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bobbinacrosstheequator · 2 years

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March 28, 2023 Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

With a 9:00 AM time to set off this morning, we were able to have a lovely lie-in (Jillebob), coffee time (Seb’s usual early start, having awakened naturally) and leisurely breakfast. Breakfast was traditional Costa Rican fare including beans and rice, queso, tortilla, eggs and fruit.

We set out for the closest road with an adorable guide: spikey hair and a machete on his hip. After hearing from Antony about how bad the road is, the next thing thing we knew we were jumping into two seats built in high on the sides of a pick-up truck with a flimsy railing around (and of course no such thing as a seatbelt). It would have been difficult to climb up to the seats, if not for a little step ladder the driver kept back with the seats. The bumpy, dirt road went steeply up and down, with pull-offs from the parts that were single lane in case a vehicle came the other way. With a lovely breeze, it was the most relaxing bumpy, sometimes perilous drive either of us could remember. We arrived at Wilber’s place, a 100-acre homestead. He took us down to get a glimpse of one of the two waterfalls we’d walk to. We stood for a bit and when Sebbie joked about coming from Virginia near Washington where the crazy people are, we got into a discussion of politics. It was quite interesting not only to hear his views, but to hear – even in the seeming wilds of Costa Rica - how much interest and knowledge he had of American politics! Wilber’s uncle and a Canadian friend (with wife and son) were hanging out and we chatted a bit about more mundane issues while he served us fresh lemonade and watermelon. Wilber’s brother, Alberto, was visiting and was our guide for the day. We set off first for the lower waterfall, down a path with crazy mud stairs and slippery stones. Very pretty. While it didn’t seem so long, we were both dripping from the effort and humidity. Back up and over a hill, we proceeded to a river that became the path because it’s the dry season and only shallow water meandered back and forth across the rocky river bed. We walked through, in and across in the water, which felt refreshing. We were in the midst of tall cliffs, and towering trees and vines covered in lush green foliage. Voila – Nahuala Falls. Several tiers with a lower and an upper pool. The rock scrambling to the upper pool (Jillebob coaxed on by Sebbie) was only marginally slippery and treacherous, but the swim in the pool (Sebbie coaxed in by Jillebob) was worth it: heaven. At one point, Alberto asked if we could get ourselves back. Moment of panic – what? He’s leaving us here? Turns out he was being polite in case we wanted privacy. No, skinny-dipping is NOT our thing. Alas, as nice as Alberto was (while he waited to make sure we got home), his photography skills were lacking. He took multiple photos of us in front of the falls, all of which are blurs (for the record, third time this trip that gracious efforts yielded impressionist results). After a good cool-down in the upper pool, we climbed down to the lower pool and went in again.

The walk back was lovely until Seb realized she was without her watch. Alberto went back to look for it on the rocks. Then Seb went back to help look. Then Alberto went back to where Jillebob was waiting to get Seb’s iPhone to see if it could call the watch. The Canadian family showed up with snorkeling gear and looked for it in the pool, and only then, did Alberto spot it – having slipped under a leaf. Whew! Pretty harmless drama for the day!, Back at Wilber’s place, he served us lunch (Mahi Mahi, rice and beans, sautéed veggies and more lemonade). Hit the spot and then we hung out swinging in hammocks until our driver showed up. He delivered us safe and sound to the end of the road, and in this case we WERE able to get ourselves back to the Copa – just keep the sea to the left.

Today was not as energy sapping as yesterday, but ah, it was nice to sprawl on our respective beds for a piece. And, you know what’s next: Hora Feliz. With Whiskey Sours on offer. Mauricio was tending bar and seemed a little scattered, but the drinks were tasty. (No peanut-stealing monkeys visited this evening.) This really is the life.

The meals have been good, but tonight’s dinner was the best we’ve had here – nice way to end our stay. We got last minute instructions for tomorrow’s departure. Tonight, the Halloween crabs were scurrying around our shoes that were drying by the entry to the room. We had to do thorough inspection since a couple tumbled out of Jillebob’s shoe when she picked it up. Most wildlife is protected here and exporting the little crabs in our luggage would not be advised. Finally, a partial packing job before hitting the pillow.

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bloodymoonxvampire · 2 years

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Name: Albireo.

Nickname/s: Unsettling.

Pronouns: I don’t care.

Preference of Communication: Ouija board for those so inclined; Discord will do otherwise.

Most Active Muse: Define “active.” Rei and Souma, I’d say?

Experience / How many years: At this moment, 17 years of online roleplay experience... whew.

Platforms You Use: Primarily Discord. Tumblr as well, obviously, and in-game with regards to several MMOs, but you’re most likely to see me in FFXIV, WoW, or LotRO.

Best Experience: I’ve been blessed with a lot of them, I really have. My favourites have been the intense slow burns that take up a year or more. I think what I had with certain members of the Final Fantasy IV and Sengoku BASARA communities will always be the first that come to mind. While I don’t think it’s possible that any of them will ever see this, if they do, I wish them all the best. ♥

RP Pet Peeves: I have a lot of them. I think one of the biggest ones for me is rushing things without properly talking about it. I’m happy to roleplay just about anything, but we’ve got to be able to talk about it or I get burned out so fast. I like to sink my teeth in and put a lot of thought and effort into what I do. Additionally, even if you know a character, I think it’s worth checking each person’s about pages because every portrayal is different. None of us are the canon writer-- we’re all going to have our own twist. It’s worth a few moments to read to avoid missing potentially big things like changes to plot points, or even relatively minor things like pronouns or nicknames that might be different.

Fluff , Angst , or Smut: I’m happy enough with any of the above, as long as it fits and isn’t forced. I don’t like to do only one or any other. That said, to rank it by order of preference: Angst > Fluff > Smut.

Long or Short Replies: Sometimes I think I’m incapable of short replies. My biggest failing as a writer is the need to meander through unneeded garbage before I get to my point. Something I can say in one sentence takes a whole paragraph. Case in point: the answer to this question.

Best time to write: I think I do best at about 3-4 in the morning, right before I fall asleep. But the planets do need to be aligned in a precise manner. Otherwise, my writing will never see the light of day.

Are you like your muse/s: I’m actually Rei. I even went to drink my tomato juice about half an hour ago and it was expired. Please feel pity for me because it was one of the worst parts of my day.

Tagged by: Stole this directly from Gottis and refusing to accept criticism.

Tagging: I’m not.

#Out of Character.#Meme Response;

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kutemouse · 4 years

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And Then He Was Gray (Part Four)

Disclaimer: I edited the pic I used for my header, but the OG pic belongs to BTS & BigHit.

Author’s Note: PLEASE be responsible like Y/n. Do NOT drink and drive, or let your friends drink and drive. Always have someone sober, who hasn’t been drinking, drive. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Age Recommendation: 21+ (Not just a recommendation, kuties!)

Warnings: F*cking swears, consumption of alcohol, Jungkook being an ass, jokes about sex, Soyeon being a cuddly drunk, a tad bit o’ angst.

LOTS OF FILTHY SMUT including, but not limited to, hair pulling, the giving/receiving of hickeys, slight pain, groping, touching, BDSM themes, slight degradation, the giving/receiving of a lap dance, fingering, exhibitionism if you squint, possessiveness, mentions of oral… yeah, basically I need a whole gallon of holy water to drink after I finish this, okay 😂 Although this is vanilla compared to what’s coming, js 👀

Word Count: 2,906 (whew!)

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And Then He Was Gray (Jin One-Shot, Smut, Fluff) Part Four

Jungkook was standing there, leaning against the wall with folded arms and a knowing smirk dancing over his lips.

“The fuck do you want?” Jin said, still holding me close, hands resting easily over my ass.

“Just came down to see why it got so… quiet.”

“You’re one to talk. Haven’t you been fucking your girl for the past five minutes?”

Jungkook scoffed, dramatically holding a hand to his chest in mock-pain. “You wound me, hyung. And, not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve been fucking her for the past hour.”

I shook my head in disgust. I could have gone my whole life without hearing that.

Jin smirked. “When you say fucking, you actually mean sleeping, right?”

“Ha ha,” Jungkook shot back sarcastically. “Look, I just came down here to see what everyone’s plans were. If you all want to stay over, that’s fine by me. Except maybe Taehyung and Yuqi… I swear to god, the last time they stayed over, they kept everyone awake the whole night with how fucking loud they were.”

I grimaced. Okay, scratch what I said before. That was something I could’ve gone my whole life without hearing. “Fuck off Jungkook,” Jin said nonchalantly, nuzzling his cheek against the top of my head. “You’re grossing out my girl here.”

I looked at Jin in surprise. Did he just call me… his girl?

A bunch of voices suddenly floated up from the backyard, announcing the arrival of Soyeon and the others stumbling into the kitchen. The din came to a screeching halt as they noticed mine and Jin’s close proximity, his hands still resting over my bottom. “Y/n!” Soyeon gasped.

I rolled my eyes and gently pushed Jin away, sliding down from the counter. I grabbed my best friend’s hand and led her into the hall. “Okay, you need to spill right the fuck now,” she hissed as we went back into the guest bedroom.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” I retorted, grabbing my clothes and going into the bathroom to change.

Soyeon squealed. “You kissed?!”

I shushed her through the door as I pulled off the flimsy bikini and put on my own clothes. “Soyeon, all I need to know is whether you’re staying the night or not. You’re my ride, but you’ve had a lot to drink. I don’t think you should be driving right now.”

My bestie hiccuped in response. “You’re probably right,” she slurred. “Plus, Miyeon…”

I gave her a knowing smile as I came out, fully dressed. “Yeah, I know. Look, it’s okay, I’ll just call an Uber or–”

“Or I can give you a ride. I didn’t drink tonight.”

I peered past Soyeon to see Jin standing in the doorway, his gray shirt now covering his upper half, hands shoved into dark jean pockets. I swallowed hard as I remembered how easily that top rode up to expose a peek of his toned body.

“Are you sure? You don’t have–”

“She’d love that,” Soyeon said quickly, cutting me off. “Thanks, Jin.”

He smiled. “Anytime, So-So.”

Gently taking my hand, Jin led me back to the kitchen where we made our good-byes. Soojin and Minnie pulled me into tight hugs, saying they’d get my number from Soyeon and text me. I also hugged Miyeon. “Take care of my bestie, okay?”

“You got it,” she said, her pretty brown eyes sparkling mischievously as she smiled.

Namjoon and Yoongi both gave me awkward side-hugs, but Jungkook’s bear-hug nearly squeezed the life out of me. “Come over any time,” he said, holding me at arm’s length. “You’re part of the fam now.”

“Thanks,” I said, shooting him a grin. Despite feeling left out at the beginning of the night, at least I made new friends by the end of it. I only hoped those friendships would last.

The last one I said good-bye to was Soyeon. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be safe, okay?” she muttered, swaying a little bit. “Call me in the morning, and you know, wrap it up.”

“God, So-So,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“But I love you.” She stared up at me with doe eyes, her lower lip jutting out in a pout.

I sighed. “Fine, I love you too.”

That turned her frown upside-down, and she grinned, her large, dark eyes glazed over from too much to drink. “See you tomorrow?”

“Of course. I'll text you."

I turned away, and Jin took my hand, intertwining our fingers together as we walked out the door into the front yard. He opened the door of his gray truck for me, helping me up into the seat before going 'round, climbing into his seat, and settling behind the wheel. “Ready?” he asked.

I nodded, but truthfully, I wasn’t ready at all. I didn’t want this night to be over. Disappointment set in as Jin handed me his phone with a GPS app pulled up. “Type in your address,” he murmured, letting his fingers linger over mine just a moment too long. Well, I guess this was it. Once he took me home, I didn’t know if I’d ever get another chance with this guy. So much for my one-night stand.

“How do you know Soyeon?” he asked, breaking the silence that settled in between us as he drove.

“I’ve known her since I was little,” I replied. “Our moms were best friends.”

“That’s cool.”

I stayed silent, not really knowing what to say. Jin looked over at me and smirked as his eyes slid back to the road. “So what university do you want to attend?”

“Look, you don’t have to do this,” I sighed.

“Do what?”

“Pretend to be into me.”

“Who says I’m not into you?”

“Jin, it’s okay. I know what happened tonight was a one-time thing. You don’t have to pretend you're interested in me or anything.”

He scoffed in response, rolling his eyes. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

I uncomfortably fiddled with my fingers in my lap. “It’s not like that. I just want to be clear about where we stand. You don’t have to coddle me to make me feel better or whatever. I don’t want to be like other girls you’ve met at kick-backs like tonight.”

Jin glanced at me, his gaze dark and intense. “You won’t be.”

He suddenly pulled his truck over, stopping in front of an apartment building. “Hey, this isn’t my place," I said.

“You’re right,” Jin said. He took my hand, causing me to look up into those piercing, brown eyes. “It’s mine.”

My mouth parted in surprise. I practically felt the change in Jin as his eyes smoldered and his mouth contorted into a smirk. “Get over here,” he growled. In a flash, I unbuckled my seatbelt and clambered over to straddle his lap.

Once again, he pressed his forehead to mine, staring into my eyes, our breath coming out in pants, intermingling with each exhale. Jin reached up and ran a hand through my hair, the strands winding between his fingers. I sighed, and at the noise, Jin suddenly curled his fingers into a fist and pulled. I let out a gasp at the strange sensation of pain and pleasure mixing into one.

Jin leaned forward, his lips tickling the shell of my ear. “Such a good girl.”

He kissed me then, hard and fast, not giving me a single second to breathe as he shoved his tongue into my mouth, invading my cavern in a way that had my core wet in an instant. But he didn’t stop there. He pressed his lips to my jaw, tugging harder on my hair to force my head back, giving him full access to my neck. Alternating between sucking and nipping, he attacked the skin there until I cried out from the sting.

“Jin,” I moaned. “God, Jin, right there.”

“That’s right, baby girl,” he growled into my skin. “Say my name.”

Jin let his other hand roam everywhere as we continued to make out, first gripping my hip so hard I knew it was going to bruise, then squeezing my ass, then meandering around to my front where he groped my still covered breasts.

“Why are your clothes still on?” he grunted, suddenly pulling away. It was then he noticed my gray skirt riding up around my waist, exposing the black panties I wore underneath.

I nearly covered my face from embarrassment, but he grabbed my wrists, stopping me. His fierce gaze bore into me, exposing every want, every desire, every raw, animalistic emotion I felt. It was at that moment, I was absolutely sure he knew. He knew my deepest, darkest secret that not even Soyeon was aware of.

When it came to sexual needs, I absolutely wanted to be dominated in every meaning of the word. Inside, I was a complete and utter submissive, who relished in the feeling of relinquishing control in the most pleasurable way possible. Most guys I knew wouldn’t be able to handle my secret or accept that part of me, so I kept it hidden. To them, I was just the quiet girl who they had no idea hid such sexual prowess.

Yet even if they did know what I secretly desired, they wouldn’t understand the dynamics of the type of dom/sub relationship I wanted. It would go far beyond just sex. There would be an equal level of trust and control between me and my partner. They’d understand I’m not willing to lay down and be fucked by just anyone with an ego and a bossy mouth. My partner would see that without me, the submissive, there is no them, the dominant, and in that sense, we would be equal.

At this precise moment, though, I didn’t mind so much that my secret was exposed. I was ready to finally experiment with this side of me. I only cared about pleasing Jin, being his good girl, and getting to experience the pure bliss his dominant attitude promised.

Jin showed just a moment of tenderness, reaching up and stroking a long finger down my cheek before going back to the delightfully dirty and rough. He captured my mouth in his, completely dominating it fully with his tongue, before pulling back. “Color?” he panted.

“G-Green,” I huffed, still breathless from his kiss.

“Any lines you don’t want crossed?”

I thought a moment before shaking my head. If I had any lines to cross, I could always stop him by saying red.

Jin poked his tongue out and dragged it over his bottom lip. “Do I have your consent for what’s about to happen?”

I nodded.

He yanked at my hair, making me yelp. “Words, baby girl,” he growled through gritted teeth.

“Yes, yes!” I cried.

He released his hold before grabbing my hand and placing it on his crotch, forcing me to feel how rock hard he was. “See this?” he snapped, his dark eyes flickering downward. “You did this. You’ve been doing this to me since the second I laid eyes on you.”

“I-I’m sorry, Sir,” I said, shakily still trying to catch my breath.

“Sorry won’t cut it. What are you going to do about it?”

“I-I–”

He chuckled darkly. “Oh, sweet baby girl. You don’t know what to do with this huge cock? You don’t know how to please Sir?”

At his words, I finally let myself slip deep into the mindspace only reserved for my most sinful of fantasies. “No, Sir, please,” I begged. “Give me a chance, I’ll show you just how good I am.”

Jin clicked his tongue. “I have a better idea.”

He gripped my hips and spun me around so I was looking at the street outside the glass of his windshield. “I have been thinking about this ass,” he said, tracing the shell of my ear with the tip of his tongue. “Since I saw it in that fucking bikini.”

He yanked my knees apart, spreading me out. “Hands on the steering wheel, baby.”

I obeyed, gripping the leather-bound wheel until my knuckles turned white. I knew it would be the only tether to reality I would get. Jin lifted my skirt up, teasing the skin of my inner thighs with the tips of his soft fingers, gliding up and down, up and down until my eyes rolled to the back of my head from how crazy he was driving me.

Suddenly, he grasped my hips once more, causing me to shudder, and moved them in circles, grinding my ass down on his no-doubt aching cock. Jin groaned as he finally got a taste of the pleasure he’d been craving, and I felt my heart explode with glee. His satisfaction was my satisfaction, his exhilarated grunts and moans causing my juices to drip down.

He let go of my hips, but I continued to circle them at a slow, steady pace, driving him as mad with desire as I was. He put his now-free hands to good use, snaking them around to my front, first squeezing my breasts before sliding down to cup my panty-clad sticky core. He rubbed the pad of his middle finger in a circular motion over my bundle of nerves, causing me to gasp loudly and jerk my knees back together.

“Uh, uh, uh,” he scolded, his other hand gripping my thigh and pulling my legs apart once more. “None of that. You don’t want to be punished, do you?”

“No, Sir,” I practically sobbed as his finger continued torturing my clothed clit.

As a way of trying to make it up to him, I ground my ass into him harder, earnestly trying to win his approval back. He sighed in bliss. “God, Y/n, where the fuck have you been all my life?”

“Not Y/n,” I said, breathless from my efforts.

I could almost see the smirk that spread over his perfect, pink lips at my request. Jin stopped touching me, and slid those fingers up to pinch the elastic band of my panties, drawing it back and snapping it against my skin. Goosebumps broke out all over my body. “Alright then, baby girl,” he growled. “Lean back, and remember, keep those hands on that steering wheel… or else." I shivered, letting out something between a moan and a whimper.

He drew the band of my panties back once more, but this time, he slid his other hand down inside them and dipped his middle finger inside of me, causing me to moan. Next thing I knew, Jin was sliding the pad of that finger up and down my sensitive bundle of nerves, slick from my own wetness. I gasped and bucked back into him. “Stay still,” he warned.

He continued fingering me, teasing my clit until it swelled with stiffness, before finally plunging that middle finger inside of me. Curling it until the pressure was just right, he moved it in and out of me at a slow yet pleasing pace, adding his ring finger and doubling my pleasure. “You like that, baby?” he said.

I nodded, too lost in my own pleasure to speak. “You like me stretching you out?” he continued. “Like me fingering you where anyone could look in here and see?”

That caused my eyes to shoot open in panic. I glanced up and down the street, but didn’t see anyone. It was really late, after all. I smirked as I realized what he was doing. “See what?” I gasped, beginning to move with him.

Jin plunged them in deeper at a more rapid pace, punishing me for daring to question him. “See that you’re mine,” he growled. “See that this pretty pussy is mine. Mine to do with as I please.”

“And?” I asked, his dirty mouth helping to soak his hand further.

“And see that no one else can make you this wet with just their fingers.”

The ripple of pleasure I felt since the moment we began was rapidly rising into a tidal wave, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it washed over me. “Will they see anything else?” I asked breathlessly, now moving my hips at the same pace as his fingers, grinding into them.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “They’ll see how hard I can make you cum.”

At his filthy words, he pressed the heel of his palm into my aching clit, and I cried out. Every muscle in my body clenched as that tidal wave of pleasure not only washed over me, but completely drowned me. My mouth fell open, my eyes rolling back as I reached my ultimate peak. “Jin, Jin, oh god, Jin!”

“That’s it, baby girl. Scream my name. Let the world know who this pussy belongs to.”

“You, just you,” I sobbed, falling back into him as I came down. My entire body was covered with a thin sheen of sweat. I heard slurping sounds paired with satisfied moans, and I knew he was licking my essence from his fingers. Jin grasped my jaw and turned my head, kissing me fiercely from behind, forcing me to taste myself.

“God, I nearly came in my pants,” he gasped, pulling back. “You are so fucking hot.”

I wiggled my ass, feeling that his member was still hard as marble. I twisted around so I was straddling him again and looked into his dark eyes. “Can we go inside?” I asked meekly. “I want… I want…”

Jin smirked, falling easily back into the scene. “I guess. Since you were such a good girl and you came so well for me, I’ll let you taste my cock.”

“Oh, I don’t just want to taste it,” I murmured, looking deep into his eyes. “I want to fucking choke on it.”

Jin let out a feral sound, something between a groan and a growl. “Well, then… What the hell are we waiting for?”

I couldn’t open the car door fast enough, scrambling to pop the handle then clamber down off his lap. Jin chuckled as he followed. “Eager little girl, aren’t you?”

Not able to resist, I leaned up and pecked him on the lips, breaking the mood for the last time. “I want you,” I said seriously, gazing into his eyes.

Jin’s mouth parted open at my words, but after a moment, he shook his head, regaining his composure. He intertwined my finger between his. “Like I said, what the hell are we waiting for?”

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Part Five is finally here!

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bode-leone · 4 years

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zinc white, green, & sepia

damn this got long lmao

zinc white; how are you really feeling today? no one-word answers please!

i’m feeling okay! i’m bored (which is always an issue between university years) but i’m just chilling. i’m not on an emotional rollercoaster which is very fun and very nice of my mood stabilising meds!

green; name three countries you want to visit; do you have any actual plans in place to visit any of them?

whew okay i definitely want to visit ireland, mongolia and iceland! definitely do not have any plans because i’ve got years of university work ahead of me but those three are the main three i want to visit when i can!

i would add new zealand because i want to visit there really badly but because of like. how close it is to australia it doesn’t click as foreign countryTM because i could get on a flight and go there with no need for a visa or anything.

sepia; name five things that always make you happy.

five things that make me happy are:

1. horses. they always make me happy. i’m happy and emotionally stable and able to start the work of recovery or staying on the path of recovery when i work with them.

2. horse riding. i havent ridden since last year partially due to covid-19 but mostly due to university but it always, always makes me happy. it keeps me fit and active, and it helps me develop finer motor skills (that i have issues with lol) so overall just a great big A++ to me.

3. reading. mostly fanfic right now because my brain has logged out of reading original fiction for the past decade. but reading always makes me happy.

4. collecting books for absolutely no reason i.e. my impulse purchases given sentimentality. usually non fiction and poetry, i have times where i just impulse books upon books solely because the act (which is concerning but we have more concerning things to worry about) gives me a serotonin boost. i like having physical books in my hand and i get very happy when i can set them up in book cases and look at them. also the wait for the delivery of them gives me something to look forward to!

5. being able to just. idk. research the little things that interest me? all this with the old guard has let me be able to research the niche research corner of paleolithic/enolithic horse nomads which i think is really cool which in turn has let me link back up to ancient european peoples and their cultures which have always interested me a lot. so basically just being able to meander my way through things until i find a linking line back to something that’s a main hyperfixation for me.

#bookersebastien #asks #this is so fuckinghsbfdshjbsj so much oversharing im sorry hhbsdhdjs

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xoruffitup · 5 years

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Adam Driver on SNL: 1/25 Dress Rehearsal Recap

I’m having dejavu of the best kind. I’m sitting here on the bus on my way back from NYC in hungover euphoria and overjoyed disbelief at everything I just experienced, texting new friends and old, recounting everything in my head and smiling so hard. The September 2018 weekend of Adam’s last SNL show lives in my memory in unmatched infamy, so my excitement was off the charts to do it all again. And because this show was absolutely fucking INCREDIBLE, this weekend delivered in every way all over again!! Seriously, my face aches from how I can’t stop smiling aksnksj HELP :’)

My friends and I were in the Dress Rehearsal, so below the cut are retellings of ALLLL the skits including those cut from the Live show - and no small amount of helpless emotional flailing.

I had an idea of what to expect after attending Adam’s 2018 show, but I nevertheless felt sky-high levels of anxiety when Sarah and we arrived at the NBC shop at 6:30. I knew rationally that our chances of getting into Dress were good with numbers #12 - 14, but every now and then there’s the occasional oddity of only a handful of Standby people getting in. Though even without any uncertainty in the equation, my entire being goes on Hyped/Anxious Overdrive anyway whenever I’m about to be in the same space as Adam sO really there’s nothing for it. :’)

They lined us up by numbers, I did a lot of emotional wobbling like “I can’t believe we’re here again together guys waaaah” (have I mentioned I met these girls at Adam’s last show? Full circle moment of the highest and most beautiful caliber and it had me hella verklempt), and thennnn - drumroll and hushed silence please - the main security guy comes up to the giant line and asks the first 20 people to come with him.

As they constantly remind you throughout this thoroughly nerve-wracking process, there is no guarantee you’ll actually get into the show until you’re physically in the seat. It’s a long, harrowing trip from the NBC store where the line gathers, up stairs, elevators, and through hallways to reach the studio, and you can still be cut even as far as the very last checkpoint if all seats fill up with the people ahead of you. So as you get closer, the excitement spikes higher and higher but so does the worry! We went through security, and then I clung to our new Standby line friend Catherine’s arm as they lined us up two-by-two on the first staircase, with Sarah and @reylonly right behind. I was likely extremely annoying as I couldn’t help being rambly and weird in my nerves and compulsively hugging my girls’ arms. @reylonly did her very best to calm my hot mess down, bless her.

About 45 minutes later (Maybe? I had no idea what time was, lbr) we reached the final point of the elevator and last hallway, and were held just outside the studio. THEN - the woman there instructed the next 4 to follow her in (thank GOD because we were terrified of being split up), WE WENT INTO THE STUDIO WHEW YAYAY OMFG WE WERE THERE!!! - but then oh no it happened so fast that she pointed @reylonly down to a single seat in the center and then the other 3 of us to seats towards the left side of the stage. They were all single seats, but thank GOSH they were all end seats of rows right next to each other. So Sarah was right in front of me and I could grab her shoulder (which I would do a lot in increasingly desperate excitement over the next 2 hours), and Catherine and I could reach across the aisle to cling to each other’s hands! @reylonly was on her own but in an incredible seat, and during commercial breaks we would lean forward to wave and blow kisses to each other and mime flailing or crying as one incredible sketch after another played out in front of us. I made sure to be friendly and talk to the people sitting next to me so they wouldn’t be too annoyed with me and Sarah always grabbing at each other, but LOL they probably thought I was at least a little insane. I mean, maybe for the moment alone when I saw a girl I’d made friends with in line but then lost track of in a seat not too far from me, and we started waving and dabbing at each other. Once we were seated there in the studio, all the anxiety gave way to surging excitement and I was practically bouncing in my seat, so overjoyed to be there and see my dear fandom friends there with me!

Michael Che warmed up the audience with some standup, the House band jammed, and Sarah and I momentarily got Extremely Excited when we saw them setting up the hell backdrop set for the cold open and thought at the time it was supposed to be Tattooine for a Star Wars skit, lolol. But then the actual show started, and with our Adam-eagle eyes Catherine reached out to whisper “there he is! In the blonde wig!” And, heart in my throat no matter how many times I see this man in person, I frantically squinted at all the people waiting just off to the side of the set until I saw that unmistakably Tol Broad back, and then he stepped onto the set and into the lighted camera’s view and I was cheering and clapping so hard for his first appearance that I couldn’t hear who he was supposed to be playing. xD I was just tapping Sarah’s shoulder in front of me, bouncing in my seat a little, and trying not to start levitating with the sheer force of my excitement and joy to be there.

OKAY from here I’ll break this up by skit! Anything that was different or missing from the Live show I put in bold font if you want to skip to that! Starting with...

Intro Monologue

WHAT A GOOD MONOLOGUE, ITS LIKE THEY JUST LET ADAM RUN WITH IT AND WRITE IT HIMSELF IT WAS SO HIM AND HILARIOUS AND WEIRD AND YET CHARMING IDEK I WILL NEVER COMPREHEND THE WONDER OF THIS MAN??

So when he dropped the bomb of “I’m a husband and a FATHER” I clapped Sarah’s shoulder SO HARD, then he made he joke “I’ve made it very clear to my son that he’s second in everything” and I could not bELIEVE the wonder of what I was hearing omfg. I heard the words “my son” come out of his mouth with my own ears WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED, SURE AS HELL NOT ME????

Then he went into the audience to demonstrate how “approachable” he is and was so awk/weird/hilarious I was just losing it, then took his time meandering around the stage and making weird faces into the camera and I was just LOSING IT. And AKSKSJA after that he wandered over to another camera that was lower and kind of hummed as he lifted his shirt and put it over the camera so we got a full on belly button view for 2 unbelievable glorious seconds!! He looked up at the monitors as he was doing it and went “oh you can’t see anything” so that’s probably why he sadly didn’t flash his belly in the Live show.

“Cheer” with Adam as one of the team coaches

I’m going by the skit order in Dress, and this one was first after the monologue. Best part for me was the accent reminiscent of Clyde Logan. :3 But tbh, of the 6 skits they did for the Live show, I kind of wish this one had been swapped for the one performed last in Dress that was sO Wild and would have made fandom absolutely lose its shit aksnksal more to come on that.

UNDERCOVER BOSS AKA RANDY THE INTERN

THE BEST GIFT WE COULD HAVE RECEIVED!! BLESS YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR GIVING US KYLO CONTENT TO BE HAPPY OVER AND LOVE WHOLE HEARTEDLY. T___T

Honestly, I cannot even properly describe my reaction when the Undercover Boss intro logo appeared on all the monitors oHMYLoRDDD. I nearly leapt out of my seat, like my heart nearly jumped clear out of my chest oh my fuck and I was legit holding onto Sarah so much I almost slid out of my seat - I just couldn’t believe it and I cheered SO LOUD. The entire audience erupted with this “HOLY SHIT” vibe outburst and I was SO happy to be there in that moment - knowing that our entire fandom was only hours away from this!! I honestly didn’t expect it at all - after they didn’t do one of these the second time Adam was on, I thought there was no chance. But IT HAPPENED AND IT WAS SO QUALITY HILARIOUS WE ARE SO BLESSED - THANK YOU TO RANDY’S LIL BEANIE AND VEST AND HIPSTER PANTS.

Pretty sure I like half curled up on myself laughing so hard my feet left the floor at OK BOOMER. And at the part with “will Rey take his hand?” I swear MY SOUL NEAR LEFT MY BODY I MEAN IS THIS THE REAL LIFE IS THIS JUST FANTASYYYY

..... Can someone come promise me we really didn’t just collectively hallucinate that??

SAG Awards Fashion Red Carpet

I’m not too disappointed this one was cut. Of all the amazing skits performed, I would have ranked this one lower. Adam and Kenan Thompson were fashion critics talking about celebs’ looks on the SAG red carpet. A minute in Adam says, “We should be paying more attention to the kids!” Kenan: *nervous laugh* “uh, should we??” Adam starts talking about/admiring the outfits for like Finn Wolfhard etc, with hilarious but bordering creepy descriptions like “masculine but not quite fully grown,” until Kenan is like “umm maybe we shouldn’t be talking about kids this much?”

They interview a girl who’s supposed to be Jojo Siwa and Adam’s like “you should know I think you’re beautiful. Kids need to hear more often that they’re beautiful.” Kenan panics, going “alRIGHT we’re gonna cut back to the studio now!” The skit ended with Adam: “I got a ticket to the Nickelodeon afterparty and I’m gonna swipe one of those kids in my pocket!”

“Slow” Digital Short

HONESTLY, this competes with Undercover Boss for my favorite skit of the night. I can’t even tell you - I had literal tears running down my face I was laughing SO fucking hard during this entire thing. From the first moment we heard Adam’s deep-ass voice I absolutely and entirely lost my shit oh my GOD. We’d been so pumped for Adam in some kind of rap sketch when we saw the photos of him and Kenan filming the day before, but it was SO FUCKING GOOD. I will never ever in all my days not bust out laughing at “Bring that ass here” and “In a 65 hour lane going 2” aksnskns I’m on the bus struggling to fight back laughter just thinking about it SEND HELP!!!

It’s just brilliant. The turtle next to his expensive loafers. His cheesy sunglasses. That shot of his glorious bare arms. His deep voice “Baby” when they’re at the door and “But I brought ice cream” oh my god I love it so much BLESS YOU SNL BLESS YOU. I never in all my days thought I’d get Adam rapping but it’s every single thing I never knew I needed.

Del Taco Commercial / “Aw Man I’m All Outta Cash!”

ADAM’S SLEAZY LOOKING LONG WIG LMAO. This one was a wild and funny time once you got into it and just let it go. Once Kyle, Beck, and Adam were all yelling the line and Adam went “You don’t want to kill yourself, you just want a taco, Jesus” everyone was ROLLING. I think the only difference (is this even worth color coding lol) was that after Kyle took his pants off Adam kept slapping his thigh during Dress bahaha.

“Hot Dad” Adam dealing with a clogged toilet at a teenaged girls’ sleepover

Adam and Kate McKinnon comedy together YES PLEASE. This one was all the same as far as I can remember, but I will say that a woop/cheer rose from the people sitting near the set for this one at the line about Adam being a “hot Dad.” Yep sounds about right.

(Halsey’s first song, Weekend Update)

Medieval Renaissance Fair

You can’t have Adam host SNL without giving him some ridiculous character skit ala Oil Baron Parnassus. I absolutely loved how intense and deep he was for this kind of nonsense xD We can thank this skit for giving us footage of Adam yelling “Whore!” and spitting, lmao. Also.... I’ll just say in that outfit and wig he looked even Extra Big in comparison to everyone around him.

Courtroom Trial / Sinbad on Cameo

I’m also okay with this one being cut, but I was biased to enjoy the hell out of it live because the set was right in front of where I was sitting and I had such a perfect view of him. <3

Adam was supposed to be the defendant in a case where a female coworker claims he harassed her by sending “threatening” videos. Adam goes up on the stand and the prosecutor asks “are you familiar with these videos?” Cut over to Kenan Thompson, who’s pretending to be Sinbad on the app Cameo, making videos for the woman that are like “Hey you better give Mark a chance! Otherwise he might come after you!” Adam responds with disbelief: “I have no idea who this Sinbad person is and frankly, your honor, this is pissing me off.” Kenan acts a few more videos which keep getting funnier because he keeps eating things or being in crowded public places while filming them. But in the final video he references Adam’s character’s name so it’s clear he was the one requesting the videos. Adam gets all sad on the stand: “It doesn’t matter. No one likes me anyway!” It ends with Kenan as Sinbad crashing into the courtroom in person.

This was more Kenan’s skit as he really was hilarious, but someone had to explain to me afterwards who Sinbad is and how the Cameo app works so I didn’t quite ~get it while watching. BUT more importantly - Adam looked great despite the weird brown wig he had on. During the second of Kenan’s videos when the cameras were on Kenan instead, Adam’s face definitely started quivering with suppressed laughter until he visibly locked it down like NO FOCUS ADAM. Most of my attention stayed fixed on the buttons of his shirt because hOOo boy were they straining! Without me even saying anything, Catherine reached across the aisle for me immediately afterwards and whispered, “That shirt did /not/ fit well.” OH YES I NOTICED >:33

PBS Science Show

Another one which was performed right directly in front of us!! I already knew this was going to be a good one because Adam went right over to the skeleton mannequin when he came on set and started playing with it, like making the arm and wrist wiggle around. The biggest dork cutie you’ll ever see.

He was standing right under me, which meant once he started handling the balloon I got mighty distracted watching his MASSIVE hands around that tiny-looking balloon. >:)) Then I cracked up so hard when he got exasperated and threw something back against the window. WE GOT TO SEE HIM SMASH SOMETHING IN PERSON YESSSS

Ketchup bottles

Oh my GOD EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING ABOUT THIS ONE FROM START TO FINISH. The best part though might have been the prep beforehand. Someone carried the giant Ketchup and hot sauce bottles onto the set before the actors came on and we were like wtf? (For a minute I was triggered remembering Kanye coming on in his Perrier bottle during the 2018 show) But THEN Adam and Cecily Strong came on in big red shirts and people started lifting the giant plastic bottles over them and LOL we realized where this was going. They definitely struggled for a minute getting Adam’s bottle up over his head because of his height xD People in the audience were already laughing just watching this costume set up, and once Adam got the bottle on a WOOT cheer rose which I later learned was none other than @reylonly aka my hero. It was followed by someone yelling “THATS HOT”, which akndosjan made Adam laugh and raise his arms with a hilarious little shimmy in the bottle. He really seemed to be enjoying himself during the whole show, but during this ridiculous and incredibly hilarious skit especially so.

Game Night / Movie Quote Competition

OKAY this is the skit it’s a real tragedy didn’t make it on air! There were lines in this I couldn’t beLiEvE my ears were hearing, and if we ever get a recording I’m pretty sure the fandom would basically implode.

Three couples are sitting around a living room having a game night. Adam is sitting with Kate McKinnon with his arm around her. After they finish playing Settlers of Catan, Heidi Gardner suggests they play a movie quote game where one of them says a line from a movie and the rest have to guess the movie. She is clearly very into it, and the others reluctantly agree. It quickly becomes clear that Adam is just as good at the game as she is, and they immediately start becoming competitive. They reach the point where they quote three lines from Captain Phillips in a row, trying to trick each other. As the game gets more heated, they exchange aggressive flirty banter such as:

Heidi: You really know your movie quotes, huh? Adam: Yeah I do. Heidi: And with some BDE over there. Adam: Yeah, I got that too.

AND !!!!!!!!!!

Heidi: You’re quite the movie flick daddy. Adam: I’m the world’s biggest flick daddy.

!!!!!!!!! HE CALLED HIMSELF A DADDY HELP CALL 911 EMERGENCY !!!!!!!!!!

The game keeps escalating until Kate tries to calm Adam down and he brushes her off. Everyone else tries to tell Heidi to relax, and she responds “What?! I’m supposed to lie back and let (Kate’s character’s name)’s hot husband rail me??”

I WAS FLOATING ON THE CEILING BY THIS POINT, I literally couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing alsdfjsldafjlsdkfj!

It gets to the point where they’re both standing, shouting completely vague snippets of lines at each other while the other continues to guess correctly. Until finally Adam exclaims, “I got a good one!” He grabs her and fULL ON kisses her.

(Pictures from The Adam Driver Files twitter.)

Immediately afterwards she goes, “I know! That was the kiss from (Movie X - I can’t remember the exact title).” Adam: “HOW DID YOU KNOW?!” Heidi: “From how you moved your tongue!”

I’m still reeling from this one. Adam calling himself a daddy, talk of “getting railed” by him, and intense kissing?! Oh my lORDDDD. I’m still trying to keep it playing on a loop in my ears. I’m not sure if we as a fandom could collectively survive a full video of this, but GOD I hope we get the chance to test ourselves. RELEASE THE UNAIRED VIDEO, YOU NBC COWARDS!!!

FLICK DADDY INDEED

...Aaaaaaand that was a wrap! After 10 skits and nearly 2.5 hours, it literally felt like I had run a marathon at a full sprint. I was just trying to process everything I’d just witnessed, while trying to focus on committing every single thing to memory. I just couldn’t believe the range of amazing and hilarious things I’d just seen Adam doing: Play a talking ketchup bottle, call himself a daddy, awkwardly talk about feminine products clogging his toilet, yell “WHORE” then spit and swing a medieval mace around, rap hilariously, and yell about umami?? It was all almost TOO MUCH.

For full-circle and emotional fulfillment reasons, I wore my Save Ben Solo shirt to the show just like I did at the 2018 show. I had debated beforehand whether it would be too bittersweet to wear it after TROS, but now I’m so glad I did. All these hilarious and zany skits were just what we all needed to continue the cycle of fandom excitement and positivity despite the last month. I’m so incredibly grateful to SNL for such great material for Adam to work with and us to laugh at, and for giving us the perfect reminder that there’s still so much to whole-heartedly appreciate and love. Most of all, Adam himself. <3

THANK YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR ANOTHER LIFE-HIGHLIGHT WEEKEND! <3

#Adam Driver #Saturday Night Live #SNL #driverdaily

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magisterlys · 5 years

Text

Patience is Not a Virtue

Written Cross the Stars: Chapter 9

Summary: It's been weeks since the commander and Braham parted ways at the Eye of the North, weeks that she'd been avoiding him and focusing on her research at the Priory. Just as she's preparing to set out toward the culmination of months of work, she receives an unexpected visitor. Patience is not one of Braham's virtues.

The mentioned letter can be read here.

I really hope you all enjoy it! More soon.

Lys glanced once again between The Ways of the God-Kings and Thruln: Ages Past, trying to decide which of the two books deserved a place in her bag. The first was more thorough but impractically large for carrying through an ancient dwarven ruin. And yet, was there anything worse than not having access to the source material you needed in the field? She sighed. Choices were hard. From his perch on the back of her chair, Notti grackled as if offering his opinion, fluffing his feathers up.

As Lys set the heavier book down she noticed that the sleeve of her blouse had crept up, revealing the burn scars that now climbed her forearm like vines. She frowned, tugged it back down and began to gather the scattered notes on the desk she’d commandeered for the last couple weeks, deep in the Priory’s special collections. Some of them were valid thoughts and bits of research but mostly she was distressed to realize how many were covered with a familiar pattern of circles and curved lines. The same pattern, over and over. She didn’t even remember drawing most of them …

“Magister!” An asura with bright red hair came scurrying through the stacks toward her, calling out in the raised faux whisper that everyone seemed to adopt in this space, “Sorry to interrupt, I have a message for you.”

That was odd, Lys thought, she hadn’t expected Braham to reply to her last letter yet. She held out her hand, “Give it here then, Klarre. And thank you.”

“No no, sorry.” Klarre was panting, one hand on the corner of the desk, “Whew! Those stairs are something. Why are there so many stairs? I mean you just go up and then right back down. They are completely unnecessary, really."

“Scholar.” Lys gave her a look, knowing from experience that if you didn’t interrupt Klarre she’d go on a meandering verbal walkabout for half an hour before reaching her original point.

“Oh yes! Right. Sorry. Message.” Klarre shook her head, “Nothing to deliver. Just there’s someone here to see you.”

“To … see me?”

“Yup!”

Lys sighed, “Any idea who?”

“Nope!”

“… none at all?”

“None!” Klarre flashed a proud grin, “Magister Makkay just caught me on her way down to get you herself. Said to tell you someone’s waiting at the Heart.”

No one outside of her guild and close associates knew where she was, and all of them would have just raised her on the com as soon as they got close. “Alright, thank you.” She set her notes down and circled around the desk. Notti flapped his wings, made as if to follow her but she shook her head at the bird, “Stay here, I’ll most likely be right back.”

The light of the Heart of the Priory filtered down from above as Lys ascended the stairs into the public area. As usual, there were plenty of people milling about, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the whole of Lornar’s Pass were standing there, she’d still have instantly known who was waiting for her. And she’d have been no less unprepared to see him.

Braham was standing with his back to her, looking up at the constantly shifting and rotating column of tablets. He was nervous, she’d known him long enough to read the tension in his shoulders, the way he kept flexing his fingers. The golden light of the Heart cast a shimmering glow to his silhouette and she was keenly thankful that he wasn’t facing her as she admired how the warm light highlighted his hair, how it cast the lines of his face in a gold like tempered sunlight as he somehow sensed she was there and turned to look over his shoulder. It made her heart clench, to realize how glad she was to see him but also how terrified.

“Braham?” At her voice, his face lite up with a smile that lasted only a moment before shadow crossed it. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the scar that now marred her cheek and her brow, the lasting reminder of what Bangar had done to her. When they’d last seen each other, weeks ago in the Eye of the North her wounds had been fresh enough to assume that they would heal. That apparently wasn’t the case and it annoyed her how self-conscious she suddenly felt. She frowned and fiddled with her hair, trying to hide behind it. “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“Yes. No, I mean. I …” Braham moved toward her and she toward him, magnetically. They both stopped short a few feet apart, the distance between them like a living thing. Why hadn’t she mentioned this? All her letters had assured him that she was fine. That was true, he admitted, but he was unprepared for the spike of anger he felt seeing her like this … how it reignited his desire to break Bangar in half. The commander was shrinking away from him, looking away and he suddenly realized how his reaction might be mistaken so he smiled as he sheepishly continued, “Bjora has been quiet. I read your last letter and I’m … impatient.”

Lys swallowed hard, smiled awkwardly. Why was he looking at her like that? “Patience has never been your strongest virtue.”

“Nah. It’s right up there with the ability to follow orders.” He chuckled and narrowed the distance between them again, taking a step closer. “I should have told you I was coming, on the com I mean. But I just ...”

“... are bad at following orders?”

“Yeah, that.” He gave her a smirk.

If he was here because of her letter, that meant that he wanted to talk. She’d expected to have days yet, maybe weeks, to figure out what exactly she was going to say. But here he was, right now. And she still had no idea. “If you’d shown up an hour later you would have missed me. I was just about to set out south, into Timberline Falls.”

Braham raised a brow, leaned into the space between them, “What are you going there for?”

“What you’d expect.” She shifted to the side, “I’ve been searching for the location of a Stone Summit tomb since before the rally in Grothmar. I think I’ve found it.”

“So …” He’d successfully navigated the distance and now there were mere inches between him and the commander,“You were just about to go delving into a dwarven tomb? Dwarves. The ones who entertained themselves with most-horrific-deadly-trap competitions? Alone?”

“... yes? Well, when you say it like that it sounds like something I’d yell at you for doing.”

“Uh huh.”

While she was caught up considering if she was being a Braham-level of foolish, he’d touched her forearm, slipped his fingers up to wrap around her elbow. And now he was looking down at her, too near for her to hide her scars. His brow was furrowed as his eyes traveled from the scar across her cheek to where it ran down her neck, disappeared under the collar of her blouse. He released her elbow and raised his hand, moved to touch her neck.

“I’ll go change into my armor.” She stepped backward, away from him. Turned from his touch and his gaze. “Grab my things, and you can come with me?”

Braham let his hand drop, frowned after the already retreating commander. “... I’d like that.”

A short while later Lys made her way back up the stairs, tugging on the buckles on her new armor as she did. Notti squawked his displeasure from his perch on her shoulder but she gave the raven a gentle tap on the beak to hush him. As she took the last stair she stopped to adjust the top of her boots. New armor was always such a beast to break in, damn Bangar for ruining her old set. Finally settled she looked up to find Braham staring at her, mouth agape. She arched a brow, feeling uncomfortable again. “... something wrong?”

“No.” Braham blinked, realizing that he’d been gawking and cleared his throat as he watched the commander make her way over to him. He’d counted every moment since he’d last seen her, replayed their night hidden away together in the Keep a hundred times just to avoid remembering how close he’d come to losing her. And now here she was, alive and vibrant and wearing leathers that clung to every curve, that cut several inches above her boots to display a tantalizing flash of thigh. He couldn’t touch her, to ask him not to stare would be too much.

Lys pretended to be oblivious to his staring as she led him up the long hall, “Do you mind if we make the trip a flight? I asked someone to get Morrigna saddled, and assuming that she hasn’t bitten anyone … “

“I’m fine with that. I think.” Braham begrudged, “Given it was me she bit last time.”

“Aw, she didn't mean it.” They’d made their way across the open courtyard to where a pair of sylvari stood near the commander’s massive corvid griffon. The sylvari looked nervous, but the griffon churred happily as she spotted her rider and bent to butt her avian head against the commander as they arrived. Lys rubbed the cyan tipped feathers cresting Morrigna’s ears, “You didn’t mean it. Did you, girl?”

“I don’t know, did you mean to bite me?” Braham asked the griffon. Morrigna clacked her beak in response and turned one dark eye to look at Braham directly.

The norn and griffon staring match was interrupted by a high pitched voice, “Magister! Magister Fiora, you forgot something!” Klarre pattered across the courtyard, waving a stack of papers over her head.

“I didn’t …” Lys attempted to tell the scholar that she hadn’t forgotten her strange sketches and had, in fact, thrown them away on purpose but Klarre had already thrust them into her hands. “... thank you.” She said instead.

“Sure thing! Are you sure I can’t come with you? You know my interest in the jotun language is second only to yours. You never know when you might need another pair of hands or a sharp set of eyes and by the Alchemy! You are tall.” Klarre seemed to have just noticed Braham.

Braham barely heard the asura, he was too busy trying to get a better look at the papers Lys was hastily shoving into her bag. He recognized those drawings. They were the same ones he’d had to scold her a dozen times for doodling instead of resting, in the days they stayed together in the Eye of the North. “Yeah, well.” He began a response. Why was she still drawing those things? And why had she been so quick to hide them? Distracted, he continued, “I’m norn. We’re tall.”

Lys interrupted before Klarre could inevitably try to helpfully inform Braham that she was an asura, and they are short. “I’m certain, Klarre. Braham and I can handle it, and I promise to take detailed notes and organize a proper expedition if it’s required.”

“I suppose that is adequate.” Klarre waved enthusiastically as she took off across the courtyard again. “See you soon! Have fun!”

“She’s uh … “ Braham chuckled and looked over at the commander. She was smiling and shaking her head, not hiding behind her hair for once and he met her eyes as she turned toward him. “Makes me miss Taimi.”

“Yeah, I think they’d …” Lys realized how intently he was looking at her and quickly turned to secure her bag to Morrigna’s saddle, gestured for Notti to hop up as well. “I think they’d get along.”

“Commander.” He caught her arm as she turned away.

She glanced back toward him, but didn’t turn. “Yes?”

“Look at me?” Braham’s voice was gentle. He didn’t force her to face him, just gave her arm a squeeze.

Reluctantly, she acquiesced, keeping her head down as he turned toward him. He used his hold on her arm to pull her closer and touched his fingertips to her chin. She looked up at him finally.

“I just wanted to say ….” He touched her hair, brushed it out of her eyes so that he could see her face. All of it. She didn’t know how his voice managed to become even softer, but it did, washed over her like silk as he spoke, “You’re beautiful, Lys.”

“Braham.” How could he say that? She frowned and glanced away from him lest she start weeping like a vain idiot in the middle of the Priory.

“I mean it.” He gently touched her forehead, traced the jagged lines of her scar until his hand came to rest on her cheek, cupping her face in his palm. As she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze he leaned closer and made a faint growling sound in the back of his throat, “ And I’m not saying that just because you look hot as hell in that skirt and those boots.”

“Braham!” She laughed suddenly, shoved his shoulder playfully as she extracted herself from his dangerous nearness.

“I mean really, Lys!” It was good to hear her laugh. She clearly didn’t believe him, but that just meant he’d have to tell her again and again until she understood. “Are you trying to drive a guy crazy?”

“I promise that wasn’t on my list of goals when I chose it.” Lys gripped the strap along the back of Morrigna’s neck and swung gracefully up onto the griffin’s back. As she settled into the saddle she admitted to herself that catching Braham’s attention had at least been a bonus of this particular armor choice. But he didn’t need to know that. She leaned over and offered her hand to him.

He took her hand, trusted her to counter his weight as he used her help to climb into the saddle behind her. Morrigna rustled her wings as if in protest to the second rider. “Yeah yeah,” Braham apologized, “I know you don’t like me, but I promise to watch my heels this time.”

Lys laughed and patted the griffon affectionately on the neck, then turned to look over her shoulder at Braham, “Hold on tight?”

She didn’t need to ask, he’d been aching to do so since the moment he saw her. Braham rested his hands on the commander’s hips then slowly, purposefully slid his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back as he quietly responded, “Gladly.”

She allowed herself to lean back against him a moment, to brush her hands against his arms as she reached for the straps of the saddle. She dared not look over her shoulder again, she could almost sense how he was looking at her. Dangerous man. “... just don’t let go.”

There was no chance for a response as the slightest encouragement from her rider sent the feline form of the griffin bounding toward the edge of the courtyard. With a powerful leap, Morigna cleared the cliffside, spreading her raven black wings to the sky and took off southward.

#braham/commander #braham eirrson/commander #braham eirrson #chapter fic #gw2 fanfiction #oc: lys fiora #tyriaslibrary #lws5 spoilers

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long-bodyswap · 5 years

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Clothes That Tempt Our Very Skin

By Mark Gordon

It was a hot summer day and I was headed home to see the family. It was the eve of the 4th of July and my mom and brother were anxious to see me, since it had been since Christmas and my brother had a surprise waiting for me. Now the anticipation of what that was helped to keep me focused on the rigorous 4 and a half hour trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas.

I was driving with the air conditioner blasting, as the outside temperature was somewhere in the high 100’s, yet with the sun blazing through the windows, I was still feeling warm, so I removed my tank top as I drove. Whew I thought now that feels better! My muscular chest was tingling, especially my nipples as the cold air blew on them, but I liked the feeling and my pectorals seemed to tighten even harder with the cold air. All was right with the world as I raced along the highway and I sipped my bottled water and played my tunes on the CD player.

After a while, I could feel my cock swelling to release the fluid that was now becoming painfully evident in my over filled kidneys. I had a habit of holding back when I drove long distances, but I had almost peed my pants on occasion and that feeling was less than comfortable.

This time was different, I was in sever pain and I knew I would either have to find a rest stop or try to hide behind a cactus to relieve myself. Luckily there was a rest stop up a head and I forced myself to wait even though I was at the brink of wetting my pants.

In a cloud of dust I pulled into the rest stop and scurried into the men’s room with urgency. Once at the urinal I just dropped my loose fitting cargo shorts to my ankles and pulled the waistband of my boxer briefs down under my ball sacs to get the maximum release.

As I moaned at the pleasure of unloading my kidneys, a man came in to pee and although he might have thought me weird in the state I was in, I cared less about his first impression and more about my relief.

Standing next to me was a taller man who wasn’t as lucky as I was, because his pants had a wet stain around the crotch and he knew it was visible and obvious to my view. As he let loose his thick dark yellow pee stream he was arching his back to make the stream even more pronounced.

“God I never thought I would make it!” he shouted grinning at me.

I giggled and said, “Well I nearly ended up in with a pee stain as well, but I tore off my pants and got my cock out in time” I said as his eyes locked into my crotch area and his pee stream seemed to meander in and out of the urinal.

The man just grinned while the duration of his release seemed never ending.

“Well luckily I have a change of clothes in my car; I don’t like to be messy if you know what I mean.” He said.

“Know exactly what you mean man, my boxer briefs weren’t so lucky as you can see but my shorts survived.” I replied as I tried not to notice his cock.

“Well if I were you, I’d change them before you head out, if you have a spare pair.” He said. “Good idea” I said and we both shook off our cocks and put them away and got our pants straight, then we both went out to our cars for a change of clothing.

As he pulled out a clean pair of shorts and underwear, I pulled a clean pair of boxer briefs from my travel bag and then we both walked back into the men’s room. Racing ahead of me, he took the only stall and began to undress and pile his soiled pants and underwear on the ground next to his feet, kicking them out the side of the stall next to me. By that time I had my shorts and boxer briefs off and totally nude, I could hear him taking a second leak in the toilet. God he must have large kidneys I thought.

I looked down at his pile of soiled clothes and was getting a hard on thinking – how many miles he rode wearing those clothes- hum - it was a kinky thought but I had this desire to put on his soiled underwear and pants. For one minute I wanted to wear his stuff and get a feel for this guy who was much older than me, but to his advantage a very handsome and professional looking man.

Time was running out, so I reached down and pulled on his damp jockey briefs and then his slacks. The waist was a few sizes bigger than mine, but the jockeys seemed to be quite comfortable around my waist. It was evident that these slacks were meant for a taller man as the cuffs of the pants bunched up around my sneakers but the idea of having them on was making me harder.

I had to do the next thing and that was to squeeze his pants crotch and surround my cock and balls in the pee stains for a while to fully achieve what I was after. That desire to make his fluid deposit part of me proved to be a catalyst to an event that would change both our lives for ever.

As I squeezed hard and tight, I could feel the dampness around my genitals and it felt cold for a while, but miraculously the wetness he had deposited magically was absorbed into my groin. What happened next was even more incredible.

Looking down at my hand, I couldn’t help but notice that the bunched up material around my sneakers was disappearing and the length of the slacks was lifting up somehow. Then the extra inches between of my waistband seemed to disappear as his slacks began to fit firmly now.

OH My God I thought, as I witnessed other changes happening as well. My once lean firm stomach and toned chest were gone. I had a slight bulge in the gut and my nipples had widened and there was no more muscle tone and from the look of my hands and arms, they had changed as well. A took a quick look in the mirror had confirmed that I was now inhabiting this mans body and a grin came across my face, because I was sure he would be shocked to see his twin waiting on the other side of the wall when he came out.

While I examined this new body of mine, touching and poking at my new physique, I began to wonder what he was doing so long in that stall.

While releasing the last bits of extra piss he still had in him, his body had gone through a radical transformation of its own. As he stood there pissing, his body changed as soon as I had put his clothes on- as if only one of us could exist at a time and my transformation into him forced him to transform into me.

What was taking him so long, was the fact that once his cock transformed in his hands and his body got younger and tighter, he got so sexually aroused he began to jack off quite instinctively. All this time while he was jacking off in his new physique, I could hear the moans and groans in a voice very familiar to me- MINE!

Then as if a light went off in his head, he took inventory of his body and found out quickly that he had become the young jock on the other side of the stall wall.

He let out a shout of extreme delight as his new cum load shot out of him. I knew immediately that he approved of what had happened to him and that got me tenting instantly. “I think we need to talk” I shouted over the stall wall as I was taller now and could peer in to it. I had never seen my body from this perspective before, especially my body coming off a huge climax.

With a smiling face he acknowledged me, let out the last stream of cum his new body had in him then came of the stall to confirm that I was now the owner of his former body.

Still nude, he walked over and gave me a huge kiss, by pulling my head down to meet his new 5’9” tall body. At that point I was rock hard and tenting my new pants and making a new stain in them.

As he bent down to get my old clothes, he seemed less interested in my erection and more interested in completing his packaged look by wearing my boxer briefs and shorts.

“Hey” he said. “Those Nikes are way too big on you now can you take them off and hand them to me?”

They were much too big for my feet, event though I was taller now my feet weren’t 10 and half anymore, luckily he was wearing sandals or he would have been I real pain when his feet grew. I obliged and even gave him my socks as well, and the slid his sandals over for me to wear.

“Now, I am you completely!” He shouted. “So how old am now?” he demanded.

I think you’ll find that your occupying a 28 year old body, “and what of me?” “How old am I?” I said.

As he modeled in the mirror turning side to side, then flexed a bit then said, “Oh 42 years old will work!”

“I can’t believe this!” “How long did it take you to turn out this muscular?” he said testing the tightness of my pectoral and abdominals. Poking them to see how hard they really were.

I stood there with my hand to my face in amassment, wondering if he was serious and thinking – Doesn’t he get it? We have swapped bodies and all he is interested in his my age and how long I’ve been working out?

“Did you hear what I said”, he went on.

“Well, when the body was mine, it took 4 years to get to that point and daily bow flex work outs to maintain it!” I said with a bewildering face.

“So this bow flex thing will maintain this then?” he said still turning and modeling his new body in the mirror.

I was sexually excited but pissed he hadn’t fully made notice that I was now him and maybe that wasn’t exactly convenient for me.

I walked over to him and grabbed him firmly on both shoulders and looked in straight in the eyes. “So am I now dismissed now?, discarded and forgotten now that you find yourself in a rather young buff body?”

He pushed me off of him saying, “Listen hot shot- it wasn’t me that put on your clothes now was it?!” “I suppose you had some kinky reason and I wont get into that right now but wasn’t it your hope to assume my body or at least feel what it would be like to be in it?” “So now you have it and from that boner in your pants I trust you like it!” He said with an arrogance I could not believe was coming out of that body.

“Well listen here - it may have been a sudden desire, but I think it’s worn off now and I would like to get my body back and continue on my way home!” I with a stern expression on my face.

He began pacing a bit, thinking he could make a deal with me, all the time rubbing his hard chest and feeling his new package between his legs.

“You know possession is 9 tenths of the law” he said like a shroud lawyer. “And well giving this fine specimen of youth back so quickly would be like returning lottery winnings, and I am not going to be such a fool as that!” “What I would propose is this- Let me remain you for a week or so- let me fulfill my fantasies both physically and sexually and then I might consider swapping back again.”

“You are headed for Vegas I presume?”

“Well yes” I said nervously.

“Well that’s where I was headed to, but now there is a twist- I go to Vegas as a 28 year old jock instead of a 42 year old vacationing Nurse and the dynamics of my vacation have now changed, don’t you agree?.”

“But wait, my family is expecting me and this is a time when I spend time with my brother, in fact I was planning a great holiday week with him!” I told him in a sympathetic voice.

“Shit, Shit, Shit- always complications aren’t there?” he said with a smirk on his face and I shook my head yes hoping that was reason enough for him to give in and return my body.

“OK - but this is the plan” he said fiddling his fingers like a high roller would do.

“It was these clothes that made us change and these clothes that will change us back, but once were back in our original bodies, I am taking your soiled clothes I am wearing as collateral- after one week I will put these clothes on and the swap will be permanent!”

All I could think of at the moment is my family and their feelings. So I shook my head yes and he took off my dirty clothes and I took off his and gave them to him. He put on his clothes and I proceeded to put on the clothes I was going to change into in the first place.

Within a few seconds I was experiencing the transformation back to my youth and firm toned body and he was returning to his age of 42 and getting taller – loosing all the tight firm muscle he just had. I was now in my clean boxer briefs and shorts, leaving him with my soiled ones for him to recapture my body when my week was up.

I just wanted to get out of there and head on down the road with even more reason to get to Vegas fast. As I began to leave he gave me his card-

Keith Young

Registered Nurse

With his address and phone number on it also.

I put the card in my shorts pocket and turned to leave and he grabbed my arm.

“Listen, I am really a nice guy as you’ll come to find out, it is just that my desire is to be in a body just like yours!” He said with as serious face.

“Listen man, under different circumstances, maybe a different time and place- maybe this would have been a mutual desire, but I over stepped my better judgment and invaded your privacy by trying on your clothes.” “I had every desire to want to be in your body, but right now was not the right time to experiment.” I said.

I gave him his card back and told him to write down his hotel name and I would try to call him during the week and we could work out the details of the final swap and he smiled and wrote all the information down.

Handing me back the card we both smiled and I walked up to him and gave him a deep kiss on the lips and grabbed his tented pants. “By the way, my name is Mark Gordon and your cock is rock hard!”

“Nice being you Mark” he said and I winked at him and said, “Could you see your way and maybe help me relieve this boner I have?”

I took a good look at his pants and couldn’t say no, so as he unbuckled his pants, I got on my knees and awaited his thick cock. He took it out of his briefs and I grabbed on to his waist to bring his cock deep into my throat. I began sucking him, but he took over and began to fuck my face. All I could hear is the moaning and grunting as he pumped my head with his rock hard cock. But with the furry of his rhythm I could tell he wanted to be me more than anything and when he finally let loose his load, I knew this would be the cream my body would be making in the near future. I swallowed it all and even cleaned off his cock. One more kiss and he sent me off slapping my tight ass as I left the room.

All the way home I could not get Keith’s face and body out of my mind. I knew I had one week left as Mark and I would make it the best I could. My shorts remained tented the rest of the way home.

When I got home finally, it was all hugs and kisses from my mom and a big hug from my 15 year old brother, who was going to pee his pants if he couldn’t share his secret with me. Once things settled down and we had eaten, my brother Kevin and I went up to his room where he was going to reveal is secret to me.

Since we shared rooms this time, I started to get ready for a shower and took off all my clothes. While I was busy doing that, Kevin had done something behind my back and just then the bottom fell out of my stomach and I felt light headed and not quite myself. In fact I was not my self at all because looking down at my chest and stomach, I was flatter than a pancake and my cock was small and my pubic hair seemed to have vanished.

As I glanced his way, I fell back on my bed in shock as standing in front of me was a duplicate of myself in just boxer briefs- in fact the pair I left here at Christmas time.

“Whoa what the fuck!” I shouted.

“I am me Kevin, but in your body- so what do you think bro?” he said with a smile. I stood there shaking in a body that was pushing puberty “What do I think?” “I think I am now my hairless brother!”

I got up and walked around him- looking at an exact clone of myself, and except for the fact I was 6 months younger and had a thicker goatee, it was me alright.

“But how?” I shouted.

“It is the most remarkable thing Mark, after finding your boxer briefs stuffed under the spare bed, I couldn’t help but miss you and put them on late one night early in the morning. I almost instantly began to transform into you and because I not quite through puberty yet, becoming you made me as horny as hell. I took on your hot body and couldn’t control myself. I jacked off really scared but exploded like never before. I took up boxer briefs off and put mine on again and changed back because I wasn’t sure whether you had changed as well. Since I didn’t hear from you and because I did it at 3am in the morning I was sure it happened while you were fast asleep.”

So now that I showed you, I will take them off promptly!” He went on.

“No please leave them on Kevin for a moment I haven’t been 15 in a while.”

So I walked around looking at his body in the mirror and noticing how much smaller his cock was than mine then I turned to Kevin and said, “would you mind if I jacked off in your body- you certainly know what jerking off in mine is like don’t you?”

Kevin began to laugh and said, “Sure Mark, but it wont be like yours I can tell you that and the consistency of my cum isn’t like yours either- kind of watery and not as white as yours!”

While Kevin explained to me what to expect, I began to jack him off right in front of the mirror and right away I knew it was going to be different. I thought of Keith and his thick boner as I made Kevin’s 4 inches rock hard. As I worked it hard, Kevin was watching intensely and I turned to him and said – “jack my body too” and without thinking he whipped out my 7 inches and we were jacking off together.

My build up was not as impressive as my own, but I was able to get a relatively good sensation. His immature ball sacs released what it could and when I was ready I spurted a nice watery load with bits of white streaks in it that quickly made a puddle on the tile floor in front of me.

Kevin was laying down on his bed making the most of his second chance to cum in my body, and was edging himself to make it last longer. It was very erotic watching sweat bead up on my muscular body as he was grinding away at my cock. Soon he couldn’t hold it back any more and it was strange hearing my voice moaning and shouting as it released its cargo. Just like at the rest stop – hearing my voice coming out of someone else seemed very erotic.

Two thick white ropes of creamy cum shot out of him and back down on his chest and then one more spurt took the balance of his sac supply and then he just lay back breathing heavy.

“Holy fuck Mark that was so hot! He said rubbing his hard chest and stomach.

“Nice job, Kevin”, I said as I walked over to slide my boxer briefs off him and proceeded to slide his back on him.

“OH fuck no” he shouted as I forced his on him over his still throbbing cock. In seconds his cock got smaller and his body began its journey back to age 15 and I put the boxer briefs on I had just removed from him and returned to my own body, but this time I was 6 months younger and as I said my goatee was a bit thicker.

“God what a rush that was!” I shouted. Kevin turned and said, “Yeah try coming back the other way!” and started to clean off his cum coated stomach.

The week was very interesting after that and Kevin and I did this swap several times before I had to go home. In fact the week went by so fast I forgot to call Keith and I was sure he was getting pissed at me.

It was the night before I was to leave and I called to try and catch Keith in time before he put my clothes back on. Luckily I caught him and although he was mad I hadn’t called earlier we kind of got through that and made our plans for the future. Little did I know my brother Kevin had plans of his own for the future and that last night as we swapped bodies again, he must have slipped a sleeping pill into my soft drink and I over slept.

While I slept up stairs like a baby in his 15 year old body, he was showering in my body and making plans to sneak out and head back to phoenix as me. OH the excitement of jacking in the shower and feeling the spray of water over his tight muscular body- this is the life he thought to himself. However, while he dried off and was getting ready to sneak into my clothes to get dressed, Keith was in his hotel room preparing to put on my soiled boxer briefs and shorts from the rest stop.

As Kevin flexed in the mirror, Keith was doing that very thing. With in minutes poor Kevin was watching my body age and get taller- skin tone and body features were changing fast and he was about to shit himself as Keith’s final shape to form right in front of him.

“JESUS CHRIST – WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED” - HE SHOUTED”

I awoke instantly and saw the time and then saw Kevin and I knew exactly what must to have happened.

I jumped up and calmed him down and tried to explain what had happened to me at the rest stop, but the jump from 28 to 42 years was making him psychotic and I quickly slid his original underwear on fast to sooth him. As he transformed back into his 15 year old body I told him he must have had a nightmare. The shock and stress made him tired and he just fell back to sleep. He may have fainted, but I suppose it was best he was out like a light.

Now I was still in Kevin’s body and I grabbed my real underwear and slipped into the bathroom while Kevin went back to sleep.

I got back to my own body and then showered and got ready – kissed my mom and drove off- my plan with Keith was to meet once more at the rest stop, to finalize our plans, but I would have to meet him now regardless to get his clothes and change into him as I was supposed to by now anyway.

When we met I had to make an excuse that I over slept and had to change back so as not to scare my brother and mom- he believed me and gave me a pair of his worn jockeys so that we could finally consummate our deal. I was ready to be Keith and head to his home town in Ohio and let him assume my life in Phoenix. After I had undressed and slid on his soiled briefs, and the transformation into Keith’s body was complete, Keith was totally boned in my clothes at watching me transform into him and I knew what I would be doing next.

He whipped out his new young cock and I went to my knees and began to suck him off, but this time it was reversed as I was him sucking him as me. Again he grabbed my head and fucked my face and at that moment I knew I was going to enjoy this. His firm body was pumping me fast and I grabbed onto his tight bubble butt for some balance. I was getting used to hearing my former voice moaning and it was making me hard like magic.

Soon his rich young cream was pumping down my throat and his moans were so wonderful to hear. With a smiling face and sweaty chest he put his cock back into his boxer briefs and buttoned his shorts.

“You have made me the happiest man alive!” He said. And coming back to my feet I grinned and said, “Enjoy every moment of it young man!” And we kissed our final kiss till we would meet again.

See you here in a year he shouted as he pulled away in my car. And I waved good bye as he headed off and I got back into his car and headed back to live his life in Ohio.

As he pulled away I could hear my favorite tunes blasting out of his open window and smiled. “OH the wonderment of being Young I said.”

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ducktracy · 5 years

Text

43. bosko the drawback (1932)

release date: october 22nd, 1932

series: looney tunes

director: hugh harman

starring: johnny murray (bosko)

first freddy the freshman, and now bosko the drawback! bosko takes on the football field, pinned against some fierce competition.

all good football bands open with a marching band. the drum leader pumps his baton, sporting a giant hat. the tina behind the drum leader blows the feathers off the hat, revealing a bird in a bird cage, squawking in time to the music.

the crowd shots in this next sequence are amazing for 1932! a crowd fills into the stadium, a dog punching tickets with his tooth, and a donkey’s ears service as a revolving gate to get inside. there’s an aerial view of the stadium as the seats fill up. again, it’s fascinating to watch for its time! crowd shots are always a famous enemy for animators.

after some gags used to boast musical synchronization (such as a caterpillar playing snare drums and two dogs crashing cymbals together with their legs), we see our hero getting limbered up for the big game. a slightly painful massage turns into him protesting “be careful now!” as the brute loosening him up nearly cracks his neck in half.

another tony wons reference (which was also used in another football picture, freddy the freshman) where an ostrich asks the audience “are ya listenin’? hmmmmmm?” tony has faded to obscurity for me (and everyone else i imagine LOL), he doesn’t stand out as much as the big movie stars that’d be parodied or the crooners or what have you. nevertheless, the references are always fascinating to learn about, no matter how obscure they are, so i enjoy them regardless.

the whistle sounds and bosko leaps from his torturous massage, right into his football gear. he motions for his fellow teammates (who are much bigger than him) to follow suit, and the ever optimistic bosko hurries onto the field.

signaling the start of the game, the referee fires his starting pistol. out pops an egg that cracks, and the bird inside blows a whistle. you’ve seen this gag once, you’ve seen it a million times, but it was still a nice surprise with the egg cracking. i thought it’d just be another bird/mouse straight out of the pistol, so props to them for something new.

bosko punts the ball towards the camera (borrowed from freddy the freshman), and there are some cool shots of the ball flying through the air and the football players tearing up the field. unfortunately, the scene drags on longer than it could have (though again, in the heart of the depression, so i give them the benefit of the doubt with all the retakes/extended scenes used) and lessens the impact of it. intriguing cinematography nonetheless!

tiny little bosko runs and catches the pigskin, but the force of the kick causes the ball to drag him around aimlessly. thankfully, a wiener dog comes to his aid, forming a protective V shape (once more from freddy the freshman) in front of him, sending any oncoming opponents flying and ricocheting off.

a journalist in the press box is hammering away at the keys of the typewriter, becoming more and more aggressive. in retaliation, the type writer punches HIM back, stamping “nerts” on his forehead. i didn’t actually know that was a real word, i thought it was just something samson from camp lazlo made up LOL. for that reason alone, i appreciate the gag.

time for the cheer section portion. a kangaroo exclaims “rah, rah!” and three of its joeys pop up from its pouch and give the remaining “rah rah rah!”s. another gag includes an elderly mouse on crutches hobbling on the field. he gets hit with the football and spins between his crutches like a wheel. reused from it’s got me again!, but still as amusing as ever, especially with the overall concept of an elderly, frail mouse (who is gigantic) just meandering around on the football field.

an eagle flies on top of an american flag and perches on the flag pole, in the pose of the eagle on top of the flag pole in many upstanding american flags (flashbacks to the flags in my middle school cafeteria).

bosko kicks the ball, and a caterpillar catches it and runs for the touchdown. bosko continues to tackle him, and one by one, with each tackle, the caterpillar loses a segment of its body, eventually decreasing to bosko’s height. love that gag! very creative. there are a lot of reuses in this cartoon, and some scenes run a tad long, but the gags that are original (to this cartoon) really hit well. another quick shot of the eagle on the flagpole, nestling down on top.

look at that crowd shot! this is my favorite gag in the whole cartoon. a cheer section forms the face of a dog who shouts a cheer, and once the cheer is over, the dog blows a raspberry. the spit is actually real people diving from the stands and onto the field! i can’t get enough of it. reminds me of something you’d see on spongebob.

more recycled shots of the football players tearing up the field and the eagle on the flagpole. we pan to bosko, who’s running down the field, when he suddenly halts. he turns towards the audience and says in distress “the hunchback of notre dame!”

sure enough, a ferocious looking brute (who seems to be frothing at the mouth? can cartoon characters go rabid?) barrels towards the screen. bosko, terrified, runs away to save his skin.

unfortunately for him, there’s a “title” card that declares “the four horsemen!” and sure enough, four horses are on bosko’s tail. the use of the card really makes this gag for me. i love my puns! the animation is great, too.

bosko runs back the other way, but the wiener dog from before blocks his path. he bounces off of the dog like a slingshot, and soars over the field, getting closer and closer to touchdown range.

a rock stops him in his path, and he hits his head. in a daze, our hero, clutching onto the ball, staggers over towards the goal line, just making the score. the rather predominant eagle flies up, and the top of the flagpole it had been perched on turns out to be an egg that cracks, revealing three little eaglets waving american flags. iris out as bosko bathes in his glory.

not the most riveting bosko cartoon, especially compared to the last few, but not the worst. the gags that are original really hit hard (that raspberry gag is sublime), there are some interesting camera angles and shots, and as always the music is a hit. there have been much better bosko cartoons, but much worse, too. i’d recommend for some of the gags (and to ogle at the crowd shots, whew!), but it’s mainly that: a gag showcase. nothing wrong with that at all, though!

link!

#lt #bosko the drawback #reviews #long post #racism tw

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geneshaven · 7 years

Text

Dear Felicity

This letter was inspired by that scene in 609 when Felicity told Oliver that if he went to prison, she would wait for him.

Leavenworth Federal Prison/August, 2020 /0214hrs.

My love, I can safely say that these old school, pen-written letters we’ve been sending to one another the past 2 years has been the sole reason I haven’t attempted an escape from this place. They give me something to look forward to. All the lonely nights I spend in the darkness of my cell reading your letters reminds me that if I did escape and was caught, my time here would be extended, taking me even further away from you. I know we talked about this (I mean written about it) and you told me to stay put. I only have 3 more years. I got off cheap. Watson wanted me to go away for life. But you were right that I should not do anything stupid and I won’t. I look at those last 3 years I have to serve, and sometimes my head fills with chaotic thoughts, thoughts of making it home to you, if only for a brief moment before I would have to start running from pursuit. I once told you that I’ve been through much worse than prison. That was once true. But now, I have so much more to lose in my life, more than just my ability to survive. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I came to this place---how full my life has been since I brought that bullet-ridden laptop to you. We both know how damaged and lost I was for all those years leading up to you and me finally coming together for good. Being your husband, your partner and your best friend is what has helped me endure these long dark nights without you. The thought of you out there and the calmness you bring to my soul---it is what keeps me from scaling these prison walls and becoming a fugitive at large. There was a time I would have died to keep those closest to me safe, as you well know. It was a reckless and selfish way to live. I never allowed myself to think about what my brazen acts would do to those so close. I didn’t realize that even though my death would have ensured your safety, it would have also denied you that happiness I was so quick to wish for you. I learned the hard way that keeping you safe at the expense of my own life wouldn’t have brought you happiness, it would have brought only pain and loss and loneliness. When I think about that, I am ashamed.

Whew! That was a long paragraph. Anyway, when Watson won her case against me and put me inside these walls, I’ve had all this time since to look back on the past 12 years. Felicity, you were the only reason I was able to crawl out of the cesspool my life was and stand on firm ground, to breathe fresh clean air and grow stronger. The one thing, the only thing that has empowered me all these years is having your love and light guiding me. And I’m not even going to mention the sex (at least not in detail) we’ve shared with each other. That would be a whole letter by itself. I will say though that it is the most passionate, raw and fulfilling love-making I’ve ever had, or will ever have. Touching you is like enveloping myself in silk---exotic and soft and life-changing.

Enough. There are no cold showers to be had around here at such a late hour. But to sum up: pleasuring myself is a poor substitute for the real thing. Giving in to the fantasy and imagining you here wrapped around me is a harsh self-abuse and just plain cruel. At this point, thinking about being naked with you, about being inside you and riding on the waves of pleasure you bring---it gives me the determination to wait out these last 3 years. You are the nirvana that awaits me upon my release.

There is one more thing I wanted to tell you before I call it a night. It might not matter much to you, but it’s something I’ve been reluctant to share with you and I cannot imagine why. It feels as if I’ve been keeping another secret from you. As I said, I’ve had nothing but time these last 2 years, alone with my thoughts, not only looking ahead but also behind.

I’m sure you remember our flight to Nanda Parbat, when we took Thea to save her live in the Lazarus Pit. You brought me a blanket and thanked me for letting you be there for me; not that I had any choice. Anyway, I told you that I came back to Starling City before they found me on the island. I told you I saw Thea and that I killed her drug dealer. Do you remember? Of course you do. But Felicity, Thea was not the only person I saw.

I said it was complicated. But really, it wasn’t. I was then unwillingly working with Masao and Argus. We broke into Queen Consolidated---it doesn’t really matter why anymore. I was in my mother’s office when a certain blonde IT girl strolled in. She went to the desk and I watched her looking at a picture of my father and me. You said I was cute and that it was too bad I was dead. I was enamored, and you gave me a brief moment of normal. You were so beautiful amid the ugliness of my life, and for a second I thought of breaking my cover and telling you so. Then you were gone and it would be another 2 years before I saw you again.

I told you on our first date that you were the first person I saw as a person after leaving Lian Yu. That was the honest truth then. But it was also the truth that night at QC when I watched you from afar. Felicity, you had an aura about you on both nights. You brought a light that I wanted to bathe in, to cleanse myself of the darkness and hopelessness I was mired in back then. I have often wondered how you would have responded that night at QC if I made myself known. Would you have run screaming from the room as if seeing a ghost? Would you have been curious? Would you have still thought I was cute?

This admission may be my final lesson on being inclusive. After we “officially” met that day two years later in your cubicle, I began to think about Fate. As I stood there and lied to you about that laptop, I felt a kind of liberation that would not have been possible 2 years earlier. And, you made me smile---both times.

So, we can talk more about this if you want when I come home. But until then, what I can say is it was shown to me on those nights that beauty still exists in this world. Amid all the pain and darkness and death that filled my life for 5 years, you were an inspiration, a direction I could take, away from just being a survivor. I am only sorry that it took us so long to realize there is nobody else out there that can truly fulfill our lives.

Sorry if this letter seems a bit long-winded and meandering, but like I said, I have a lot of time to ponder on such things. It also makes me feel like you are in this cell with, giving me someone to talk to. I hope you are doing well. I can’t imagine how lonely you’re feeling. Okay, I can. Probably as much as I feel. I am so grateful for the comfort my letters may bring you as much as yours do for me.

I am going to sign off now, my love. I will go to sleep with the anticipation that I will see you in my dreams.

With all my love,

Oliver.

@memcjo @it-was-a-red-heeler @almondblossomme @dmichellewrites @hope-for-olicity @wordslovedreams @1106angel @melolicity @bandanab310 @swordandarrow @olicityfanfluff @angelalafan @ruwithmeguys @cruzrogue

#fanfic #prison #oliver writes home

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weneedtherooks · 6 years

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Welcome to Foozle

@maritime-peacock WELP here it is!

Note: The game’s dialogue involving the player is always gender neutral. Even though I’m writing the adventurer as female, that dialogue will NOT be changing.

She yanked the noose off the billboard, ignoring the steady clicking coming from the sign’s actively rising totemization count. A STRICT CURFEW OF SUNDOWN IS OBSERVED AT ALL TIMES 190,474...190,475...190,476…TOTEMIZED DAILY She looked at the skyline, a hint of nervousness growing in her gut. “Tch...it’s almost sundown,” she muttered, taking a quick glance at the watch on her wrist. Stuffing the rope into her bag, she began the long descent down the mountain back to Port Foozle. Those jerks in the Hall of Inquisition put that noose there as a joke, but she’d seen enough people choose death over totemization. Besides, having a spare length of rope wasn’t a bad idea...not to mention basically spitting in the Inquisition’s face was a nice perk as well. The Inquisition had shown up a few years back, destroying any and all magic they could get their greasy fingers on. They took the magic, overthrew the Flatheads, removed the Dungeon Master...and, overall, oppressed the people of Zork. She sighed heavily at the memory, picking up the pace as the sky grew darker. The last thing she needed was one of those damn guards giving her trouble for being late, and once she hit the forest edge, she broke into a sprint. “Curfew will begin in one second...CURFEEEEWWWW!” She skidded to a halt at the crossroad sign. “Ha! Made it!” she shouted, taking a moment to catch her breath. She wasn’t quite out of trouble yet; she still needed to get back home, opting to jog the rest of the way home. Port Foozle was a dingy little town surrounded by barbed wire, and covered in an almost unholy amount of Inquisition posters. A filthy looking fish market by the docks greeted her nose first, followed by a sad looking repair shop of sorts owned by the ever-popular Antharia Jack. Beyond that, all that made up this particular portion of town were some houses, an oddly conspicuous stack of hay, and what was once an enchanter’s guild, now painted “DISenchanter’s guild” by some guard. The only sounds at this point in the evening were from the shore and the fishmonger shouting about fish heads. “FISH HEEEAAAADS! FISH HEEEAAADS! GET YOUR ROLY-POLY FISH HEEEAAADS!” Now why she would choose to peddle her wares after curfew was a mystery, but it didn’t matter. Her outside cooler had fish and mead in it… and there was only one fish and mead left. “What a perfect little coincidence.” When she reached out to grab it, an obnoxious alarm sounded. “Trying to steal my fish? Get your own!” When did that old hag get an alarm system…? “Damn…” she muttered, stepping away before any more trouble was caused. Her stomach growled softly, but it was ignorable. The next available problem was a place to stay. She knew damn well her aunt wasn’t going to let her back into the house now that curfew was in place. Maybe Jack…? She walked up to the front door of his shop. “Lanterns Required”? Shaking her head, she gave the door a hard knock. The peephole quickly slid open. “It’s past curfew, and I can’t afford any trouble,” he said briskly, trying to peek around her head. “I can’t afford jack...” he mumbled, “and I AM Jack…” With that, he slide the peephole shut with a clatter. “Well, that’s just great...now what?” She poked around the back alley. Maybe something interesting would be back there? “Nope,” she whispered, finding nothing more than and empty, broken barrel and some cheap Grand Inquisitor toys. A garbled “Who is the boss of you?” sounded from it when she squeezed its midsection. “Back to the dock, then. Maybe the monger will be asleep.” She tried the herring and mead again. Once again, the alarm went off. “Look, it’s past curfew. You’re lucky I don’t call someone over for you hanging around my house! Now get lost!” “Ugh…” Stomping over to the heavy equipment on the dock, she yanked the drop lever. Perhaps she could catch a fish the old fashioned way. Surprisingly enough, the rope twitched. Pushing the lever back up, she watched as the rope slowly began rising from the water. What she didn’t expect was the unicorn fish casually sitting on the hook. “You wouldn’t be fishin’ for anything in particular now, would ya? Because, see, I’m a fish. And you’re, ya know, fishin’. So I gotta ask...YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, DOCK BOY?! Or dock girl, I can’t really tell. All you people look the same.” With that, it flipped itself back into the water. She just stared for a moment. “What in Yoruk’s name…?” She dropped the hook once more, hoping it would get back on...which it did. “You’re just getting your sea legs, so I’m gonna say it to ya nice: DON’T DRAG YOUR STINKIN’ HOOK THROUGH MY STUFF, OKAY?!” And, just like before, it flipped itself backwards off the hook. Wait, what stuff? What kind of stuff could a fish… Then it hit her. The wanted poster by the ice bin. That fish she’d hooked was wanted by the Inquisition, right? Magic contraband. “Well, I know I’m not planning on turning in a fish...but how do I get my hands on whatever it’s hoarding…?” The peeked at the bin once again. The can of mead left was originally from a six pack, and it was still inside it’s plastic rings. “Well, I suppose killing it wouldn’t be such a bad idea, but how to - oh, I’m an idiot!” She stepped in front of a nearby control panel. “I should have just tampered with the speaker to begin with!” Pushing the green button, the speaker volume went from “SAME AS THE REST” to “THAT’S THE SPIRIT!”. Right at that moment, and announcement started. Now’s my chance! She grabbed the plastic ring and the mead, pleased when all she could hear was “Would someone turn that damn speaker down?! I can’t hear anything over that racket!”. “Alright, Mister Fishy. Time to meet your doom.” She scampered across the dock, pulling the hook over. After removing the solitary drink (which turned out to be mead light, ew), she carefully draped the plastic over the hook. Dropping it back in the water, she waited for what she was hoping was the inevitable. And right on cue… “Ack! Plastic! stuck! around neck! I sense a loooong, but - ack! - touching, death scene!” “Oh, for crying out-would you just d-!” “Whew!” It let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Yoruk for that passing scissor-fish…! That mad fish-strangler can have the dock! I’m outta here!” The rope swayed a bit, and when she lifted the hook from the water...a crate came with it! Pushing a button, it swung around the dock, tossing the crate by her feet. When the front panel fell off, it revealed...a lantern. “A...brass lantern…? This is what it was guarding?” she asked herself in disbelief. She picked it up, wiping a hand on her pants after touching the dripping thing. “Well...no matter. Magic or not, it’ll get me a roof over my head. Let’s see if Jack turns me away now!” With a renewed spring in her step, she headed back towards the old repair shop, knocking on the door once more. This time, Jack wasn’t so quick to dismiss her. “Holy hungus!” he breathed, quickly sliding the peephole shut and unbolting the door. He had to be a good six inches taller than her; adventure-looking type with a cotton button-up, brown leather jacket...were those bracers? “A genuine lantern…!” he said in amazement. “Looks like the one I had with me when I killed that troll with my rusty knife in “Great Underground Adventure IV”,” he preened, giving the lantern an almost fond look. “These things are hard to come by. Now all you get are “flashlights” courtesy of Frobozz Electric,” he grumbled. Suddenly… BZZT! They both flinched in surprise at the sudden spark. “Get in here!” he said, motioning her inside with a jerk of his head. She didn’t need the hint, but followed silently nonetheless. The inside of the “shop” looked more like an old bar or something; full of useless clutter and various items in need of repair. She meandered over to the counter as Jack stepped behind it. As he set down the lantern, she noticed an expensive (and fairly large) box of cigars. “Go ahead! I heisted a whole crate off the Inquisition.” She raised an eyebrow. Giving the cigar in his hand a quick look, he muttered, “Well, I know a guy who knows a guy who heisted a whole crate off the Inquisition. And I paid him.” He smiled at her, shrugging. “Now...where’s my wrench?” he asked, walking off in the direction of what seemed to be a backroom. “Well, don’t mind if I do,” she said quietly, picking one up. She swiped a match off the counter as well, stuffing them both into her bag. She was tempted to dump the contents of the ashtray next to the box, but figured that would be pushing her luck. Before long, Jack had come back with his desired tool. “Looks like this lamp has seen some action,” he commented, setting his cigar down on the ashtray. “Got a lot of carbon scoring here.” He stuck the wrench under the top, grunting a little as he struggled to undo the lid of the lamp. “Let’s see if we can’t just - urgh - take a little -” BZZZT! “Whoa!” he yelped, jumping back. She flinched again as well; this spark had been bigger. And now there was smoke? “What’s making it spark like that?” His nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air. “You smell...spenseweed…?” “WHERE AM I?!” a loud voice boomed as the lamp flashed brightly, sparks flying in various directions. She held up her arms, primarily doing her best to shield her face. Luckily, the sparks bounced harmlessly against her. “What in Yoruk’s name?!” Jack popped up from behind the counter, a racket in hand. “Let me handle this!” He lifted the racket, and...whacked the top of the lantern. “OW!” it yelped. Jack hit it a few more times. “oH OW! CUT IT OUT! OW!” Much to either of their surprise, the lamp stopped. “Hope nobody saw you with that lantern!” he said in a tense voice. “I don’t think so, but why do you care? It’s not like this is…” She stopped. “Wait, is this new to you?” “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he said, somewhat exasperated. “I’m not a real adventurer. I just played one on T.V.,” he groused, tossing the racket to the floor. “I couldn’t find my way out of a maze if you paid me.” He sighed, facing her. “Well, maybe if you paid me a lot.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. What is this thing?” “This thing is magic. It’s been a while, but I know it when I see it.” “Okay?” “Trust me, you don’t want this lamp. Now scram!” “What?! You can’t just kick me out! Forget the lamp, people saw me come in here! It’s after curfew!” she rambled, trying her best to fight Jack’s insistent pushing. In the end, she still landed on her rear. “Damn him,” she whined, getting back up. She pounded on the door. “Jack, give me my damn lantern back!” she growled, only raising her voice enough for him to hear. She heard footsteps returning to the door. “Forget it!” he said, sliding open the peephole once more. “I’m not giving you that lamp. It’s for your own good.” A sly smile crept over his face. “And, uh, mine.” And with a firm clunk, the peephole shut for good. “That...that...gutter rat!” she spat, stomping like a child. Oh, he was gonna pay for that. She had hoped a little blackmail would have been enough; all she’d really needed was a place to spend the night until curfew ended, but now...now, he’d gone and spited her. That lamp was clearly his meal ticket...well, not on her watch. Not when that lamp had some questions to answer. “Alright, wise guy, let’s see how you handle this.” She quickly made her way over to the back alley where she found the talking toys. Conveniently, a pretty little sign with his picture and the phrase “Only You Can Prevent Foozle Fires!” hung nearby...which gave her an even better idea than her previous one. “Let’s see how you handle fire, Mister Big Shot.” She pulled out the match she’d taken from him earlier, striking it against the side of the crate; she also pulled out the cigar, giving it a few swift puffs. “Okie dokie, Yannick...time to burn.” She carefully set the lit match onto the toy’s epaulette, grinning as it slowly caught fire. Before long, the whole thing was ablaze. “Fire! Fire!” she yelled, hoping someone set off the alarm. Sure enough, a bell began to ring. Turning on her heel, she hopped over to the broken barrel, jumping inside. She’d turned around just in time to see the aforementioned dung heap come jogging over to see what was the matter. “You were just supposed to smoke it!” he groaned, seeming to realize who’d caused the problem. He spun around at a sudden exclamation. “AH-HA!” yelled a large looking Inquisition guard. “Arrest the vandal!” he shouted to his partner, waving an unlit flashlight at Jack. “What a load of yipple dung. I’ve been set up!” The heavy guard faced his partner, ignoring Jack altogether. “Go ahead and read him his rights,” he said with a cocky smile. The taller guard dug into a pocket, pulling out a small, official looking book. “You have no rights,” he answered, clearly amused. “Hey!” he suddenly said, a look of recognition on his face. “You’re Antharia Jack! I’m a really big fan of yours! Remember that one time, when you killed that thief who stole all your stuff?” Jack rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed at more than just the burning doll at this point. She had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. This is just too good…! “Yeah, sure pal. Whatever you say.” “That was first rate. Bloody good.” He faced his partner, pulling out his rapier a little too quickly. “Can I smite him?” he asked through gritted teeth, too excited at the thought. “Hey!” “Oh, I believe smi-smit-smitty, uh, smit-smitation would be appropriate at this juncture,” the he said, waving his flashlight at Jack again. “Go right ahead.” “Oh, I get to smite Antharia Jack! Oh, the guys at headquarters aren’t going to believe this…!” The taller man grabbed Jack by the shoulder, pushing him away quickly. Apparently aware of how ridiculous the situation looked, the leftover guard simply threw his arms up in defeat and walked away. She gave it a moment before climbing back out, dropping immediately to the ground in a fit of laughter. “Serves him right,” she wheezed, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Now...time to get my lantern back.” Peeking around every corner, she carefully made her way back to Jack’s place...and upon further inspection, noticed that it wasn’t a repair shop. There was actually a bunch of adventure equipment, but that wasn’t important. She was here for one thing only: the rusty lantern still sitting on the counter at the back of the store. She delicately lifted its handle. “Um...hello?” “Hey! Thanks for fishing me out of that crate! I don’t think I could have taken another spawning season. And thanks for getting rid of that Jack guy too!” She was a bit stunned at the voice now calmly coming out, but before she could even get one word in, it began speaking again. “We’ve got lots to talk about, but the introductions are going to have to wait. Get me out of this place, before anyone finds me!” Her eyebrows knitted together, but she did as she was asked. Clearly it didn’t want to be found, and she respected that, but… “So, look-” “Hey, hey, hey, not here, okay? Let’s get underground. Then we’ll talk.” “Underground?” she muttered, not sure why it chose that specific word. “Underground...wait, I know.” She gently laid the lantern on its side inside her bag. “I know a place. I just hope it’s what you want.” She didn’t expect an answer, but was a little sad it didn’t reply; so instead, she cautiously made her way outside of Foozle and into the nearby forest. There was only one other place to go: Elsewhere. There was only one thing at the end of that path...a well. She’d gone to that well a few times in the past; usually, it was just to throw rocks down it and attempt to scare the grues below. Her aunt had never liked her going near the thing...said the “MAGIC FOREVER!” graffiti was something to be worried about. Shaking the uneasiness forming in her gut, she went to work tying the rope she’d grabbed earlier around the posts positioned above the well. Giving it a firm yank, she pulled the lamp out. It wasn’t lit, but...well, it had only said it would start talking when they made it underground, right? Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she steadied her nerves before grabbing the rope in front of her, and dropping herself into the murky darkness below...

#shitty dialogue #my adventurer #zork #long post

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perlechampion · 4 years

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#perlesbham Had a long coddiwomple in by car and on foot today. My excuse was mailing mom’s Christmas to the kids - no one’s coming in this year. And remembering @laneparke in Mountain Brook has a Post Office, I took the scenic route and headed there via English Village. And wow, there’s a real ABC Store**, so got mom and I a treat for this coming Friday. Then meandered thru Brookwood and stopped at Fresh Market for some Avocado Oil and a free coffee sample or 3. Now last stop in my list @publix in Greensprings per mom to get her a stash of 8 pounds LOL Butter that’s BOGO thru the 24th before it runs out - no more rain checks. Whew. Now to make room in my fridge. **Note to my non-Alabama peeps on the ABC Store. It’s a state run liquor store. #photooftheday #shopping #groceryshopping #instabham #urbanlife #citylife #coddiwomple https://www.instagram.com/p/CI3_kBAhm0a/?igshid=8acmht7c1wcn

#perlesbham #photooftheday #shopping #groceryshopping #instabham #urbanlife #citylife #coddiwomple

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vi0lentquiche · 8 years

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RDC3

I don’t think I fully admitted to myself that this con was a different beast long after it was over. After swanning through BTRDC last October, chatting to tons of people and getting to all the photo and autog sessions and Q&As on time and having time to chill and people-watch, I did expect this one to be less relaxed, but I didn’t expect a 3-day endurance catharsis.

Friday

Every guest who walked onto the stage at the opening ceremony appeared momentarily stunned, all wide eyes and “woahh” expressions. Except Bryan, of course, who clearly wanted to crowdsurf but had to settle for high-five running through the crowd instead. For the rest of them, I guess they genuinely hadn’t expected quite so many people or quite so much noise and enthusiasm.

Met my hero @bansheegrahamtao during registration, cracked up at her bag:

As for the M&G, well, as @existingcharactersdiehorribly remarked midway through our suffering, it’s a tough tough thing, having to sit around drinking whiskey and wine, waiting for Bryan Fuller to come talk to you. Especially tough when Ellen, Hugh, Aaron and Scott all stop by for a brief chat at some point as well. I remember realizing around midnight that we’d be there for three more hours at least and wondering if I should go to my room for a quick nap, but that’s just not how it’s done, so I napped right at the table instead. When Bryan did get there he was greeted by a sight unlike any other, leading him to grab one of the straws and wave it about and tell us an AG production story about the sex scene between Salim and the jinn. The size and shape of the VFX jinn penis had to be juuust right because they couldn’t have a goofy-looking penis in a sexy scene, but production was hellbent on 12 inches because they had made some odd assumptions. Mousa Kraish the jinn actor was also more than fine with 12′, which is when Bryan stepped in and firmly said no that’s ridiculous, we’ll go with 9′. He then showed us a picture of the flame-eyed ifrit with the vetoed penis on his phone. We wrapped up around 3:30 am on a sobering SOTL vs Will note that sent everyone into black despair, but All Seems Well Now after some panicking and course correction. He wants to write for them forever and ever, gotcha, we’re good, whew.

Saturday

What even are alarms and wake up calls, we don’t hear them and sleep straight through breakfast and the first photo op like real men. Shrugged it off assuming they’d let me do Aaron and Scott on Sunday and queued for Bryan instead, got a nice hug and a concerned “did you get any rest?” from this miracle of a man, who apparently made a point of inquiring this of everyone he remembered from the night before, which if you’re Bryan is probably easily all 200 of us.

Demore turned out to be the breakout guest of the weekend. I say this as someone who is so hypersensitive to the quality of public speaking/presenting/live performance/showmanship that I’ll walk out if something is so off it starts bothering me. Case in point: the crowd fluffer later that night; literally 45 seconds into his routine I noped out of the room and didn’t return until he was done. With Demore, it was immediately apparent it would be a smooth sailing throughout. I don’t know if he came prepared or if he is just that good, but there was a friendly and warm quality to his command of the audience that I’ve never experienced before. I wish someone *glares at self* had recorded the Q&A, because I’ve since forgotten most of the specifics. He made a very #relatable point about how both Hannibal and Tobias prize authentic expression above all else. Overall I am left with an impression of a nice balance between thoughtful and playful, funny and profound. Bonus: amazing moment that was more than the sum of its goofy parts. I got goosebumps.

Another thing that stands out from the afternoon is Hugh freaking Dancy with his freaking word choice poetry. I don’t know if it only seemed this way to my ESL brain but he did that thing where he paused for a moment while appearing to pick a word and then the word he went for was on point, and not in a suffocatingly completist way but rather in a fresh and elegant way. So basically he’s a terrible man and I’ve been very distracted. I’ll even give Sabbath’s Theater a go, that’s how bamboozled I am by the whole thing.

I won’t recap Bryan and Hugh’s Q&As since you can actually listen to them thanks to the brilliant @pka42. The highlight for me was Bryan talking about how he would have revisited Miriam Lass given the chance: as a law enforcement officer too traumatized to continue active duty, she would have been hidden away in some FBI basement doing clerical work so the sight of her wouldn’t make anyone uncomfortable, and the rhetorical question here would be whether Hannibal made a better family for her than the FBI *cue instant anguished Will and Abigail feels, oof*

Another highlight was Bryan referring to Sean’s “time to wrap this up” gesture as a “sexy dancing fingers thing”, which evolved into “the nipple thing” by Sunday. Bless.

Was seated too far back to actually watch the Fannibal musical so buried myself in the booklet instead, pausing every now and again to loudly exclaim “NO BUT ACTUAL HUGH DANCY IS WATCHING THIS”. Loved the firefly from the costume competition, shame it got no mention.

Sunday

Things I learned Sunday morning: a Bryan&Hugh sandwich grips you like a vice, whereas being in the middle of an Aaron&Scott sandwich is a much squishier experience.

The rest of the day is kind of a blur. Started seriously flagging so skipped the first two Q&As in favor of sitting on a bench staring dazedly into middle distance, which is when @louiselux and @emungere materialized next to said bench in a fine example of just how surreal things can get at a Hannibal con, <3.

At the Q&A, most of which I spent in the question line, Bryan went on being highly #relatable telling us about how he lives his life in constant fear of mediocrity, Hugh cracked jokes about Will possibly being into Austrian chamber music (or was this Saturday, who even remembers anymore). Bryan was honest about the things he would have done differently in S1-S2 but didn’t venture into S3 territory at all. Still too soon and too fresh, I suppose.

Glad I had a quiet moment sitting down with @byronicwoman before that brutal autog session started, or was that Saturday? *cries* I have no idea.

Two things I have to say before I bring this meandering report to a close:

1. Since I listed all of the low points of this con in the Gothic post I feel like I have to point out that there are highs that balance all of them out xD Aside from the obvious thrill of meeting Bryan and co, there’s really nothing quite like The Second Wave of Fannibal Recognition where you’ve exchanged real names with someone to no effect and then you exchange Twitter/Tumblr handles and a lot of AAAAAAHHHHhshfsflskdfjhsdf ensues. It’s fascinating to see the people behind the writing and the art. It’s fun when previously two-dimensional things come alive in the real world. It’s a real trip to get drunk on something pink and sit in a cloud of Bigarade xD

2. Those of you I got very little or no quality time with besides hurried hellos, hugs, snippets of conversation and trying to survive the con right alongside you, and I won’t tag you all - firstly wtf, secondly how frustrating, thirdly ilu anyway and will talk to you anyway so whateva, we’ll make it up next Feb, unless of course Mads is there in which case we’ll all just huddle together and cry, <3.

Finally, a helpful tip: the only way to avoid PCD is to actively preempt it in any way you can. What I did was get together with @lactobacille, @meres-argias, @rav3nsta9 and @fourth-axis for some ~thematic entertainment:

REPRESENT. We sure survived that killer good \m/

Went wandering around Sir John Soane’s, well, mind palace, complete with oubliettes, weird little recesses, moveable planes, holes in the floor and a slightly demented-looking collection of antiquities and paintings.

Naturally could not walk past a museum of anatomy and surgery. Check out the light and air and color on these nervous and circulatory systems!

All in all, some seriously good, funny times <3.

P. S. The context for Hugh uttering the words “Pacman uncontrollably guzzling cum” is Cards Against Humanity.

#hannibal #rdc3 #sorry mobile users for the wall of text #long post

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towncalledkingdom · 7 years

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The sun is bright as Mali steps out from the shade of the Grandfather Tree. Town Square is only just waking, a few bleary-eyes citizens meander the plaza behind Mali in search of coffee that they don’t have to brew themselves. The boy is used to early mornings. Spending the night beneath one of Fashi’s tables, however, has left his neck stiff despite the enormous mound of pillows that had constituted his bed. As far as he is concerned, Fashi was one of the best customers he could ask for. She is simple to please- find something illustrated and make your request. She doesn't bother with haggling or comparative value.

She had painted him a small map on a slip of flexible canvas in return for the heavy graphic novel he had brought her. He’d known from the moment he saw that beaming blonde guy on the cover that she would be impressed. Maybe some items were more valuable to her after all. He tucked the knowledge away for a future deal. The map had a small black square in the center labeled “T.S.” for Town Square. Notable locations were marked with heavy black dots- the Dungeon and the Church of M to the Northwest, the Shambles and Klava Besto to the Northeast. A little heart at the bottom right marked the Fire Tower. Mali’s path was marked in a thin dotted line, leading slightly Northeast out of Town Square a ways and stopping with a question mark in the middle of the flatlands.

“I would stop in at Bug Man’s house before marching yourself into Phylla. Things are pretty tense over there at the moment,” Fashi had told him.

“Thanks for the tip,” he’d replied, knowing he would probably pay them a visit anyway. He replays the night in his mind as he walks, smiling a little as she laughs in his head. The sun is unusually warm this morning, as if taking advantage of the cloudless sky to beat back the proliferation of nature. In the distance farmers wipe their brows and turn dirt. Are they harvesting? What season is it, anyway? The well-beaten dirt path leading out of the Square is empty, stretching endlessly out in the distance. The small pack Mali carries makes his back sweat wherever it touches. Gross.

Boredom creeps up on him as he knew it would. How far away was Bug Man’s house again? He shades his eyes and peers down at the map. He walks for a long time without taking his eyes off of it, mind wandering across the various delivery routes he’s taken in the past. Unmarked are the hidden deer trails through the forest, the back streets and alleys, and the man-made tunnels beneath the Shambles where most of its inhabitants actually live.

Mali’s foot lodges in a dip, sending him sprawling face-first from the side of the road. He has just enough time to throw an arm out in front of him, skidding painfully across the rocks and grass below. The map flies from his hand. As he falls he hears a high shriek to his left, some indignant insect scurrying for its life. Fury roils up from Mali’s raw arm and out his mouth. He pounds his other fist on the hot grass in frustration. Another shriek. He sets his jaw. “Shut up, bug, I think my arm is broken!” He yells it in that tone children use when they’re trying to convince someone that something is serious, despite not really believing it themselves.

The critter shrieks his words back at him, mimicking his inflections. An unintended laugh of pain crawls out of Mali’s throat, half-groan half-disbelief. He laughs again, a humorless, gasping breath to release the tension in his lungs. He rolls onto his back and stares at the bright blue sky, trying to shift his mind from his pulsing arm. “Where are you, little bug?” he sighs. A fleck of white hovers at the edge of Mali’s vision. He bats at it with his good hand. A little scream of outrage comes from the grass beside his ear.

“Huh?” Mali turns his head to find a tiny scrap of paper floating just a few feet above his head. A long translucent string, thin as a strand of hair trails down from it like a spider web. He traces the little string to a brown object in the grass, a cicada shell. Mali reaches over and picks up the shell. It rocks and buzzes in his hand. Something rolls over inside. Mali brings the little shell close, peering through the clear, dead lenses. A hand bursts through the back of the husk, followed by a scrambling, terrified body. Mali screams and fumbles with the shell, nearly dropping it but manages a quick save with his sore hand. His eyes widen in disbelief.

What appears to be a teenaged boy is unmussing his shirt in Mali’s hand. He crosses his arms defiantly and stamps his little foot. Then he jabs a finger at Mali’s face. “What’s wrong you, eh? You trying to kill a guy? Huh? You TRYING to kill me?”

Mali doesn’t blink. His jaw hangs on its hinges as he stares with disbelief at the boy. “N-no. No, sir, I- What ARE you?”

“I’m dead meat, that’s what I am! What in the blazes are you doing around here at this hour, anyway?” The boy paces back and forth in Mali’s hand, head low as he thinks aloud. “You were not supposed to be here. ‘Fly your kite away from the house’ they said. 'Better yet- throw that thing out and help us watch the door!’”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand most of what you’re saying,” said Mali. “Why, um. Why are you small?”

The boy stopped and turned his head slowly to face Mali. “Who are you, kid?”

“Mali. I’m a delivery boy. I was just on my way to visit Bug Man’s house.”

“Bug Man… I think I know who Bug Man is. Comes by the house sometimes and tries to spray us with poison!”

Exasperated, Mali tries a different approach. “What were doing out here? Is this thing your kite?”

The boy smirks. “That’s right. I’m a regular origami master. I can make anything! Ships or monsters, I even made a dragon once.”

Mali pushes himself off the ground with his good arm, grunting as he tries to avoid dropping his new acquaintance. “Whooooa, not so fast!” says the kite boy. He falls to his hands and knees, grasping at Mali’s skin for stability. It tickles a little.

“Are there more of you?” Mali asks, poking a finger at the boy.

The boy slaps Mali’s finger away. “Ain’t tellin’!”

“Alright. Well, do you want to come help me find Bug Man?”

The kite boy looks across the grass toward a squat house in the distance. “Yeah, sure, alright. Can you, um, can you take me over to that house first? I’ll need some supplies.”

Mali follows a narrow, recently overgrown trail back to the house. “That’s far enough!” yells the kite boy. “Drop me right here and wait until I come back.” Mali grudgingly obeys and sets the boy down in the grass. He sits down and stares after the boy as he treks toward the barely-open front door and disappears inside.

A battered envelope lays half-buried in the lawn beside Mali, paper looking like it’s been wet and dried several times. The corners curl in from the edges, horns reaching toward the sun. Mali peels it from the dirt. Smudged letters run behind the clinging mud on the front of the envelope. Something tugs at the bottom of his pant leg. He peers down into the grass.

A uniformed man about the height of a quarter with a short, smart haircut stands at ease by Mali’s feet, hands clasped to his forehead to shade his eyes. Ten similarly uniformed men sit atop various beetles behind him. Mali wonders if he might still be asleep beneath one of Fashi’s tables. It certainly seemed like a dream he’d have there. “Hi,” he manages.

“How you doing, kid? Mind if I come up a little closer? Gentle with me, now, I’m squishable.”

Mali laughs and gingerly lifts the man up onto his shoulder. The dirty envelope lays on his leg. “Wha- hold on! Hey! Kid! Where’d you get that envelope from?” the little soldier calls as he’s lifted. Mali perches him gently on a shoulder and picks up the envelope.

“I just found it in the grass right here. Looks kinda gross.”

The soldier hops out into space, rolling and running down Mali’s arm and skidding to a muddy halt on top of the envelope. He rights himself and walks across the letters thoughtfully, hands behind his back. “So she never came by. First the man walks out on us, next I find out Madison never even got her letter.”

Mali squints at the letters. “I don’t think this is for Madison. It says ’M-A-N-T-’… I can’t read the other letters. Mantis? Is this a letter for Mantis?”

The soldier crosses his arms. “You know her?”

“Of course! Well, not exactly. I know her cousin.”

The little man spreads his arms in disbelief, then begins laughing so hard he has to hold himself up on a knee. “You met… sorry! You know old Fashi? I’m sorry!” He says between fits of laughter. Finally he clears his throat and wipes his eyes. “Sorry. Whew. It’s just that Fashi didn’t really get along with children last I knew.”

Mali shrugs. “We get along just fine. I bring her comics and she tells me stuff.” He almost mentions the tea, but decides to keep that to himself.

“That’s her, alright. Man! I wonder how old girl is doing these days. She hasn’t exactly been around much.”

“Maybe she just doesn’t like little soldiers."

“Can’t blame her for that," says the man. "Now tell me, kid. Why are you trying to kidnap our delinquents?”

“You mean the kite kid I found in a cicada shell? I don’t know, I guess I didn’t really think he had friends.”

The soldier flashes a sad little smile. “That part’s close to the truth. But he does have people who care about him. He tells me you’re off to look for somebody.”

“Fashi’s cousin, at the moment. I’m on my way to find Mantis.”

The man looks uneasily back at his fellow soldiers. He scratches his chin, considering. Then he cups his hands together and calls down to them. “Hey guys, its been a pleasure but I think I’m going to have to bail on you again. Take care of yourselves, alright?”

The other soldiers begin to protest, but the little man scrambles back up onto Mali’s shoulder. “Grab the envelope, kid, I’m coming with you.”

“What, why? What about the other guy?”

“He’ll be fine. I need you to take me to my sister. Now.”

“Who’s your sister?” asks Mali, puzzled at the sudden urgency in the soldier’s voice.

The little man jumps and crawls into the shallow shelf at the bottom of Mali’s ear. He pries open the hole and sticks his head in. “You got a brain in here?” he laughs. “Mantis. Madison. Little Miss Washington! The lady in the green scarf!”

Mali is already moving leaving the indignant beatle-men behind in three long strides. “Ohhh! Well why didn’t you say so?”

“My name’s Roland, kid. I’m going to ride around on your shoulder for a while, hope that’s cool.”

“Alright, Roland,” says Mali. “I think we’re close to my stop.” He pulls the painted canvas from a pocket and points to the question mark. “I’m going right here.”

“Bug Man’s house?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Good question. I think someone told me he lived nearby,” said Roland.

They stop talking for a while, Roland taking shade in the various pockets and crevices in Mali’s backpack and shoulders. He moves every few minutes in search of a cooler, more comfortable hideout. Mali smells like old sweat already.

By the time they reach Bug Man’s manicured lawn, they are beyond parched. Mali walks past the school-bus schoolhouse without a second glance, eyes set on the doorway ahead. He raises a hand to knock, but his fist swings into empty air as the door opens for him.

A young woman in a curious pair of mechanical goggles greets them, eyeballs magnified to ridiculous proportions. “Mali!” she cries, pulling him through the doorway and giving his wet body a hug. Mali blushes deeply.

“I don’t-”

“I know you don’t,” interrupts the woman. “My name is Riddle. Mantis told me you were coming by.”

“I see,” he says uneasily. “I’ve had a pretty strange day. Would you mind if I just sat down a while and drank some water?”

“No problem at all, my delivery boy friend. Just one quick question for you.” She cocks her head to the side, looking for all the world like an owl or a cat about to pounce.

Mali shrugs, “Go ahead.”

“Mind if I play with your little Snatcher friend for a while?”

#ATCK #chapter 6 #Private washington #Mali #pestcontrol #bugman #riddle #kite boy #fashi

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pocket-anon · 8 years

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Operation: First Noel (7/7)

Whew! Here it is finally, @xhookswenchx, the last installment of your GFSS gift fic! I'm sorry this chapter took me so long to get to you. Real life has been kind of crazy this week, and I really appreciate your patience! I hope you've enjoyed this even half as much as I've enjoyed creating it for you. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting, as always!

Find it on AO3. Missed a chapter? Get caught up here.

Summary: When the residents of Storybrooke enjoy a rare period of peace over the holiday season, Henry asks his family for something he’s never had - a real Christmas. A series of holiday vignettes. (Captain Swan/Captain Cobra/Captain Charming. Canon Divergent. Domestic Fluff, Humor, & Smut. Rated E purely for Chapter 4.)

Requested tags: @optomisticgirl, @deathbycaptainswan, @valkyrienikolea.

Chapter 7: Family Traditions

Christmas morning, Killian is the first to wake, pausing for a handful of golden minutes to savor the sensation of being ensconced in the warm world beneath their blanket, Emma in his arms and the baby beneath his stump. He focuses on syncing his breaths with Emma’s, which are telegraphed by the subtle, rhythmic movement of her shoulders and the gentle press of her back to his chest. They’ve had many mornings like this, but he never tires of them, of the serenity and the immeasurable comfort of being able to hold what matters most to him next to his heart uninterrupted.

He chuffs ruefully as his thoughts are interrupted by a little tap from the baby. He grins and pulls his girls a little closer, and Emma sighs deeply in response.

“’Morning,” she murmurs, her voice gravelly with sleep.

Killian gives her a little squeeze. “Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Mm. S’alright.” He can hear her smile. “What time is it?”

He cranes his head upward to glimpse the clock on her nightstand. “Nearly eight,” he grunts.

Emma manages a deep yawn. “‘Kay.” She hums reluctantly. “We should probably get up soon if we want brunch ready by the time people start showing up.”

He buries his nose in her hair and breathes deep. “Aye. Pancakes or french toast?”

She snorts. “Like I’ll ever be able to eat french toast in front of my dad again.”**

Killian laughs and nuzzles the back of her neck playfully. “Very well. Pancakes it is then.”

The sun is shining radiantly through the kitchen window when they make it downstairs, the whole world outside their home seeming to glow a little between the morning light and the reflective blanket of white snow on the ground. Emma decides to set the hearth crackling merrily for ambiance and turn her Christmas music on while Killian gets the coffee going. Working side by side, they succeed in prepping a large breakfast casserole and have started in on their second cup of coffee apiece by the time Henry comes thundering down the stairs in his sleep clothes, his face bright.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Kid,” Emma calls, shooting him a broad smile over her shoulder.

Killian salutes with his coffee mug. “Merry Christmas, Henry.”

The boy comes to investigate the food situation. “When do we eat?”

Emma chuckles and slides the casserole into the oven. “Really? Your first Christmas, and you’re still more interested in food than presents?”

Henry shrugs, reaching into a cabinet for a glass. “Stomach wants what the stomach wants, Mom,” he sighs cheerfully.

“Uh-huh.” She shakes her head, her mouth curled into a grin as she rolls her eyes and sets an egg timer ticking softly. “Well, grab a banana and tell your stomach we eat when everyone gets here in thirty.” She holds the timer up for emphasis before setting it down on the counter.

Henry pours himself some juice and chuckles, setting the carton down just in time to catch the banana Killian tosses him against his chest. “Fine. Presents then,” he agrees.

They gather around the tree, taking Emma’s lead as she settles herself cross-legged on the floor. The exchange and opening of presents doesn’t take too long given the small size of their family, but, having never really experienced mass gift-giving like this before, Killian soaks up every moment with as much, if not more enthusiasm than Henry. His face goes slack with delight when he sees the cordless sander Henry got him to help refinish and replace boards aboard the Jolly, but it’s the boy’s look of gratification at having made him happy that really makes Killian’s heart swell.

When he unwraps Emma’s gift, shaking the colorful paper loose from the tip of his hook, Killian cocks his head and studies the pictures on the side of the heavy, glossy cardboard box with a blank smile. “What is it?”

Emma grins and rotates the box so the front faces him. “It’s a portable telescope,” she explains, tapping a finger on the image of a happy-looking father and his daughter using what is presumably the device in question to look at the night sky. “We can use it to do some real stargazing out on the Jolly next summer.”

An enormous smile spreads across Killian’s face, and he curls his fingers around her chin and pulls her in for a quick kiss. “I’d like nothing better, Swan.”

Henry gets a couple of video games he’s been coveting and some of his favorite movies in DVD disc sets. He holds up the one small package that remains and gives it an experimental shake. “What’s this?” He makes short work of the wrapping and pulls the gleaming silver object out of its decorative wood case, its chain dangling to one side.

“It’s a bosun’s whistle,” Killian says. “You run the Jolly’s decks for me now, lad, and I know we don’t have much of a crew at present, but it’s traditional for every bosun to have a command whistle such as this.”

“Yes, Sir.” Henry blinks in awe and runs his thumb several times across the words that are cleanly engraved in the metal:

Henry D. Mills

The Jolly Roger

He beams proudly. “Thanks.”

Emma opens her gift last, one large box from both himself and Henry, and nervousness begins to swirl in the pit of Killian’s stomach like a tempest as she digs into it and pulls items forth one by one. There’s her favorite scented bubble bath and lotion, more pairs of wooly socks, a new beanie, a gift certificate for the Three Bears Spa, and Henry’s homemade babysitting IOUs. She responds to each of these with predictable pleasure, but it’s when she spies the piece of paper at the bottom of the box and a curious wrinkle appears on her brow that Killian’s breath stalls in his chest.

“What’s this?” she asks, reaching in and pulling out the drawing. It’s a detailed sketch of a swan curving her neck around to rest her head upon the large feathers of a downward outstretched wing. A scroll in her beak reads “Emma.”

Killian clears his throat. “Um, if you like it, love, it’s going to be my new tattoo,” he explains shyly, scratching behind his ear. He gestures with his hook at the length of his right arm from just above his existing ink up to his shoulder.

She looks up at him, staring like a stunned doe, her eyebrows peaking in the middle of her forehead. “You… you want to get a new tattoo?”

“If you don’t object,” he says, nodding and smiling softly. “It’s just… So much of my life has changed. I have you and Henry and the baby and all of this now,” he explains, waving his hand at their home, “And this,” he taps his current tattoo with his hook, “this is part of my past, but it doesn’t reflect the man I am anymore.” He meets her shining gaze. “Or what gives me strength.”

His heart leaps at the way Emma’s eyes well up, relief and joy surging within him when she flings herself into his arms. Killian chuckles richly as they sway, stroking her hair while she sniffles into his shoulder. “Is that a yes then?” he asks.

She pulls back, arms still encircling his neck, and nods, flushed and tear-stained and slightly rumpled and unspeakably gorgeous.

“This is pretty cool,” Henry comments, examining the paper. “Hey Mom, can I get a tattoo?”

Emma looks at her son, a smirk peeking through her watery smile. “I’m not the only mom you have to ask, you know,” she points out.

Henry’s face falls.

“Tell you what, lad,” Killian offers, grinning and smoothing his hand down Emma’s back as she wriggles around to sit side-by-side with him, “When you and your True Love have lost and found each other half a dozen times like everyone else in your family, perhaps your mothers will be more understanding.”

Henry rolls his eyes and huffs wryly. “Right.”

Emma’s parents arrive with Neal shortly thereafter, Regina on their heels. Per what has become their usual arrangement, David takes over the kitchen as head pancake chef, and Killian, Emma, and then Henry each take the opportunity to run upstairs for a succession of quick showers before everyone sits down to brunch. Cutlery clinks against plates, dishes are passed back and forth, and the conversation meanders between pleasant murmurs and bubbly laughter.

Everyone is admiring Henry’s new whistle when David’s and Emma’s phones suddenly ring simultaneously at a little after eleven. Six pairs of eyes swap knowing, wary looks while father and daughter check their screens.

“Leroy,” Emma breathes, glancing at David.

“Granny.”

They jump up and retreat to opposite corners of the kitchen like boxers on a break while Killian and the others try to listen in on both conversations.

“Leroy, slow down,” Emma urges, holding her phone an inch away from her ear and wincing, fingers bracing her temple with exasperation, the dwarf’s indistinguishable but panicked bellows audible to everyone in the room through the tiny phone speaker.

In the other corner, David frowns, turning away from them, phone over one ear and his free hand covering the other. “Did you just say the dogs are all barking?”

Regina lifts an eyebrow and sighs heavily, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Well, the peace was nice while it lasted,” she comments glibly.

Snow nods, finishing her drink.

David hangs up first and turns back toward them, resting his hands on the back of his chair, his features perturbed. “Granny says something seems to be bothering all the dogs in town. She can hear them barking everywhere.”

“Leroy and the other dwarves swear the ground is shaking down near the harbor,” Emma adds grimly, smoothing a hand over her belly.

“You guys go,” Snow tells them, looking around. “I’ll clean up here and catch up with you after I take Neal down to the fairies.” She smiles as David leans down and deposits a quick kiss on her lips and the car keys in her hand.

Everyone is in motion then. Killian hands Emma her coat and hat before reaching for his own, David zips up, and Henry winds his scarf hastily around his neck. Regina tugs on her leather gloves and is the first to head out the door, followed by David and Henry. Killian and Emma bring up the rear, his brace at the small of her back and his hand snatching up his sheathed sword and sword belt from the umbrella stand by the door.

They emerge into the cold December day, their steps echoing softly over the porch floorboards.

“Sorry to interrupt Christmas, Kid,” Emma says apologetically.

Henry glances over his shoulder, the corner of his mouth tugging upward. “It’s okay ,” he puffs cheerfully, pausing and turning toward her. “Christmas is a time for family traditions, and this is kinda ours.”

Emma's face lights with pleasant surprise at his words, and she shares an amused look with Killian, who smirks devilishly as he finishes securing his belt.

“He’s right, Swan,” he says. “What’s Christmas in Storybrooke without a little adventure?”

“Hey,” Regina yells at them from where she stands down below in the yard with David. “You three coming?”

Emma glances between Killian and Henry and grins. “Yeah,” she calls back resolutely, wrapping her fingers around the base of Killian’s hook. His smile widens when she looks up at him with that familiar, daring glint in her green eyes, heaving a deep breath and nodding briskly. “Let’s go.”

#gfss #gf ss #my writing #operation: first noel #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan #ouat ff #ouat fanfic

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woolishlygrim · 3 years

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Thinking about Digimon 2020′s first big storyline.

Alright, so the first big storyline of Digimon AUdventure has ended, so it’s a good time to take stock of how it all went.

Obviously, this is all just my opinion, but I think it goes without saying that all of my opinions are objectively correct revelations from God and if you happen to disagree that automatically makes you morally inferior to me, I guess.

So, I’m liking AUdventure? But it is an extremely flawed series. Not irredeemably flawed, it’s not Xros Wars, but still very flawed.

Like, we had the two consecutive evolution arcs where even though the episodes themselves were solid, it was just too much of the same. We had that twelve episode period where it was just nothing but fighting, and that was so tediously boring I think a lot of people stopped watching, and honestly, it’s tough to blame them. And throughout the series, there’s been a fundamental problem with a lack of any distinct, characterful villains (Devimon was the closest we got, and he was kind of a non-entity a lot of the time).

The plot’s also been generally meandering, and by that I don’t mean ‘the show goes too long without plot episodes’ that’s not necessarily a problem, I mean that as the show goes on, it more and more starts to drift from one plot to another. We start off with the really strong Algomon arc, but then we segue into a Devimon-and-Soundbirdmon arc that just sort of fades out in favour of Eyesmon and then fades back in, except then we also have the Calamaramon arc going on, and all those arcs nominally tie into the Big-Eye-Thing-In-The-Sphere arc, except then it gets shoved not so much onto the back burner as off the cooker altogether in favour of a Millenniumon arc that starts with a still very meandering ISS arc placed awkwardly around a DarkKnightmon arc, before we eventually get back on track with the journey-to-FAGA arc.

It’s kind of a mess.

I’m inclined to blame behind-the-scenes shenanigans for a lot of this, whether that be Bandai pushing toy deadlines meaning that the show has to get its contracted-commercialising-time for specific ‘mons in, or a changing projected episode number meaning that the timeframe for the plot contracted and expanded multiple times over, or executive meddling to try and drum up more interest (and we know from Toei’s business reports that the early episodes didn’t draw in a large enough audience, which in this instance has less to do with ratings and more to do with merch sales, although we also know from those reports that the audience numbers did rise to an acceptable level). Most likely a combination of all three.

Watching the fandom has been ... interesting, because fandoms tend to be full of very credulous people and people prone to catastrophising, which is how we got situations like “A youtuber told me that it’s a really bad sign if any show in Japan doesn’t regularly get in the top 10 most watched shows for a week, so now I’m Alarmed, even though if I applied a basic understanding of statistics I would immediately know that’s not true.”

The ratings are fine, incidentally. They’re actually incredibly normal, not coming anywhere near the dizzying heights Adventure 01 did (or the even more dizzying heights Adventure 02 reached), but fitting comfortably within the window of ‘about what we’d expect for a show in that timeslot on that channel.’ The ratings data is staggering in its utter mundanity.

But beyond all that, the show actually has a lot of really good points. It feels like when the writers are allowed to cut loose and don’t have the looming need to advertise a toy to us, they have a really solid understanding of the characters and a genuine talent for fun, character-focused episodes. The entire journey-to-FAGA arc is a joy because it’s just pure, undiluted character work, and the episodes in that arc actually stack up really well against Adventure 01 episodes.

That also carries over to the end of the arc with the final battle against the Vademon cult and Millenniumon: Getting it basically over and done with in three episodes, with only one of those episodes actually set aside for Millenniumon himself, is a choice that I know is controversial, but it’s a) Not unusual: Devimon is battled and defeated within a single episode, VenomVamdemon goes down in two, the Dark Masters both go down in one each, save for Piedmon who gets two, and b) A vastly better choice than episodes upon episodes of fighting.

And we got some really great character moments in those three episodes too. Mimi making corsages because she needs to do something to stop herself feeling powerless, and motivating the others with her clear-headed view of the situation, is a really great character moment. Yamato briskly and flatly taking control of the situation, leading Koushiro and Sora into battle and briefly demonstrating his much colder, more straightforward and soldiery style of leadership is another great moment.

-- But I also think the episodes were a slight letdown for people because Millenniumon isn’t really a person, he’s a Thing, a natural disaster more than a character. That works really well for him, but since the series has no strong villains, it just highlights their absence.

Similarly, I think the evolution arcs showcase some really strong character work, and are mostly let down by the fact that they come back to back, so it feels like the show’s in a holding pattern for those episodes.

Digimon Adventure 01 and 02 has always had two big advantages: The first was that it had an ensemble cast of fleshed out, interesting characters and backed that up with some very strong writing exploring those characters. The second, and one I think a lot of the fandom passes over because they’re unfamiliar with the society and politics it’s taking aim at (and also because, let’s be honest, a lot of them are Americans and so tend to react with something between confusion and a panic attack if you remind them the world outside America is real and complex), is some pretty razor-sharp socio-political commentary.

Having a character who was an adopted kid, less than a decade after the legal framework for adopting children was put in place in Japan, when adopted kids were (and still are) heavily stigmatised, was a bold political statement in 2000. Having two mixed-race characters, the children of divorcees, when mixed-race kids were (and still are!) heavily stigmatised, and children of divorcees were (a n d s t i l l a r e) heavily stigmatised, was a bold political statement in 2000. Having characters deal with the pressures of being forced into family businesses and ultimately finding their own ways to fit into that mould was sharp socio-political commentary, as was discussing suicidal ideation in kids, as was discussing the social expectation of stifling grief and how that might affect a kid. We do not give Adventure 01 and 02 (and Tamers, actually) enough credit for being sharply, often viciously progressive socio-political pieces.

And that tradition has continued into AUdventure, at least sometimes. Like, the fact that antimonopoly laws keep being brought up, and that an entire episode was focused on the benefits of unionising, is not a coincidence. It’s not a coincidence that we got an entire episode about how small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and that that episode also had a throughline of ‘we are overworking kids.’ The writers have a different set of bones to pick with society, but when they’re let off the leash they’re just as progressive as 01 and 02 (and Tamers!)’s writers.

And I like that. It’s something that’s lacking from Frontier, and definitely lacking from the mildly-conservative Savers and Xros Wars, and largely lacking from Appmon, although to be fair Appmon was aimed at a much younger audience than any other Digimon series, and still occasionally found something to say about data privacy and the omnipresent threat of large tech companies.

So that’s all good.

Anyway, we’re hitting a new arc now, and whether that arc is 10 or 16 or 24 or 50 episodes I can’t say, and neither can you, because a one-time report from Toei Europe is not an adequate source. What I hope is that we’ll see ... a bit of rebalancing, I guess. Keeping that strong character focus of the journey-to-FAGA arc, but maybe weaving the actual plot threads in a little more elegantly, and maybe actually giving us a proper villain. One who speaks. And has a personality.

That last bit alone would drastically improve the series. 01 and 02 both had strong villains, and so far that’s something AUdventure has really needed but has completely lacked. The one nice thing I will say about Xros Wars is that even with its much looser plot structure, it had interesting villains. AUdventure direly needs an actual villain to give it focus.

Whew, okay, that got long. Bring on the lore episode with the big Crests.

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon #also man look at me i only insulted large groups of people twice!#i'm so restrained and wise

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