#yes we have finally got the budget for backgrounds

[inkyquince]

I'm going to make fun of so many peoole who don't like veilguard. Because....

Veilguard is the spiritual successor to Dragon Age 2

Inquisition is more like Origins, and I would call it the spiritual successor if it wasn't sufficiently lacking in other areas

Now there are dumb fucks out there who only like origins or only like inquisition. It's their entire personality when it comes to dissecting the dragon age games.

I like dragon age a lot because each game is a different genre. Origins is depression melodrama. 2 is a comedy that loves to stop and punch you in the gut every now and then, and shows the prime time when your friends are more your family than blood is. Inquisition is... A political thriller that happens to have magic (and the ugliest graphics. Bruh why is everyone but like three people so deep in the uncanny valley. Why is combat boring). Veilguard is getting to see what it feels like to inherit a situation outside of your control, it's more like an underdog story.

"it has cringy dialogue" and you don't remember origins? You think bioware doesn't dish out cringy dialogue for each game?

"the art style-" is STYLISED. Origins is good looking for graphics that feel outdated for 2009. But it's not realistic looking. 2 had it's budget slashed viciously so it does look wonky especially with their cameo characters. Inquisition, as I've said, feels deeply ugly because there is nothing stylised about it. They went for realistic and now everyones inquisitor is kinda ugly, sorry. People enter the uncanny valley, they always look better in concept art. The three prettiest people we have is Dorian, Cassandra and Josephine. Everyone else enters the uncanny valley of WEIRD looking. It's busted and I'm sorry. Veilguard? Fuckin stellar stylisation. The art, the environments, the magic, is so goddamn pretty.

"you cant control your compa-" yes you can. You can make them attack. Why are you sad about missing out on inquisitions boring combat where you press R. Wow. Amazing.

People have rose tinted glasses for these games. Play them from the first to the last game and I'd say veilguard is FULLY one of the best. I saw some loser on tiktok scream about the iron bull's signature being EXPLAINED in text and not shown?? Saying 10 years and for what?

10 years for a play through, start to finish, took me 55 hours doing ALL of the quests and exploring. From the amazing character creator and the hair physics that inquisition, 2 and origins could never make work. From the beauty of the backgrounds, how each location feels deeply lived in, compared to inquisition where new environments felt plastic and not real. For a finale that had me crying for 20 minutes at the choices I made and knew would make again. For the reveals, for the conversations, for the natural ending for Solas. I only cried in origins after my warden died. I teared up at Hawkes mother dying. Inquisition got no tears from me.

I'm sorry that you're hung up on small details. I have complaints too. Maybe a better fantasy term for trans and non-binary, but honestly the conversations that we're able to have about them? Deeply lovely. I personally wish that one day we can go back to the origins start, where we spend around 20 minutes IN our origin and then go frolicking. I'd kill to see that with the mourn watcher and crow origin so we can be excited when we see them again when we revisit the important NPCS. Personally do want the Lucanis romance to kick off earlier in the game, but he is one of the hardest ones to romance for good reason and it made sense for the character. I miss importing decisions but to be fair, the choices I made in origins wouldn't have shown up that much in veilguard, except maybe Kieran being in the background of some scenes at a stretch, but mostly for inquisition and Hawke. Varric obviously sees a lot of Hawke in Rook (just look at the dialogue wheel) and I wish we got to hear Isabella talk about them.

But these are so little. I have way more complaints about inquisition but I will still play it. I can acknowledge the flaws but if you hold it, or origins on a pedestal, that's just embarrassing for you, that you're stuck on a game, instead of being stuck on the series, in an excellent fantasy setting that keeps being expanded on.

Veilguard let's us say goodbye to Solas in the best way. There was NEVER going to be a happy end for him. Stop deluding yourself that the inquisitor and Solas would have rode off into the sunset. It's frankly embarrassing that themes from inquisition and veilguard flew over your head if you beloved that.

I've seen this same anguish over a sequel and it was for 2, after origins. Now 2 isn't the perfect game. It doesn't even have a proper title. But 2, a decade later, is well loved. It's full of jank, it's got strange coding, but the story has a lot of love. But it wasn't origins, so fans wailed and pissed. But it's a fan favourite these days and Hawke is deeply beloved and remembered fondly to the point that the possibility of their death in inquisition made an impact.

So, basically, get over yourself. None of these games are perfect and yes it took 10 years but I love it. I get to play as a crow for the first time, a faction I've loved since Zevran was able to rizz himself out of being killed. You can play as a Warden again, for the first time since Origins. Griffins are back and they're adorable. Their quest is heart breaking and anxiety inducing. You can play as new factions, ones we didn't fuck around with before, the shadow dragons, the mourn watchers, the veil jumpers. We get several amazing romances, that feel in character. Everyone is bisexual again but have clear preferences. Bellara has a preference for women, Emmerich has a preference for men, Lucanis has Never being in relationship. Taash and Harding might get together, Lucanis and Neve might get together. We get a companion that's trans, we GET to be trans for the first time. In inquisition we have krem but the developers never thought we would want to be trans, so I will happily take what we can get. Could it be better? Always. But I'm not stuck in 2014.

Take off your rose tinted glasses and go fuck that old man and maybe you'll lighten up.

[physically-bloody-medibot]

Do you hate humans?

WHAT M-MAKES YOU THINK I H-H-HATE HUMANS??? THEY ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF-OF FUEL!!!

[oneatlatime]

Return to Omashu

Fire nation priorities. Yes, there's a war to win, but first! We must make our colonies aesthetically consistent. Couple of gates, some gold trim, and some spiky bits! Can't forget the gold spiky bits!

Fulfilling the beat up Sokka quota this episode is raw sewage.

That sewer trek must have been long. They went in during the day and it's night now.

I spoke too soon! The quota is in fact filled by tribbles.

"it's so awful I'm dying." I get the feeling that Sokka has been waiting years to use that line. I love how quickly everyone in the Gaang supports each others' spontaneous plans. It's a sign of a good team if you can ream off fake names without blinking and fake the plague without being asked. They all work so well together. Zuko could take some lessons from these guys on lying.

Well this episode's going to land differently post-Covid.

Looks like Zuko Jr.'s going to be in this episode. Bummer. Although tweedledee and tweedledum are intriguing. Who'd ever think to give a teenage girl villain a pair of eighty year old poetry twins? One of the great things so far about this show is how they consistently choose to go with the most out-there option and always make it work. In a show about defeating the firelord, they chose to kill the moon for the finale. And it worked. The plot point, not the killing.

So I'm thinking that orange and yellow must be an acknowledged fashion choice among the four nations outside of an airbending context, because of the number of times fire nation guards have looked right at Aang and not seen him. Also I think his tattoos must have selective invisibility.

It's a crying shame that Hot Topic doesn't exist in the Avatar universe, because this May girl just passed their employment interview with flying colours. I'm siding with what I'm guessing is her mom on this one. Just chill for a bit.

Ok maybe don't chill for a bit. Yeah my bad. This is not a good time to chill.

Reusing the same Naruto run shot literally two seconds later.

How many projectiles can you fit in one pair of sleeves? She's got a whole armoury up there.

Seriously I know she's bored and all but no teenage girl should have access to that many weapons. If I'd had access to an armoury when I was a teenager, people absolutely would have died.

So cute. I'll take 12 please.

Every sentence that Zuko Jr. is saying to this pink girl is some kind of veiled insult or threat. I'd adopt Pink Girl's wilful obliviousness too if I had to deal with that.

Smart Bumi. He knows his people and his element. We've seen more than enough times already that something about being an earthbender makes you too stubborn to quit and unable to change plans even when your original plan is obviously not working (looking at you, Fong). So, knowing that his people are unable to change course, he prevents them from entering on to that course in the first place.

And Aang picks up on this too! Actually, since Bumi knew Aang growing up, do you think he picked up the concept of strategic retreat from airbending?

Tribbles to the rescue! Given that these are sewer dwelling creatures, this fake plague might turn real.

I love how casual Sokka is about touching other people.

Every street in Omashu seems to have a couple of bundles of twigs propped up against a wall somewhere. It's probably an animation trick to fill up the background.

Love the one guy really committing to the bit who just flops on the ground.

"Pentapox! I'm pretty sure I've heard of that." Humans are so suggestible.

I love that Flopsy remembers him. Aang's propensity to make friends wherever he goes paying off again. Also, exactly how much metal to the fire nation have access to? They're doing the floor, walls, ceilings, of the whole city. There must be some crazy budget surpluses that need using up.

This baby has an absurd throwing arm.

Machine gun Momo!

This is what happens when you don't feed your lemur AANG.

I know cartoon physics is a thing, but can this baby secretly fly or something?

Poor Momo didn't ask for any of this. Guy just wanted some berries. Now he's getting his tail pulled and bitten (hopefully no teeth yet).

Add absurd grip strength to this baby's list of other superhuman characteristics.

Baby apparently weighs quite a bit too.

Flying lemur unintentionally kidnaps baby. Did not see that coming.

Tiny nitpick: the circus master introduces Zuko jr. as "the firelord's daughter" rather than as Princess Zuko jr. Does she not have a title?

Nope. He's calling her princess now. Maybe there are a bunch of princesses in the fire nation and he was just being specific?

Thus begins the bullying of pink girl. Imagine going to school with a bunch of fire nation noble girls? There must have been casualties.

I love Sokka so much. Expert hug administrator.

"everything so clever. So tricky." Actually the avatar forgot to feed his lemur and it kind of snowballed from there. Hands down one of my favourite tropes is when one side in a conflict assumes their enemies are master manipulators, then we learn that actually they're just failing upwards through shenanigans. Love that.

Poor pink girl. The only viable strategy, both for her own safety and the safety of the whole circus, is appeasement.

"The universe is giving me strong hints that it's time for a career change." No blame cast, no fingers pointed, but also not giving Zuko jr. credit for influencing her. That's some fancy talking.

And now they're reusing the campsite shot too?

Poor Momo. That's about the face I make around babies.

I spoke too soon again. This episode's beat up Sokka quota is actually fulfilled by Katara's backhand. Because apparently it's a cardinal sin to prevent a baby from chewing on a potentially bladed weapon? Priorities girl.

Well that accidental kidnapping had some unintended positive consequences. Don't you love it when problems fix themselves?

She even paints her nails black and wears fingerless gloves. Seriously. Hot Topic. STAT.

"Well, Asula called a little louder." Hell of a lot of information in that sentence.

How long is her neck?

Ego much?

Zhao was an asshole and unpleasant, but at least he had some good banter. Zuko jr. is just mean. I hope I see less of her going forward.

Bumi! Hi Bumi! I love Bumi.

Pink girl's loyalty was tested with burning nets and released beasts. Now May's loyalty is tested with her brother's life. Zuko jr. is so good to her friends.

Why is no one able to recognise Aang? He's dressed like an airbender. The only one of those left is the avatar. It's not that hard.

Pink girl is lucky that Sokka is quite prone to friction.

More wood bundles. I guess it's for scaffolding?

Gotta give it to Zuko jr., she has excellent balance.

May has leg knives as well as arm knives?

And shirt knives. How does she not stab herself every time she sits down? And if this place is so boring, why does she feel the need to carry 8 billion knives?

Love the Appa tail slap. Underrated and underused move.

So Bumi has no spine left.

Facebending. Neat.

Neutral Jing is a neat concept, but I'll be damned if any earthbender we've seen apart from Bumi ever bothers with it.

Suddenly the 100 year gap between Aang and Bumi can no longer be ignored. Bumi is still Aang's friend, but he's got a century of learning and a city to protect. This is kind of a sad moment.

Do May and Zuko have some history? Is that's what's being implied here?

Wouldn't expect any less. I wonder how these two are going to explain the return of their son without painting the resistance in a really good light.

Zuko jr. is spelled with a Z.

Final Thoughts

Zuko Jr. gets a girl squad, the Gaang gets a reason to spend a season gallivanting all over the Earth Kingdom, and the audience gets to see Superslide part 2. A weird mix of establishing groundwork and having fun this episode.

I totally buy that the fire nation guards and governor fell for the plague thing. Anyone remember "that lemur! He's earthbending!" These guys are not smart.

The plague thing did not bother me at all. I thought it would, since the anti-science idiots in the Fortuneteller really annoyed me. I think since the fake plague was treated as a joke the whole way through, and never actually endangered anyone, it didn't bring up Covid memories.

I think Flopsy's pupils are sideways hourglasses, which contributes nicely to his uncanniness.

I think the stuffy that the baby was throwing is the same animal as the beaver bear thing at the circus.

I love Momo the machine gun. I think those are the same berries as the ones Iroh was going to double poison himself with.

Sokka getting to plan the plague and getting to save the day with boomerang was fun. That's two episodes in a row where he's been the plan guy. Katara got to use some of her new and improved waterbending as well, but she was really pushed to the background otherwise.

I think pink Girl, whose name I still haven't caught, is quite good at reading people. I caught more than one 'shallow-on-the-surface-but-actually-way-deep' statement from her. Also she can Vulcan pinch people's bending? I'm guessing it's temporary or else Katara would be really freaking out.

May was just too much. Too overdone. Yes, there are teenage girls like that, but it felt a bit on the nose. Actually, way too much on the nose. I get that she can't show any emotion in front of Zuko jr. for her own safety, but "can I offer you an egg fireflakes in this trying time?" is not exactly an appropriate response to your little brother's disappearance.

I'm still not liking Zuko jr. But I'm someone who never likes the villain anyway, at least not when our heroes are this likeable.

This episode was not easy on Aang. It was an interesting mix of bringing home the reality of the war and the reality of the time passed. Even when he seemingly got to save his friend in the end, he actually didn't because things are more complicated now. He untied the damsel from the railroad track and she tied herself right back on.

Further evidence for my 'entire fire nation is colourblind' theory this episode. Aang was not disguised apart from a hat made from a very incriminating colour. He had a giant blue stripe down the back of his head! Come on!

No Zuko this episode. He was last seen stealing a perfectly nice lady's bird horse, and it'll be a while before I forgive him for that, so good call by the writers to not have him around.

Now that I think about it, there was a lot going on this episode. Sewer break & enter, assassination attempt, fake plague, hostage exchange, water v. knife fight, fire v. air fight, vulcan pinch v. bending fight, Boomerang & bison v. knife fight, earthbending philosophy, girl squad assembly, lemur harassment, and baby restoration. This episode felt long in a good way.

How about, instead of learning the elements, Aang learns pink girl's vulcan pinch and just does that to the fire lord?

[scoobydoomistakes]

For ages I've been meaning to go through some asks from y'all – I'm currently stuck in a hotel room, let's do a quick round!

Yeah, Gabe is still waiting for his turn with the orange cat communal brain cell.

Dude got himself inside the top level of the huge dresser we were building...

...and earlier that day, he only just remembered in time that he couldn't phase through glass, and almost ran headfirst into the door.

He believes himself intangible. We love him, but there is nothing else in the world like the Gabe.

Oh, like the "content-aware fill" posts? Those were fun!

Let's see... take this recent image... select background... aaaaaand...

...get traumatized for life. Good.

Looks like it still works! Or more-accurately doesn't, which is what makes it work so well.

Wouldn't consider myself knowledgeable enough to say, but it certainly sounds like it gave the IP a boost during some tough times...

...and despite how awfully he was generally used, I have to remind myself Scrappy was bafflingly the best thing about Boo Brothers.

Seriously. Watching it was like this weird alternate universe where Scrappy was well-written and a welcome addition. That was a surreal experience.

Yes, and... yes to basically every weird, low-budget classic show!

I've watched entirely too many VHS rips of '80s and '90s commercials to not want to see what we can find in them.

Ah, yes! He's an American Curl!

The breed apparently started in California, and has those cool ears.

No clue how he wound up a stray in the NC Triangle, but at the shelter my mother & younger brother help at, they managed to get him socialized enough/health problems resolved to become adoptable, after it was originally thought impossible! He's a happy boy.

And finally...

...thanks to everyone who sends in stuff like this. You keep me from forgetting that it really does bring joy to people!

After so many years of SDM, and as life only gets busier, and as Tumblr has had all its issues... it's easy to feel burned out, boxed in, or like none of it matters. Hearing that it's special to someone and gives them something pleasant after a rough day, that's why I keep it going. Stay cool, y'all.

–Colin

[youuuimeanmee]

RWTGI 34 Thoughts

😆🥰🤗 I've been waiting for Kirishima's past to be translated since forever 😭😭Now I can FINALLY talk about this chapter wkdbjsnsjsjk

Out of all the mysteries presented in this series (the hell's up with Suo Azami, Renji, Yoshino's parents, the brewing yakuza civil war), Kirishima's past is one thing that hyped me up the most; mostly because I've been dying to know the background this insane yet lovable(?) ML lololol.

⚠️ Though the title is Ch 34's Thoughts, I actually started it from ch 33. If you haven't read it then what are you doing here, go to MangaDex if you don't wanna get spoiled here.

⚠️⚠️TW; Bullying, Abuse, Self H4rm, yk how Kirishima is.

👏 Okay! So!

We FINALLY get to see Kirishima's rich ass mommy and daddy 🥳🥳🥳

(tho they don't have a face, I'll take it)

Looks like the parents are busy people, they missed the fact that their son is not normal since birth. That, or Kirishima is just damn good at hiding it. Maybe both.

"My 2 classmates are fighting over irrelevant things. Solution? Erase the thing without anyone knowing. No more things to fight, problem solved 🙂"

He has a shrewd moral compass, I have a feeling he was being genuine when he "helped" his classmates. Aww my cute baby gremlin.

Or if he wasn't being 100% genuine, maybe he tore up the cards to surpress his urges for violence, to ease the boredom he felt because he couldn't feel anything while living in a normal, peaceful life.

The parents slowly realize the abnormal blood that's been there since Gaku era has never disappear from their family.

Since Gaku is the black sheep of the family, Kirishima's dad prob thought: 'Oh fuck this is uncle all over again. No wait I can do this. He already released his energy using a good outlet (karate), he just needs to surround himself with good people. Friends, yeah. The school we picked is the best; surely there's no bad influence that's gonna taint my son. No more psycho #2.' Umm, I hate to break it to you, but daddy-

Ironically, the dad might be the first person who gave him insight about the feeling of having fun by being with a friend. Up until that point, he probably didn't know the feeling he felt when he did the karate. He did it many times, and the dad claimed he liked it, but he never registered it as 'liking something' until it was pointed out to him.

(just like when kirishima threw daggers at yoshino's back until she pointed out he might be jealous of Shoma and he got a little 'ahh that explains it' moment.)

Aww look at that probing eyes, trying to search the answer of his boredom from his dad 🥺

Let's be real Kirishima could really use a proper diagnosis and therapy back then, even right now.

The smile of a child who has found the spark of his life:

LMAO seriously, he smiles because Kodaka can kick hard. The more pleasure (read: pain) he gets from other people, the more he's gonna seek it.

But Kodaka is still weaker than him, so the pleasure ends quickly.

Enter Otogawa.

She's cute. Sweet. More importantly, she's important enough to trigger Kodaka.

She told him all he needed to know about Kodaka. Great in academics, gyms, and karate. Secretly violent too. Just like himself.

"He's just like me, so we matched right? We can be friends! 😃"

Kirishima be like: FUCK YES MORE FRIENDS TO FUCK.

Remember in ch 25.2 when Kirishima told Yoshino he once formed a "friendship plan" that went down the drain?

Whelp, looks like Kodaka is that "friend." We all know how that ends, tho.

Anyways.

Thus, began Kirishima's scheme to ✨️nurture✨️ Kodaka into a person who could kick him harder & also strong enough to not break easily. He befriended (read: flirted) with his crush, lured him into a desolate place, provoked him, stayed docile & easy to kick, yadda yadda.

Really an elaborate plan for someone his age, it's almost cute.

This moment of Kirishima and concealer really highlights his cleverness since he was a kid. If he buys a concealer for his bruise, it's too pricey for his budget. Parents will question unnecessarily if he were caught buying it. Solution? Pretend to return the high schooler's money (even though it's his own) so they'd do the makeup for him. Bruise covered, money covered, no one's gonna know ☺️ Little manipulative shit.

I was gonna feel sorry for him for getting beaten up, but then his innocent, excited smile turned me off so quick. Ugh.

(This is prob the beginning of his exploration to find new "fun" stuff to try. Like choking himself, for example.)

Kirishima is a pathological liar huh. Saying his birthday is in September even though it's in November. This really adds weight to his words earlier that he only revealed his true birthday to Yoshino 🥺🥲

Kirishima's plan to nurture Kodaka is going smoothly in this chapter. Maintaining good relationship with Otogawa, making him jealous and all that.

I bet bringing a 10,000 yen bill is part of the plan too, because kids need the motivation to keep coming back to him. Extorting a broke student is boring afterall.

It's been 300 days since Kodaka had beaten him up? Um. Excuse me what the fuck. With that many injuries, Where are his parents??? Did he ever get questioned at all?? Is Kirishima just that good at lying?? I'm sorry, but I also smell neglection. Intentionally or not.

Moving on, Kirishima is damn good huh. His fights like an adult, prob even better than some yakuza. He's 12. Let that sink in.

(should've seen it coming tbh, but it still surprises me.)

I wanna say he's so disgusting when he ripped the poor dude's ear (where on earth did he learn that?), but he's also my son, so...

Also, the art is so clean. My eyes is blessed, thank you Konishi.

I'm running out of gas. Yeah that's all for today! See you next time 👋

[thatdisasterauthor]

Sigh.

Don't really want advice, I just need to vent a little. Gonna stick it under a readmore too, because it got a little long.

I'm burning out so bad at work. I love the idea of this business, it's super fun in theory, as is what I do there. But the way the business is run is a nightmare, and the job does not pay anywhere near what it should. And I thought that was going to get better this January, because the owner finally admitted that we need a full marketing department and asked me if I wanted to run it if I were to be given an appropriate raise, and I told him yes. Then we had our January meeting where we were supposed to discuss everything and he said he's actually decided to interview outside candidates and only consider me as one of them.

Which is fucking bullshit. I built this marketing department from the ground up. They didn't even have fucking business cards when I started. Every initiative I've done has gone massively well for being nothing but hit-the-bricks marketing with zero budget.

I get that, legally, they are required to post the job within the company, but they aren't legally required to post it outside the company as far as I can tell. (Nor have they ever done that before anyways...)

And before this was revealed to me, I sat in on an interview and all the owner talked about during the interview is how much he loves people coming into the business and finding their own way and building new skills. He went on and on about the two main people who have done that, and how much he values them. Neither of them had to reinterview against outside candidates to run the departments they now run. Just me.

I know why it's happening too, which makes it even more annoying. The owner has ZERO idea what I do. None. I do not report to him. Every time I'm in a meeting with him and start trying to explain stuff I get some version of "oh, I just don't understand all of that." I think there might also be a touch of not liking me because I stand up to him. There was a big issue with Twitter over the holiday marketing season because I explained how, despite being our best platform, Twitter was too unstable to be as useful as normal due to the Musk takeover and the owner went OFF about it, about how I shouldn't be "bringing politics into it." Nevermind that ANY corporate takeover is going to be destabilizing for a time and the man has never used Twitter in his life so how the hell would he know what's going on. (Also, not even 5 minutes later he told me he didn't want us using TikTok "because of the Chinese." What was that about not getting political, sir?)

It's really clear that I'm just never gonna get the respect and support I need at this job, despite how great my direct boss is. I'm also really fucking tired of working somewhere with an HR lady that can't do her job and refuses to give us direct deposit because it's "too hard" and doesn't put our accumulated sick time on our checks like she's supposed to because she can't figure out how to make the system do it, so we just have to email her if we want to know.

And I've been applying to jobs! I've had interviews! Some of them have seemingly gone well, it's just that none of them have gone all the way to hiring me.

Even if I get a new job it isn't going to fix the fact that I'm burnt out, because I can't afford to take time off between the jobs to actually rest. I've got, like, $100 in savings right now and nothing in checking until my paycheck shows up this week. (And because we don't have direct deposit, the check could show up anytime between Wednesday and Saturday, unless HR had some random shit come up and didn't get the checks out on time, which has happened before.)

And I should (should) have two weeks paid vacation now that I've hit my third year at this job, but I don't want to just use it all up in fucking January in case I am stuck here for the rest of the year, but I could really use those two weeks right now.

Then, in the background of all of this, is my art and writing stuff. Especially The Pits/its Kickstarter in a couple months. If that Kickstarter goes as well as I'm hoping I probably COULD afford to take some time off. But I won't know about that until the end of March when it finishes. And also, I really don't want to be putting all my baggage from my day job on this one project. That's not good for me OR the project.

I'm fucking tired. I was so close to finally getting ahead of all this before inflation hit last year. So fucking close. And then it all went away. I just want a job that pays me what I'm worth and respects what I can do. That shouldn't be so fucking hard.

[damfinofanfiction]

Chapter 21: Here’s Mud in Your Eye

Buster reached the Kingman Hotel at one in the morning. He was still tired after his train ride but still had the energy to carry his suitcase. With a slap on the desk bell, he summoned the clerk. “Welcome back Mr. Keaton,” he said with his pleasant tone. “Did you have a nice trip?”

Buster let out a soft yawn. "Sure have," he managed, his words muffled by his hand.

With a warm smile, the clerk handed him the key to his room that they had held on for him while he was away. "Have a restful night, sir," the clerk bid him farewell.

Ascending a few floors, Buster entered his room. The dim glow of the lamp revealed a cozy space, a welcome sight after the day's travels. After completing his usual nightly routine, he sank into bed, the exhaustion finally catching up to him.

The sun was peeking up when the phone rang hours later. Buster took the appliance with only his arms. He answered to find it was his brother-in-law from the east. “Who died?” 

“Nobody. What is this I hear about the production being halted?” Buster sat up, his mind racing. He had planned to discuss this with Joe once everything was sorted – clearly, someone had beaten him to it. “Well, What the hell is going on?” 

"Just give me a moment," he replied tersely. "I'll fill you in."

"Make it quick, Buster. This is causing quite a stir," his brother-in-law pressed.

Buster explained. “It was Brown Eyes, the cow. She had gone on heat and she’s impossible to obey. You know about animals, they're not always easy to manage.”

“Have you tried to pair her up with one of the bulls?” Joe asked.

“Yes, but it didn't go well and I don't want to replace her so we chose to wait until she gets over it. I had the cameraman film some landscapes but don't worry we’ll get back on track as soon as our cow is herself again.”

Buster felt tense when hearing a pause on the other end, hoping it was at least a what for from his boss. To his relief, Joe responded, “I’m not mad but we cannot afford any more setbacks. We’ll be losing our budget. Please make sure to keep things on track.”

Buster gave a nod, “I understand.”

With that, they exchanged final words and hung up. The sunlight beaming from the window encouraged Buster to start his day. He got out of bed to head toward his briefcase because he was in the mood for a morning swim. He entered a pool room only wearing his swimsuit under the robe. He shed off the outer layer and then dove into the water. His strokes were more tranquil and slow. He spent minutes reaching every corner and taking in the temperature of the water. The peace was interrupted when Buster sensed the presence of another person.

“Buster, welcome back!” the voice came from Lex Neal who had just been in the same room. 

“Hey, good morning!” Buster grabbed the edge to wave at him. “Have you heard any news about Brown Eyes?”

“The ranch hands said she seems improving well so we're hoping we’ll be back on track in the next day or two. Say how did the weekend go?”

Buster thought of the premiere, his encounters at the reception that were pleasant to him, while some others he had to tolerate through his shyness. He spent time with his family as much as he could. He also had to endure the in-laws that came over. He went home Saturday morning with an afterglow due to his encounter with Gail. He hid it so well that Natalie didn't suspect a thing.

A blush reappeared when his mind wandered to Gail, their lovemaking, her lips, tongue, her bosom, and womanhood.

He said with a grin, “It was wonderful.”

***********************

July had arrived when the scene filmed in Sennett’s Studio had the hero (Maxwell) competing in the town’s bike race to impress his girl (Gail). He was wearing mismatched biking gear with a bouquet taped to his back. Crew members poured water on the race track to muddy it, and live chickens in crates were brought in as a gag.

Gail was at the sidelines with the background actors when Del instructed her, as the camera began rolling, “Okay Miss, you are searching for your sweetheart in the race.” On his cue, Gail pantomimed and pretended to look for Maxwell on the line. She smiled while waving. Her reactions had to be filmed 3 times. Del did it to see whichever shot looked good on her. Gail didn't like to ham it up, although she avoided underacting. As Del's exclamation of "Cut" rang out, the cameraman's hands stilled, capturing the scene's final moments. Gail relaxed her facial muscles, her breath slowing as she stepped out of the character's shoes she had temporarily inhabited. She looked to Del, her question reflecting her desire for perfection.

“Is this good enough Mr. Lord?” 

“That should be plenty, Miss,” he answered, his tone carrying a subtle hint of satisfaction.

Later on, another scene had a gag where Gail and the spectators were going to be splashed with a combination of mud and water by one of the racing bikers. They were all notified beforehand, Gail wasn't happy, but she knew in a silent comedy, actors sometimes had to be the butt of a joke. A take was performed where that biker rode close to them but they were only splashed up to their ankles. The crew fixed that situation by dumping excess water into the same area. Another take was done again with successful results as the mud and water landed on their faces. Gail’s reaction was a mix of shock and amusement. Her eyelids kept the wet dirt from entering her eyes, and she sputtered the contents off her lips. It wasn't long until she was given a towel after the take. She looked out for the director to see if he was satisfied with the shot or if they had to do it again.

If Gail had to choose to rehearse for 3 hours in the nightclub where she used to work or to be splashed in mud, she’d pick the latter.

July 4

“What’s he like in bed?” Sally questioned this to Gail when they were in her room in Lenore’s house. She finished painting a star on one of Gail’s bare knees. Hers was drying.

Gail was sitting on Sally’s bed. “Wonderful. He was considerate to me that he avoided hurting me in our lovemaking.” 

Sally stood up from the floor. “Aw come on”, Sally said teasingly. “Tell me the details. Where did he lick you?” Reluctantly, Gail pointed her finger to her clothed breast. A gleeful blonde exclaimed, "Oh wow! Michael has a real knack for pleasing a lady!”

Gail was embarrassed by her answer but smiled anyway, “He has, doesn’t he?” The women were dressed for the festivities of the patriotic holiday. Gail wore a red and white striped day dress and white silk stockings.  Sally was in a blue wrap dress over her white slip. 2 pairs of small-heeled shoes and a couple of hats, red and blue, were put aside until it was time for their outing.

“Did he have a great body?” Sally sat next to her in an anticipating tone.

“Why yes, he has an ideal physique,” Gail recalled. “He’s like a living Greek statue. His behind has even followed suit.”

They shrieked in excitement.

“Is everything alright?” Lenore called them from another room. 

Sally reassured her, “Yes, we're only talking Auntie.”

Gail felt a bit nervous wondering if Lenore heard her niece mentioning ‘Michael’ pleasuring her. "Mike and I are wonderful." She frowned, "But Sterling and you, I'm worried about you. He’s not right in the head. Do you even know why he didn't join you?”

“He has other plans and Auntie still doesn't like him, which is for the best.”

“I’m afraid to mention this but he could be cheating on you.”

Sally took offense, “Bae, Sterling can be a fun fellow but he wouldn't have been having fun with an associate. Look, when we get together I will prove to you that Sterling has changed and is trustworthy.”

Gail hadn't said a word but only gave her a nod.

It was later that day that Gail, Sally, and Lenore were out celebrating Venice Beach. A lively scene featured a man on stilts, dressed as Uncle Sam, a band playing Stars and Stripes forever. Children ran around with wooden toys, and every area was surrounded by American flags.

As dawn peaked, they found somewhere to sit to watch the annual spectacle.

“Gail,” Lenore said to her in surprise, “Your knees are painted!”

Being seated, she noticed the rising hemline revealing her knees, “Oh forgive me, I’ll wash them off before bed.”

“I painted them myself,” Sally piped out.

Lenore raised an eyebrow, “How peculiar that you never practiced your artistry on a canvas,”

Fireworks burst, painting the dark blue sky. Gail was stuck keeping Sally’s secret from Lenore just as she kept hers from them. She wouldn't want to ruin the joyful occasion.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

[daniels-rwby-blog]

RWBY finale reaction (long af)

Oh boi there was hype for this

The alarm i had for these EP was faster than a speeding bullet and yeah that sums it up

Warning this is a 26 minute long ep so this reaction/live blog is long beware

The intro has been such a foreshadowing tool this volume.

And more storytime with summer!

Ohhh that's adorable and such a good model btw

And sure enough it was the last night

TAI MY BOOOOY

TAI YOOOO

that window framing is awesome

And ozpin is ozpin

Awww thats just to cute

AND RAVEN MY GOD

THIS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT

it's raven and summer battling it out, and ruby saw that!

Ruby was not the one to receive the you never were the hero line, i knew that wasn't summers voice

And jaune is reverting back to his old self, good

Alyx is blacksmith yes.

And action!

Wiess got that ice queen ground pound

And the cat laughing and smiling is amazing

"These feelings" on the nose there rt, i like it.

And it's big pussy!

And the blacksmith pressures 

And Yang got yeeted into Blake omg background bees are awesome.

And summer ex machina for ruby

The way she runs.

And sure enough ruby find herself.

RED LIKE ROSES PART 3 YAAAAS

and she sky dives into CR

Petals like the trailer

The HERO SHOT

And that's where the budget went

Into this fight.

The little smirk before that 50cal shot Damm

The rainbow 🌈

I can't 

The colors the glyphs from wiess 

All 4 girls so perfectly synced

Who ever said RWBY isn't visually pretty are wrong.

And the lineup affirming her.

And the hug.

And neo and roman aww.

#saveneo 

Yeah neo redemption arc us still open but that was a good choice i like that.

And i thought we'd see a design change but I'm okay with just seeing that in vacuo next volume.

And little gets a sendoff as somewhat.

And ruby tears oh my God

MY HEART

And a new chapter, a new hero for jaune

The circle, the ever after continues.

And the team holding hand awww

In we go…

Okay this is a great sequence, the blacksmith or as Blake says the tree. 

And the brothers are not the creators, only the tree.

So the ever after is the the first world.

And that story was some serious lore dumping

Really Salem was the second jabberwalker

I do t believe ozpin knows this information, RWBY now knows everything about the world i believe

And jaune is back

And the meta is funny.

And I CALLED THE TIME TRAVEL!!!

that last shot of ruby turning back is awesome gonna be my wallpaper

Oh not time travel oh well

At least we saw vacuo.

And the atlas military?

Or perhaps vacuo's forces protecting the survivors.

And guys watch the credits go appreciate all these people.

And RTA keep the logo

And only a trailer no post credits scene???

Well that's a bit what I was expecting but I'm okay with it, some major lore and summer's death no longer so mysterious, yet also much more mysterious, most are saying the girls went out to go see a maiden and that mission went wrong. as for time change, like a few days, enough for the atlas crew to get to vacuo and collect themselves, perhaps having sent out a team to go find RWBY and Jaune?

(edit so i can confirm the ships are from the kingdoms who are there to support RWBY after the call broadcast from atlas, can't wait for ruby leading the whole world and all the action and arguments that brings)

also heres RLR part 3 lyrics from casey, cause we were too cought up in that fight OMG

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 s02e07: A Race Through Dark Places

s02 Table of Contents • previous episode

Station budget relies on the civilian traffic, but the military traffic has been higher than usual, so they’re running on a deficit, since the military doesn’t reimburse the station for funds lost by the mandatory re-routing of civilian business. And they want want to charge Sheridan and Ivanova 30 credits a week to stay in their current quarters, which are a whole 7 square feet bigger than the next size down which would remain free. All this sounds exactly some some bs the USA would pull and is completely believable.

My!!! guy!!!! Bester is back! And on a day when I’ve found a totally legal and normal way to screencap for some gifs again. hell to the yeah. Prediction: I’m gonna like this one. He’s got a new, scary sidekick.

Oh I love him, he’s so terrifying and perfect.

Telepath: “He’s dead.” Bester: “It doesn’t matter. I caught it, just before he died. Betrayed by his final thoughts.”

He’s my special little guy. But does this mean Talia is involved with the underground telepaths?? She was really not down with whatsherface not going to PsiCorps.

Sheridan is just down to fight whenever anyone squares up even a little. What is 30 credits? I have nothing to compare it against. Is it like, a nice meal for two? A month’s wages for a dock worker? I feel like this is the first hard number for a price I’ve seen so far.

Going for the easy questions I see, Delenn! Just quickly, explain humanity. Awww she’s so cute. Dinner date with Sinclair! He was dtf (down to fight) 2 seconds ago and now he’s dtf (down to flee) and figure out if this is a date or not.

Sheridan: “One day they’re shooting at you, the next they’re taking you out to dinner. Hah! What a universe.”

He looks bemused and delighted. I’m delighted. This episode will have everything if only Susan and Talia will be allowed to be onscreen at the same time.

OMFG they’re in the same room at the same time!!!

Sheridan: “I’d like to talk to my people for a moment.” Bester and Talia: *leaves the room* Me: “Talia where the fuck are you goin...oh. Telepath. well frag that.”

Garibaldi: “Want, agree, that has nothing to do with it. The law is the law.”

And that’s ACAB baby. When the law is unjust, those that uphold the law are unjust.

Garibaldi: “That’s damn ironic, isn’t it? That the corps got started because we were afraid of telepaths? Now we’re victims of our own fears. And we took away every right they had and shoved them into a big, black box called Psi Corps. Now look at em. Black uniforms, jackboots, giving orders. Some days they scare the hell out of me.“ Sheridan: “Yeah If you ask me, we created our own monster. And maybe we deserve it.“

Good advice by Ivanova. Read the logs about the Jason Ironheart Incident.

Lots of good background info being dropped. Talia wouldn’t notice a surface scan, she keeps walls up to block out the background noise, but Bester wasn’t and heard someone calling him a murderer.

“Bester will try to stop up, so we don’t have any choice. We have to kill him.”

I agree, but also, oh man my special guy. :(

DELENN YOU BABE. Well no wonder Sheridan falls for her. She’s humaning it up like a bossbabe for this date.

It’s genuinely astonishing that Ivanova has nothing whatsoever to do with the underground (that she’ll admit to). I think odds are relatively good that she actually does. Perhaps Dr Franklin is? He’s been a little revolutionary.

Date’s going well. Humor is an excellent bonding point.

Bester reaching out to Talia civilly. We love to see it, only for the drama.

Love to see the return of Jason Ironheart CGI Ascended!

Also love the lingering, artful shots of Talia being angsty in profile.

The penny!! Is she or isn’t she a telekinetic?? I am once again asking for Talia Telekinesis Skills. AND YES THERE IT IS BABYYYYY. Now that’s some self defense.

Earthforce locked them out of their rooms! Those asshats. It’s so sweet how willing Susan is to go along with all Sheridan’s schemes.

Mary Had A Little Lamb has never been so ominous.

OK, so now that they’re sleeping in Sheridan’s office she’s quite a bit more disgruntled.

Ivanova: “Were you like this when you were married?” Sheridan: “Yeah!” Ivanova: “That woman was a saint.”

John you have a huge crush. Repeating all the jokes you heard from your dinner date and practically blushing over thinking about it is peak crush behavior.

DS9 nod? Those are raktajino mugs that Bester and Talia are using.

Fishing for info, fishing for informants, and unfortunately not so distracted that he missed the assassins. Who should really learn to shield their thoughts if they’re gonna be assassinating level 15 telepaths. And throwing Talia in a closet. A literal closet. lol.

This is the one and only anger fit Garibaldi can throw that I support.

Oh well, not really a closet I guess. Man, she gets manhandled a lot.

I agree, wake up girlie. The Corps are not benign and you don’t even believe what you’re saying.

Dun dun dun! Franklin does have connections. Called it.

Oh, the gloves are a PsiCorps requirement! Continuing yikes. Excellent control mechanism. They’re a high control cult. What you wear, where you live, who you talk to, who you touch, how you live, where and how you work, who you marry. About as high control as you get.

oooof, and forced pregnancy. I wonder if the baby got a guide for a year and then it was on its own as soon as it could walk.

“You’re asking me to take everything I believe and turn it upside-down.”

yeah, that’s hard to do when you’re ready to deconstruct from cult life, let alone when you’re kidnapped by kindly telepaths who insistently tell you horror stories of PsiCorps as some kind of guided deconstruction.

Invoking Jason Ironheart is absolutely the way to get Talia to help. I’m rooting so hard for them! And for Bester to survive and continue to commit atrocities for my viewing pleasure. I’m a simple person.

DOCTOR STEPHEN FRANKLIN YOU DUPLICITOUS BADASS! This episode is everything. I’m vibrating. Generally I like to feel good about predicting things even partially correctly but I only said maybe Dr Franklin has connections, not that he’s running the whole operation, and I’m gonna own that being only very partial. This is baller.

He’s a conspiracy theories that are real guy like Sheridan is, but only for telepathy! Secret doctor network!! The unofficial clinic!!

Alas, Sheridan, but “I agree but the laws“ is not moral best practice.

Bester! My evil little fellow.

Talia grew a hell of a spine in the last ten minutes.

Collective telepathy!!!

“The corps is Mother. The corps is Father. I know where my loyalties lie.”

I don’t see how this could play out any way but that these people are dead, but that would also be totally bonkers considering she just planned something with Dr Franklin and Sheridan.

LITERALLY all faked? d a m n

I am extremely into collectivist telepathy. It’s super tragic that they are discouraged from touching even each other. All of them must be just so touch starved.

Doctor Franklin has just shot up a mile in my estimation of him as a person. He got a lot of points for treating Poor Murdered Child, but I also don’t like thinking about that episode. (0/1 stars, will never watch again)

Ah, so Sheridan also has a way with pedantry. Is this a commentary on how rigid military regulations makes for twisting-the-hell-out-of-the-rules geniuses?

Insert incoherent babble here about gloves-off Talia smiling at be-robed Susan smiling at her! Oh this episode is everything I could have wanted. Definitely a 5/5 star one for me! And certainly my favorite of the season so far!

next episode

[georgiapeach30513]

Ok, what in the world happened when it came to JC’s solo? From what I can both remember and what I have pieced together since, JC was approached for a solo deal first, but for whatever reason – I think it was due to loyalty to the group, but I am not sure – he passed on the opportunity. At the same time, there was a focus from Johnny/Lynn/jive to push Justin as the front and center member. I’m not sure if they were plans from the very beginning for him to go solo, but it seems to me that they were definitely plans to push him forward as the face of *NSYNC.

It started becoming increasingly clear that they were going to go to the solo route with Justin and I’m not sure to what degree the guys were aware of what was going on, but it does seem that Justin and his team were focused on keeping things under wraps while they did their work. So, when it finally became apparent that he was going to go solo, and JC, thinking the group was on hiatus, decided that it was an opportunity for him to explore solo material. Unfortunately, the team that he was set to use – again I don’t know if he made the decision to use the same team or if they were the only ones who were contractually available to him – decided to focus on Justin instead, believing that he was a better investment, unfortunately.

Now, many have said – and I am removing my bias from here, because I really am interested in getting the facts - that Justin and his team were equally invested & interested in making sure all resources went to him, even if it was to the detriment of others like JC. Nick Carter even talked about how a number of things were suddenly removed from his solo budget because the label told him they were focused on making Justin Steve you the biggest they could make it.

What’s say you? Do you think Justin and his team were more focused on: “tunnel vision and eff whoever’s collateral” AND/OR(?) “tunnel vision AND let’s sabotage anyone who may take away from my goals”

Remember that Justin also got Timbaland to produced Justified. I think that was the biggest part. Like I Love You was not a good song. He didn’t hit it big until Cry Me a River came out, and we know why. He really played up the drama between him and Britney with that song. And once he realized the type of attention he got because of that, he really played into it. Lynn is a huge momager. And she definitely played a lot in the background. Yes, Johnny seemed to want to push Justin out faster. Justin wanted to continue down the more urban pop sounds. Which they also wanted for JC.

I feel that Justin had a lot more creative control with his album, and maybe that is the Timbaland part. Timbaland and Justin still work together, so clearly they have created a good relationship.

From my understanding, it seems the other members were unaware that Justin was going solo, but also had an almost completed album. Here’s the thing, I think Justin was a bit more of a bulldog, along with Lynn. JC wants to make music, Justin wants to be famous. I think that’s the difference. And I don’t think JC had a lot of control over Schizophrenic. And I feel Jive wanted to make him an artist he just wasn’t. Justin was easily becoming more marketable because of his “I was cheated on” “I took Britney’s virginity” nonsense. They had something to work on, so they put the focus on him.

I don’t think it was complete sabotage at the time. I think Justin had tunnel vision, and didn’t care who he hurt to get there. And Britney took the largest hit on his climb.

[cinnaki]

Alright, joke is funny and got a genuine laught out of me, but I want to say a few things that bother me about this before tumblr gets on the wrong train.

Short version: ToA and TFP are both good stories, but one is a series of books, and the other is a well written toy commercial.

Longer version: What bothered me about this is that your comparing apples to oranges. Yes, they're both mothers who are hard working doctors who can't be there for their sons... but both characters play entirely different roles.

June isn't even a main character, heck, her son isn't even really a main character. Jack is just a window character, and that's fine. June is a secondary, almost tertiary character until the final season. And that is also fine. June is the Professor Sumdac of TFP, or dare I say Sparkplug from G1. Giving her a whole character arc as detailed as Barbra would have cluttered a half-serialized show like TFP.

TFP has a lot going on for a toy commercial, between Ratchet slowly marinating in the background until he goes from hating Earth to realizing he kind of likes it here, Miko coming in to her own through the horrors of war, and literally everything with Arcee... The understandably absent mother and chosen one son dynamic did not have the time/budget to be explored much.

Meanwhile, Barbara is firmly a secondary protagonist. She has a character arc, as do most people in ToA, and the dynamic between her and her son, who is pulling triple duty as protagonist, window character, and main character, is a very important part of the story.

Matter of fact, the relationship between Barbara and Jim is a major plot point in season 2 and 3. So they do have to delve in to her character a lot more as a result.

I would also like to point out that, while both stories are technically war stories, TFPs focus is centered directly on the conflict with the Autobots and Decepticons near constantly, while ToA takes time to breathe and focus on characters. Both are fine, I just personally feel like comparing them is doing both a disservice.

We also do have to remember that every Transformers series is meant to sell toys to the target demographic. The show being actually good is just a nice bit of icing on the cake. So they have to shoehorn in as much as they can, while keeping it coherent, to keep making people buy more and more toys.

On the other hand, Tales of Arcadia takes a series of books and does it's best to shove it all in to Netflix's arbitrary rules. Which it does amazingly until Wizards and beyond.

The real enemy is capitalism, but that's not news.

“Who are you?” “I’m you but better written”

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2022 Anime Overview: GIRLS! edition

Watched three anime this season that had an all-female or 99% female cast, so why not review them together!

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls Story

So, in this anime, the main character, Eve, starts out as an underground golfer (yes in this show there is a seedy underground golfing operation) supporting her undocumented found family and thus gets deeply embroiled in the golf mafia. In the first episode she faces off against a lady in a clown mask and hits a golf ball through a moving train and calling it her rainbow bullet. In the fourth episode, she goes up against ‘Vipere the reaper’ in LITERALLY (not metaphorically) underground, ever shifting Yu-gi-oh style golf course to settle a mafia dispute.

Oh and someone dies! I mean recurring character wise. If we’re counting guys who appear only to be blown up by rocket launchers courtesy of the golf mafia, more people than that die.

Meanwhile throughout all that, Eve (who is from a fictional country that was apparently in Madlax?) and a Japanese golfer named Aoi become completely infatuated with each other and meet up for a VR golf date among other things. Then we switch to the golf high school, where Eve continues to seduce Aoi, and in the season finale (which doesn’t even bother to feel like a finale, but just cuts off like it’s going to continue next week, but we’re not getting more until 2023), offers to kiss her if she messes up in her golf game and this makes Aoi EXTEREMELY excited.

So yes, clearly this anime is amazing. I had to watch it week to week just to see what bizarre thing will happen next. Each ridiculous twist hits just right and so do the golf girlfriends, even if they end up backtracking on that (this isn’t my first rodeo).

Granted,  the “golf high school” sections of it have been considerably tamer, they are still spiced up by Eve still treating everything like her life is on the line, dressing ridiculously, declaring “I’ll kill you in golf” to her opponents, who have all kinds of ridiculous over-the-top golfing strategies,  being really gay, and a lot of soap opera machinations going on in the background. And we can only hope the gold mafia will return next season.

Birdie Wing is A+ camp, and makes up for its low budget (expect a lot of reused footage) with absolute commitment to its bit. Golf has become incredible and ridiculous in a way only anime can manage.

There are caveats- it can go from campy to trashy, and a lot of the issues would have been mitigated if they’d allowed these characters to be adults. One of the weird reoccurring things in the first arc is at least one line of often frankly unnecessary sexual menace per episode, made worse by the fact Eve is 15, which pretty much everyone watching was bowled over by, because she does not remotely come off as that young. Despite this, we’ll have the mafia people threatening to make Eve sell her body to fans, or an adult woman making a bet with her that she’ll “get her body” if she loses this game (Eve responds this will never happen and that she’s only got one girl in her heart which, wow, gay), and then later backstory that implies through dialogue some of the characters were forced into sex work as kids?

The reason this is mostly tolerable for me personally is because the show doesn’t revel in anyone’s discomfort or victimization for the sake of ‘fanservice’. Eve never seems particularly threatened or uncomfortable. We always feel a reassurance she’s not in any real danger, and she’s utterly unflappable and confident in the face of creeps. Vipere, who admittedly falls into every predatory bisexual stereotype, is so over the top with her wiggly tongue and vampire fangs I cannot even be mad about her, especially since after her first appearance, she no longer creeps on Eve and becomes a weird campy ally instead. But! It will be way too much for some people, and personally, I do think a lot of those lines aren’t necessary (and the implied backstory was especially ‘why’).

The golf high school portion of the anime drops the sexual menace bits entirely for typical gay high school shenanigans (unfortunately we find Aoi’s caddy is homophobic, but THAT WILL NOT STOP EVE FROM SEDUCING EVERY GIRL), but I can’t promise it won’t return. But still, I have to watch and enjoy it because this show is an experience that I cannot miss out on. Eve is a great main character, a bullheaded delinquent who treats golf like a shonen fight scene every time, and I love her. She has great chemistry with Aoi. I am braced for them to be revealed to be secret half sisters or something (the show has been dropping a lot of hints about Eve’s mysterious background) but maybe the show will surprise me and not pull such a pedestrian twist. It has definitely surprised me before.

Birdie Wing is a ridiculous show that runs on ridiculous rules, and seems like such a throwback to earlier campy anime. I can’t miss out.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life

You want more weird gay shit? Well, we’ve got more of that in the fantasy action drama yuri that is The Executioner and Her Way of Life. The anime distinguished itself by making every single isekai-loving fanboy mad when it threw the typical self-insert boy aside to focus on a morally imperiled, self-loathing assassin girl, because yes, apparently these fans are so fragile they cannot handle a dark twist preempting their power fantasy!

They’re very normal about it!

But by side-stepping that fantasy, this anime presents an actual interesting world that’s not another video game retread- one where teenagers who stumble upon a new land and become OP aren’t instantly the master of said land, but instead are easily exploited by factions who want to use their powers and only see them as easily discarded pawns, while simultaneously glorifying them to the public. To prevent this, assassins dedicate themselves to killing isekai kids the second they arrive, before they can be used to do real damage. Our main character, Menou, is one of these “executioners”, and she is fully aware how monstrous what she’s doing is and clearly regrets it but knows no other way.

So of course, she meets Akari ,a girl from another world who she can’t kill and it all goes sideways.

It’s a great premise, fraught with moral quandaries and deliciously dark worldbuilding, and it starts with a bang. At first though, it doesn’t seem to follow up on its promise very well- the first arc is entertaining, but drags a bit and settles into a fairly expected plot while giving its antagonist the most generic motivation possible- however, that arc is then saved by an equally predictable but incredibly fun plot twist that means lots of additional complexity for the characters to deal with. It was the plot twist I was rooting for, and from there, the hints of this world’s weird backstory only became more fascinating.

But aside from its premise, the other main draw of the series is the cast is entirely powerful and various-degrees-of-morally-compromised-and-absolutely-brutal women getting in cool fights and forming weird bonds. I like seeing unhinged women do murder, okay.

Even Momo, who at first seemed like she’d be a boring yandere character obsessed with Menou, grew on me. Not because she ISN’T actually obsessed with Menou- she is, but mostly she was allowed to form a very fun contentious relationship with a battle-hungry-meathead princess that could clearly function well as a beta ship and we got to see her strut her bloodthirsty stuff against dragons. Also, unlike most “incorrigibly horny lesbian” characters, the show doesn’t rely on constant groping gags (the part where she loves on Menous leg in the first ep is the worst she ever does, her other physical shows of affection are much milder and Menou seems pretty okay with them ) and Menou isn’t ever disgusted by her crush/antics, at most gently chiding her to focus while still valuing her. Menou also very actively DOESN’T want to take advantage of how Momo will do anything for her. It’s better than Kuroko in A Certain Scientific Railgun basically- a low bar to clear, but still.

Which isn’t to say this is a flawless, high quality series. It’s fun, but not without it’s jarring schlock. While the girls are all drawn surprisingly well to offset their ridiculous outfits (and some are actually less ridic compared to the light novel, believe it or not), there are some occasional scenes of schlocky fanservice, whether it’s Akari making orgasm noises when she connects to Menou in a dire moment and ruining the tension of that scene, or, probably the most hilarious case, some footage where she wiggles her ass at the camera that gets blatantly reused twice to save animation in an episode. I should also mention that there’s a very suddenly upscale in the gore and body horror for the season finale, involving a childlike figure, where the villain responsible literally says she’s indulging in her love of B-movies. This moment feels less like the usual “ha now that I’ve acknowledged the cliche it’s ok to do it” and more the writing level team saying they know this isn’t anything deep and shocking and inviting you along for the fun. (Apparently even this bit is toned down from the original light novel, which was always gory).

The yuri aspect is as slow burn as you would expect from a several volume ongoing light novel series- it’s clear that girls have it bad for Menou and they talk of their love for her, but Menou is unclear about whether she’ll reciprocate, so we get a lot of “she’s my friend!” talk. There an utterly unforgettable kiss in the OP though.

Overall, it’s not going to change the landscape of anime other than hilariously traumatizing a few bros, but I would love to see more of it. It does something different with the isekai formula, it’s a solid, occasionally mildly trashy show that boasts interesting world full of potential and lots of women doing cool magic fighting shit while yearning for each other in tantalizingly unhealthy ways. And I’m the one who’s trash for that stuff. If you’re like me, you might also enjoy this!

Healer Girl

Healer Girl was a very cute series following three girls in training to become “Healers”- people who can literally speed along the healing process with the power of song. As in, they can close up small cuts, cut asthma attacks short or even make the surgery process go a little quicker. It’s sweet, it’s cheesy, and it’s definitely magical girl adjacent. I liked the silly friendship vibe between the main three girls, and especially their relationship to their teacher. Ria’s an adult woman who mentors them and also lives with another woman who likes to dress in suits when they go out. (The series sadly doesn’t canonize them as wives, but they definitely had wife vibes and their chill partnership contrasting the tumultuous relationship between the three girls was nice.) We often don’t really have much focus on a grown woman in a mentorship position in magical girl OR idol series, so that’s what stood out to me. Unfortunately, the show didn’t do as much with that angle as I wanted. Ria was there and she was great, and had a nice connection to all the girls, but it felt like the show was hinting the whole time that her backstory would be something complex and interesting and then it just…wasn’t.

I did enjoy that one of the women she went to college with ended up being a surgical doctor and that they regularly worked together though, and that it was shown ‘healing song’ hadn’t displaced surgery, but was an aid to it. That was a neat aspect.

The series was as a whole unfocused and didn’t have a real plot to speak of- the girls all got to grow a bit as characters and as healers and they were fun to hang around with, but it was a bit disappointing that entire episodes would forget about the “Healer” part of its premise and do a school festival arc where the girls played in a band as catgirl maids like this was a regular idol show. The ending was especially pretty rushed- the girls are separated and one goes to another country but we basically see none of it.

But despite pacing issues, it was a fun, chill, cute time. It’s also a musical (the girls break into song even when it isn’t required for healing or band performances), so that gave it an enjoyable novelty as well!

[drachenfalter]

So, time to gather my thoughts and observations about

LABYRINTH RUNNERS:

Right of the bat, we're starting with some Gus Backstory, featuring Willow and how they became friends. Which is great!

For a moment, I thought he was using Oracle magic, but it is Illusion magic. Just really powerful Illusion magic.

Also, we've got a chain of care/good advice, from Willows Dads to Willow to Gus to Hunter and ultimately back to Gus.

Oh, and Mattholomule is back. And he's a multitrack student now!

Also, it seems there was maybe a birthday or something we missed? Was it Willows? Was it Gus? Anyway, Mattholomule was invited.

Some background Lumity, but not enough to overshadow the rest of the episode. Good.

Gus telling Willow to talk clearly to Willow! Willow & Amity team-up! The show finally addressing that lingering resentment, and Willow finally speaking her mind!

Also, the show trying to pull a fast one on the audience with Graye pretending to be a rebel at first, only to reveal it was a trick to try and brand students without their knowledge.

Graye trying to take away Gus Illusion magic, because it was his most powerful magic, and forcing him into a coven he knows nothing about!

(Personally, I wonder what happened/is happening at the other schools right now. Did those students just accept being forced into a coven? Or did they also stand up to Belos?)

And we have some powerful Illusion magic from Gus, and some insidious Illusion magic from Graye.

(Really, Illusionist make for fantastic villains. We're really lucky Gus is on our side.)

Oh, and turns out Hunter didn't become a hobo in Bonesborough, but was squatting in Hexside instead, living on snacks and researching Grimwalkers and stuff.

(Also, how did Bump not notice? Doesn't he have those creepy hall monitors that sniff out trouble anymore? Or was Hunter simply so polite and not bothersome they didn't consider him "trouble"?)

And Hunter still had trouble admitting that he did run away and that he helped Gus because it was the right thing to do.

Short break. But just gonna reiterate, Gus is one powerful witch. And you really don't want to get on his bad side.

Willow is really showing off her power this time as well. Love that for her!

We also get many cute little moments for other characters! Skara getting excited about planning a battle! Emira slipping into Healer mode when she sees Hunter.

Also, the Emerald Entrails helping Hunter escape! (Yes, they weren't named, but it was clearly them.

Bump was also in top form this time! I don't think we ever saw him fight before, but after Escaping Expulsion I'm glad to know that he did stand up for his students this time.

(Though really Bump, this is the second time you let in someone "sent from the Emperor" that tried to take the magic from your students.)

And then we got the BATTLE OF HEXSIDE.

Everyone gets to do something!

Though I also wonder where all other students were. I know, the reason they have to keep this group so small is that they are working with a budget and a limited time frame. But still.

Also, Hexside is now openly opposing the Emperor. Which is kinda scary.

On the other hand, Hexside is a school that once destroyed its rival school rebuilt on the ruins. So, I think Bump might know what to do.

-> Now we've got Team RED, Team Clawthorne and Team Hexside on the side of the Rebellion.

Another Break. Let's talk about Huntlow/Winter.

HUNTLOW SHIPPERS KEEP WINNING.

We've got Hunter seeing through fake Willow because she doesn't act like herself!

We've got his betrayal of Willow among his worst memories.

And we've got blushing, on more than one occasion.

Yes, so far it's only on Hunters side, but Willow still was the first to defend him in front of Bump.

Anyway, still crumbs, but those are some delicious crumbs indeed.

Oh boy. Back to Gus and Illusion magic.

Damn, that boy's magic is POWERFUL.

He put MOST OF THE SCHOOL into one big Illusion without even trying!

It also puts what he did at the Graveyard into new context. I think I actually saw people argue that maybe Galdorstones do work for Illusions and Gus used them. NOPE! That was All Gus, just letting loose what he usually keeps back.

(Also, his face after the Graveyard illusion. It wasn't about the physical. It was about the emotional exhaustion, because he weaponized his trauma.)

Oh, and thinking back to Hooties Moving Hassle. The foreshadowing of how powerful Willow and Gus really are!

And Graye being such a great antagonist. He's not only using Illusions to trick people, but aiming for potential weaknesses in particular, using Willow against Gus, and Belos against Hunter.

But also, Graye keeps himself out of the line of fire, while using actors to make up for the limitation of his illusions!

(Which kinda mirrors, again, how Gus tricked Bria at the Graveyard!)

Oh, and we learn that GRAYE WANTS THE GALDORSTONES!

I wonder if he was the one searching for them in TTLGR now.

And instead of Gus getting traumatized, this episode was about Gus being forced to live through his trauma again.

Also, I wonder if the whole forcing out memories is well known Illusion magic, or just something that Graye knows how to do.

(I assume it's Illusion magic because he would have a seal, right?)

I think that's all I have for now. Anyway, we've got something for a lot of characters. But please don't forget about Gus in his own episode again.

EDIT: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THE MIRROR GUS SWIPED FROM GRAYE.

Now that is a Chekhov's Gun if I've ever seen one. Wonder when that'll get into play again.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

aside from the actors being like 10 years older than the characters, and the bad effects what’s so bad about the animorphs tv show? is it worth a watch just for fun?

Short answer: No.  Not worth it.  It’s so bad on so many levels, and has fundamental writing problems that make all of the characters stupidly inconsistent (if they’re yeerks) or morally reprehensible (if they’re Animorphs).

Longer answer: The Animorphs TV show is unfortunately quite badly written and also quite limited by its own budget, to the point where the characters and plots and themes simply do not translate.  The yeerks aren’t threatening, the battles aren’t violent, the team isn’t close, and 0% of what makes Animorphs unique — from the body horror to the humor — makes it to the final product.

However, in the interest of fairness, a few things I do like from AniTV:

• Stealthy yeerk tech.

I love the detail that the dracon beams look like flashlights.  Yes it’s cheesy, and yes the decision probably came from budgetary constraints and/or censorship.  However, it just makes so much more sense to me than the ray-gun design from the books.  The tube shape not only looks harmless — allowing controllers to arm kids as young as Karen without drawing attention — but it seems like it’d be much easier to use for hosts with hands as small as taxxons’ or as large as hork-bajir’s.  The ray-gun look seems a little too ergonomically correct for humans in particular.

Also, the use of yeerks-in-thermoses, yeerks-in-thermometers, and yeerks-in-phones all makes the threat so much more flexible and immediate.  Rather than having to go through an elaborate process of luring humans to yeerk pools, AniTV controllers only need to come up with an excuse to press an innocent-looking object against your ear.

• Paranoia and uncanniness.

Richard Sali as Chapman might be the best performance on the show.  He does this cool thing where he has completely normal-looking reactions to Melissa asking a question or Marco misbehaving... only the reaction always comes a solid 2 - 3 seconds too late.  It’s unnerving as hell, and it really sells the idea that this is an alien playing a part.

Plus, the use of minor background characters who are just... walking by.  Once the show hammers home the idea that every single passerby could be a controller in the opening of the second episode, it can increase the tension in a scene just by having a few extras wander by in the background of the frame.  It’s an effect that works well in visual media, and one that doesn’t require a big budget.

• Having Elfangor just hand Tobias a physical CD of his hirac dilest instead of messing around with mystical andalite bloodline crap.

Honestly I prefer the “space CD o’ intel” device because it’s a problem the audience can immediately get behind.  We understand instantly why it’s useful, why just plugging it into Jake’s computer won’t work (although it’s adorable they still try), why it’s dangerous to have, and why it’s going to take some additional plot time to figure out how to get it open.

The plot itself that comes out of the disc is frequently kinda cool.  The Animorphs and controllers go back-and-forth over it for a while, only for the controllers to get it, only for the controllers to discover it’s biometrically locked to Elfangor’s DNA, so only Ax can get it open, so there are a bunch of controllers gunning for him...  And then there’s the twist that it’s biometrically locked not to andalite-Elfangor’s DNA but human-Elfangor’s DNA, meaning only Tobias, not Ax, can open it.  Great plot fuel, and much easier to understand than the whole “utzum” thing that Elfangor uses to give Tobias his hirac dilest in book canon.

(Technically, it’s incorrect to say Elfangor hands Tobias the CD, because he waits until Tobias has already walked like 50 feet away and then attempts to throw Tobias the CD, only to miss and have it fall in a hole... but I’m doing my best not to criticize AniTV in this list.)

• Dead. Grandpa. Tuxedo.

The best characterization note in AniTV has got to be Cassie loaning Jake a tuxedo that belonged to her grandfather so that he can wear it to their school’s dance.  Cassie says she found this thing in her attic, Jake is unironically enthusiastic about the history behind Dead Grandpa Tux, Rachel threatens to disown Jake rather than have any member of her family appear at a high school mixer in a fucking tuxedo from the fucking 1940s, Jake and Cassie are blissfully unaware that “way too formal” and “50 years out of style” are concepts that exist... It’s all so beautifully in-character.

• The escargot scene.

• The secret ex-controller support group.

Obviously I’m fascinated by the lives of former yeerk hosts, but I also think that the potential for the group of them that Tobias encounters is nearly infinite.  As the kids mention in #13, even just one or two escaped hosts have the potential to destabilize the whole Yeerk Empire through showing that escape is possible.  Toby’s warriors are incredibly important for the war effort, and Eva eventually becomes a massive source of insider intel from the Empire.  The idea of a group of humans who used to be controllers all helping each other while also helping the Animorphs is so friggin cool, and I’m just really bummed that we only got like 30 seconds of screen time for them before Tobias gets them recaptured by yeerks.

All right, I think I’m out of nice things to say.  AniTV has its moments; I’ll give the show that much.

[corruptedcaps]

Playing the part

“I don’t know about this Mr. Johnson. I get that you want to find out who is selling drugs on school property by having someone infiltrate Amber’s popular gang but why me? I’m just the Drama teacher! Even with this de-aging machine I’ll still look like how I did in high school which wasn’t very flattering. I used to get called friendless Tess when I was their age. The machine can also improve my looks my adjusting my DNA? And I’ll have access to a fund to buy clothes and makeup to blend in more? And I guess my theatre background with give me an edge in playing the part of a spoiled mean girl. I still don’t know, what about my students? Yes I suppose I’ll be making their lives better if I can rid this place of drugs. Ok fine I’ll do it but only for a week ok?”

“Oh my god the machine actually worked?! I look so young again! And I look way better than I did then, I could of been the most popular girl in school looking like this back then! Look at how flat my stomach is. All my split ends are gone! And my face! It’s gorgeous! in a kind of bitchy and hot way don’t you think? I need to think of an appropriately mean name to match. Mmmmean. How about Melanie. Yesss that sounds good. Or should I say bad haha. What? Oh yes of course I’ll get to work right away trying to infiltrate Amber’s clique I just need a minute to check out… everything, so could I get a little privacy?”

“Getting in tight with Amber is proving to be harder than I thought. It’s like the complete opposite of how I got into this tight outfit which fits me like a sexy glove don’t you think? I think the problem is she doesn’t see me as an equal yet. She’s dripping in expensive clothes and jewelry, so I think I need some more money to buy some better fashion sense. Then I know she’ll notice me. Surely there’s a little extra cash in the school budget for our little operation? Thanks so much Mr. Johnson, and don’t worry this is all for a good cause!”

“I’m finally in with Amber thanks to the sweet new clothes I bought. Mmmm don’t they make my tits look great, it’s ok you can look. However I need more time gaining her trust. I know I know I said a week but she’s never going to open up to me after a few days, I need her to trust me implicitly before I can take her down for good! Well yes of course I mean finding out where the drugs are coming from first but something tells me she’s wrapped up in intimately so once she’s knocked off her pedestal I have a feeling the drugs will dry up.”

“I don’t know why you’re mad at me, I had to bully those juniors otherwise Amber would know I’m faking it and our plan would be exposed. Besides those kids were wimps, it’ll do them some good to know where they are in the social hierarchy. It paid off though because Amber invited me to an exclusive party she’s throwing this weekend while her parents are out of town. It’s only been a month and I’ve been invited to the popular girl’s party. This is huge! Why aren’t you happy? End this operation? No we can’t do that! I’m so close! Amber said her college boyfriend will be there and I’m sure he’s the one supplying the drugs. We’re so close. Please just give me one more week and I’ll have results, I promise! Plus I just bought this sexy dress especially for the party, would you trust me looking like this? Thanks Mr. Johnson you won’t regret it.”

“I have some great news, because of that information I slipped you about Amber’s best friend and top pusher Brianna possessing drugs at Amber’s party on the weekend Brianna has been pulled from school by her parents and it leaves an opening I intend to fill. She’ll then have no choice but to tell me how she gets the drugs. However Amber is looking for a true test of loyalty to become her lieutenant. I’m sure you’re aware of the rumours about Brianna and Mr. Franke the chemistry teacher having an affair? I know you didn’t have enough proof to fire Franke or expel Brianna but it was enough for Amber to promote her in her ranks. Now she wants all her girls to try and bed a teacher. The girl who beds the most impressive teacher gets to best her new best friend. And I was thinking Mr. John- Alex, I was thinking what’s more impressive than a teacher? Why not a principal? Don’t worry it’s not inappropriate, remember I’m not some bright eyed 18 year old, I’m a grown woman. I know you’ve been thinking about it ever since I’ve changed and it will be all for the greater good. Don’t you want to kiss my lips? Because I want to kiss yours. Don’t you want to fuck my pussy? Because I want feel your dick in me. Oh yesssss Alex! That’s it baby!”

“Hello Alex, I hope you don’t mind but I let myself in. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the other day when we fucked. You’re just so strong and masculine and my body is so young and horny now that I needed to see you again. Our plan worked and Amber trusts me entirely. She was so impressed that I could bed the most handsome man at school. We talk about you all the time and how hot you are. What do you think of my lingerie? Don’t I look so fuckable in it? Don’t worry your wife won’t be back for hours so we’ll be able to have fun for awhile. The drugs? Let’s not worry about those for now and let’s just have a little fun.”

“This is the only way Alex. To stop all the drugs flooding into school we need to put Amber in the machine and age her up. Then we use it to rewrite her mind so she thinks she’s a teacher here so she can take over my old job. Oh you didn’t know it could do that? Well I’ve been studying it and it can do miraculous things. Like it can make Amber’s parents believe I’m their daughter now or Amber’s boyfriend Brad think I’m his girlfriend no’s. Once she is out of the picture and I take over for her then I’ll be queen of the high school and I’ll control everything. Don’t you see? With me in control I’ll make sure not a single drug comes in these doors. Don’t get cold feet now baby, this is what you wanted just not in the way you pictured. No one but you and me will know, it’ll be our little secret.”

“What’s that? I can’t really hear you inside the machine Alex and definitely no one outside of this room can hear you either so you can stop your cries for help. Don’t worry I’m not going to hurt you, in fact I’m going to be giving you a gift. After all if it wasn’t for you then I wouldn’t of been able be the hot bitch before you and ascend so quickly as queen bee of this place. I had proof after day one of Amber’s little drug operation but rather than take it down I wanted to take it over. Being made to look like a sexy cold bitch made me want to act the part and I think you’ll have to say I’ve done a fantastic job. You were so easy to fool and manipulate into doing exactly what I wanted. All I had to do was bed you and you were putty in my hand. Even now All I had to do was wear some slutty lingerie and you willing got in the machine. I almost don’t want to use it on you but I’ll be leaving this school soon and will need a protege to take over while I build my empire outside these walls. Plus I’ve always wanted a sister… Alexis.”

“Don’t we look so hawt Alexis? Two sisters as hot and as mean as us should be locked up for being this sexy. We have to look good for this new principal that’s starting today, once we have him wrapped around our finger then you’ll be able to take over my drug empire here while I joint my big dick boyfriend Brad in college. In fact I think I’ll give you the honour of fucking him, seems only appropriate that the old principal fuck the new one don’t you think?”

Pics: Karlee grey

[garbagevanfleet]

Brightest Blue (series)

PART TEN

Pairing: Josh x reader Warnings: THIS CHAPTER IS 18+ ONLY! sexual content (finally), pot use, alcohol use Summary:  Things are changing. New state. New school. New roommate. You just pray things are going to click into place.

Notes: Okay, guys. If you missed it, this chapter is NSFW. This was the best to write, seriously. Love you all, don't be afraid to tell me what you think of it! 

taglist: @valleyd0ll​​ @satingrass-maidensfair​​ @guitarfingers​​ @thebohemianpenguin​​ @peaceisouranthem​​ @oblvions​​ @hansonobsessed​​ @myownparadise96​​ @lara-gvf​​ @anditsmywholeheart​​ @kill-fear-the-power-of-lies​​ @bigblack-catattack​​​ 

MASTERPOST 

Two weeks before the Saturday of the play, the forecast had called for a blizzard. “Polar vortex” they had called it on the tv at school, flashing graphics of a polar bear wearing a scarf. 

After classes on Friday, you had asked Kate if she wanted to go for coffee. You had been working like a dog on the play - sewing and painting to the point where your fingers perpetually hurt and the only thing you could see when you closed your eyes was the shade of green that every foliage prop was painted.

You ordered a caramel macchiato and genuinely tried to enjoy it, propping your legs up on the chair next to her. 

“So,” she started, eyeing you like she had a bone to pick. She still looked so pretty when she was coming for your life. “We’ve been so busy with Josh, we haven’t had any alone time to talk about Trevor.”

You sucked in a deep breath and relaxed your stiff neck muscles, achy from behind hunched over while sewing. “Yeah. I kind of forgot about it, to be honest.”

“I have not, however. So dish,” she requested, reaching into her purse and pulling out a tube of lipstick. She applied it carefully in her phone camera as you spoke. 

“Josh did it,” you admitted, making her eyes flick over to you momentarily. “I mean, I still slapped him, but Josh was the one that gave him a black eye.”

“And how do you feel about that?” she asked carefully.

You shrugged, wrapping your fingers tightly around your cup, half to leech the heat, and half because you were anxious. “I don’t know. I was kind of upset, but only because he could have gotten kicked out of school for that.”

She just nodded for you to continue as she cleaned up the lines around her lips with a paper napkin. 

“I mean, and for what? He could have been arrested. Just for revenge. I feel like the best revenge would be just be keeping your head high.” You rolled your eyes at the beginning of your statement, just for emphasis. 

She stared at you blankly as she picked up her mug. “Aren’t you flattered? I wish a guy would punch one of my hookups.” 

“I mean, it’s cute, but I feel like he did it more for himself - for his own pride, you know?”

Her expression changed then to something a little heavier, her features sharpening in accusation. “Are you for real? Like, for real, for real?”

You frowned at her, feeling like you were being scolded. “What are you talking about?”

She let out a long breath, looking dumbstruck. “I haven’t really pressed it because I guess I just thought it was something that everyone knew but wasn’t talking about but-” She paused, putting her hand over yours on the table just to really drive the point home. 

“That boy has it bad for you.”

You knew your expression was ridiculous by the way she looked at you with pity. “What the hell are you talking about? Josh? Are we talking about Josh?”

She closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and nodded. 

“Kiszka?” you tried again, still refusing to let her statement sink in. 

“Yes,” she said through a laugh. “Yes, your roommate Josh. Curly hair, hippy bullshit - that guy. I swear to God I thought you knew. I mean, there were times when I was like ‘does she actually know?’ but then I thought ‘there’s no way she lives with him and doesn’t know that’. You’re telling me I was wrong?”

You were struck silent for a few long moments. “Are you sure?”

Thankfully, she was looking at you like you were a puppy with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. “Look at me. He punched a guy in the face for you.”

You closed your eyes and tried to suppress a smile. “I don’t know.”

“Okay. There’s supposed to be a huge snowstorm this weekend. Now that you’ve heard me say it, return to me on Monday - after spending all weekend in the same place as him - and tell me you don’t see it then,” she said simply. 

“Okay, I will,” you challenged. 

“Okay, you do that,” she quipped with a smirk, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest confidently. 

+++

In preparation, you had gone grocery shopping together, picking out everything you’d need to be stuck in the apartment together. He had even made you take him to a thrift store, just so he could see if there was anything fun. In the end, he had come out with a card game in a box, still wrapped. 

Saturday morning the snow started falling, this time in huge, fluffy flakes, and it wasn’t supposed to stop until Monday evening. 

While Josh was in the shower, you decided to get everything ready for the evening’s festivities that you had planned together. You had gone to find a good cheese board at the market until you found out they were too pricey for your (nearly nonexistent) budget, so you ended up laying out different crackers and cheeses onto a circular pizza pan. 

By the time he got out of the shower, you had grapes, pickles, olives, and chocolates laid out on the coffee table, and he caught you just as you were pouring each of you a glass of wine. 

The charcuterie was his idea - actually, the first thing he suggested when you said you wanted to have a fun night in on Saturday. The three different kinds of alcohol had been your idea.

“Okay, it’s all yours,” he informed as he trotted out from his bedroom, dressed in a fresh set of clothes. 

The shower was still warmed up, the mirror still steamy. You got a towel out and stepped in under the spray. 

You took the time to enjoy washing and conditioning your hair - your mom had been sweet enough to send you some of the expensive kind you love. Once you had hinted over the phone that you were homesick and the smell of it reminded you of home, she was already googling it. 

Once you felt sufficiently clean, you stepped out and dried off. The clothes you had taken into the bathroom weren’t anything special - you had chosen comfort over aesthetic - but they were warm, which is what you really needed as the snow fell outside. 

When you joined him back in the living room, Josh was waiting patiently on the couch.

“Ready?” he asked, handing you your glass of wine. 

“You didn’t have to wait for me.” You gestured down at the untouched food. 

He smiled at you. “I know.” 

You sipped at your drink as he gestured to the tv. 

“Movie for background noise?”

You hummed in thought. “Maybe music?” 

He nodded in agreement. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Whatever you pick will be perfect.”

By the time he had made a selection, you had nearly finished your glass of wine. “So, the costumes are coming along well. I got the cutest lace for the trimmings of Alice’s dress. I’m not sure you’ll even be able to see it from the audience, but she’ll look adorable in pre and post-performance pictures.”

He shot you a beaming smile. “That’s some master craft. Your attention to detail is unrivaled.”

You knew that he was just playing, but it still made your stomach flip.

“Should we play our card game?” he suggested, padding over to the kitchen and snatching the bottle of wine off the counter.

You watched his movements as he poured your glass full again. “Thank you. Yeah, we can. Or did you want to be drunker first?”

He hummed. “One shot each?” 

“Of vodka?” you inquired as you picked yourself off of the couch. “Where are the shot glasses?” 

“I don’t think I own any,” he admitted as he watched you rifle through the cupboards. 

You shot him a shocked look. “You’re a college kid; why would you not own a shot glass?”

“Well, we haven’t needed it thus far. I don’t throw a lot of parties if you haven’t noticed.” He gestured around the empty room. “We’ll each just take a pull from the bottle?”

“Okay, you first,” you agreed, thrusting the bottle at his chest. He took it from your grasp with a smirk and then pressed his lips to the rim. He drank until the count of three before swallowing hard and passing it along. 

You followed suit, except with more difficulty. He had made it look so easy, you had almost forgotten how vodka tasted. You swiped your thumb across your lips, wiping them dry in the process. 

You took your seats back on the couch next to each other as the music played through the room. 

“Charcuterie?” you offered, gesturing to the coffee table full of food. 

“Yes, of course.”

As you watched him make a cracker sandwich, you spoke. “So, should we crack this game open?”

After he nodded excitedly, you ripped into the plastic wrap. 

“Okay, it looks like it’s essentially just a questions game. We just draw one at a time and the other person answers them,” you explained after skimming the inside of the box. “And you have to finish your drink if you can’t answer it.”

He laughed. “Okay, ladies first. I’m ready.”

You pushed the stack of cards over at him. “No way, you ask me first,” you stated with a cheeky smile.

He raised his eyebrows at you but relented. As he plucked a card from the deck, he took a sip of wine.

“What is your favorite color?” he asked, leaning in and squinting like the information you were about to provide was essential to his existence. 

You snorted. “Really?” He nodded, prompting you to continue. You hummed as you thought about it. “It’s blue.”

“What kind of blue? Like navy or sky?”

You shook your head. “No, more like that blue that’s so blue it hurts your eyes. The one that was a new pigment discovered not that long ago - so bright it hurts.”

He gave you a sincere smile.  “That’s a good pick.”

“What’s yours?” 

“That’s not how this game works,” he said through a breathy laugh. 

You frowned at him. “Yeah, well. Then I’m asking you as a friend. Josh, what is your favorite color?”

He pursed his lips as he considered his answer. “It’s hard for me to pick, but maybe either red or orange.”

You nodded in agreement as you reached for the deck. “I could see that. Okay, your turn.”

You stared at the card in your hand that read, WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU SLEPT WITH?

“Are you alright?”

You snapped your eyes up to him, quickly nodding as you realized that he had been waiting patiently for you to read it. 

“Okay,” he agreed cautiously. “That’s good. What’s the question?”

You couldn’t suppress an awkward smile as a heat rose to your face. 

“It says, ‘who is the last person you slept with?’,” you informed in a humored tone. You even held it up for him to see.

He stared at the card like it just accused him of a heinous act. “You really got to answer the color question and I have to answer this?”

His intensity made you snort a laugh, though you were trying to hold yourself together so you didn’t spill your wine. “Okay, okay. I’ll answer it too. Maybe we can play the game where we both just answer it.”

“Do you just want to hear me talk about sex?” he prompted with a shit-eating grin. 

You gave him a disbelieving look. “Are you- You’re the one that picked this game out!”

Your overreaction was clearly exactly what he had been looking for. You were anticipating his ribbing to continue, but it didn’t. 

“The last person I had sex with,” he started, pressing his lips against the rim of his glass as he took a swig. “Was from my music theory class.”

“When?” you quickly asked, shocking even yourself.

 “Is that part of the question?” he teased smugly, picking a kalamata olive off of the tray and piercing it with his finger before popping it in his mouth. 

You licked your lips nervously. “No, it isn’t,” you admitted. “You don’t have to answer that, I was just curious.”

“You wanna get high?” 

He was staring directly into your eyes when you looked up at him again. 

“I feel like it’ll make it easier to answer these.”

You nodded at him, biting your bottom lip. “Yes. Yes, I do want to.” 

“My room?” he asked, picking up both of your glasses as he stood. 

“Your room,” you confirmed, following suit. 

Through the slats in his blinds, you could see that the ground was completely covered in a white blanket of snow. You spent some time watching it fall from his bed as he packed a bowl. 

“Here,” he said gently to get your attention. “You take the first hit. I’m going to light it and you’re going to suck in and hold it in.”

You nodded in understanding. 

“Not too much though,” he warned. 

The glass was cool in your hands as you took it from him. When he held the flame to it, you did as you were told before exhaling with care. He was looking at you with a proud expression when you met his eyes. 

You handed it back over to him, waiting until he was in the process of taking a hit before you spoke. 

“Tell me when you slept with her,” you demanded calmly, biting back a smirk at the way his breathing faltered. 

It had turned into a game of chicken as you held each other’s gazes silently. 

“You haven’t even answered the required question yet and you want me to do the extra credit?” he quipped. 

“The last person I fucked was a guy from tinder back home, and it happened a couple of months before I left,” you informed him confidently. “I’ve only ever had one boyfriend, and he was a prick, so when we broke up, I went on a tinder bender just to feel something.”

A small smile spread across his pink lips as he listened. 

“Now you.”

“She was my girlfriend last year. We broke up in April and I had a hard time saying no to late-night texts until the end of June.” His tone was sincere as far as you could tell, as were his eyes. 

You were starting to feel the hit you’d taken by then, and you took a pause from the conversation to lean over the side of his bed and grab the bag of suckers you knew was waiting there for this very occasion. 

The high washed over you in a gentle, pleasant manner, leaving you feeling a little dreamy. 

“Sucker?” you asked, holding the bag open for him. He breathed a laugh - probably at you offering him his own candy - and then plucked one from the bag. 

After he had it unwrapped, he held the bowl out to you again. “Want another? Or am I going to have to smoke the rest of this myself?”

“Yes, I’m sure that would be very rough on you, poor baby,” you teased. 

He huffed a laugh, sitting up a bit straighter in his position. “You want another one or not?”

You stared at him wordlessly for longer than was socially acceptable, but when you finally spoke, it was with conviction. “I’ll have another baby hit.” You pulled the cards from the pocket of your pajama pants. “But then we’re playing another card, right?.”

He glanced down at the bowl and then back up to you. “When you say ‘baby hit’-”

“I mean I want you to blow it into my mouth with your mouth,” you explained cheekily, making him huff a laugh. 

“You liked that, huh?” he asked, risking a dark glance up at you through his long lashes as his fingers played along the glass piece. 

You knew exactly what you wanted to say - could hear it in your head, but your body felt tight with nerves at the thought of actually saying it. “Not as much as you did, I’m guessing.”

Oh, damn, you said it. 

A smirk played across his mouth, his eyes half hooded. If you hadn’t been paying attention, you would have thought he was completely unaffected by your teasing, but you had been listening to his breathing, so you were perfectly aware when it changed slightly. It was just the smallest difference in sound like he was pulling in air through tighter lungs. 

“Be careful with what you’re accusing people of.” A warning, definitely, but almost more of a challenge. In the months that you’d spent with him, you’d never seen him like that, but you suppose you wouldn’t have unless- Unless you were about to make him do something truly reckless. 

You bit your bottom lip out of an anxious, excited energy. “Oh, my mistake then.”

The ball was in his court, and you could tell that he was expecting him to continue pressing him. A look of slight disappointment flashed behind his eyes, but you weren’t done yet. 

You nodded toward the bowl, prompting him to glance down at it like he had forgotten what he was doing in the game he was playing with you. He kept eye contact with you as he brought it to his mouth and lit it. You watched the white smoke circle the inside of the globe before he sucked it into his lungs. 

You tilted your chin up in invitation and tried to relax your muscles as he leaned in, his throat looking tight. 

You felt his nose brush yours first before you realized you had closed your eyes in anticipation. The smoky smell hit you first when you realized you were supposed to be taking it from him. You opened your eyes and tried to breathe it all in, but most of it was lost to the room. 

He had a tiny smirk playing on his features until you reached out and wrapped your hand around the back of his neck, pressing his forehead against yours in an abrupt motion. You could tell he had his teeth clenched by how tight his jaw looked. 

You couldn’t stop yourself from playing your fingers along the sharp line of it. 

“Do you want me?” you whispered, voice barely there at all. 

Through a labored breath, he responded with a smoky sounding, “What would give you that impression?”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, but unsurprisingly, it came out sounding raw. Your fingers brushed across the short hair on the nape of his neck, the pleasant feeling causing his eyelids to flutter. 

You leaned forward until you pressed your cheekbone against his, lips right by his ear, and pointedly asked, “Do. You. Want. Me?”

“Fucking of course, I do,” he spat through clenched teeth, sounding distressed as his hands wrapped around your waist, thumbs pressed into your hipbones on either side. 

“Should we?” you asked, pulling back so you could see his face. 

“Probably not.” His words were humored, a melodic laugh accompanying them, but still somehow managed to not sound any less strained. 

You considered what he was saying for a moment, relishing in the idea that this was the last moment before the point of no return. “Just one hookup,” you reasoned. 

He smirked at you, looking all too smug and disbelieving. “Okay,” he agreed. 

Patiently, you waited for him to make the first move, your heartbeat bouncing around like a basketball in your chest. When you felt his hands move from your hips, your body tensed, trying to predict where they’d end up next. 

As he cupped your jaw with both hands, you melted a little, muscles noticeably relaxing. 

The kiss was tentative at first - just a brushing of his lips on yours like he was testing the waters. He held your face like he was afraid that you were going to vanish into thin air - like your presence was the key to his existence. 

You could hear his shallow breaths as he opened his mouth, pressing it against yours. His tongue tasted like the orange sucker he’d abandoned on its wrapper on top of the dresser next to his bed. You lapped at it, body rising as you shifted to crawl into his lap. With the way he was sitting, cross-legged on his bed straddling him was a bit of a strain on your inner thighs, but the feeling was oddly pleasing - like a warm-up for the workout you were about to endure. 

He let go of your face to place his hands back on your hips, pulling your body as close to his as it physically could be. Before he could situate you too firmly, you started to unbutton your pajama shirt, and bless his heart, he couldn’t help but watch your fingers work. 

“Is this really happening, or this just a super high fever dream?” he asked, shaking his head as he frowned like he wasn’t sure he could trust his eyes. 

You wanted to laugh at him, but you could hardly blame his disbelief. If someone had told you even earlier that week that you’d be in this position, you would have rolled your eyes at them. You hadn’t realized how much you wanted this until it was about to happen.

The last button undone, you let the garment fall, the pink and white striped fabric slipping off the bed and to the hardwood. 

The cool air was shocking on your bare skin at first, causing it to tighten - well, that and you could practically feel his eyes raking over your chest. 

“It’s happening,” you assured, leaning in until you were speaking against his parted lips. 

The feeling of him brushing the pads of his fingers over your nipple made your breathing shudder. When you tipped your head back, he ducked in and pressed his mouth to your throat, dragging a stripe across your skin with the flat of his tongue. Every part of your whole body felt hot, but none more than between your legs. You tried to grind yourself down on him, but couldn’t seem to get a good angle - luckily, he seemed to notice, and halted your movements with his hands on your hips, stretching his legs out straight.

He pulled back just far enough to see your face when he ground you down onto him, the outline of his cock slipping against your core. Even with all the layers between you, the feeling still made you crumble against him, a whine escaping your lips of its own volition. It was clear that he felt it too as he bit his lip, his eyes fluttering. 

You seized the opportunity to get your fingers under his shirt, lifting it over his head as he held his arms up for you. Before he could prepare for it, you pressed closer, pressing a kiss to his temple and then nipping at his earlobe. The cool metal of his earring was pleasing against your tongue, and you reveled in the moment as he sucked in a sharp, shocked breath. 

His hands snaked around your sides, palms wide as he cupped your ass and used the leverage to pull you against him again. Burying his nose in the crook of your neck, he let a shaky breath escape him.

You could feel his thumbs hook under the elastic band of your pajama bottoms as he started to slip them down the cleft of your ass. Once it was bare, he ran his fingers over it, movement stalling as he looked at you with an eyebrow raised. 

“Are you not wearing panties?”

You scoffed. “Not to bed, obviously. Are you implying that you wear something under those loose pants?”

The corners of his lips tilted up in a wicked smirk. “I encourage you to find out.”

You giggled at his confidence, sweetly nudging your forehead against his, so he didn’t expect the swift movement of your hand as you tugged the tie of his sweats down. The answer to your previous question was “no” - he hissed as you grabbed his erection, swiping your thumb across the head, glossy from the dim light through the blinds. It was just a tease though, because a split second later, you let go of it in favor of wrapping your arms around his neck and pressing your mouth against his again. 

As you pressed him back, he tried to hold you, but once he realized you weren’t just leaning on him for support, he relented. You laid him back on his bed, pulling back as you slipped your bottoms off the rest of the way. 

“Jesus,” he breathed as his eyes took in the whole of your naked body above him. “Hang on.” 

He reached to the bedside table and grabbed the bowl and lighter. After he sucked in another hit and set the piece back down, he tugged you in roughly, depositing the smoke directly into your mouth. You tried to hold it in like he had taught you, but you were much more interested in getting your tongue into his mouth. 

Still, you were plenty high, so much so that looking down on his bare form had tears threatening your eyes. He looked so soft and sweet despite the position he was in, his eyes half-lidded and one hand behind his head, one on your bare hip. 

You shifted until you could grind your core against the length of him, the wetness letting it slip through easily. 

“Fuck.” You had thought it was an exclamation of pleasure until you opened your eyes and saw a scowl painted across his face. “I definitely don’t have a condom.”

You hummed through a smile. “I don’t blame you, I definitely didn’t expect this.”

He frowned up at you. “We can just try something else if you want,” he offered.

“Well, I’m on birth control, and given the length of time between our last sexual encounters, I’m guessing we’re both clean - I know I am.”

He stared at you for a long moment before really realizing what you were implying, but once he did, he licked his lips in consideration. 

“Come here.” You weren’t sure what he was requesting until he grabbed onto your thighs and guided you up until you were straddling his face. 

The thought of it made you blush, and surely your cheeks were hot to the touch. 

He started with broad strokes of his tongue, just dragging it through. You briefly wished he had a headboard for you to brace yourself on, but your thoughts quickly became completely incoherent. You decided you were going to lean back instead, placing your palms flat on his bent knees. When you were completely comfortable and situated, he started pointedly flicking his tongue against your clit directly, first very soft and teasing, but building to something rougher and more deliberate. 

You thought you were actually going to shake apart when he sucked your clit right into his mouth, rolling the bead of it around on the flat surface. When you could feel yourself getting close to the edge, you threaded your fingers through his curls, keeping him close. 

The moment you lost it, everything in the room melted away from you - just a black expanse with flicks of color littered throughout it. 

You took a moment to catch your breath, trying to bring yourself, at least partly, back to reality. When you pulled away from him, you were met with the sight of him - the entire bottom half of his face slick with your come. 

He only let you watch in fascination as it dripped from his chin for a second before he was pushing you back, your head laid at the foot of the bed. He slipped his sweats off the rest of the way before crawling over you. 

There was no way you could have blamed him as he pushed in, seemingly not having any time for a slow entrance - you did make him sit there, untouched, for god knows how long. You certainly couldn’t name even a rough estimate for the amount of time passed. 

The spark of pleasure that shot through you made you throw your head back, your spine arching as you let out a whine. 

“I’m sorry, are you okay?” he breathed, through tight teeth.

“Yes,” you hissed as you ground yourself down onto him. “Keep going.”

Your eyes were closed, but you were sure he was wearing an awed expression. You grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him in until your foreheads were pressed together. When he started to move his hips, you let out a long, pleased hum, pressing your nails into the skin on his shoulders. 

Your whole lower half was still incredibly sensitive, so every time he brushed you, it made you writhe a bit beneath him. “Mm, fuck,” you growled as he intentionally reached down and pressed his thumb into your clit, the feeling resting somewhere between “just perfect” and “way too much”.  

He was biting his lip as he watched your reaction intently. You felt his hand snake down your outer thigh, gripping it from the bottom. He lifted it up, near-forcing you to wrap it around his hip.

The new angle was a different kind of feeling - something hot deeper in your gut like someone placed a smoldering ember in your belly.  You weren’t paying attention to anything but your own impending orgasm, so you didn’t expect it when he sucked your nipple into his mouth. He raked his teeth over the bud, causing your hips to jerk against him. 

When you opened your eyes and met his, you took a moment to absorb his expression - like he was seeing another dimension through your face. 

You could tell he was close when his lips fell open, but that was perfect because he was taking you with him. You hitched your legs around his hips and squeezed, letting your head tip back. 

When you came a second time, it was with his open mouth pressed to your throat, his hot breath hitting your damp skin. You let out a low whine, fingers tangled in his hair, probably a little too tight.

You suspected it was probably your muscles clenching in orgasm around him that set him off, a string of expletives falling from his kiss-swollen lips. His hips shuddered as he fucked you through it. 

The other side of your collective climax was warm and fuzzy, like watching home videos from the ‘60s. When he was able to hold himself all the way up, you ran your fingers through his damp curls affectionately. 

He was clearly trying to get his bearings, his breath flowing in and out of him like a tide. 

“Are you okay?” he whispered, sounding like he might not be able to speak any louder than he currently was if he wanted to.

 You hummed through a smile. “So good, Maybe never better.”

He rubbed his nose against yours, the smallest hint of an upward tilt to his lips. “I’m high as hell, so I’m not sure what’s acceptable for our situation right now, but can I kiss you?”

“We probably shouldn’t,” you admitted, making his expression fall slightly. 

He nodded at you in reluctant agreement. “You’re right.” 

You bit your bottom lip. “Ah, fuck it, we’ll start going back to normal tomorrow.”