#what’s amazing here is this is already a difficult shoot for him too but he still goes out of his way to make sure that yibo is safe

[accio-victuuri]

tony leung making sure that yibo is not hurt after their fight scenes 🤍 | hidden blade bts

[phas3d]

Famous!s/o Makes A Song About Him | Slytherin Boys

type :: fluff

tw/cw :: sexual hints (mattheo)

contains :: draco, tom, matt, theo, lorenzo

summary :: you're a rising pop star, similar to sabrina carpenter/olivia rodrigo and you dedicate a song to them

notes :: heavy inspo from @goldsainz and their writing for f1 drivers! i've been binge reading all of their stuff pls go read it :) they're lowkey inspiring me to make my own f1 page LMAOOOO

DRACO MALFOY "i know i have good judgement, i know i have good taste" - please please please by sabrina carpenter

He listens to the sing intensely, he's enjoying it but you can't read his face properly - thank god you were performing on stage so you couldn't look at his judgy face

But as you keep singing and poking jokes at him, he can't help but break his strong stare and chuckle. He hated admitting that you were funny, but goddamnit your fans just recorded him laughing and blushing

Once you finish performing, he smiles happily and cheers. He can't help but continue to laugh and shake his head from his own shock that YOU, the (y/n) who's famous, beautiful, and talented, is singing a song about HIM???

He'd never admit that all out loud, but you could read him so easily, you knew he was wrapped around your finger

Once your performance is over he greets you backstage with a smile that he's desperately trying to hide

"The song was a solid 8/10" he says as you scoff at him, you could tell he loved it and was too much of a wuss to admit it

And you were right, he has that song on REPEAT - he probably gave you like a million streams on his own

TOM RIDDLE "my baby, here on earth - showed me what my heart was worth" - my love mine all mine by mitski

When he first heard it, he's shocked that it's so somber and slow compared to your usual upbeat songs

He's even more shocked when he hears the lyrics and how simple yet impactful it is, it almost makes him blush

Tom has always been a sucker for poetry and music with simple instrumentals, so when you combined those both into this song he felt so loved

Once you finish performing it for the first time, he can't help but smile to himself, looking at the floor and putting his hand over his mouth to mask his happiness

When you finally come back stage, he walks up to you and hugs you tightly - despite PDA being literally vomit worthy for him

It surprises you so much, you weren't even aware you could have this impact on the cold-hearted Tom - but you did and you loved every second of it

Your song plays on repeat for him constantly, it reminds him that he's loved. He's never ever felt that in his entire life, even from his own brother

The song healed a small part of his deeply broken heart and soul, and he's so grateful for you to bring him even the slightest bit of joy, especially because he knows how difficult he is at times

MATTHEO RIDDLE "the boy is mine, i cant wait to try him, lets get intertwined" - the boy is mine by ariana grande

The second he hears the song and the lyrics, he's smirking and feeling so confident. The entire song is just basically flexing that he's yours - but he feels like he should be the one singing about you like this

Everything about the song is suited to match him perfectly, the beats, the sexual lyrics, even the choregraphy is amazing to him - it's like a perfect art piece just for him

Once you finish recording it, he's left dumbfounded and just smiling. It doesn't help that you send him a wink as well, making his already rapid heart beat even faster

After you finish the entire show, he can't get his hands off of you. He kisses you everywhere, does every command you ask of him, and drives you home at 100 mph

He wants to reward you :)

THEODORE NOTT "when i talk to you, oh cupid walks right through and shoots an arrow through my heart" - from the start by laufey

This song was basically a confession to him, which you hoped he wouldn't notice, but he did instantly and he loved every second of it

He had zero clue you had feelings for him, and vice versa. You guys were both known as the oblivious slow burn couple but you both were clueless to this rumor

Once you perform it live on stage, he decides to steal a random bouquet of flowers from a fan and run backstage to greet you

He gifts you the stolen flowers and smirks, "If you love me just say so," He says with a cocky grin on his face

Before you can tell him to shut up and stop stroking his ego, he leans down to your height and gives you a peck on the lips - making both of you blush

"Once you're done performing, how about we go on a little date" He says with a cute smile, making it impossible to say no

But he lied - that date was not "little" and instead one of the fanciest restaurants ever that he paid extra to play your entire debut album over and over for all the patrons to hear

He's your biggest fan ever and posts your song about him everywhere, literally fucking everyone god he can't stop

LORENZO BERKSHIRE "tangled in love, stuck by you from the glue" - glue song by beabadoobee

Oh my gosh he's already your biggest fan boy ever, so when you sing this song as a surprise gift for him - he's freaking out and shaking against the barriers

He bites his lip and smiles as you sing this cheesy love song about him - he's never had his ego been this inflated and he loves it

Once you finish singing, he screams and shouts so loud that even your die hard fans start to judge him

But he doesn't care and he runs backstage so fast you'd think he's the Flash. He waits backstage for you like an excited puppy waiting for their owner. You could almost see his tag wag from how bright his smile is

The second you walk off the stage, he hugs you tightly and covers you in a thousand kisses - your makeup artist won't be happy but you don't care

"Ohmygosh!!! I love it! I love you! You're so sweet! Ohmygosh!!! The hottest EVER just wrote a song about me!!! A happy little love song!!! Is that the song you've been practicing for so long? Why did you never tell me-" You laugh and shut him up with a kiss on the lips and then another one on his cheek - giving him a kiss lipstick mark on his face

He understands you need to go back and perform so he leaves

Oh, also he doesn't remove your kiss :) He keeps it there the wholeeee night

[fanfic-writer-and-rambler]

Adventures of the Batfamily- Tim has been kidnapped, Batman is fighting an imposter in same suit as him, and now Jason and Nightwing have to choose who is the real batman... this isn't going to end well.

Red hood: Why is the suit exactly the same as his?

Batman: Good costume store I imagine.

Imposter: Yeah, yours is! Faker! Shoot him!

Jason aims the gun at the real Batman, although he's figured it out already. He's just playing around.

Batman: Don’t shoot me.

Red Hood shrugs and moves the gun to the imposter.

Imposter: Kill him! He’s the fake!

Red Hood moves the gun back over as Nightwing facepalms.

Batman: You can’t seriously think that the imposter might be me! I wouldn't say kill him! Shoot him in the leg or something, yes, but not kill him.

Red Hood waves his gun at both men.

Red Hood: This is quite the conundrum. Which is which? Man, it is mighty difficult to figure this out. Whatever shall I do?

Nightwing: Don’t do this right now.

Red Hood, feigning confusion: It’s tough to… decipher which one is the real Batman. It’s so uncanny, I'm so frazzled!

Nightwing: What is wrong with you?

Red Hood, smirking: Holy stupid phrase you used to say, this is tough.

Nightwing, offended: That... that was uncalled for!

Red Robin tied on a hook hanging from the ceiling.

Red Robin: Oh God hurry up, my body is getting numb!

Red Hood: Hm... I could quiz them!

Batman: You’re enjoying this a little too much. I’ll get you later.

Imposter: Threats! I’d never threaten you! I'm the real Batman!

Red Hood cackles, knowing that's a big lie.

Red Hood: I am enjoying this a little.

Red Robin, kicking his legs: Would you hurry up! I have to go to the bathroom!

Red Hood: Hm… question, who do you care about the most? Me or this loser?

Red Hood points to an angry Nightwing.

Nightwing: You actually are an asshole right now. You know he's going to pick me! Why are you wasting his time?!

Batman, shaking his head: Oh we are not doing this... I'm not answering that because I don't have a favorite! I've said this numerous times!

Red Robin: You sure?!

Batman: Really Red Robin?

Red Robin: I'm trying to distract my bladder! It's me though, right?!

Batman, groaning: Shoot me, just to get me out of this conversation.

Imposter: He's tricking you again! Shoot him!

Red Hood, being so unserious: This is so hard for me… I got it! I’ll just shoot both.

Red Hood moves the gun to both men.

Batman, not mad: Well... this was to be expected.

Imposter: Wait, no, no, no! Shoot him not me! I am Batman! The creeper... of the night... the one who howls.

Batman: That is not my speech!

Nightwing, pointing to the imposter: Oh, it's that guy! He's the fake.

Red Hood slowly turns to Nightwing amazed it took him this long.

Red Hood: Nope still can't decide! Tsk tsk tsk… hmm… who should I hit first?

Nightwing: Stop it.

Red Hood: I’ll shoot both of them in the arm and see what happens.

Batman: Oh my God. Would you stop assuming that’s not a kill shot!

Red Hood: Shush, possibly fake Batman. I got this, I read a lot of textbooks!

Nightwing: Okay I’m taking the gun.

Red Hood: Don’t touch my gun!

Nightwing grabbing hold of the gun: You’re not shooting Batman!

Red Hood and Nightwing fight over the gun as the real Batman just stands there annoyed.

Red Robin, feet dangling: I shouldn't have had tea today. I'm sticking to coffee from here on out.

Batman, sighs: See what you've done? Now I have to deal with these two idiots.

Imposter: Hey I don't care, I'll just use you as a shield when the gun goes off.

Batman chuckles, wincing: Oh God, not used to laughing.

Red Hood: I got this!

Nightwing: Stop waving the gun around!

Red Hood: Then let go of… my arm!

The gun goes off, the imposter Batman attempts to grab the real Batman to get hit, but Batman side steps away and the bullet hits the imposter.

Red Robin: You morons!

Red Hood: Shit I forgot the safety was off.

Nightwing: What?!

Red Hood: Don't snap at me, the gun probably had the safety on and then you turned it... off! Your fault!

Nightwing: You mean!

Tim, distracting his bladder to grammar correct his brother: It's you're, not you!

Imposter falls to the floor with a stomach wound. The real Batman walks to the imposter and unmasks him.

Batman: Great job, kids. You clearly did that on purpose to distract him and weren’t acting like belligerent children.

Nightwing and Red Hood: Yup, planned.

Red Robin: I am begging somebody please let me down!

[greedandenby]

Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, and others talking about Jam Reiderson.

Here's a compilation of bits and pieces from various interviews about these two men's beautiful friendship. Will be updating as new promo for subsequent seasons comes out!

(Long post, so keep reading!

- there's SO MUCH good stuff)

Pride.com

Q: You guys have incredible chemistry. It hinges on that. Can you talk a little bit about how you built that kind of connection?

JA: I find it so difficult to talk about chemistry. Because me and Sam… like each other.

SR: Yeah. I think we’re very similar in a lot of ways, and that was a big relief. It’s a very bizarre job to do when you’re doing it, cause you’re shooting entirely at night, you have amazing costumes and contact lenses and accents and teeth and blood. The scenes, while they feel like they have a flow to them, there’s a lot of splitting up while we do it because we’ve got to have special effects come in or the blood come in, or we’re on a rig of some kind. So it’s a weird experience, and we also had these extraordinary lines of dialogue to say as well. And so to have somebody who’s similar, can process these things the same way as you and bounce off of and decompress with is vital.

JA: Yeah, and the first step is you just have a common language that you find, and sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t. And we were just lucky that we, you know…

SR: Yeah. Yup.

Amc Talk

Q: The relationship between Louis and Lestat is rife with complications, but at its core there's obviously a real connection there. What was it like crafting this tumultuous relationship on screen with Sam Reid? You two are quite good friends having come out the other end of Season 1.

JA: Yeah, we were good friends when we were doing it and I think that's part of why it worked out for us! We didn't put too much emphasis on trying to figure everything out. The scripts are so beautiful, the writing is so dense and so full of life and detail that you don't need to discuss it too much. Obviously, we talked to the directors, and they'd have ideas and we'd have ideas, but I think, in terms of me and Sam finding it, I think we just paid attention to each other. We just trusted the writing, trusted each other, and it meant that we’d already be prepared for whatever was going to come up. We felt comfortable with each other, so we could try things and it felt safe. It felt like we could play around with body language and with eye contact and all these things. But it was unspoken, I think. It wasn't something that we spent a lot of time discussing. Everything's intentional to a certain extent, but there's this other thing that is just about instinct and listening really.

Q: And having the right scene partner where that happens.

JA: Yeah, I felt really lucky! Sam gives you so much. There's so much to play off and I hope that I did the same for him. Our first day of shooting we did the opera house stuff, and I was so excited. It's the scene where he talks about loneliness, and I remember thinking even though I'd got to know him a little bit and we'd done a bit of rehearsal and we'd become friends by that point, I was like, "Oh wow, this is going to be really special! I'm going to get to do this every day. I'm going to get to watch this character come to life and respond to it." That's a gift. Sam Reid is a gift!

Q: The relationship between Louis and Lestat is rife with complications, but at its core there’s a real connection there. What was it like crafting this tumultuous relationship on screen with Jacob Anderson? You two are quite good friends having come out the other side of Season 1 so if anything, I’m sure the experience brought you closer together? 

SR: Yeah, definitely. It definitely brought us closer together. It was really crazy this stuff that we were doing together. We'd have these massive scenes, and it would be just him and I in the middle of the night playing opposite each other, not really being able to see each other all the time with the contact lenses. You just rely so heavily on one another. You also rely on each other because you're like, "Have we pushed it too far? Is it too much? Is it enough? Like, do we believe each other?" Because it's this very intense relationship but we’re also supernatural beings. So, you're constantly having to reframe the way that you look at a relationship and say, "Well, hang on, my character has all this power." Like in Episode 4, I remember saying, when all the police are coming over to the house, I was like, "Why are we even worried about this? I don't understand why I would be even concerned about this at all." But you're negotiating with someone who's going, "Yeah, but my desire to have a connection to humanity makes this important," and so you're like, "Oh, okay." We managed to balance off each other in that way, because my character's way past any connection to humanity and Jacob's character is holding onto those last threads of his humanity. When we'd both be examining a scene, we'd both be coming at it from different angles. Because of the love between the two characters, there's always that negotiation and blunting of the other's real intention. I couldn't really imagine doing it with anybody else! We did all of it, everything, together, really.

Gold Derby Daniel Hart Interview

Q: In what ways does the show’s really rich visual palette and then of course Sam and Jacob’s lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry on screen influence some of the choices that you made on the score throughout your process?

DH: There’s a theme that I would call their love theme, and it’s sprinkled throughout the first episode but it played in full over the end credits in a piece called “In Throes of Increasing Wonder”. And that theme appears in almost every episode, I think, in some form or another. I don’t think that theme was possible before I had seen some of that interaction between Jacob and Sam as Lestat and Louis. It’s born of their emotional reactions to each other.

IWTV Podcast

Ep2

Q: You and Jacob did your chemistry tests over Zoom? Which, I mean, does anyone have chemistry over Zoom?

SR: Yeah, I don’t really know what they were looking for or how you’re supposed to gauge chemistry from that, because it was really glitchy and we were all speaking on top of each other and trying really hard to act into the camera, which just wasn’t working. But look, I really… Jacob is such a lovely person, such a really fantastic actor and so easy to be around. And I could see that he was going to be a very easy person to fall in love with. So it was fun. In fact I just came from having ice cream with Jacob and he says hello.

Q: Oh my God, I’m obsessed. I want these moments. Give me that footage, okay? I want ice cream footage, I want strolling the streets of downtown New Orleans footage.

SR (laughs): Yeah, I mean we hang out all the time and we’ve become very, very good friends. Cause it is a crazy journey that we’re on and it was a crazy job, so it’s really lovely to have such a good friend.

Ep3

Q: Talking about Sam, how much time did y’all get before you started actually shooting? It’s like “Okay, we’re in love now and it’s going to be very tortured and complicated” – Rolling!

JA: Yeah. I don’t know if I completely believe in luck, but I think there’s like a weird cosmic luck in this whole thing. It is a huge roll of the dice. The first day we met each other, obviously we both had our masks on, and we had a hug and we were like “Oh hi”. And then we just spent the next day walking around New Orleans and getting to know each other. And I truly love that man, so much. Like, we connected so quickly and just found like… And I think part of that as well is that there’s a level of trust that we had to have, otherwise we weren’t going to be able to do this at those hours, and those scenes, and the intimacy of their relationship, and also the toxicity and the fire in it. We had to really hold each other and be like “All right, have we got each other’s back?” And we did, we were just like “We’re in this together. Let’s listen to each other and try and have fun.” And we did, we had a lot of fun. I thought that taking on this role would be quite triggering for me in lots of different ways. I thought it was going to force me to have to reconcile with lots of feelings that I had. I thought it was going to be just a guilt and shame and despair fest for six months. And actually I just found it really, really cathartic being Louis, and Louis has helped me a lot. I think there’s something about acceptance in Louis and acceptance of self, and like “This is who I am, this is who I’ve been, and I’m enduring, I’m choosing to keep going. I’m choosing to accept who I am.” And that was really helpful for me. So rather than feeling tortured, I think I ended up just feeling very… held, very comforted by the whole thing, in a weird sort of way.

Ep7

Q: I’m wondering what you guys would do or how you would hang out on set. Is there hanging out or are you more like “Okay, they’re setting up a light, I gotta go lay down, I can’t with you right now.”

JA: No, we were pretty inseparable, to be fair. There wasn’t really any hanging out. We just were. At a certain point, we just were. We didn’t share a trailer, but it was like, a wall separating us. And we’d just end up sitting on the stairs or texting each other through the wall.

SR (laughs): Through the wall, just texting all the time.

JA: We became a hive mind.

SR: We did, yeah.

Q: Were you still a hive mind once you wrapped? Would you still text and stuff?

JA: Yeah.

SR: Yeah.

JA: We’re going to the theatre tonight. We’ve seen each other every day for the last week. We’re still choosing to spend time together. It’s probably not very healthy. Very co-dependent (laughs).

Ep8

Q: Obviously viewers are in love with Jacob and Sam. People are tweeting me photos of them eating ice cream. We call ourselves #icecreamhive. The fandom is strong. Can you tell me about how you found Jacob and Sam, and the process of deciding they were Louis and Lestat?

Rolin Jones: Well, obviously 9 billion people auditioned. You kind of get down to ten actors that you like on both sides. The simple math of it is the second those two got into their Zoom rooms together, it was very clear something very dynamic was happening. On Jacob’s side, there’s this sort of genuine warmth, kindness, humanity. You’re like “Okay, for a character who’s going to make a number of questionable choices, how do you make them want to love him?” And on Sam: I saw his face and I said “No fucking way! No fucking way that guy, this chiselled, stupid chiselled, with his locks and his dreamy eyes. I was like no, no, no, no. And then I pressed play, and he really knew how big we were going to go. He was wildly specific and subtle. It was in his voice. There was something a little Jeff Bridges/Starman about it, and I was like “Oh, this guy feels like an alien and he feels other than us”. They both won the audition, that’s basically what happened. Although I’ll tell you, here’s a dirty secret: ready for this? Sam bought this piece of technology, that you can do a push-in close-up right when the scene is getting a little juicy. And I just started laughing my ass off. I was like “Oh my God, this guy wants this so hard.”

Mark Johnson: You called me the first time you had seen Sam, and you were just so excited about the potential of this guy and you basically said: “He’s going to be next to impossible to beat.” And sure enough, nobody could really touch him. But from the very first time you saw his audition you were pretty convinced that we had our Lestat.

Keep It Podcast

JA: Sam is just like my… partner-in-crime, and I feel so lucky that I got to spend every day with him. We had to do a lot of stuff in this show and when I say a lot of stuff I mean, those nights are no joke. Knowing those scenes and working on those scenes together at that hour – you can only do that with somebody that you like, even if the scene calls for tension. I think you would just kill each other if you didn’t like each other.

New York Post (October '22)

JA: For anything I got to do with Sam, that relationship is so fun to play. You bond in a really particular way when you're working nights and dealing with these lofty themes. The feelings are huge in every scene. If you don't have that common language and find that chemistry... I don't think me and Sam needed to find it, there was something natural that we found together. It would be rough if we didn't like each other an awful lot.

PaleyFest

Q: Jacob and Sam, I feel like the show wouldn’t work unless the chemistry’s there between Louis and Lestat. There’s a lot riding on that. So how did you two form this immortal bond, if you will, during filming, knowing how important it was?

JA: We just spent a lot of time together even when we didn’t need to (laughs). I don’t know, like, how do you put that kind of thing into words? It’s just, like… I really love Sam. I like spending time with him. I like working with him. I find the way that we talk about what we’re doing… Well, we’re not talking about what we’re doing all the time but I think we have a similar language. I dunno, it’s ki(smet?)… It’s, like, how do you describe a vibe? (laughs)

Q: Sam, how do you describe the vibe?

SR: I think the work, the world and the characters are so extreme and it’s a very intense thing to do. And I think we leant on each other a lot throughout the process and we were very grateful for the friendship that we had built to be able to get through six months of night and some pretty intense scenes. And to have someone that you can look across the room and have a private giggle with and get on with the job and debrief with at the end of the day is invaluable. Chemistry with actors is a complicated beast because it is our job to manufacture it, but when you don’t have to and it just comes naturally it makes everything so much more easy and enjoyable, particularly when you’re nude and bleeding (laughs). You’re really happy you have a buddy (unintelligible).

Q: I was in the Entertainment Weekly suite when all you guys came through for Comic Con at the Hard Rock Hotel and, I mean, I was watching you all interact. Bailey, break it down for me: these two, do they have like a super-bromance going on? Like, what is happening?

Bailey Bass: They’re best friends! They really are, it’s really precious. (Delighted grin from Jacob) Look at Jacob’s face! (laughs)

JA: Are we best friends, Sam?

SR: Yeah, you’re my best friend.

Eric Bogosian: I have to say, I have to throw in: I have two sons who are roughly the age of these guys, and we all went over to Comic Con, us three. And walking around was like being with my kids. The two of them are just like together (clasps hands together) getting into everything and I’m following them around, like “Wait a second, wait a second! Let me catch up with you there!” I didn’t really get it when I first got to set, I didn’t understand what was going on with these two guys, because they were so happy and they were so tired and they were so bonded and I was like “What dimension have I entered here?”

Reddit AMA (2022)

Q: Many of the scenes in the show are very emotionally demanding for even just a viewer of the series […] Is it taxing on yourselves as people or is it something you can simply switch off?

JA: It really helped having Sam there. We just went and sat on a bench and checked on each other. Without Sam I think I might have found it a lot harder.

Rotten Tomatoes

About the casting process:

JA: I asked (Alan Taylor): “How did you guys decide that it was the right thing?” And he was like: “To be honest, by that point” – cause we did like eight rounds of auditions – “it was more about the way that you interacted when you weren’t doing the scenes. It was about how you listened to each other.” It’s just that we got on, we were pretty comfortable between the things.

Schön magazine

Q: Tell me more about the dynamic between Jacob and you who plays Louis, your love interest?

SR: Jacob and I get on well, we have a close friendship. We bonded strongly throughout the making of this show. He’s one of my favourite scene partners I’ve ever had because it’s just such an easy working relationship. There’s a lot of trust between the two of us. You know, it’s a fucked up toxic relationship. It’s messed up. But at the core of it is like this intense, inescapable love. So, we have to play out a very morbid, obsessive, passionate relationship. I think it would be really hard to do if you hated the person opposite. I’m so grateful that we get on.

ScreenRant at SDCC 2022

Q: Louis and Lestat have an iconic relationship: epic, spanning years and continents, lives ruined, bloodshed. What is it like bringing that to the screen and working together to really establish that immortal bond?

JA: It’s been the greatest partnership – creative partnership – in my life.

SR: Awww.

JA: No, I’m not joking, it really has!

SR: I’d agree, actually. It’s very hard, it’s a very intense relationship that they have, and you have to believe in that relationship. The things they do to each other are so extreme and painful and hurtful. And it’s been fun to have a real buddy to go through that and debrief with at the end of the day.

JA: I’m not sure how we could’ve done everything that we’ve done if we didn’t really trust each other.

SR: Yeah, it would’ve been awful if we hated each other.

JA: And it’s one of the great… you know, in the books, when they join together again – even when you know how awful they’ve been to each other – it’s just like you’re home, and I think that’s something that we always subconsciously tried to make sure was in there. They are kind of like home to each other, particularly after Louis’ human attachments start to fall away.

Eric Bogosian: I just want to say, these two guys (pointing to Jacob and Sam), it’s great watching them, their bonding and everything. The only difference between them and the guys in the fictional world: I’ve never seen them fight.

Bailey Bass: They were walking together alongside the San Diego beach. (To Jacob and Sam) You were! I mean, how adorable is that?

JA: We’re quite co-dependent. I don’t know if that’s a problem (laughs).

SDCC 2022 Panel

SR: It’s the greatest gift that I’ve ever been given, really. And then of course (pointing to Jacob) this guy.

JA: Awww!

SDCC 2022 Press Conference

Eric Bogosian: As a witness to what was going on, watching the way these guys (pointing to JA & SR) interacted was amazing. They had a chemistry that I’ve actually never seen before, and it continues even as we’ve been here for Comic Con. It’s wonderful to watch. I won’t get into it too much, I don’t want to characterise what goes on between them, but there was a great feeling on our set.

TV Insider at SDCC

Q: The level of intimacy that you two have to establish early on is really impressive. Did you know each other? Did you get to spend time hanging out before you got to be these immortal entwined characters?

JA (to SR): What did we do? We had like one Facetime call…

SR: Yeah, we had a Facetime call and then we were texting. We texted a lot, so we go to know each other via text.

JA: Me and Sam talk to each other every day, by the way. We couldn’t cut the cord.

TV Insider’s Trivia Night

SR & JA: Hi, we’re Jam Reiderson and we’re from Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire!

Holding up boards that say:

SR: [I won!]

JA: [But I won (really) at life]

SR: Bastard!

JA: Because I get to be with you, Sam, all the time! That’s the twist.

TV I Say Podcast

JA: Me and Sam spent 40 minutes yesterday in a sticker shop. Like, just looking at stickers and buying stickers. That’s not a thing that you ever really talk about. You don’t go like “Are you into stickers?”, you know? (…) I feel like Sam and I end up mentioning things in passing like “Do you wanna go do this or do you wanna do this?” and the other person’s like “Yeah!” But then, we have… There are so many crossovers. You wouldn’t expect it because we grew up in very different ways in very different countries. But we have crossovers of weird things or very niche things that we’d never discussed, really, right up until the point of promoting this show and doing press, that we’re like, “Great!” Like we’re going to go to Universal today. And I thought “Oh, is it a bit of a weird thing to ask?” Like, I don’t know if it’s awkward to… Normally, I wouldn’t ask a friend if they just wanted to go to Universal. But with Sam, I’ll be like “Should we go to Universal Studios?”, and he’s like “Yeah! Let’s do it!” Do you know what I mean? It’s just, I dunno, we just have similarities that we couldn’t have really… We couldn’t have known that we were so similar, but it really helped us when we were working, even if we didn’t know it at the time.

W Magazine (Oct ’22)

Q: Is there anything specific that you read first thing in the morning?

JA: Realistically, text messages. In the last few months it’s been texts from Sam Reid, who plays Lestat in the show, because he’s in Australia and I’m in the UK. So there’s always some kind of really nice conversation waiting in the morning.

Young Hollywood

JA: I don’t know, we just liked each other straight away. We just had similar thoughts about what this was, about what we were doing. He’s one of my favourite people I’ve ever met in my life, let alone worked with. We just work well together. I can’t even really pinpoint exactly why. We’re going to hang out now, like after this we’re going to go to the Grove…

Q: Oh he’s in LA?

JA: Yeah!

Q: Oh my God, that’s perfect! I was going to say when was the last time you talked to him?

JA: Like half an hour ago.

Q: What’s the best thing that came from IWTV for you?

JA: That’s hard to… Sam Reid. Let’s say Sam Reid.

SFX Magazine – May 2024

That being said, [Rolin] Jones admits that it was a tough adjustment for Anderson and Reid to navigate this season. “It’s very clear, they’re very, very good friends,” Jones observes. “They really do talk every day together. So generally speaking last year, they had each other. They would get off the scene, they’d go to the bench and they would talk.”

92NY Season 2 Advance screening

JA: [Working with Sam on S02] was like slipping on a glove. Like, a glove that fits really well, wasn’t it? (laughs) Wait, is that dirty? (laughs)... An old sock!

Eric Bogosian: I have to say, I’ve never seen two actors in a company behave the way these two guys do. When I got to set and I first met them, they were already as if they were stuck to each other like brothers. (…) And then I watched them just… They follow each other around, like, whenever they’re not in scenes they’re like two puppies playing together.

Instinct Magazine (May ’24)

JA: I think the chemistry between Sam and I is based on a similarity in approach, and the way I think about these characters. Also, we just get on – I think that translates in a way.

AMC Talk (May ’24)

Re working with Sam on “DreamStat”

JA: We didn’t work on it too much ahead of time. Sam and I really trust each other. So, we’d just show up and be like, “we’ll be fine. We’ll just figure it out as we go.” We really listen to each other. (…) [Louis and Lestat’s] dynamic this season is very different. They’re not fighting. They’re not shouting at each other. That kind of intensity has gone a bit, which was fun! That was a new thing for me and Sam to play, this kind of companionship thing. It was fun and I was just glad that Sam was there, and that I was going to get to work with him.

JA: Sam and I have talked about how nice it would’ve been to have had a little mini-series where you just see Lestat and Louis just hanging out in New Orleans. (…) And not necessarily hunting, just like walking, sitting on a bench, chatting, really like the norm.

People Magazine Interview ‘24

Q: What’s a headline you’d use to describe your friendship in real life?

JA & SR: Sam and Jacob go to the movies (laughs)…

JA: … and walk around the city…

SR: … sit in a park and chat for hours.

Sam Reid answers fan questions (AMC)

Q: Who makes you laugh the most on set?

SR: Jacob.

Question from Jacob 😏 (SR reaction: Jacob Anderson? Who's that? 😚): Why is Jacob Anderson your favourite person to work with?

SR: He is very talented and he does some extraordinary work in this season. I feel very lucky to work with him… aside from the fact that he’s a dick. 🥰

Salon (May ’24)

SR: They’re trauma bonded, Louis and Lestat…

JA: … And Jake and Sam also trauma bonded!

Roxane Duran interviewed by Autumn Brown (June ’24)

RD: When I first met Jacob and Sam… They’re just the kindest souls and they really, really take care of each other and of everyone around. […] Jacob and Sam really have that sort of really beautiful friendship, and you see them and they’ve got a huge joy being around each other and also being around everybody else.

Vanity Fair / Little Gold Men Podcast (June ’24)

Q: Can you talk a bit more about Sam as a scene partner, the connection you two have developed over the years?

JA: The key thing that Sam and I have is complete and utter trust. We trust each other. We know that wherever the scene goes, it’s going to be safe. We also know that we’re going to surprise each other. […] Sam always does things with his chest and that is also how I like to work. Say it with your chest; mean it. I don’t think he’s ever doing anything out of a sense of vanity. It’s like, you exhaust as many possibilities as you possibly can and you’re unafraid to look silly or to go to a really heightened place. I think we hopefully see that in each other. When Sam and I are in a room together and we’re about to shoot a scene as these characters, it’s exciting. You don’t always find that, where you just have a symbiotic, or completely common language in the way that we work together. Even though we’re quite different. I think that’s what it is. I think we speak the same language in the way that we relate to these characters and this story.

Variety (June ’24)

JA, about filming the S2E8 reunion scene with SR:

“We held each other’s hands, and we just fucking jumped.”

TV Guide (June ’24)

Rolin Jones about shooting the S2E8 reunion scene:

They arguably did not get enough takes to do that scene. It’s just one of those things that when we turned on the camera, you could feel three years of their friendship. I knew on this side of the camera I needed two takes. I was like, “Jesus, what just happened?” But they wanted to stay there forever.

About the unheard words in the scene:

I don’t know, to this day, I don’t know, nobody knows, except those two, what they said. We wrote it in. That was the gift, to say, “You guys, not only your friendship, but where you’ve taken the characters, you should have something private for the rest of your lives. And go ahead, have it.”

AMC “Inside IWTV S2” Special

SR: I speak to Jacob every day, nonstop, all the time.

JA: Any day where Sam is there is a good day for me.

Den of Geek at SDCC ‘24

Q: How do you go about building such rippling chemistry with another human being, with Jacob? And I know the answer is “chemistry is chemistry”, but how? How do you do it?

SR: Well, I don’t “build” anything. Unfortunately I’m going to give you that same answer. But we’re very good friends. We’re really close. I don’t know if that chemistry happens before you become friends or after, but there’s a lot of trust and we just have a lot of fun making this show. I think chemistry isn’t just two actors or two people together: it’s the whole group, it’s everyone who makes the show. It’s the space, it’s the feeling when you come on set, and you feel like you can do things, try things, be experimental, push the boundaries a little bit. And that creates a sense of play and trust. You might think that it’s just Louis and Lestat’s chemistry, but it’s actually the whole chemistry of every cast member and every creative and every director, every piece of beautiful dialogue we have, the design, down to every crew member. Everyone puts a lot of chemistry into it, so it’s a pot – a big, bubbly pot.

Rolin Jones: Bowling, too. They do a lot of bowling.

SR: We go bowling, yeah. I should’ve said that.

Assad Zaman: Ice cream.

SR: Yeah, we eat a lot of ice cream. And we do sticker play (laughs).

Q: Care to elaborate on sticker play?

SR: Make it up.

Q: A lot of bowling alleys in Prague?

SR: They build them for us on set. It’s contractual.

[enaelyork]

Could I request a prewar!cooper Howard x fem!actress!reader where he finds out a producer has been making her sleep with him under the threat of cooper losing his jobs! 💓

Hi you !

Thx you so much for this amazing ask. So, here we are, hope you enjoy it.

I resign [PreWar! Cooper x F! Reader]

Ask for Cooper Howard is OPEN

TW: Alcohol, sexual abuse, violence.

Words : 1.9 k

- What's going on between you and him?

- Nothing at all.

You had swallowed your entire drink. You needed that, and a lot more alcohol, to drown out the shameful lie you had just told Cooper. It wasn't your intention to lie to him, but you had no choice.

- Are you sure ? Because he hasn't stopped looking at you since we both talked.

- He is afraid that you will corrupt his main actress…

The word had lightened the atmosphere, just a few seconds which allowed you to glance at Oscar Sullivan. The producer of your last film with whom you were forced to make this sordid agreement. You're due for another chance at Cooper Howard's career. It must be said that since his divorce, things have gone rather badly for him. A long absence from film sets and his image tainted by a marital breakdown earned him several refusals. So, when you applied for this new film together, you were delighted to learn that he had been chosen to play the lead alongside you.

But it was not without consequences.

It wasn't without Oscar's hands on your body, his mouth on yours and the consummation of your contract right at his desk. You thought that your charms would be enough, that once he had a taste of it, things would have improved for you as well as for Coop.

Big mistake.

The suspicion with which Cooper looked at you brought a blush to your cheeks. You put it down to drunkenness – the only way to escape from this situation – but it was an illusion.

It's difficult to admit to your friend that Oscar was waiting for you to join him in his hotel room after this reception, and that it was in your interest not to decline his offer. The features of his face calmed. As if despite his suspicions, he still managed to trust you. This semblance of carefreeness in him soothed you. He soothed you, probably more than he should. But Cooper had always been special to you, long before his divorce from Barbs, and he had brought out things in you that you had buried for a long time.

- You're worrying for nothing. Oscar is lovely to us, isn't he?

He hesitated before answering something much too nuanced for you. Cooper had noticed the way the producer treated you once on set. The way he devoured you with his eyes and took pleasure in making you shoot scenes in scantily clad clothes. The subject had already been brought up more than once, but you always managed to find a valid excuse, especially through the scenario.

- I assure you that everything is fine. But I'm going to go to bed. The champagne is really going to my head and we're back to work bright and early tomorrow.

Without you having time to react, Cooper's lips rested on your forehead and his scent of musk and wood spice spread into your nostrils. The intoxication he provoked in you made you dizzy and in that moment, when your eyes met his, you wanted to confess everything to him. That he was right. That you sleep with Oscar for him, so that he can finally relaunch his career. That in bed with this guy, you thought of him.

That you feel dirty. But nothing came except this awful sad smile which definitely cast doubt on your situation.

-------------------

- He kissed you.

Oscar’s grip on your hips had tightened the moment he came to join you on the threshold of his bedroom door.

- Just a kiss on the forehead, nothing important.

- You really love him, then? Me who thought you only had eyes for me. Maybe I should take it away from you to remind you who you belong to, beauty.

- Of course not. You get ideas. It's only you who matters.

You kissed him, closing your eyes, trying to take your soul out of your body and put it on autopilot. He smelled of whiskey and cold tobacco, a smell the opposite of the one that still haunted you. Once the door closed, you didn't see the shadow watching you further down the hotel corridor and all the consequences that would follow.

----------

Cooper didn't even speak to you the next day.

Yet you had tried to approach him. Asking him if his night went well, if his text made him feel comfortable or if he needed anything. As the day went on, it became apparent to you that he was avoiding you a lot.

Then his eyes met yours and that look broke your heart definitly.

There was darkness in his hazel eyes, a darkness that seemed to slowly absorb him and painfully compress your soul. The day had been a constant torture searching for any sign of peace between the two of you, but nothing. The nothingness and sadness he sent back to you were unbearable. Then, the end of the day turned into a nightmare.

He had been drinking.

More than he should have done at the workplace, but you knew Cooper had that tendency ever since Barbs left with Janey. His life had become so disjointed that he no longer had any defenses to confront his ghosts. How could he believe in himself when the one he loved had decided to let him go too?

- Cooper, you need to go back to your dressing room now.

- And why this ?

He wasn't drunk, just enough to remove all inhibition from his mouth and turn his sweetness into venom. The look of contempt he gave you gave you chills. You waited until he left to take him to task and reason with his self-destructive attitude.

- Because your career is at stake, dammit! You didn't do all this to screw everything up.

- Are you the one who screws everything up? Do you want me to go back to my dressing room and play the whore producer?

You brought your hands to your mouth. Trying to understand how he could have known about this situation.

- Yeah. I saw you last night, sweatheart. It's not very nice to lie, especially to end up with this guy.

You were unable to answer him, frozen, petrified by the nastiness of his words. Outside rang out the bursts of laughter of a team satisfied with their long day of work. But there, in this locker room, chaos reigned between you and him.

- How can you do that? With him ? You're not a failed actress though. And…What the hell are you doing?

You were crying.

There were no other possible options. The sobs could no longer stay where you imprisoned them. It had been there for too long. It built up every time Oscar touched you, penetrated you and whispered vile words to you. But now, when Cooper was behaving exactly like a bastard, you could no longer remain impassive.

-He obliges me.

You realized in that moment that your back was pressed against a wall and that Cooper's body was so close to his that you could smell the delicious smell of mint and cold beer emanating from his breath. His hand hovered above his head, not as a threat but as a shield, protecting you from an unbearable world.

-When...When I signed my contract, he told me it was just one time. Once to allow you to be here.

He didn't say anything. Not a word.

A baleful silence disturbed by his slow breathing.

-I thought it would end there. But he told me that if I refused to continue, then he would terminate your contract. And I can't accept that. This role is with you or with no one.

Your breathing was labored, but you didn’t care because it was now obvious that you were going to die of a broken heart.

-I'm not a slut. I…He disgusts me, but I want the best for you, I want you to come back to the forefront, I want you…

Not another word came out of your mouth.

His lips rested on your forehead.

Tenderly. Impassively.

His finger had slid down your cheek, picking up the tear that fell on your skin before leaving, dragging you with him onto the tray with a firm but tender grip.

- Aaah, here they are, our heroes! Oscar was quick to jump out of his producer's seat when he saw you two rushing in together. Then, his enthusiasm faded at the sight of your eyes reddened with tears.

- What's going on, baby? Did Cooper hurt you? Do you want to talk about it together in…

He didn't finish his sentence.

His collar grabbed by Cooper's firm hands, pushing him back so violently that he knocked over his chair. - What the hell are you doing, you…

- I'm not a nice guy. Your friend began in a dark voice. So I'll tell you one thing. If you're looking for an actor to play good guys, you can find another one. I resign.

It had happened.

He had just said it exactly. Some members of the team tried to separate them, but you remained completely impassive, lost.

-And now that you can tear up my contract, you'll tear up hers too. He said, pointing at you with a jerk of his chin. If I find out that you're touching her again, that you're still trying to fuck her without her agreeing, I...

- She agreed, this little sl…

The fist that smashed his jaw flew without warning. Oscar found himself on the ground, disoriented by the shock of the impact. - Never talk about her like that, understand? He moved away from him, not without giving him a threatening look. Looking for his pack of cigarettes in the pocket of his jeans.

- Burn our contracts and explain to all your fans why you won't have your main actors to finish your job.

Shit. It was incredibly sexy to hear him defend you like that. You were shaking nervously, but it was terribly exhilarating to see him beat the shit out of that poor guy. When he grabs your hand, your eyes meet again and you understand that nothing will ever be the same between you again.

- Come on, Sweatheart. I'll take you to the police station. You have a complaint to file against this bastard.

[fallinforerling]

have you met before? | chapter 2 - eh

ೃ⁀➷ erling's masterlist 

ೃ⁀➷ erling's taglist

ೃ⁀➷ masterlist

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A couple of days passed by, and you found yourself missing Alfie’s presence in the early hours of the shift. His bad jokes or anecdotes were entertaining to listen to while you gave the shop the last touches for the rest of the day; now that you didnʼt have them, you were really bored. 

Well, at least you had Thomas to keep you company, but even he got sick and couldn’t make it to the shop these past few days. 

So here you are, all alone, with only the books to keep you company. 

You were restocking the bookshelves, thinking hard and deep about which books you’d “borrow” to take home. It was a silly game that you had with yourself since it was obvious that you were keeping them to yourself. None of the previously “borrowed” books made it back to the shop. Just as you were about to take the few ones you liked, the doorbell rang.

You turned with a smile on your lips, ready to welcome the new customer, when you saw the most tall, blonde, and intimidating man you’d ever seen in your life. He looked back at you with a small grin, unsure of what to do next while you kept staring at him, surprised by his physique. 

Stop, you’re being rude. 

“Welcome! May I help you?” You said, recovering from his presence. You walked behind the counter, dropping the books on a nearby stool while feeling nervous all of the sudden. 

The only thing that came to mind as you tilted your head to look at him was that he was really tall.

“Do you have cream cheese croissants, by any chance?” His voice, although deep, was very soothing. His accent reminded you of a Nordic country. It reminded you of Alfie. 

“I do! Freshly baked, may I add.” You pointed to the section where the croissants were. “I just got them out the oven like… twenty minutes ago.” 

“That’s bloody amazing. I’ll take two, please.” You smiled when he kind of cursed, but his whole attitude was so relaxed that you didn’t mind. It seemed like he didn’t even realize what he said. “Oh, and a cappuccino if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Please! Sit while I make that coffee for you.” You couldn’t help but shoot him a tiny glance as you intentionally picked the best croissants for him. He was also really cute. “Anything else?” 

“Uhm, cookies?” He said it like a question, making you giggle when he noticed it as well. “I mean, yeah, cookies. Do you have butter cookies?” 

“Good choice! They’re the most popular around here. Those are actually still in the oven… If you don’t mind waiting a bit for them.”

“I’ll wait as long as you want. Don’t worry about that.” 

And he’s nice as well? Damn, what a catch. 

“Great! Let me make that cappuccino.” Why were you feeling nervous? He was just another customer. 

A really cute, tall, handsome, blonde, customer that won’t stop looking at you, but that’s all. 

“Are you new in town?” He asked all of the sudden, surprising you a bit as you put the cup down in front of him. 

“I am, yeah.” You smiled when your eyes met, his lips already in a half-smile. “It’s been kinda difficult, but I really like Manchester. It helps that I have my little shop to keep me occupied.” 

“It’s not easy to come from a foreign country, but hey, I actually love Manchester too. It’s a bit boring when I don’t have anything to do in my free time, but it is what it is.” He took the cup, giving it a sip before resuming his chat. “Do you have friends?”

“No, no I don’t.” That was something you were really shy about. But again, you weren’t a very out-going person. “It’s very difficult to make friends, especially since I’m always in the shop.” 

He was about to answer when the alarm for the cookies rang inside the kitchen, startling you both. 

“I should get that. The cookies are on their way.” 

“Sure, take your time.” 

And you did. You took various trays full of different cookies, but even after you put them on new ones to take out and restock, you stood there, red-faced and timid about the absolute cutie that was sitting there, drinking his coffee and making small talk with you. Was he flirting or just being nice? It might be the latter, but you couldn’t help to smile at the possibility of him being a bit interested in you. 

You should stop reading so many romance books. It was rotting your brain. 

“Focus…” You whispered, taking the tray of butter cookies first before going back outside. “Here they are!” You carefully put it on the counter, showing him the contents. “How many did you want?” 

“Can I have ten?” His eyes didn’t leave your face, even when you moved around to find a bag. When you were just finishing the packaging, he stood up. “Can I also have your number with that order?” 

“My… number?” Ohmygodohmygodohmygod????

“It’s okay if you don’t want to…” He blushed a bit, and then you knew you’d regret not giving this man your number. 

“I’ll give it to you if you promise to show me around Manchester.” 

“Sounds like a deal.” 

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“Oh, my dear! And he asked for your number right away? He must be really enchanted by you. But again, who wouldn’t be? You’re a very gorgeous young lady.” Thomas was laughing as loudly as he could, enjoying a little bit too much the story of how Erling (and yes, you knew his name) asked for your number a couple of days ago. 

You were very embarrassed about the fact that the only person who was trustworthy enough to know your business was your regular customer, Thomas, who was also a sixty year old man, but you didn’t actually mind. He always gave incredible advice. 

“Yeah— We’ve been texting back and forth for a few days. I’m nervous every time I open the shop. I feel like he’s going to appear out of nowhere.” You took a deep breath, washing another cup in the sink while Thomas sat on the counter. “Do you think it’s dumb?” 

“Feeling anxious? Of course not, angel. And why on earth hasn’t he asked you out yet? Or even visited you?” You refused to laugh at his annoyed expression. 

“He’s been working a lot…” 

“Oh, yeah? And what does that lad do anyway?” 

“I dunno… He mentioned something sport related but I’m not really sure about what his role is.” You signed. “What am I gonna do, Tom? What if he’s a douche?” 

“Well, if he…” His advice was cut off by the doorbell. You both looked up, the conversation dying instantly at the sight of Erling standing there, like a few days ago, seeming unsure but with the same sweet smile that you liked from the first moment you saw him. “Fucking hell…” Thomas whispered, taking you away from the daydreaming. 

“Erling!” You fixed your hair out of habit. You felt your hands shaking just a bit as he approached both of you. 

“Hey… Sorry I didn’t stop by earlier in the week; I was a bit busy.” His voice was as soothing as you remembered. Lovely. 

You opened your mouth to reply, but Thomas’ laugh made it impossible. 

“The hell you were! Fucking shit, it’s a pleasure to see you, lad.” He tapped Erling’s shoulder with a heavy hand, looking from him to you like he couldn’t believe his own eyes. “Bloody hell, darling. When were you going to mention that you know Erling fucking Haaland?” 

“W-what?” You couldn’t hide your confusion, even if you tried to. Did Thomas knew Erling? Was his last name Haaland? Why did that ring a bell?

“Uh, nice to meet you too, mate. How’s everything going?” Even though Erling’s eyes showed surprise at Thomas’ obvious recognition, he played it cool. He accepted the old man’s hand and shook it with the strength and confidence of someone who is used to it. 

“This is unbelievable, really.” Thomas looked starstruck. Who was this guy?

“Well, I didn’t know you two knew each other?” It wasn’t actually a statement. You were asking. 

“Not at all. But I sure know this lad’s skills. Fucking beast on the pitch.” Thomas shook his head one more time before getting up from the stool. “I might be back in twenty. Are you going to still be around by then?”

“Of course, sir.” Erling’s tone was as calm as it gets. When Thomas got out of the shop, he turned to face you again, his eyes seeming to say a silent apology for whatever that was. “Happens from time to time.”

“What? Getting recognized by strangers?” You jokingly said, unsure of what to expect next. “Are you… famous or something like that?”

Erling shrugged, taking a seat on Thomas’ previous stool.

“You could say that. It’s what comes with my job.”

“Which is…?” You couldn’t handle the suspense.

“Football player.” He smiled, apparently used to dropping that bomb on people. “But I’m glad you didn’t know that.”

“Woah.” You smiled back, slightly shocked by the fact that the cute guy who asked for your number was an actual celebrity whose existence you had no idea of. “Kinda explains why you’re so fit.” As soon as the words left your mouth, you wanted to die. “I mean, you know, so muscular? Not that I really got my attention on that particular aspect, but... I should shut up.”

He looked at you like you were the most amusing person to ever walk on Earth, and then he laughed so hard you started to giggle from how contagious it was.

“No worries. I don’t mind you noticing those things about me.” He leaned a bit on the counter. “I was actually coming to see if you wanted to have dinner tonight?”

Oh. Oh, wow. It’s really happening. 

“Of course I do.” The smile you gave him almost broke your face in half. “What time?”

“Eight?” 

“Sounds like a deal.”

“Sounds like a date.” Oh. 

“A date it is.” 

And just as you were about to say something dumb for how much stuff was going on inside your head, the doorbell rang again, and Thomas was back.

“Got time to sign an old man’s jersey?”

You both laughed at the sight of him out of breath, holding two football shirts with a tight grip. 

“I sure do.” Erling stretched his hand to him, and Thomas gave him the t-shirts with such enthusiasm that your heart melted a bit. 

He was a fan.

“Thank you for doing this.” You whispered when he leaned again on the counter, taking the sharpie you gave him and carefully signing the shirts. 

“It’s not a problem.” 

Wasn’t he sweet? 

You had to restrain yourself from sighing like a schoolgirl with her first crush as he gave the shirts back to Thomas, chatting a little while before leaving, not before giving you a kiss on the cheek that made you a bit weak on the knees.

“So?” Oh, Thomas. You big old gossip. 

“I have a date tonight.”

You wouldn't have thought it was possible for a man like Thomas to scream that high, but he did, and you didn’t stop laughing for at least twenty minutes.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚⋆·˚ ༘ * ERLING’S TAGLIST

@questionable-behaviour | @koufaxx | @xjval | @nikki01234 | @evarasworld | @kynykyny | @alleyahah | @444pantheress | @football4life9 | @f1lover55 | @frankcastleonlyfans | @ironmaiden1313 | @pizzapie349

[stupidstrawberrystars]

I’ve decided that my WIPs should be somewhere. This is wolfstar, modern au (where Sirius and James have a tiktok account). It was supposed to be multi chaptered (basically just gonna be Wolfstar doing couples trends on tiktok, but they’re not actually together yet), but I only fully completed the first chapter. But it’s just rotting away so here, it’s about 1k.

I’ve made this a thing now so;

Next

Their video went viral two months ago. Sirius and James precariously attempted to pet a pigeon. Gotta give the guy credit, Pete’s great at dares. 

He recorded it all, planning to use it to blackmail the two in the future. Nothing like friendly bullying between mates. And he got some good footage, a pigeon did fly in James’ face and Sirius stepped in poop, but then Remus just had to help.

He went to the shop and grabbed some bread. So they could lure a pigeon in. And in a shocking turn of events, they managed to pet one eventually. 

They posted the video as a joke.

It took the algorithm only a few weeks to hit all the UK uni students currently withering away behind their desks.

And soon Pads and Prongs went viral. 

And so as James and Remus crashed through uni, Pete cruised through his internship as a sous chef, and Sirius desperately search for artistic inspiration, they kept an online presence too.

Sirius and James documented their crazy days of boring work and painting, and entertained their fans with late night lives at their flats and short tiktok clips of dumb pranks. James’ hair was pink for a week. It was hilarious.

The internet was quick to fall in love with James’ long distance relationship with Lily. Pete popped up to show off his cooking sometimes. Remus appeared in the background sometimes. Sirius finds it unbelievable that he hasn’t realised how much the tiktok book girlies already love him. 

And that’s what lead to last night. The marauders, a nickname from school and therefore an embarrassing inside joke, are all huddled in the small living room of James and Sirius’, eating Pete’s cake and cuddled under blankets. Their live and just chatting with the fans, relating over awful projects and difficult teachers. 

“Not that this cake isn’t amazing, but does anyone want actual food? I could order takeaway since clearly none of us want to get up and make shit.” It’s a good suggestion from James, but Sirius isn’t really hungry.

“Yeah i’d have food mate.” Remus agrees and then so does Pete. 

“I’m good i’m not hungry.” James shoots him a vaguely sceptical look, and asks him if he’s sure.

“Yes i’m sure James.”

They decide on simple fish and chips. Usually they get something, as James would say, with more taste. But the chippies the only place that’ll bring them food and not take more than two hours. It is a Friday after all. 

Since they’re using James’ phone for the live, Remus takes his phone out and takes Pete and James’ order.

So they continue along chatting and rather quickly the questions about Remus, who’s been pretty quiet all evening, increase from about 50% of the comments to 75%. 

“Just appease them a bit Lupin.” Remus glares at James for that. 

“I have no clue what the people on your phone want to know about me James.”

Remus has a tendency to refer to technology as if he’s a grandpa who understands nothing beyond a radio. Sirius has heard people call it annoying but really it’s just endearing. At least to Sirius.

“How about that book you read Moony? Red, White and Royal Blue? Apparently you were caught making some choice expressions while reading in the background of me and James’ last tiktok. Did you like it?”

Remus gives him a disapproving look, likely annoyed at Sirius’ question. Apparently books need more detail than just a simple, yes it was good, or no it was not.

“Well… okay do your phone people really care about my opinion?” Remus turns to James. He replies that yes they obviously do. The comments are going crazy over having Remus’ attention.

“Fine. I enjoy Casey McQuiston’s writing style. I thought it was entertaining and I really liked how Alex and Henry complimented each other. Henry was able to calm Alex and Alex’s able to reason with Henry when he’s struggling.” 

Sirius looked blankly at Remus.

“Oh come on Moons. You spent like 2 hours explaining the whole book in depth and going on and on about your favourite characters and lines. Your book is annotated all over. At least share with the audience your favourite quotes.”

Remus sighs beside Sirius. Sirius really wants to hear these though. Remus seemed to love the book and Sirius often finds listening to him describe something he loves is always majestic. He details it all with elegant words until you’re eating out the plan of his hand. 

“I guess I thought it was pretty funny when Nora said, How did I know I was Bi? I touched a boob. Wasn’t that profound.”

“Remus.” Sirius whines.

“Oh fine. There’s a tone of quotes from that book I love. There’s I love him on purpose. Or he tells his too fast brain: don’t miss it this time, it’s too important. I- erm- I guess I also kind of love this thing Henry says, it’s like And I thought if someone like that ever loved me, it’d set me on fire. But then I was a careless fool and fell in love with you anyway.” Remus has not taken his eyes of Sirius once as he quotes this beautiful book. How does he remember those lines just of the top of his head?

“You know what though,” His voice takes on a soft tone. The one he reserves for kids, animals, things he loves, and sometimes Sirius. If he’s in a good mood. “my favourite, has got to be When have I ever, since the very first instant I touched you, pretended to be anything less than in love with you?” Remus’ eyes are rich and deep and chocolate. Sirius wants to paint them. 

“Moony!” James interrupts their eye contact. “Now they’re all gonna be in love with you, damn it.”

Remus chuckles and glances to the side.

“Doubt that Prongs. But yeah I loved the book. Oh and erm- food should be here soon by the way guys. Just got the notification to say it’s on its way here.”

Remus then clearly decides he’s done enough socialising with the internet so he grabs his current book, Song of Achilles, and carries on reading. 

And of course, because he’s so easy to deal with already, Sirius’ stomach, as if it has a mind of its own, decides now is the time to become bloody starving.

He glances guilty at Prongs, who furrows his eyebrows as if to ask what’s wrong.

“Hey Moons,” Sirius raises the pitch of his voice slightly to warn Remus he’s about to be a bit annoying. Remus glances up, squints at him and tilts his head.

“Remember when I said I wasn’t hungry?”

James bursts into laughter and Pete chuckles. But Remus just goes back to his book. And once the laughter dies down he, without even lifting his head from reading, tells Sirius,

“Idiot. I know. I ordered you food when I ordered ours. I know you. I knew you’d be hungry.” He rolls his eyes but goes straight back to the book.

The entire internet sees Sirius’ doe eyes but Remus does not. It sends James up the wall. 

[gloomyluvr]

OPEN ARMS

in which y/n surprises miles with her latest project

fem!cosplayer!reader x 1610!miles morales

fluff

warnings!: veryyy inaccurate depiction of cosplayer!reader. reader doesn’t know miles is spiderman 😭 horrible ending sorryyy

based off this ask

a/n: hiiii. i’ve been meaning to put this out but never got to it sorry. umm sorry for not being active lately 😣 i have no excuses i just haven’t been active 💀 so sorry this took so long and to the person who requested it im so so sorry if its booty! but dw guys imma start being active again 😈

masterlist

“are you almost done?” miles groaned. he was always impatient, but it was worse when it came you. about an hour ago, you had texted miles to come to your place to show him your latest cosplay. 

miles knew of your interest, and he had always supported you. he complimented every one of your cosplays and always helped you take photos to post later. this time, he didn’t even know that you were working on a new cosplay! he felt a little betrayed since he loved going out with you looking for any supplies that you’d need for the costumes or wigs. 

“give me a minute! this spandex is a bit difficult to put on!” you yelled from your room. 

“spandex?” miles whispered to himself. now he was only more curious. and you were still taking your sweet ass time. in your room, you looked around on the floor looking for the red jordans spiderman sported (which thankfully, you had a pair of!)

“where the hell are they?” you grumbled to yourself. you sighed when you remembered you’d left them next to the couch where miles was sitting. 

“miles!” you yelled.

“yeah baby?” 

“can you get the shoes you bought me and bring them over here!” 

“uhh sure! where are they?”

“they should be right next to where you’re sitting!” miles looked around until he found the red shoes. he picked them up and left them by the door of your room.

“okay i left them by your door!”  

“thanks, love!” you waited until you heard the couch squeak, confirming that miles was no longer near your door. quickly (but not so swiftly) you got the shoes, hitting your hand against the door as you tried to pull the shoes towards you. you slammed the door shut, cursing yourself as you finally put on the last piece of your costume.

“close your eyes!!!” you yelled to your lover.

miles was giddy. he couldn’t wait to see what you had put together this time. he hadn’t seen you yet, but he already knew you looked great! with his tightly shut eyes, miles heard the door open followed by the sound of your footsteps that stopped in front of him. 

“open!”

miles looked up at you and very quickly noticed the familiar colors and design. it was his suit! 

“ta da!!!” you announced, posing with your hands out like spiderman does when he shoots his weird web thing. 

miles smiled widely, he couldn’t believe his eyes. not only did the suit look amazing on you and hug your curves in all the right places but it was incredibly accurate!

“baby, you look so good! the suit looks great!” miles held your hand and stood up, “do a lil’ spin for me. how did you get it to look like the real thing?” you did as he asked and giggled at his compliments. 

“his suit is so simple! also, you won’t believe how many photos there are of spiderman! it was just a little hard getting his logo right! it looks like it was spray painted on. i don't know though.” you rambled, and miles listened as he admired you. 

“what’s with the shoes? spiderman doesn’t wear shoes.” miles tried correcting you.

“yes he does! well, he used to! when he first started. they’re the exact same ones too!”

“you remember that? eww, you stalkerrr!” miles joked. 

you playfully rolled your eyes, “whateverrrr. you’re just jealous ‘cause i prefer spiderman over you.”

“you’re fake!” miles pouted and crossed his arms.

“noooo! i’m kidding! i love youuu!” you tried kissing miles but he turned his head away.

“go kiss your spider bae or whatever! he probably lays eggs or some shit.” miles slandered his alter ego. he uncrossed his arms, and dramatically (but gently) pushed you away.

“you’re my only bae, i swear!” you pleaded, attacking him with another hug. you wrapped your arms around him tightly. miles smiled and uncrossed his arms and reciprocated the hug. his hands traveled down to their resting place on your waist. you looked up at him only to find him already looking at you. his gentle brown eyes scanned over your face, admiring every small feature. you smiled before quickly looking away.

“don’t get shy on me now,” he said softly. you buried your face in his chest, embarrassed.

“then stop looking at me like that.” you murmured, even more embarrassed by how you still get so nervous around him. 

“i’m sorry, i can’t help it. not when my novia’s so pretty.” 

“oh my god, you’re so corny!” 

[hvcmixtape]

love's all fair when you're checking the decisions between you and seungkwan on the basketball court on the island of jeju

pairing: seungkwan x reader themes: vacation!(Y/N), resort worker!seungkwan, jeju!seungkwan, there's no mention of caffeine but assume seungkwan still has his caffeine addiction 🤣 wc: ~2600 genre: fluff note: first fic released in a long while! hope you enjoy this AU :>

“I know you say you’re trying, but are you really?” Seungkwan teases you with a fiery tongue. He looks down at you as if the whole world is in his hand, the corner of his lips digging deep into his smirk. With the basketball cradled in his palm, you shoot daggers into his eyes. Who does he think he is, Troy Bolton?

You're the only two on the court at this late hour, but it's only because of the consequences of your own actions, all of which started just earlier that day.

It's your yearly vacation with your family and they decided, why not go to a resort where the destination is the journey itself?

As soon as you heard that come from your mom's mouth, you weren't sure what to make of the next week you'd be spending in Jeju, a place you'd been to a few times before. You've already visited the major attractions on the island, like hiking the Hallasan volcano, so what are a few more hikes? But realistically, who are you to deny your parents, the ones paying for the vacation in the first place?

Packing was difficult as you've thrown random clothing that you'll hope will make cute outfits when you're on the beachy island, and as soon as you know it, you're on the flight to Jeju, then in the shuttle to the resort, and then your ass is kissing the seat to a poolside view.

September is one of the best times to visit Jeju—the rainy season is starting to die down, but it's still bright and warm outside when there aren't any clouds. There aren't as many tourists at this time, but you've soon figured out that this is the time for locals to make the trip to Jeju so it's almost as crowded as you figured it would be. You suppose it's just another testament to how amazing Korea's geography can be.

As you sip on your drink, your mom beside you flips through one of the many brochures they handed her at check-in.

"Me and dad want to do a cooking class," she says after reading the description. "They'll teach us how to make paella; it's a Spanish rice dish."

"That sounds really yummy," you mindlessly reply, but as soon as you say that, she places one on your torso. "You want me to find things to do too?"

"Why not? Weren't you complaining and asking why we were coming back to Jeju? That's why I chose this place," your mom roughly says. "You don't have to do everything, but at least do something other than staying by the pool all day."

"I guess," you grumble, finally opening the pamphlet. There are a lot of things to try out: surfing and scuba diving caught your eye, but you weren't sure how you'd fare with those very physical activities. When you flip to the other side of the paper, your eyes are drawn to the left side. "Mom, they have an activity center for people my age—"

"Try it out! It'll be fun. Maybe you can go there after lunch and see what things they have planned for the day."

Lunch comes and goes and you have no choice but to venture off on your own, as your parents decided they want to do a wine tasting in the downtown area, taking the rental car with them.

Your first step is to approach the reception area, where you find a young man, probably around your age, manning the desk.

"Hi, good afternoon, how can I help you?" His full cheeks give him a boyish look, and his messy hair just adds to his appearance. He's wearing the same linen shirt the other staff you've seen wear, but on him, it looks just a little bit better.

"I was wondering if you have any information on the young adult activity center here. I saw it in one of the brochures."

A smile beams on his face. "You've come to the right place. I'm the worker in charge of the young adult activity center. I'm Seungkwan."

He puts out a hand for you to shake, and you accept it right away. "My name is (Y/N), it's nice to meet you," you reply back. "When are there usually activities during the day? I'm staying at the resort until the end of the week."

"Usually every few hours is a light activity and sometimes, we do excursions. Let me check to see what we have for today."

As Seungkwan pulls up the schedule on his computer, you say, "You seem a little young to be working at a resort full-time?"

He chuckles, pulling his focus toward you. "This is actually my aunt's resort. I'm working with her until I manage to figure out what I want to do. But I am 21, so I'm not totally young."

"Oh, I'm only a little bit older than you. I'm just turned 22," you reply. "But this seems like a fun job."

"Yeah, I like it most of the time. I'm sort of thinking of going into the entertainment industry, so I'd say this is good practice." Seungkwan shrugs. "So, for today's schedule, we're planning on hiking around the Cheonjeyeon waterfalls. We'll meet at 3:30 so we can make it for the sunset and head back right after that."

"Sounds good. Where's the meeting spot?"

"It'll be right here at the reception desk. We usually have 5 to 10 people come around, especially for the hikes. And since we're at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, not as many young adults are here." There's something in that sentence that makes you raise an eyebrow but you don't think further of it.

"I'll see you at 3:30 then," you smile. "See you later, Seungkwan."

You find him later on with a pair of sunglasses perched at the top of his head, waving around a tiny green flag. You can't help but laugh at how cutely he spins the flag in circles as he raises his hand high above his head.

"Hi Seungkwan," you say as you approach the group of 7 people so far. Most seem around your age but some have younger faces.

"Hi, (Y/N). You look ready to hike," he smiles and leans in toward your ear, making you feel some type of way when his breath tickles your ear when he speaks. "Some people seem like they've been forced to come by their parents."

You chuckle at his hushed tone and take a good look around you, where everyone is wearing completely different styles that might not be the best for hiking to a waterfall. One guy is wearing an all-white outfit, and you know that can't be good news for a hike.

"I suppose you get this often then?" You ask, as you turn away from him and you rummage through your backpack to find the sunscreen that you'll definitely need with the sun's rays still beating down at this time.

Seungkwan's eyes are stuck on your hands as they glide the sunscreen along your arms and shoulders, not even able to answer your question. He bites his lip as he can see you try to reach the exposed parts of your back with your fingers that just can't find a way there, but he keeps his mouth shut.

"Can," you look back at him with a pleading smile. "Can you put sunscreen on the parts I can't get?"

He doesn't have much of a choice and he accepts the bottle with a flushed face. "Sure," he says, squeezing the product onto his hand and watching the cream soak into your skin. He's embarrassed to admit that he knows the spots on your back that didn't get covered.

"Thanks!" You beam with a bright smile as you turn toward him, not knowing that he'll be thinking about that moment for a long while.

"Bye, Seoyeong, it was nice meeting you!" You wave to a girl who leaves almost as soon as the group returns to the lobby. She doesn't say much back, but you hope you'll get to see her again in the next few days that you're still here.

As people start to break ways, you're reluctant to leave. "Do people usually leave right away, or do they hang around?" You ask Seungkwan. He says he's still on the clock, whether he's with the young adults' group or he returns to manning the front desk, so it doesn't matter much to him how he spends the last part of his day.

"Most leave right away, but you're more than welcome to hang around if you want." Seungkwan smiles and it's the first time you've felt like you want to absolutely squish his cheeks.

You fold your fingers tight, not letting them leave your side. "You don't mind?"

"Of course not. We can get to know each other better, and," he glances down at his watch. "I get off of work in 45 minutes and that was a pretty hefty hike, so we can grab food if you want? I can take you somewhere outside of the resort."

...Is this a date?

After letting your mother know that you're off to eat dinner with one of the people you've met at the hike, you click your seatbelt buckle and are ready to go wherever he leads you. Never mind the fact that you've known him for half the day—you are usually more aware than this—but you just feel good about Seungkwan. Something feels right about him.

"Do you like hamburgers?" Seungkwan asks as he adjusts the mirrors of his car. You can feel your heart pattering against your chest from such a domestic action.

"Yeah. I get them often with my friends after classes." You go deeper into conversation about your academic aspirations when he wonders what courses you're taking, and it's nice, to say the least. You enjoy getting to know someone better and it definitely doesn't hurt that you find him attractive. Maybe he's just being nice and maybe he's done this with other people who have been to the resort and met up with him, but you're only here for a few days anyway. If things don't work out, it's fine.

Seungkwan's a smooth driver as you glaze over his appearance: his brown hair floating up and down when the wind blows through it, the wire glasses that perch on his nose, and a smile that comes about often when he's speaking. He doesn't let the conversation drop, making sure he's nodding his head in acknowledgment while also keeping his eyes on the road.

As he approaches the parking lot of the restaurant, you mention that parking is so difficult.

"No, it's pretty easy," Seungkwan shakes his head. He removes his hand from the wheel and places it on the back of your seat as he reverses the car into the space.

"Easy for you to say," you mutter, trying to look in the side mirror if your face can get any redder.

After you head into the restaurant and order your food, you look out the window and even a simple hamburger place has the best views. "I wouldn't see the ocean while eating a burger like this in Seoul."

"Just another great thing about Jeju," Seungkwan says as he digs into his burger. "This is my favorite burger place, I go here pretty often whenever I finish a shift."

"I like your shirt, by the way. It looks good on you," you blurt out and you can't help but take a huge bite of your burger so you can shut up.

Seungkwan sets down his burger and covers his laugh with a napkin. "Thanks," he replies after he settles down. It's a simple outfit—just a blue button-up with a white inner shirt, but it's the rolled-up sleeves that do it for you.

You move on from that topic as soon as you can.

"Thanks for taking me there, Seungkwan," You grin as you walk out potbellied after the meal. "And thank you for paying for me too, you didn't have to."

"Just wanted to show you around is all, so it's my pleasure."

You're not quite sure what he means of it, but he brings you to a walkway that leads down to the coast. "This is a nice place to walk along," you say as your shoes crush the sand below you.

"Yeah, I usually like to exercise after my meals, especially with burgers," he laughs at himself.

The two of you walk in silence for a little bit, taking in the sights and sounds of Jeju, a place Seungkwan has known forever and a place you're just here to touch on for a few days.

"Hey," Seungkwan pipes up. "Do you like basketball?"

“You suck, Kwan,” you say, as you jump, jump, jump. Your arm stretches out as far as you can, fingertips grazing his forearm each time your feet leave the ground. “What happened to playing a fair game?”

You're surprised that you get the court all to yourselves. Seungkwan said that the courts close for guests around 9 at night, but since it's his aunt's resort, a key can solve all of his problems. The floodlights are still on, illuminating the green and white basketball court you stand on.

“This is fair!” He can’t help but to laugh. “You just can’t reach me because you’re short.” His eyes crinkle at the outer points, still keeping enough focus to maintain the ball in his possession. Damn you, Seungkwan.

Maybe it’s the heat, or maybe it’s all of the mixed signals he’s been giving you but ah, to hell with it. It’s time for you to get on the offense and make a move.

With a deep breath in and out, you wrap your arms around his waist, looking up at him with the softest eyes you could muster.

As soon as he feels contact on his body, only a layer of clothing between your fingers and his midriff, his face burns. And you have never seen Seungkwan flustered to a point that the ball falls from his hand immediately and bounces multiple times on the court.

His feet are frozen and his eyes land on you, even as you run after the ball and sink a shot that’s not the cleanest, but still swishes through the net. 

Grabbing the ball, you saunter up as cool as you can, and hold the ball on your hip as you stand face-to-face. “Maybe that wasn’t fair, but I was trying at least.”

Your smart comment goes right over his head, as he’s still trying to process what the hell just happened.

"(Y/N)," he can only manage to utter, looking around to see if anyone saw what he just experienced. His eyes are wider than the full moon in the sky and he blinks a few times to shake off his surprise. "Yeah, I guess that would be trying." He puffs his cheeks and purses his lips, not knowing what else to say.

"I think you're cool Seungkwan."

"You do?"

"But I mean, do you do this with all the girls you meet when they come here for vacation?"

You have time to run away if need be, but you find yourself taking one, two, three steps closer to him.

"No," he replies, his voice softer than ever before. "Only you."

[acewritesfics]

Rockstar Love | Eddie Munson

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Request: From Anon

Warnings: None. H/C - Hair Color, E/C - Eye Color, F/B - Favorite Book 

Word Count: 1,457

Stranger Things Masterlist | Main Masterlist

“Whoo! Yeah, Eddie!”  

Eddie Munson hears his best friend’s voice shouting over his guitar solo, prompting him to look at her. His smile is beaming ear to ear.  It wasn’t difficult to find her among the bars patrons because she was the sole person rocking out to the music on the dance floor, cheering for them. Her H/C hair swaying side to side, her E/C eyes lighting up with joy as her head and body moved to the rhythm of his guitar. She’s truly enjoying herself while the other five bar patrons and the bartender were too drunk to care.  

This is the first time he’s brought her to one of his gigs in the two years they’ve been friends. She used to work on Tuesday nights, but her new schedule allows her those nights off. Now, Y/N will use them to attend Corroded Coffin’s gigs at The Hideout. She’s been to many of their practices but seeing them play live, no matter how big (or small) the crowd, it’s so much different. She’s already their number one fan, has been since the moment Eddie told her that he’s in a band.  

Eddie feels a pleasant twist in his stomach and an unexpected warmth flood his body as he shifts his gaze between her and his guitar. Although Y/N has always been beautiful in his eyes, he has never seen her look more breathtakingly beautiful than she does right now. She is rocking out without caring what the drunks think of her, cheering for him and his band and completely coming out of her shell, becoming the carefree person that he was only one of few that got to see. Never has he ever seen her so at ease in front of strangers. She always leans more toward the reserved and shy side of things when it comes to people she doesn’t know. 

In terms of personality, he and Y/N are complete opposites, but they balance each other out. While she soothes his hyperactivity just as much as the weed he smokes does, he helps her come out of her shell. It helps tremendously that she enjoys metal music, has been begging him to teach her how to play Dungeons & Dragons, isn’t on the “Eddie the Freak” bandwagon, and gets along fantastically with the only parental figure who’s ever given a shit about him. He honestly believes she is his other half, his better half, and he can’t deny how in love with her he is anymore. 

“You guys were amazing!” Y/N applauds as the band leaves the little stage. She surprises everyone by giving hugs to Gareth and the others before giving Eddie a hug. Her hug with Eddie is a little tighter and lasts a little longer than her hug with the others.  

After his surprise from her unexpected hug faded, Gareth beams proudly, “Thanks Y/N.”  

The others added their thanks also before leaving Eddie and Y/N and going to the bar to get a well-earned drink. As he follows the other two to the bar, Gareth gives his friend a pat on the back. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” Eddie asks, his face serious, his tongue sticking out like it usually does when he is contemplating or concentrating on something. 

“Aren’t you supposed to help the others pack up the instruments?” She asks to make sure he won’t be leaving others short for help.  

He assures her, “I just have to take my guitar and amp, the others have everything else. Grant has his van here and I made sure they’re cool with it.”  

“Then lead the way, Sir Edward Munson,” she quips, bowing and sweeping her arm out towards the stage.  

“Ugh, don’t call me that,” he groans, cringing as he leads her to the stage.  

“What, Sir?” She teases him, knowing he was referring to Edward. Except while filling out legal forms, he never goes by Edward. “I thought you like being called Sir.”  

Despite the amusement in his doe brown eyes, he shoots her a glare. "You know what I mean.“  

"I’m sorry, please forgive me?” she puts on the puppy dog eyes and pleads with him, helping him pack up his beloved instrument, which only she is permitted to touch other than him.   

“Buy me dinner and I might just forgive you,” he fixes his eyes on her and can’t stop the grin from growing on his lips. It’s at this moment that the butterflies appear, and he becomes serious again, focusing on putting his guitar into its case.  

Y/N observes his change in demeanour and gives him a worried look, but she says nothing. She knows Eddie well enough to know that if something is bothering him, he’ll talk to her when he’s ready and that there’s no point in pushing it. 

“I’ll buy you dinner,” she offers, knowing that he’s jesting with her.“The pizza place should still be open. We can make a stop there before going back to your trailer.”  Despite the fact that her trailer is two doors down from his, she’ll be staying with him tonight.  

“I was kidding,” he explains as he redirects his gaze to her again.  

She acknowledges, “I know, but I’m starving. I also can’t eat an entire pizza by myself.”  

“Okay,” He nods in agreement and straightens up again as he raises his guitar case off the floor. Y/N grabs his amp and walks with him to his van. "But we’re not going back to the trailer right away.” 

“No?” She is perplexed as she watches him unlock the sliding door of his van, opens it, and places his guitar inside before taking the amp from her and setting it next to the guitar case. .  

“I was thinking we could go out to Lover’s Lake and hang out there for a little while,” he says, not wanting to give away that he wants to have a serious talk with her. He knows her well enough that if he suggests that they need to talk, she will immediately begin to imagine the worst-case scenarios in her head. He does not want her to assume something is wrong when there isn’t anything wrong at all. 

“Sounds wonderful,” she responds, letting him know she’s fine with it as he closes the door. “Can we get the pizza on the way out there?”  

“Yeah, because I’m starving too,” he replies as he grabs her hand and pulls her towards the front passenger seat, unlocking and opening the door for her.  

She turns to face him, a little startled by how close they are standing. Her breath catches as her heart races, butterflies forming in her stomach as she watches his eyes wander from hers to her lips and linger there for a few seconds before meeting her eyes again.  

However, she finds herself staring at his full, chapped lips and imagining what it would be like to kiss them. She catches herself thinking about this and many other things on a regular basis.  

For example, how would his rough calloused hands feel against the silky skin of her thighs when he raised her off the ground and pressed her up against a wall, or placed her on top of a kitchen counter?  

But she wouldn’t tell anyone, let alone Eddie, about her thoughts or feelings  she’s been harboring for him since she moved into Forest Hills Trailer Park two years ago because her fear of rejection is strong. 

She had experienced emotional whiplash because of how quickly and deeply she had fallen in love with Eddie Munson. She’d been residing at the trailer park for about three weeks when Eddie approached her when she was sitting at the picnic table, reading her copy of F/B while wearing her headphones and listening to Guns ‘N’ Roses. She was immediately drawn to his beautiful, large brown eyes. She often finds herself becoming lost in them. Just like she is right now.  

Eddie moves his hands to cup her face as if her were reading her mind and then closes the space between them, placing a soft kiss to her lips. 

The kiss is hesitant and unsure at first, and he pulls back just enough to gage her reaction. As soon as his lips had touched hers, she closed her eyes. She tucks her bottom lip between her teeth and opens her eyes to look into his as he studies her face.  

“I love you,” she whispers before she can stop herself, her brain malfunctioning from the kiss. While Eddie’s eyes widen in surprise, his smile grows bigger.  

“I love you too,” he replies, kissing her more boldly this time as his arms wrap around her waist, drawing her closer to him. 

[ishido-enjoyer]

Another new interview with Takehiro Hira (this must be my lucky month ^^); he talks about working with Tadanobu Asano & Anna Sawai, Ishido's character and what it was like having to play a more introspective character, and the Toranaga/Ishido rivalry. Full audio at the link.

Excerpts:

Takehiro: I guess he [Ishido] was really lonely among the lords, who were actually born in that ruling class and they had their, you know, career path, life path, already determined when they were born, but Ishido was the opposite of that, so he didn’t have anyone to talk to, back then you don’t make friends with other lords, I guess there’s a lot of backstabbing and betrayals and stuff like that, but Ishido was really loyal to his former boss, Taiko, and that’s why during the show there were a few moments where he stares at the armor of his former boss, Taiko, as if he was looking at himself in the mirror, asking questions like “Am I doing alright, father?” kind of moments.

Q: How do you approach a character who’s not a textbook villain? We know he has reasons for being who he is but he’s not necessarily a full-on antagonist like we see in most blockbusters now. 

Takehiro: He has his personal ambitions but on top of that, I guess Ishido can’t really stand Toranaga or people who were born into the privileged families, because you know he had to go through so much to be where he is and Toranaga is like “Oh I don’t want to be Shogun,” but you know, I know you want to be Shogun, so I guess it’s more of a personal grudge against him, not so much political I guess. 

[On working with Tadanobdu Asano]

Takehiro: He's really an interesting guy, and did you know he’s a musician too? He’s a good painter, a great graphic artist, he just had a little gallery thing in Japan, and his drawings are really comical and really nuanced, and it’s really great. And he’s a really humble guy, funny, he’s a renaissance man. You can’t put a finger on who he really is, and that’s almost like Yabushige himself. So it was really great working with him and just playing off of what he does, was a great experience. 

[On working with Anna Sawai on Shogun and other shows]

She was really focused on the show, so I only had a handful of scenes with her but I didn’t really talk to her off camera at all, she was focused in a little corner, so I just let her be and let her focus, but you know when we do traditional Japanese samurai shows, in order to move or act in that costume is really difficult, especially for women and for men as well, it takes a lot of years of practice to be able to move freely,  but it was her first samurai show, for Anna, but she did it so effortlessly and it was just so amazing how she could do that, I’ve never seen any actresses do it so easily [....] I think we have developed more confidence with each other now, we did work in Giri/Haji, Shogun, and Monarch season 1 but we didn’t have many scenes together, but we talk about the shows, and how we approach the characters and stuff like that, and now we’re shooting season 2 of Monarch and it seems like we have more confidence with each other and we’re more comfortable with each other. 

[en-lista]

HER.  ›  PRE-DEBUT ݃ 2023

synposis.  mysteries are fun.. when you’re not the one trying to solve them.

featuring.  ot8

duration.  661 words

cw & note.  none & finally something not comfort- not that it’s a bad genre, i just wanted to take you, roses, on a trip to the past

they were talking about her.

calista knows because the boys are not skilled in the art of whispering. nor are they doing a good job at spacing out the glances they frequently cast at her. at some point, one of them looked like they were about to approach her, only to back out.

nevertheless, she continues cooling down after her usual morning practice. she runs through her stretches a couple more times before taking a seat by the farthest wall. her bag's already settled down there, so she takes her phone out and texts her best friend.

immersed in the conversation, she doesn't notice the approaching figure until he taps her shoulder. she looks up from her screen and smiles politely. “did you need something?”

the male trainee nods and explains, “yes, my members and i were wondering if we could practice here. all the other rooms are occupied so we were hoping it'd be okay with you..”

while he’s speaking, calista observes him. blonde hair, almond shaped eyes, great fashion taste—he must be jay. she can’t deny it, he looks just as cool as he did on the survival show.

“go ahead, i'm leaving soon anyways so don't worry about me.” she smiles politely and watches him bow in thanks before heading back to the others.

now that they've been given the green light, they all look less on edge. but there's still some nerves making its rounds in the group due to the girl's presence. she looks so professional, so in her element when she was practicing earlier, what if they fumble and make a fool out of themselves?

“let's just pretend like she's not there and get through this practice.” jungwon, ever the level-headed member, advises everyone.

with that, the seven of them get into position and wait for the music to play. it's not difficult to get lost in the music, to forget about the stranger sharing the room with them. but some of them stumble at least once or twice because they forget to leave a space.

it still hasn't been fully explained to them why they need to do such a thing. all they know is that this isn't the final formation, so they mustn't get too comfortable in their positions.

moving into their ending poses, the music fades into the background. the sound of heavy breathing is prominent.. that is, until applause overtakes it.

surprised, all of them look at the girl.

at some point, she moved to stand by the door, bag heaved over her shoulder. she puts her hands down and tells them, “that was amazing. then again, you guys have constantly proven to everyone that you deserve to debut, so i'm not very surprised.”

now they're even more flustered from her praise. just who is this girl and why does she sound like she's been following them ever since the beginning of i-land? the seven males bow, their words meshing together to sound like thank you.

calista glances at her watch and groans. “shoot, my friend's probably waiting for me outside. i have to get going.”

“no worries, thanks for your feedback.” jay's the one to speak up again, seeing as how the others are still awestruck by her.

“bye guys, i look forward to working with you soon.” she sends them a smile before slipping out the door.

a few minutes pass over before heeseung wonders aloud, “working with us soon? what does that mean?”

the group share a look, none of them initially able to provide a reasonable explanation. that is, until jungwon proposes, “could she be the reason our formation has yet to be confirmed?”

“you mean, she might be debuting with us?” ni-ki stares at the older boy, confused.

“given the fact that ateez sunbaenim and stray kids sunbaenim have done it, it's not impossible.”

the others can't deny that. still, would belift actually put a girl in a male dominated group? well, given the skills she showed earlier, she looks like she'd be able to handle it.

..and they've fallen back onto square one.

꒰ TAGLIST.  @stealanity​​ 𐬹 send an ask if you’d like to be added  ꒱

[posebean]

Summer Rain: Feverish Weather 1

Writer: Beanosei

Season: Spring

Characters: Niki, Rinne, Kohaku, Himeru

Niki: Get it together, Shiina Niki, he's getting into your head!!!

Present day, studio bathroom

Niki:...

Niki: We’ve come far…but isn’t this too far?!

Niki: What’s going on with me? I can’t focus, everything around me is spinning, and I'm burning up!!

Niki: Am I catching a fever? We do shoot often in fake rain but the staff is always on hand to towel us dry…

Niki: (And that! That!)

Niki: (unintelligible noises)

Niki: Am I really supposed to do this?

Niki: Of course, this is a romance movie so it should be expected… but…

An hour earlier

Rinne: And with that, the last script read-through is done~ Does anyone have any objections, concerns, suggestions for our Director-san?

Kohaku: Not really. Our stuff seems simple enough, we have to be completely done with Rinne-han, as always. Right, Himeru-han?

Himeru: Yes. Should be easy enough, being something that Himeru and Oukawa are experts at already.

Niki: Mogu mogu mogu (chewing on a snack)

Rinne: Niki? Niki: Mogu mogu mogu (still chewing on a snack)

Rinne: No complaints from my team I guess~ Rinne: Well, lovely Director-san, I have a complaint! Kohaku: (covers his face in exasperation) Himeru: (does the same)

Niki: Mogu mogu mogu ♪ (still chewing on a snack)

Rinne: Director-san! The last scene! Right here! Rinne: Yes! Right there! I refuse to accept this. Kohaku:... Is it the- Himeru: Yep. It is.

Kohaku: I knew this was going to happen.

Rinne: Director-san! I’m sorry, I have to refuse. I will not do this.

Himeru: Amagi, stop being difficult. It’s not that big of a deal.

Rinne: Not that big of a deal?! Merumeru, are you hearing yourself? Am I surrounded by idiots?! Rinne: I said not till marriage, and I mean it. I’m a man of my word.

Kohaku: Rinne-han, this is literally a romance movie. You signed us up KNOWING this was a romance movie. Kohaku: You should’ve expected it.

Rinne: Nope, I still refuse~ Himeru: Oukawa put that fist down, if you hit him he might actually lose all the braincells he has left.

Niki: Mogu mogu mogu ♪ (still chewing on a snack)

Rinne: Niki~kyun~ stop chewing on that and participate in your group’s conversation! (moves to pull on snack) Niki: (pulls back, quickly stuffing the rest into his mouth) Niki: Nahaha…Rinne-kun, it’s not like we’re actually kissing though? Niki: It’s just a fake kiss, right? Rinne:...

Himeru: Amagi instantly saw the word ‘kiss’ and panicked. Niki: Director-san said we can stop right before an actual kiss and they can handle the rest. Kohaku: Kohkohkoh, yeah. The miracles of camera angles and post-editing.

Rinne:...

Rinne: Well why didn’t you all say so! Gyahaha ☆

Niki: But we did say so…it was also written on the script, you just didn’t pay attention~

Rinne: Get ready Niki~kyun~ We gotta practice~ Niki: Rinne-kun wait why are you getting close to me- Niki: NGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Back in the present

Niki: (I know back then I wasn’t really bothered by it but…) Niki: (Why am I feeling so weird now!!!) Niki: It’s just a fake kiss! There’s nothing wrong about it-

Niki: Just acting for an audience, all for entertainment! Niki: Nothing more…

Niki: (Hggh. It’s not just this though…) Niki: (We’ve been acting out our other scenes but…)

Niki: (I’ve been the one messing up the most! Rinne-kun is an amazing actor while I’m just…me.)

Niki: (Even so, all of the crew…and Rinne-kun…are so patient with me.) Niki: (Seeing him put this character on…It makes me feel dizzy.) Niki: (places his hands on his cheeks) Niki: AGH What is happening to me?!

Niki:...

Niki: Come to think of it, that was kind of cute. Niki: How earnest he was about not kissing even if he didn’t see it was a fake kiss- Niki: (Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait)

Niki: Cute?! Amagi Rinne, cute?!!!

Niki: Get it together, Shiina Niki, he's getting into your head!!!

Niki: He is not cute!!! He is awful!! And it’s all his fault you’re feeling like this!! Niki: All! His! Fault!

Niki: I’m not gonna let him get to me! He will not win! Niki: Those soft looks…that warm touch- Niki: Acting, it’s all acting! Niki: Hmph! Niki: (Nice try Rinne-kun, I’m not falling for any of this!)

Niki: You may think you’ve won, but I’m not falling for this!

[Back][Next] [Masterlist] CG by @nguyenfinity

[the-himawari]

A3! Citron - Translation [SSR] Childhood Friend’s Caretaker (3/3)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Citron: … (I followed the St. Flora boys to school this morning, so I’ll go with Azami and Kumon on their way home.) …

???: You there. Do you have a second? You’ve been staring at the school gate for a while now. Are you from another school? Are you waiting for a friend?

Citron: Ah… I am not a shady person…

???: Err, it’s suspicious no matter how you look at it—. Wait, hold on. By any chance, are you…

Izumi: (Huh? That person that police officer is speaking to over there… It’s Citron-kun!?) E-excuse me, officer! That man is actually one of our actors. He’s wearing a school uniform as a part of his role study…!

Fuyuki: Huh, Director-san?

Izumi: Eh? …Ah, Fuyuki-san!

Fuyuki: Ahaha. Yep, I thought so. I had a feeling I’d seen him before, so I thought he might’ve been a member of MANKAI Company. I didn’t expect to bump into you as well though, Director-san!

Izumi: I’m so sorry…

Citron: Sorry. I was lost in my role study.

Fuyuki: It was also my fault for suspecting you. In any case, it’s been noisy around here lately when kids from other schools hang around. I’m trying to call out to them when I spot them. You’re lucky that I’m the one who noticed you this time.

Izumi: Thank you. We’ll be careful next time…

Fuyuki: It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Anyways, I’m going to get back to my patrol. Good luck on your role study.

Citron: I’m sorry. I caused trouble for you too, Director…

Izumi: That’s fine. But you might get questioned like that again if you stay here in that outfit. Shall we head back home?

Citron: …Okay. But there’s one more thing I want to do in this outfit before that. And I definitely need your help for it, Director!

-pause-

Citron: The thing I wanted to do in my school uniform is… Film a TikTak!

Izumi: (He’s already done with his role study and he’s just doing what he wants now…)

Citron: Come on. Lend me a hand, Director~!

Izumi: Um, actually, we didn’t have anything like this back when I was in school, so I don’t think I’ll be of any help…

Citron: Don’t worry. Leave it to me!

Izumi: (Well, if all I have to do is film—)

Citron: What are you doing? Dance with me!

Izumi: Ehh, dance!? ME!?

Citron: Just move like me! It’s simple. You’ll pick it up right away!

Option 1: “It’s pretty difficult”

Izumi: Hold on, I feel like it’s pretty difficult…!

Citron: Really? Okay, we’ll go even simpler then! This dance is so easy, even you’ll be able to do it in 5 seconds. Watch closely now. One, two, three~.

*dances around*

Izumi: … I-if that’s all, then I guess I’ll give it my best shot?

Option 2: “It feels kind of embarrassing”

Izumi: It feels kind of embarrassing to dance. And besides, I’m not used to it…

Citron: Director, think back to the first time you did a street act. People are afraid of things they’re not used to. That’s right. This is a street act! So enjoy it, Director.

Izumi: I-In that case…!

Citron: Great, let’s film then~! Three, two, one, start!

Izumi: (Oh well. Whatever happens, happens…!)

Citron: Sweet shrimp, shrimp, sh-shrimp~ ♪ That’s it. You’re killing it!

-pause-

Izumi: Hah, it’s finally over… I’m beat…

Citron: Many thanks, Director! With this, my role study is complete~!

Izumi: (It looks like Citron-kun had fun and it served as good role study. All’s well that ends well…)

-pause-

Taichi: He looks amazing in it, doesn’t he!

Kazunari: Totes. He doesn’t look out of place at all!

Izumi: (They look like they’re in high spirits. What’s going on?)

Taichi: Ah, Director-sensei. What’s up!

Kazunari: Hey, hey. Have you seen, Director-chan? Ronron in his school uniform!

Izumi: I saw. You mean how he wore a Hana High uniform to prepare for his role, right?

Kazunari: Yep, yep! I saw it on TikTak though~.

Izumi: (Ahh, it must be that video from back then—) …EH!? He actually posted it!?

Taichi: He sure did! Look, the views are totally shooting through the roof!

Izumi: S-show me! (It’ll be yikes all around if I’m also in the video…)

Kazunari: Ronron’s got some sick moves, huh?

Izumi: Ah. Yeah, that’s true. (Thank goodness it’s just Citron-kun… I didn’t realize he filmed himself too.)

-pause-

Citron: Ohh, I’m trending! All according to plan~.

Sakuya: Citron-san, were you able to prepare for your role by spending a day in a school uniform?

Citron: Of course. I’m thankful for everyone who helped me ♪ …I made some precious memories too.

---

previous |

[tatjana-fantasy]

Why Rachel King from House of Ashes is actually an amazing character

First off: It's completely okay if you don't like Rachel! Different people are drawn to different characters. Nobody is forced to like a character they simply don't vibe with. This is just my view of a character who I personally think is both overhated and underrated. More under the cut.

I want to preface this by saying that I believe every choice a character can make is, in at least one universe, canon for that character. This often hurts to think about, since there are a lot of choices that feel very ooc, but in my opinion, they wouldn't even be an option if they truly didn't fit at least one tiny part in a character's personality. But now let's talk about Rachel.

Many people see her as the "Queen Bitch" and nothing more. And to be fair, that's definitely what she's going for. She wears this nickname "like a fucking badge of honor," as she can reveal to Clarice. But why? Why would she like to be known as the Queen Bitch?

The reason is simple and revealed in the same conversation: "You think I got where I am with a soft word and a warm smile?" (No. Of course not.) "I had to graft to get here. [...] They have no idea the shithill I've climbed to just get where I am right now."

I can't even begin to explain how incredibely sad this actually is. Rachel had to become the Queen Bitch because she wouldn't have been taken seriously otherwise. As a woman in the military, being soft and warm simply wasn't an option. Characters like Merwin already make sexist jokes about women – imagine how he would've treated Rachel if she wouldn't have established her status, but tried to treat him nicely instead. The only way Rachel could find respect was by becoming the Queen Bitch. She put on a mask (quite similar to Jason, actually) and eventually, the mask became a crucial part of her personality.

But that's not all. The "shithill" she climbed? This is likely the amount of knowledge she had to gather in order to become the leader of her group. She can speak Arabic, which is one of the most difficult languages to learn. She possesses great historical knowledge, being able to easily recognize stuff like Pagan effigies, a Pazuzu statue and Sumerian cuneiform. Eric sums it up nicely: She's quite an expert on history.

But do you know what's the most baffling thing about all of this? Rachel is the only character who possesses these abilities. No one else in her team can speak or understand Arabic. Nick flat-out admits that he fluked history in school. And the very noteworthy thing about this is the fact that the rest of Rachel's group are all men. To me, it seems like Rachel, because she's a woman, had to prove herself more than the men had to, and gather a lot more knowledge in a lot more areas. This also explains why she's so protective over her status, since she worked her ass off in order to earn it.

"But," I hear some of you say, "she cheated on Eric! And she can shoot Salim! And she says bullshit like 'I was stronger than them all'!"

Okay, let's start with the cheating first. You know, on the one hand, I absolutely hate cheating (I mean, if you get together with someone who cheats on their partner, how can you expect them to be loyal to you?), but on the other hand, Rachel's situation is a little different than a lot of other cheating scenarios I've encountered. She didn't see Eric for a full year, their marriage basically only existed on paper. Rachel was ready to move on. And your heart doesn't choose whom to fall in love with. To Rachel, it probably didn't even feel like cheating, considering how long she has been separated from Eric. Out of sight, out of mind. No, it does not excuse her actions, but for me, it does make it more understandable. Plus, it's something she eventually overcomes, choosing either Eric, Nick, or neither, so I can't be too mad at her about that.

I'm always surprised when people bring up Rachel shooting Salim though, since it takes a lot of set-up. If you dislike a character for doing something in a super obscure path that requires multiple specific choices across the entire game, shouldn't you also dislike a character like Jason, who is only two choices away from leaving Salim behind to die? Not to mention, this path also requires Jason to shoot an innocent shepherd who did absolutely nothing to him. Yet, I haven't seen anyone hating him for that. Personally, I can totally understand why Rachel, after she lost her husband to an enemy soldier, would want to avenge him; even in the path where she and Eric didn't get along, Salim robbed them of the chance of changing that. And in the path where they did get along ... she just lost the love of her life. I think a lot of people would be pretty vengeful after that. Not to mention, Salim's situation does look very shady, first killing Eric and then returning without Jason. Who wouldn't suspect that he had something to do with his death?

Some people also complain that Rachel doesn't want to give Salim a gun even if you make the best choices. But I think many people forget that Rachel and Salim almost had no interactions with each other, and certainly didn't have time to establish a trustworthy bond. Jason himself doesn't trust Salim with a gun in their determinant second-ish meeting, after Salim surrenders to him when Eric is already dead. Unlike Rachel, he can change his opinion, but only because he actually got to know Salim - Rachel, however, didn't. Of course she doesn't trust him with a gun. In the midst of war, you probably wouldn't want to give your enemy a weapon, either.

Rachel's line how she was "stronger than them all" is ... quite awful, tbh. No matter if she means her fellow comrades or the vampires, she definitely didn't do as much as the others. But while I do think that the line is pretty bad and while I do wish it wouldn't be the last thing we ever heard from her, here's the thing: I don't want to judge characters by a single line they said. People say questionable stuff all the time, both in real life and in fictional stories. But judging them solely based on one weak moment? Not something I want to do, so that line didn't influence my opinion on her character.

This brings me to Rachel's compassionate, heroic side – a side of hers that is frequently forgotten. In general, she can show her nicer side to people that are on the same level as her - most notably, Clarice and Eric. They are people where Rachel doesn't have to worry that they'll suddenly start to treat her like a lesser being for being more than the "Queen Bitch", so she feels more comfortable opening up to them.

Her compassionate side is shown first during the raid, I believe, where it's very important to her that Jason doesn't kill any innocent civilians. She herself can shoot one of them, but she doesn't do it out of fun, but to protect Jason from an attacking shepherd.

A few chapters later, there's the Rope Scene. Originally, Rachel was supposed to cut herself free in the Theatrical Cut if her relationship with Eric was high enough, but due to an earlier scene being cut, this is not possible anymore; instead, she can cut the rope in the Curator's Cut regardless of relationship. This is the first difficult choice she has to make: Potentially sacrificing her life in order to save Eric. It's an action that takes an incredible amount of courage, so I really appreciate that it is a choice that Rachel can make.

The next time we see Rachel, she's in the bloody pit, escaping from a vampire and meeting Clarice. I already talked about how Rachel can show her compassionate side here, potentially opening up to Clarice. But what I love the most is the fact that Rachel is very firm when it comes to helping her. Of course, she can also choose to leave Clarice behind, but it's very notable that once she was brought back, Rachel constantly insists that she needs help and shouldn't be abandoned. I really appreciate her loyalty here, since she's pretty much the only character who is on Clarice's side, the only one who doesn't want to give up on her. While helping her sadly doesn't work (which Rachel eventually realizes), I love Rachel for being the only one who at least wants to try.

When it comes to awesome scenes, Rachel and the machine gun come to mind, but my actual favorite scene takes place a few chapters later. When Rachel's infection threatens to overwhelm her and she has the option to kill herself with WP. She's only the second character in the anthology who can make the intentional decision to kill herself. In her case, she does it to protect the others – which is such a heroic choice that I'm surprised not more people mention it. Jason can also sort-of get infected, but he never seems to be worried about turning into a vampire; Rachel however does worry, and can choose a rather horrifying death to stop herself from potentially harming the others.

And it doesn't stop there. If she doesn't use WP (or simply doesn't have it), she can still beg Jason to shoot her in order to avoid turning. And if he doesn't shoot her, she can still volunteer to be cocooned, not knowing if the others will actually come back for her. Of course, she can also choose the opposite of these decisions - but I think that's more than understandable. Who would want to die a horrible death or live forever in a cocoon? Hopefully nobody. Which makes it even more awesome that Rachel has the choice to do so.

I wouldn't say that Rachel is my favorite character, btw. She can be a little too abrasive at times and her character revolves a little too much around finding a love interest. But she's still a brave, strong woman – and, in my opinion, one of the most underrated characters in the anthology.

[whitherwordswither]

Logs from the Starfields, III

Captain's Log #0.03:

After some heavy trading in New Atlantis, I picked up a contract from GalBank to get some con-man who defaulted in his loan to pay up. This had me heading out to Tau Ceti.

Of course, I can't just go somewhere with something else cropping up to distract me, now can I? As soon as I hit the system I picked up a distress signal. A local settler was having spacer trouble. So, naturally, I went to go see if I could help. Any day I can unload a few rounds in to a hostile spacer trash is a good day, I say.

Turns out him and three other families in the system are having a bad time of it. And on top of that they've been feuding with each other, or as it turns out, the guy who sent the signal for help had initially been kind of a colossal asshat to the others. But at least he's level headed enough now to admit his mistakes and wants everyone to legitimately survive. So not only do I have to get these grump dirtworkers to vibe together again, I got to deal with mucho spacer trash.

I set off to repair three satellites to restore communication lines between the families. Sadly, it looks like one family was already removed from the galactic equation. Each stop I made I blew some spacers out of the cosmic skies. Good riddance. The repair jobs weren't too difficult. I don't know why the spacers didn't just blow the transmitters up entirely. But I guess maybe they were gonna move in after their prey was hung up to dry? I don't know. Ain't no point in thinkin' too hard about it.

After getting all three family heads to meet up and cooperate, we made a joint run against two groups of spacer ships then almost immediately went all in for the kill and took out their base of operations aboard a derelict station. Another ton of haul this go. And the extra creds from the settlers was a nice boost.

Luckily, my initial contract is nearby in the system so I make a stop there to negotiate before heading back to New Atlantis. The target had himself holed up in a sparsely populated military outpost near a mostly abandoned mining facility of some sort. Not a whole lot of resources of note on the planet either. I manage to scan everything of worth on a short trek around the zone. Lady Luck must be on my side today. I was able to avoid a painful confrontation with the target and get him to pay what he owed without incident. Sometimes I'm amazing at my own talkin' skills. I'm glad he wasn't dumb about it. I hate to shoot someone, even if they give me a reason 'cause they got their head too far up their own ass.

As I'm leaving the planet I run in to some old friends of mine, coming to collect the bounty on my head. Jokes on them though, 'cause I've had enough excitement for one day. I ignore their comm hail and charge up my grav drive. While they're scrambling to get a target lock I'm skipping out of the system and back toward New Atlantis.

Sorry, boys. I got more creds to acquire and I don't feel like playing with ya'll right now.

Once I'm touched down at the Atlantis port I jog over and give the GalBank man his credits and get a nice little sum for myself. I might come back and take another job. Not that I enjoy helping the big bank corps or anything, but. My ship ain't gonna last forever and I'm gonna need every spare cred I can get to afford a new one. 'Cause god damn is they expensive.

I dump my haul at the local Trade Authority down in The Well, then head back topside. I run in to the scientist I helped the other day, who wouldn't you know, could use a bit more help! Heck, why not friend. I'm right here after all. And all he needs me to do is talk to an associate and get some data. Now, this associate don't like him much for whatever reason. Ain't any of my business. And as I'm talkin' to his associate friend… gosh dang. I'd really just like to punch him in the face. I almost had to to get that data. To think… he wanted me to break in to the apartment of his MAST supervisor and falsify his records so he could get a promotion. Boy. You just told me you got terrible performance reviews and you want me to make you look like a golden shiny apple? I don't think so. I had to a get a little grumpy with him, but I got the data. From the sounds of it, my scientist friend is on to something and may need my assistance again in a few days. I look forward to it! (Apparently something downright awkward is going on with this certain species of trees in New Atlantis and it could spell trouble for lotsa folks if something ain't done about it. So, of course, I'll help where I can.)

Now… I been doin' a lot of work around the New Atlantis area. I'm thinkin' I'm gonna head out and check out one of the other main hubs. See what else is out there. Atlantis is a nice enough place but. It may just be a little posh for my blood. And I'd like to, y'know, get my own place. Never owned a spot outright before and… I'm thinkin' maybe for once… I'd like to.

I'll catch ya up later.

End log.