I've shed have been angry, sad, lonely - never happy ones. I wouldn't say they were joyful but I was deeply moved.

[ SPOILER ]

Reading how the world supported them, in NY, DC, Paris, outside the palace walls, I swear l trembled a lil, maybe gasped. And when Alex and Henry barreled out into the corridor after that, truly free, I felt so happy for them.

But in the forefront of my thoughts and I think the real reason I teared up a bit was because I was thinking about Armie and Timmy. Thinking if the world can get their shit together, if they were shown the same support, how powerfully free they'd feel. It just got to me, that this is what I wish so much for them.

2) It takes Love and courage. These words screamed out at me. I haven't been fortunate enough to feel either. And I feel so strongly for people who pursue it. Alex and Henry had a lot of it, they were sure, they felt forever about it.

That's what drew me to CMBYN over three years ago, a story about young men who were brave enough to fall in love with each other.

And I just feel it in my bones, and I see the evidence on my dash every day, that Armie and Timmy have this.

It has been especially hard for them. And I don't see it becoming easier any time soon. I'm here still, I'll support them until I can't anymore, because the love they have, it's life changing, it's random and it's beautiful. If they're brave enough to endure all this, then the least I can do is be brave enough to stick through it, no matter how exhausted I feel.

I hope one day I'll be lucky enough to be just another face in the crowd, wearing a t-shirt, supporting them, when they decide it's time.

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 // larkspur lane/the whisper box

this post is a double whammy cause they have 2 eps happen in the same day if u can believe it (thats how awful judging timelines in this show is!!)

-"hi josh..." LMAOOOOOOO

-BESS just breaking in lmaooo how many god damn times does bess just shit the bed in this show

-LOVE her frowny face at nancys closet ("my expectations are low" lmfaoooo but this would totally be me)

-"bet she meant it metaphorically" okayyy but then why did lucy say that at all? i feel like theres defo more to this story, combined with josh's cagey behavior (part of which is to get nancy to stop looking into shit d/t him and karen but still)

-"they dont accept visitors unless they're family" .....🙂

-ace "youre really good at that" to bess i fuckin love this friendship with all my heart (also love their talk at the claw mirroring nick & nancys talk in the last ep)

-also PINK AND ORANGE BESS ARE U BLIND (also 1) why tf would nancy own this and 2) where would she wear it??)

-okay wtf is vampire dip

-"boss??" see this is what i meant yesterday about nancy ruining everything for nick/george

-god DAMN she sucks at dealing with this news lmaooo that emotional competency babey + love george literally agrees to help bc she feels bad (AND nicks immediate look of "you just reprimanded me for helping her last ep and i know why youre doing this rn" lmaoooo)

-LOVE george noticing nick "shout out to jean valjean" lmaooo once again nancy would never have noticed/commented on something like that

-"get the hell out of here" was this foreshadowing for an epic dad joke for these two eps? "how do you make holy water? you boil the hell out of it" 😂😂😂😂

-so what i dont get about the whole haunting is the ball + kids' laughter but its all the emphasis on "mr roper" the adult? wtf like what kind of entity is this

-"how did you ever have a solo career??" 😂

-okay amaya's hair is gorgeous here (also "you feel like a snack" ....👀) *ahhh so the reason bess feels so off balance is bc its like a top vs a top scenario

-has anyone who's ever been to prison confirmed this is what it looks like?

-love how ace is the only employee there when they all leave so he had to fucking close the place when he goes

-why does she take the whole file? time constraints? it'd be smarter to take pics + replace it (better sleuthing) but this place is clearly not well run anyway 😂

-so this is a pretty decent cover she invents but theres no way she would get away with it so easily for a real guard

-love how ace recognizes ryan's car (+ is able to find it by driving around)

-"my father wouldnt do anything like that" LMFAOOOOOO SIS WHY ARE U DEFENDING HIM ironically, ace is actually the best person suited to engage w ryan here d/t the car accident + connection with laura being ryans SIL. its a unique set up

-i am fascinated by the concept of priests + holy water being so effective here combined with mcginnis' beliefs and basically nondenominational ghosts/seances etc after that. the show is very clearly big on diversity but definitely steers clear from too much WASP stuff yk? wonder if other stuff from christianity works against the ghosts/demons like taking refuge in a church "holy ground" or using silver etc

-"did this start after the night of sept 10?" *this is where you get the time line for the seance if you didnt know

-this is so fucking funny when u realize that patient sal talks to is actually a ghost so sal really is psycho i guess 😂

-bitchsplain/tall jar of mayonnaise 🙏🏻😌 2gether 4ever

-how did ace get this van? also heart attack when he yells at carson (but then grins at him like a goofball lmaooo)

-"for nancys sake and yours" damn she owes ace big time for all this shit

-"what do we do for 7 minutes?" ...ummm play 7 minutes in heaven lmaooo ����🥵

-was not expecting ace to look this sexy holding an axe but okay (*ah, its his short sleeve shirt showing his arms. usually hes a sleeves guy)

-"desperate for attention" nancy (from gomber) vs "bc she's starved for attention" patrice --> lucy (and candace also...) we know nancys detective work makes her seem like an attention seeker, but what was lucy doing to make them all think that? she was trying to hide her relationship with ryan, not expose it. unless they just mean the rumors about her?

-so is patrice hiding lucy's "truth" talking about lucy being a whore or lucy being a ghost? what is lucy's secret? did patrice guess she was pregnant or did patrice's somehow garbled mind remember tiffany trying to show patrice the video with lucy on it?

-wonder what captain thom thinks of this stand off w ace lmaooo

-"like you do?" top v top shenanigans

-how awko for carson to talk to karen again like this

-"oh no" ACE 😂

-love how amaya says "be a human" like shes kind of admitting people in rich circles typically arent (^this is an interesting focus in s2 when bess's rich family rejects her, thus making her human again, but nancy embraces her rich fam and experiences subsequent moral struggle which is predicted with the wraith)

-wonder what ryan thinks he could get from the marvins (which he cant get now lmaooo)

-this damn whisper box. so many questions. who named it the whisper box? why are the ropers' old possessions still there? who decided to build a mental hospital on top of it? and patrice! she "hid lucy's secrets" hannah gruen thinks tiffany tried to show patrice video w lucy on it, which patrice then specifically says she hid in the thin mans book. so patrice knows of the thin man? can she see him? does she know he was a ghost/supernatural? she must have a supernatural sense to know about him (unless sal told or some shit) so then when tiffany shows up w/ lucy being supernatural in it patrice hides it to protect her? is this why she is "crazy" kinda like victoria? supernatural elements or ability to sense ghosts makes her unstable? this is why lucy being a ghost/nursery rhyme that she repeats makes patrice worse/"stroke"? how did patrice even get into the whisper box to put the key in the bible and get out without getting trapped? also, her dementia --> lucidity is really fucking off, some people mildly switch like that but usually with dementia they cant even register new shit anymore

-...so did bess take the ride? 👀

-interesting how celia says "your father will be disappointed" but nothing of her own opinion. wonder how much celia truly puts up with to keep everett calm and nonhomicidal

-like george asking nick follow up questions that nancy never really would have asked

🥞🥞🥞(ep13)🥞🥞🥞

-is this bitch just eating a plain pancake with her bare hand?

-"extra case load and excessive volunteering" ugh. nancy's family here are like, gross in how "good" of people they are // unrealistic, trying to paint carson in the best light/ no way ryan could ever compare (but the reality is theyre not that good of people for lying about nancy) **and shes arrogant to think shes better than everyone else ie the only one who truly lives virtuously, thinks she can do no wrong sometimes even tho using sex to cope, breaking and entering, etc is not morally "good" stuff she still thinks she is the only one who doesnt lie and plays fair (like in the pilot she lists everyone else as a suspect but herself- obviously we know she isnt guilty but no one else does. (i mean in theory we really dont, what if nancy was an unreliable narrator and was actually guilty, that would be a hella cool show)its reactions like that where she cant understand why others like the chief suspect her

-ooooh ironic that in the Good Place carson readily agrees to pay her for helping with cases as opposed to s2 in reality

-nick's house has "problems" so why does he need a lawyer? as opposed to an interior designer, plumber, or realtor?

-in the Good Place nick and george realize they are not going to work out after one date. does this failure in the Good Place predict failure in reality, or merely an easier way of figuring out the truth? does this mean that the "opposite" of the Good Place is reality, or only an opinion of what is better? (nancy says "you all like me" as her opinion of them liking her is skewed; does this then only reflect nancys version for what is the "perfect life"?)

-why is bess a hippie??? and love how george curls her hair and wears pink lipstick here

-if this dream is so realistic then why is the one thing it cant conjure smoke? like how random

-love the locket being a key realization bc with things like jewelry you dont notice the weight of them until theyre gone

-"you all like me" in her perfect life nancy means they "like" her objectively/regardless of circumstance even though liking her is still an objective choice (like they "like" her because of other reasons instead of her working at the claw? (like how you make friends with coworkers/people at school every day but after you leave the job/graduate you never speak to them again) and her "thanks for showing up!" as if theyre not doing exactly that in reality 😐like where is she getting this shit? she sort of acknowledges in earlier eps she is hard to like/that she puts mysteries before friends, but also pushing them away to avoid danger like the previous ep "why do u show up" etc

-is it just me or does the inside of nicks "house" look like the drews'?

-nick has a dick scar lmaooooo (or more likely was hit in the balls or smth)

-love how nick + george match their anger in confronting sal 100% on the same level

-so when did ace go back to work after having such a busy day earlier?? lmaooo

-damn father shane is a creep (casting defo hired him for his voice) and how tf did he just poof + escape? and what did he request???

-love bess's white hair bow here 😌+ her jacket, whole outfit on point as usual

-like how bess is right that nancy has to find her way out but thats kind of a nonstarter for a room full of panicked people wanting to help

-in the Good Place theres no bad blood between drews + hudsons bc nancy is really theirs

-"the only one who has the key is you" in the Good Place nancy has the key (smaller picture, to finding out what happened to lucy but bigger picture, post-reveal) but ryan has the clues nancy needs- following the Good Place's mirroring, this just means that in reality ryan will either be completely useless or an active hindrance (but you KNOW this is a dream bc in what universe would ryan remember clues like that 😂)

-so in a perfect universe ryan acknowledges his family's "criminal empire" as opposed to reality where he only makes under cover jabs about disengaging with being an "entitled corrupt legacy criminal" ie finding the bonny scot relics but does nothing about them, etc

-"strippers" 😂

-okay what is nancys obsession w her beanie?? bc her mom made it? "wear beanies do crimes?" idk

-making the call: nancy -unable to make up for lost time/both her mothers had to find out/suffer alone / in the Good Place nancy was able to be with kate while she called, and in reality she had carson; somethig about seeing the mother looking to the daughter for strength in the Good Place instead of the reverse (which is what reality sounded like, kate being strong for nancy through the illness despite the struggle)

-concept: nancy & nick "let's wait out the storm"

-"i believe that you believe it" nick in the Good Place + owen in reality both trust nancy when she says she's seen things (owen's is the teeth) but nick in reality (and not really knowing details) doesnt think much of their "moment" bc it wasnt real (so she had to leave the Good Place to save carson- but if she had known then he wasnt her real dad, would she have stayed to be w nick?)

-stranger - suede james 💙👌🏻

-"really anxious as a kid" v telling bc of her desire to know everything to remain in control of situations like she always does now

-"the medicine or the metaphysics?"/"you cannot beat supernatural with science"

-i love nancy playing with her pinky while saying goodbye 🥺

-"always seek out the truth even if it hurts" this is straight irony bc kate never told nancy anything. like does that include the truth about nancys parentage? they taught her to seek out the truth, but who taught her that the truth is the only thing to live by? ie things dont count anymore like carson and kate straight up raising her is tossed out bc she finds out its not "the truth" like all that work/stress to protect carson + she just drops him? with kate maybe shes just upset thst she spent all that time mourning for someone who lied. and would she do the same to ryan if needed? probably

-bess and ace head tilt 💙

-like how for all the time she spent there nancy only has a subconscious memory of blue curtains

-YESSSSS i LOVEthese beautiful overhead shots of hannah's hands. so out of character for the show lmao but so gorgeous

-i feel like future eps/grand future will be nancy going through the lock boxes to help people who asked hannah for help

-the video is officially dated Aug 22, 2019

-soooooo in the first ep nancy breaks into the hudsons house and finds tiffanys secret drawer w the nail polish and finds the amulet with a note that says "for your protection HG" yet on this video tiffany says she talked to a medium who gave her the amulet sooooo am i just confused? HG is hannah gruen obvi so is the address for the medium what hannah gave her? or was the address on the amulet which nancy dissolved in salt water to see? so how would tiffany know where to go? its chicken and the egg which came first hannah or the medium?

and lastly:

i close these two eps with a thought that everything in this show is sealed in death. all the lies, the imagery, the fake constructs people put up to get by all crumple the second someone dies- all the secrets come clean just like these doors have been unsealed.

[razberryyum]

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 14, Part 2 of 2

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapters 55 and 56]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰

Every glimpse we’re provided of the Jiang family life is really equal parts discomfort and electricity because of Madame Yu. Even though each scene usually involves both familial and marital strife, which is usually very uncomfortable for me to watch, I find myself completely incapable of turning away because of her, even as I’m wincing for Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s sake. Madame Yu is just so AWESOME. The way she sweeps into every scene she’s in, eyes flashing, taking charge and commanding the room is really breathtaking. As I’ve mentioned before, while I would never want her to be my mother nor do I support her method of mothering, I still completely respect and love her. Every line of dialogue from her is spoken with such conviction and impact and ferocity that I can’t help but grinning in admiration, even when her words are meant to hurt and belittle the boys I love.  

I mean, that alone is pretty brutal to say in front of her son and ward.  While I’m sure Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying spent most of their lives hearing divisive statements like that from her, it’s really a testament to their basic good natures that they still ended up being so close.  I’m sure Jiang Fengmian being present to counter his wife’s harshness helped a lot, but if JC or Shijie were even the least bit petty, arrogant or unkind, they could’ve been easily swayed by Madame Yu’s influence and held her words against Wei Ying. The fact that they didn’t at all and still loved this orphaned boy like their own flesh and blood brother really makes me love the siblings that much more. I’ve always thought it’s quite sad that Madame Yu couldn’t find it in her heart to love Wei Ying as well, especially since he really is so lovable and adorable, but jealousy is an ugly and powerful monster that is hard to defeat, so it’s really a shame that she let it overcome her to the point that even her relationship with her husband and children was negatively affected.  Not to mention, I can only imagine how unhappy Madame Yu herself felt, believing as she did that she will always be inferior to the memory of a woman who has already passed and also questioning her husband’s fidelity and loyalty even so many years later. It’s obvious that her quick temper and biting words are the manifestations of her unhappiness. For such a capable and strong woman who could have easily been a sect leader in her own right, I really wish she could have been had a more joyful life.    

It should be noted that for her all her magnetic screen presence and impressive performance, actress Zhang Jing Tong, who portrays Madame Yu, is only 30 years old with just a few credits to her name. It’s amazing when I think about the fact that even though she’s only two years older than Xiao Zhan and Xuan Lu and seven years Wang Zhuo Cheng’s senior, she pulled off the Jiang matriarch role with total aplomb. Watching her I never for one second doubted she was their mother, head of the Yunmeng Jiang sect and household because of the authoritative air she possesses. Prior to looking up her professional history, I actually thought she was an industry veteran and I somehow just never saw any of her shows even though I’ve watched my fair share of Chinese dramas. The fact that she hasn’t been in that many shows just makes me appreciate her work in CQL even more. The degree of success in which she's brought Madame Yu to life is truly amazing: it’s as if the character literally just walked off of the pages of the book.  I hope she gets a lot more high profile professional opportunities from now on as a result of her wonderful performance in The Untamed.

Yunmeng Bros Love

It’s so difficult not to cry or at least get teary-eyed watching this scene now; I sure as heck couldn’t get through it without a few tears this time. The love these brothers have for each other, what they sacrificed for each other, just makes my heart hurt so much. What’s most heart-aching is that this really is the last time they can still laugh and embrace like this without any reservations, without any sadness or true regrets, because their family, despite its imperfections, is still whole. So this moment, this promise, in addition to serving as a testament to their bond, also feels like a marker of the end of their childhood and their innocence since soon after this is when all their dark days start arriving.

Clive Barker Would be Proud

Going back to the Xuanwu of Slaughter’s cave, even though I still don’t understand enough about the anatomy of the creature to be able to figure out how it can have so much room in its own shell to allow for storage space since the last I checked, that’s not how a tortoise’ body fits inside their shell, and if it’s actually a snake then why couldn’t I just come out of its shell to go after the boys earlier, I still appreciated the set design within its disgusting abode. Team CQL really did execute the gore and squelch elements quite well. That interior was pretty effectively creepy and gross.

Prelude to the Yiling Patriarch

Not gonna lie, that smirk does funny things to my tummy. It’s so deliciously sexy and evil. Makes me wish they had gone full darkside with Wei Ying when he became the Yiling Patriarch, or at least retained most of the moral ambiguity he had in the novel. We get his Yiling Patriarch smile a few more times after this, thank goodness, but since this is the first glimpse we get of it, I will always have a soft spot for this moment.  

I would love to see Xiao Zhan take on a truly villainous role one of these days since I think he would really excel at it and can totally succeed at making the audience both love, hate and fear him in such a role, but considering his elevation to leading man status now, I doubt that will ever happen anymore. Such a shame. He would’ve been scarily effective and alluring.

Jin Zixuan Appreciation Time

I’m going to take a moment here to show some appreciate to our dear bro-in-law. At the outset, I had thought he was a dick unworthy of our dear Shiji because of the way he treated her in the beginning and his rudeness towards Wei Ying.  I have since warmed up to him considerably, and now I think some words of praise is due. For being the son of a perverted piece of shit and growing in the lap of luxury, Jin Zixuan honestly turned out to be much better than his genetics and upbringing should have produced. Actually, I should give Madame Jin some credit, since she seemed to have a somewhat good head on her shoulders considering her favoring of Shijie. Most likely the reason why JZX turned out to be a decent enough man was because his mom did most of the parenting work. Despite his initial treatment of Shijie, I was impressed by how protective he was towards Mian Mian when she was being targeted by Wen Chao. Being a product of a total lecher of a father, it’s actually amazing that he never predatorized Mian Mian himself. Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if he had to protect her from his own father (yeah I really don’t think highly of Jin Guangshan at all). But no, he’s absolutely upstanding and I did also appreciate the fact that he went back with Jiang Cheng to rescue Wei Ying and Lan Zhan when he could have easily just not do so having already escaped. He was risking the Wen’s wrath in doing that so I know it did take guts and a strong sense of chivalry. I guess that’s why Shijie fell in love with him early on: she obviously saw something in him right from the start that took me this long to see.  

Other Odds and Ends

I remember being flabbergasted when I first saw this image on Wei Ying’s headboard because I simply could not believe what my eyes were seeing. Naturally I wanted to know everything about that illustration: did Wei Ying draw it himself? Who was he thinking of when he drew it? I know it can’t be Lan Zhan since the drawing obviously predates their relationship, so who could it be? Jiang Cheng? That thought actually did cross my mind very briefly way back but since I prefer their brotherhood above any shipping possibilities, I dismissed that thought almost as soon as it arose.  I know now that drawing is probably nothing more than an Easter Egg by Team CQL, but I still appreciated it since I thought this was even more blatant than the gay porn they snuck in back at Cloud Recesses’ library pavilion scene. That drawing wasn’t as clearly shown as this one and seemed more ambiguous. Really, bravo to their boldness, and bless the censors for overlooking this little bit of fun as well.

This poor kid. I should’ve known his life would soon come to a premature end as soon as they focused on him and gave him a sweet learning moment.

Just FYI for anyone who cares: looks like this while thinking of Lan Zhan is the reason this scene gets two 🐰.

Questions I Still Have

- Why did Lan Zhan let Wei Ying keep that disgusting, bloody sword even though he had to have clearly seen the demonic black smoke coming from it and surrounding Wei Ying while they were fighting the Xuanwu of Slaughter. Even if Lan Zhan missed the smoke, why wouldn’t he have at least sensed the all the evil and resenting energy emanating from the sword? Considering its origins, you’d think its ominous aura would be so overwhelming that even someone with a low level of cultivation would sense it, much less someone as cultivated as Lan Zhan. Not to mention, just in terms of sanitary issues, why would someone like him, who prefers cleanliness and has some knowledge of infection prevention, even let Wei Ying continue to hold on to that filthy thing anyway? I know story-wise, the sword is important and needed for later on, but I’d honestly rather they kept with the novel in this instance and had it just fall back to the bottom of the water in the cave.  It could still magically reappear at the Burial Mounds later on because it already recognized Wei Wuxian as its owner or something like that.

- Actually, what I also don’t understand is why Wen Ruohan never sensed this most powerful piece of the yin metal when it was so close to his stomping grounds? Why did that the first piece of metal he obtained call out to the pieces that were farther away instead of this one which was much closer? Unless, the reason is because the yin metal sword was activated because the other pieces finally reunited?  

Huh.  

I actually never considered that possibility until now, but if that’s the explanation, I can accept it. I guess this question might have been answered.

Overall Episode Rating: 9 Lil Apples out of 10

Disclaimer: The Untamed would not be possible without Mo Dao Zu Shi and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu-laoshi. I mean no disrespect whatsover when at times I may favor the shwo over the MDZS bible that is the novel. All hail MDZS and MXTX-laoshi, always and forever!    

[subtlehysteria]

I’m busy watching the Jeremy stream so here’s a “basic” summary as I go along

Question 1: What would each of the paladins get Lance for his birthday?

Pidge - a new video game

Shiro - something practical like a new weapon

Allura - handmade Altean necklace

Hunk - he’s birthday cake duty because he’s the best chef in the universe

Coran - some weird disgusting Altean treat

Keith - “not really affectionate” so his presence would probably be enough

Question 2: What would Lance and the paladins do for his birthday? 

Lance is “all about himself” so probably throw a big-ass birthday bash, maybe go back to the mermaid planet and hang out there, or any water-related planet because Lance is a surfer/beach boy. Overall just have a beach party

Question 3: Do the paladins ever wash their clothes seeing as they only have one outfit each?

Yeah, they have to have had some kinda washer/dryer on the castle or maybe they just have seven copies of the same outfit, or maybe Altean tech is so advanced your clothes are washed and dried in 2 seconds. But yeah, they don’t have a change of clothes

Question 4: If Finn (Jeremy’s other character from Adventure Time) and Lance had to switch places what would their reactions be?

Finn would kinda be like woah, what is happening but then pick up a sword and go for it because there’s evil that needs to be dealt with. Lance would probably deal with it worse because he wouldn’t like things changing suddenly and things being out of hand for no reason. He’s comfortable with his life and the people he’s around so he’d probably be a little more freaked out.

Question 5: Which character would Lance play as in SuperSmash Bros and Mario Kart?

For SuperSmash: Link (that’s also who Jeremy plays as) and for Mario Kart: maybe Mario. (Jeremy likes playing as Toad)

Question 6: (this is a long one so gonna try to condense it) What’s the sitch with Lance’s dad and did Lance try and step up as a role model for his younger siblings? How did this affect his interactions with the rest of the team?

Jeremy is “pretty sure” Lance’s dad is still in the picture (welp) and that he probably has a lot of little siblings/nieces/nephews who looked up to him. He’s always wanted to try to be responsible and seen as a role model. This also affects how he treats everyone else as well as his personality, how he's always like “Hey, look I can do it!”.

His definite character arc is him starting out as a little immature and wanting to be The GuyTM but throughout the show, we see that Lance is capable and does have a sense of responsibility. He ends up being very loyal and realises that other people are better leaders at times. He’s learning to know when to follow and when to lead.

We’ll get to see how Lance interacts with his family in season 7 and 8 (!!!). We’re gonna see another side to him. We’ll get to see another side to a lot of characters, their more fun, sensitive and casual sides around their families and loves ones.

Question 7: What was your favourite thing to do at comic con?

The Adventure Time and Voltron panels were scheduled at the same time so Jeremy pretty much Naratu ran to the Voltron panel halfway through. He enjoyed seeing the Star Wars stuff and also riding around San Diego on a moped (whilst trying not to knock people off the sidewalk. Jeremy please honey, wear a helmet)

Question 8: How would each Paladin react to Lance’s birthday. Would he even mention it?

The team takes the small moments to chill. Off-screen there’s probably been a lot of downtime being spent in boredom. They’d probably have a party, cake the whole shebang. It also depends on whether they have a mission. Keith would probably say happy birthday. They don’t have a bad relationship, they’re all friends, practically family. “Probably get a little Keith nod like hey, happy birthday” (imagine Jeremy attempting a Keith impression its adorable). That’s all that Keith would say. He’s “a man of few words”.

Question 9: Lance has always kinda been the second choice, starting with only bumping up to fighter class when Keith got expelled. Will he ever get the chance to be someone’s first choice and not a rebound?

In some areas, Lance has been the first choice e.g. the first paladin of new to pilot the Blue Lion. As he grows as a person he’s become more dependable. Going forward, people would choose him for different types of missions. “I think he’s gonna be somebody’s first choice, not just a rebound. He’s a funny guy, a good-looking funny dude, he’s got lots of skills so yeah, he’d be someone’s first choice. Heck yeah!” (insert adorable smile)

Question 10: if the members from Make Out Monday (Jeremy’s band) were paladins which lions would they pilot and why?

Zack - Black Lion, he has a good vision for everything, the backbone, creative and smart, “the leader”

Jeremy would still pilot red. He’s the right-hand man kinda guy

Seth - probably pilot yellow, he’s the drummer, he holds everything together

John - maybe the green lion. He’s smart, has to be precise with his guitar solos

Question 11: We’ve seen Lance isolating himself a lot by playing video games and training alone. Will he have some time to bond with any of his teammates like Keith or the Real Shiro? And will there be any Garrison flashbacks for Lance like there was for Keith in season 6?

This season as they’re travelling back, there’s gonna have to stick together. They’re gonna be cramped and having to spend a loooot of time with each other whether they want to or not, so some of the comedy will come from that. There’s a lack of resources since they no longer have the caslte, so they need to bond with each other and become a tight-knit group again. There’s gonna be interactions “with Real Shiro, Keith (now that he’s back), Allura, pretty much everybody.”

As far as flashback go, there are a lot of flashbacks with Shiro and Keith. There are flashbacks with a few of the characters, whether they feature a lot or a little Jeremy can’t say. Jeremy can’t really remember off the top of his head. You will at least get to see Lance with his family a lot when they get back to Earth.

Question 12: Out of everyone on the team, who takes Lance the most seriously? Who would give him the strength and room to grow into who he truly is? Who do you think is the best person to help him realise his full potential?

Shiro is a good leader and can see potential in all of his teammates, even if they and others don’t see that themselves. He would be a good candidate to help Lance see his strengths and hidden abilities and help him grow. And as Keith becomes more of a leader, he’ll start getting some of those leaderly qualities as well. Allura as well will also be a really close friend to help Lance reach his full potential and visa versa.

Question 13: Have you learnt more about Cuba since voicing Lance?

Jeremy’s tried to expand his knowledge on Cuba. He thinks their food is awesome and loves the culture.

Question 14: What drew you to Lance as a character and made you want to be his voice?

He’s a very fun character, to have funny one-liner’s and be the comic relief somtimes is great and its a blast to make the rest of the cast/crew laugh. He was attracted to the project because it was Dreamworks, Netflix and also the makers of ATLA and LoK which he loved watching. He looked at the profile and was like “Yeah, I can do this. He’s basically Space Sokka soooo”

Question 15: What would Lance’s favourite meme be?

“Lance is like a living meme.” “Probably anything that has stupid flirty cheesy humour”, or the Drake meme (that’s Jeremy’s favourite as well)

Question 16: What song would Lance sing to impress a significant other?

One of his favourite songs is Sexy Back by Justin Timblerlake (Jeremy why), but he would probably sing something more like a serenade song. All Of Me by John Legend is a great song, so if he tried to impress someone that would be it.

Question 18: Seeing as the paladins have been in space for at least a year, do you think Lance’s family have stopped looking for him/think he is dead? How did Lance and Hunk’s family find out they were missing? Did the Garrison send them a message or was it through a newscast?

People have definitnely noticed they’re gone. Both Hunk and Lance’s families are very loving and caring, so they’d continue to search for Lance and Hunk until they got a definite answer, they probably don’t assume they’re dead.

They probably would have gotten a message from the Garrison.

Question 19: What was your favourite song you wrote for Make Out Monday (Jeremy’s band)?

His favourite to write was Bullet For Your Sweetheart and Kissaphobic (both are really awesome, they’re definintely worth a listen!)

Question 20: Have you watched Voltron in any other langauge? Seeing as every voice actor for the different dubs has their own version of Lance, if you had to meet any of the other Lances, what would you ask them?

Voicing the character, you have to have a good understanding of them and what they would like/think of things so that when you peform the lines they feel more natural. You also work with the writing team and creators because they also have their own ideas of who the character is, its very much a collaboration.

Jeremy’s never met anyone who’s played the dubbed versions of his characters. He heard a Finn dub the one time and its interesting to hear how they interepted his voice.

He thinks the most interesting question to ask would be what their first impression was when they heard his performance.

Question 21: Would you associate any Singing At Last songs with Lance? What songs would you attribute to Lance?

Jeremy’s favourite song is Turning Page. He doesn’t really know any other songs so he asked the questioner what she would reccomend. She answered Venus and Mercury (she was really sweet). 

Question 22: If you were stuck out in space without a fast way back to Earth, what would you do on your trip back?

First off he’d panic, but hopefully try get some communications device to let people know he’s alive like, “Houstin there’s a problem, I’m stuck in space.” If he couldn’t figure out a way to get home, he’d make the best of it, settle down on a nice planet, enjoy the local delicacies. He reccomends trying to crash down on a beach planet and hand out with the locals. 

FINALE - everyone from the livestream sang happy birthday to Lance (there was a bit of a time delay but its the thought that counts!)

Jeremy’s parting words: I never cease to be amazed by the passion and love you have for all the shows I get to be a part of, the characters and me as a person. I’m really thankful to have such great fans and that you love the work that I do. If it was not for you guys I wouldn’t be able to do the work that I do. So I’m very thankful for you guys and I think you guys are just awesome. You guys make me happy and put a smile on my face and you guys are just a great bunch so thank you.”

[timeisacephalopod]

Sunflower

Just a little spider verse AU in which Peter and Miles meet. Minor Peter/ Miles.

“-so yeah, the multiverse is a thing but we don’t have Tony Stark. I have no clue who you are but you’re pretty cute,” Miles says and Tony feels skeevy for having been subjected to a child deciding he’s attractive.

Peter wrinkles his nose. “Ew Miles, that’s my dad,” he mumbles.

“What about your aunt May? Because the other two Peter Parker’s had aunt Mays,” Miles says.

“Oh yeah, she’s still around. I go to her place on the weekends!” he says excitedly.

Miles considers this for a moment and then nods. “Cool. Can you turn invisible?” he asks and Peter gives him an upset look.

“What? No. Can you?” he asks and Miles gives him an awkward look.

“Haha, no, I can’t do that,” he says and promptly turns invisible. “This isn’t what it looks like,” he adds when he seems to realize somewhat late that he’s not visible anymore.

“It doesn’t look like anything,” Tony says, “so basically its exactly what it looks like.”

“This is the worst power ever honestly, its not even that cool and it only does this stuff when its inconvenient. Like I’m in the locker room getting changed for gym and bam, invisible and now I’m holding shorts and the whole grade of guys is looking over at me and I gotta pretend to be a ghost to keep from blowing my cover and now the whole school thinks I have a poltergeist attached to me because the ghost only ever touches my stuff,” he says.

Peter turns to him with wide eyes, “he’s adorable, can we keep him?”

Tony sighs, “well, he’s fucking fifteen. I can’t throw him in the street with a note pinned to his chest so I guess.”

“Wait, do I exist in this universe? I could just call my parents,” Miles suggests and yes, great idea because Tony is getting his child’s obvious crush all over him and he would rather not.

*

“Aw, my parents don’t exist in this universe? Stupid. Okay, so what are we doing today?” Miles asks Peter, moving past the parents thing fast. That’s, Tony figures, when he figures out that this isn’t the first time Miles has landed in another universe. No kid is that calm about their parents flat out not existing, which leads Tony to believe that he’ll be likely to run into other spider people soon.

“I don’t know, probably class. Can I skip class? Miles can sting people! Without webs!” he adds given that he has webs with a similar function.

Tony sighs. “Fine. but don’t let me catch you two doing dumb shit. A villain shows up and I’ll deal with it. Especially if its a Doom bot, those things are hard to take out and your webs mostly only make them sticky,” he says, shaking his head. Then the fucking things stick together, and then they have a hoard of Doom bots rolling down the street causing mass destruction as they shoot at everything and also each other in an attempt to free themselves.

“But Doom bots are fun,” Peter says and Tony gives him a look. He sighs, “okay fine. Can we go see a movie?” he asks and Tony shrugs.

“Knock yourself out. Don’t let aunt May catch you either,” he adds. Fuck that, he gets enough parenting lectures as it is and when he first got Peter that made sense. She’d spent more time with him at that point and knew his habits, but after a few months Tony pretty much got the hang of it. Also, that was when Peter was an actual baby so he thinks that after fourteen and a half years he’s figured it out mostly.

As soon as the boys leave he gets a call about a disturbance down town and of course.

*

Miles swings in because yeah okay, he got told not to interfere but Peter said Tony wouldn’t even be that mad and Doc Ock is kind of his villain so you know. Makes sense to go deal with her. Also Tony’s suit is really cool and colorful, which is probably why he gets smacked in the head- he’s looking at the shiny suit- but then Peter swings in and saves his ass so its all good.

“I told you two to stay out- Miles, you better be sticking around to listen to me lecture- Jesus lady I’m trying to parent a fifteen year old can you not swing your poorly designed and ugly tentacles at me!” Tony snaps, blasting one of Olivia’s tentacles away from him as he looks around. Miles swings himself up onto a building and watches as Tony starts lecturing nothing.

“He’s gunna be pissed when he realizes he’s not even talking to you,” Peter says.

“Yeah, probably, but Doc Ock is from my universe so like. I feel compelled to sort this out,” he says. And also show off because he has powers this Peter Parker doesn’t and this Peter Parker is adorable and also age appropriate. And he also doesn’t have a dad bod like his older and significantly more beat up predecessor. Does the other older Peter count as a predecessor? He doesn’t know, point is he’s got people to show off to and his uncle’s advice was no good so he needs to figure out something better than ‘hey’ in a weird tone of voice and fast before he’s sucked into another universe. Or back to his own, its a toss up lately and Miguel needs to calm it with his jumping around. Every time he shuffles they all shuffle and that’s annoying. His parents are probably mad that he’s behind on homework.

He tracks Ock’s movements for a bit before making his move, going visible just before he runs into one of her tentacles. He’s done this like three times before, he’s totally got this. If he moves right those stupid little tentacles end up tied together and its kind of funny to watch them struggle to free themselves. He’s half way through The Tangle Method when Iron Man, that’s what Tony’s hero name is, comes in and blasts a couple tentacles. “Oh come on, they were almost tangled!” he says.

“Kid, that third tentacle was going straight for your head you are not good at this,” Tony tells him and okay that’s just rude.

“I think I was doing okay,” he says in his defense.

“You make a good distraction. Do that,” he tells Miles and fine, okay, he can do that. He swings himself up to a building, sticking to the side of it and Peter can do that too so that’s cool. He assesses the situation for a moment before swinging back into things and letting a few webs fly. Only one lands where he wanted it to but it does mean one of the prong ends of a tentacle is out of business for at least five minutes and that’s good news. He webs that tentacle in particular to a building and Iron Man immediately blasts it free. “Oh come on! What’s that for?” he asks.

“Webs are strong, they tend to result in a lot of damage to public buildings when people get stuck to them and then rip themselves off. Try sticking her to stuff people don’t care about. Like billboards and McDonald’s advertisements,” Peter explains before webbing himself out again.

Miles kind of cares about McDonald’s advertisements, they’re funny. Or at least that’s what he thinks until he runs into one and okay never mind, in this universe McDonald’s looks like it sells chicken flavored bricks and also isn’t funny at all so he sticks Ock to that and she immediately pulls herself free.

“The infrastructure in this universe is not good,” he comments as Peter swings by.

“Yeah, we need to work on that as a country,” Tony says as he blasts another tentacle away from him. He swears those things reproduce super fast or something. Take one out and two more grow back and all that.

By the time they manage to secure Doc Ock another spider person has shown up and Miles doesn’t know this one.

*

Jessica Drew doesn’t look impressed, but looks especially less impressed with the knowledge that in this universe she exists, but only as a famous spider with an inexplicable last name. “What the hell is with me jumping around all the time?” she asks, glaring at him for some reason and like Tony knows.

“Okay, so here’s what happened,” Miles says. “There’s this guy, right, Kingpin. And he wanted his dead family back so he built this thing to access the multiverse so he could pick up some other versions of his wife and kid. And then Peter Parker- not you,” he adds to Peter. “Got killed but this other Peter came through and also Gwen, who’s really pretty but she’s kind of upset because her Peter Parker died too, right in front of her and-”

“Get to the point, kid,” Tony tells him at the same time Peter says, “why do I die so much?”

“Right. So the other Peter Parker was all ‘I’m not training you, I’m just going to shut down Kingpin’s stuff’ but then he trained me anyway and I think he wants kids. Also, he got dumped by his wife but he said he handled it real good so I think he’s mostly okay. Anyway, so he trained me a little, and Gwen gave me some tips, but then there are all these other spider people. Spider ham is the weirdest, he’s a pig and he can talk. Apparently all animals can talk in his universe or that’s what he implied-”

“Kid, the point,” Jessica says and Miles nods.

“Yeah, I’m getting there. So all the spider people eat Kingpin’s ass but not in a sexy way, like in a violent way. There were trains flying around, it was wild in there. But we shut it down and we were like hey cool, the universe is back to normal, all the spider people are where they belong, its good. But then my favorite dumbass spider person Miguel made a jump autonomously, he’s got a goober, but when he shuffles we all shuffle and that’s how I ended up here,” he finishes with a flourish.

“How do we get back?” Jessica asks.

Miles shrugs, “wait for Miguel to make another jump. Oh and also if you stay in the wrong universe too long your atoms will rip themselves apart and you’ll die so don’t stay here too long,” he adds like that’s a small caveat. 

Tony is going to die of stress.

*

When Miguel makes another jump the all know it because Jessica gets sucked into somewhere new and Miles feels the sensation coming on so he knows he’s going places too but Peter looks freaked out. “Its cool, you’re just going to a new universe its all good,” he tells him.

‘He’s going to a what!” Tony shrieks just as he and Peter disappear. They land in New York, Miles’ New York, he knows right away.

“Oh cool, home,” he says. “Come on, my parents will probably be worried,” he says to Peter, who’s looking down at his hands.

“Why am I animated?” he asks.

“Oh yeah, that’s just how we look here. Your world looks like my world’s video games so technically I was animate in your universe! Come on, there’s probably at least one other spider person hanging around here,” he says.

Peter follows him along and they don’t run into any spider people but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any here. Miles will feel them out eventually. When he gets home though his parents run to him and hug him, going on in English and Spanish about how worried they were. He tries to reassure them both at the same time, which results in some ugly spanglish, but that’s okay because they get the point.

“This is Peter, in his universe its animated!” he says excitedly. This results in his parents giving Peter weird looks but that’s rude, he can’t help being cartoon sometimes. Apparently Miles is a cartoon here so no one should judge. Multiverse is weird.

*

Peter can’t get used to having lines around his body. Its just weird and he doesn’t like it. “So um. This is my room,” Miles says and Peter thinks its unfair to look cute in cartoon.

Does this make him a brony? He hopes not.

“Uh, cool,” he says, looking around. Miles as a lot of drawing stuff around, and a lot of posters of what Peter thinks are musicians but none look immediately familiar to him.

Peter tries to get a grasp on being animated while Miles inches a little closer to him, probably also trying to make sense of his weird animated body and wait, what’s his junk look like? Is that animated too?! Oh god, he can’t handle animated-

“Hey,” Miles says, settling a hand on his shoulder. He looks vaguely pained and a little confused.

“Um. Hey. Are you okay?” he asks.

“Miles just ask him out like a normal person, Aaron was am awful pick up artist,” Miles’ dad, Jeff, says from the doorway.

Miles looks immediately horrified. “Dad what the hell, you can’t just say totally untrue things like that!” he says.

Jeff looks nonplussed, “you want to go to dinner with him or no?” he asks Peter.

He shrugs, “yeah okay.” Might as well see what animated food taste like. He hopes it tastes like the way Ghibli movie food looks.

[stan-and-the-newbie]

A kpop newbie’s reaction to MAMAMOO

Alexa: bold

Alex: italic

today you’ll react to Mamamoo even though you technically already know them

i mean, i don't know all that much about them, really. so this should still be interesting

well, as before, first thing that comes to mind

should i do the top one or

they’re in the same order. we love consistent queens.

hmm... wheein? then uhhh, s-solar..? then moonbyul and of course my queen.

did you guess them or. you got two of them right !!

i did in fact guess them. oh. fuck it, i'll take it

hwasa and solar, m-my baby. the first one is moonbyul and the third one is wheein

i figured

and apparently this is their formation in every group photo ever

oh, good to know

so, the first one is moonbyul. how old do you think she is and what’s her personality

she's 23 or 24, and she's a lovable goofball

is she a singer or the rapper

f uc k uhhhuuhhhhh singer

smol baby child. yeah, she's born in 1992, so she's around that age in this photo i think. i’m not sure when it was released. she's the rapper in the group, so her image on stage is cool

i knew it was either her or solar, smh.  i remember it distinctively from that height song.

but irl she's greasy and flirts with everyone, tomboy-ish and probably gay idk

alright, so she's the cool one

yeah, she's also the tallest, staying proud at 165 cm

that image was misleading smh. she looks like a silly nerd in it/ are you trying to sabotage my score, miss <-<

i mean, she Is a silly nerd. she usually makes lives with solar and flirts with her all the time and gets herself some slaps on the arm. and she gay panics on stage every time hwasa is in her close vicinity. and she's known for having heart eyes every time a girl talks and she's also the Girl Crush of the entire industry lmao

first we had heart smile now we have heart eyes soon enough you'll be describing a monster from soma. a walking blob made of exposed, beating hearts.

oH SHUT UP

*then i showed him the Wonderful Confession Immortal Songs performance*

that middle aged lady fangirling after hwasa goes "look at me now" lmfao

sadfrghgfdsDFGHJK ME.

this is fokin great. i just got to the rap part. fam they're genuinely talented don't @ me

mamamoo are known for making every show their concert lmao

pff. it do be like that, and i wouldn't have it any other way. a bunch of girl dancers suddenly appeared and i thought my vision was going blurry and i was seeing double. anyway, the rap works surprisingly well, considering the general tone of the song.

moonbyul also has two tattoos. i don’t know what one of them says, i think its just her family portrait.

w h o l e s o m e

but the other one says “N'oublie pas de t'aimer”

alrighty my grill next up is your bias

give her an age

i'll say 24. and she's a singer

she is 27 :)

oof, can you really blame me tho

i can’t. she has an actual baby face. what’s her personality?

i imagine she's sweet and soft, but can be jokingly sassy and teases the others sometimes

oof, she wishes. she’s the oldest, and the leader, but the other members always bulli her. she’s the mom friend though, and the best at english, even tho her english isn’t all that good anyway sdfghds. and shes a complete goofball

awh ;; is she the short one, then?

nop, shes the second tallest

wait hold up how can the leader be the one who gets bullied this doesn't add up

*then i showed him this marvellous video*

2 seconds in and i've seen enough

*then i showed him the Passion Flower Immortal Songs performance*

solar doesn't have any tattoo but she's scared of bugs so there's that

wholesome. she's a quality idol i like her. this song is dope yo.

the one wearing a hat there is wheein

the wheeout puns are overwhelming ngl

,,,,,,,,,,they fucking are. once u wheein u cant wheeout. she's the same age as hwasa, but a few months older, so hwasa is considered the actual "maknae" (which means youngest member

that much i know. mainly because i googled it a while ago

and here's wheein with short hair cuz fuck yeah

whats her personality?

she's uhh the Short One (tm)

yes, that too. she is Evil

idk, she seems like a sassy singer, but that's just a shallow impression. does she tease the other members a lot, or..  <<

tbh, she is pretty sassy. she's also very carefree and a derp. but she does tease the other members a lot and laughs when something funny and unfortunate happens to them. she's been friends with hwasa since middle school, and they have a couple tattoo

ooh, noice

on their ankle, they both have "resonance"

i've seen a picture of that somewhere, if i recall..

she has two other tattoos. one she drew herself, and one that says "la vie est courte l'art est long"

what's with the french affiliation. should i be learning french instead of korean?

probably.

*i showed him that infamous “mamamoo sold their friendship for ice cream” video*

"hyejin-ah, you know your thighs are the size of your face, right?" i told you, wheein is evil

c r i t i c a l   h i t

hwasa :) what do you think her personality is like lmao

she's the serious one (sarcastic humor <<3), the lead rapper but also sings (i noticed this by watching some performances)(edited)i also know that she cooks for them, so extra mom friend points there and she's very independent, but also warm 

omf u really are whipped for her

<-<;;;

apparently she really likes beyonce, so some fans call her ahn-yance

yep, shes also a big rihanna fan, and work is her hoe anthem

that's dumb, on one hand because it kinda sounds like "annoyance", and on the other because bey-ahn-ce is a much better pun. i would perform umbrella for her like tom holland, don't @ me

oh, also, hwasa has four tattoos. the "resonance" one, one on the back of her neck, with "maria", her christian name, cuz she is Holy

oh shiet. that name fits her well actually ;;

one on her arm saying “Paradise is where you are”

if she's in your immediate vicinity, then obviously

and one right above that one, that’s a triquetra

mamamoo are well known in korea, and most of their fans are girls!! i think theyre the group that appeals the most to girls there actually

oh, that's interesting

and here are some songs

*i showed him “Words don’t come easy”*

this is what we call  s m o o t h   g u i t a r. and that sexy sax, oh boye (and here is where alex’s inner Shiverbert Creepstein came out, god bless, the only writer i stan) this one's really nice, i'd love to listen to it in a cafe. there's this really nice mental image that you'll never achieve, but it's nice to think of anyway. just sitting alone in the corner of a dimly-lit cafe, watching the performers on the stage sing as you down another shot, people taking quick glances in your direction and wondering what it is you're thinking about, when in fact you're just listening to the music mix in with the raindrops hitting against the windows. i got carried away, oof

o damn, mister shiverbert

<-< hey, nobody clapped

its a nice lil image, though

anyway, that was a great song

*and here i showed him “Decalcomanie”*

oh, this one's more i n t e n s e. the translated lyrics without any rhyme sound like some sort of strange poem

i know;;

noh-noh is apparently knock knock. the vocals are fokin great

:(((((( stop slandering them, theyre trying

i'm not roasting them, i just find it cute ;;that was a nice song. in fact- (he pinned it)

so, last thoughts on mamamoo?

god bless them best kpop idols out there hwasa please sit on my face

amazing

ayy, that was this week’s reaction!! alex was actually more excited this time because it’s his ultimate bias’ band

there are some things i (alexa, cuz alex never edits these posts) didn’t mention, im sorry if i missed anything important;; i decided to focus more on what alex thinks and says this time, rather than ramble about stuff y’all already know

i hope y’all enjoyed this reaction and if you want, you can leave suggestions!! buh-bye~ ^ω^

[burberrycanary]

Jughead is watching the familiar bounce ...He watches as the image of Betty reflected in the mirror puts on red lipstick. In the softly lit room, the color glows like neon lights shining off wet pavement.

Funny enough, these lines were part of the first section I wrote for Like Tiger Stripes—the original nub of a concept that involved two connected ideas that drove the creation of this story: Jughead watching Betty’s reflection as she put on this lipstick, seeing the process of identity creation happen, and then Betty kissing him while wearing it, smearing the lipstick on his mouth in a reclamation of how exploring her sexuality originally made Betty feel powerful and which ultimately makes Jughead into her mirror.

DVD Commentary: The Backstory

I’ve always loved the scene in 1.03 where Alice wipes the lipstick off Betty’s face. Portraying Alice and Betty’s fucked up dynamic is one of my guilty pleasures as a writer. While Alice hasn’t actually shown up in any of my Riverdale fic, she often is included as this looming presence circling the edges of the story.

There is so much to unpack in this confrontation scene between Alice and Betty, which is all told through a few broad strokes of highly-commercial melodrama, right down to that awkward, knowing product placement. Riverdale has these compelling moments where all its strange pieces and tonal oddities sync up. This scene is one of those moments where the trashy, stylized, layered, compelling registers of the show click together into a scene that may still be a trainwreck on some level, but the end result is mesmerizing to me and much more thoughtful than this genre of show needs to be.

I still get creeped-out chills whenever I rewatch this one. I love the power struggle between Betty and Alice. I love Betty challenging her passive-demure-obedient identity by trying on this highly sexualized element from the absent Polly. On a rewatch, it’s even better because we know that Polly is in the midst of a whole bundle of classic narrative punishments for a girl who steps out of line. That’s to say: knocked up and banished to the modern equivalent of a convent. Riverdale is not afraid to bust out a throwback trope.

Betty says this lipstick makes her feel powerful. In response, Alice makes the infantilizing gesture of wiping her face, which is designed to humiliate Betty and make her feel powerless. This unwanted action is a violation, a loss of agency and psychologically violent, though the only mark left on Betty afterwards is that smeared out lipstick. As a final kicker, Alice frames her controlling, abusive behavior in terms of care and concern. In the archetypical justification of an abuser: I’m doing this because I love you.

This trauma cascades into the further trauma of the pool house scene with Chuck, which climaxes in a tearing moment of loss of identity. Losing all control and even her sense of self leaves Betty with even less agency than when her mom smeared that lipstick out over her face. This outcome is in tension with how Betty originally says putting on this lipsticks makes her feel powerful.

By the end of 1.03, this red lipstick is an overloaded symbol. As far as we see, Betty goes into total denial at the end of the episode and doesn’t attempt to engage with what happened between 1.03 and the humiliating public reveal in 1.10. The diner scene in 1.10 is beautiful but short and bundles all these issues into the vague “crazy things” Betty does because of some “darkness.”

We never see Betty process any of this, so I was interested in Betty engaging with this trauma and exploring her identity in a safer, more constructive context. And Betty’s safe space in season one becomes Jughead. 

DVD Commentary: The Scene

Jughead is watching the familiar bounce and swing of her ponytail, which is why he notices the way she goes still, hand partway dropped from twisting on the lamp.

The main goal of this first sentence was to solve the nuts-and-bolts writing issue of explaining why Jughead notices how Betty pauses and picks up the lipstick from across the room. This is a tight POV story, so everything gets filtered through Jughead. We notice what he notices, which means he has to be paying attention to Betty at this moment when she sees the lipstick has been left out.

In good news, getting Jughead to focus on Betty isn’t a problem, because that’s about the only thing he’s able to focus on throughout this entire story. Jughead is at that stage of infatuation where he focuses on small details of how Betty goes around the room turning on lights. The boy has it bad.

The swinging ponytail is one of the most iconic Betty Cooper visual elements. I drew attention to it here to symbolically reinforce that Betty is taking her subsequent actions as part of exploring out from her current identity and not as another traumatic break to a completely different (Dark!Betty) persona.

The freeze-frame pause drags out until, with a distorted slowness, she picks up a tube of lipstick that’s been left upright and dead-center on the otherwise clear surface. Betty stares down at the lipstick in her hand and then at herself in one of the angled mirrors. She squares her shoulders and pulls the top off.

In this story, Alice cleans Betty’s room as a gesture of dominance and paranoid control, and Betty is helpless against these violations of her privacy. Noticing that Betty still has Seduce Scarlet, Alice leaves the lipstick out like this to convey disapproval and a warning. With Jughead now in the picture as her boyfriend, the battle-lines have shifted way beyond what color lipstick Betty wears. Here Alice thinks she is sending the message: You don’t want to end up like your sister now, do you?

But, to Betty, Seduce Scarlet is a much more complicated, overloaded symbol than that. Betty picking up the lipstick here is the moment when she decides to confront this symbol and through it attempt to engage with all these underlying pressures and traumas. I included “freeze-frame” to describe this pause because I like Jughead’s love of films being a cinematic lens that colors how he interprets the world around him. 

I tend to write Jughead as having some problems with hyper-vigilance like a lot of traumatized kids who have been accidentally trained by life to pick up on small shifts in mood in the people around him. I used  “distorted slowness” and “dead-center” to signal that Jughead subconsciously picks up on there being something off about the situation and Betty’s reaction, even if he lacks the backstory needed to understand what’s going on.

He watches as the image of Betty reflected in the mirror puts on red lipstick. In the softly lit room, the color glows like neon lights shining off wet pavement.

Jughead watching Betty put on this lipstick was the very first image that inspired this story. I was drawn to the combination of sexiness and intimacy of watching and being watched. When I originally was imagining this scene, I didn’t know when this was set or where Betty and Jughead would be, but on some level the entire rest of this story exists to land this moment: the reader picturing Jughead watching Betty’s reflection as she applies this lipstick. I liked the layered effect of all these lines of sight and how this is a nod to some of the interesting ways that season one used mirrors when framing shots. 

My original phrasing was: “He watches as the Betty in the mirror put on red lipstick.”

I edited this to “the image of Betty reflected in the mirror” for clarity and thematic consistency. The original version emphasized the otherness of the reflection in the mirror and how exploring your identity involves experimenting with separate versions of yourself. However, the final phrasing better conveys how all of this is Betty: whip-smart and hardworking (“penciling out neat fast lines of equations punctuated by the emphatic boxes she draws around her final answers”) with her pink room and pink cardigan, her decorative pillows and good posture. But Betty is also this girl with neon traffic-cone-orange toenail polish (a color of accidents and warnings somewhere that isn’t publically visible), who sees the dark humor in Jughead’s joke about averaging out their oppositely messed up parents and who understands how his sarcasm in response to her idea of a decoy diary (“Dear Diary. Today I was in all respects a model Cooper.”) is his slightly messed up way of conveying that he gets that her family puts a lot of pressures and expectations on her.

But this tiny difference in phrasing (“the Betty in the mirror” or “the image of Betty reflected in the mirror”) was the change during editing I most agonized over. For days. Ah, writing.

The last image in the paragraph—”neon lights shining off wet pavement”—is one of the few similes in the story. I wanted Jughead to respond to the lurid, sexualized quality of the red lipstick. But in the show, neon lights are canonically tied to Pop’s (“Those bright neon lights of Pop’s,” as Jughead narrates at the end of 1.02 when the four of them are all sitting together in a booth for the first time). And Pop’s is (or at least was) a safe and welcoming place, the one place in town that’s available 24/7 for kids like Betty and Jughead who each, in their separate ways, have such stressful, damaging, unsecure home lives. And, not going to lie, I just loved the look of this imagery. That dark, glossy, beautiful-danger aesthetic of neon lights reflecting off wet streets at night has always done it for me. But then I also love Riverdale for its look.

Jughead watches Betty in this scene and sees a complex, beautiful interplay of light and dark. He’s drawn to the sexualized quality of Betty like this while subconsciously being reminded of the only safe, warm, always welcoming place he’s got.

And that’s how I like to write Jughead Jones: flailing traumatized mess in way over his head, but a diehard romantic who’s crazy about Betty as the strange, complicated, kind-but-dangerous person she actually is.

Read Like Tiger Stripes on AO3 or Ask me about a fic

[tessatechaitea]

Dark Days: The Forge #1

Sometimes when I see John Romita Jr. artwork, I think, "What did I ever have against Rob Liefeld?!"

Hawkman's final journal? Hooray! Go to hell, you stupid prick! And I thought these were going to be dark days!

Does anybody else find it weird that Carter Hall records his journal on Swiss cheese? Many years ago (I guess? There's no time stamp on the opening scene!), Carter Hall recorded the crashing of a spaceship on his lunch. But since he didn't know the word "spaceship," he wrote "sign written in metal." That will probably be important later but for now, it's time to move the story into the present. And where better to begin an adventure story than The Bermuda Triangle! Wait. I should rephrase that. "Where better to begin an adventure story in the 1970s than The Bermuda Triangle!" Oh boy! Eight year old me just came in his pants! I mean if that were possible. Nothing but pee would be coming out of there for at least another five years.

You know you can read and reread the data once you get somewhere safe? Or did you not save your data to the cloud? Idiot. You should use both terrestrial and cloud backups!

That scientist sounds like me in high school after first hearing Mr. Crowley: "There's something in the metal!" Batman rescues the scientist whose name is Dr. Madison (MADISOOOOOON!). Batman tells Dr. Madison that the only to safety is back through the volcano. Batman: "The only way out is in!" Dr. Madison: "Does that actually make sense? I don't think that makes sense." Batman: "If we don't go back through the lava, we'll be covered in lava!" Dr. Madison: "Do you ever listen to yourself speak?" Batman: "Outside will also have flying debris! Inside is just, um, you know! Liquid hotness!" Dr. Madison: "You mean lava?" Batman: "If you want to get technical about it! Now get in my Liquid Hotness Proof Bat-mech (trademark and action figure pending!), sit on my lap, and don't ask me if that's a bat-grapple in my pocket or if I'm happy to see you! I'm never happy!"

So they had to go back through the lava to get to the ocean? Batman does know Dr. Madison was standing in front of a window overlooking the water, right? How was just crashing through that not an option? Especially since Batman loves crashing through panes of glass!

Whenever an editor tells Scott Snyder to make something more exciting, he should just say, "Shut. Up!" Aquaman helps with the rescue and then he and Batman get into an argument about who's keeping bigger secrets. Batman probably wins that one because even if Aquaman had some really juicy secrets to tell, I'd never remain interested long enough to hear them. I'm already bored with this paragraph because I had to type "Aquaman" three times. Apparently the Blackhawks have some super secret covert black ops shit going on again. Remember how they returned in All Star Batman? Oh, you got tired of reading that series too? Well, believe me. They returned there. Meanwhile on Mogo, Cornelius the Guardian wants Hal to do something seedy to him.

"Don't tell Guy! I just got him to stop calling me gay!"

Oh sorry. His name is Ganthet. I must be thinking of Roddy McDowall's character from Scavenger Hunt. Speaking of Scavenger Hunt, I caught an episode of Family Ties the other day when some actor walked on and I was all, "Hey! That's short sleeves, checkered shirt, black sneakers!" Plus his son in the episode was Chunk from The Goonies. Should I mark irrelevant passages like these with asterisks?!

Ganthet having once asked Hal to jerk him off is now canon.

Once again, everybody in the universe is gossiping about how Earth is going to destroy the universe. If only the Justice League would stop saving it already! Just let somebody destroy Earth for the greater good, you hypocrites! Ganthet has pinpointed the threat to the universe in the Batcave so Hal Jordan decides to go invade it and not radio Batman saying, "Hey, buddy. I've got a possible issue that maybe you can help out with. Let's meet up in the Batcave." Instead he decides to sneak in and start going through Batman's things. I get it. It's the only way to ensure that a couple of heroes fight so all the fangenders can lose their shit over it. This part was probably Tynion's idea. "Hey! You know what I've read in comic books about five thousand times? That part where two heroes fight over a misunderstanding! Can we add that scene?!" And Scott Snyder snorts and wakes up and is all, "What? Whatever. Just write the script already! If I wanted to write it, I wouldn't have purchased you from your parents!" Anyway, Batman isn't home so Hal has to fight Meadowlark. You know, Not-Robin. Duke!

What is Duke reading to get his Green Lantern information? The Who's Who books from the mid-80s? That's where I get all of my information too!

Is Green Lantern just fucking with Duke or is there something about the yellow flaw that I don't know about? I thought it was completely gone. Is this Snyder and Tynion trying to backdoor the flaw back into the ring but only if the person using the ring is inexperienced and stupid? In the next panel, Hal Jordan says, "It's good to see Batman's still recruiting teenagers." Hey man. You better be careful with statements like that. At least he's not, you know, fucking them. Duke Thomas admits to not having a code name yet. That's adorable. All this fucking time and he still doesn't have one. Why can't Snyder just spit one out already? Waiting to find out his superhero name is like waiting for Sting to come in your mouth. Not that I'd know and not that it was the worst sixteen hours of my life. Meanwhile there's this place called The Campus underneath Philadelphia where The Immortal Men are headquartered. One of them is Immortal Man because of course it is. The other one is a guy in a robe with shaggy eyebrows that might be Carter Hall but I'm hoping is anybody else. Another one of their possible members would have been Elaine Thomas, Duke's mother. But she went crazy from Joker Toxin. They apparently know they need to save the world from something bad that's coming because it's always easier to tell a story about prophecy. It would be too hard to wedge these Immortal Men into the story if they didn't already know some huge Crisis was about to happen. So the guy in the robes isn't Hawkman because Hawkman gets the next scene. He's been having visions during the times between death and reincarnation. Whew! I thought he wouldn't have some secret inside information to get him right into this upcoming Crisis! In his vision, he sees a gigantic Batman statue with lots of people tied to its legs. I guess somebody is going to have to kill Batman before he becomes evil! After that scene, John Romita Jr. takes over on the art. I should probably snort some Ativan before continuing. Mister Terrific is helping Batman with the Mystery of the Dark Days. Hopefully they'll explain it in long, large word balloons that cover up most of the art. Something has been interfering with the harmonic frequencies of Earth-Main-Earth and Earth-2 (which I guess is back to its normal self? Or maybe Mister Terrific just got off before he wound up in that whole World's End mess? For some reason, I can't remember the story well enough to know if Mister Terrific was in any of it. Thank Jesus!) but neither Batman nor Mister Terrific know what's going on yet. To help them figure it out, Batman decides they must let Plastic Man out of his prison cell. They say they agreed to lock him up because he was too powerful but I think they just got sick of his stupid jokes. Back in the Batcave, Duke and Hal are investigating the Mystery of Batman Investigating the Mystery. It all started when somebody said, "That whole electrum in the tooth thing that resurrects the dead Talons is stupid! It's not scientific at all! Who comes up with such dumb shit?! DC Comics sucks!" Then Scott Snyder was all, "Wait! Wait! You haven't heard the whole tale of that! You shouldn't believe everything you see at first sight! You should wait for the second sight! Or maybe the third sight if everybody on Twitter complains about the second sight! But I don't think they will because this is going to be a huge Crisis! You'll love it!" So instead of electrum being in the teeth, Batman found a metal that shared the same energy signature as the helmet of fate, the quintdent of Aquaman, and the bracelets of Diana. To investigate this metallic mystery, Batman created a team that everybody forgot about. Everybody except me, of course!

Halo's costume is terrible. But Geoforce had better stay away from her anyway!

Duke has no idea who the wobbly speech bubble is. But that didn't stop him from saying, "Dick? Is that Dick? You know, Dick Grayson? Nightwing? Is that you?" So the metal is probably Nth Metal which would make it more believable that it was resurrecting the Talons. Because nobody is going to say, "Nth Metal can't do that!" I mean, they might. But they'd be wrong because Nth Metal isn't real and it can do whatever the fuck it needs to do when the writer needs it to do it. Although if it were Dionesium, nobody would say, "Dionesium can't do that!" Because that's exactly what it was made for! It's just that Nth Metal works better, plot-wise. Why would Aquaman's five-pronged trident have Dionesium in it? Deep in Batman's secret Batcave, Duke and Hal come to a door. Apparently the owner of the voice is behind it. I hope it's not The Joker. I hope it's Detective Chimp. I also hope it's revealed before this issue is over! Batman has also been keeping another secret in Superman's fortress. With the help of Mister Miracle, he unlocks the unopenable room it was stored in. It's a big yellow tower that Mister Miracle recognizes but I don't. Maybe it's Qwardian! It could also be something from Final Crisis which I've never read. Or something from an obscure 1967 Batman story. Or maybe it's something that, when it's explicitly named, I'll say, "Oh yeah. Fuck. I totally remember that thing now!" Anyway, I don't think it's important enough to reveal this issue. Because The Joker needs to be revealed in the Hal Jordan scene! Oh look! The Joker was the voice! What a surprise! Surprise! Are you surprised? Oh! You should also keep in mind how there were three Jokers, remember? That was a dumb bit that had to be thrown in so that Batman would say, "Impossible!", when he asked the Moebius Chair what the Joker's name was. Remember how that one guy on Tumblr got all pissy with me when I said they'd never reveal The Joker's name and how could I know that and I don't know what I'm talking about and all that shit? Fucking stupid kid. I didn't even get to say "I told you so!" to that kid when the reveal was that the Chair's answer was that there were three Jokers! Well, I'm doing it now! I fucking told you so, kid! So that's the end of Dark Days: The Forge! Maybe that thing Batman revealed was The Forge. I guess the next stop in this series is the event, Metal. It'll probably be about Dionesium and Nth Metal and how, when combined, everything is destroyed! What will this Crisis be called? Not just Crisis in Dark Days, right? How about Alchemical Crisis on Earths Starring Plastic Man?

[babybluebanshee]

On Stormer and Curvy Barbie

So I read the Jem: the Misfits comics. And the second issue got me thinking about growing up as a fat kid.

Long post. Strap in, kiddos. Auntie has a lot on her ample chest.

I’ve always been fat. I’ll admit it. I haven’t been under 100 lbs. since I was twelve. I have flabby tits. My upper arms are all jiggly. I have love handles. My thick thighs save lives.

From the ages of twelve to about eighteen, I fucking hated myself.

My favorite heroines weren’t fat. Wonder Woman was buff as fuck. Nancy Drew had always been described as pretty, strawberry blond, and, above all, thin. Sailor Moon could eat whatever she wanted and never lose her figure. Fat girls weren’t heroes.

I struggled in gym class, especially when we had to change in the seventh grade. The boys laughed from the other side of the gym when I did jumping jacks because my boobs bounced, and not in a sexy way. Once, when we played wiffle ball, I panicked when a ball came toward me and kicked it instead of catching it. An older, more athletic girl - who had the coach wrapped around her finger because she was the star volleyball player - screamed at me and called me a fat idiot. The coach didn’t do anything.

I didn’t care what she thought. It wasn’t any worse than what I already told myself.

My family knew I struggled with my weight and my self-image. My mom actually gave into my demand to buy exercise equipment at yard sales so I could try to lose weight. My aunt thought “oh honey you’ve lost weight” was the highest compliment she could pay me, all with a snide glance over at her own thin, beautiful daughter who could have been a dead-ringer for the previously mentioned Nancy Drew.

The only person who never seemed to care was my grandma. She died last week, and I still remember her defending me when my sister said something snotty about me having another cookie or an extra helping of mashed potatoes and pork loin. “She’s a growing girl,” she’d say. “How’s she supposed to grow into a beautiful woman if she starves herself?” Grandma Doris was pretty much the only thing that kept me from too much self-loathing. I’d rail against myself on really bad days, tell myself I was lazy and worthless and ugly, but she grounded me. “This is the body you were given,” she told me. “And I wouldn’t want you any other way.” It’s really funny, because as shitty as I’ve mentioned my eating habits were and pretty much always have been, I don’t think I ever ate healthier than when I was at her house. Fresh veggies from her garden, perfect cuts of meat with no fat, lots of juice - I never felt like I was being pressured to eat better with her. I just did because I wanted to.

I think I finally started overcoming my disgust with my body when I graduated high school, maybe a little sooner. I’m not really sure what happened to bring about the change in my attitude. I wish I could tell you, so other kids who grew up the same way could have something to look forward to, that inspirational epiphany that lets you blossom like the earth goddess you are. But I don’t think it was one thing. Anticlimactic, I know.

A lot of it, I think, had to do with me just getting fucking sick of fast food. My sister was working the night shift at the hospital while working on her nursing degree, so she was getting a lot of McDonald’s and Burger King. This is where those dreadful teenage eating habits came from. Thanks for nothing, Lacey. I love you, but you suck, you wonderful she-devil. Though I can’t really blame her entirely. My mindset was, at the time, that that was just what fat girls did. We are shittons of grease. Besides, it felt good. I was doing something when I ate, instead of just feeling bored and angry. Then one day I looked down at my cheeseburger and thought, “I don’t feel good doing this anymore.”

So I started searching for other ways to feel good. What I found was helpful.

I went to Europe, and met the future love of my life, though that would take a while to fully come to be. Community college happened, and I started finding other stuff to concentrate on. My love of literary analysis started rearing its ugly head. I discovered Skulduggery Pleasant. I read books like Size 12 Is Not Fat and Artichoke’s Heart (both amazing reads by the way). I changed my major three times. I went to a liberal arts college full of gays and hippies. I joined a feminist collective. The woman who started out as my best friend became the woman I love, who is also my best friend.

I started getting comfortable.

Throughout all this, I never really changed my eating or exercising habits. I mean, more salads and fresh fruit and treadmills and long walks happened, but that’s about it. No gym memberships or dieting. The last time I weighed myself (sometime last year), I was at 215 lbs. And I’ve started wearing tights and sleeveless dresses and tank tops and shorts. Things I haven’t worn since I was very small. Things I never thought I’d have the courage to wear ever again.

I still hear the mean comments. There are people who “worry” for my physical health. People who sneer whether they see me wear a pretty sundress that exposes my meringue arms or my nastiest, oldest sweats. You can’t please everyone. But that’s the beauty of this life. A wise man once said, “Those who mind, don’t matter, and those who matter, don’t mind.”

Which brings me to the two things that got me to write this long winded thing. When I first saw the curvy Barbie, I was in a Target with Shae. I nearly started crying. I had never seen a Barbie that looked like me. After all those years of feeling so ugly, my body was a Barbie.

And then I read the Jem comics. With Stormer being pressured to diet for “character development”. Watching her endure the same things I’d endured all my young life. Seeing her so plainly say that she wasn’t going to do any of this just to please a viewing public. It resonates with me, down to the very core of my being.

I don’t give a fuck what other people think of me, but nowadays, it’s not because I’m busy tearing myself down. It’s because I know I’m beautiful in whatever way I choose to present myself. I worked too hard for too long to get here for some dipshit that thinks rolls are gross to tell me otherwise.

It’s the same for everyone. If you grew up fat and want to change, that’s fine. Fat isn’t for everyone. If you want to change, though, do it for yourself. Do it because you have the power to be whoever you want, in whatever way you want.

And, to all my girls struggling with any of this now, never, for even one second, think that you are not a fabulous earth goddess that deserves fresh roses and gourmet chocolates every day. Your hips are mighty hips. You’re soft as the sea. You are as strong as a mountain. You are as beautiful as life itself.

[summersnowdrops]

GOT7 Flight Log: Turbulence in LA Recap

So where do I even start because this honestly was a really really good experience

So first off, for the first time in all the concerts I’ve been to, there was no security check? Which was great because we actually all got into the venue and our seats within 10 minutes max of being in line! But at the same time I feel like it could be potentially dangerous because you never know what might happen. 

So I got into the venue pretty early so I went to go find where my seat was and then went to go wait in the insane bathroom line so I wouldn’t have to go during the actual fm. While I was waiting in line, this girl in front of me asked if we were allowed to bring in water bottles because she thought we weren’t allowed to and was super thirsty so I offered her some of mine and she thanked to me and told me papa tuan had arrived outside and was taking pics with people outside but I was already inside so I couldn’t go back outside.

But anyways so after the bathroom I went back into the venue and as I was entering I heard all these screams and people waving and a mob in my aisle and thought got7 was here but there was mob so I couldn’t see. I went to sit down and asked the girls next to me what happened (I was sitting second from the aisle on the right) and they told me that Papa Tuan was actually sitting right across the aisle from us, hence the huge mob. The whole two rows were full of Mark’s family and they were sooo nice and sweet and patient even when hordes of fans were asking for a picture with them. Eventually a security guard had to step in and literally stand in front of Mark’s dad and physically prevent people from asking him for pictures. The whole time he was super nice to the fans and indulged them and it was also really cute because they received a lot of goodie bags and gifts from fans and also had a light up board for Mark that had ‘Tuan” on it in Chinese. We (the girl sitting next to me that I made friends with) also wanted to go up and ask for a picture but didn’t want to be annoying or rude and crowd them too so we held ourselves back haha. But we did get a picture at the end and Mark’s dad was so nice he even asked if we wanted to take a video which we did but neither of us were prepared for a video so it’s really just a super awk video of us smiling in the camera for 5 seconds haha. I really wanted to say something to them but I blanked and also my Mandarin isn’t good enough to say anything substantial unfortunately.

But moving on to the fanmeet itself, IT WAS SO GREAT. I think they performed like 5 songs - Hard Carry at the end, Just Right, Prove It, Boomx3 (Jinyoung asked Double Bam to introduce the song lol), Fly (THIS WAS SO GOOD LIVE), and other songs which I totally blanked on, also I think No Jam ?? also maybe home run?

But in between they had like a Q&A questions with questions from fans written on post-its and each member picked one.

The first one was Jackson’s question and it was for all the members - “What is your ideal type?”

He made Yugyeom go first lol the poor baby who says his type was a cutie sexy igot7 I think, and bam bam says his was similar, mark says his was igot7, jaebum said he has none, jinyoung was like ‘just one word. you!’, and youngjae pointed at a girl in the crowd and said you and she cried and the mcs were like dude you made her cry and yj was like half laughing but also felt bad so he told her not to cry which tbh I’m sure made her cry more hahaha. But jackson said his ideal type was a girl who only loves him because ‘you can’t share girls you know???’ and said he’d see those who were interested after the show. Most of the members tried to speak in English most of the time which I appreciate but I could see them struggling but still trying which was super cute. 

They also asked for their favorite disney movies to which jinyoung answered toy story and mark said storks? and also dumbo I think which is really a great movie I am also a fan. And Jaebum really likes La La Land and the members made fun of him saying he also knew the OST lol and they made him sing a couple lines from it.

Jinyoung’s question was his first impression of the members lol and he said he first impression of jackson was that he was a hk actor lol, mark was darker than he is now, youngjae was really cute, bambam was TINY like 3 ft tall and jackson being jackson was like no like THIS tall and gestured like 1 ft above the ground and eventually got on the ground pretending to look for bambam cus he was so small haha. jaebum he said he knew jaebum for 7 years and he used to be more quiet and stuff and yugyeom he thought was older than him lol. 

Jaebum’s question was what inspires him when he writes/makes music I think and he said that like it comes from his imagination but also the fact that people are listening to what he creates gives him the motivation and moves him to keep doing it and thanked us for being the reason (he said it almost all in korean and mumbled a lot so sorry if I missed something).

There was also a question to JB about why he likes or what he likes most about RnB and he said he liked that the beat isn’t that strong but chill so he can jam and also he just likes it lol.

It was a little awk because some of the members picked questions directed towards other members but it all worked out so it was okay.

There was also a question asking for bambam and yugyeom to do juju on that beat and they did and it was so cute and everyone went crazy.

After they did another song and then was the game time !! They passed out raffle tickets when you first came in and drew them and if you won you would be paired with a member for a game of like korean hacky sack they called it and I guess there were two rolls of tickets they used - one started with 264 or 294 and another roll started with 918 (my type) and obv no one shuffled the tickets or mixed them because 6/7 members picked a ticket starting with 2 and I died because why why why did no one shuffle but jackson got a 918 at the end and was confused and asked if all the tickets were supposed to start with 2 because his didn’t and he was confused and half the place screamed because FINALLY we had a chance which I guess jackson took as a cue that nope there was nothing wrong with the ticket. obv I didn’t get to go on stage but tbh with only 1/7 even picking a 918 ticket, I literally had probably a 1/600 chance so yeah.

But anyways while the fans who got picked were lining up, got7 played the guess the song game and were very into it but also very bad lol. jinyoung like gave up halfway and put his head on top of the speaker to hear better but i was like woah kid calm down are you trying to go deaf please be careful. but eventually even the mc felt bad for him and gave him a chance and i think (?) whispered the answer to Jinyoung but he either didn’t hear it or what because he still answered wrong lol and was like he (the mc) told me! youngjae was very good at this game and jackson and everyone else was a mess lol. and bambam had the most dramatic baaaaaaammmm when he wanted to answer. the punishment if you got the answer wrong was to to ahgase (basically a baby bird squat thingy and flap their arms it was so cute) 

next was the fan game where they had to hacky sack and everyone introduced their partners and asked their favorite song and bambam called his partner noona after he found out her age and jackson was really happy because his partner was from china but also lw salty because her bias was jinyoung haha everyone was kinda bad at this besides jinyoung and his partner who got like 15?? and everyone was like woaahhh and they had really good chemi and did like a little pose and when he asked what her favorite song was he whispered to her so she said her favorite song was his song lol. and youngjae’s asked her age and she answered who’s that and he was like wait what oh okay what’s your favorite song and she said who’s that and he was like YOU DON’T LIKE REWIND?????? but anyways mark ending up beating jinyoung and his partner and was so happy he hugged his partner and picked her up (she was this small cute girl with light up green shoes) and everyone SCREAMED lol. jaebum’s partner got one and he was like YES to be supportive and then he got one lol and was like YES to save face it was great. bambam let his partner go first and was like ‘my queen go first’ and i died it was so cheesy and yugyeon went last and accidentally hit his partner with the thing they were kicking and she played along and pretended to fall down and he fell down and they hugged after and it was so cute she was nice and funny.

Hmm after this I don’t really remember what else happened besides more songs during which I screamed my lungs out and probably creeped out and annoyed the people next to me with my screaming. 

During the ending speeches, yugyeom thanked all the fans for their burning passion and love, bambam said la felt like a second home and really really liked it and would come back soon and cooler and shock us?? i forgot what jaebum said but mark spoke in english and said he really appreciated la fans because it was because of us that he could come back to see his family and said they counted on us every time they came to the us and maybe they would come back for kcon or some other time this year?? his family next to me cheered a lot during this and the crowd awww’ed a lot. i also don’t exactly remember what jinyoung said but i’m sure it was along the lines of thank you and i love you and we’ll be back soon. jackson also spoke in english and basically said happy new year and that haters will never be satisfied so to live doing what you like and what you want to do because it’s your life. and last but not least youngjae was the cutest little thing he thanked us and said la made him happy but also he was really happy because someone he really liked was here (elliot yamin) and the mc asked who it was and youngjae was like please turn on the lights where is he and the lights above the balcony turned on and everyone pointed to elliot yamina and sanjoy and their other friend and people screamed and the mc/members got youngjae to sing ‘wait for you’ to elliot yamin and it was so cute he was so happy. 

and then the members waved and left but there was an encore and everyone ran down to the stage for the encore and originally the security guard wouldn’t let people pass and was like physically pulling people back but eventually let us go and i found out later that mark’s dad was the one who walked up and asked the security guard to let us go but she said no and he said just let them go up and she let us go PAPA TUAN IS SO NICE HOW but anyways it was very squished and hot up front and a girl idk used me as an armrest to record ?? i didn’t even know her and another girl had her arm like pushing against my face and pushing my head out of the way trying to record. but the members were taking fan’s phones and taking selfies of themselves and members and the crowd and taking videos and i saw jaebum up close and jinyoung they’re so so goodlooking and yugyeom paid a lot of attention to our side of the stage and they sang no jam and it was so great. after the encore, i went back to my seat and we asked mark’s dad for a picture and he literally looked so HAPPY when we were the ones who were asking for a picture not him but he was so nice.

and then they asked everyone who wasn’t p1 or p2 to leave and checked wristbands and p1 went first with the group photo and it was so different from normal group photos where it’s like just the members standing and fans sitting and just a simple picture. everyone was back hugging or holding hands with the fans except jaebum the awk child who held thumbs up signs or made faces but literally did not touch the fans and i regret not doing p1 because it was just advertised as a group photo but literally the chairs are all in a line so as you leave the stage you also get a hitouch. but halfway through the staff realized their mistake and put staff members in between the chairs and got7 (who i am now gonna call gotsob (shout out to arandelly for this) because they make me sob with happiness/they’re so kind/goodlooking/talented/what is wrong with them sometimes)

anyways for the the hitouch my friend and i were originally really close the front of the line but we got so nervous because we didn’t know what to say to the members or even if we should say anything and who should we talk to so we stepped out of line to brainstorm and all of the sudden the members were gone and we were like what?? but then the mc was like people have been doing hitouch and getting back in line so we’re gonna figure it out and bring them back out after but if we catch another person doing that we will cancel the whole thing so during the wait the best thing i could think of was to tell jaebum i love him (typical but all i could think of) and jackson to come back soon in canto (because i personally get excited just hearing cantonese spoken at school (i got to ucla so its lot of koreans and not a lot of canto people so i imagined jackson would be even happier hearing canto because hk and he lives in korea) but they rearranged the order of members after they came back out (it used to be jaebum second from the front and jackson at the end of the line but now it was jackson first then jaebum right after) so i was too nervous to say anything to jackson because he was first and then it was jaebum but jackson was so nice and smiley and jaebum had a slight smile but still a little awk and youngjae was super super sunshiney so that made me less nervous and bambam was also very smiley and all the members made eye contact when you passed by which was really sweet and for yugyeom i had to reorient myself and look up because he was so tall and mark was like saying bye to everyone as they passed by and jinyoung was last but he didn’t really make eye contact because he was looking at the next person behind me so basically i highfived him while staring at his side profile lol and awk saying bye to all of them. there was actually enough time for me to say something to all the members but i had no idea what to say so i literally just stared at them and smiled as i walked by so i’m pretty sure they thought i was unenthusiastic and awk and gah i am ashamed

also one thing I noticed was jaebum kept putting on his hood during the songs??? I’m not sure if it was too bright or he was trying to focus or the lights hurt his eyes?? or if that’s what he normally does?? It was the first time I’ve seen him do that so I wasn’t sure. Like i understand people put up their hoods when they’re dancing but he just did it for like the whole song??? even fly which is kind of an upbeat song? 

also during the song game jaebum said his name really cute so everyone was making fun of him like jaebeom ! jaebom!

so that was basically my recap of the fanmeeting, hopefully it was slightly interesting??

[harliebooks]

Best of 2017!

via GIPHY So I've done it for the second time in a row.  I know.  But I just couldn't help it this year.  What's surprising is what IS NOT on the list.  I didn't read a lot of romantic suspense (at least for the blog) and only 3 books made the list.  A lot rom-com's made the list.  I needed to laugh this year and I did...a lot!  Some New Adult books made it, too.  Some debut authors, new to me authors and personal favorites.  Another surprise is that a paranormal didn't make the list at all. I don't want to get preachy this year but I'm not sure what is going to happen.  I'll still be blogging and reviewing.  But I probably won't be reviewing as much as I did.  Working as a substitute teacher is a full-time job for me now.  I work pretty much every day now and I love it.  Baseball season for Thad and Brian is going to start next month and let's not forget that we are going on a 7-day cruise during our Spring Break.  We can.not.wait either.  Cozumel, Jamacia, and the Grand Caymans here we come.  If you can believe this, it will be our first family vacation EVER.  No family, no friends.  Just the 3 of us. I did accomplish some things that most bloggers already knew how to do.  I'm old and a bit slow when it comes to being on trend.  This blog will be 10 years old in October and I couldn't be prouder of what I've done, the authors that have been on and the friendships that I have made just blogging.  That said, here goes to what I've learned:  Goodreads - I was challenged last year in Monica Murphy's group to sign up for the Reading Challenge.  I signed up to read only 50 books and ended up reading 87 books.  This year my goal is 75 books.   Hashtags - Still learning this but I'm getting more retweets because of them.  And followers.   Instagram/Pinterest - Still learning but I'm doing some Instagram only posts.  It's been fun and interesting all at the same time.   Learning to say no to me.  One of the hardest things a blogger/reviewer can learn.  I'm not Wonder Woman and I have a life outside of the publishing world.  I intend to keep it that way.   No matter what I say or do, I'll never be an author's assistant, work for a publisher, or make a buck writing.  Yes, after too many "no's", being laughed at and then told no way in hell, I decided to just forget about it.   In reference to #5, this is also why I won't be blogging as much as I have in the past.  I feel like, at times, that my blog is just a joke to some.  To me, it's not.  You try to do this for almost 10 years.  Sure, I don't have a posse of reviewers, authors beating down my door, networking at conventions/conferences but I think I do alright.   Its okay to review a book and post to Amazon, Goodreads, etc. and NOT the blog.  I've been doing that a lot lately and I love it.  No pressure to post to the blog because of scheduling. via GIPHY via GIPHY And I'm loving using Gifs! Here are my top 20 books for 2017 in no particular order.  Ethan's Daughter by Rachel Brimble.  I know, she makes my list every year but this book is bittersweet.  It's the second to last book of her excellent Templeton Cove series.  And yes, I have read book #8 and I cried a bit.  I can't believe the series is over but I know that my English Rose won't leave me hanging when it comes to her books.  But I will however still be in the corner trying to process it all.  (Contemporary, Harlequin, romance, series, sensual) Claimed by the Cyborg (Cy-Ops #5)  by Cara Bristol.  As I said in my review, why are you NOT reading this series?  It has alpha men, strong heroines, just enough sexy times and action/adventure.  Ms. Bristol doesn't dumb down the sci-fi to her readers and the plots are relatable.  (Romance, series, spicy, action/adventure, Sci-Fi) OH Henry (OHellNo series #2) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff.  I will admit that New Adult is finally growing on me.  The books that I have read last year are relatable, funny as hell, sexy and the characters just make sense.  I've told yall a million times.  My teens and 20's were a blast.  Maybe too much of a blast but my life isn't angsty like most books in this genre.  Ms. Pamfiloff just nails it with this series.  I can't wait to see what she has in store with book 3.  (Contemporary, New Adult, series, romance, funny, spicy) Why the Earl is After the Girl (Ways of Love #1) by Tabetha Waite.  Debut author.  Took a chance.  Glad that I did.  Loved this book.  I have read the second book in the series and waiting impatiently for the 3rd one.  You really need to check her out.  (Historical, romance, series, debut author, sensual) Mr. Dirty (a London Billionaire standalone) by Nana Malone.  Ms. Malone is fast becoming an auto-buy author for me.  She writes funny, sexy as hell, fast-paced books about characters that you really care about.  Plus, there is depth to the story and characters.  (Contemporary, romance, spicy, series)  His Baby Dilemma (Indian Shores novel) by Catherine Lanigan.  This is one author to watch out for.  She writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and I just can't get enough of her writing.  Her characters come to life for me and this book, in particular, is her best yet.  Yes, its sweet but trust me, you don't miss the sexy times.  (Contemporary, romance, Harlequin, series, sweet) Nudes (Exposed #1) by Sarah Robinson.  Her book Not A Hero made my list last year and she didn't disappoint me again.  Brilliant writing, engaging characters, and a plot that is on topic.  (Contemporary, series, romance, spicy) Girl Crush by Stephie Walls.  This book.  It was my favorite rom-com of the year.  I never laughed so hard at someone trying to bat for the same team because men just suck.  This one has stayed with me for a long time.  (Contemporary, romance, romantic comedy, spicy) Force & Enforce (The Force Duet) by Minx Malone and Nana Malone.  The only romantic suspense book to make the list this year.  I just so love this writing duo.  The Shameless duet was superb and my review of Deep is Monday.  Even though the books are duets, it centers around a security agency and the guys are just too hot, dirty talking, take no prisoners alphas.  Of course, the women are kick ass, too.  (Romantic Suspense, series, spicy) His Fake Alien Fiancee (Out of this World #2) by Patricia Eimer.  I challenged myself to read some sci-fi last year and let me tell I'm glad that I read this one.  It's relatable, it happens on earth and our heroine is just flat out funnier than hell.  It read more like a rom-com but the sci-fi is there in spades.  If you are looking for a hilarious sci-fi romance, pick this one up.  You won't be disappointed.  I will tell you that I haven't picked up the other books in the series.  I know, I suck.  (Sci-Fi, Romance, series, spicy, comedy) Christmas at Cade Ranch (Rocky Mountain Cowboys #1) by Karen Rock.  Another Harlequin Heartwarming by one of my all-time favorite authors.  Ms. Rock never disappoints and this series is no different.  And yes, I've read the second book in the series.  This series deals with real issues that most people face every day.  Plus, it has cowboys.  (Harlequin, contemporary, romance, series, sweet) Ruck Me (a Dublin Rugby romance #2) by Rebecca Norinne.  A new author to me and it's a New Adult.  OH.MY.GOSH.  Ireland, the accent, Rugby.  I was a goner before I even read a page.  This one deals with more real-life issues that people at this age experience and she doesn't gloss over it.  It could be considered over angsty but I fell in love with the characters and couldn't stop reading.  I've read the first book in the series and it was just as good.  Now I need #3.  Did I mention Ireland?  Pubs?  Rugby? (Contemporary, romance, New Adult, series, spicy) Leather Pants (Happy Pants Cafe #2) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff.  *swoon* This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be and I'm glad.  Ms. Mimi doesn't disappoint with her contemporaries and this series is perfection.  You will definitely fall in love with Mr. Leather Pants.  (Contemporary, romance, series, spicy) Forever (a Friends Novel #3) by Monica Murphy.  #CuddlewithTuttle  This series has all the feels of what a Young Adult novel should be.  Angsty, a swoon-worthy hero and heroine, the friends that you want to slap and I really felt like I was back in high school.  Ms. Murphy just nails it with this book.  She must have snuck into a high school and took notes, like Cameron Crowe because a lot of what she wrote, I experience as a substitute teacher at our high school.  (Contemporary, romance, series, Young Adult) The Billionaire in Her Bed by Regina Kyle.  An Indulgence title that didn't disappoint.  In fact, I kinda wish it were longer.  Ms. Kyle writes about a topic that is so newsworthy, relatable and being able to find the family that you were looking for.  Yes, these book is about rich people or the fact that come from money but she writes it in such a way, that money isn't the issue.  This was my first book from Ms. Kyle and won't be my last.  (Contemporary, spicy, romance) Meadow Shores series books 1-4 by Eva Charles.  Why are you NOT reading this series?  It's about grown-ups.  Yes, real grown-ups and how they relate to their jobs, their families and ultimately, their love partner.  One book sticks out to me and that's Petite Madeleine.  Drew and Cassie's story is a second chance romance that just hits all the buttons for me.  But of course, all the books hit the button but this one...it just stuck.  Oh and Ms. Charles is redoing the covers.  (Contemporary, romance, series, spicy) Reckless Need (Hearts Temptation novel) by Scarlett Scott.  A spicy, well written historical that I just couldn't put down.  This one dealt with a submissive man and a woman that just might be what he needs.  Yes, they are married, but their secrets almost consume them.  I loved the interaction between the other couples, too.  (Historical, spicy, series, romance, BDSM elements) In Walked Trouble (Under Covers @3) by Christina Elle.  Run. Don’t walk to get this book. Ms. Elle will surprise you with your dialogue, humor, action, pacing, and characters that you will become invested in that you will laugh and at times cry for them. Perfection in my book.  And it's only her SECOND BOOK.  And the grandmas.  Too much.  (Romantic Suspense, comedy, military, series, spicy) Blame it on the Bet (a Whiskey Sisters novel) by L.E. Rico.  Hennesey, Bailey, Walker, and Jamieson walked into a bar.  Oh wait, they own the bar and seriously, those are their names.  This book has all the feels for me.  It's character driven, the priest is hilarious, there are cats in costumes and Hennessey and Bryan are just too loveable but stubborn to ignore.  I can't wait to find out about the other sisters.  (Contemporary, romance, series, sweet) Undercover Attraction (the O'Malley's #5) by Katee Robert.  *thud*  This series.  Mafia and I don't read mafia romances.  But there is something about the O'Malley's that I just can't get enough of at this point.  This is a must-read for anyone that loves action-packed, hard loving, dirty talking men and the women that somewhat tame them.  And the covers are totally lickable.  Just saying.  (Romantic Suspense, spicy as hell, series) So there you have it.  I read more than 20 books but those are my top picks for last year.  I can't wait to see what 2018 brings me to read. If you are looking for me on Amazon, my reviewer name is Brian's Mom.  I know, not original but it works.  On Goodreads, it is Harlie Williams.

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[spencerthorpe]

Modern Heroes: George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg

Today’s modern heroes are George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg who lead one of the most highly regarded design firms in the world. Their work ranges across the commercial space (hotels, restaurants, retail and hospitality) to high-end homes and beautiful furniture. We caught up with them at the launch of their latest collections to learn about their process of creation and collaboration.

IDEALIST: How did you guys start working together?

George: Actually we met in school… in nursery school! We went to this four-year programme in Toronto and that’s where we met. Then a couple years later after we graduated we ran into each other on the street in New York. I hadn’t seen Glenn in years and that same day running into him we were both looking for studio space. Every place I saw, the rent was too expensive or it was too big, so we ended up sharing the space, but we both had our own ambitions.

Glenn: And then we started working on each other’s projects. 

George: We started helping each other with deadlines and then we thought, well who’s going to pay for that coffee and the cream in the fridge? I think sometimes when you don’t plan things they set up a synergy of their own… so that’s what happened.

IDEALIST: What are you showing today?

George: We’re showing this, which is the Blink Collection with Stellar Works and we’re showing a desk and vanity for Glass Italia.

The Blink Collection by Yabu Pushelberg for Stellar Works

The Blink collection includes a range of tables (coffee, side, dining) in round and oval form and in stone and dark wood finishes; a one, two and three seater sofa, a drinks cabinet, a console, vanity and various chairs. The look throughout is understated elegance (pink, grey, sable, dark wood) and luxury finishes). If you were to kit out a penthouse suite for laid-back cocktails, or late night drinks, this collection would set the scene perfectly.

The vanity and desk for Glass Italia both use beautiful curved glass to form the top and the legs of the tables. These are luxury minimalism at its best.

Vanity desk by Yabu Pushelberg for Glass Italia

George: This is one piece of glass: a flat piece of glass. We just did two cuts into it and then put it into the oven …

IDEALIST: How do you achieve the fold in it?

Glenn: I’m not telling you it’s a secret!

Glenn: We’re showing these simple pieces but then we’re planning this for a hotel. It can grow and grow into a system. It came from me doing glassware which we’re presenting at ICFF (North America’s largest series of design events for interiors) New York next month.

IDEALIST: Where did your ideas start from, as your work is quite eclectic?

George: Inspiration comes from all over. I find that sometimes you see things but they’re not really what you think you saw but then you look at that idea and think oh, that could be an interesting detail, for a chair leg for instance. It happens to me a lot. I think lately my eyes have been reversing themselves in my old age. The last six years my eyes have actually been improving. 

IDEALIST: When does that happen?

Glenn: I don’t know. I think he’s the only one.

George: I start seeing things because my contacts are too strong I start seeing weird things and that becomes a random source of inspiration!

George: If we’re doing a scheme for a hotel, we also have a way of coming up with a narrative: a fictional backstory based on the owners of the hotel, going back to their roots, the story of, say, a guy coming back from grad school to inherit his family’s land and building the property we are designing. We create these stories to help flesh out our style and our teams build on the script.

Glenn: For example, we might be working on a project for a relaxed hotel that has an English vibe to it, so the look and the flow need to be a certain way. It helps to add context.

IDEALIST: So, across your different ranges and collections, you must be working to different timelines. How do you deal with that? Is there a long gestation period?

George: Well, we like it short.  It’s funny we had a meeting with a good friend who’s the creative director of a major furniture firm and he was proud to have taken the process of designing a chair from seven years to four years… For us – it’s more like nine months. We have to get it done.

James Collection stool by Yabu Pushelberg for Stellar Works

George: We did this fold up stool for the James collection [a beautiful piece which while recalling the shape of fold out camp stools is finished in warm and tactile black metal, solid walnut and sable-tone matte leather.]. It took us nine months to figure it all out including the rubber bumpers and a new folding mechanism.

Glenn: Of course it went through rigorous engineering and testing, but it’s a new take on flat pack — and you don’t have to go looking for a screwdriver when you take it out!

George: We like to challenge convention. We had this idea where we had a competition in the office to draw spiritual beings, otherworldly beings within a Canadian setting.  Now, through this contest I said let’s make a family of these beings and then let’s design a series of vases, house furniture etc for them. So, this is our project for next year. I don’t know how we’re going to produce it or how we’re going to show it, but it’s going to be very interesting as usual and exotic. 

IDEALIST: What do you look for when you hire to your studio?

Glenn: Enthusiasm. It counts for a lot. 

George: But we also mould them. If people are there for the right reason, we’re interested in absorbing and understanding people’s challenges … and that’s why we’re also interested in teaching. Giving them history, background and coaching them is important — but if someone is very rational I’ll say, okay, let’s try something that’s non-rational and that keeps the energy going.

Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu

Glenn: It’s like throwing them a curveball to challenge their stability and see what happens. 

George: It’s a very collaborative process. How can we work fast, in detail and to high quality? That’s through teamwork: We’ll start with the inspiration and the notion, then turn it over to the team. We meet very often and everybody can critique the work, work on it, discuss it, refine it and once we get to the end, then we’ll go on to the factory. With Glass Italia, the first prototypes we saw weren’t quite right, so we sat down in the factory and drew it again … and ended up with this beautiful table.

IDEALIST: You work with such a range of different materials and a range of different manufacturers. It must be stressful maintaining the quality that you’re known for.

George: That’s the exciting part. We work with very dedicated and experienced manufacturers, but we like to challenge them and they need to be flexible.

IDEALIST: How do you maintain your vision across your different collections and materials?

Glenn: I think what we’re known for, our common thread, is a high level of detail and a high level of understanding proportions. 

The Blink Collection by Yabu Pushelberg for Stellar Works

IDEALIST: The finishes are all beautiful. That runs through everything.

George: Yes – with the tables of different heights, the easiest thing would be to raise the stem, but we didn’t do that. The legs of each different table are at different angles. That makes it much more interesting to look at.

Glenn: I’m interested in learning new things. We’re publishing a book series too. We found somebody who is a brilliant editor. The third book is the best of them yet. We’re excited because we’re learning how to publish books. The fourth one that we’re going to do we’re just brainstorming now it’s called Pretty Ugly or Ugly Sexy. It’s going to be about beauty.

George: If a building is too pretty then it can’t be that good. 

Glenn: But also, if something is on the verge of being ugly it’s actually at its most beautiful … and then there is that point where it turns into something else.

Here at The Idealist we can say that there’s nothing belle laide about anything in the Yabu Pushelberg collection right now. Their roster of high profile commercial clients and manufacturers attests to that. If you get chance to visit the ICFF at New York’s Javitt’s Center, don’t miss the chance to take a look at their collections. You never know — they may even tell you the secret of how they made that amazing glass desk!

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The post Modern Heroes: George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg appeared first on The Idealist.

from The Idealist https://www.theidealist.com/modern-heroes-yabu-pushelberg/ from The Idealist Magazine https://theidealistmagazine.tumblr.com/post/160082149183